Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
4/23/2012 6:00:34 AM
The purpose of this blog is to provide updates on some of the cases I reported in my book (Fighting CPS: Guilty Until Proven Innocent of Child Protective Services Charges ISBN 9-780-9800061-6-2) that had not been resolved when the book went to press, and to report other cases where CPS is not working up to par. I’d also like to hear about cases in which Child Protective Services did the right thing so those cases can serve as examples of what should be done. Occasionally, I will report helpful tips and web sites with advice on fighting CPS.
To comment on this blog, or to tell your story, email Deborah Frontiera at frontiera.fightingcps.deborah.gmail.com
This blog will post new material every other week, instead of every week. Look for the next post May 14, 2012.
Five Years Ago This Month
My daughter, Rufina Bonilla, would like to share this with all of my blog readers:
April 13, 2012 - 5th anniversary of the worst day of our lives. The courts and CPS may have forgotten, but we will never forget. How could anyone believe that we could ever hurt the greatest gift that God ever gave us? Not only does our son have epilepsy, but he has now been formally diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
We love you James.
This “fifth anniversary” has been on my mind a lot lately. “Friday the 13th” came round again in April this year and it was “Friday the 13th” in 2007 as well. In some ways it’s hard to believe that five years have passed. In other ways, it still seems like yesterday. I have the fun of joining my grandson every other Friday for lunch at his school. After lunch, James goes out to recess with his class and I head for his school’s library and shelve a few books for them. When James’s class comes in from recess, we have “story time” together with his class. I’m everybody’s grandma then. I was with his class this Friday the 13th and I wondered, though I never said anything to James, what he remembers and what has slipped into his subconscious. He’s really doing well in school now—even with the ADHD. All his academics are “up to par”, but he will continue with speech therapy next year for continued articulation problems—he has tons to say but it’s hard to understand him.
My mind took me back to the original agony and confusion in 2007. The court dates, our naïve belief that the courts would actually let us present our side in the first “show cause” hearing and the feeling that a steam roller had just gone over us when we were NOT be able to present “our side.” The judge just rubber-stamped everything CPS said. We were never even asked any questions. The doctor whose affidavit “accused” Rufina and Julio was never even in court. They NEVER got to question their accuser! Here in the Great USA, guilt was assumed with no investigation!
I recalled again the outrage our extended family felt when we gathered a short time later, for my father’s 90th birthday—which I had to attend without my husband and without Rufina, Julio and James because the court would “frown” on travel for a “party” at that time. I’m happy to say that my father is still with us in this world (and of sound mind and spirit) and we will gather again soon for his 95th birthday! This time Rufina, Julio, James and his baby sister Riley WILL be there. My father will finally get to meet these two great-grandchildren.
I also remembered all those nights when James cried himself to sleep at our house because he didn’t understand why Mommy and Daddy couldn’t take him home, and how after he finally DID get to go home, he didn’t want to come to our house at all, or even get in our car, for fear he be “left alone” again. It took him many months to get over that. The first time he actually spent the night at our house again was when Riley was born in Nov. of 2010.
The good, the bad and the ugly will probably continue to rattle around in my brain over the next few months. But the ultimate triumph will also continue to be with me. In our triumph, and our joy, I’ll continue to hope that other children in other cases, and there are still too many of those cases, will be reunited with their innocent parents. I’ll also continue to hope that the system will change so that children truly abused will be rescued, while innocent parents will not be harassed.
Post a Comment new!
More Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, June 09, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, May 26, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, May 12, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, April 21, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, April 07, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, March 24, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, March 10, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, February 24, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, February 10, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, January 27, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 14, 2013
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, December 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, December 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, November 25, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, November 11, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, October 28, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, September 17, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, September 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, August 26, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, August 12, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, August 12, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, July 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, July 08, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, June 24, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, June 11, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, May 21, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Sunday, May 06, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, April 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, April 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, March 26, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, March 12, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, February 27, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, February 13, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Wednesday, February 01, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 23, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 16, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, January 09, 2012
• Fighting CPS - Monday, December 19, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, December 12, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, December 05, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 28, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 21, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 14, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, November 07, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 31, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 24, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 17, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 10, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, October 03, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, September 26, 2011
• Fighting CPS - Monday, September 19, 2011
|
