[Forever_family]

Trying to be vague here but we said "yes" to an emergency placement of 2 siblings and then received a call that the mom is in hiding and to keep our phones with us at all times so that the emergency placement worker can contact us if they find the mom and children.

Does anyone know how hard they-emergency workers, look for the mom and children-generally speaking? Everyone is out for the long weekend so I have nobody to call. This is a medical emergency/medical neglect case of an infant and toddler, both have special medical needs, dont' want to say too much.

[MBelt8402]

In our case mom went in to hiding, and it was over a long weekend. The emergancy workers made several attempts at locating her and child. She was in her apartment. She just would not open the door. They can't enter unless she opens the door. She knew they were coming for her kids, and she recognized the workers. So they waited until 7:30 on Sunday night and sent a new worker that she had never meet. They had the worker dress down, and had the police stay out of sight of the peep hole. She opened the door not realizing it was CPS and thats when the police stepped out.
In another case we got a call for emergancy placement. Mother ran, It is now three months later and they are still looking for the child.
I realize I did not answer your question, but I'm not sure there is an answer. I think it depends on the workers involved, and if the mother ran or is hiding, or how far they ran.

[EmmaLeigh2882]

I would have to assume it depends on the will and resources of the parent who is on the run... where there is a will there is a way... And if they have some friends/ money or other recourses it could be harder then you think... on the other hand many CPS workers are just as determined...
Ill keep them in prayer!

[kennasmom]

Just wanted to tell you what happened in our case - our bmom ran and the only reason they found her was that she was arrested on an unrelated charge and sent to jail. Because there was a bench warrant for her from juvenile court, they held her. After being locked up for a week and a half, the bdad finally brought the child to court and they released the bmom.

We got the call at 8:30 at night, 4 months after the first call. UGH!

[mijojosmom]

Our first placement was a medically fragile child whose parents ran to another state.
Two doctors reported medical neglect to DHS, who then began investigating the parents. The parents just left and went to live with family in another state. It took from October - February to find them...and the only reason they found them was because the family they were living with turned them in to DHS in that state. We received the call on Feb. 10, a worker from Oregon flew to California to pick up the child (who had been in care for a week) and flew back to Oregon with the child. The parents found their way back to Oregon and were immediately arrested for custodial interference and crossing state lines.
The next 15 months were very rocky...we took the baby to 39 doctors appointments with 11 different specialists in the first 6 months that we had him. We got him through 3 surgeries and tons of therapy (he was a preemie born at 26 weeks and taken into care at 8 months).
At the permanency hearing he was sent home to live with his parents. Because the original charge was medical neglect, they had to send him home once all of his medical problems were taken care of. It didn't matter that parents were homeless druggies who abused him physically and mom had already had 3 other kids voluntarily relinquished. The state couldn't retain custody of him on those grounds because they were not part of the original charge.
Our caseworkers worked diligently to find this little guy, and I am so thankful that they did. He would have ended up a cripple and probably dead if they hadn't found him when they did.
Unfortunately I don't have enough faith in the system to believe that DHS spends a lot of time, money or manpower on tracking down these kids.
Good luck...I pray that they find them soon.

[shy_bear]

My first placment was a 2wk old baby girl and two yr old brother. I was to go to the CPS office to pick up the little boy then head over to the hospital for the baby. I sat and sat...they came out to me and said the parents were missing with the little boy. I went and got the baby and had her for about three days. Agency calls me and tells me the police got involved and literally took the little boy from mom. It was a 2 to 3 hour car ride to our home and was told he cried the whole way and then cried for about two days about my house. It was horrible!!!!

[DCMomLady]

There was a recent case here in the Northwest where an Amber Alert was issued when mom took her sick baby from the hospital and went into hiding because she disagreed with the baby's proposed medical treatment. The baby was NOT in a medical crisis but every resource was put into the search for him.

[V8 Momma]

About a month ago in Kentucky, a CW took a 9 or 10 month-old for a visit to her bio-mom's home. Hours later, when the CW didn't return to the office, they found her body at the home of the biomom. She had been shot in the back and the biomom and her boyfriend took the child and fled. An Amber Alert was issued and they finally found them in Illinois (a week or more later). The child was unharmed and was returned to the foster family in Kentucky. I assume mom is still in jail. They had been hiding out at a campsite owned by a family member of the boyfriend.

[Forever_family]

I know this is a little late. Shortly after my post I was called and told the children had been found on the street with birth dad. 5 week old infant w/ medical needs and a 16 month old infant/toddler with serious medical needs on the streets in November! Anyway they are safe and happy now. Those are some pretty scary stories/scenerios. I don't think the parents had the means to truly go into "hiding."

I find out on Tuesday if they will stay with us or go with an Aunt who has shown interest. These kids are amazing. I'm so in love. Birth mom and dad do not want them with the Aunt, I am not sure as to why, but I'm told they would rather have them with me, this is why it pays to be nice to birth parents. I think this is a case where once the medical needs of the children are satisfied they will go back to the horribly neglectful and disfunction...I really have zero faith in this system. This will be our last placement. I've said this before but I really mean this. I can't do it emotionally anymore. Its driving me bonkers...I have the rest of my family to think about. Wish I didn't get so emotionally attached but I do.