So I have a distant family friend who is expecting. her and her boyfriend live in a very rundown house that was given to him by his mother. Both their parents have passed. they are barely scraping by themselves so I have been getting any and everything baby related for them trying to help make it easier and offered to come help clean to get the house ready. I knew they were dirty but this past weekend I went over to clean and it was absolutely horrible. there is a horrible mice and roach infestation. no one cleans at all. there were maggots in the sink dishes, mouse poop covering the floor, either urine filled water bottles on the floor or they grew so much bacteria it turned yellow, it took me over an hour just to sweep the kitchen. on top of that.. they let people move in that don’t have jobs or contribute with 3 children, the couple refuses to leave and they have no money to evict them and this couples children had been smearing poop on the walls. everyone in the house blames it on the others and says they clean but no one else does. I am extremely concerned about this baby being born in October and going to that home. I’m not sure what to do about it or who to call. the mom also has another daughter but her dad has custody of her. the ac is broken in the house. you can’t even access the bathroom because it’s full of stuff. the house smells like decay. literally like when you go to dissect a frog in science class. When I went to clean I didn’t even touch the surface of it. I asked for them to prep and do laundry ahead of time and that wasn’t done and they weren’t much help. I also worry because the mom has always had a habit of sleeping all day and the dad works and plays video games. the dad is diagnosed autistic. I worry aside from the filth, that the baby will spend most of his time confined to one room not having his needs met or they will be feeding him from dirty bottles and I don’t even want to think about when he starts putting everything in his mouth. If anyone has known someone in this situation or what steps to take, I would seriously appreciate the input because I’m very worried and the baby will be here in a month and a half

I HATE THIS SYSTEM. Ohio CPS is a literal joke. I have a whole book I am ready to type and honestly I really need to let it out somewhere, because I am feeling nothing but rage, hatred towards the system and myself, and I feel defeated. I can’t give up, but I feel like I’m against a pack of wolves at this point, and I am crumbling. I struggle heavy with my mental health lately. I’m glad I’m getting IOP, as I have a lot of trauma, but this sh*t is too heavy, man.

For starters and disclaimer, I DID take a supplement for my sciatica that was marketing all natural. Unfortunately, my dumbass took something that wasn’t FDA approved (I told my doctor what I was taking- it was marketed as all natural cats claw and helps with nerve pain and such). Fuck. It had kratom in it. I didn’t even know what the hell kratom was. Baby was born with it in his system. He had withdrawals. It was horrible to see, and he still has a little bit of effects. I feel terrible. The withdrawals were almost unbearable for me, so watching my premie go through it makes me want to vomit typing this. I take full accountability for my choice and I thank god/the universe, whatever, that he is doing okay.

I’m seperated from my home and it’s been a long 45 something days. Couch surfing, trying to find work while doing random drug screens, intensive outpatient for my mental health (I had an acute and sudden suicide attempt in the beginning of this because it started off as hell right off rip. I thought my life was over and I lost my family forever). So I’m actually happy about the IOP. I need it. Also trying to balance my four hour daily visits, scheduling them with a third party (family/friends), when we don’t have much support. So many other hoops, and my husband is about to lose his job of 10 years because he gets up at 4 am for work. No daycare would be open. This is a nightmare and I feel lost.

My caseworker was biased. She demanded I get one hour visits once a week. My attorney pulled through, and I got four hour visits daily right off rip. My husband had kinship rights of my daughter, and has my son at home.

My two older kids that I share with my abusive ex, that I have an out of state DV CPO against (he lives in FL), were sent to him. Our parenting plan was over ridden by CPS, and they handed off my kids to this man, whom has a past with cocaine and other drug use. He was so happy this happened to me, and has been harassing me on our court ordered parenting app. The night before the exchange, he was sending erratic texts at 3-4 am saying just off the wall stuff. My husband and I emailed the biased intake worker about our concerns and her reply was “he’s just tired, the man works a lot.” He wasn’t swabbed, no questions asked, just forced us to hand him my two older kids. My two year old (3rd child) is biologically his, and he won’t claim her because she was conceived by abuse, and he had a GF at the time that is now his fiancée. This was at the start of all of this at the end of July.

