There is a problem with Indiana's Child Protective Services. I want everyone to know about it.
A 13-year-old boy has been coming to our house regularly. He smells worse than rotten trash. It's so bad I have to light candles and air out our car after he's been in it. The smell lingers, makes our eyes water. If you are a parent of young boys you know they won't shower unless you make them. That's just how young boys are. I deal with it every day.
His trailer has plastic for windows, a door that hangs on the hinges. He has never had a birthday party until this year. We gave him one. He wears the same smelly clothes for days.
His mom is in her 40s but looks worse than any 80-year-old I have ever met. Have you ever seen those billboards with pictures of meth users? That's her.
The other night she was stumbling around town at 1 a.m. yelling his name. She saw me standing outside, asked me if he was at our house. Of course not. It was 1 a.m. My kids were in bed. So I called CPS. They sent me to the sheriff's department. The police went looking for him.
Today when he came over I asked him where he was last night. He said when the police got to his house his mom was asleep and he was at a friend's house. He never talked to his mom that night. That means after realizing her 13-year-old son was missing, she decided to go to bed.
There is much more to this story. But I have a word limit. I'm trying to keep it simple.
I called CPS the next morning because I'd had enough. This boy needs help. The caseworker said, "How does not taking a shower for five days harm him?" It had been at least five days, I would say weeks. Add that to the fact that kids pick on him, call him names I can't say, and throw rocks at him. But I'm not a person "certified to establish emotional trauma," according to the caseworker.
I asked the caseworker to send someone to his house to check it out. "Just drive by," I said. They could see for themselves. But they can't do that without proof of neglect or abuse. To you and me a kid who hasn't taken a shower in weeks and wears the same dirty clothes for days is a perfect example of neglect. To you and me a mother who never knows where her child is even at 1 a.m. is a perfect example of neglect. To you and me a mom who realizes her son is missing but decides to go to bed is a perfect example of neglect. To you and I a trashy filthy house is a perfect example of child neglect.
Write to our president if you know a story like this. Join my petition to try to fix this. Contact me at trmanns@rocketmail.com or join the Facebook group Fix the System: Child Support/Visitation Petition. Please help these children.
