She could get arrested and have her kid taken away from her.

I don't understand why everybody's downvoting #28. Yes, being there for your kid is important, but that wouldn't matter in the slightest if she lost her kid because she chose to see the play instead of going to something that THEY WOULD TAKE THE KID AWAY FOR MISSING.

People are downvoting because she (and you) obviously don't get the joke that is being made.

do you not know what mandatory means?

I'm pretty sure that was the point the OP was making!

I would've thought, to the son, the more important part of them attending the play would be him knowing his parent is there in the audience to support him, rather than them watching the play itself.

CPS is my greatest fear as a future parent. I hear so many stories of them taking away kids for bogus reasons. Hate hate hate it

Totally agree. When I first got pregnant, I read for hours about my rights if ever confronted by CPS. They're terrifying and can be set on you for the stupidest thing just because some other parent doesn't agree with your parenting style.

We hear all the time about these nutjobs attacking Planned Parenthood buildings. I'm a little surprised you don't hear the same about CPS Offices, except with parents who simply got pushed too far.

CPS officers get killed or attacked pretty frequently. Not because people have been pushed too far but because people who abuse kids have problems giving up control.

That's because the nutjobs that attack Planned Parenthood are only concerned about babies BEFORE they are born. After they are out of the uterus....not so much.

The worst is that sometimes total numbskulls report you for the smallest reasons. I remember my brother's teacher (who generally disliked him and my family for certain reasons) called CPS on my parents because my brother kept asking for "exotic fruit juice" and they thought it was very suspicious that a kid would know the word "exotic" and he must really have meant "erotic" fruit juice (because THAT totally makes sense) and therefore my parents must be sexually abusing him. When CPS arrived and explained the situation to my mom (after checking the living conditions and seeing everything was ok), she simply turned to my brother and asked him to get get some exotic fruit juice. He happily went to the cupboard and got...you guessed it....exotic fruit juice! He said it that way because my mother was teaching him to read (the teacher refused to help him, saying he was just too stupid to learn). Thank goodness that worker had an actual brain and closed the case (and then went back and gave that teacher hell for wasting time).

Little known fact: CPS gets federal kickback money whenever they remove a kid, place in a foster home or adopt them out. So CPS will get greedy and "legally kidnap" kids and even adopt them out on bogus charges for more money. Dont believe me, look it up. It will make your skin crawl.

There's a button for this

There's also a button for that, and a buttons for this.

Teachers, doctors, and people of other professions who work with children in the US are mandatory reporters. It's possible the child displayed signs of abuse and one of these people was obligated to report it. Unfortunately, spotting an abused child can be difficult and people can make mistakes. And thankfully, in this case, the child wasn't being abused. It's an imperfect system, but it's all we've got.

Unfortunately, many people use this as a way to get back at someone who has "wronged" them. And once you have a case with CPS, it's hard to get them to stop stalking you. My nephew got put into a foster home right out of the hospital because one of my brother in laws exes called and said he said he would hurt the baby. He's mentally challanged, but not incapable of being a father if he's got help. He has bunches of us to help him. But CPS won't give any family member the baby. It's horrible.

That's awful to hear, 16. I was just trying to point out that it could've been done by somebody who not only legitimately suspected the child was in danger, but was also obligated to report it. It takes a pretty terrible person to use a child as a pawn in a personal vendetta.

Yeah, teacher are mandatory reporters and most err on the side of caution. It's also incredibly important for them to have a paper trail so that the courts can actually do something. It's terrifying how often kids get sent back to the hell holes their parents live in.

#15 unfortunately too many people see a single bruise and instantly assume the worst, instead of realizing that kids get injured all the time by completely innocuous means. Hell, my mother once had the cops called on her for taking me to urgent care for stitches after I flung myself off of a dumpster. It's a good thing to watch for patterns, but some people go too far

I'm a mandatory reporter due to daycare work. My state has a test you take with signs and warnings and what to do of abuse it suspected. Here's the thing about CPS, at least my area's; they don't make you take parenting classes if the abuse is unfounded. That's not up to the one social worker that visits, but a ladder of social workers, police, judges and therapists/doctors make that decision. You call in abuse, they don't automatically open a case. I've only had to do it twice, once a case was open, once it was not. Both were abuse cases, the father of the not is now in jail over spousal abuse, too. The first was only opened because it was about a niece and I was willing to step up and take immediate custody rather than letting it fall to the state. I know CPS asks crazy in some cases, but from what I've personally seen in my area, they don't go after good parents but bad parents do fall through the cracks. Parental classes can also be mandatory for probation and parole.

