Update on team meeting

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cambreenellie
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Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 12:42 pm

Update on team meeting

Postby cambreenellie » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:38 pm

Today I had my team meeting and basically it was filled with information I already knew.

I caught my caseworker in another lie. I asked the caseworker why family placement wasn't considered and her response was my parents needed to be licensed foster care. I then went and asked her to point that out in her policies. I then also stated that I wanted it in writing that my parents can't have custody because they have to be licensed and then that's where she went on to say that my daughter needed to be in a therapeutic foster home. And it's DCS policy to keep siblings together.

Okay I agree siblings should be together when possible but really should my other 2 children be punished because one child has mental problems?

What's extremely sad is that I basically agreed on a plea bargain type of deal before court. I told lawyer and caseworker I was not going to agree to services needed. They in turn stated that if I went ahead and agreed to services that I would have to complete the parenting assessment and I could have 2 of the children returned. So today of course that verbal agreement is no longer in the works because they have a policy to keep all siblings together.

This is just an example:

So basically I'm a criminal and I agreed to a plea bargain for a lighter sentence. I claim that I'm guilty I agree to everything. After all the rulings are in they say oops we lied about the whole plea bargaining and you do have to serve the initial amount of time. So in the end they lied to me just to get me to claim guilty. Anyone see anything wrong with that pic?

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katgotsteve
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Location: Georgia

Postby katgotsteve » Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:19 pm

here is the problem i see, if your daughter needs a theraputic foster home then they are paying more for her care. theraputic homes cost more and i do not see them paying more for three kids when only one has the problem.
also, in georgia we have level of care, if a child has no issues when taken they are a level 1, the highest level is 6, which means the child is a danger to society. hospitalization begins as low as level 4 if the child is not adjusting in a home and all avenues are exhausted. they can not keep siblings together is hospitalization is a factor. i would google level of care foster care and see if there is a policy about this. i found it for my niece and was able to use it in my case. it helped alot when i brought up her mental state in care and out. she was better behaved with me than in care.
also, you can request another one of these meeting. i did, but i had to go to district manager to get it.
i would recommend getting my ducks in a row and then requesting another meeting. what does your case plan look like? what are your services? you can always contest this service plan and take it back in front of the judge. just because you agreed doesnt mean you cant change your mind.

cambreenellie
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Postby cambreenellie » Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:38 pm

Thanks for responding to me! :)

My case plan only entails me working with service provider on past and present issues. Working with case manager with past and present issues and finally completing a parenting assessment.

My whole case is based on one child and that's my middle daughter who has something going on physically and mentally. She thinks of food 24/7 and goes on binging episodes every night until she throws up. The school reported me to CPS because they got tired of finding her eating out of the garbage and eating off the floor and stealing food. She has been like this for at least 5 years and 3 of those years she was in school.

When CPS came into my home I knew they were going to take my daughter and I agreed as her doctor's she was seeing weren't helping to get her diagnosed. Then they went on to take my 4-year-old because the caseworker was ignorant and knew nothing about the skin condition called eczema. My young daughter has eczema and it's documented. She also has several flair ups throughout the year. She accused me of medical neglect. She took my son because she just determined that all the children were in imminent danger.

SO the kids visited the ER that night and it was determined that my young daughter did have eczema and my son and her were in overall good health. My middle daughter they wanted to watch her and have her visit the pediatrician the next day. The next day the doctor recommended watching her for a bit and then recommend anything if necessary. Well now she will be having a full evaluation to determine if she is actually bi-polar.

I have been trying hard to get at least 2 of my children home because nothing is wrong with them. I only agreed to services needed because I was threatened that if I didn't agree that I wouldn't see my kids for a long time. Then they turned it around and said if I agreed to services then all I would have to do is complete a parenting assessment to get 2 of the children home. Now it was all a lie because the caseworker said it's their policy to keep siblings together because they don't want my middle daughter feeling left alone.

I'm sorry but my other 2 children are deteriorating by the day. On my last visit I had to literally force my son in the car to go back to foster mom he hates or the police were going to have to be called. My youngest daughter is suffering with separation anxiety now and has regressed to being a baby. This is absurd that they can continue to let my other 2 children suffer and really think it's in the best interest of the children.

By the way my middle daughter shows no emotions, she never has. She doesn't care where she is or goes. She doesn't stop thinking of food long enough to think about not being with her family.