Moving forward and making this post shorter…. My mother, whom is an alcoholic, abusive as hell, and my brother and I were taken by CPS when I was a junior in highschool and we went and lived with my father. We had a DV CPO against her and she wasn’t able to see us at all for a year, and then finally we were forced to see her at a visitation center. This woman quite literally ruined my life and traumatized me in ways I don’t want to share. This includes me always being her target, I had my door knob switched so the lock was on the outside. One time she locked me in my room when I got home from school on a Friday, wouldn’t let me out until school on Monday. I had to pee and poop in my trash can and I got my ass handed to me for that, too. She knew that my uncle was SA’ing me between the age of 5 years old to 9 years old, and gaslit me my whole life saying it was actually my father. I didn’t start recalling memories until I got flashbacks when I was 15/16.

In 2024, she was arrested for assaulting me while drunk in front of all of my children. My brother lives with her, and they both battered me in front of my kids. Somehow, because she has more money than god, she got it expunged. As did my bother.

Fast forward, my mother accused my husband of doing kratom. Wtf. wtf. WTF. They took my two year old from him, and asked him to go for a hair follicle test. He abided and went, and he wasn’t in their system, so he left. They took this as a PRESUMED POSITIVE. This was effing ADMIN error. He goes back, they still can’t find him in the system, but eventually did. The agency spelled his name wrong. He did his test, everything came back clean, but the agency forgot to order a KRATOM test. The lab had a sample of his hair still, and we are waiting on the results. It’s been over a week since my toddler was put into temporary foster care.

Yesterday I had my hearing to get another CPO against my mother. I didn’t have great admissible evidence, and was pro se. I had arrest records and my old CPO as a child. I wasn’t prepared, I didn’t know how to supeona (spelling?) witnesses or videos. I walked into the court with shit ass evidence. I couldn’t afford my attorney. I looked at the list of people signing in, I saw my mother, brother, two of her attorneys, MY INTAKE CASE WORKER, and another CPS person. Maybe a lawyer? Idk. I walked out of the courthouse hyperventilating and didn’t do my hearing. I would have walked into a pack of wolves waiting to swallow me up. I went to the clerk and I’m gonna try and get another hearing when I can hire an attorney. I wish I went in anyway. I got scared, had a panic attack, and left. I’m stupid.

TODAY. Oh my god today. I get a phone call at almost 5 pm from my newbie, young case worker that had some news for me. My MOTHER is my two year olds temporary kinship care taker. I am at a loss of words still. It doesn’t feel real. How? My intake worker specifically did research after we told her about my mother’s history in the beginning of this, and she advised we call the police if she comes anywhere near the kids. She has my daughter. I am raising hell. I was numb all day. I need advice maybe, or maybe I just needed to type a book. Maybe someone will read this. Idk. I’m not okay. This doesn’t feel real. Everyone’s roaring, and I have sat and stared at the wall all day. I’m so tired. 3/4 of my children are with my two abusers. I feel like I’ve lost. My mother has the money, my abusive ex has money. We’re fucked and rent is due. Idk. If anyone has anything to say, amazing. Even if it’s harsh. I have thick skin, but man, this is… this is the hardest battle I’ve ever faced. How the fuck am I gonna get through this? I want to roar with the rest of my family and friends blowing up the supervisors (I’ve emailed as well), but I’m tired. I’m gonna try and sleep and hopefully tomorrow I’m ready to fight again and sit in that office until I speak to absolutely everyone and bring in all my evidence I have. I fucking hate this agency. Sorry I’m done.

I need advice regarding my niece's adoption and concerns about DCF favoritism/discrimination

This is a long and complicated situation, so I'll try to explain it as clearly as possible.

My older sister (37F) has four children by four different fathers. Unfortunately, she has struggled with drugs and instability for most of her adult life. Two of her children were removed from her custody approximately 15 years ago. One was placed with their biological father, and the other was adopted through the foster care system.

She later had two daughters, who I'll call Puyi (13F) and Kimi (12F).

When Puyi was younger, my sister was using drugs with Puyi's biological father. Puyi developed some mental and health issues during that time. Eventually, my sister left him and later became involved with Kimi's father. For several years, it appeared that they had gotten their lives together.

About seven years later, both my sister and Kimi's father began using drugs again. Law enforcement became involved, and my husband and I were given temporary custody of both girls for approximately two months.

At the time, we informed DCF that we could not provide permanent placement because we were scheduled to move out of Kansas within four months. The girls were eventually returned to their parents.

Afterward, Kimi's father went to prison, and my sister fled with the girls. She traveled with them through Texas and Florida before eventually returning to Kansas. At one point, she left the girls with Puyi's paternal grandparents, who cared for them for approximately four months before my sister returned.

