If only he’d been a college athlete or a “young man with a bright future ahead of him” ... he could have gotten off with a much lighter sentence for an even worse crime.

And yet my ex, who pled guilty to actually fondling a 13 year old girl and has been accused by another relative of rape, only got a 2 year probation and does not have to register as a sex offender. Both cases deserved prosecution and punishment, but the legal system makes me shake my head.

I suspect he will take full advantage of the Prison Pen Pal Program.

YUP. This is what people don’t tell you when you’re trying to decide whether to marry someone (at least, no one told me). You need to consider what you’ll need in a partner over the course of your whole life and it’s pretty likely that your sexual needs are going to change. Age is a factor, as are kids, a busy job,…

Check your moral compass and consider your options:

You’re essentially correct; Delaware in 2012 effectively outlawed any imposition of pain (yikes, what happens if you grab your child by the wrist as they’re about to step into the busy street?). In the 5 years since, have other states revised their definitions of abuse similarly? Admittedly, I limited my google…

I’m sure most probably do. My DSS had specific workers whose caseload was soley comprised of families needing help. My time as a prevention worker was my favorite, as my sole job was keeping kids out of foster care and saving the county a shit ton of money by doing so. Wasn’t always successful, but there were plenty…

The family that works hard, improves themselves, gets their kid back and begs to have us continue to check on them through an Ongoing CPS case never make the news. The vast majority of my cases were like that. Thankfully I also worked in a well staffed department with extremely experienced people and we had a…

I don’t know what to say except my ex lied to DCFS (specific allegations easily disproved in my case - albeit, over months - but still a nightmare because the fact of “an accusation” remains above any attempt at correction) and I’m just so, so, sorry. You are doing so well not to be jumping off the ceiling and…

Word. I lost custody of my kids to my abusive ex because, and it states it in my court documents, I’m Wiccan (which I’m not, but the court doesn’t believe me). I have a history of going to battered women’s shelters and restraining orders. Meanwhile my ex has had two children who are not his call the police on him…

Thank you. My old gf had to deal with that shit from the court system. Her husband avoided physical abuse, but came from money and was a paralegal/wannabe lawyer. Court functionaries are regularly indifferent to her and charmed by him.

Rekro’s story about his experience with the system: When I was five, my parents were arrested for drug dealing(small-timers, but yeah). Me, my 3 year old brother and my newborn sister were separated. Fortunately for them they don’t remember that night, but I do. Crushing. Anyway, we were reunited by being placed in…

Why should a mother be represented as if she was mistreated for not being given the opportunity to express her side of beating a tiny 2 year old with a belt?

I have so many mixed feelings as a family law attorney about this sort of thing. Like yes! CPS provides an invaluable resource and helps protect children! BUT do I also see cases where parents have called on their ex because they are mad about a divorce and essentially filing false claims? Yep. Or, honestly, cases…

I stayed with my abusive husband for 2 1/2 years longer than I wanted to because I was worried that if I left, he would kill my kids. And he mostly “only” emotionally abused me.

Your language is needlessly incendiary. The mother didn’t attack her child. She spanked him with a belt. She was wrong and she faced the consequences that were then in place. It would have been better to offer her and her son in home services, require a year of parenting classes, and assign her a parent/mentor.

I was a foster parent. I had an open relationship with the birth parent, and there was no horrific abuse that had occurred. Child services in my neck of the woods has a deserved reputation for being vindictive about birth parents. These parents need help and good representation. They need education about child…