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Want to know how my typical day goes? Here you are.
8:11a
The caller knows of a 12yo boy who’s being beaten regularly by his father, but without an iron-clad promise that CPS would immediately remove the child from the home, refused to give any identifying or locating information. Because we’re not CPS (we're both under Protective Services but we're a different department) and aren’t familiar with their exact procedures for investigation, we’re not able to make any assumptions about what CPS would or wouldn’t do. The caller promised to call back later. No report taken.
8:43a
A CPS worker had closed a case for not having enough information, but has since gotten more information and wants the case re-opened. Mother and her boyfriend beat mom’s 3yo son with a belt and hand leaving ‘substantial’ bruising on the child’s butt. Mom has since kicked the boyfriend out of the home. Call sent to CPS for investigation- Priority 2 (aka P2, investigation will start within 10 days) for physical abuse.
9:21a
A hospital worker called to add information about a case that she had called in earlier this morning. The info was forwarded to the CPS office that’s handling the case.
10:00a
A neighbor called to report that the mother of a 9yo was using cocaine, and ‘popping’ the child on the back of his head but leaving no injuries. This is one of the many cases that falls in the grey area of ‘bad parenting’ while not being enough to call abuse and investigate. Case closed, and I suggested the caller give mom’s parole officer a call.
10:36a
APS is calling in a report on a 93yo woman who fell and broke her hip. She’s in the hospital and will be fine, but will have to be in a wheelchair and needs help getting a ramp installed and other assistive devices. Sent to APS as a low-priority self-neglect case.
11:37a
An officer from the victims services unit of the police was calling to report an elderly lady in a nursing home getting beaten up by another resident. Since nursing homes aren’t our jurisdiction, I referred her to Department of Aging and Disabled Services.
12:02p
A niece is calling about a woman and her Down’s syndrome son. Their landlord is being a dick. He never fixes anything and keeps raising her rent, so she was planning to move out at the end of the month (and was paid up). When he found this out, he went to their place, screamed at her until she cried, and threatened to turn off the electricity unless they moved out by the end of the day. Sent to APS for them to respond within 24 hours. I also referred her to the police.
12:44p
A mom had called in a report on a day care 3 weeks ago and wanted to know how the investigation was going. This might be one of the most popular non-report kind of calls we get after ‘bad parenting’ calls. I referred her to the local office that handled the investigation.
12:55p
A neighbor reports that an elderly (80s) couple’s home smells like urine and they complain that their nephew (who has power of attorney) never buys them groceries. The neighbors try to feed them, but it’s not known if they’re eating regularly. A dual report sent to APS for response within 24 hours (each APS client gets their own separate report, even if they live in the same house). The reports are for self-neglect, since we don’t know that the nephew is legally obligated to buy them groceries or what- APS will figure that out.
2:01pm
A hospital worker has called about an elderly lady in a coma who’s son refuses to place her in a nursing home, claiming they can’t care for her. Her medical problems are legion, and worse since she’s been in son’s care. She’s been hospitalized with an infection, and in trying to figure out if she has pneumonia x-rays show ‘acute trauma’ to her rib cage. Sent to APS for them to respond within 24 hours.
2:45p
An anonymous caller reported that mom (of a 6 month old) and mom’s brother and sister-in-law (with 3 children of their own) stabbed a guy almost to death in the living room in front of the children. They all sell and use crack. Mom gave the 6 month old beer to get the kid to stop crying. I ended up making this a dual report for the 6 month old and her mom (physical abuse, giving the baby beer), and the brother and his family (neglectful supervision, since it’s probably hard to keep an eye on your kids when you’re using crack and stabbing people). The history search revealed a very weird history where it wasn’t clear which were children versus cousins and the names were all slightly different, so this one took a long time to sort out.
4:29p
A 67yo disabled man was being cared for by his mother, but she died. He’s ‘slow’ and spends all his disability money for the month impulsively- like in 2 days. He was in a hospital in Louisiana, but checked himself out and now is in a dingy motel. His sister called because she doesn’t know why he was in the hospital, why he left, or if he has any money or food.