True that. I'm a massive klutz, so I'm honestly surprised nobody has (wrongly) called CPS on my parents. I ran into a clothesline one time and looked like someone had slit my throat and I think my parents were scared shitless, though.

#43- All it takes is one bruise. I'm a mandatory reporter because of my job in childcare. My coworkers and I had to file a report because one of the children came in with a single bruise on their face. When we asked them, they had said their parent had repeatedly slapped them. Luckily, CPS was able to step in and the child and their family have been helped.

Yeah CPS does more harm than good in some situations

You hear so much about it because, in this case, the stereotype is true.

Because when CPS does their job correctly, it doesn't hit the news.

#8, I've filed many reports of abused children with CPS over the years. For every story I have of the system failing, I've got one of the system succeeding. It sucks that it seems like there's a 50/50 chance of helping a kid, but no one's come up with a better system.

Because honestly CPS does little good. Most of the time they do harm because they incriminate innocent people and let people who aren't innocent go free.

#17.... Are you one of those that calls CPS just because you ASSUME something shady is going on? Ugh, I hope not, those kind of people Suck! Unfortunatly I've called CPS before, but only when I actually WITNESSED something! So many people call just on assumptions, and that can Really f*ck up a family/their lives - So Not Cool!

It doesn't matter whether CPS does their job correctly or not. Regardless of the reason children get take away, they almost always inevitably end up somewhere worse. The Foster Care system in this country is totally ******.

Hear are a few that are undocumented but happened at my mom's school: A little girl and her siblings were removed from their sexually abusive homes because a teacher noticed the signs and reported it. Baby girl and co are with an amazing foster home. One family is no longer starving because CPS helped them find a church charity that helped them find shelter and jobs for the adults. One of my friends is alive today because they her away from her drug addicted parents who neglected her. You don't hear about these stories because people only care about CPS when they want to claim that they're always ******* up or that they're not doing enough.

32—I'm a teacher. I've filed reports with CPS when I've been obligated by law, professional standards, and concern for child welfare has obligated me to do so.

Where I live social workers are bound by confidentiality so they generally cannot talk about what they do. I imagine it is similar where OP is.

There is a huge misconception about CPS being evil. This is because of ignorance. My mother has worked for CPS for over 30 years and has held positions ranging from social worker to licensing foster and adoptive homes. CPS cannot take kids away that easily and more often than not they aren't able to get kids out of bad situations as quickly as they would like because of all of the rules/regulations. Plus CPS has all too many real situations of abuse to deal with to take children away from fit parents. Do you think social workers like taking kids away from their families? No, they are being advocates for children who have no one else on their side. Additionally, they always try to place with family if it is a safe place for the child. Just because someone is family doesn't mean it's a safe place for an abused child. Also, they get minimal pay and have to deal with some of the most horrific situations possible. As my mother has always said, "They couldn't make a movie about what we do, because it would be so devastatingly horrible that no one could stand to watch it." I can attest to this, because some of the situations she has shared with me are worse than anything you can imagine. For example, she just dealt with a case where the boyfriend broke over 7 bones in a ladies 3 month old baby. Think about that and let the severity of the situation sink in... And that's one of the nicer cases she's had lately. No system is perfect and not everyone who works for CPS is great, but the good they do for children every day is more than most people could do in a lifetime. Realize that they perform one of the most important jobs in our society and see how people view them by reading these comments. The other most important people are the families who take these children in and give them a chance at life. Usually the kids are so damaged though that they will never lead anything close to a normal life. Believe me, most CPS workers don't get their jollies taking away kids in good situations. Usually if CPS is involved it's for a good reason. And of course they have to follow up on claims of abuse to make sure that it's not actually happening! Would everyone prefer that they only look into a home once? It's pretty easy to hide child abuse because these kids live in constant fear. They aren't overly willing to talk about what horrors they have endured at the hands of someone who should be doing everything to protect them. Don't demonize some of the most hard working and giving people on the planet. Demonize the people who hurt children so badly that CPS has to exist to protect them.

Ignorance at its finest #24. Have a little knowledge before you go making ludicrous claims.