The callers were two women, unknown to me. One of them introduced herself as Margret Abrams and said she was from Child Protective Services- could they come in? The younger woman said she was Dena Colso, as I opened the door for them, and added that they were responding to a hotline report of child abuse against Ashley. I was surprised, but I shouldn’t have been. We were batting a thousand here, and in the back of my mind it occurred to me that a report would’ve been filed with CPS the night before. Even though she took back her story, a child reporting an attempted rape by her father is what CPS is all about, right up their alley.
Margret proceeded to fly directly into the breakfast nook where the children were sitting around the table eating what passed for lunch. She was loud and gregarious, asking names, and began making their acquaintance. Dena, the other social worker, asked to speak with me alone in the living room. Grudgingly I agreed.
We were just about to start when the conversation was interrupted by the ringing phone. The call was from Mike’s cellphone, and Ashley was on the line.
“Is it safe to come home?†she asked in a withering voice. Oh no, I thought. Ashley acting hostile could only mean one thing- the treaty we’d established the night before was off. Were we back to the cold war already?
I told her I hadn't been outside, but I assumed that the deputies were gone.
Something in my voice gave away the situation.
"What's going on, Mom?"
My brain hurt and stupidly, I told Ashley about CPS showing up.
“Why? she gulped in alarm.
Why do you think, daughter? I wanted to ask in an acid voice. Because you don’t look at long-term consequences before you act or open your mouth, maybe? Because it’s easier to run to neighbors yelling rape than it is to tell me what’s going on and get help? Instead I was very calm and said that it appeared that the social workers were responding to her attempted assault report. I heard some mumbling that signaled a muted conversation between Ashley and Mike, and then she said she’d call me back.
Getting back to the problem at hand, Dena proceeded to question me, and I explained Ashley’s runaway the previous April, her drug use and acting out behavior and the many hospitalizations at San Ramon and Charleston Hospitals. I told the worker about the effects her violence had had on the family and the way we were trying to deal with Ashley’s behavior. I described the visit by the previous social worker, Lachae, and how she’d been concerned that Ashley might try to pay Mike and me back by telling false tales of abuse. Dena said she’d seen the file. I ended my statement by talking about Mike’s reaction to Ashley having to leave in the near future, and how depressed he’d been acting.
In the meantime, Margret had questioned the children and walked in, announcing that our family was in major crisis and the children were stressed out. Duh! She sat down with me as the other worker shared what I’d said, and Margret asked again about what had happened the night before.
Okay, let’s explain this one more time. Ashley and I went to the Aftercare program, out to eat and talk and returned home around 10:30 to find Mike despondent. First Ashley tried to bring him out of his funk, and when I went down to try my luck, Ashley slipped out of the house. She’d gone to a neighbor’s home where she’d tried to convince the inhabitants that Mike had attempted to rape her. And as I’d explained to the deputy the night before, I saw no evidence of this- Ashley was fine, not disheveled or frenzied when she returned from Mike’s office. It was my opinion that she’d used this excuse to prey on the neighbor’s sympathies. It wasn't the first time she had exaggerated tales to gain sympathy.
****TTFN,
Julie