DCF eventually became involved again and placed both girls with Puyi's paternal grandparents. They have remained there for the last four years.

Since then:

Kimi's father remains incarcerated and has voluntarily terminated his parental rights.

My sister has lost her parental rights to both girls.

Puyi's father has regained custody of Puyi.

Kimi is now eligible for adoption.

My concern is that I feel like DCF has treated members of my family differently than other foster families.

My younger sister, "Alice" (29F), is a licensed foster parent. She previously cared for both girls for approximately six months before they were returned to Puyi's grandparents. The caseworker told Alice that she did not have sufficient resources to care for the girls long-term.

However, Alice has other long-term foster placements, and those children's caseworkers have told her that her home and resources are completely adequate. I don't understand how she can be considered capable of caring for other children but not considered capable of adopting or permanently caring for her own nieces.

My husband and I also decided to move back to Kansas when we learned that Kimi might become eligible for adoption. Unfortunately, the timing was terrible. I found out I was pregnant while we were preparing to move from Washington State to Kansas, and I lost my job during that transition. We've had an extremely difficult year financially.

We have since completed the background checks, fingerprints, and health assessments required for adoption. We were told that we passed "with reservations" because my husband has a juvenile criminal record and our income is currently low.

Since then, the caseworkers have largely stopped returning our calls.

What concerns me even more is that they appear to be encouraging Puyi's paternal grandparents to adopt or permanently keep Kimi. The grandparents have said themselves that they are getting older and did not expect to be raising children again. They are both in their late seventies.

I want to be clear: I am not saying the grandparents are bad people. They have cared for my nieces for years, and I am incredibly grateful for what they have done. But Kimi is 12 years old, and I worry about what happens as they continue aging. My husband and I are younger and genuinely want to raise her as part of our family.

Financially, things would be tight for us, but we are willing and able to make it work. We already have children and understand what raising a child requires. Most importantly, Kimi is my niece, and I love her.

At this point, I don't know what to do because DCF/caseworkers are barely communicating with us.

My questions are:

Does our family relationship to Kimi give us any preference or rights when she is being considered for adoption?

Can DCF reject a relative placement primarily because of income, even if the home otherwise passes background checks and assessments?

Does my husband's juvenile criminal history permanently disqualify us, or is that evaluated individually?

Is it normal for different caseworkers to give conflicting assessments of a foster parent's resources?

What can we do if the caseworkers stop communicating with us?

Should we contact a supervisor, attorney, guardian ad litem, CASA, or someone else?

I understand that DCF's priority should be what is best for Kimi, and I agree with that completely. I'm not asking for special treatment simply because I'm family. I just want to understand whether we're actually being fairly considered as a potential placement.

Any advice from foster parents, social workers, attorneys, or people who have dealt with kinship adoption would be greatly appreciated.

​

I really want to get my 5 month old son and myself out of what I believe is a toxic and potentially unsafe environment, but I am not sure what steps I should take. I am increasingly concerned about my son's safety and well-being when he is in my wife's care. My wife began becoming verbally and emotionally abusive a couple of years into our relationship, and the behavior has progressively gotten worse. Both me and my 13 year old stepson have to walk on eggshells around her because the smallest of inconveniences can cause her to become extremely angry. She frequently yells, curses, and becomes confrontational when things do not happen the way she wants or within the timeframe she expects. The situation has become serious enough that I began documenting some of her outbursts a few months ago. I have hours of audio recordings of her verbal outbursts, as well as text messages.

My wife and I currently take turns caring for our son during the night. Whoever is responsible for the baby sleeps in the bedroom/nursery while the other person sleeps in the guest bedroom. Our son sometimes sleeps for longer stretches, but he also goes through periods where he wakes several times throughout the night. On multiple occasions, I have heard my son crying sometimes up to an hour. There have also been nights when this happened multiple times. On at least one occasion, he cried for so long that his voice was noticeably hoarse the following morning. A couple of nights ago, my wife was caring for him. After he had been crying for 30 minutes, I went into the room and found her playing on her phone while he was crying. I asked if he was okay and if she was going to get him. She responded:

"I have been fucking holding him for almost 2hrs and he started crying as soon as I put him back down. He can cry and will be alright." I picked him up and brought him to bed with me. This of course pissed her off. I understand that babies eventually need to learn to self-soothe and that some amount of crying is normal. However, he isn't there yet obviously and she is trying to force him. I can't fathom how she can she can play on her phone with him lying there crying in the dark, wondering why no one is coming to get him. She has no patience for me or my stepson so I'm concerned for my son when I'm not home.

