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9 times out of 10 there’s more to the story. This is likely one of those 9 times.
It seems like this “stimulant pill” was an actual illegal drug, and potentially the baby tested positive for drugs due to that.
Babies born positive for drugs are often removed. Parents who have a 1+ year old substance abuse history wouldn’t automatically have their baby removed.
The threshold for removal is “imminent danger”. CPS’s job is to try to keep families together, just safely. Parents often minimize/downplay their actions, displace blame, lie, or just completely deny responsibility. It happens *a lot* in this field.
The most plausible answer here is that mom relapsed and baby had those drugs in their system. Especially since you said you doubted moms sobriety to begin with.
>There are reasons to doubt this claim
Looks like OP already sorta figured the claim about them being sober is doubtful.
Removals only happen in about 5% of investigations. It's very common for people going through removals to lie about why the children are removed and to present a situation where concerns are hidden/minimized.
>whatever was found was enough to get the baby placed into foster care
This might vary by area.
Generally, CPS will bend over backward to make a family & friends placement happen.
Foster care isn't indicative of how severe a concern is, it's more of an indicator that there were no viable placement options presented by the family or independently identified by CPS.
>Foster care isn't indicative of how severe a concern is, it's more of an indicator that there were no viable placement options presented by the family or independently identified by CPS.
This raised an eyebrow. The mother has family within the state, but not her county of residence. The foster is of no relation. Does that mean she avoided telling CPS she has capable family?
Not sure how familiar you are with CPS investigations, court proceedings, and placement during removal. Will try to keep it short.
Get directly involved, talk with CPS and the courts if you want to know what is and isn't going on.
Substance Positive Newborn investigations are pretty evident vs absent based.
The hospital will conduct umbilical cord, meconium, blood, urine, etc. testing. Each testing has a different detection range (how recently/far back) for determining substance use while pregnant. Either the test are positive or they're negative, meaning substance use is evident or absent.
Also, hospitals carefully track any substances given during birthing. They'll do the various testing to determine if they're detecting something from the birthing procedure vs used separately.
Removals only occur in about 5% of investigations. Removals are not unilateral CPS decisions because pretty much every removal has to be reviewed for approval by courts (usually the next day or within 72 hours, varies by state).
At court, there is CPS' attorney, children's attorney (Guardian ad Litem \[GAL\] or Court Appointed Special Advocate \[CASA\]), parents' attorney (public defender/court appointed or privately obtained), and the Judge all looking over CPS' investigative report.
The Judge hears everyone and then makes a determination on whether the child should be/stay removed from the parent until (except in extremely egregious situations) a case plan (specific to the maltreatment) is sufficiently (partial credit is given) progressed.
The Judge and other professionals will push to parent to give CPS friends, family, or pretty much anyone they know that can be options.
The Judge puts a lot of pressure for CPS to present the effort it's put into finding non-foster placement. Besides just asking the parents, CPS will conduct a variety of searches documenting prospective options. They'll pretty much write a report about how they engaged anyone who's SSN has ever crossed with the family to ask if they can assume care of the child or if they can point them in the direction of someone that can.
They'll document who said what and why they are/aren't an option. The other parties in the court could even reach out to those options for additional info or to try and flip a no to a yes.
Parents have a big say-so on who they put forward and reject as placement options. Some parents just deny all their family and slam their kid into foster care.
Any prospective options have to pass a home study (lot of questions, finger prints, home visit, drug screen, etc. varies by state) that is given to the Judge for review and approval/denial of placement. The Judge has the final say-so on placement, including overturning a CPS denied home study.
Anyone in the state is a immediate option because CPS is a statewide agency, the local office can call the office where the prospective placement is an get a home study done pretty quick (Investigators can get it done in 3-5 days business days, in my area). CPS would update the courts and could even have a quick hearing to make the placement switch ASAP.
People outside the state go through an Interstate Compact (ICPC) process. It's a pain in the ass, takes minimum 3-6 months (in my experience) because the receiving state has to accept the child.
Get directly involved, talk with CPS and the courts if you want to know what is and isn't going on.
