I've been gone for a while. From here, anyway. I've gotten sunk under everything that's been going on. I've been reading about CPS, the way they operate and all. I've mostly been reading books from what claim to be objective sources. I've also been watching people's video accounts of and thoughts of their own dealings with CPS or what they've observed.

Here's the thing... very few accounts seem objective. Either you are under scrutiny from CPS or are afraid of being put under the spotlight or you are one of those who have been lucky enough to escape the prying eyes and don't believe that they can come into your home and remove your children without batting an eyelash. Bottom line... those who think they could never be adversely effected by CPS and those of us who know better.

I've read about those who believe that CPS should be abolished entirely. I can understand their point of view. I can understand their POV, as a matter of fact, a whole lot easier than I can understand those who believe that there is nothing wrong with CPS and that the entity doesn't need to be adjusted at all.

I guess with me it's this way... I can see a need for a group who will watch out for those children who have no one to do it for them. I can see a need for people who will think about the children that no one else thinks about. I believe that CPS has place in this world, unfortunately.

However, CPS as it is must be changed.

What is the wisdom behind taking the children of someone who has never been involved with CPS, never been accused of neglecting, injuring or otherwise maltreating their children in any way, shape of form just because some third party who spent a minimal amount of time with the family and decided that they are "concerned"? This I do not understand.

Something more I don't understand is how a state agency can leave a child in a situation where neither caregiver is a parent or family member, but with whom their drug addicted mother decided to leave the child. I don't understand how CPS can miss bruises, cuts and abuses that, upon the child's death, were alarmingly apparent.

The night CPS got involved with my family, a CPS investigator stood over my children and myself and I was told that the investigator wanted to "see" the children so she could check for injuries. My children were stripped down to their diapers. No bruises, no cuts. Nothing. Not even your normal "the baby is two and very active" bumps and bruises. Nothing.

Why 3 year old Kyle Smith is dead is beyond my comprehension. CPS was involved with him and his caregivers. How could they have ignored what must have been obvious signs of abuse? How could they have left that poor baby with people who were not being put through the rigorous training that my family member is being put through in order to tend to our children for what is going to be a short time (prayerfully!)?

Yes, I saw that part of the story where the neighbors saw what was going and said nothing. They do hold some blame as those who did nothing. However... CPS is supposedly TRAINED to see abuse and neglect and just ignored it completely! I do not understand.

For people like this and children like Kyle, I do believe that some form of CPS must exist. However, with the numbers of people who are falsely accused of abuse and the numbers of people who while they may need intervention in some form without having their children taken away so high CPS as it is may be doing more harm than good. And the number of children who die or are continually abused under CPS supervision...well, even one is far too many.

CPS as it is needs massive reform and not from the people who have been "reforming" it. There needs to be an agreement between "us" and "them". Those of us who have seen the bad side of CPS need to have a say in how it is reformed. Perhaps, this way, there won't be so many of us.

/soap box