One day last week, I came home during my lunch break to eat and spend some time with my son. My wife told me that he had rolled out of his swing earlier that morning and bumped his head. Thankfully, the swing is only around a foot off the ground, and he appeared to be okay other than having a noticeable bump on his head.

I understand accidents happen, however, my son had already been able to roll over independently for approximately two weeks so I don't know why she didn't strap him in. I didnt push the issue because questioning my wife about anything results in her becoming defensive and angry rather than having a calm discussion about what happened.

Later that evening while I was getting him ready for a bath, he had an unusual gasping episode while lying flat on his back. For 3-4 seconds, it appeared to me that he was having difficulty getting enough air. He had a couple more of these episodes before bedtime. My wife told me that he was simply making new noises and that babies make strange noises all the time. I found that ridiculous and told her I believed he should be seen by his pediatrician the following morning, especially since she was off work. She became defensive and insisted that he was fine. I did not want to escalate the argument, so I decided that if she would not take him, I would take time off work and take him myself. Part of my concern was that I felt she might be reluctant to take him to the pediatrician because she would potentially have to explain the circumstances surrounding the bump on his head.

My stepson had to start therapy a few months ago because he admitted to a teacher he was having suicidal thoughts and had been cutting himself. She has never shown him any sort of affection or positive support. Just scolding when he doesn't do something up to her high expectations. 

I'm worried if I attempt to divorce her, the proof I have of her abuse won't be enough and she'd end up getting more custody time, especially since he's only 5 months. She is so spiteful I know she would lie and start a smear campaign to punish me at all costs. She will do anything to get her way. She also makes more money than me so she would be able to afford a better lawyer. 

Is there anything I can do? Do I wait until he's a little older? What if she tries to start the divorce?

Hi everyone. I’m in Texas and have a CPS “COS compliance” hearing coming up. I’m looking for honest advice from people familiar with Texas CPS/Chapter 264 cases because I genuinely don’t know what I’m walking into.

CPS originally got involved after repeated fighting/domestic issues between my husband and me. Police had already warned my husband that if he called again CPS would likely get involved, he called again, and eventually CPS filed for court-ordered services. The kids were never physically harmed, although obviously they were exposed to fighting between us.

I was cooperative with CPS in the beginning. I communicated with workers and tried to participate. My husband later became very combative with one of the workers, the case escalated to legal, and around that same time my life completely unraveled.

One thing I want to make clear: the serious drug/alcohol problems came later. My substance use was not what originally caused the December CPS call. Over the months afterward, while dealing with domestic violence, a failing marriage, mental-health issues, working constantly, financial problems, and eventually losing my job and insurance, my alcohol/drug use escalated badly. I basically shut down.
That is why I’m now attending AA and almost 30 days sober. I’m not saying any of that excuses my noncompliance. I’m explaining how I went from actively cooperating with CPS to avoiding everything.

I also lost trust in how the case was being handled because I disputed several things in the CPS affidavit and was getting inconsistent information. I have emails/texts from early on where I was asking questions and pointing out inaccuracies.

One example that really upset me: my husband legally adopted my now 10-year-old daughter years ago and her biological father’s parental rights were terminated. He hadn’t seen her since she was an infant. CPS still tried to contact him, and a worker actually brought him up in our home while my daughter was there. She didn’t know about him yet, so we ended up having to explain that part of her history to her during this mess instead of when/how we had planned.

But the biggest issue now is this:
I didn’t complete the court-ordered services.

I never completed the urine/hair drug testing. I completed a couple parenting sessions and started AA, but I didn’t finish the parenting program or the domestic-violence assessment. I also haven’t started a formal IOP yet. IOP wasn’t listed in the order I have, but CPS has apparently been telling my husband I need treatment.

Yesterday I finally spoke with my court-appointed attorney, who has been extremely difficult to get ahold of. She told me my husband is basically “in the clear” now and that this hearing is about my compliance. She asked for proof of my drug testing, DV assessment, parenting course, weekly CPS contact, etc., and I obviously don’t have most of that.

Communication with CPS has also been a mess. One later worker mostly stopped communicating with me and dealt with my husband instead. I have messages showing me asking for clarification, supervisors, and explanations of what exactly I was supposed to be doing.

There are also court issues I genuinely don’t understand. I was never personally served at the beginning, and one hearing was reset after my attorney told the judge that. I refused to sign an earlier proposed “agreed” order because I disputed the findings. There is now a later signed order, but it contains confusing/impossible dates, and some of the drug/alcohol assessment and continued-testing language appears conditional on the initial test being positive. I never took the initial test.

