Child Protection Caseworkers: Working the Law From Behind and Underneath
Thank God that there are some caseworkers and/or supervisors who are licensed, have children of their own, and do their jobs within the guidelines of “The Best Interests of The Children.” To my way of thinking, these caseworkers or supervisors are just like Cinderella, complete with the glass slippers. Unfortunately, not all child protection caseworkers /supervisor’s wear this type of slipper.
These “Other” types of child protection workers usually have a big fat tattoo engraved on their forehead that says, “Us –vs- Them; We will WIN no matter what.” They have this attitude and air about them that can be spotted from a mile away, even without your glasses. Once in a while, you may run across one of these people without a tattoo on their forehead. But you still know it is there, and it is. It is just hidden on the posterior portion of their anatomy and takes a little more time and effort to uncover. But uncover it you will. By the end of your ordeal, it will be polished brightly and shining for all to see, at least for the ones who care to look. 1
These “Other” caseworkers/supervisors are what this essay is all about. They have their own little system going to ensure that things will be carried out “In Their Own Best Interests.” The veteran workers teach the new ones the tricks of trade. This “System” holds a very strong likeness to that man who was in Germany some years back. His name started with an “H” I think…
These seasoned workers count on many different factors in order to manipulate the system to their liking. Those things are: 2
Ø American Citizen’s Ignorance of Civil and Human Rights
Ø American Citizen’s belief in the judicial system and in “Innocent until Proven Guilty”
Ø Having no accountability to anyone
Ø Child interviews that are not electronically recorded
Ø The aid of the police department to illegally remove children
Ø Shock and trauma symptoms
Ø “Rubber Stamping” by attorneys/Guardian ad Litems (GAL)/Court Appointed Special Advocates) (CASA)
Ø The secrecy of the juvenile laws
Ø Children are little and helpless and can be manipulated like chess pieces
Ø Poor people cannot stand up effectively for their rights
Ø Financial contracts with professionals that they “Work with”
Ø The fact that they cannot be sued for not performing reasonable efforts
Ø No Federal Laws governing how to proceed
Ø Government money for job security
This is how it all begins:
An anonymous phone caller gives the Child Protection Services (CPS) the lowdown on a certain family. This person in not identified in most cases, can be anyone, calling for any purpose. The children could be in danger or not. The caseworkers go out to the home to check things out. They may be licensed caseworkers or not, parents or not—take a guess.
The parent is oblivious of her rights, but beside that fact, she is innocent and therefore the door is opened wide for the caseworkers and they are invited in. After all, this is America and there is nothing to hide, right?
After talking for a while one of the caseworkers acquires a “gut feeling” that something is just not right in the home. She just can’t put her finger on it. The old worn furniture in the house and the clothes the child is wearing tells her that these people are poor. Deep down, she knows that this child deserves more than this. She sets a time and date for the child to be brought into the CPS Office to be interviewed.
The child is “Interviewed.” Maybe this person is qualified to perform this interview or maybe not—toss a coin. Of course, this interview will not be electronically recorded. If it were, then everyone would know how the child was led to say what the interviewer wanted him or her to say. So the child states “something” incriminating after hours of grueling and drooling from the interviewer.
Actual child interview transcript used as reference in: Why Judges Must Insist on
Electronically Preserved Recordings of Child Interviews
Written by Stephen J. Ceci and Maggie Bruck; Court Review 2000.
Adult: Okay, when you were tied up Britt, on the floor, and a man was sticking his penis into your butt, was a lady doing something to you at the same time?
Child: No
Adult: Would that ever happen?
Child: Yes
Adult: What would the lady be doing?
Child: I can’t remember.
Adult: Would she be doing anything with your mouth?
Child: (pause) Yes.
The interviewer sits on her “Child Confession” until Friday afternoon. This ensures that she can trot over to the police department and pick up “Fred”, who works with them “often” on these cases. Of course, he is informed of the terrible danger that this child is in and agrees that the child needs to be removed “now.”
The parent is called and asked to bring the child to a certain location so that a caseworker can “talk” to the family. Then a nice foster family that the caseworker/supervisor knows is called and at this time is in route to pick the child up. Thus, the child is removed from their parent with no court order in place to do so. It was, after all, an emergency. Extended family members are not even considered at this time. So much for “Reasonable Efforts” and “Kinship Care.”
