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From 16 & a half until shortly before I turned 18, I was in a full blown manic episode, which is part of bipolar disorder. From age 15 or possibly younger, I was in a hypomanic episode. One of the symptoms is hypersexuality, which resulted in the school calling CPS, or ACS in NYC. First paragraph is long, so you can skim to the 2nd paragraph.
It was a Tuesday, December 13 2011, between 7 and 8 PM. I was 15, a sophomore and arguing with my mom because she jokes too much and I kept telling her to stop. Then we got that phone call. The lady on the phone said. "This is A. from children's services. You have an investigation. What is your apartment number?" I thought maybe they made a mistake and got the wrong family. My mom gave them our apartment number. I look out the window of my parent's bedroom since the building entrance can be better seen that way. Two women came in and asked us and asked us if anything was going on in our home and I answered clearly, "we're not being abused, were not being neglected. We're not being abused in any way, physically, emotionally, sexually abused in any way. We're not being neglected in any way. We're not being abused in any way. We're not being abused. We're not being neglected." My parents showed them around the house. Later I asked, "Why are you investigating?" and A. replied, "Did you say you like to feel orgasms?" And for some reason I smugly said, "Yes I did?" A. replied "We wanted to know if you're getting this from your parents." And I told them "No were not getting this from our parents. My parents are good parents. They don't abuse us. They don't neglect us." Later my mom told them "I tell her if she wants to have sex she needs to prepare her body eat healthy and do the exercise". My 13 year old sister told A. how my mom jokes too much and they scolded her for that. I told A. about my school and the guidance counselor got married over the summer that's why she has hyphenated names. Then she scolds me in a firm authoritative manner. "Sex is for adults. Reproduction is for adults. These conversations are for adults! Ms. dough-smith is an adult and made an adult decision! You are a child! I'm gonna be monitoring you for the next 60 days and if your behavior doesn't change, were going to have problems. I'm gonna speak to your mother. What she is doing is inappropriate but what you're doing is inappropriate also!" and somewhere later she asked am I worried about the example I am setting for my little sister. They sat at the dinner table with my parents and A. said "You know how you tell her that to have sex she needs to do these exercises and eat healthy; YOU NEED TO STOP BECAUSE YOU ARE ENCOURAGING HER!" Somewhere later in their conversation, A. said "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to put a computer in her room. How about put it in a common area where everyone can see what they're doing" and then they said to "install parental controls" blocking software. Neither my mom nor family asked for this advice, though I am glad they stopped my mom from joking too much. We have 2 computers, 1 in my room and 1 in my dads' office. Before they left, A. said "You think about negative things. I want you to think about something POSITIVE!" One of their definitions of positive is what I want to be in the future.
In the second visit, A. called our phone saying "My name is A. You have an investigation. What is your apartment number?" My mom told them. When they came in the 1st thing they said was "Last time I came you wanted to do some adult things." They wanted me to think about something positive and told my parents to set install parental controls on our computers. I asked "why are you investigating? We're not being abused, we're not being neglected" and A. replied "That's not my only job" and told my mom "It's my job to make sure her behavior changes!" Near the end, A. gave my parents her cell phone number and sternly said, "My name is A. spelled A. Call me if you have any problems with her." On every visit they told my parents to install parental controls until that Tuesday in February. A. said she they would be coming back in two weeks, which was a Tuesday and to think about what I want to be in the future. Parental controls were installed on the office computer on the very day they promised to come. They never came. They came a week later. I asked "why didn't you come last week?" and A. replied "I gave you THREE weeks to think about what you want to be." My dad showed them the parental controls. Later, A. told my parents that the school may only inform them of the major issues about me and to call my school the guidance counselor every Friday at the end of the week to see how I'm doing. In the next visit, they asked my mom, "How is she doing in school?"
In the next visit, I was sitting in my bedroom on my computer and A. rang the doorbell. I was on the computer and A. came up to me and said "I hope you are not having those sex conversations with your friends." Then A. asks to see what I'm currently doing on my computer. I showed her. Then A. asks to see my internet history. I showed her. I mainly use InCognito browsing, so there was nothing important for her to see. Then A. asks "do you have a Facebook page?" I said yes. Then she asked to show her, and I did. Then A. asks "Did you think about what you want to be?" and I said no and she gave suggestions "how about a teacher, doctor, an architect" and I said I don't know. Then my mother came while I was sitting on the computer A. told my mom I don't remember the beginning of the conversation "blah blah blah or she will think when she's 18 she's an adult". WTF? You ARE an adult at 18.
I found out they were gone when I saw an envelope outside our mailbox. and it said OCFS, which stands for Office of Children and Family Services. I asked my mom if I can open it and she said yes. The letter inside the envelope said our case was unfounded. YES!!! THEY WERE GONE!!! Six months later, my father reinstalled everything on his computer and installed a newer version of Microsoft Office and the parental controls were gone.
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Dead 3-year-old’s case shows ‘systemic’ problems at child welfare agency, city investigators say
In just 3 months, 10 kids died on NYC child services’ watch
Yet they had to investigate a case where there was clearly no abuse.
"Stringer also uncovered multiple instances in which ACS failed to follow official protocol in handling the investigations. The lapses included 22.4 percent of the 3,692 cases in which there was no “face-to-face contact” with the child within 24 hours, and 25.9 percent that were closed without the “requisite number of face-to-face contacts with the child” every other week." "ACS also failed to produce a risk-assessment profile within 40 days, as required, in 68 percent of the cases, according to Stringer’s preliminary findings." "In its look at the Jordan case, DOI discovered a unit in crisis: ECS caseworkers “could not recall the last time they received training” and supervisors claimed they didn’t have time to review caseworkers’ reports."