4:58p
A nurse was calling to add some information to a report that was called in a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, since she wasn’t the one who made the original report, I had to take it as if it was a whole new report, even though there was only about a sentence worth of new information. That’s the downside of the rules regarding confidentiality. She was cool about it though. A 9yo tried to get his 7yo brother to perform anal sex on him (that’s a new one). Since no one’s over 10 years old, the lot of them (including their 3yo sister) are listed as victims of sexual abuse by an unknown perpetrator. The 9yo is in a psychiatric facility now.
5:24p
A neighbor called to rat out mom and dad who were having a drunken brawl while holding first the 7 month old baby, then the 2 year old. It was hard to tell if dad was hitting her while she happened to be holding the kids or mom was picking them up, then attacking dad. Probably some of both. Dad’s been arrested. The kids are always dirty, and mom was trolling around the neighborhood 2 weeks ago asking if anyone had any crystal meth. Charming. Sent as a P1 for neglectful supervision and possible physical neglect, because the baby seems small for her age and isn’t doing whatever things 7 month olds do (crawling, talking, driving, writing novels, playing holophoner).
6:02p
A crazy-sounding mother called to report that her 17yo son was abusing her. She claims to be disabled, though we have a past history of an APS call for her that was closed because she doesn’t meet APS guidelines (in order to get APS services you either have to be over 65 or disabled). She said her son put her in the hospital in February and she’s been having seizures since then. She said he isn’t physically abusing her now, but he’s calling her names, spitting on her, disrespecting her, teasing her, and cursing at her. I’ll go ahead and send it to APS for emotional abuse by the son, who sounds like an asshole. There’s also an open CPS case on him (there’s quite a lot of closed ones, actually) for, ironically, physical abuse by the mother so I’ll send them a copy of the report for their information.
And that’s my day. That’s 15 calls, which isn’t quite the 2 an hour they’d like me to be taking, but stuff gets complicated. This is a pretty typical day, though there were more APS calls than usual. When school starts back up we’ll be getting tons of CPS calls from teachers and counselors.
8:11a
The caller knows of a 12yo boy who’s being beaten regularly by his father, but without an iron-clad promise that CPS would immediately remove the child from the home, refused to give any identifying or locating information. Because we’re not CPS (we're both under Protective Services but we're a different department) and aren’t familiar with their exact procedures for investigation, we’re not able to make any assumptions about what CPS would or wouldn’t do. The caller promised to call back later. No report taken.
8:43a
A CPS worker had closed a case for not having enough information, but has since gotten more information and wants the case re-opened. Mother and her boyfriend beat mom’s 3yo son with a belt and hand leaving ‘substantial’ bruising on the child’s butt. Mom has since kicked the boyfriend out of the home. Call sent to CPS for investigation- Priority 2 (aka P2, investigation will start within 10 days) for physical abuse.
9:21a
A hospital worker called to add information about a case that she had called in earlier this morning. The info was forwarded to the CPS office that’s handling the case.
10:00a
A neighbor called to report that the mother of a 9yo was using cocaine, and ‘popping’ the child on the back of his head but leaving no injuries. This is one of the many cases that falls in the grey area of ‘bad parenting’ while not being enough to call abuse and investigate. Case closed, and I suggested the caller give mom’s parole officer a call.
10:36a
APS is calling in a report on a 93yo woman who fell and broke her hip. She’s in the hospital and will be fine, but will have to be in a wheelchair and needs help getting a ramp installed and other assistive devices. Sent to APS as a low-priority self-neglect case.
11:37a
An officer from the victims services unit of the police was calling to report an elderly lady in a nursing home getting beaten up by another resident. Since nursing homes aren’t our jurisdiction, I referred her to Department of Aging and Disabled Services.
12:02p
A niece is calling about a woman and her Down’s syndrome son. Their landlord is being a dick. He never fixes anything and keeps raising her rent, so she was planning to move out at the end of the month (and was paid up). When he found this out, he went to their place, screamed at her until she cried, and threatened to turn off the electricity unless they moved out by the end of the day. Sent to APS for them to respond within 24 hours. I also referred her to the police.
12:44p
A mom had called in a report on a day care 3 weeks ago and wanted to know how the investigation was going. This might be one of the most popular non-report kind of calls we get after ‘bad parenting’ calls. I referred her to the local office that handled the investigation.
