One of my favorite quotes, by Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt in 1910 at the Sorbonne in Paris

Friday, September 2, 2011

Child protective services?

I have a niece that lives with her father (my sister died when she was young) who is constantly drunk and broke. They live in a trailer on some land about twenty minutes outside of town. He has a criminal record for drunk driving, doesn't pay his property taxes, gambles what little money he makes, neglects his daughter, lets the utilities get turned off, etc, etc. My niece even told her teachers at school about it, and they called child protective services, which have been contacted numerous times already about the situation. They sent him a subpena to appear in court twice, he no-showed both times, so the case is dropped, because  they can't be sure he got the notices, because he doesn't answer the door when they deliver them. It's starting to sound like child protective service is another oxymoron.

I know there are horror stories about what happens to kids that are taken from their parents too, and where they could end up, especially since she is about to turn fourteen. But she has family that is more than willing to take her, if allowed to. In fact, my father spent tens of thousands trying to get custody of her just before my sister died, but no one wanted to support him at the time, so he lost.


Anyway, does this matter?
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2 comments:

  1. navaSeptember 3, 2011 at 10:05 PM

    I am currently working on becoming a certified foster parent, and we found out that yes, those horror stories are true, but they are also such a small percentage of cases that, while they should not ever happen, we get a skewed, scary version of the reality.

    Second, at that age, she can choose to remove herself from the situation. She can choose to go to family, or even friends, and if her father lists her as a runaway she can petition the court to either grant her independence or at least grant her the right to remain with someone else. based on what you said, her testimony and others' would make this a very easy case, if it even wound up getting that far.

    I just hope she knows there are people, both family like yourself and absolute strangers like myself, that care for and want the best for her, and she can ask for and receive help.

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  2. The CriticSeptember 4, 2011 at 5:23 PM

    Thank you Nava for taking the time to comment. You're my first! We had heard about her possibly having a choice, but reading about it online, it sounds like she can petition, but it is still up to a judge. We think it would be a no brainer too, but we all live at least half an hour from her, so I think she is more concerned about losing her friends, then making a change for the better in her life. So she obviously doesn't no any better herself. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

    From what little I got to read so far on your blog, you seem like my kind of people. So I think you will make great foster parents. Best of luck with it.

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