Parents the enemy...

Found this story with videos on the web, via some forums I frequent. Very disturbing and even more disheartening, if you consider that grown adults are interrogating children in school without legal counsel present. I couldn't speak on my minor son's behalf in Municipal court, because I'm not a lawyer, even if he gave me permission, but a teacher, a school counselor, and a Childrens Protective Services (CPS) agent can INTERROGATE a young child with impunity, and then take that child's word as law and launch an inquisition against the parents???

I will leave the link to the story I found, and the mother's incredible job at dealing with CPS, rather than narrate it, and then follow that link with my own personal experiences with this abusive and seemingly limitless extension of government intrusion (with the best intentions) into the lives of good and law-abiding citizens.

http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-govt-trying-to-find-out-who-has-what.html

This story struck a nerve, as I've had (CPS) called on me no less than three times.

Once, my wife's church-run daycare called them on us, because our daughter (four years old at the time) wore the same shirt to daycare, two days in a row. Our daughter got the offending shirt (flower printed) from her older cousins, and that made it her favorite shirt. It had a stain on the sleeve that wouldn't come out, even after numerous washes and stain treatments. Our daughter wore it to daycare on Tuesday. That night, we do laundry, and in the morning, she grabs her favorite shirt, just cleaned, out of her drawer, and off to daycare she goes. Yup, they called CPS on us. Had to sit through an hour long interview, show them the house, etc... Final verdict? Unfounded and we were cleared.

Second time, our son was seeing a counselor/therapist while he was in 1st grade, to help with ADHD related issues (a "disease" that has been over-diagnosed, resulting in millions of kids drugged, sitting like nice, quiet, zombies in class, for inadequate teachers and principals). Anyways, we used to have to drive something like 20 miles each way, to the counselors office, so we came to an agreement, that she could see him once per week at school, during one of his breaks.

Our son was sick, so we kept him home and took him to the doctor's office. We tried to get ahold of the counselor and school, to excuse his absence. School was fine, couldn't get ahold of the counselor. She found out when she stopped by the school that morning, and was rather pissed, even though her cell phone was off and we left a voice message.

He missed a total of three days that week (had a fever, couldn't go back until it was gone for 24 hours) and that resulted in him having to miss his re-scheduled meeting as well. Of course, armed with multiple numbers after the first missed appointment, we tried to notify her he was still out sick. Her cell phone? No answer. Her office number? No answer. The receptionist at her office answered, hadn't heard from her, but left another message for her, in addition to updating her schedule AND putting a sticky note on her door.

Of course, she was running late that day, so just went straight to the school, and found out our son was not there. The penalty? She called CPS on us, and showed up at our house, while our son was still sick, with a CPS agent AND A POLICE OFFICER. They told us we had to let them in, and she then goes off on us about how we are neglecting our son's VOLUNTARY treatment and missing multiple appointments, etc...

CPS again inspected the house, rooms, refrigerator, etc... verdict this time? Unfounded. We also informed the indignant "therapist" that we were firing her and her colleagues and would work with our family physician for other treatment options.

The most recent event... one of our teenage sons had been slacking in school, not doing his chores, arguing and mouthing off to his mom, as if she were one of his buddies... we called him out on it. He got all pissy, as teenagers are known to do, and we grounded him. He spewed some expletives at us and made a fist and pulled his hand back like he was planning on taking a swing at his mother, and when he moved towards her, he got sat down on the bed. Of course, he runs off to our neighbors (unknown to us at the time) both flaming liberal teachers here in our college town's school district.

Same day, we get a visit from CPS with another police officer... of course, cop has his gun unsnapped, hand on it, while at the door and the whole time they are inside our house. Turns out, we weren't turned in for forcing my son onto the bed when he took a swing... nope, the idiot teachers threw the book at us: No utilities in the house (power, water, etc), no food, unsanitary living conditions, no laundry facilities and told them they thought we did drugs too. Our pot smoking liberal idiot neighbors accusing US of doing drugs??? My wife and I have never even smoked a cigarette, and MAYBE between the two of us, would go through a bottle of wine in a month, or a 6-pack of beer over that same time.

Anyways, house inspection commenced, cop with his hand on his gun the whole time, and of course, as you can guess... UNFOUNDED ACCUSATIONS. After discussing with the CPS agent, the nature of the run-in with our son, he tells us we have to sign a contract stating we will not use physical discipline... I asked if spanking was against state law, to which he replied no, but we feel it's better not to engage in. I asked how they could ask me to sign something saying I won't engage in legal activity then? This MAYBE 30 year old single man's response? "We feel that grounding teenagers is a better way to deal with discipline than spanking". I asked him if he was aware that grounding, is what lead to him being in our house to begin with and he sort of dodged the question and re-stated their opinion. I then asked him how many teenagers he has, and he replied that that was none of my business and irrelevant. At this point the cop almost laughed at the situation, and our turning the tables on this expert, that read something somewhere in a book or a policy guide about raising teenagers...

We confronted the do-good teacher neighbors about their involvement, and their response was "we are obligated to report abuse as teachers". I asked if they witnessed any abuse, saw any bruises, had ANY reason to believe anything had happened, other than a pissed off/grounded teenager not getting his way and complaining to them? Deer in the headlights look from both... I told the one, who's son spends more time at my house than hers, and who we fed about 5 nights a week, if she felt any of what she accused us of was valid, why does her son practically live at my house? Again, deer, headlights...

So yeah, CPS is 0 for 3 so far, but the hassle of having to deal with some sanctimonious, self-righteous, morons, sometimes with armed police officers at their sides, is fairly traumatic to a parent. It throws your home into chaos, and shows just how little privacy we have as citizens these days. No warrants have to be sworn out, and vindictive individuals need only make an anonymous phone call, lie through their teeth as long as they say the right things (which our failed public education system administrators and teachers, are exceedingly skilled at apparently) and screw search warrants, due process, all the rights afforded to citizens under the 4th Amendment to the Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

CPS... yet another well-intentioned government program gone horribly wrong...