When The White Van Comes

When The White Van Comes

As many of you know I became a political writer doing articles about the Child Protective Services, known as the CPS. You could say that I “made my bones” with such pieces as “Trial Before Family Court” and “The 248.” That, and the video, “Ruh Roh” where a receptionist stupidly gave us our entire case file instead of the simple medical permission form and that made for a good healthy start for what is now known as “The Butcher Shop.”

Of late I’ve been asked what I’m no longer on the front of the attack on the CPS. Well, there are a number of reasons. First, I’m a professional journalist with a huge readership. The reason I have that readership is that I publish, and edit articles that people tend to read. The Butcher Shop spans the entire spectrum of opinion. It doesn’t preach to the choir. Most people have never met a CPS caseworker. When the white van pulls up to a neighbor’s house and people see that, and the subsequent removal of children, if you will note they do not come spilling out into the street with torches and pitchforks. The usual question they ask is, ”What did they DO?” That’s because ”they” must have done SOMETHING. Else the state wouldn’t be there, right?

Then there are ”advocacy” groups. The landscape is littered with people claiming to be championing the cause of forlorn parents groaning under the yoke of CPS overreach. For the most part these are opportunistic predators capitalizing on the desperation of families in crises. Those like Amy Charron, who calls herself a ”Targeted Individual” claiming the CPS stole her child and illegally gave her to the grandparents when in point of fact it was not a foster situation at all, but a fed up family as this narcissist abused her child out of pure jealousy. In one of our investigations, a private investigator revealed to us that the little girl had numerous tiny bruises on her buttocks from Amy pinching her in order to hear her cry, and THAT woman portrayed herself as an advocate for people under investigation by the protective services!

The next reason is over the years I have developed friendships within the Department. Yeah, yeah, yeah, get a rope! Some are highly placed and shall remain anonymous. These people have interacted with me on a professional and personal basis, and know that I am truthful, reliable, and surprisingly knowledgable. That, and where I am not well schooled they have opened the door a little bit, and allowed me to peer inside their world. An underpaid thankless job of heartbreak, filled with drug addicts and dead babies. A guard at Auschwitz had a less stressful job.

Then there is the claim that the Family Courts are somehow skewed and stacked against families. Let me explain something. The reason you go to court is that you and another person, or persons cannot agree and you elect a third party to mediate the matter. And it is guaranteed that one or the other parties will be displeased with the result. Want to see the same situation? Just step across the hall to criminal court, and for God’s sake stay away from divorce court!

Then there is guilt. This will anger ”advocates” but in most cases persons falling under the watchful eyes of the CPS are guilty! They lie, cover up, conspire and do anything else they can do to get that hound dog off their scent. Seasoned caseworkers know this. The difference between a seasoned caseworker and a rookie is a seasoned caseworker knows if they investigate every beer can in the trash, in short order, they’ll be buried under a caseload that is insurmountable. They drill down on the cases where they smell fumes and process out the ones where it’s basically a family feud. And it’s a crap shoot. If they’re right, their job becomes productive, but every now and then they will roll ”snake eyes,” and children die! Try and live with that ONCE! Now try dozens!

When we broke the Utah story we found real corruption, real child sex trafficking, and a really corrupt system. But! The system fixed itself! Once the good guys were made aware they cleaned house. Now there is a better one in place. In Texas, back in ’07, Williamson County was out of control. That led to me being nicknamed ”Bill the Butcher.” As my daughter in law once said, we really WERE standing at the gates of the Alamo. The state of Texas turned a corner. Now, its not perfect, but in our last cases with the CPS we saw a sensible, measured procedure that led to an equitable result. It will always be horrendous when a child has to be removed, no matter what the parents are alleged to have done, but as for me, I have broken the arrow, and as long as we are moving forward, will fight no more forever.

The Butcher Shop

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