Texas Child Protective Services -- Putting the lives of two young kids at risk

My sister and brother-in-law decided to pursue adoption after many attempts at natural pregnancy. They began working with CPS when they received two little angels (same mom, different dads) last year in OCT/NOV. The girl was 5 at the time, the boy 2. In their young lives they had already been in the 'system' and had been through 4 previous foster families.

The girl was already traumatized. She had nightmares, bed-wetting issues and had a violent sense of humor. Both her and her little brother had experienced starvation because of the mom's dependance on drugs resulting in sever neglect. Neither father showed an interest in their kids. The boy's father served time in prison for drugs and lives in North Carolina. The mother is in prison.

In the short time the kids lived with my sister and her husband, they blossomed like little trees. They are both doing very well in school, both have learned rules and boundries, both are active in gymnastics, tumbling and soccer. They no longer have the lost, faraway look in their eyes. They laugh, love to be hugged and love to play jokes. They've learned how to love and be loved. They've never been apart.

Over the past several months, my sister and her husband have made all arrangements required to pass the 'home study'. CPS has been very slow, very late in returning inquires my sister has had. My experience, watching all this from my sister's house, leads me to believe CPS doesn't have the most reliable, professional people representing the state. How do you NOT return a phone call or email for several days? How do you NOT be open and honest about what the real situation is for the kids? CPS had told my sister and her husband from the very beginning that in no way whatsoever, would the kids be separated because it would cause trauma in both of them since they are all they've had.

Well, guess what? CPS isn't about 'what's best for the children'. CPS is about, 'how can we close this case and move on'? The kid's mother made a deal with the boys father (through her attorney since she's in jail) that he should take the boy with him to North Carolina. The kid's grandparents failed their home-study (they also live in NC) so the mom decided to get the boy in the hands of his biological father. The boy's father has not applied for a home study because NC doesn't require it...or someother wierd reason, and CPS won't require it because CPS will have to pay. CPS also won't fight to keep the kids in a secure, safe, loving home despite the fact that the father has a history of drugs and is a convicted felon because CPS would have to pay the legal fees.

In short, the boy leaves tomorrow on a 16 hour drive to NC with his so-called father. He is being separated from his only steady strength he's known his entire life-his sister, along with the first real mom and dad he's ever knows including the entire extended families. My sister asked if the boy could at least stay until the weekend so he could have one last weekend with his sister, the judge said 'No, because Mr. has to drive to NC.' So, again, it's NOT about the kids' well-being. So, this man is going on a 16-20 hour road trip with a 3 year old precotious, precious boy and taking him to one of the worst cities for drugs and crime in the U.S, with no home-study required. His sister's fate? We don't know yet. The judge can decide to put her up for adoption.

I want this story on the record because when I see the news about a 3-4 year old boy gone 'missing' or found dead somewhere in NC from abuse and/or neglect and it turns out to be my nephew? I'm taking CPS as high as I can go. If this precious little girl is taken out of this home and put out for adoption like a commodity, and her depression, anxiety, fear, and all the other character quirks that develop from trauma such as she has already experienced, all go untreated or worse ignored? I'm taking this as high as I can go.

CPS is NOT about what's best for the children. They throw up their hands in symbolic defeat rather than roll up their sleeves and fight for the right thing on behalf of these kids. My niece and nephew are not unique, but they are unique to me. CPS sees these types of cases daily, and I am convinced CPS is the reason so many of these cases become cliche and turn into episodes of Law and Order-Special Vicitms Units. Dallas CPS, you know who you are and you know who's lives you're ruining. How can you in good conscience, do NOTHING for my nephew? How can you let the 'system' return him to the man that didn't want him, preferred drugs to him, no home study, no background check, no references, nothing! We may get more integrity if we outsource the people at CPS that clearly have lost touch.

Time will tell, but I suspect my nephew is well on his way down a long, sordid road to NC tomorrow morning. Live with that.

It sucks and there’s way too much of this. However, it’s not always CPS which is at fault. CPS is subject to the orders of courts, and courts have to follow the law. In this case, there is a biological father who is not currently in prison, wants custody of his biological son, and apparently meets the requirements of the state where he resides for taking custody of his son. A court may not have much choice in this situation, and if a court says there is no legal basis for keeping a child out of his natural parent’s custody, then CPS has no choice but to arrange the delivery of the child. I think I’d have a hard time returning phone calls too, if it involved explaining things like this to loving foster parents who want to adopt the child in question. It’s entirely possible that CPS workers weren’t returning phone calls, because they were in the process of desperately trying to convince a court that this was the wrong course of action.

