Let's Play Doctor!

As a result of this two-year journey, I've heard a lot of stories and "met" quite a few individuals who have stories about CPS.

One of the most recent and troubling trends has been CPS involvement in what is known as medical kidnapping.

A well-known recent case is that of Justina Pelletier, a Connecticut teenager who spent almost two years in the Massachusetts CPS system, deprived of contact with her parents. Justina was seized by a Boston Hospital when their staff ER doctor decided to overrule the diagnosis of her specialist. He recruited CPS and turned Justina into a medical experiment that went wrong - for Justina, her parents, and her family.

Because Justina's parents spoke out and tried to regain their child wrongfully removed, they began to be persecuted by CPS. First their contact with their daughter was severely limited, and then it was completely severed. The Pelletier's were even issued a gag order - a violation of Freedom of Speech as guaranteed in the United States Constitution.

At the time she went into the ER at Boston Children's - ostensibly to meet with her long-time specialist, Justina was a figure skating, soccer playing, ambulatory teenager. When she emerged she was confined to a wheelchair with extremely deteriorated mobility. Why? An ER doctor, without interviewing her or checking her medical records or calling in her specialist, decided that all her conditions were psychological in nature and took her off all medications.

If any of us were to deprive our child of medications for a DIAGNOSED medical condition, our child would be seized by CPS on the grounds of medical neglect or medical maltreatment. Yet when CPS did the exact thing that would get a normal parent scrutinized and demonized, they did so with impunity - and the blessing of the Family Court judge assigned to the case.

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A newer case is that of Cassandra C., a 17 year old diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The teen read up on all the treatment protocol pros and cons, and made an informed decision to NOT receive chemotherapy, as the cure could be worse than the disease with its physical side effects. Cassandra's mother backed her choices, but then DCF (a variation on CPS) entered the scene.

After initially securing a court order forcing the teen and her mother to comply, Cassandra ran away to avoid being forced to endure a medical procedure she didn't want. At that point, DCF and a judge ordered her confined to the hospital and cut off all contact with her mother.

At this point in time, even though she is in remission, Cassandra is not being allowed to visitation with her mother, despite a break in her treatments. At a time when she is suffering from a serious disease and most needs the support of her family, she has been cut off from all contact.

Yet DCF is the same entity that advocates that children as young as 12 are able to make their own decisions regarding birth control and healthcare, without their parents' knowledge or consent, has arbitrarily decided that a 17 year old is unable to make an informed choice to refuse treatments that are debilitating and potentially have long-lasting side effects.

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A third case is that of Angela Borths, whose children were seized because one of her children was "too short". Apparently, in the eyes of CPS, all children must fit a Stepford mold, and there is no room for differences based on biology or genetics. You can learn more directly from Angela herself (on FB, and @PureMadAngel on Twitter).

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In our case, at the time that CPS seized Ruby and put her into foster care, she was in the process of being removed from several asthma medications by the orders of the allergist who had prescribed them and done an evaluation on her. Yet CPS refused to consult with the allergist regarding his course of treatment, and kept her on medications for a condition which she does not have. (Her asthma symptoms were due to her use of Tramadol - stolen from Jon Massey - in conjunction with Vyvanse - her ADHD meds, and she did not have asthma.)

In terms of the ADHD meds (amphetamines), Ruby did not have a formal diagnosis of ADHD. When I requested that she be taken off the meds, CPS tried to charge me with medical neglect.  I actually have an audio recording of the CPS caseworker admitting that he had no clue that ADHD medications are amphetamines. Although we cleared up that charge in court, CPS continued her on amphetiamine-based medication for over a year - without getting a diagnosis. Additonally, when CPS finally did secure a diagnosis of ADHD, it was not according to diagnostic protocol which requires that you take a child off the meds before diagnosing and secure reports from multiple sources that rate the child on a variety of behaviors and characteristics.

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What all of these instances reveal is that CPS has become a system out of control. They have decided that they are the ultimate arbiter of what is acceptable parenting, and what is not allowed. These decisions made by CPS are often violations of Constitutional Rights, and state laws.

