A 12-year-old girl committed suicide on Dec. 30, 2016 in such a visual and violent way as to call attention to her neglectful and abusive situation that she was in feeling that there was nothing else she could do. It is alleged that she was sexually abused and physically abused as chronicles in an article on one of the outlets of The New York Times. Where was Child Protective Services in all this? As far as anyone knows they had no clue any of this was going on. However, they are always happy to strip a child from a mentally ill parent based only on the fact that the parent is mentally ill rather than working with them or giving them a second chance. I know from experience and other stories that they are biased against mentally ill parents. However, that is not why we are here.

Instead of being outraged about the failing of this little girl by CPS and the community officials are more concerned about the video of her death circulating. They don’t want it to harm the family and as an afterthought potentially influence other teens. If CPS is doing their job then other teens won’t be in this type of situation, now will they morons? As for the family, well they caused this so I have no sympathy for them other than the siblings.

If the officials were really upset about this, they would be demanding answers from CPS as well as reforms to prevent this from happening across the board. Instead of worrying about a video. Furthermore, they would be investigating her allegations day and night and charging those who deserve to be charged. No one gets this bad with mental illness if they are being taken care of properly and getting treatment like they should be as well as not being neglected or abused in some manner. Something triggered this and it needs to be found out and dealt with.

For instance, CPS is supposed to have guidelines for workers in schools to spot problems with children coming from homes like this, yet no one spotted anything wrong with this little girl? There had to be enough of a warning sign to at least warrant an inquiry. An inquiry alone could have saved this little girl. Neighbors report the cops having been out to the house multiple times. Why weren’t CPS officials called in one of those many times? Again, this would have triggered at least an inquiry. When I say a wake up to CPS I mean the whole system around and including CPS that is built on protecting children.

This is a warning that our Child Protective Services across the country need to be overhauled. They need to be updated and their funding system needs to be updated as well. The incentives to take children instead of reuniting them with their families need to be taken away. The well-being of the child must be put first and foremost at the front of CPS directive. It has long not been that way. They have long been going after easy targets. So, instead of workers being on the lookout for those in need they appear to most in the public to be on the lookout for those that are easy prey instead. This little girl sliding through the cracks is evident of that.

In Maine, a lot of families at the homeless shelter end up getting involved with CPS and losing their kids to the state, from what I have heard. Same with anyone involved with mental health services in Maine, especially those on disability. You don’t have to go further than the Peer Support Center (not actual name) for stories of this in Portland also again from stories I have heard down there. One source in Iowa tells me of a CPS Division so corrupt that the governor there shut it down. Though still no justice for the victim of it. Yet, we trust this organization still.

Instead of officials being more outraged about the problems in this case with CPS than a video circulating over the internet. They are concerned about the family who even neighbors say were not healthy for her. Now I am not heartless and I can see being considerate of the siblings’ feelings, but that is about it from what I have seen.

It is time to wake up and demand reform. Why is it that systems are allowed to go unchanged for years at a time when better systems exist years after they were created? I’m sorry, the excuse because they work is not an option. We are supposed to be leading the free world, not just doing things because they work. We are supposed to be the example of compassion, empathy, and taking care of others. This is an example of how we fail at that. Oh, but the world isn’t fair. There is not fair and then there is a blatant miscarriage of justice. Lady Liberty is spitting venom over how this was allowed to even happen right now.

Yes, I have an ax to grind with CPS and it is cases like this that prove I am right to have one to grind with them. They make me mad and should make all of America mad. And, as far as my ax to grind it is not just for me but for a lot of other people that were unfairly targeted or biased against. This little girl sacrificed herself in a cry of help to show the problems we have in this country with CPS like any soldier would sacrifice his life to defend this country and for that she deserves to have at least “Amazing Grace” played on bagpipes at her funeral. Now I have shown my cards I dare CPS to show their real cards. *Tips his hats, rips the door off the hinges, and walks out the door with it*.