Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
1/9/2012 9:57:11 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. Occasionally, I will report helpful tips and web sites with advice on fighting CPS.
From mid-sized city and its surrounding rural area comes this story from the opposite end of the age spectrum. It seems that child protective services is not the only social agency with a high failure rate. The family in this case was wrongfully accused of elder abuse!
E’s mother had been in rehab following a stroke in January 2011. E’s daughter (ED) and fiancée (F) were living with their grandmother and step-grandfather (S-Gf) and had been taking care of him while their grandmother was in rehab. S-Gf has second stage of Alzheimer’s. E was taking him to doctor appointments, making sure bills got paid, etc. Most of the finances were at least three months behind and E was trying to make arrangements for the payment of back taxes on the older couple’s home. In late spring of 2011, E found out S-Gf, her step father, had blood and bone cancer, too.
E notified her step father’s sister and his two sons (her step brothers) about cancer, etc. The two adult sons didn’t live that far away but seldom came to visit and apparently didn’t think anything was “wrong” with their dad. They did, however, come up with a plan to clean out the house and take whatever they could get from their dad. July 3, 2011, the two adult sons showed up at their father’s house. E’s mother had just been released from rehab and hadn’t been home a full twenty-four hours. Prior to that day, the adult sons hadn’t been visited since October 2010.
They proceeded to accuse E’s daughter of elder abuse because their father had been losing weight (because of the cancer) and said she had not been feeding him. Adult Protective Services came in—called by S-Gf’s sons. Ed ad F have two-year-old twins and a four-year-old and Ed was pregnant. They were evicted from the home. That left two sick, elderly people alone in house. According to S-Gf’s sons, that would make it better for the elderly parents.
F was arrested first and kept in jail. Ed, close to delivery of her new baby, and the children went to live with E. Four days after the birth of the new baby, Ed was arrested and jailed for elder abuse! After two weeks in jail, with constant pressure to plead guilty, cut a deal and receive probation. They went ahead and pled guilty, even though they were innocent, so they could go home to their children.
Two innocent people spent time in jail: F a month and Ed two weeks. Three young children were traumatized when their parents were forcefully taken away from them. E took care of her grandchildren and endured the trauma of having her own mother removed from her care and placed in a nursing home where she is now prevented from visiting her! Ed and F have had no permanent home since they were evicted from S-Gf’s home. Nothing ever actually went to court.
And the elders? S-Gf doesn’t hear well and does not answer the phone. He has missed several doctor appointments. The sons who started all the hoopla are not willing to take S-Gf to doctor appointments. One of them passes his fathers house nearly every day but never stops—he and his brother have gone back to their previous pattern of not visiting. One of E’s friends who lives near by says the sons only came three times between July and December. E’s mother kept falling and had to be placed in a nursing home confined to wheel chair. She will never walk again. S-Gf is alone at the house now. Someone is supposed to come in (neighbor or friend) to fix him lunch and make sure he takes his various medicines, but they don’t stay long. Hospice is supposed to come out, but apparently stays only thirty minutes or so per day. S-Gf, who had fulltime care from his wife’s family is now mostly alone with his cancer, hearing loss and Alzheimer’s.
Since July 3, neither E, Ed or F have been permitted to see their elders. E isn’t even allowed to visit at her mother’s nursing home. E’s natural father, her mother’s ex-husband, was able to go once, posing as a minister, to tell E how her mother was doing.
E believes the whole affair was malicious intent by S-Gf’s sons (she related that they had never seemed to like her or her mother) to destroy the family. Apparently, they thought they could just walk in and take their Dad’s house. They were never around to know the financial troubles the elderly couple had. They do not know that E had appointment on July 5 to make arrangements for paying back taxes. Because she was unable to keep the appointment, those taxes remain unpaid.
Who is really guilty of elder abuse here? Why did Adult Protective Services in that area never really investigate? How many other families with elderly parents have been caught up in the same craziness of an inefficient social agency?
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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
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