New here, looking to offer support to others

[perfectly_flawed]

My name is Cathy. 7 years ago (will be 8 in May), a manipulative cps worker managed to yank my then 7 year old son out of my home. He was placed, after a 3 month long battle, with my brother who lives 8 hours from me. For 7 very long years I was only able to see my boy for a few weeks each summer and have weekly phone calls. Moving closer wasn't an option as it wouldn't have allowed me any more time with my little man - what I got was what the courts ordered.
The case worker lied, manipulated, and twisted facts to take him from me. His "main" reason was that I hadn't taken my son to the doctor for a follow up after a severe asthma attack that had sent us to the emergency room. No, I didn't take him in. Jacob was taken from me on the 11th of May. His appointment for the follow up was the 14th of May! He then told the courts that Jacob had been seen crossing a busy highway alone - at the same time that he was sitting in the ER with his asthma attach. When questioned, the case worker said "well, I must have written down the wrong date or something". He got away with it. His next accusation was that my son always smelled bad. Yes, he did. He had been abused by his father. The abuse, then separation and move out of the area caused emotional issues. He started messing himself and wetting his bed. If he messed himself at school, instead of helping him to clean up and put clean clothes on, the teacher would call cps about it. The case worker also said Jacob always wore dirty clothes. His clothes were always clean, but as with most 7 year old boys, were often stained or torn. I had just left my husband and moved across the state with 2 children - I couldn't buy new clothing every time one of them tore or stained something.
My other son later chose to leave home because he felt that his mental health issues would make it more difficult to get Jacob back from the state. At 14, 3 months after Jacob was torn away from us, my other child moved in with family near by. I had essentially lost all that mattered to me at that point and became suicidal. I looked for help, and it was later used against me to keep Jacob from returning home. My older son has since gone on to college and is doing really wonderfully for himself. I am very proud of the young man he's become.
After nearly 8 long years and many court appearances, cps evaluations, and fights with this lying SOB of a case worker, a family court judge finally returned my son to me. Now we have a lot more issues to work through. He's angry and in need of counseling, which has been denied to him this entire time. He doesn't know if he should believe that I've done all I could to get him home with me, even after looking through the documents. He wants to "blow up the cps office and court that took me" and he can't sleep for fear that they'll come take him away again. He's literally lost half of his childhood.
Now that my son is home where he belongs I hope to be able to offer at least a shoulder of understanding to others who have had their lives and families ripped apart by these less than humans who call themselves cps case workers.

[SugarCookie1]

hiii.my name is tiffany they took my baby oct 28th because she was a preemie and said I couldnt focus on her medical issues due to my past eating disorder history..hospital psychiatrist saw me 2 hours after birth for 5 min diagnosing me as bipolar and hypo..congrats on your son..im so depressed i dunno what to do im losing my mind: (

[treytrey1]

wow I am very happy you got your son back. Ours were placed in the custody of grandparents and two were not even allowed to see,
all because a therapist said we were bad for the kids. Funny how the other childs therapist didnt say that. We still see the youngest
who lives near us but the other two have since moved to another state. My children are in the subsidized permanent guardianship
with their grandparents, which means while we pay child support the state pays a part to them also. Thank God the department of childrens
services is no longer involved. Hopefully someday we will get ours home too. We do still have to deal with the guardian at litum.
My son also wants to blow up the offices of the cps. He is angry at the courts for taking us away from him. He thinks its not fair
that his little sister gets to see us and he doesnt. Hopefully one day we will be allowed to do family therapy with him which should
have been done all along and that he may get to finally come home.
Again I am so happy to hear you got your son back. If I were you as long as this case is closed I would
move to another state if you can.
Get as far from them as possible.

[LindaJM]

perfectly_flawed - Cathy, what a sad story, but I'm so glad your son has been allowed to live with you again after 7 long years. I know it will be hard to work through issues and teen years are often not easy anyhow. Well, maybe easier for boys than for girls, but still... you two are so lucky to be together again! Congratulations!

You're very welcome here on this message board, if you would like to help others who are attacked by CPS.

...
SugarCookie, you have my greatest sympathy. I know how terrible it is to be depressed over a CPS case. My daughter was a premature infant too, when they took her, and I was extremely depressed for months because of it. It seemed so wrong that she should have still been inside of me when they took her from the hospital ICU and put her in a foster home.

[Daruma]

Perfectly_flawed, thanks so much for sharing your story. I'm glad you got your son back. It's good to know that CPS doesn't always win, although even when they lose they do incredible damage. I hope that with time and counseling, your son will be able to put this behind him. I wish you both all the best.

[perfectly_flawed]

Thanks everyone, for the welcome. Believe me, I'm thankful every second of every day for my son coming home. We have a very long and rough road but we're traveling it together - as we should have been all along.
Sugarcookie, I am so sorry for what's been done to you. My oldest son, now an adult, was also a preemie. I was able to take him home with me only to lose him later to his own very unselfish and loving choices. Even knowing the pain from losing my boys, I can't imagine the nightmare of losing one so tiny and dependent on you. My heart goes out to you!
Treytrey, I will continue to pray that you and other families that have been torn apart find a happy ending like Jacob and I have finally found.