So I finally talked to the Director of Social Services/CPS, Ms. Mills, the lady I sent my Letter of Grievance to.
I wasn’t at all confrontational. I kept my cool. I framed everything sympathetically. Like, I told Ms. Mills that, after the first reunification in late Oct 2020, "poor" Tara suddenly had 3 toddlers at home that she barely knew, and that she called me within a month and said she was totally overwhelmed, and that’s why I agreed to take Pax on weekends. I said it seemed clear to me that Tara’s frustration turned to anger, anger came out as abuse toward Paxton, and the whole situation caused Tara to relapse. And I warned Ms. Mills that after this upcoming reunification (in April), Tara is very likely to repeat this cycle of frustration, abuse and relapse unless CPS gets her some real help now, and then follows up after reunification for as long as they can…unlike the first time, when they closed the case after only 2 home visits and they didn’t even know anything about it. The case had just been transferred from Sac County not even a month earlier.
It seemed like a fruitful conversation. Ms. Mills seemed genuinely interested in everything I told her, and she said she was really glad she talked to me and that she would definitely take my concerns up with the “care team” asap. She couldn’t tell me if Paxton was already in therapy because that’s confidential; she said “I can only tell you that we are seeing good progress generally.”
She also apologized that I was interrupted and not allowed to speak at Paxton’s CFT meeting. She said that was all a misunderstanding, mine and the caseworkers. I argued that it was 100% the caseworker’s misunderstanding, not mine. I had told the caseworker I would obey their rules about keeping things positive, but she came in there prejudging me as hostile. She acted with prejudice, period. And that caused irreparable damage. An apology can't fix that.