There was also a later CPS safety plan talking about supervision/contact restrictions that neither my husband nor I signed. The children have never been removed.

So I need advice on what actually happens next.
What is the most realistic outcome at a compliance hearing when the parent admits they didn’t complete major parts of the order?

Could the judge:
order me to test immediately?
treat the missed test as positive?
give me new deadlines or extend the case?
require treatment/IOP or more testing?
order supervised contact or tell me I can’t be alone with my kids?
make me leave the house?
hold me in contempt or jail me?

And what should I do before the hearing?
I can bring proof of AA/sobriety, the parenting sessions I completed, attempts to arrange IOP/therapy, job/insurance loss, and texts/emails showing me repeatedly asking CPS questions and disputing inaccuracies.

If the judge asks why I didn’t comply, is it better to keep it simple and own it?

Something like:
“I didn’t complete everything I was ordered to do. I understand that was serious. My life deteriorated badly, my substance use escalated, and I shut down instead of handling it. I’m sober now, attending AA, and ready to test and complete whatever services the court requires.”

Or could saying too much hurt me?

I’m not trying to get out of services anymore. I want to know what I need to do, do it, stay sober, and get this case closed.

Please don’t sugarcoat it. What is the realistic worst-case outcome at this hearing, and what is the most likely outcome?

TL;DR: Texas CPS compliance hearing coming up. I was cooperative early on, but my life and substance use spiraled later and I failed to complete the urine/hair testing, DV assessment, and full parenting program. I’m almost 30 days sober now and attending AA. Kids have never been removed. My attorney says my husband is “in the clear” and the hearing is about my noncompliance. I need to know what realistically happens at the hearing, what I should bring/say, and whether supervised contact, immediate testing, contempt/jail, treatment, or just new deadlines are likely.

Thank you, all.

I have a friend who is currently in an abusive household. They are being abused by a parent and live with people who support that abuse. This has been going on for a long time. Recently, they bought something that their parent didn't like and as a result got in an argument with the parent. They have bruises from being hit by their parent that they took pictures of and have documented voice evidence of their siblings in the house admitting that the parent hit them and that they support the parent in that. The parent have even threatened to break my friends legs. My friend contacted the authorities and escaped to a neighbor's house. The cops showed up and my friend showed them the evidence. It ended up not working out and the police didn't believe that my friend was being abused. The cops said that it's okay for parents to discipline their kids to some degree and even told them that I was brainwashimg my friend because I told them to call the cops. My friend was sent back to their house and has said that their family was acting surprisingly nice and calm. They are scared for their life right now as they think there is a huge chance they might be sent back to their home country where they could never get help or any type of freedom again. This was the first time my friend has contacted the authorities but it is not the first time they have been hit and yelled at for minor things. My friend is in a low state mentally and has confessed to me that they are considering k!lling themselves. I don't know what to do or how to help them. We live in NY state. We are both under 18 and can't do much. I'm really scared for their safety and I want advice for what they could do since the police didn't help them.

Hi, im mom. My daughter confided in me about her uncle performing oral on her. I believe my daughter but her dad doesnt. I filed a report and im sure cps will be getting involved but what else can I do for her? She will be doing video visits with her dad and im not sure if its appropriate to tell her dad he cant bring up what happened to try to get her to recant or manipulate her. Her uncle is my ex husbands brother and he raped my ex husband. So basically my ex allowed a sexual predator around the kids and now our girl is a victim too. I really dont know what to do or how to support her. I want to protect her but im also scared to be held in contempt of court.

I have a child that I’ve been contacting CPS for the state of Maryland but to know avail, NOTHING and I mean NOTHING is being done. This child is literally about to turn three and cannot walk and the mother is in denial. Does the CPS not care about disabled children and medical neglect? Would I have to contact another department?

Edit to add, thank you for the replies, I'm calling CPS, talked to my oldest nephew today and he told me they barely had any food for days now, also unfortunately my SIL got violent with him.

For context: we live overseas

My my husband has 5 siblings, they all live within 20 miles of each but don't really have a great relationship with each other, all of them have a good relationship with my husband tho.

His oldest sister had a dr@g problem many years ago, got clean and took part in a substitute program. She then married and had 3 children, her kids are 12, 9 and 8 now. Because we don't live there we only have contact through FaceTime and phone calls, last visit was fall 24, everything seemed fine then.

