Dear Abby Criticizes CPS

February 23, 2007 permalink

Respect for child protectors has sunk to the level that the Dear Abby column will now print a letter critical of CPS. In December, Dear Abby printed an item on the subject of children driving golf carts, and on February 8 the letter below was printed in response.

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Dear Abby: A 6-year-old driving a golf cart is child endangerment, and a social worker has the right to remove that child to a foster home and ask questions later. The parents would then be under a microscope.

Because the grandparent knew about the situation and did not report it to the authorities, the grandparents would probably not be considered safe guardians for that child, and the child would be placed with strangers until the parents finish court-ordered parenting classes.

Foster children are big business. It's a totally different climate than it was in the days when only severely neglected and abused children found their way into foster care.

I speak from 17 years of experience as a foster parent and 30 years as a psychiatric nurse who has seen what hoops families must jump through to get their children back once child protective services is involved.

– Reader in Ferris, Texas

Source: Orange County Register