In January 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, my sister was hit with a CPS case in regards to substance abuse allegations. The division almost immediately designed a “safety plan” which issued my mother and myself as “supervisors” for my sister in regards to being around her own child. Neither she nor I were educated at that time of parental rights when it comes to caseworkers showing up at your door unannounced. But as the case stayed open for years, I quickly educated myself so as to prevent any of the turmoil they caused my family in the future. 

After months of not using any substances except for her prescribed medication, my sister also attended and graduated from at least two IOP programs which she attended several times a week, if not every day, while also complying with random drug screens and hair follicle tests several times a week as well, which all took time away from her job, her responsibilities to herself, and her life as a whole. After a year of drug screens and hair follicle tests, my sister had bald spots coming out of her head that eventually became infected. (See photo)

According to her caseworker, methamphetamine was coming up in her system every single time she went to provide urine or hair. After about a year, it got to a point where there was no way that methamphetamine was coming up, as she has only done it one time, and it had to be being misinterpreted with the ADDERAL XR, which is an amphetamine, very similar to the molecular make-up of methamphetamine, that she has been legally prescribed by her doctor for ten years. The division, ignoring letters that my sister provided from actual toxicologists and pharmacologists interpreting the drug screen results and explaining where and why amphetamines were being misinterpreted as methamphetamines, were wholly ignored by the division and its attorney, even in court. My sister had an attorney and still lost custody of her son, then a 9-year-old. My mother had been given custody of him. To fight for him back, my sister, though defeated, decided to sell her condo, her only asset left that she owned, in order to move in with my mother, so as to be with her son in his life still as a parent as much as she could, and eventually regain her custody back, which she did in July of 2022.

In July 2022, two and a half years of my family watching the division lie, cheat, steal, ignore, harass, and violate all ethics in its scope of practice, we were finally at peace. The division was gone. My sister had custody back of her son, now 11 years old. Things seemed hopeful, and everything was going well. 

September 18, 2022: My older sister, who lives in North Carolina with no children, just a boyfriend and a chihuahua that she carries around to “stay sober” from a previous heroin addiction, made a phone call to the division on my sister, Alison, again, even after being well aware of the agony and torture they put our entire family through for over two years. My sister in NC has no children, she has no idea what the division does. They destroy families and don’t protect parents. Everyone’s life was affected by those two years of Alison’s open case- Alison’s life, my mother’s life, my life, my daughter’s life, and most importantly, my nephew’s life. My NC sister made a phone call to the hotline out of pure spite, not genuine concern, which was shown to the investigator on 9/19/22 through proof in text messages. This new investigator, Rose, at first gave us hope. She was listening to my sister for once, not judging her for talking too fast. She was understanding of the situation, it was a phone call made out of spite which is wrong to do when there are children out there living in broom closets and being fed cat litter, and yet investigators are out wasting precious time on my sister’s case, where no child was ever abused— a substance was abused, one time— instead of the cases that actually need their attention. 

This new investigator, Rose, was also aware that Alison just got custody back, two months ago! She herself said, “I can’t supersede a judge, so we will most likely close this case.” 

I told my sister to not cooperate with anything. She will provide no signatures, she will not volunteer information or speak more than she has to. She will deny them access to inside her home, etc. Though she provided to this new investigator only documents that were needed to show proof of her July custodial hearing, IOP completions, and confirmation from her medical doctor that there were no concerns with Alison abusing her medication, the investigator asked Alison if she could see her pill bottles. (This is a huge NO! Never ever let a CPS worker violate HIPAA, they have no right to see your medical bottles.) But my sister wanted it to just disappear. She complied. The investigator left and didn’t call Alison for over a week, so we were happy that it was most likely going to be closed. 

Eight days later, Rose calls Alison to tell her that they were re opening a case on her over only one finding: that when this investigator counted Alison’s pills, she noticed “a few were missing.”

Well, had she said that to Alison’s face at the time, she would know the others were in one of those Saturday- Sunday medication dispensers. But she didn’t. Alison asked her for a chance to explain, but it was pointless. Rose didn’t care. Alison would be issued a court hearing. 

How would a few missing pills warrant child abuse? This division is evil. They will pretend to be on your side and be all for your team, and then totally back stab you. You’re just a number in their computer system and when they clock out for the day, their life isn’t the one in shambles, only the lives of their clients.

 

And where is this family protection? The division doesn’t protect families, it destroys families. And parents aren’t even kind of protected. They aren’t even given a free public defender, an advocate, they receive no representation, nothing. Why should she have to pay for another lawyer two months after it all was put behind us?It’s brutally cruel and unfair and I won’t sit and watch it play out again. My nephew will remember his childhood and only remember these uneducated CPS caseworkers. 

 

 

When someone anonymously calls the CPS hotline to report "child abuse or neglect," the parent receives a visit by a CPS investigator within 24 hours, by law, no matter how trivial the allegation is. To be clear, there are good caseworkers in the system and we recognize them and appreciate them for stopping child abuse and neglect. However, not all caseworkers can be applauded. Most have, in my experience, been flawed and biased, completely unprofessional. When parents receive this initial visit, parents are hardly ever given their rights told to them, and instead, are demanded to do whatever the caseworker or investigator tells them to do, such as violating HIPAA, forcing the signatures for medical releases, or going into schools without parental permission to speak with the child(ren). Parents are not being protected in the end, and this is breaking up families for no good causes. Certain parents especially are singled out, when caseworkers form their own opinions and unprofessional biases on them. While actual child neglect is going on probably in the same neighborhood, these caseworkers will target non-neglectful parents to the point of harassment. These caseworkers also try to practice under scopes of practices that they do not qualify to speak on behalf of, such as medication dispensing and orders. They ask inappropriate questions during their initial interviews that have nothing to do with child safety concerns. They asked me, for example, "does your boyfriend have a criminal record?" 

 

They use unreliable urine analysis resources. They expect you to drop everything and anything you are doing or have planned to comply with whatever it is they need you to do. And when you need something from them, they hardly ever answer the phone or return phone calls to the parent. They hide. They go home after their shift is over and enjoy their lives, forgetting the many lives they just ruined while on the clock, and it is unjust and must end NOW!

PARENTS NEED PROTECTION, NOT HARASSMENT! 

 

We the people of the nation and of the community have the power to change this by standing up against cruel and unusual agencies that exist in unprofessional ways, and pioneering for parental rights! Parents need protection! Give us something! If this does not change, then parents will never be protected. My sister and my family will have to go through this again. Our  children are so-called “protected,” but the parents are neglected. Innocent families are sufferingn because they lack any kind of protection. Families are at stake. 
Kids are growing up around caseworkers like it’s normal. My nephew is one of them. There has to be a line drawn. Please sign this petition to help show the agency that their violations and their abuse is not being ignored. We see it and we will stand up against it. My sister should NOT have a case reopened against her. She’s been through enough with the division.