Over the last few weeks several friends called my husband voicing concerns because they seen his sister and she looked "rough" , the kids looked not well taken care of etc. We attempted to talk to her, she dismissed us , she basically cut contact with everyone in the family.

We found out that she got kicked out of the place that she's doing the substitute program through, for repeatedly failing the drug screen.

Her children went to school on the first day back, dirty, without supplies etc and she showed up at my husband's other sisters work place intoxicated asking for substitute meds.

Her husband is no help hes basically spending his days playing video games.

Obviously I'm extremely concerned about the children and I want to get cps involved asap. The other siblings agree something needs to be done but are hesitant because they say there is no proof that we can present cps other than our words so they are not willing to contact them.

Advice?

Now I’m not 100% sure but my gut says that because my ex lives in the same park as me ( I had no idea he did, anyway I had safety concerns with his driving I had recently complained to the owners about. I know for a fact he and his gf are petty. I had a history of partying with him back when we were together, and used to take part in somethings I no longer do. The complaint came in stating my oldest son moved back in recently (yes) we live in a fifth wheel it’s crowded but it’s clean and it’s home! The worker also said there was a concern of substance use. I laughed because I’ve been sober for years. Anyway I have no issue them coming out for a home visit, my question is what should I expect. My home is clean there is food. My son is in between adult age 18 and my daughter I have scheduled every other weekend. So she’s not with me full time. She has a bunk in the back I she the loft space and her brother sleeps on the couch that is actually the old table bench. We make it work.

my parents are emotionally abusive and I NEED out I can’t live with them anymore, im thinking about contacting cps. there have been times where I have been genuinely scared of my parents, this doesn’t really count as physical abuse but my mom has grabbed my arm to trap me when I was trying to leave before (not for any good reason) and has multiple times done things like play with my hair when repeatedly asked to stop. They have traumatized me too the point of causing multiple sh instances and constant anxiety in my own house. Should I call cps?

My mom is disgusting.

I’m a 18-year-old girl, and I need your help deciding whether to call Child Protective Services (CPS). My mom, my two younger siblings (7 and 9 years old), and I all live in a filthy and disgusting garage. None of this is my fault or my doing. My mom sleeps with my little sister on her twin bed every night, leaving the edge of the bed for my sister. The room is filled with old food and dishes and literally garbage. I could easily clean up after them, but it’s not easy when you live with people who throw things on the floor and walk away. I’ve been begging my mom for months to get her act together and fix the mess, but she instead calls me disgusting and disrespectful names (calling me a whore, bitch, cunt, etc. She even says those things to my siblings. She even threatens to punch them and kill them in the mornings if they don’t get up and get ready for school. Unfortunately, I don’t have any evidence of these threats. All I have is the disgusting room that roaches crawl on my siblings in their sleep. My mom has no part in being a parent. My grandmother, who owns the house, keeps the rest of the house clean and feeds my siblings delicious homemade meals while my mom sleeps 24 hours a day. And I’m not exaggerating; she really does. My stepdad just ignores all these problems and says we have to just ignore how my mom treats everyone. But she’s been this way for more than 10 years, and I can’t just keep holding back anymore. The only privacy I had was curtains on my bed ( me and my sister share a bunk bed I am on top) but my mom has even stolen those from me because she knows that’s my only private space I had. My mom is also vary pregnant and we do not have a space for that baby. It gets extremely hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter living in a garage. That baby will not make it. Might I add my mom also smoked cigarettes for half the pregnancy after trying to hide it from the whole family. Please help me decide if calling CPS will help us.

UPDATE I WILL BE CALLING CPS

Hi, I'm Nikki and I'm 16. I believe I'm currently being abused at home.
I have little to no access to coping at home and no access to coping when outside of my house like at work, little to no privacy or moments where I can be alone. I have been completely dismissed by cps and they have also told my parents that they have done no wrong.
In the past year my parents have started using the excuse that I've been aggressive to hit me or restrain me, even when I was being aggressive or harmful to myself or others, excessive force was used. My parents have tried ripping my clothing off to get to my cell phone.
Recently I have been lashing out due to the fact I have no access to any of my support( such as friends or 988) and have not learned how to properly apply ways of coping. I'm starting to lose hope and I'm running out of ways to get help.

My daughters best friend of 30 years had her daughter placed in foster care almost 6 months ago. The dad inflicted corporal punishment on the then 14 year old daughter due to things discovered on her phone.