Raeanna
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Postby Raeanna » Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:29 pm

Have you thought of having your doctor look into Prader-Willi syndrome. Below is a list of symptoms from http://members.cox.net/pwsaa/pws.htm

Symptoms of Prader-Willi Syndrome include many but not necessarily all of the following:

Central Nervous System malfunction includes impaired body control and mental retardation with an agerage IQ around 70. Dysfunction of the hypothalamus affects physical growth, sexual development, appetite, temperature control, and emotional stability.

Hypotonia during infancy with poor motor control, weak cry and poor sucking ability. Although children get stronger as they grow older, muscle tone usually remains lower than normal.
Short stature, with adults reaching about five feet. Small hands and feet, narrow forehead.

Insatiable appetite begins somewhere between age 2 and 5 years. Since individuals with PWS have metabolism which is only 60% of normal, they require fewer calories to maintain weight. An uncontrolable preoccupation with food usually leads to obesity, serious health problems, and early death unless access to food is strictly controlled. With adequate supervision and careful control of food intake, persons with PWS can maintain healthy weight.
Scratching and skin picking due to increased pain tolerance and decreased sensory input.

Behavior difficulties beginning in early childhood and persisting throughout adult life, includes temper tantrums, stubbornness, non-compliance, and resistance to transitions. Most persons with PWS show signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), apart from their obsessions with food. OCD symptoms in PWS included ordering and arranging, concerns with symmetry, rewriting and a compulsion to tell or ask the same thing over and over
Last edited by Raeanna on Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

cambreenellie
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Postby cambreenellie » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:33 pm

Raeanna,

This is exactly what I thought she had as she presents with alot of the symptoms. Although, the therapist that talked with my daughter for just a short time thinks alot of her symptoms may be bi-polar and that bi-polar children also have carbohydrate cravings.

Before my children were taken I was actually in the process of getting a visit scheduled with a doctor in the children's hospital who specializes in PWS and eating disorders. Mind you though she was referred but it takes months to get into special doctors.

Well we never did reach the appointment, instead they were ripped from me. You would think the new doctor she sees while living in the foster home would recommend getting the testing done for PWS because we were already in the works of getting it started. Nope!! Instead a pediatrician recommended that the foster mom feed her 3 plate-fulls at each meal and give her a special snack drawer to where she can go in it anytime she pleases. In turn, in 4 weeks 8-year-old child gains 17 pounds.

My daughter was then checked out again and because of the fast weight gain pediatrician told foster mom that they need to cut her servings down to 2 plate-fulls and take away her snack drawer. My daughter stats she still has her snack drawer.

Basically, it was allowed to let her get overweight but now they see it as a problem. And if she is determined in the end to have a medical condition such as PWS then the pediatrician, foster mom and CPS just made the whole situation alot worse.

All the while my 2 other children haven't seen any medical doctors or had any appointments since April 16th. But yet they were in such danger. My children were court assigned CASA workers to work on their behalf but yet 2 months later and still no visit. It;s one snowball after another.

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katgotsteve
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Postby katgotsteve » Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:03 am

has your caseplan been complete? have you talked to the caseworker's supervisor? or that supervisor? who attended the meeting? you can contact the state office. you can request a hearing on your own, you do not have to wait for cps to take you to court.
there comes a time when being nice to them should stop. you want in writing what the results of the investigation was. you want the results of the risk assessment work sheet they do and it is over a month old, you want them to reevaluate again. sometimes you have to be hard with them. i even contacted other cps office in our district and asked for a meeting with all supervisors, 15 of them. i wanted their opinion and evaluation of our case. i found that other offices handle cases alot differently and my county hated to be put in spot light.
there are tools out there, first is letter writing. i wrote all cps supervisors, governor, fist lady, all dhr offices that feel under dhr, secretary of state, state casa office, judges in other districts, etc.
basically, you have to become a pain in the ass. if you call your worker and she doesnt return your call in 24 hrs, call her again and her supervisor and state, on such and such date at this time i called my caseworker and have yet to receive a call, please have her call me...i want to resolve my case as soon as possible and get my children home. if she doesnt call you back, make three calls, caseworker, supervisor, and then her supervisor...you have to work your way up. i found once you make it district supervisor, things begin to roll.

cambreenellie
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Postby cambreenellie » Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:51 am

Thank you so much for all the help.

