[blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

Wed Dec 3 13:45:36 UTC 2008

Yes, but as they say, there's no fight like a family fight. Smiles. 

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Veronica Smith
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:35 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

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
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>> 11/25/2008 7:53 PM
>>
>>
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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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