They have cooperated fully and have done everything asked of them. The social worker even has told them they had been everything and that the next court date he was recommending reunification period to begin.

A few weeks later social worker informed them their daughter was not participating in her counseling sessions and she was exhibiting the same behavior that had caused the father to act in the matter he did. July 17 the mom received a call from one of daughter friends stating daughter ( 15 now) had ran away from foster home. They then found out this was the 6th time she had ran away. They were never told at all. She has yet to be located

My question is the parents have court date still of September 17. They are continuing to show to the visit spot every week at time of visit, continue with anger management, parenting and counseling sessions even though they have completed the court order ones. What should they expect on their court date.

The daughter is with a 20 something male, living in his car posting pictures of d:/g us This all started when mom discovered messages with said male indicated plans to run away from home, smoking substances other than nicotine, and sending explicit nude photos. Mom took phone daughter became physical so dad inflicted corporal punishment.

Thank you for any response

I live in Indiana.

I have a neighbor(he is the other side of my duplex) who has a 17 year old daughter who has sought me out twice now for help. 9 months ago she came over crying and shaking bc her dad hit her and was threatening to kick her out. I went through the options I had at the time and I ended up calling and making a report to CPS giving them all the details she gave me, including withholding medical care for her(she stated she had mental health issues he was refusing to get her treatment for). CPS came and did a visit, decided to not do anything, and closed the case. She said she was pressured to lie to the person by her father who was apparently in the room and hovering over the CPS worker.

Fast forward to today. She has come by again seeking help. I asked how soon she turns 18(which is in March) and if she had any blood relatives that could take her in ASAP. She said they all live over two hours away. I'm honestly not sure what else to do other than try to get her emancipated, but with her being so close to 18 it might be a moot point. Her dad is threatening to kick her out again.

Is there any advice anyone can give about how to help her? Her father will absolutely look for her here so bringing her in isn't an option.

My wife and I called in a cps report about our nephew last week because we believe he is being neglected. The way cps is responding to us has us confused and worried. I’m going to try and leave details out because of the nature of the case and I’m hoping you guys can help us understand if we’ve done something wrong. So my wife has two brothers and they each had a baby with two best friends. We’ll call them Jane and darcy. We are very close to Jane and our niece, we talk everyday and hang out with them as often as we can. It’s important to note that we live about an hour and a half away from both parties. Jane is a wonderful and caring mother. Darcy on the other had is a less so. She is very secluded from the entire family and pretty much only talks to Jane. So a lot of information we get about the situation we receive from Jane who we trust whole heartedly. But we have been seeing more of our nephew as of late and it’s been raising a lot of concerns. He’s dirty, quiet and is not reaching milestones. He’s also sick all of the time and recently had a medical issue that he needed to be treated for in hospital that was ongoing and due to infrequent diaper changes. We hear from Jane that her house is filthy and unhygienic and that she sleeps all day while he’s in a playpen that’s supposedly full of trash. He also cannot walk very well and doesn’t even try to babble or speak. He’s 19 months old, that is not age appropriate. She also never takes him to the doctor unless it’s an emergency, no well baby or millstone checkups. Obviously all of this is cause for concern. So after some deliberation, Jane telling us about the filthy playpen led us to make the call. I’d also like to point out that darcy has admitted to doing hard drugs while pregnant and after he was born. When we made the initial call, the man on the other end said they had enough to open a case and check on him. Again we’re just concerned, we’re all in our 20s and she just doesn’t let anyone help, I promise we’re not just being judgmental. So that same night after we made the report a woman from cps calls us and basically puts us on trial, asks us to repeat what we’d said before with added questions. That’s okay we understand they have to try and weed out false reports. A few days goes by and she calls us again stating that she’s going to go check out the apartment and involve the police because she wouldn’t answer the door but she could hear the baby crying inside. They get in with the cops, the whole place is filthy and smells like weed (which mind you is a felony in Texas now) but he’s not in immediate danger so they can’t do anything that day but they will be opening an ongoing investigation. Okay cool, we’re happy with this because maybe this will scare her enough to shape up or she’ll be given parenting classes or something. Today a completely different woman from cps calls and basically bullies my wife. Absolutely drills her with all the same questions AGAIN. We bring up concerns about his long dirty nails, cps woman says “well did you ask mom why they were long and dirty?” Actually no because it would’ve upset her and she would’ve gone off on us. And because I think there’s no excuse for that anyway. We mention how we were together for 8 hours one day and she didn’t change his diaper once. Cps lady asks if we even offered to help change him, we said yes of course we did. She finally had us change him towards the end of the day. He’s a good, quiet baby, it’s not like he wreaks havoc on her all day long. And even if he did we’re here to help but she won’t take it from anyone. Cps lady is asking my wife to list the concerns over and over and this lady just keeps saying “but that’s all hearsay” or “well that’s not actually neglect.” We bring up concerns about his linguistic development, which Darcy has told us “I don’t pay attention to that”. Cps lady says “so do all babies babble before they start speaking?” YES MOSTLY YES THEY DO. she also said “well do you think maybe Darcy just wouldn’t want to tell you?” Why would that be the case, we’re his aunts, we just asked if he was saying any words. Our niece is only 2 months older than him and is leagues ahead of him developmentally. We’re so confused, we were just trying to do the right thing. We had concerns, heard concerning things so we decided to call. That’s what you’re supposed to do right?? Please help us figure out what’s going on on their end, they’re certainly making it so we never want to call again. We love him, we just want him to be taken care of.