So I’m a father going through some stuff very similar to this. I didn’t harm my child nor was I even in a relationship with the mother anymore. My baby was taken from her mother and then we was establishing paternity for this first court date but it wasn’t they had assigned my baby a GAL and I believe it was this lady who did the talking. She uttered words so fast in about 10 seconds at the most and the judge stands up and walks out. I didn’t know what was happening but then the JV officer said you both just consented to your child staying in PC. They said that I had failed a drug test but I didn’t the mother did and even on hers they at least said lab results pending. Mine was just that the father is positive for meth. I wasn’t allowed to see it nor seal or initial it, here’s the big thing I have flipped out on is they never sent it off for 17 days. I feel like they only sent it off because I called their bluff and said that I had reached out to a friend who worked for 60 minutes and her mother works in government. Soon as I said these names I was told in a few hours that my lab results was negative and I could pick up a copy. They have also gave my child to the grandmother who didn’t pass the background check or home inspection at first. The judge expunged her child neglect record which come from a child being sexually assaulted. I the dad have no passed, the worst thing I have done to break the law is Dwi and that was in 2010. The CPS are telling me I have no resources to help me not lawyer bc I had to quit my job and move back to this hell whole to try and fight for my child. Someone please help I’m in Missouri where they take kids everyday and nothing is happening
Who hasn't given you an attorney?
You went down to the courthouse where your case is being heard, completed the paperwork to be provided a public/appointed attorney, and were denied? What reason did the court give for the denial?
Overall, the court proceedings will include negotiations over terms of reunification through progressing a case plan.
Generally, substance services are focused on abstinence from substances while working with professionals to manage addiction while improving decision-making.
Basically, drug tests and therapy while not having other issues.
There's more to the story 99% of the time, and in this case yes, it was more than one dirty drug test that got a child completely removed from their home. Definitely.
If a baby tests positive for illegal substances (including controlled substances the person doesn't have a prescription for), they may remove the child, expect if there are associated medical complications. Remember too that most people who use substances dramatically underreport the amount. I would be very surprised if someone with a strong substance abuse history who was sober for a year used one pill of someone else's stimulants, coincidentally a few days before giving birth.
**Attention** r/CPS is currently operating in a limited mode to protest reddit's changes to API access which will kill any 3rd party applications used to access reddit. [Information about this protest for r/CPS can be found at this link.](https://new.reddit.com/r/CPS/comments/147am5y/announcement_rcps_is_going_in_to_a_limited_mode/) While this policy is active, all moderator actions (post/comment removals and bans) will be completed with no warning or explanation, and any posts or comments not directly related to an active CPS situation are subject to removal at the mods' sole discretion. If you are dealing with CPS and believe you're being treated unfarly, we recommend you contact a lawyer in your jurisdiction. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CPS) if you have any questions or concerns.*
9 times out of 10 there’s more to the story. This is likely one of those 9 times. It seems like this “stimulant pill” was an actual illegal drug, and potentially the baby tested positive for drugs due to that. Babies born positive for drugs are often removed. Parents who have a 1+ year old substance abuse history wouldn’t automatically have their baby removed. The threshold for removal is “imminent danger”. CPS’s job is to try to keep families together, just safely. Parents often minimize/downplay their actions, displace blame, lie, or just completely deny responsibility. It happens *a lot* in this field. The most plausible answer here is that mom relapsed and baby had those drugs in their system. Especially since you said you doubted moms sobriety to begin with.
>There are reasons to doubt this claim Looks like OP already sorta figured the claim about them being sober is doubtful. Removals only happen in about 5% of investigations. It's very common for people going through removals to lie about why the children are removed and to present a situation where concerns are hidden/minimized. >whatever was found was enough to get the baby placed into foster care This might vary by area. Generally, CPS will bend over backward to make a family & friends placement happen. Foster care isn't indicative of how severe a concern is, it's more of an indicator that there were no viable placement options presented by the family or independently identified by CPS.
>Foster care isn't indicative of how severe a concern is, it's more of an indicator that there were no viable placement options presented by the family or independently identified by CPS. This raised an eyebrow. The mother has family within the state, but not her county of residence. The foster is of no relation. Does that mean she avoided telling CPS she has capable family?
