Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
9/26/2011 8:34:00 AM
The purpose of this blog is to provide updates on some of the cases I reported in my book (Fighting CPS: Guilty Until Proven Innocent of Child Protective Services Charges ISBN 9-780-9800061-6-2) that had not been resolved when the book went to press, and to report other cases where CPS is not working up to par. I’d also like to hear about cases in which Child Protective Services did the right thing so those cases can serve as examples of what should be done.
This week I’d like to fill in my readers on the progress of our grandson.
James’ first several seizures came at a time when his language skills were developing. Between what the seizures may have done to his little brain and the trauma of being removed from his parents, he stopped speaking for several months. He began speech/language development therapy during the one year and one month he was in “state” care in our home and continued to have professionals work with him after he was finally back with his parents—where he should have been the entire time.
James was eligible for the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD) because of the speech delay and his medical condition (epilepsy—not child abuse). Last year, as a five year old, he attended PPCD kindergarten, but also went to “regular” kindergarten for an hour each afternoon. Language was no longer the problem—he would jabber constantly—but understanding what he had to say was difficult. It still is sometimes. (If you are used to listening to him and know how he uses words and gestures, and sound effects, he’ll act out the entire Cars movie without missing a scene.) Since he has a summer birthday and is still a bit immature in some ways, his parents and teachers decided that he should repeat kindergarten. He’s now in “regular” kindergarten (with the same teacher he spent an hour with daily last year) and will continue to have speech therapy for articulation.
As I reported in the “Afterward” chapter of the book, he was reluctant to come into our home to visit once he was finally living with Mom and Dad again. It took several months for him to want to be with us. Now, four years later, he’s finally happy to stay with us overnight on occasion. He, his mom, dad and his baby sister spent a week with us this past summer at our cottage in Michigan. James caught a twenty-four-inch northern pike! He and grandpa caught other pike, too. And James helped clean those fish which Grandpa cooked on the grill and we all enjoyed the catch for dinner that night. James experienced walks in the woods, trying to paddle a kayak while sitting in front of Grandma (more with that skill will wait until he’s a bit older) and getting his feet into the really cold water of Lake Superior. Now, back in Houston for the next school year, he’s spent a weekend with us in Houston, too. He’s a huge ball of energy. Grandpa and I are glad to see him (and his baby sister, of course) but tired and ready for him to go home again when his parents return for him.
He’s been seizure free for a year now and his neurologist reports that if he remains seizure free another six months, she will try taking him off his medication.
They say “all’s well that ends well” but it would have been better not to have all the problems. Since no one can change the past, our family looks forward to a bright future.
Post a Comment new!
More Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, May 12, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, April 21, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, April 07, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, March 24, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, March 10, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, February 24, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, February 10, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, January 27, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 14, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, December 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, December 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, November 25, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, November 11, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, October 28, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, September 17, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, September 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, August 26, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, August 12, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, August 12, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, July 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, July 08, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, June 24, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, June 11, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, May 21, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, May 06, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, April 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, April 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, March 26, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, March 12, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, February 27, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, February 13, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Wednesday, February 01, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 16, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, December 19, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, December 12, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, December 05, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 28, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 21, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 14, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 07, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 31, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 24, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 17, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 10, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 03, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, September 26, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, September 19, 2011
|
