Religious Family Suing CPS

[GenerationCedarchip]

I saw this story on a relative's FB feed along with the usual "Persecution!" commentary. I haven't read the actual lawsuit, but from the commentary, this whole situation sounds sad and mixed up. On the one side, you have a family who is aghast that the state would actually investigate them for beating their teenager with a rod, but then you've got CPS rounding up the whole family at a stage of the case where that wouldn't really pass muster in my state (guessing it's different in CO). Given the slant of the reporting, all I can say is that I feel sorry for those children involved and that I'm sure there's a LOT more going on here that isn't being written about in the story.

christiannews.net/2013/05/20/christian-family-sues-after-fleeing-cross-country-over-abuse-allegations-for-spanking-teen-daughter/

[hahe77]

I can tell you that my almost 17 year old son and 11 year old daughter have no idea how to react if they were interviewed or encountered CPS. They wouldn't scream they know their rights because I've never talked to them about CPS. I've never had a reason to.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Can they force a 16yo girl to strip like that? I'm sure they would need a warrant. I wonder who filed the anonymous complaint?

The parents did all the wrong things although I can't imagine how terrifying it was to see their kids taken like that.

[SamuraiKatz]

I don't think hitting your kid is the way to handle the situation. That being said...there isn't enough in the story to figure out what was really going on. Then again, why did the mother take the kid and high tail it out of the state if it were all a big misunderstanding...

[dpndetfarm]

I call adult male bovine excrement on a lot of this.

No child services person would ask or expect a teen

to undress in the garage so CSP could take photos

for documentation. That's just ridiculous. There may

be some very incompetent child services workers out

there, but they all know CYA at least.

Then the whole story about the hysterical younger children

at their school. It screams of dramatic license. Don't even try

to think I believe the children actually spoke in the manner

suggested. As an added bonus they threw in a little something

they probably got from an after school special - the poor, wrongly

separated white teen finds herself in a dangerous foster home complete

with wrong side of the tracks (think Black or Hispanic) father

stabber and suicidal (probably goth) girl.

Oh the horrors!!!!!!11!!!!!!11!!!!!

As far as I am concerned the parents should have been arrested for

child abuse. I don't care whether the kid was 16 or 6, you don't hit

anyone and you certainly don't hit them with a light rod which can hurt

even more that a heavy rod, but doesn't show the bruises as much.

If these parents had been doing some actual PARENTING the teen's

texting, sexting, etc wouldn't have gotten to where it did. And really,

at the point it got to what did they think beating was going to accomplish?

The stupid, it burns!

[frumper-rump]

I just read that article and got the "icks" from both sides. If the story is true about CPS and the police officer trying to force the teen girl to bare her bottom in the garage, both sides were in the wrong in how all of this was handled.

[Hane]

Assuming any of this is true: How exactly is whipping a teenager with a "rod" supposed to stop her from sexting and being sexually active?

And the cutesy-pootsy Saturday Evening Post cover used as an illustration? Icky and hardly apropos.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I just read that article and got the "icks" from both sides. If the story is true about CPS and the police officer trying to force the teen girl to bare her bottom in the garage, both sides were in the wrong in how all of this was handled.

Yeah - that was kind of my thought as I read the article. Because the writing seemed so slanted, I was tempted to sign onto my PACER account and pay however many $$ they would charge me to read the actual lawsuit.

[FlorenceHamilton]

Why do I think this is some sort of pre-emptive strike because of the Homeschoolers Anonymous groundswell to expose the HSDLA? I think the whole story is calcuated to take the pressure off the HSLDA for protecting child abusers using the thin veil of parental rights.

[DarkAnts]

I just read that article and got the "icks" from both sides. If the story is true about CPS and the police officer trying to force the teen girl to bare her bottom in the garage, both sides were in the wrong in how all of this was handled.

There are requirements in most states regarding pictures of minors for evidence. The minor usually has to be taken to a hospital and examined there. Pictures may be taken there if there is evidence of abuse.

[2xx1xy1JD]

So, even according to a sympathetic article, these parents:

1. Dealt with a 16 yr old sexually acting out by hitting her bottom....because spanking has never been associated with anything sexual, and you don't get any x-rated results when you google it, right? Parenting fail #1.

2. They then keep her home from school for at least one day...because truancy is a great way to deal with a child who has allegedly broken school rules. You have to wonder what was really going on, and whether they hoped that some visible marks would fade. Parenting fail #2.

3. SOMEBODY made a report which led to CPS coming. Who, and how did they find out? Was one of the kids scared? Was it loud enough for a neighbor to hear? It suggests that there was more to this than a simple spanking from loving parents.

4. This girl was struck at least 20 times with a rod, and there were visible marks even though CPS must have come 2 days later. Where I live, that would be called assault with a weapon.

5. Parents fled the jurisdiction with the teen. They are then surprised that CPS and law enforcement seem upset.

Based on all of that, CPS involvement was absolutely justified. The part about being asked to bare her bottom in the garage sounds suspicious, so I wouldn't assume that it was true unless additional evidence comes out. I would expect a medical examination with any injuries.

Yes, apprehensions can be traumatic for children, even when they are justified. It doesn't mean that the apprehension was the wrong thing to do.