12:55p
A neighbor reports that an elderly (80s) couple’s home smells like urine and they complain that their nephew (who has power of attorney) never buys them groceries. The neighbors try to feed them, but it’s not known if they’re eating regularly. A dual report sent to APS for response within 24 hours (each APS client gets their own separate report, even if they live in the same house). The reports are for self-neglect, since we don’t know that the nephew is legally obligated to buy them groceries or what- APS will figure that out.
2:01pm
A hospital worker has called about an elderly lady in a coma who’s son refuses to place her in a nursing home, claiming they can’t care for her. Her medical problems are legion, and worse since she’s been in son’s care. She’s been hospitalized with an infection, and in trying to figure out if she has pneumonia x-rays show ‘acute trauma’ to her rib cage. Sent to APS for them to respond within 24 hours.
2:45p
An anonymous caller reported that mom (of a 6 month old) and mom’s brother and sister-in-law (with 3 children of their own) stabbed a guy almost to death in the living room in front of the children. They all sell and use crack. Mom gave the 6 month old beer to get the kid to stop crying. I ended up making this a dual report for the 6 month old and her mom (physical abuse, giving the baby beer), and the brother and his family (neglectful supervision, since it’s probably hard to keep an eye on your kids when you’re using crack and stabbing people). The history search revealed a very weird history where it wasn’t clear which were children versus cousins and the names were all slightly different, so this one took a long time to sort out.
4:29p
A 67yo disabled man was being cared for by his mother, but she died. He’s ‘slow’ and spends all his disability money for the month impulsively- like in 2 days. He was in a hospital in Louisiana, but checked himself out and now is in a dingy motel. His sister called because she doesn’t know why he was in the hospital, why he left, or if he has any money or food.
4:58p
A nurse was calling to add some information to a report that was called in a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, since she wasn’t the one who made the original report, I had to take it as if it was a whole new report, even though there was only about a sentence worth of new information. That’s the downside of the rules regarding confidentiality. She was cool about it though. A 9yo tried to get his 7yo brother to perform anal sex on him (that’s a new one). Since no one’s over 10 years old, the lot of them (including their 3yo sister) are listed as victims of sexual abuse by an unknown perpetrator. The 9yo is in a psychiatric facility now.
5:24p
A neighbor called to rat out mom and dad who were having a drunken brawl while holding first the 7 month old baby, then the 2 year old. It was hard to tell if dad was hitting her while she happened to be holding the kids or mom was picking them up, then attacking dad. Probably some of both. Dad’s been arrested. The kids are always dirty, and mom was trolling around the neighborhood 2 weeks ago asking if anyone had any crystal meth. Charming. Sent as a P1 for neglectful supervision and possible physical neglect, because the baby seems small for her age and isn’t doing whatever things 7 month olds do (crawling, talking, driving, writing novels, playing holophoner).
6:02p
A crazy-sounding mother called to report that her 17yo son was abusing her. She claims to be disabled, though we have a past history of an APS call for her that was closed because she doesn’t meet APS guidelines (in order to get APS services you either have to be over 65 or disabled). She said her son put her in the hospital in February and she’s been having seizures since then. She said he isn’t physically abusing her now, but he’s calling her names, spitting on her, disrespecting her, teasing her, and cursing at her. I’ll go ahead and send it to APS for emotional abuse by the son, who sounds like an asshole. There’s also an open CPS case on him (there’s quite a lot of closed ones, actually) for, ironically, physical abuse by the mother so I’ll send them a copy of the report for their information.
And that’s my day. That’s 15 calls, which isn’t quite the 2 an hour they’d like me to be taking, but stuff gets complicated. This is a pretty typical day, though there were more APS calls than usual. When school starts back up we’ll be getting tons of CPS calls from teachers and counselors.
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Date: Jul. 21st, 2005 12:46 am (UTC)From:have I told you lately that I wuvs you?
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Government Drone Lass! (Intake Worker flavor)
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Date: Jul. 21st, 2005 04:38 am (UTC)From:Misery loves company after all. *hugs*
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Date: Jul. 21st, 2005 12:30 pm (UTC)From:I'm sorry you had a rotten day though. (((hugs))) back!