Let me tell you my experience with CPS.
My stepdaughter married an abuser at age 17 over my objections. I told my wife she was making a huge mistake to allow her daughter to marry the guy. Her reply was that I was just mean and unforgiving because my stepdaughter's boyfriend hadn't hit her for a few weeks so he was now a changed person. ***rolls eyes***
Anyway, after a few years of the marriage of my stepdaughter a few things come out that I was not told about when they happened. Her husband had stabbed my stepdaughter, and later broke the orbital bone in her face by hitting her with a 1/2 gallon stainless steel thermos full of coffee. He would smack her around on a regular basis and had gotten her hooked on opiates by supplying her with contraband opiates he was dealing to deal with the pain of her injuries rather than allowing her to go to the doctor. This was now more than a decade into their marriage and my step daughter was exhibiting all the signs of battered wife syndrome.
I need to back up a bit and give more of the back story. This jackal knocked up my stepdaughter a couple of years before they got married and then talked her into getting an abortion. He drove her to Seattle--took off while both my wife and I were at work--got her into an abortion clinic, aborted the baby and then drove back home the same day. When they got to our place he pushed her out of the car and drove away with her standing there crying. He's just a real prince of a fellow. I wasn't told any of this for a couple of years. My wife wouldn't tell me and neither would my step kids until after my stepdaughter married the jerk.
Now back to more recent times. This guy would eat everything his wife brought home for their kids. He's done stuff like sit down and drink 2 gallons of milk at a setting, bought through WIC funds not his wages, just so his kids couldn't have milk to drink. Today he is a pilot who flies small commercial jets. My stepdaughter works for the Post Office. He spends all his money on himself and she pays all their bills out of her wages from the Post Office. He supplies nothing for his own kids. And his kids absolutely hate him. His only son pulled a hunting rifle on him once when he was smacking my step daughter around and told him to leave or he'd shoot the jerk. At age 10. The jerk left for a couple of weeks because he realized his kid was absolutely serious.
What finally caused my wife to tell me was what happened at the birth of my stepdaughter's last child. She had a bad time with delivery and was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. My wife went up to help her out when she got out of the hospital. Turns out her husband didn't even show up to get her from the hospital. He went to play poker instead. My wife got her daughter to her house and when they walked into the house the smell of dog crap was really strong. The jerk had left his dog inside the entire time she was in the hospital and it had left piles all over the floor. To add insult to that he had ground a bunch of those piles into the carpet to make them even harder to clean up. And, as wood was their only source of heat he had left the woodbox empty and used all the kindling. This was in November in northern Washington and it was down around freezing every night. So, my wife and her physically unfit daughter had to go out and chop wood, make kindling, clean up all the piles of crap and those that were smeared into the carpet.
The jerk showed up hours later knocked his kids around and left. I heard this story two days later and when I did I called CPS. Their response? You weren't there to see it so we aren't even going to go talk to anyone and we could care less about his history of violence. They told me that if I kept pushing them that they would tell this jerk who had turned him in. I told them that was no big deal because I had already told him myself that if he abused his wife and kids anymore I was going to turn him in. Their reply? Oh, you shouldn't do that it might put your life in danger. And that after threatening me that they would tell him who turned him in.
The upshot of it all CPS refused to do anything. They wouldn't even investigate anything. So, the "good that CPS does" is a carefully crafted mythology.
My stepdaughter married an abuser at age 17 over my objections. I told my wife she was making a huge mistake to allow her daughter to marry the guy. Her reply was that I was just mean and unforgiving because my stepdaughter's boyfriend hadn't hit her for a few weeks so he was now a changed person. ***rolls eyes***
Anyway, after a few years of the marriage of my stepdaughter a few things come out that I was not told about when they happened. Her husband had stabbed my stepdaughter, and later broke the orbital bone in her face by hitting her with a 1/2 gallon stainless steel thermos full of coffee. He would smack her around on a regular basis and had gotten her hooked on opiates by supplying her with contraband opiates he was dealing to deal with the pain of her injuries rather than allowing her to go to the doctor. This was now more than a decade into their marriage and my step daughter was exhibiting all the signs of battered wife syndrome.
I need to back up a bit and give more of the back story. This jackal knocked up my stepdaughter a couple of years before they got married and then talked her into getting an abortion. He drove her to Seattle--took off while both my wife and I were at work--got her into an abortion clinic, aborted the baby and then drove back home the same day. When they got to our place he pushed her out of the car and drove away with her standing there crying. He's just a real prince of a fellow. I wasn't told any of this for a couple of years. My wife wouldn't tell me and neither would my step kids until after my stepdaughter married the jerk.
Now back to more recent times. This guy would eat everything his wife brought home for their kids. He's done stuff like sit down and drink 2 gallons of milk at a setting, bought through WIC funds not his wages, just so his kids couldn't have milk to drink. Today he is a pilot who flies small commercial jets. My stepdaughter works for the Post Office. He spends all his money on himself and she pays all their bills out of her wages from the Post Office. He supplies nothing for his own kids. And his kids absolutely hate him. His only son pulled a hunting rifle on him once when he was smacking my step daughter around and told him to leave or he'd shoot the jerk. At age 10. The jerk left for a couple of weeks because he realized his kid was absolutely serious.
What finally caused my wife to tell me was what happened at the birth of my stepdaughter's last child. She had a bad time with delivery and was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. My wife went up to help her out when she got out of the hospital. Turns out her husband didn't even show up to get her from the hospital. He went to play poker instead. My wife got her daughter to her house and when they walked into the house the smell of dog crap was really strong. The jerk had left his dog inside the entire time she was in the hospital and it had left piles all over the floor. To add insult to that he had ground a bunch of those piles into the carpet to make them even harder to clean up. And, as wood was their only source of heat he had left the woodbox empty and used all the kindling. This was in November in northern Washington and it was down around freezing every night. So, my wife and her physically unfit daughter had to go out and chop wood, make kindling, clean up all the piles of crap and those that were smeared into the carpet.
The jerk showed up hours later knocked his kids around and left. I heard this story two days later and when I did I called CPS. Their response? You weren't there to see it so we aren't even going to go talk to anyone and we could care less about his history of violence. They told me that if I kept pushing them that they would tell this jerk who had turned him in. I told them that was no big deal because I had already told him myself that if he abused his wife and kids anymore I was going to turn him in. Their reply? Oh, you shouldn't do that it might put your life in danger. And that after threatening me that they would tell him who turned him in.
The upshot of it all CPS refused to do anything. They wouldn't even investigate anything. So, the "good that CPS does" is a carefully crafted mythology.
