re: What is Child Abuse and Neglect?

Thank you for this, really gets people thinking

Quoting dream:" I see that, but it still seems like something a LOT of people do."

They should not be doing that, it is sad.

Quoting VIOLENT VAJAY.:" They should not be doing that, it is sad."

but it just doesn't seem like something authorities would take seriously. "oh your mom called you a name? uh huh. well sorry about that." you know?

I would think it would have to be a pretty bad name and over and over and maybe in combo with something else. Just seems very "light" compared to the other stuff on the list.

Quoting dream:" but it just doesn't seem like something authorities would take seriously. "oh your mom called you a ... [snip!] ... name and over and over and maybe in combo with something else. Just seems very "light" compared to the other stuff on the list."

Calling a child a brat once, is sad and uncalled for.
However that is not abuse. Though is the child was constantly being called names over and over again, being treated like they were nothing more than that, etc. That is emotional abuse.

Name calling is more of a constant put down. Not "OMG she just called her baby an smurf!"

Quoting ❀Ninja Shahinda:" Name calling is more of a constant put down. Not "OMG she just called her baby an smurf!""

ok. thanks. that makes more sense.

I guess this list is more of a synopsis and there are probably more details somewhere about what would qualify as abuse in each category.

Not that I have a lot of faith in CPS (CAS in Canada) but I'm glad you posted this! The dipsmurf next door to me sent my husband a vile little message on Facebook a few months ago, threatening that if we called the police on one more of her loud, late night parties, then she was going to call CAS on us, every single day and make smurf up: she actually wrote that she would fabricate tales of us molesting our children and dealing drugs.

*Chuckle* nice of her to put it in writing, on a traceable social network... should prove interesting to show to the authorities should they ever come knocking on our door in response to an anonymous call...

If I had something such as a picture or S S of possible abuse how would I give it to CPS with out being in person if that makes sense.

Quoting Regrettable Temptations:" If I had something such as a picture or S S of possible abuse how would I give it to CPS with out being in person if that makes sense."

I would think that Children Services has an email address. You could even call them and ask if you could send them something via email.

Quoting Ninja Shahinda:" I would think that Children Services has an email address. You could even call them and ask if you could send them something via email."

Thank you.

I know a little girl who will lie to avoid getting CPS involved in her life. She has told me some things, like how her step mother threw a coffee mug at her face when she was mad.. She also has had lice for months at a time with no treatment, and wears gross clothes and doesn't bathe often enough.

She has already been through the system where she was sexually abused by a therapist and physically abused by foster care providers. Her mom hasn't been able to get custody back, so she lives with her dad and step mom and two baby sisters. She is terrified of CPS stepping in though and making her, and especially her sisters, go through what she's already been through.

If anyone tells anyone about the stuff she's said, she'll deny it... and the stuff she does tell me and others is kind of accidental, and not the whole story.. you can just tell, because she tries to change the subject and tries to cover things up and stuff. Its really sad.

The saddest part is that when her mother had her last, she took pictures of the gross clothes and of the head lice which was so awful and, according to the girl, had been there since school got out (a couple months ago).. and CPS has recently stepped in again due to the girl missing over 100 days of school.. but when her mother took the photos and her complaints to the court and to CPS, they said that all they were really concerned about was making sure that she was going to school.

Meanwhile, I have a friend who lost her child because she called the cops after she got into a physical fight with her husband (both were at fault) - the child was a baby, and he was in the home, but not in the same room as the fight - sleeping in the other room.. and she had to jump through hoops to get her baby back... and it took months... she missed his first Christmas.. They made it extremely difficult. She had to pass drug tests, even though the problem never had anything to do with drugs.. and she could pass them, but her worker would never show up to give them to her when she was supposed to (woman almost lost her job over that)... and she had to pay to take parenting classes and stuff (difficult for her to afford).. so it just took longer and longer for her to get the kid back... to this day, she's so scarred by the experience that she won't have another child because she thinks she won't be able to handle the memories of her first child's first year that might come up.

Seems really unfair to me that they can have so much power to remove children, but that the guidelines for doing so seem to be all over the place and completely inconsistent and often illogical. When its really needed, they don't take them.. When its not really necessary, they do.

So leaving you child in the same diaper for extended periods of time so that the child is leaking is not an issue?

I have very little faith in CPS. They were called on my parents several times and every time they would come to my school, ask the same questions. I was desperate and begged them to help me and my sister but one agent literally said these words to me "it's not against the law to be a jerk" and left. There was no follow up, and nothing was done.

Years of these visits and every year they would tell me and my sister that unless there was visible bruises, that we weren't actually being abused. And we fit a lot of the things on this list.

Every time CPS was called, my sister and I would get grounded and punished for it. This agency never even made a solid effort to protect us.