Thursday, August 30, 2007

Reported

What I am about to write happened in 2006. It would seem to be every mommies worst nightmare. And so it was for me as well.
Timothy had just turned 6 months old and those choppers were coming in. Ouch! I was trying to wean him from nursing so I was using formula once or twice a day and also working on rice cereal, cheerios and all of that good, messy stuff. Summer was going along and we spent our days swimming in the backyard and playing at a nearby park. Timmers was happy and adorable. He had his Daddy’s dimples. Timples. Having four by 40 was something else indeed!! Oooofffffffff. Four cherubs under the age of 8!! At 4:00pm on a sunny summer Monday afternoon the doorbell rang. A rather serious looking man was standing there. He introduced himself. He told me he was a social worker and he came to investigate a call they had received about a low weight baby in our home.

I couldn't breathe. I could hardly speak. I felt faint and like I was going to throw up. My heart pounded out of my chest. I told him to come in. I needed to finish feeding this supposed low weight baby we lovingly called "Timmers." I didn't want it to look like I was hiding anything but, word to the wise DO NOT let a social worker come in. Ask them to wait in their car until you can call someone to come over. A supportive friend, or your husband. The social worker asked a ton of questions that really had nothing to do with my boy. Again, you DO NOT have to babble on like I did thinking you are "helping." Tell them to stick to the allegations. He stayed an hour, looking me up and down, all of my children, my home, my life. All under his scrutiny now. I called Patrick after he left in near hysterics. I couldn't stop crying. Shock? Probably. Deep down I knew it was all crap. The allegation was that I was NOT FEEDING my son!! WHAT??!! That I was withholding food from him or not feeding him enough. Starving my buglet???!!! Absurd! I wanted to scream long and loud about THE SYSTEM. We were now in the Social Services System. We had a case. We had a case number. We had a case worker. Once a can of worms like this opens up there is a 90 day period where they drop by unannounced to do more interviews, bring in the county health nurse to WEIGH the baby and EDUCATE us imbeciles and gather more information. I felt totally and completely blindsided. 

 

6 comments:

Butrfly Garden said...

Oh, my, Carla!

That's terrible! I can't imagine what that must have been like.

I wonder what made her feel like she was responsible for that.

So, what ended up happening?

moosh in indy. said...

GASP!
Who the?
What the?
That's insane.

Bananas said...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? that is horrifying.

theswamphare said...

What happened next?
With all of the legitimate social issues our culture tolerates, why is it O.K. to harrass suburban caucasians? Is there some geographical boundary that a social worker is constrained to make a quota in?
This is the manner of liberal intrusion I anticipate, as a homeschool.
Why would that guy and his gal not be parked outside the Planned Parenthood offices, investigating the abuses against children there?

Grrr....

Erin said...

I had to back up a few posts to understand the whole story. WOW, I can not believe the nerve of some people.

Anonymous said...

I am absolutely infuriated over that insane woman! What the hell is wrong with her? She could have spoken to you and told you why she was asking instead of going behind your back and doing that. Crazy witch that she is.