[blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

Wed Dec 3 04:34:57 UTC 2008

And my friend is one of the nicest people you'll ever know.  she is a 
christian in every sense of the word.  She is giving, honest and friendly. 
she is my best friend and her daughter raina is gab's. When they told me 
this story about that Saturday morn, I was completely stunned.  That's when 
I wrote the letter.  the city replied that the officers must of thought 
there was a threat to the family. Yah, right. V
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara Hammel" <poetlori8 at msn.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 9:13 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

> Truth is definitely stranger than fiction.  Who could ever have concocted
> such a story in their wildest dreams.
> Barbara
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Veronica Smith" <madison_tewe at spinn.net>
> Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 10:01 PM
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?
>
>> And it doesn't only happen to blind parents.  A few years ago my friend
>> and her husband were having a discussion about someone they knew and my
>> friend was really mad, yelling, but not at anyone inparticular and went
>> out her front door slaming it behind her.  She wasn't hitting anyone or
>> bothering anyone, just venting her frustrations and there across the
>> street from her house was 2 policemen.  They heard her yell and they saw
>> her slam her front door.  they came right over and asked her what was
>> going on.  She told them she was upset and was venting her frustrations.
>> Well right about then her kids came out of the house crying because mom
>> was yelling.  then out came dad, almost shouting at her to come back
>> inside.  Then without asking any more questions, the police officer hand
>> cuffed my friend and put her in the police car.  She was stunned and so
>> was her family.  She said she started to cry and her husband tried to 
>> tell
>> the officer that nothing was going on except her venting about someone 
>> who
>> didn't pay her for babysitting.  they took her to the police station and
>> then made her take anger management classes for 3 weeks.  She says never
>> again will she yell to let out her frustrations. Aaah! V
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Barbara Hammel" <poetlori8 at msn.com>
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 9:32 AM
>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?
>>
>>
>>>I feel your pain.  Here in Iowa they sent a letter a few weeks later just
>>> reiterating what was said.  I.E. the charges were unfounded.  It does
>>> unnerve you for quite a while.  We have our good and bad days, but just
>>> the
>>> thought of someone taking them away ...  I shook like a leaf for quite a
>>> while after she left.  How much more scary to have the police come, too.
>>> That was probably because of the dog?
>>> Don't say word one to that ex-friend, you'll just add more fuel to her
>>> fire.
>>> Barbara
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>> From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at pcdesk.net>
>>> Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 7:21 PM
>>> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>>> Subject: [blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?
>>>
>>>> Hi.  To tell the truth, I had a fairly happy Thanksgiving, and I hope
>>>> you
>>>> all did as well.  But I had a really unpleasant surprise yesterday
>>>> afternoon.  Count me among the eighty percent of blind parents, I 
>>>> guess,
>>>> who have had encounters with Child Protective Services.  I hope that 
>>>> was
>>>> my first, last, and definitely only encounter.
>>>>
>>>> I was minding my own business, doing dishes in the kitchen.  Stephen 
>>>> was
>>>> up for the weekend, and an older woman from my church had left her two
>>>> grandchildren with me while she went to serve a Thanksgiving dinner at
>>>> the
>>>> local affordable housing complex.  Stephen and the two younger kids had
>>>> just come in from outside.  Ballad, my guide dog, started barking, so
>>>> Gerald went to see who was at the door.  A few moments later, I came
>>>> around the corner into my living room and met up with two city police
>>>> officers and a social worker.
>>>>
>>>> It seems that an anonymous caller put in a complaint that I wasn't
>>>> capable
>>>> of taking care of my baby, along with some other allegations iincluding
>>>> that I had a vicious dog who has bitten me before.  (Ballad is a
>>>> friendly,
>>>> goofy black Labrador who would barely know how to bite anybody if she
>>>> had
>>>> to.)  The social worker talked to Gerald and me for a few minutes and
>>>> then, since we didn't get upset and threaten her or anything crazy, I
>>>> guess, she told the police officers they could leave.  hung out for a
>>>> little while longer, then told us that she was going to file a report
>>>> saying that she saw nothing wrong, and the complaint was completely
>>>> unfounded.  She said Child Protective Services had no problem 
>>>> whatsoever
>>>> with blind parents or parents who had other disabilities, as long as 
>>>> the
>>>> children were well cared for, and she could see that Sarah was fine.
>>>> One
>>>> of the complaints had centered on the fact that Gerald is married to
>>>> someone besides me, and the case worker said that wasn't the business 
>>>> of
>>>> her agency.  She left soon after.
>>>>
>>>> The thing is, the case worker gave enough hints about exactly what was
>>>> said that I know who filed the complaint, even if it was anonymous.  It
>>>> was a friend of mmine, or rather an ex friend.  We haven't spoken for
>>>> over
>>>> a year because when I told her I was pregnant with Gerald's child, she
>>>> went off about how selfish and stupid and immoral I was, and decided 
>>>> she
>>>> didn't want to talk to me.  It hurt, but I let her go without much of a
>>>> fight after eighteen years of friendship because in my book, friends
>>>> stick
>>>> by each other and don't judge.  She sent a nasty little note at about
>>>> the
>>>> time the baby was born, which I ignored because I had bigger fish to 
>>>> fry
>>>> at the time, like caring for an infant and getting my gallbladder
>>>> removed.
>>>> I don't know now if she called Child Protective Services because of a
>>>> genuine concern for my baby--she sure didn't check with me at any
>>>> point--or whether it was some kind of weird vindictive thing.  I'm just
>>>> in
>>>> shock.
>>>>
>>>> I guess I'm wondering if it's really going to end like the case worker
>>>> says.  If she reports that the case has no validity, will it ever come
>>>> back to bite us if something else is filed later?  Is my ex friend a
>>>> threat in the future?  So far, my gut feeling is that I better not
>>>> contact
>>>> her about this.  I'm mostly too numb to have any emotions of anger or
>>>> the
>>>> like, but I'm guessing they'll come in time.  The two kids I was
>>>> babysitting didn't say anything abot what happened, though I did tell
>>>> their grandparents in case they mentioned it later.  But Stephen asked
>>>> me
>>>> why there were police officers in the house.  I told him the lady had
>>>> come
>>>> to check on how the baby was getting cared for, and he asked again 
>>>> about
>>>> the cops.  So I said some people got mad when a person came to check on
>>>> their babies, and the lady brought the police so she could be sure she
>>>> was
>>>> safe.  He seemed to accept that.  But I feel violated and a little
>>>> fearful
>>>> about the future.  Actually, I feel sick.
>>>>
>>>> Jo Elizabeth
>>>>
>>>> It is easy--terribly easy--to shake a man's faith in himself. To take
>>>> advantage of that to break a man's spirit is devil's work. Take care of
>>>> what you are doing. Take care.--George Bernard Shaw in "Candide"
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>>>
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>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> Internal Virus Database is out of date.
>> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
>> Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1812 - Release Date:
>> 11/25/2008 7:53 PM
>>
>>
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>
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Internal Virus Database is out of date.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1812 - Release Date: 11/25/2008 
7:53 PM