Has anyone just ignored or refused to talk to cps? Outcome?

[flcps2011]

Have any of you just not talked to cps? Did they come out to your home when you weren't there? Did any of you just not get in touch with them? Or tell them you wanted to talk to a lawyer first and you never heard from them again? And had a successful outcome? Because I don't know if I should get in touch with the cps worker or not....

I just hate this situation so much! From the stories I've read on here, its like you make one wrong decision (get a bad lawyer, don't get a lawyer, talk to them, dont talk to them, etc) and your children could be gone forever! I have really bad thyroid problems and one of the things it affects for me is decision making abilities so I'm just distraught.

My situation is they showed up at my door when I was not at home. I only knew this because the worker called and left me a message on home phone that I later received. I called her back and made an appt for her to come out to my house. (At my parents advice; they won't believe that cps is corrupt. My dad said she sounded nice. lol) Then, I read about the reality of cps on here and online and decided I should get a lawyer. (Read things that said you arent required to talk to them, you should have a lawyer present, etc) So I let worker know about wanting to consult a lawyer and rescheduled my appt with her. Still hadn't found a lawyer yet so I left her a message canceling saying after I saw a lawyer I would contact her. Well, the lawyer search wasn't going well. There aren't really any cps fighting lawyers where I live. Plus, I was trying to figure out how to sell my car to afford the lawyer! So, basically now it has been almost the 60 days (that is how long they allow for the investigation in my state) and I'm really concerned. I haven't heard anything. And now, I'm worried they might twist my reaction and say I ignored them because I was hiding something. When that isn't the case at all.

Has refusing to talk to them been successful for any of you? Some on here have suggested I not talk to them or talk to them with a lawyer present, but I am wondering if anyone has done that and what the outcome has been. I just feel so helpless and scared without money to fight them w/ a lawyer and have a trial. Reading all the stories on here about so many parents losing their kids, etc has me very discouraged.

Does anyone know if they are that corrupt in my state? Is it just certain states that are more corrupt than others?

[Eljay]

Errr... have you seen this site? http://www.floridadcf.org/

Your postings have been such a tease. LOL You don't even know why they want to talk to you or what the allegations are, but the 'child removed from home' thing is quite frightening! Where do you stand with them right now? Have they called you back at all?

[brookeycookie]

My opinion, from my story, ......don't invite the creeps over. It's THEIR job to investigate if they think they should. Not yours. Prepare, but don't invite them by calling. Ya, they may try to call you uncooperative, so what. Being uncooperative by only NOT reminding them to come, is better than all the crap they will twist if you call. Seriously, don't do their job for them. It's not court ordered that you must set an appt. with them. I wouldn't call. ...but I would find a lawyer.

[Eljay]

Ooooo.... just went back to that website and found out about this woman who arrested for making false reports against her ex-husband!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20 ... /110819673

Just how serious are those false allegations your ex made? *SOMEBODY* is FL has balls!

[monkette31]

So when is the last time you've had contact with them? do you have any idea of what this could be about?

[monkette31]

I was perusing some facebook cps groups and ran across one lady from:

Adams County, Nebraska. IMO, if you just tell them that you do not need their services and will not meet with them, they will eventually give up. They would rather spend their time on the people that will allow themselves to be victimized (not E&J, that was on a whole 'nother level) If anyone wants to talk to me, I am always more than willing. I still have a file in my filing cabinet labeled DCFS, with everything from that hellish time of worry in our lives. Everything they lied about and everything our legal advice told us

Anyway, she states that

My husband and I have also gone through false allegations. A "friend" got vindictive and used a call to DCFS to try and get back at us (it worked, she had is in quite a turmoil.) She even had the nerve to call our DOCTOR'S office to try and tell them that I was medically neglectful, to which they told her to contact DCFS. So, we immediately went to our trusted doctor and had him do a full exam on our kids. We also refused to meet with the social worker (she never showed up at our door, just sent letters and called.) We saved every letter, recorded phone calls and messages, we refused to meet with her either at our home or in her office. We stood up to her and told her that we didn't legally have to, since they had not evidence of any wrongdoing.

That social worker lied about everything, saying that we had to meet with her and that she could not tell us what the allegations were. I read upon everything and debunked everything she said. I'm sure she didn't know what to think! Our legal advice even agreed that we should not meet with her. In the end, our "file" got turned over to the county and I am guessing it got closed.

Anyway, I'm sure if we had "obeyed" it would have been a long, drawn out process where they would come up with reasons why we need their "help" and "services". I'm sorry, I have no respect for people who don't even know their legal standing in the OWN JOB.

Anyways, hope this helps you out.

[Powering]

Does anyone know if they are that corrupt in my state? Is it just certain states that are more corrupt than others?

They are corrupt the world over! What happens in one county happens in another county, what happens in one state also happens in another state...corruption with Child Protection Services is corrupt from the bottom right through...and I'm speaking from Australia...so yep it's corrupt here too...

Like brookiecookie said above, don't do their job for them...your name is on the registry if someone has notified against you. If your not aware of anything they could be seeing you about regarding your children, was there a fall out with someone recently who may have maliciously reported against you, even if it was 6 months ago? It sometimes takes that long before they get out to visit homes!

I would have them speak to you over the phone, you do not have to meet with them personally but they like to do it that way in case you record the phonecall meeting. Meetings are hardly ever done via phone for this very reason!

[Eljay]

Powering, pls be careful with the advice you give. In the USA, we have wiretapping laws that prevent us from recording a telephone call without consent (informed or implied, depends on state laws). Information is out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_ ... ted_States

As for meetings in public or in private homes, you can record whatever you want, no informed consent needed!

In my house, sometimes my "nanny cam" would be running while I spoke to the CPS worker on speakerphone, just coincidentally. It made it much easier to transcribe the conversation later.

[Powering]

Powering, pls be careful with the advice you give. In the USA, we have wiretapping laws that prevent us from recording a telephone call without consent (informed or implied, depends on state laws). Information is out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_ ... ted_States

As for meetings in public or in private homes, you can record whatever you want, no informed consent needed!

In my house, sometimes my "nanny cam" would be running while I spoke to the CPS worker on speakerphone, just coincidentally. It made it much easier to transcribe the conversation later.

Hi Eljay, sorry for how my post sounded, I wasn't trying to advise on recording phone calls, I was stating that this is the reason why CPS workers don't do meetings over phones for the very reason they don't know if the phone call is being recorded. I understand that this is illegal in some states of America and that every state has different laws and jurisdictions, it's the same here in Aussie but we only have 6 states to contend with not over 50...lol~!

Please forgive me

I also love the fact 'coincidentally' that sometimes your nanny cam would be left on while speaking to CPS! Great idea, thanks!

Powering

[peetred]

Powering, pls be careful with the advice you give. In the USA, we have wiretapping laws that prevent us from recording a telephone call without consent (informed or implied, depends on state laws). Information is out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_ ... ted_States

As for meetings in public or in private homes, you can record whatever you want, no informed consent needed!

In my house, sometimes my "nanny cam" would be running while I spoke to the CPS worker on speakerphone, just coincidentally. It made it much easier to transcribe the conversation later.

It depends on the state you live in. In my state, Nebraska, only one party must consent to recording over the phone, and if you are on the line you are one party. In other states, you must inform the other party that you are recording.

[peetred]

BTW, I am the person who posted details of our experience with not meeting with CPS in the above quotes from Facebook. If you have any questions about our experience, I'd be happy to let you know more.