What this does to the many parents and children who find themselves involved with child protection: 3
Shock and Trauma Symptoms:
Ø Eating/sleep disturbances
Ø Low energy
Ø Depression
Ø Spontaneous crying
Ø Despair and hopelessness
Ø Anxiety
Ø Panic attacks
Ø Fearfulness
Ø Compulsive and obsessive behaviors
Ø Feeling out of control
Ø Irritability
Ø Anger and resentment
Ø Emotional numbness
Ø Withdrawal from normal routine and relationships
Ø Difficulty making decisions
Ø Decreased ability to concentrate
Ø Feeling distracted
Ø Grief reactions
Ø An altered sense of time
Ø An extreme sense of being “on guard”
Ø Overreactions
Ø Uncontrollable reactive thoughts
Ø Feeling permanently damaged
Ø A loss of previously sustained beliefs
The parent shows up bright and early on Monday morning, just sure that this whole nightmare will be cleared up. She is told to get an attorney and a GAL/CASA is assigned to the child. There will be another hearing in a month. A Month. The shock and disbelief is so consuming at this point that the parent walks out of the courtroom with her mouth agape, literally. At this time the parent is collapsing into the depths of her soul.
The parent has displayed many of the above shock and trauma symptoms and this makes writing up the case plan an easy task. The caseworker whistles while she works. She knows the routine. Also, the parent has not yet been advised that she or her child have any rights. The parent does not know that she is to be a part of creating the case plan or that there is a grievance process. The caseworker was happy to find out that the parent’s attorney will be “Fran”, who carries a big rubber stamp in her brief case to approve all that needs to be done.
In many cases, the GAL also has a big rubber stamp in his/her briefcase. Not this time. This GAL has no rubber stamp. The caseworker will deal with him later.
The case plan is designed for failure and to take at least one year to complete. It is written as such:
Ø Silly little parenting classes that do no good at all
Ø Anger management classes (after all the parent has displayed a lot of anger)
Ø Alcohol/drug classes (some relative had some drinking trouble, which puts the family at risk)
Ø A psychological exam done by Dr. Fabrication, whom they “work with” often, (because this parent just don’t seem to be acting right)
Ø Counseling
Ø Supervised visitations once per week, (in order to break the parent-child bond and enable the new bonding to take place in the foster home)
Ø Financial Counseling
Ø Making good decisions class
The parent is called in to sign the prepared case plan and she refuses to sign it. She has done nothing wrong. Why should she have to do all of these unnecessary things and only see her child once per week? Supervised? The supervisor leans over in her God-like state and says, “If you want to see your child again, you will sign the case-plan.” The attorney also advises the parent to sign the case plan in order to cooperate with Child Protection Services (CPS). The uninformed parent signs the case plan, which is all the CPS needs in order to keep the child.
No charges need to be pressed against the parent and this family’s case will never be heard in a higher court. The family has been duly robbed of their civil rights for no good reason.
The parent is not informed that the CPS cannot tell her who to go to for the psychological exam. A large amount of hope is felt within the parent at the prospect of being able to prove that she is innocent, because she is innocent. The parent runs off to do the exam with bells on her toes. She is actually a lamb going to slaughter.
A phone call is put in to Dr. Fabrication, who contracts with CPS for money and is told how he is to determine this psychological exam. He knows that if he does not find as the CPS wishes, that they will simply contract with another person who will. He needs to pay for his home somehow, right? He will give an exam that has a lot of junk thrown together that does not add up to the sum at the end. It will be legal and in the case file, and the parent will be ordered to do more on the case plan. 4
The child has been put on medication to keep him from feeling. The Child is acting out due to the injustice done to him. He cannot understand it all. This child has been sentenced to a lifetime of healing for no good reason. Child removals are devastating and carry lifelong consequences for children and families. This devastation simply must be less than what is happening to the child at home.
If a parent gives any documentation to the caseworker that contradicts what the parent is accused of, no one will ever see it. It may have been filed into the trash or maybe into the very back of the file. No one will ever know because juvenile records are legally sealed. It can take up to at least one year for a records request of a parent to see his/her own file to be granted. And many times, these requests are simply ignored unless an attorney files for them. The evidence that a parent could present on his/her behalf could include Child Day Care Records/records from his/her own counselor/medical records.
The GAL has been to see the child three times now. By law, he is the legal voice for the child in the courtroom. He states in the hearing that this child needs to be returned to their parent. The judge seems to be agreeing with him. The caseworker does not miss this, and makes sure that the judge is changed to another one for the next hearing. That will fix it.
The parent is barely able to hold on emotionally in this new life that reeks with the stench of nightmare quality. Maybe the parent’s job has been lost by now due to needlessly suffered the trauma. And the next thing to go will be the home. At any rate, this whole entire family unit is destroyed, and for what purpose? Who will help these children and families?
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