I agree 100%. CPS is not about the kids. Its about closing the case as fast as possible. Its disgusting. We have two foster kids (4y/o girl, 2 y/o boy). Both wonderful kids. The little boy is just precious...affectionate, smart, and a delight. The little girl has some issues but is precious. They have been removed 3 TIMES! And the word from their guardian ad litem is that the mom will likely get them back. Its all about closing the case. Their 27 y/o mom was busted numerous times for drug use (not in prison now though), involved in a wreck with 4 teenage boys...all drunk. So when I see reports of CPS overstepping their bounds and removing kids for no reason I cannot help but be skeptical since what I’ve seen is that CPS will cycle kids in and out of foster care and give the 2,3,4-time losers yet another chance to have the kids murdered at the hands of her latest hook up.

my husband and i adopted two brothers through the system here in California... i must say, we had a totally different experiece than this one posted here... our social workers did everything they could to ensure the brothers would stay together even though they did not know each other... one was a new born the other 5-years old... we were nervous about the whole thing being that the mother really wanted her kids back... she had lost two previous children, but her sister adopted them... CPS tried to work with the sister to adopted our two boys, but realized that as a single woman, she could not take on two more kids... she actually came out and said that she just could not do it, even though her family was pressuring her to do it... (the biological maternal grandmother failed the homestudy)...

so, through our doubts and nervousness about whether or not we were going to actually adopt these two boys, our boys' social worker and our adoption worker assured us that the bio mom was not getting the boys back... and about 18 months later, we legally adopted them... whew! i am not a fan of CPS in general... however, we saw that the workers with whom we were in constant contact really did want what was best for our two boys... i know they have to follow a lot of rules and cross every "t" and dot every "i," and sometimes that was nerve racking... however, much of it is so nothing comes up to haunt us in the future...

My best friend recently went through the process of adopting two great kids. The hoops that he and his wife had to jump through, and the legal contortions that they had to deal with, were amazing.

My favorite was that the children's bedroom window needed to open 20 inches wide - I'm assuming for escape in case of fire. It only opened 19 inches. BIG problem for the bureaucrats.

It should be mentioned here that the house is a A-Frame, kids' bedroom was on the 2nd floor, ~25 (or more) feet off the ground. Interestingly enough, in their state, there is NO requirement for any type of un-rollable ladder, or escape mechanism of any sort.

My friend said to the "inspector"...."So, its perfectly OK for my kids to jump to their death from a window that opens 20 inches wide, but not 19?" That's when he found out that idiot bureaucrats don't have much of a sense of humor.

Fortunately, he had the local fire chief (an eminently sensible person, fortunately) come out, check the window, and write a letter that said their setup was OK. Bureaucrat got to check their "20-inch-window" box off, and everyone was happy.

As an aside, my friend has some sort of escape ladder put in, now. He waited until the "inspection" phase was over, though, so as not to cause any other questions to be asked.

Anything the Gov't touches can be certain to be screwed up.

Unfortunately he is not your nephew and probably never will be. I am sorry for your sister’s loss.

Cases like this are why so many of us adopt from overseas and put up with stupid questions like “Why didn’t you adopt in the US there are many American kids who need homes ... yada..... yada....”

So when I see reports of CPS overstepping their bounds and removing kids for no reason I cannot help but be skeptical

The system is backwards. Too many good parents are punished, while too many bad parents are rewarded.

My parents' druggie neighbors are raising their grandkids and a nephew. They forcibly took at least one away from the mother through the legal system. Yet, they're not any better as parents. The kids are out of control, terrorizing people, vandalizing property, and wandering the streets late at night as young as 4 and 5 years old. Now most of them are teens.

CPS refused to investigate when I called. I was told they will only investigate for claims of severe neglect, physical abuse, or truancy. Anything else (like drugs) is considered a police matter.

So, CPS won't bother investigating for drugs. But, if that so-called "mother" called CPS on me, they would investigate right away because my kids aren't in school during school hours (homeschooled). That's the way the system works, at least in that township.

I’m taking CPS as high as I can go.
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The individual social workers involved should be sued **personally**. They should **personally** lose their homes and bank accounts and other assets.

It might be a good idea for your attorney to write these individuals and educate them about professional malpractice.

If drugs are involved a simple ( and rather inexpensive) drug test should be enough.

Prayers to you & your family, we have personal experience with the head of the Dallas area. We have struck out on all attempts to deal with them.

They are beyond the pale. All good people leave & the bad ones stay & get promoted each time Texas “reforms” (gives them more money).

We worked with a group called Justice for Children. You might see if they can help. National organization, but weren’t much help in Dallas, in Texas they are based in Houston.

I believe there’s a government conspiracy to create and foster societal “failures” (like your drugged-out neighbors and their children)

Sometimes it seems that way. Did I mention they got their house through a HUD-subsidized housing program? The government seems to be in the business of breaking up neighborhoods, too.

Welcome aboard. I’m sorry to hear about what your sister and family are going through. What a shame for this poor little boy. How can he possibly understand at age three why he is being taken and what’s going on? How many law-abiding fathers are denied custody of their children, and then the court handed this child over to a father who has had nothing to do with him? It doesn’t make sense that a CPS in Texas is abiding by NC rules. Maybe a lawyer can halt this process and, at the very least, stall for more time...

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