UPDATE on the meeting
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:29 am
I went to the family team meeting on Tuesday. I took my childs summer school report card, and a note from her teacher saying that she attended everyday of the three week summer school program.
The meeting started off by them asking me about tutoring (the cheapest tutor I can find is $888.00 monthly) if I had that kind of money to spare I would send my child to a private school for god-sakes. anyway...they asked all the normal questions about the family...the supervisor who had made the deal with me that they would dismiss the case from court, and then close the case after my child finished summer school just sat there looking into her lap-top not saying a word. One of the workers present asked me what I expected to happen next....I said..."well, this case is supposed to be closed, I spoke with her(pointing to the supervisor) and it was agreed that after the summer school program we would be closing this case." THEN she looked up and said "oh yeah, we will be closing this one." The lady who was taking notes had to re-do everything and change it to a "case closure.".....I was dumbfounded...are they that incompetent? Or were they trying to see if I forgot about the conversation? What the hell? ...But the supervisor said that the caseworker working on my case would make one more home visit and bring the closure forms. (FYI I tape recorded the entire meeting) ....We made an appointment for her to come out on Monday at 4:30pm..The caseworker is very timid, and quiet...she is very young and fresh out of college...she almost acts scared....she has never once did a home walk thru, or inspection, she is terrified of my little dog lol...Which I have to lock in the bathroom each time she makes a visit.... so I probably lucked out on that one....I know that there are some more "seasoned" caseworkers who can put families through hell.
I did some research on the FERPA laws and I am thinking of filing a complaint against the school social worker for releasing my childs school records without my consent or knowledge. But I want to wait until this is all over with.
One thing that really bothered me while sitting in the waiting room for the caseworker to come get me and my husband for the meeting..I noticed there was a gentleman sitting there holding two happymeals...and some small toys....a woman walked in with two little girls...they ran to his arms...and were crying "we miss you daddy, thank you for bringing us this stuff daddy, your the best daddy in the world." It broke my heart...huge tears welled up in my eyes...And I could almost see fire shoot out of my hubbys ass. It pissed him off so much.... I had to leave the room...because I didn't want to start crying and ruin my own meeting.....They would have thought I was a nut-job....I have no clue why this man did not have his kids....but it was obvious that they loved and missed their daddy. How can these people live with themselves?
Oh and one more thing that they went over in the meeting was a sheet that had a list of "problems" which my caseworker read over and she would state if any of them applied to my child...none of them applied ...except for the one saying that my child is unable to protect herself... They said it only applied due to her age...But I tried to say that "she knows how to dial 911, she knows what to do in emergency situations, she knows stranger danger, she took safety classes at her school.. etc" and they said it does not matter because she is a child...So, I said..."why do you even have it on this form...wouldn't this apply to ALL children?" but they pretty much ignored me on that one.... My hubby spoke up and said "*I* will protect her..so it's not an issue."....One other thing....My hubby and my daughter have a thing where she sometimes does not call him "daddy" she calls him "bestfriend" ...only when she wants something...like she will say things like "Best friend would you be a sweetie and get me a glass of juice"...it's her way of making him do things...cause she knows she has him wrapped around her finger that way.She is a HUGE daddy's girl..and since she is our youngest he has spoiled her some (we also have two teenagers, who were not even a part of this case).......but one of the caseworkers said that it was not normal for kids to like their parents that much..??????.....Are these people idiots?......I asked her if she had kids and she said "no, but I have nieces and nephews." .....I wanted to tell her "when you squeeze a few out of YOUR vagina, and experience raising a child...THEN you can tell me what is "normal" for a child to do.".....but I bit my tounge and just rolled my eyes. ......
So one more visit on Monday...she is supposed to be bringing the case closure forms...which I will carefully read before signing..and this BS will be over with....meanwhile some child is somewhere REALLY being abused...but they have wasted all of this energy on my 8 yr old child who was a little dirty and smelly once or twice.....The system never ceases to amaze the hell out of me
The meeting started off by them asking me about tutoring (the cheapest tutor I can find is $888.00 monthly) if I had that kind of money to spare I would send my child to a private school for god-sakes. anyway...they asked all the normal questions about the family...the supervisor who had made the deal with me that they would dismiss the case from court, and then close the case after my child finished summer school just sat there looking into her lap-top not saying a word. One of the workers present asked me what I expected to happen next....I said..."well, this case is supposed to be closed, I spoke with her(pointing to the supervisor) and it was agreed that after the summer school program we would be closing this case." THEN she looked up and said "oh yeah, we will be closing this one." The lady who was taking notes had to re-do everything and change it to a "case closure.".....I was dumbfounded...are they that incompetent? Or were they trying to see if I forgot about the conversation? What the hell? ...But the supervisor said that the caseworker working on my case would make one more home visit and bring the closure forms. (FYI I tape recorded the entire meeting) ....We made an appointment for her to come out on Monday at 4:30pm..The caseworker is very timid, and quiet...she is very young and fresh out of college...she almost acts scared....she has never once did a home walk thru, or inspection, she is terrified of my little dog lol...Which I have to lock in the bathroom each time she makes a visit.... so I probably lucked out on that one....I know that there are some more "seasoned" caseworkers who can put families through hell.
I did some research on the FERPA laws and I am thinking of filing a complaint against the school social worker for releasing my childs school records without my consent or knowledge. But I want to wait until this is all over with.
One thing that really bothered me while sitting in the waiting room for the caseworker to come get me and my husband for the meeting..I noticed there was a gentleman sitting there holding two happymeals...and some small toys....a woman walked in with two little girls...they ran to his arms...and were crying "we miss you daddy, thank you for bringing us this stuff daddy, your the best daddy in the world." It broke my heart...huge tears welled up in my eyes...And I could almost see fire shoot out of my hubbys ass. It pissed him off so much.... I had to leave the room...because I didn't want to start crying and ruin my own meeting.....They would have thought I was a nut-job....I have no clue why this man did not have his kids....but it was obvious that they loved and missed their daddy. How can these people live with themselves?
Oh and one more thing that they went over in the meeting was a sheet that had a list of "problems" which my caseworker read over and she would state if any of them applied to my child...none of them applied ...except for the one saying that my child is unable to protect herself... They said it only applied due to her age...But I tried to say that "she knows how to dial 911, she knows what to do in emergency situations, she knows stranger danger, she took safety classes at her school.. etc" and they said it does not matter because she is a child...So, I said..."why do you even have it on this form...wouldn't this apply to ALL children?" but they pretty much ignored me on that one.... My hubby spoke up and said "*I* will protect her..so it's not an issue."....One other thing....My hubby and my daughter have a thing where she sometimes does not call him "daddy" she calls him "bestfriend" ...only when she wants something...like she will say things like "Best friend would you be a sweetie and get me a glass of juice"...it's her way of making him do things...cause she knows she has him wrapped around her finger that way.She is a HUGE daddy's girl..and since she is our youngest he has spoiled her some (we also have two teenagers, who were not even a part of this case).......but one of the caseworkers said that it was not normal for kids to like their parents that much..??????.....Are these people idiots?......I asked her if she had kids and she said "no, but I have nieces and nephews." .....I wanted to tell her "when you squeeze a few out of YOUR vagina, and experience raising a child...THEN you can tell me what is "normal" for a child to do.".....but I bit my tounge and just rolled my eyes. ......
So one more visit on Monday...she is supposed to be bringing the case closure forms...which I will carefully read before signing..and this BS will be over with....meanwhile some child is somewhere REALLY being abused...but they have wasted all of this energy on my 8 yr old child who was a little dirty and smelly once or twice.....The system never ceases to amaze the hell out of me