[blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

Wed Dec 3 17:47:25 UTC 2008

I guess. V
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M." <Rebecca.Pickrell at ngc.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 6:45 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

> 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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>>>>> %40msn.com
>>>>>
>>>>
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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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> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
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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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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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