Hotline...Help or Revenge...

My roomie's folks had both the nephew they were taking care of and his mother calling about abuse but the nephew was doing it because is mother was nagging him to do so. She lost him because she was neglecting him in the first place. I discovered he was cutting himself and she wasn't seeking help for him for doing so. CPS didn't remove him, but informed her that she needed to get him help within 2 weeks or they might do so. She b*tched that she didn't have time to look for help for him and a couple of weeks later when he was visiting his grandparents again, when she came to get him, he chose to stay with them - after all, he was old enough to chose where he wanted to live. That's when she started doing it, both she did, her mother did and they nagged him to do so. telling all kinds of lies until CPS told her that if she did it again, they would prosecute her for false reports.

Well, I have to disagree on a few points you've made...My mom is a teacher and she's called several times on a mom who doesn't bathe the one child (who can't walk) and the mom hasn't been home a few times when the bus came and then there's the whole thing about sending her in poopy or soaked pullups and shoes 8 sizes too big (even though the kid can't walk-but still) The kid would wear the same clothes for a week. So they sent a guy out and the schoolactually lectured my mom for making a "false call" And they do prosecute if you do this more than once I think it is. It was kinda sad because this kid was being majorly neglected. I've never had them called on me...but I don't think they can just come in and take your children away without a just cause. I've cleaned a few houses where the moms were afraid of that (a crazy ex or whatever) and they said that they look at your food stock, make sure you have electricity, running water and soap...and if the home seems stable-they leave. I don't know-just what I've heard.

I did and teh cops came and talk right to me! and my daughter they questioned her too for she was the one that came told me about this little girls brother wanted to take her to his room anddo things to her she was smart she came home to momma!. The boy got took away! that was back in the 70s. and yes I think they should know who calls. For Kids can even call and tell that parents are being abusive even tho they arent because mommy or daddy wouldnt let them do the things they want to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I've always had a grip about that, seems they do more harm than good sometimes for kids that really shouldn't be removed from their home. I've read a lot about cases where a child goes into a foster home (and I'm not saying that all are bad) and comes out worse or die while in foster care. Too many people get into the foster care system for all the wrong reasons (money, undocumented pedophiles) Seems like the kids that really need the help are the ones that are never removed from the home. I reported abuse once, my niece was very young and had bruises all over her body, they did nothing. they took pictures and said that she was too young to say who did it to her and that it could have happened anywhere. (they were healing bruises and had been there more than a day) Now she is grown up, she knows who was being abusive to her but it's too late to do anything about.

hi twoey I had not thought of that, of course some people who are nasty minded and want to harm someone would just do such a thing. what a shame. I agree it would be better to have people leave their name just for the hotline people then if someone makes a vicious false report they can connect the call with this person, and that person can be rightly punished. they nab people who make false police reports,fire reports and 911 reports. Like the one about a wealthy lady who broke some fingernails and could not get in to her favorite manicurist so she dialed 911 and said she had an emergency so they sent out the paramedics thinking she was ill, and all that was wrong was she had broken two of her fingernails. she had to pay a hefty fine, but the silly thing is I doubt if it really hurt her that much. if she had had to do some jail time for filing a false report it might have sunk in then. I would feel horrible if I had children and was the victim of a false hotline report.

When it comes to those hotlines, especially those for children, it is possible to abuse it yes, but proving it is a completely different matter. Yes, people will generally do things out of spite, but when children are involved, its better to be wrong then it is right. Quite often sometimes someone makes a call and isn't aware of the word "abuse". For example, I could call and say that my neighbor would hold her children by one arm and spank them to disipline them. Now this may not classify as abuse, but the child protective services would have to make that judgment call. After all, while there is a high chance it would be a faulse report. I could be right and there could be an underlying problem in the home. And, that child could be saved from a worse fate. So in a lot of cases its better to be wrong then to be right.

Hi Twoey. Firstly, I wholeheartedly agree that any suspicion of child abuse should be reported. While we are not obligated by law to report child abuse, we are all MORALLY obligated to do so. Every child should be safe and protected. Incidences of child abuse are increasing alarmingly. Here in Australia a case of child abuse is reported every 1.65 minutes and a case is substantiated every 9.5 minutes. It is a blot on society that many false claims are made. As one who has spent many years in a voluntary capacity working with children and teens, I know of a couple of cases where a daughter or step daughter has made totally false claims against the father. However, this should not prevent us from instigating investigation if there is suspicion. I wonder if having to supply a name would eliminate false accusations. Anyone could leave any false name and verification could be difficult and avoided. Personally, I am happy to supply identification if I report an incident.

Hi there tweye, Yes, I think they should give their name too and the person they are accusing should have the right to know who the accuser is . I don't know why anyone would feel the need to be anonymous for something like that. I know there are situations where you are not sure if abuse is going on but you strongly suspect it, you might hesitate so as not to bring trouble to a family for no reason. I reported my neighbor not long ago. I did hesitate. I heard him call her stupid for not being able to put down her umbrella. I thought maybe they are just having a really bad day. My eyes were open though and I did pay closer attention. One day I saw him punch her in the back causing her to fall to the ground. I called right away and yes, gave my name. If you are certain there is abuse then there should be no fear in facing the person. If the person reporting misjudged a situation, fine but they still should have to give their name. This would cut back on most if not all of the games.

