RE: Take care of your kids.
>Katie, it is great that you reported what you saw to CPS and
>that is a good first step. Next time just keep in mind that
>CPS is not set up to act immediately. They are best used when
>you have received information about something that has already
>happened or is likely to happen in the future. For things
>that are happening at the moment you need to call the police.
>The technical term for kids at that time is "child in need of
>care." Police are trained to deal with kiddos in that
>situation and will get them out of the bad situation and to a
>safe place much more quickly than CPS can.
That was my hunch as well. Now that I have talked to the non-emergency community policing office I wil be prepared to act next time. this time, the situation resolved itself just as I decided it was a police matter. Due to the language barrier I was not sure WTF was going on at first. I work with at risk families and I have to say that no matter what I see, I still feel awful each and every time. The CPS follow up officer left me a message to follow up with me today. I wonder what that is about? I will cal her back tomorrow. Thanks to all for the advice and information!
Katie, mama to a pair of boys.