I'm going to prepare myself all weekend to officially start being a pain in their ass on Monday. :)

One more question. My children were taken April 16th. The emergency hearing was held the next day and at that time they scheduled visitation time with me and the children and which the first visit was going to take place on the 18th. On Monday April 21, I was visited by a contracted person through CPS. She asked me questions and then stated that I had to sign her forms. The forms were regarding my participation in therapy with her. I said I wasn't comfortable signing said forms when I haven't even been evaluated. She said it was my choice or not to sign the papers. I told her I was going to wait.

Well because I didn't sign the papers when CPS wanted them sign I was denied my visitation with my children. I then quickly signed the papers. I had to sign these papers even before the initial hearing took place and before I even agreed to any services needed. Is it wrong for CPS to force you to sign any agreements before anything is court ordered? Or is it basically my fault for signing even though I was told I wouldn't see my kids until it was signed?

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katgotsteve
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Location: Georgia

Postby katgotsteve » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:13 pm

you can revoke your signature from these forms by filling out a form, i have seen it on this sight, but i am not sure where it is.
from now on when you sign a form like this, you just simply put under duress at the end of your name, if the caseworker doesnt like that you simply state that what she is doing is pressuring you to choose between your children and your constitutional rights. you do not feel comfortable signing these forms and the fact that she has used visitation with your children as a means to get you to sign these forms it was in fact under duress and also you need copies of these forms for your next court appearance. you will get under someone's skin quickly and if they go to court and state we did not let her see her kids becuase she did not sign a form or she signed it under duress, they will not score points with any judge. i know it hard to do this, but sometimes you have to play dirty, they will push and you have to be prepared for the fight. the hold your children in front of you like a carrot and you have to chase it.
your family has every right to be caretakers for your children unless they have some criminal record of harming children. it is not for a state agency to decide if you are worthy of your children, it is up to God and he has already made that decision.
when i say be a pain in there ass, i mean be one. i called my caseworker as much as 20 times a day to ask her things about my case, some i already knew others i wanted to know. when she was suppose to do something, i would call her all day long until she did it. needless to say i went through alot of caseworkers, until i finally got one who only had me as a case, she was a 20 year veteran and she handled it the best of anyone. she pushed for us to go to court, but the attorney for dfacs, called a SAAG here is georgia, would not take it. he kept postponing it until the court order lasped and they did not want me in front of the judge again.
the only difference between my case and yours is i won my kids back after a month, but my husband could not come home. the child (she was my niece) i had problems with was like your daugther with food, they also say bipolar, but like a counselor told me bipolar disorder is the diagnosis of the decade...everyone has it. you may also want to look into asperger's syndrome, one of the symptoms of it is obession, for example of reading, food, almost anything. another symptom is the lack of social interaction, kind of a social autism. they do not show appropriate emotions or they have a total lack of emotions. they have so many different disorders out there and many over lap with symptoms. dont give up.

cambreenellie
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 12:42 pm

Postby cambreenellie » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:52 pm

Oh my goodness! I looked up Asperger's Syndrome and can say that is my child. Then again I can say that is my child when I read up on bi-polar and PWS. It's so confusing and all you want to know is what's wrong with my child so we can treat it or fix the problem.

That I think is the problem because she portrays so many different diagnosis and I'm not an expert and can't decipher exactly which one she has if all or any. CPS is claiming I should have gotten her diagnosed properly. Well that's where I keep insisting that I don't hold a medical degree and I can only do so much.

I'm allowed to attend a doctor's visit this week for my daughter. I was allowed to attend doctor's visits since day one BUT they never ever notified me of any appointments. I guess I was suppose to be psychic. I'm going to fill this doctor in on my side of the story and tell him what I have witnessed for the past years. I have a feeling they never went into great detail with this doctor as to the problems I was having. This is of course if something doesn't happen such as appointment canceled, rescheduled or such. I wouldn't be surprised is they gave me a wrong time and then said I didn't show up.

Momoffor
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Postby Momoffor » Sun Jun 15, 2008 4:35 pm

I have a child who is on the aspergers end of the autism spectrum but just barely. He could be a poster child for rainman and was this way since birth. Because his symptoms are so obvious and always were from day one, and I already knew that was the issue at hand, it wasnt hard for the doctor to give a diagnosis as I had years and years of documentation in hand when we finally went at the age of 10 to get it.

