Good parents only in AZ (part 6)
Leave the kids in cages, but threaten to take the kids who aren't getting rabies shots.
CPS finally swoops in, just not in right case
Oct. 15, 2003 12:00 AM
When the call came in this summer about a 7-year-old boy living in a closet, Child Protective Services was too busy to check it out. A few days later, police found the boy, stripped and starving.
When the call came in about 3-year-old twins in cages, CPS declared it a low priority and tossed it to a social worker who couldn't get past the front door. This summer, police found the boys, now 5, still living in filthy cages.
When the call came in about a mother who decided her kids did not need rabies shots, well, you can imagine what happened.
That's right. CPS was on her in an instant. Within hours of getting a complaint, no less than a unit supervisor showed up on Anita Masse's doorstep in Strawberry, threatening to immediately seize her three children. This, because Masse wouldn't agree to get the painful shots to guard against a disease she felt they had no chance of contracting.
Neighbors were shocked to hear that CPS was knocking on the Masses' door. "This is an exemplary family here," said Dee Cox, who lives across from the Masses, on Peach Lane. "Every kid should be so lucky to live in a home like this. It's the last home in Arizona where you would expect CPS to come."
Apparently, no longer. Comes now the inevitable other end of the spectrum of child protection, the ultimate result that you knew would come when CPS began taking heat for all the times it didn't do enough to protect children. Comes now the next swing of the CPS pendulum: overreaction in all the wrong cases.
The Masses live in a trim home tucked into the woods of Strawberry, just a ride through the pines up from Payson. Dominic works in construction while Anita takes care of the kids: Rebecca, 11, Cody, 10, and Emily, 8.
Their problems began in July when bats got into the house. At first, it was one or two at a time, sightings that would send the parents running for a broom and a dustpan and the kids running for cover. Dominic tore out the ridge of the roof to find out how the bats were getting in and fix it. Unfortunately, he didn't build in an escape route for the bats already in the rafters. The family was watching TV the evening of July 27, when six bats suddenly swept into the living room.
The Masses stayed at the Coxes that night and the next, after five more bats were found. Meanwhile, Anita called Gila County Rabies Control for help. She got it - and more.
County workers told her that state health guidelines say you should get rabies shots if you've been bitten, scratched or slept in a room with a bat that has not been tested. But Anita says none of those things happened with her children. After doing some research - talking to her pediatrician, state biologists and the local hospital - Anita decided the shots weren't necessary. Meanwhile, two of the bats were tested and came up clean.
Still, the county continued to insist, so Masse called a reporter and appeared on TV, suggesting that if the state wanted her to get shots, the state should pay for them.
Within 24 hours, Mary Meyers, a CPS supervisor, was at her door with an ultimatum: agree to the shots or lose your kids tonight.
In the eyes of CPS - eyes that see no immediate danger in parents who closet or cage their kids - Masse was providing an unsafe home. So unsafe, according to CPS records, as to require that the children be immediately taken and parceled out into foster care.
Of course, Masse couldn't let that happen so she agreed to force her children to endure the painful shots. Shots which, by the way, are recommended by the state, not mandated.
CPS wouldn't discuss the case, employing the usual confidentiality dodge. Craig Levy, the bat expert at DHS, acknowledged that the recommendations are advisory only. "You'd hope that parents would make the appropriate decision to protect their kids," he added.
But the thing is, Anita Masse thought she had made the appropriate decision. She knows the disease is fatal. She also contends her kids were never near the bats. "I go out of my way to protect my children," she said. "If I had ever thought they were in danger they would have gotten the shots. It's not up to the state. I think that it is my decision as a parent."
Apparently not. Not anymore.
CPS finally swoops in, just not in right case
Oct. 15, 2003 12:00 AM
When the call came in this summer about a 7-year-old boy living in a closet, Child Protective Services was too busy to check it out. A few days later, police found the boy, stripped and starving.
When the call came in about 3-year-old twins in cages, CPS declared it a low priority and tossed it to a social worker who couldn't get past the front door. This summer, police found the boys, now 5, still living in filthy cages.
When the call came in about a mother who decided her kids did not need rabies shots, well, you can imagine what happened.
That's right. CPS was on her in an instant. Within hours of getting a complaint, no less than a unit supervisor showed up on Anita Masse's doorstep in Strawberry, threatening to immediately seize her three children. This, because Masse wouldn't agree to get the painful shots to guard against a disease she felt they had no chance of contracting.
Neighbors were shocked to hear that CPS was knocking on the Masses' door. "This is an exemplary family here," said Dee Cox, who lives across from the Masses, on Peach Lane. "Every kid should be so lucky to live in a home like this. It's the last home in Arizona where you would expect CPS to come."
Apparently, no longer. Comes now the inevitable other end of the spectrum of child protection, the ultimate result that you knew would come when CPS began taking heat for all the times it didn't do enough to protect children. Comes now the next swing of the CPS pendulum: overreaction in all the wrong cases.
The Masses live in a trim home tucked into the woods of Strawberry, just a ride through the pines up from Payson. Dominic works in construction while Anita takes care of the kids: Rebecca, 11, Cody, 10, and Emily, 8.
Their problems began in July when bats got into the house. At first, it was one or two at a time, sightings that would send the parents running for a broom and a dustpan and the kids running for cover. Dominic tore out the ridge of the roof to find out how the bats were getting in and fix it. Unfortunately, he didn't build in an escape route for the bats already in the rafters. The family was watching TV the evening of July 27, when six bats suddenly swept into the living room.
The Masses stayed at the Coxes that night and the next, after five more bats were found. Meanwhile, Anita called Gila County Rabies Control for help. She got it - and more.
County workers told her that state health guidelines say you should get rabies shots if you've been bitten, scratched or slept in a room with a bat that has not been tested. But Anita says none of those things happened with her children. After doing some research - talking to her pediatrician, state biologists and the local hospital - Anita decided the shots weren't necessary. Meanwhile, two of the bats were tested and came up clean.
Still, the county continued to insist, so Masse called a reporter and appeared on TV, suggesting that if the state wanted her to get shots, the state should pay for them.
Within 24 hours, Mary Meyers, a CPS supervisor, was at her door with an ultimatum: agree to the shots or lose your kids tonight.
In the eyes of CPS - eyes that see no immediate danger in parents who closet or cage their kids - Masse was providing an unsafe home. So unsafe, according to CPS records, as to require that the children be immediately taken and parceled out into foster care.
Of course, Masse couldn't let that happen so she agreed to force her children to endure the painful shots. Shots which, by the way, are recommended by the state, not mandated.
CPS wouldn't discuss the case, employing the usual confidentiality dodge. Craig Levy, the bat expert at DHS, acknowledged that the recommendations are advisory only. "You'd hope that parents would make the appropriate decision to protect their kids," he added.
But the thing is, Anita Masse thought she had made the appropriate decision. She knows the disease is fatal. She also contends her kids were never near the bats. "I go out of my way to protect my children," she said. "If I had ever thought they were in danger they would have gotten the shots. It's not up to the state. I think that it is my decision as a parent."
Apparently not. Not anymore.
posted by Jenn @ 09:31
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