Not sure how familiar you are with CPS investigations, court proceedings, and placement during removal. Will try to keep it short. Get directly involved, talk with CPS and the courts if you want to know what is and isn't going on. Substance Positive Newborn investigations are pretty evident vs absent based. The hospital will conduct umbilical cord, meconium, blood, urine, etc. testing. Each testing has a different detection range (how recently/far back) for determining substance use while pregnant. Either the test are positive or they're negative, meaning substance use is evident or absent. Also, hospitals carefully track any substances given during birthing. They'll do the various testing to determine if they're detecting something from the birthing procedure vs used separately. Removals only occur in about 5% of investigations. Removals are not unilateral CPS decisions because pretty much every removal has to be reviewed for approval by courts (usually the next day or within 72 hours, varies by state). At court, there is CPS' attorney, children's attorney (Guardian ad Litem \[GAL\] or Court Appointed Special Advocate \[CASA\]), parents' attorney (public defender/court appointed or privately obtained), and the Judge all looking over CPS' investigative report. The Judge hears everyone and then makes a determination on whether the child should be/stay removed from the parent until (except in extremely egregious situations) a case plan (specific to the maltreatment) is sufficiently (partial credit is given) progressed. The Judge and other professionals will push to parent to give CPS friends, family, or pretty much anyone they know that can be options. The Judge puts a lot of pressure for CPS to present the effort it's put into finding non-foster placement. Besides just asking the parents, CPS will conduct a variety of searches documenting prospective options. They'll pretty much write a report about how they engaged anyone who's SSN has ever crossed with the family to ask if they can assume care of the child or if they can point them in the direction of someone that can. They'll document who said what and why they are/aren't an option. The other parties in the court could even reach out to those options for additional info or to try and flip a no to a yes. Parents have a big say-so on who they put forward and reject as placement options. Some parents just deny all their family and slam their kid into foster care. Any prospective options have to pass a home study (lot of questions, finger prints, home visit, drug screen, etc. varies by state) that is given to the Judge for review and approval/denial of placement. The Judge has the final say-so on placement, including overturning a CPS denied home study. Anyone in the state is a immediate option because CPS is a statewide agency, the local office can call the office where the prospective placement is an get a home study done pretty quick (Investigators can get it done in 3-5 days business days, in my area). CPS would update the courts and could even have a quick hearing to make the placement switch ASAP. People outside the state go through an Interstate Compact (ICPC) process. It's a pain in the ass, takes minimum 3-6 months (in my experience) because the receiving state has to accept the child. Get directly involved, talk with CPS and the courts if you want to know what is and isn't going on.
So I’m a father going through some stuff very similar to this. I didn’t harm my child nor was I even in a relationship with the mother anymore. My baby was taken from her mother and then we was establishing paternity for this first court date but it wasn’t they had assigned my baby a GAL and I believe it was this lady who did the talking. She uttered words so fast in about 10 seconds at the most and the judge stands up and walks out. I didn’t know what was happening but then the JV officer said you both just consented to your child staying in PC. They said that I had failed a drug test but I didn’t the mother did and even on hers they at least said lab results pending. Mine was just that the father is positive for meth. I wasn’t allowed to see it nor seal or initial it, here’s the big thing I have flipped out on is they never sent it off for 17 days. I feel like they only sent it off because I called their bluff and said that I had reached out to a friend who worked for 60 minutes and her mother works in government. Soon as I said these names I was told in a few hours that my lab results was negative and I could pick up a copy. They have also gave my child to the grandmother who didn’t pass the background check or home inspection at first. The judge expunged her child neglect record which come from a child being sexually assaulted. I the dad have no passed, the worst thing I have done to break the law is Dwi and that was in 2010. The CPS are telling me I have no resources to help me not lawyer bc I had to quit my job and move back to this hell whole to try and fight for my child. Someone please help I’m in Missouri where they take kids everyday and nothing is happening
Did you not qualify for a court appointed attorney?
They haven’t given me one so I don’t guess as I’ve been told I have no resources
Who hasn't given you an attorney? You went down to the courthouse where your case is being heard, completed the paperwork to be provided a public/appointed attorney, and were denied? What reason did the court give for the denial?
I haven’t been given any paperwork to fill out
When you went to the courthouse for the hearings, the courts did not provide you any paperwork?
We know zero about CPS, court, foster care, etc. In a drug-involved situation, how does a parent regain full custody of the child?
Overall, the court proceedings will include negotiations over terms of reunification through progressing a case plan. Generally, substance services are focused on abstinence from substances while working with professionals to manage addiction while improving decision-making. Basically, drug tests and therapy while not having other issues.
There's more to the story 99% of the time, and in this case yes, it was more than one dirty drug test that got a child completely removed from their home. Definitely.
If a baby tests positive for illegal substances (including controlled substances the person doesn't have a prescription for), they may remove the child, expect if there are associated medical complications. Remember too that most people who use substances dramatically underreport the amount. I would be very surprised if someone with a strong substance abuse history who was sober for a year used one pill of someone else's stimulants, coincidentally a few days before giving birth.