No single autistic person is the same in their mannerisms, but there are some certain traits. The lack of social skills being first and foremost. Not caring about much excet their own obsessions is another. :Luckily, my childs obsession is not food. Its science. He is a walking encyclopedia on the subject.

In our situation, I knew from a VERY VERY young age what was 'different' about my child and instead of having to bang my head into a wall of wondering what it was and how to 'cure' it, I nurtured him and bent over backwards to make sure that his needs were always met and accomodated. So much, that before he was 5, when the 'internet' was finally the in thing for all and personal computers were a household item, I was able to look up some of his sympoms and discover illnesses that might be causing his symptoms and have him tested for those. It wasnt easy and took a lot of foot stomping and insistance on my part to get him cat scans and MRI's to rule out tumors ect. All of that was ruled out but still left us holding the bag of going back to square one. Autism. I hoped deep down it was a tumor or something they could pinpoint and be able to cure so that he wouldnt have to live the life that he does. But that wasnt in the cards he was dealt.

It will be hard for you to get any of this accompliushed in doing testing to find out the cause of what makes your daughter tick without having her in your care. Heck, its hard even when they are. Instead of relying on what the pediatrician says, fight until you get the referrals that you need to specialists that can help.

When I was finally about to convince one doctor that most of my sons symptoms were like those of melonia blastomia (sp) she couldnt believe that no other doctor had tested him for ANYTHING before. She told me that since we were military most doctors assume doctors at other duty stations had already conducted such tests.

My son now has the offical diagnosis, but because of the careful nurturing I did from day one for him, he relies on me to be his link of communication to the 'outside world'. We have a strong bond and trust and that can never be broken. I am not sure if its a good thing or a bad thing yet, as I dont know if he will be able to make it in the 'real world' without me being his 'voice', but we will see.

be the voice for your daughter and FIGHT to get her the referrals she needs.

BTW:, my son does not see a neuro pysc. on a regular basis. he is not on meds. The doctor that gave him the diagnosis, told us both that she wished she could clone us to show other parents how a relationship between autistic child and parent SHOULD be. (he was very proud of that) He doesnt care about much except his obsession of science, he isnt cuddly, never was even as a baby. He doesnt want to go 'hang out with friends', he would rather talk shop with adults about intellectual matters. he doesnt tolerate kids his own age, but he loves babies and we have yet to see one that doesnt take an instant liking and facination to him. he doesnt allow people to touch him. He doesnt do certain foods. He has more allergies that I can list. He doesnt do emotions EXCEPT when it comes to me. (I believe this comes from the strong bond that we have). He doesnt talk to those he doesnt trust, and doesnt trust those he doesnt know. He follows rules to a T, and when he has a bad day EVERYONE has a bad day.

Instead of wondering what was wrong with my child, I catered to my child, I have fought for him since the day he was born, yet CPS came in and said I am a neglectful mother.

Dont let them drag you down. Keep fighting to find out what makes her tick. It will get tiring, but dont give up.

cambreenellie
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 12:42 pm

Postby cambreenellie » Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:42 pm

Well I did win my fight at the doctor's office this past Thursday. He has no problem with sending my daughter to a children's hospital to get fully evaluated. He is totally unaware of her history with food and all the behaviour problems. Basically, CPS goes in there saying here is a starved child, what do we do.

I was elated when he walked into the room and told the foster mom she needed to stop doing what she was doing. Which was feeding her 3 servings of food at each meal and my daughter also has a special snack drawer that she can get into anytime she pleases and as many as she wants. While the other two children look on and can't have any. He says she needs to eat one serving at each meal and a little snack. We'll have to see at the next visit if the foster mom is listening. With all the activities they are doing in the Summer my daughter, at next visit, should either maintain the same weight as last visit or maybe lose a few pounds.

It's so sad that the foster mom has fed her so much that she is having trouble walking and complains of her legs and hips hurting. All because CPS and foster mom failed to believe me in that my daughter is obsessed with food. Instead, we think mom is starving child. The doctor basically said that she is not used to carrying around this much weight and that she also should be wearing tennis shoes at all times to bear her weight. Gee I dunno but it sounds like abuse to me. :shock:

Why the heck would I seek medical attention multiple times for my daughter if I knew the answer to the problem was me not feeding her?


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