Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
10/27/2013 12:20:21 PM
Oct. 28, 2013
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
The next post will be on Nov. 11, 2013.
Update on a Very Old Case: Same Old, Same Old
It seems like it shouldn’t have been so long, way too long for any case to drag out, but during the second week of October 2013, I had word from the family of T1—Case III, pages 184-194 of my book, and my third blog post in the fall of 2011—that another hearing was coming up with T1’s case. The family member who keeps in contact with me, the aunt of T1 and her brother, and who (two years ago) managed to get T1’s brother out of CPS grip, lives in Kenya. (I’d actually emailed her to be sure they were safe after the terrorist attack on the mall there.) She was not going to be able to travel to the U.S. to be at the hearing and asked if I could go.
I was able to go that day, but I should have asked for more details. There are three court rooms in Houston that deal with CPS cases. When I arrived, I didn’t recognize anyone—new lawyers and caseworkers, of course. I asked people, “Are you with the ____________ case?” and got a lot of shaking heads. I entered one court room (it was early enough) and asked one of the clerks which courtroom, using the child’s name. He asked if I was a “party to the case.” I’m not, truthfully, just an interested person, but I said I was a friend of the family—which is true. He told me to “wait outside in the hall” and I’d hear the case called.
Wrong. They don’t announce the cases out in the hall. I asked more people milling around. No luck. I asked a different clerk. The name was on her list and I was told, “Just wait in this room and you’ll start there.” I sat, and I waited, and I waited.
Several calls went out with other last names; people got up and followed various clerks to other court rooms where their cases would be heard. I caught snippets of conversation:
“The lawyer is late, again.”
“Are they going to fine him for that?” Laughter from both speakers.
Two caseworkers discussed a case they both knew about and that one of them was there for: something about a grandmother who was “not a party to the case” trying to do things they deemed “not appropriate” or something.
“So we’re not going to do this today?”
“Oh, no, yes, we are going to do it.” Followed by those two leaving the court room.
The lawyer of the group sitting in front of me arrived (was he the “late” one?) and they went off to a conference room.
One mom asked the clerk about her case. She had no lawyer. She was told that, even though she’d been told to be there by 9:30, cases with “no lawyers” would not take place until 11:30.
A case worker came up to another person across the aisle from me muttering about “the cause number was wrong” and she would have to go back to her office to change it.
All around me, since there was no judge present during the hour that I sat waiting to hear T1’s last name, people talked on cell phones, checked their email and text messages and worked on laptops. Lawyers came and went, groups followed when a clerk called their case name. I still didn’t hear T1’s last name.
I finally left, sorry not to have been able to help my friend, but realizing that even if I stayed, there was nothing I could find out because I was “not a party to the case.”
I understand that “total strangers” can’t be allowed to hear about the “private matters” of some family court cases. I understand the hushed tones with which people talk. But there is another part of me that wonders if all that business going on there was simply an act in the name of “looking busy” while doing nothing. Business as usual goes on while the lives of children hang in limbo.
I thought about giving out a few business cards for people to contact me and tell me their stories for this blog. But I didn’t have quite enough courage to do that—maybe because of other feelings I was having about everything that didn’t go on that morning.
It’s been over five years since T1 was taken from her mother. She’s supposed to be adopted by another aunt who lives in Canada, but “they” can’t seem to figure out how to accomplish an international adoption—which they did figure out for T1’s brother who got “out” two years ago to live with the aunt in Kenya.
I was feeling very “down” as I walked three blocks to where I’d parked my car. What good can a little “mouse in the corner” that I felt like do? I am totally powerless and “not a party to the case.” Nothing has changed in Harris County, Texas.
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