It is sad that people feel the need to make false allegations against another parent. I've been the target of one such incident, but it could be proven instantly that the allegations were false (doesn't take much to find out how long I've own my phone number etc to determine I wasn't where the person making the allegation was alleging I was). People who make these anonymous calls should think before they do. While you don't have to give your name, your phone number is recorded, so unless you are using a payphone, they will be able to track the call back to you. This also applies to calls to emergency services numbers and the Crime Stoppers tip lines. Annonimity is not guaranteed, so false allegations are very quickly dealt with and the person making the call is the one that then comes under great scrutiny. Having said that, I am only writing it how things are done in Queenlsand, Australia as that is where I live and no what is what for my state. The attitudes of Welfare agencies (in Australia) are changing, and they won't even remove children from families that are requesting their children go into temporary care so that they can improve their living arrangements etc. They will support the family and get all available resources to help them, but they will not remove the children from the home, unless there is obvious abuse or neglect. I know, I've been in the situation of not being able to care properly for my children, and while they were more than happy to come and talk to me, they were adamant that my children were still better off with me, and they were happy enough with my situation and the level of care my kids were recieving. It is a thin line these agencies walk. Sometimes they allow children to stay in abusive households and things get worse, and sometimes they remove kids on false allegations with falsified evidence etc. You just never know what is going to happen. I'd like to point out 1 thing about people who abuse children though. They were often victims of abuse themselves and never had anyone there to care enough to teach them any different, so they are only using behaviours they themselves have been taught. Given the right circumstances, influences and opportunities, these people are able to change their own behaviour so they can end the cycle of abuse.

I think it is wonderful there is a hotline to report child abuse, but like anything else, people will take it for granted and abuse it. I think people should definitely be penalized (probably just a fine or something like that) if they misuse this tool. After all, it wastes peoples' valuable time that they could be helping people who actually need it! Things like this are so frustrating. I think people should have to state who they are and obviously why they are calling. They should also state what relation they are either to the child abused or the person who abused them or something along those lines so they will be held accountable to their call. The calling in should not be anonymous. They should be able to track these calls like any other, how the 911 line does it, don't you think? I definitely agree with you on this one! This craziness should not be allowed to continue!

You know, that would have to be one of my biggest fears; that somebody would go and make a false report about me which would result in me losing my daughter. I’ve seen such incidents in movies and it is a terrifying prospect! It is such a shame that stupid people tie up help lines with false accusations and nonsense. I’ve heard of ridiculous incidents like the woman who called 911 to complain that McDonalds sold her the wrong burger! At least hers was just stupidity, there are so many who abuse these phone lines who definitely know better but just don’t care!

I think there are a lot of spiteful people put there that have no consideration for the family involved when they use these hotlines for revenge. I wish there were some way to bring the abusers of these hotlines to justice. I think that if a child is being abused then yes..use it..but if it is out of revenge or spite...how dare them. I would actually tell the people that was abusing their child that I was going to call before I did it. It wouldn't bother me to leave my name if I knew there was an inoocent child in danger. If there was a call made about me by a spiteful person..well...what do you do? I guess I would just invite the HR on in and offer them some coffee. I think it is a shame that these people are having to waste very valuable time chasing revenge instead of helping the children that really need it.

I have never been a victum of a fasle call like that. but if I did I sure would be angury and I would want the person held accounable for that. I think that it is against the law to make a false statment on someting like that.

I think that when you file a child abuse claim, you should have to give your name to the hotline employee, but I don't think they should have to tell the person who is being investigated who filed the report against them. I think that if it would operate this way, then there would be a way that they could be prosecuted if these people file false reports. I also think that it is important to follow up on all complaints, but the investigators should go in with an open mind.

Unfortunately there are people in this world who will abuse services in this way. There are hundreds of false calls to the emergency services every week and the child line is no exception. It is almost impossible to tell whether a call is real or simply malicious, and every call must be handled as serious which puts a huge strain on the service. If I suspected there was child abuse happening near me, then I would call and report it BUT I would make sure that I had details available and evidence if possible.

yes,i do.the family behind me was utterly destroyed by the neighbor next to them constantly calling 911 and CPS.ended up with the oldest boy hanging himself. that SOB should have been up on charges after every other person in the neighborhood defended them,'cause they came around to ask us about it. he even admitted to doing it,nothing was done.

I agree with you, there are 'true' cases of abuse, and there are children that are abused daily and nothing is ever done. But they do need to do something about the abuse hotline calls. Like you stated anyone can call in and report that someone is abusing a child, or not taking care of them. Child Protective Services steps in and the merry-go-round ride starts! My daughter just got her 2 year old back, luckily she was placed with her Grandfather while all of it was going on. And there was proof that the allegations were not true. But they all still had to go through court hearings and in-home visits from CPS. They have an idea of who placed the call but proving it is another subject. I do think that you should have to give your name, address and phone number, it would cut way down on the false reports that are received, let alone the hours that are wasted on checking out these false calls. And yes I would still report a case of known abuse even if I had to give my personal information.

I agree an the sad thing is while the abuse hotline is taking care all the false calls its neglecting the kids that really need the help we had a nosy neighbor once that called all the time if you got on her wrong side thing is she let you know she did it by saying how about I call an one time a friend of mines 3 year old son took off in the road an my friend grab his arm an pulled him back an pull his arm from its socket now he had tree kids twins a boy an girl they were 3 an another son 7 an the sad thing was because what he did by mistake to the 3 year old the state came in an took the twins they left the 7 year old it took about 2 years fighting to get his family back together

Some places you can try calling announimously, but they won't let you. Here, no matter what call I've placed, they ask for my name and if I ask to be anonymous, they say they won't take the call. Which since I was reporting an emotionally disturbed person that might want to hurt me, I decided to hang up. I tried to report my father beating up my brother and the beggars wouldn't take the call because I wouldn't tell them my name. I had said my brother's name and where he lived. Nothing happened. So I don't know why it's anonymous where you are and not here. Unless a person calls in a bomb threat, they don't want to hear it.

People who report abuse in good faith, should be exempt from any prosecution, but a report that is made out of malice should definitely be punishable. How to tell if it's malicious or not, that's the problem.