i have like strict parents taht are mostly strict to me. when i went out location on 24/7. my ipad and phoen taht i used to have parental controls. and nwo cameras EVERYWHERE in the hosue even one pointing at my own bed. i am abroad at the moment with my sisters who go to college. i want to find a way to hack those cameras make it seem like soem weirdo hacked it. i mostly sleep with no bra and sometimes no underwear or pants ever. i sleep in a room with no ac too. so she would be watching me with my bare ass out while im asleep and she crossed multiple lines. she already ahs contorl over my ipad i dont even have fun anymore the last time i played a game was maybe 4 months ago and now this shit? none of my family embarrass are speaking up because they mostly dont wanna discuss shit with my mom, they all know she’s crazy in the head. i do not know what to do, my siblings wont even talk to her about it cus they worship her and wanna be on her good side. i am srsly this close to kms because ik even if i turn 18 i cnat leave. (in KWT the legal age is 21, traveling in egypt at the age of 18 can be hard). smb pls help a girl out, i cannot report i tried, i cannot talk to anybody i tried, if anybody knows how to hack a camera and completely freeze it and not let the audio work pls suggest.(for some reaosn i cannot attach any photos here)

My cousin’s friend is living with their abusive alcoholic mother who doesn’t properly feed them, and drunkenly drags them out of bed at odd hours of the night to go friends’ houses to party, keeping the child and their siblings unable to sleep. Over the weekend, their mom did not stop drinking once. She drank all day and night from Thursday evening to Sunday night.

They understandably want to live with their dad, but their dad for some reason says he isn’t allowed to call CPS. The child plans to make the call, but they’re worried if the CPS workers leave without taking them, they’ll get grounded by their mother.

What is the process of CPS removing a child from a household, and should they wait until things escalate to a serious enough to degree that CPS will remove them immediately?

Please let me know. Anything helps.

I'm involved in a CPS case after a domestic-violence incident. My children were present but weren't injured. The other parent was arrested, there's a protective order, and there has been no contact with him or the children. CPS is monitoring the safety plan anybody that has gone though can you let me know how the process is since is my first time. I want to understand my rights and make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

Just wanted to send you all a thank you for all that you do! I know school has started back up in most states so intakes have likely increased in your area. I know thanks can be rare in the field so it is nice to have others here that can relate to the stressful days and keep each other sane (for the most part)

Feel free to leave any advice below for new case managers or if times have been tough and you just need to vent, go right ahead.

I know someone who just brought her Dad, who
Molested her during childhood, on a vacation. Everyone stayed in the same rental with her two children. However, the molestation history was never reported so he is not on a registry or anything. Is there anything I can do? Can I still report this?

I’m 31 weeks pregnant and I’ve had severe HG my entire pregnancy. I had to step away from my job, I’ve been hospitalized a few times due to the nausea and dehydration. I live in Florida and I’ve had my medical card for over a year now. I’ve stopped smoking and just kinda of been struggling through the nausea and surviving. I’ve come to the understanding that hospitals may test the babies stool as well, and that it can detect up to 4-5 months of usage. I was open with my ob and all doctors among hospital visits…. I guess I’m just wondering what I’m to expect if me or my child test positive upon me giving birth…

Please no judgment as I’m just looking for answers/ advice, and I haven’t seen much information on the state of Florida regarding this issue.

Edit: if there is anyone who has had a similar experience, and a report was made, was there an investigation that actually came of it? Has anyone had their child removed from them due to this?