Uncle vs. Uncle and a shady social worker

For those concerned about children and parents in CPS cases.

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AliceInBraids
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Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:58 pm

Uncle vs. Uncle and a shady social worker

Postby AliceInBraids » Thu May 12, 2016 4:02 pm

I'll try to make a long story short. My husbands brother is mildly retarded. Much to our surprise he got married 9 years ago (to a woman of average mental ability). He changed his last name to hers which created a huge controversy and he basically stopped coming around and was not in our lives anymore until last summer. He contacted my mother in law and announced that he has 5 children and his wife had abandoned them. Of course we all became involved (cps was already involved). They were living in squalor and we would spend days cleaning, etc however they were ultimately taken from their father in January which is sadly for the best. The children are 7, 6, 6, 4 and 4 (two sets of twins). They were all sent to foster care and my in laws filed for custody of the older 3 while we filed for the younger twins as sadly neither of our households can accommodate 5 children. Their mothers brother filed for all 5. He lives in a 3 bedroom home and also has a newborn and 3 older minors who visit on weekends. My inlaws have a 3 bedroom home and a 14 year old. We have a 2 bedroom and no children. Initially we were granted temporary guardianship of the 4 yr olds, my in laws were granted custody of the 6 yr olds, and the oldest who is severely handicapped went to her other uncle. However we FAILED our home study! The reason we were given is that we did not have adequate room. The 4 yr olds are boy/girl twins and we were told they could not share a room due to lack of "privacy". (The rest of the children are all girls for what its worth). They were sent to live with their other uncle. Simple math tells us he has less room than we do and this was the first time our worker gave him unfair preferential treatment. However we have no experience with this and naively thought it best that as many of the kids be together as possible and we stupidly thought that if he passed his home study it must be okay and what's best for the kids so we withdrew our petition. He has now filed for the older twins as well and it looks like he will be getting them. We have filed for visitation, as have my in laws, and are waiting to hear about a court date for that. In the meantime he will not allow anyone other than their father to see the kids. Father reports to us every time he sees them they are bruised and have smack marks too large to be from each other. One of the 4 year olds even had a black eye. When questioned the child said the uncles girlfriend (who is 21, uncle is 44 and girlfriend has an older child in cps care) hit him. Our social worker seems to think nothing of this and blows us off when we report it to her. Social worker is supposed to visit my in laws twice a month and some months its only once, last month she did not go at all. Uncle does not facilitate visits between all the siblings and social worker does not care. Also now we advised father to take pictures of the childrens bruises and were told uncle has a new rule of no cell phones allowed in his home!! Also father overheard social worker suggesting ways to uncle that he could make room for the 6 year olds. We are at the end of our ropes and desperate for advice. Should we refile for custody? Even though she failed our home study? Is there any way to get a different worker? Or do you have any advice at all? Also should mention my husband has an aunt who is very experienced working with and raising handicapped children and would lile to file for the oldest child but i havent spoken to her directly and not sure exactly whats going on with that but we would like all the children placed with our side of the family so they can be raised as siblings to the fullest extent possible. We made this clear from the beginning but social worker told us it basically didnt matter as long as each set of twins was kept together. Sorry so long. Thanks in advance for any help anyone may be able to provide. I'm sure I'm forgetting a million details but the major issues are all here.

AliceInBraids
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:58 pm

Re: Uncle vs. Uncle and a shady social worker

Postby AliceInBraids » Thu May 12, 2016 4:11 pm

I should add our petition was withdrawn without prejudice and the official reason listed was that we could not provide a home for as many of the children as their uncle could and we felt it was in their best interest to be together. Obviously we didn't know they would be abused or kept from their sisters, grandparents, and us.

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LindaJM
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Re: Uncle vs. Uncle and a shady social worker

Postby LindaJM » Sat May 28, 2016 11:13 am

I would definitely refile the petition, and maybe even look for a larger home. The social worker probably thought the uncle had more room because the 4yo boy could sleep in his room and the girl get the second bedroom.

Do you have an attorney helping you?

I agree, the children should have access to all relatives and each other. If CPS can't handle this maybe the judge at family court would help, if CPS closes the case without taking care of visitation issues.
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Please keep in mind that none of us are lawyers and we can't give legal advice. We are simply telling you what we would do in a similar situation. It is to your advantage to get a lawyer.

"Evil flourishes when good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke ... so try to do something to change the system ...

AliceInBraids
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:58 pm

Re: Uncle vs. Uncle and a shady social worker

Postby AliceInBraids » Sun May 29, 2016 8:34 am

Thank you for your reply. We have refiled and currently have an application pending for a court appointed lawyer and are looking for a larger home. In the meantime we have discovered their uncle has a man living in the home with the children who is not legally allowed to be around the children due to being arrested previously for touching a young girl. This information came from the fathers lawyer and we are having difficulty proving that the man lives with them as its not his official address but we know (through hearsay, unfortunately) that he not only lives there but babysits the children. Hoping and praying our lawyer, when we get one, will help.


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