CPS Tries To Remove Child Over Phone Call

A case in Denver that will soon be a hot topic in National news really has me thinking this morning.  How much control do I really have as a parent where the government is concerned?  Just how easy is it for Child Protective Services to march into our homes and take our children?  Who decides if my decisions in child rearing are good enough to keep my child/children in my care protected?  As long as we don’t break any laws as parents we should be safe right?  Wrong.  If you think you are safe, you’d better think again.  It has nothing to do with breaking laws, or being “unfit”.  The definition of child abuse itself is often determined case by case on the fly by one to two individuals who know that a judge will more likely than not support their decision in an effort to err on the side of the child.  That’s right.  In a split second, your child can be removed from your home under mere suspicion in a time frame that could last anywhere from 72 hours to years.  And what’s more frightening than that widely varying time frame is the uncertainty of whose care your child will end up in. 

So let’s talk about the case. (I will keep the name of the mother and daughter private to protect them at this time) A mother and the father of her child, John Affourtit, 33 are separated, but work through a mutual visitation arrangement of their daughter. This visitation was occuring with her father, his new girlfriend, and 3 year old son Jeromiah on the night in question.  During the visit, Jeromiah tragically died under suspicious circumstances.  It has not been determined that the daughter witnessed any wrong doing by her father, but none the less, the father has been charged with murder in the case.  The mother of the daughter believes that John is innocent just as he has claimed to be since his arrest despite reports from the girlfriend that she had long suspected him of abusing her son.  Standing firm with John’s family who has set up a “Go Fund Me” account to help clear his name, the mother has accepted phone calls from John in jail which have been recorded.  These recording have now possibly been turned over to child protective services in Denver due to his daughter being heard in the background of one of the conversations. And Denver CPS has promptly sprung into action over the case.  

Denver Attorney Jessica Peck has taken on the case of the mother against CPS and has shared an email sent to her by Denver’s CPS which stated the following:

  I want to make sure that I stress this, A PHONE CALL, is the ‘evidence’ the state is using as a viable threat to take a mother’s child and deem her unfit to protect her child.  While the affidavit in the murder case is damning, we have to remember that this man has yet to be found guilty by a jury of his peers. The man has not physically seen his child since the incident in question and does not have custody of his daughter.  And I’m pretty sure the mother has no intention of taking the child up to the jailhouse on visiting day.  Yet still, Denver CPS is ready, and has the right to remove this child from her home that she doesn’t even share with her father.  Also, if you take a moment to read the words of CPS you will see how they will twist a situation to get a child into their system. I have said for years that their job is not to protect children, but to profit from the illusion of protecting children. John hasn’t been convicted nor has ever been accused of abusing his daughter so exactly what is this mother supposed to be protecting her daughter from? Accusations? It doesn’t matter if you THINK John is guilty or not, Denver CPS is doing the most.

I’m not going to play semantics and pretend to tell you what I’d do in the mother’s situation because let’s face it; none of us knows exactly how we’d react in this situation.  We know how we would want to believe we would act, but if the father of your child had been arrested for murdering another child, would you condemn him without question?  Or even answers?  I mean, me personally, if it was the sperm bank I withdrew from  I would become the star witness in the states case against him and bring balloons and cupcakes to his execution, but I’m in a dark place right now, so y’all can’t be like me.  And for those of you that are like me, I encourage you to get some counseling before you end up on Women Behind Bars and or Snapped. 

But let’s get serious again.  Do you think Denver CPS is right?  Should they have the ability to tell you who you can and can’t allow your child to speak to?  So let’s argue.  Comment below.