I have been afraid to do this for some time. I was in the custody of CPS in Houston, TX when I was a teenager and sustained horrible trauma because of it.
My mother was not abusive Me and my two siblings were placed in CPS care because my mom lost her job and could not support us at all and she felt it was in out best interest. We had been living in a house with no running water or electricity and living off potatoes. Though we did not agree with the decision we understood that it was necessary.
When put into their custody they stripped us of anything that had any symbolistic meaning to us. We were "depersonalized". They put us in different homes after telling my mother we would be kept together, a lie.
They placed me in a home where I was the only Caucasian child and I was abused daily by the other children. The staff did nothing to help me or make the tormentors leave me alone. I went from being a middle class child, to being impoverished, to being abused. My mind could not cope with the abuse and I ran away. The streets were much kinder than the homes they put me in. I thought... Like many runaways I ran into men that were more than willing to look after me for a price. They sold my innocence and abused me in ways that make me cry to this day.
When arrested and jailed (yes, for running away) I told my case worker of the abuse at the home he had put me in yet again and it was ignored. I stayed a week or so in juvinile and then was placed back in the same exact place. That particular facility was called We (e) Care. HA! No thanks. I ran away again and again and they kept putting me back into that place. Then they thought if they placed my sister with me that would keep me there. Not only did they have me to abuse they then also had her to abuse. I was constantly bruised and battered defending her. WE then ran away multiple times and each time it resulted in us being placed back in the same place.
My brother was placed in a partially decent place but they moved him from that home and into another where he was sexually abused and he was so young he couldn't really run away. I didn't know about the abuse he sustained until last year.
The system makes my stomach twist. To this day I cannot enter or pass through that city without crying. I was diagnosed with PTSD after my mother regained custody of us. Yeah, CPS managed to cause a child to be diagnosed with PTSD. That is major and it still affects my life to this day.
If any caseworkers read this then please listen to your wards, please. No child deserves to be abused. Your service is supposed to safeguard children and protect them.
You failed me.
The only caseworkers name I recall (I was bounced around a lot) Is Libia or Lydia Lanz or something like that. I would like to call her and tell her how she helped ruin my life...
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