Me and my wife both have two children. One was taken one year ago due to the fact that centerstone reported trivial issues which opened investigations about the care of our first daughter. The first child (a girl with multiple disabilities) was taken from the home with CPS agents. Only my girlfriend and my daughter lived with their grandmother. She didn't have a crib for a few days but the child was taken away depspite the fact that the crib was going to be at the home that morning. The case was transferred from greensburg to north vernon eventually after my girlfriend I got together.
North Vernon spent at least a year or more with the child's case open. We kept saying for months that we wanted to terminate our parental rights VOLUNTARILY! They kept running around telling foster mom everything but. At the end, they started saying that they were going to terminate it involuntarily and we had to say it many times before the lawyer had to step in at court.
We knew if they terminated the first they could automatically take the second child. 3 people and I got arrested In feberuary '09. We only had the child two months. The person that is "supposed" to help us visit the first child (remember we wanted to voluntarily TPR) comes over one day and a few days later a cps agent comes over finding something that she doesn't like that I didn't know that was on the desk. Marijuana Seeds. She asks "what is it" and I didn't know. She says "I know what it looks like." She puts in the child in "In Home CHINS. I can't find this on google. A month or two later she comes on a friday and then she comes the following monday. If she wasn't going to find the smell, I believe that she was going to take the kid anyways. She smells something that smells like Marijuana. Many things smell like it and I was on the computer the whole time. She comes back with a police officer all the sudden after talking with us.
The police said that they couldn't smell the marijuana when they came. They searched the house and said that if we wanted them to get a warrant we'd have to be in handcuffs until they got one. My girlfriend wanted to cut herself with scissors and the officer attempted to use a taser if she didn't do what he said. It wasn't in the report. They arrested 3 of the individuals but me so far. They kept asking me if I knew where anything was. I didn't know anything of course. I didn't want to stop the search and get handcuffed.
I went in the cop car with the officer and I got my charges read to me and he said its going to be a 48 hour period in the jail. I said that i smoked something a month ago and a year or two ago. I didn't inhale it a month ago. They did find paraphernalia and seeds including syringes in the bedroom where my girlfriend and I WEREN'T staying. I didn't know anything about it. How would they know that I smoked at the apartment a month ago or two years ago? I didn't. I didn't even know what they were doing in the bedroom either.
I went to jail 48 hours and when in jail me and girlfriend went to court to see the judge to agree to the boy's CHINS. We got out of jail and had another case worker for the second kid. We moved to my mom and dad's and did visits. We never had in home visits. The previous case allowed us to get transportation to the visits and the foster mom's home for visitation. This case did not and this case does not allows us to do anything although we both are on disability and don't have reliable transportation.
My girlfriend and I went to court for our criminal case and got the same charges but no judge wasn't present. The lawyer and prosecutor was only there. We couldn't talk with the prosecutor or judge but the lawyer was present. It was a plead. One year of probation and 40 hours of community service for a crime I didn't commit and I wasn't involved in. I get major headaches in the sun.
The CASA involved in the case lied to and on the report. She said we shouln't get the kid back although she only spent an hour with me, my girlfriend, and our kid.
Nothing was mentioned in court about what we were doing to get our son back.
After court, the main person involved with DCS decided to take a two week vacation and she has never arrived to check the home to do in home visits. We live in a apartment now that we have had for a month. Nobody from DCS or the homemaker helping us to get our son back showed up. I don't know why the main person at DCS didn't have a replacement for 2 weeks. She is probably very busy since she came back since her voice mail box is full.
Here is the reason that most CPS agents drag their feet in actions that assist the parents, rather than adoptive agencies: The new law provides for states with cash incentives to find permanent homes for children in foster care. A state will receive $4,000 in federal funds for each foster child which exceeds a base number of foster care adoptions in a fiscal year, and an additional $2,000 for special needs adoptions.in fiscal 1998 the base number will be the average of adoptions in the previous 3 fiscal years.in succeeding years through 2002 the base is the number of adoptions of the preceeding fiscal year. States are to use the federal funds to provide post-adoption services to children and families. HHs will provide grants to states and local communities to reach their targets for increased adoptions or alternative permanent placements. (ASFA, 1997)
Http://www.casanet.org/reference/asfa-summary.htm
The casa determines the child's permancy plan.
Anonymous
Seymour, Indiana
U.S.A.
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