Prince William County Child Protective Services Beware of Prince William County Child Protective Services!! Woodbridge Virginia

Below is the letter I wrote to PWC Child Protective services in February 2008. I received very little response from them when I submitted this letter, except a letter of receipt, and broken promises.

The judge ruled both my son and his girlfriend as abusive and neglectful parents. Both of their parental rights have been removed from them by PWC Child Protective Services. We have a pending court case in September 2008. My husband and I filed to gain custody of the children, and I recently found out by the same social worker PWC Child Protective Services has given custody to the maternal grandmother. I have a major problem with this since she used drugs and live a questionable lifestyle. I strongly believe the reason I was not awarded custody is because I wrote the letter below to PWC Child Protective Services:

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to express the manipulative, mendacious, and horrible service that was rendered to me by Prince William County Foster Care Team and Child Protective Service.

In October 2007, I reported my son and his girlfriend to Prince William County Child Protective Services for child neglect. The representative from CPS called my son three days prior to visiting the home to informed him the day and time he will be coming to his home. In my humble opinion, if an agency sincerely wants to find out if a child has been neglected, an unannounced visitation will lay open the condition a child is living in; unquestionably not an announced visitation. Therefore, since CPS set an appointment with my son and his girlfriend, and gave them three days to clean the house, clean and groom the children, and made sure everything appeared perfect, of course the investigation results were unfound.

When I initially made the call to CPS, I was told the call would be anonymous. The CPS intake person assured me they would not give my name or any evidence as to the person who made the call. However, when the investigator came to my son's house, he precisely repeated concerns the caller stated, such as when the children come to visit family members they were not clean, and their hair were not comb, etc. Since I had repeatedly discussed these distinct concerns with my son and his girlfriend, they automatically knew that I was the one who made the call. As a result of this investigator's inadequate service, and lacked the ability to verbally asked questions in a form that does not disclose where he received him information from, my son and his girlfriend completely stopped me from seeing my grandchildren. This inadequate service caused me to be separated from my grandchildren from October 2007 until January 2008. This certainly could have been avoided had the investigator been more cautious with the words he used doing his so-call investigation.

On January 4, 2008 my son called me to expressed how his children need to spend time with their grandmother, and how wrong it was of him to prevent me from seeing my grandchildren.

I picked up my granddaughter on the following day, January 5th. Several hours later I took her a bath and noticed several bruises on her body. Without hesitation, I contacted Fairfax County Police Department, who instructed me to immediately take her to Potomac Hospital. When I arrived at Potomac Hospital, Prince William County Child Abuse Investigator was there (forgot his name) and Stacy , from CPS. After asking me several questions the doctor examined the child and recommended for the Elyssia to immediately be taken under Foster Care, and for the other child (who was at home at time), Faith to be removed from the home the same night.

At Potomac hospital, CPS Social Worker and I briefly discussed whether I could take the children in my home. I informed her I would love to take care of my grandchildren. At that point, She asked me how long my husband and I have been married, and when I told her she stated it is not a good idea to place children in foster care if the family members have been married for less than a year. She also asked me if I was financially able to take care of the kids. I explained we don't have abundance of funds. I asked her if I could be a foster parent for my grandchildren. She told me she did not know if that was possible. She will check into it and get back with me. I never heard from Ms. Ragos on this subject again. She gave me the impression she preferred the children in foster care, rather than with family members.

I called the social worker a few days later to find out when I could see my grandchildren. She was unable to give me any details as to when I could see my children, or provide me with names and/or numbers of someone that could provide me that information. The only thing Ms. Ragos stated to me was to be patient. At that point, I begin to wonder if I had made the right decision since I was not getting any cooperation and/or assistance from PWC CPS. However I decided to be patient and wait things out.

I waited a couple of more weeks and called another social worker on January 31st to find out when I could see my grandchildren. At this point my grandchildren had been under the foster care program for almost one month. It should not take longer than a month for paperwork to be processed and decisions to be made as to when the children can see their biological family. However when I talked with the social worker she could not give me a definitive answer as to when I could see my grandchildren. She was very blunt, discourteous, and apathetic. After talking with her for two minutes on the phone I realized she was not being professional or helpful. Therefore, I asked for her supervisor's name and number. She gave me her supervisor's name and number so quickly and nonchalantly it made me wonder if the two of them were friends outside of the workplace.

I called her supervisor the same day (January 31, 2008) and I still have not received a call back from her as yet.

Ms Gastrick left a sour taste in my spirit in how Prince William County Foster Care Team cares about the children under their care, and about the biological family members who are attempting to see their love ones.

After speaking to the social worker she gave me the impression the only thing that she has a heart for is the day she gets paid and how she will spend her money. With the type of attitude and behavior she exhibited to me she should not be working in the public, especially not with foster care family members. It is quite obvious she does not have the heart or attitude that it takes for the job. After speaking to this so-called social worker, I decided she obviously does not care about me expressing her unprofessional behavior to her immediate supervisor. Therefore I decided to write this letter to her immediate supervisor and the Board of Social Services to see if I will hear from one caring and responsive voice. If this doesn't work I will have no other recourse but to take other actions.

It is a shame my grandchildren have been in foster care for over a month, and no one in that department can tell me when and where I can see my grandchildren. As I told the social worker, I am willing to have a supervise visit to see my grandchildren until my paperwork is completed.

When I made the initial call to Child Protective Services in October 2007 had the investigation had been more thorough my grandchildren would have not been neglected or abused at least from October 2007-January 5, 2008. After the CPS investigator came to my son's house, I called and spoke with his supervisor to express how dissatisfed I was in the services that was provided. Unfortunately, the supervisor I spoke with told me the investigator did his job according to PWC policy. If his job was done properly my grandchild would not have been a victim of abuse a few month later. How sad, my grandchildren slipped through the cracks because of so-call policy.

Both the initial social worker that met me at the emergency room and the Child Abuse Investigator should have given me the opportunity to be a foster care parent for my child. This was totally avoided. In my opinion the social worker and the Investigator in one night became the judge and the jury concerning what is best for my grandchildren.

Last but not least, PWC Foster Care Team goal should be for the betterment of the children. It is in any child's best interest to remain with family members. Instead of this being done PWC Foster Care Team took my grandchildren away from their family, and when family member asked when could they see the children no one could give definitive answers. To make matters worst, one of the Foster Care team members was very rude and disrespectful towards me on the phone. It was horrible enough she took almost two days to return my call, and I had to leave two or three messages before she returned my call. When she did returned my call instead of her telling me when I could see my children, she discussed how she had not spoken to her supervisor, her heavy workload, she just got back from the field, etc. I believe when I told her in each message how many messages I left this made her very upset; which is the reason she treated me so harshly. One bad apple can spoil the bunch and make the entire Foster Care Team looks bad and inadequate.

As I stated earlier the services that has been provided to me by Prince William County Child Protective Services and the Foster Care Team has not been a pleasant experience-to say the least. I am the one who reported the incidents. I was treated as if I was the one who abused the children. I feel like I have been penalized for something my son and/or his girlfriend has done. I am on the children's side just like PWC Foster Care Team and CPS suppose to be. Therefore I am expecting for Foster Care Team to immediately set up an supervise visit for me to see my grandchildren and, if possible expedite my paperwork so I can be my grandchildren's foster parent. If I don't hear from someone from this office within a reasonable timeframe, I will have no other alternative but to take other necessary action.

Ro
Woodbridge, Virginia
U.S.A.