Ultimately, CPS has decided that it is now qualified to make medical decisions for children against the wishes of their parents and families, and they will use techniques that effectively incarcerate children and isolate them from their parents and families if they deem it necessary. Essentially, CPS has decided that they are medical professionals - which is normally a criminal offense. Apparently the immunity of caseworkers extends to making decisions they have no education, training, or credentials to support.

It is time to speak out against the nanny state of CPS and its wholesale kidnapping of children on fraudulent medical charges. It is not until we as a society take a stand and change things that we will get any justice and resolution. Physician, heal thyself!

CPS Caseworker

A big part of the problem in this case was the CPS caseworker who was directly in charge of the investigation.

Apparently, even though he had been employed by CPS for 6 years at the time of the false allegations, there was a supervisor who accompanied him. Somehow, that sounds like there were already problems with his performance - otherwise why would an experienced employee need one-on-one supervision.

At any rate, we quickly learned that he was unable to correctly process even simple information. When he was taking notes from my interview with him, he did not get my family information correct (apparently my sister lives in France - the two of them really live in the US - and my mother - who actually had died almost 40 years before - was 75 and living 20 miles away). He couldn't even get my last name or my phone number correct, even though I gave both to him MULTIPLE times. Yet later, he blamed me for giving "incorrect" information.

So, for this job performance the guy makes this kind of money?

It gets better from there - although Ruby had not been diagnosed with ADHD, her pediatrician put her on Vyvanse to treat her symptoms. For those of you who don't know, most ADHD meds are amphetamines. At the time of the allegations, we had been trying to take Ruby off the meds because she was engaging in other drug-seeking behavior (from both her pediatrician - sleeping pills,  and her friends - alcohol, marijuana), was having escalating medical issues (from her Vyvanse combined with Tramadol that she was stealing and using), and because we learned that Ruby had been giving and/or selling her Vyvanse to others.

When I tried to explain the issues to the CPS caseworker, he didn't even realize that ADHD meds were amphetamines. Instead, he additionally charged me with medical neglect for insisting that Ruby be taken off the Vyvanse. (We were able to clear this up later at a permanency hearing when we disclosed that Ruby had NO diagnosis for ADHD and that we were within our rights to take her off medication for a condition that she wasn't diagnosed with. CPS didn't even bother to get a diagnosis for over a year - but kept her on the meds anyways.) I have an audio recording of that entire conersation with the CPS caseworker to back up my statements.

Another issue that arose was that the CPS caseworker disclosed in testimony at a hearing that he had spoken with the Police Department for "over two hours" prior to interviewing Ruby, and that he actually had a copy of her police report in his possession when he interviewed her. So somehow, correct me if I am wrong, it sounds as though the CPS caseworker was actively working with the police to make sure that they got a case locked down against Jon Massey and that Ruby kept her story straight.

This same CPS caseworker also has documented that once Ruby was in foster care, he did a home visit and once again asked her about the dates and events around the alleged abuse. Her response, as entered in his notes, was that she said "everything is the same as what I put in my police statement". He even testified to this fact at a hearing.

These were the dates and events that changed a year later when the judge and DA realized that Jon's medical records, rental history, and other factors had destroyed their original case.

Apparently, according to Mr. Caseworker, the reason he knew that Ruby had been abused is because her behaviors (underage drinking and illegal drug use, sneaking around, phone swapping, inappropriate relationships) were all "symptoms of abuse". So Mr. Caseworker, care to tell me who abused you that you were not only drinking underage (from the date on this picture you were only 17 in a state with a drinking age of 21)?

and still drinking underage two years later - while on a sports scholarship and under contract?

Care to disclose who it was that sexually abused you (and your younger brother)? Because by your standards the abuse happened and caused the behaviors. Or did your mother know about you and your brother's behavior and allow the behavior? Because anyone else would be charged with endangering the welfare of a child by YOUR employer!

Or rather is it just that CPS training materials teach you that any "acting out" behavior can and should be used to diagnose abuse in order to strengthen cases - especially ones that may be based on false allegations.

This is just a partial portrait of the CPS Caseworker (we don't even need to mention that his niece was one of Ruby's best friends, or that I had a run in with his brother-in-law over their mistreatment of a family pet).

With employees like this, no wonder we are in a state and national budget crisis!