My CPS Journey

Wonder what it would have been like if CPS had been around when Christ was born? Someone posted this on facebook today and I thought it thought provoking and illustrative of the true nature of how CPS operates, meddling in lives where it has no business and destroying families as it goes about ‘protecting children’.

December 25, ’00, . Read more »

Today at church Janine, the lady who called CPS on me gave the lesson in Relief Society.  When she gives the lesson (once a month) I can hardly look at her and don’t participate as I usually do when others teach. Read more »

This evening I went grocery shopping. I watched the woman in front of me who had to have food taken off her receipt because she didn’t have enough money to pay for it all. I noticed in particular how kind and concerned she was about the extra work she was making the cashier do and embarrassed at how I was having to wait for this to be remedied. As I was loading my groceries and she was still loading hers I started up a conversation with her. I came to find out her 9 year old boy was recently taken into custody by CPS and is now living in a foster home. Read more »

Each morning the children and I have devotional.  Part of that is reading a selection from The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett. We are in the chapter on responsability.  This mornings reading was called The American’s Creed by William Tyler Page.

Read more »

Many of my posts take quite a bit of time to put together because when I was in the throngs of the CPS investigation I was experiencing and learning SO much!  Instead of not posting till I have the information just right I thought I’d pop on periodically and document what I’m still learning and experiencing as a result of that call made to CPS on my family back in February 2011.. Read more »

I’m blogging about my experience with Child Protective Services (the governmental agency that responds to reports of child abuse or neglect, also known as the Department of Children & Family Services – DCFS, and the Department of Social Services DSS, Department of Children, Youth and Families – DCYF) with the idea of giving you a view into my life as we experienced CPS, to make it real for you. Perhaps you have had CPS or another governmental agency come into your life or you have thought of sending them into someone elses life to help them. I encourage you to keep an open heart and an open mind as you read my posts. I’d love your comments as well.

I’ll be posting journal excerpts, e-mails, conversations and things I’ve learned along the way.

A journey is a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a long time. I’m starting this blog today July 26th, 2011, still dealing with CPS.

For my family this journey began at about 7:00 am Thursday February 3rd, 2011 when I woke up, walked into my family room, saw the white card with the hand written words “contact me please” face down on my hardwood floor. Shaking already I picked up the card, turned it over and read “Child Protective Services”. I hunched into a ball like a big baby and cried because I was horrified and didn’t know what to do about this, in my mind, threat to my family.

This was the beginning of my journey. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is how little I understand freedom. If I understood freedom I wouldn’t have been frightened because I would have known that CPS has no legal authority unless one gives it to them by allowing them into the home, or unless they have a warrant. I’ve also learned that my children are not as strong as I want them to be as they go on to face more of life’s challenges that will come their way. CPS reminded me that I may not always be able to be there for my children.

We count ourselves extraordinarily blessed because we still have our children. I’m taking this opportunity now to educate myself about freedom, to strengthen us as a family and to strengthen us as individuals so if CPS ever comes knocking again, or some other challenge comes to our family we will be better prepared to face it and successfully overcome.

I invite you to join me on my journey, to gain a deeper understanding of freedom and to strengthen your family so they will be able to courageously face the challenges that invariably will come.

Part 1: What to do about the situation

Talked on the phone with Abby today, she is the principal of the private school the children belong to.  This was her advice to me regarding how to deal with CPS, keeping in mind I don’t know the allegations yet because I haven’t talked to the social worker.  I’m assuming it has to do something with homeschooling.  I have been told by local church authorities that people have been expressing concern over how I’m teaching my children.

Read more »

Part 1: Journal entry:

I hardly slept, tossing and turning all night not knowing what to do. I’ve lost my appetite, I couldn’t even eat chocolate. I got up at 6:00 am, the house was cool so I wrapped myself in a blanket, grabbed my laptop and hunkered down on the family room floor. Read more »

Part 1: e-mails

On 2/5/2011 4:20 PM, Tammy Graham wrote:

Hi Abby,

I’ve been reading http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/issues/cps.asp about CPS and how to deal with them. On the site it says, “The agency usually asks for names of references such as friends, neighbors, and family from the parents, child, or the complainant.” Would you be willing to be one of those people if they ask me for references? I know it’s a lot to ask, I didn’t even ask Lacy as she has stated she doesn’t want to get involved nor deal with CPS. Read more »

Part 1: e-mails

On 2/6/2011 4:20 PM, Tammy wrote:
Abby,
I believe a lady at toastmasters who is involved with the public school system called on me. My past few speeches have been on homeschooling. My church leaders know what is going on and told Paul and I they would know who did it if it was someone from church. The bishop also said someone else in our congregation had CPS called on them, CPS came and left a card on their door, the family called CPS back, left a message and never heard from them again. That’s what I’m praying for. I have learned 2 things so far; be prayerful as to who I open my mouth around and speak with more confidence. Read more »