One Black family’s struggle with Child Protection Services
When Shauntae Hobbs found her teenage daughter Trisha (whose name has been changed to protect her identity) in contact with a 22-year-old man, she did as many parents would and forbade her daughter from having further contact. When Hobbs found Trisha still talking to the man, she took a more drastic measure and pulled her out of a play where Trisha had one of the lead roles. In response, Trisha ran away from home.
Despite a snowstorm that night, Hobbs searched for Trisha and filed a missing person report with police. At the same time, an anonymous caller put in a tip with the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Child Protection Services (CPS) division. CPS discovered Trisha at her great-grandparents’ house. After informing Hobbs of Trisha’s whereabouts, CPS closed its case.
Trisha decided she was not ready to return to living with Hobbs and elected to stay at Brittany’s Place, a shelter in St. Paul. Hobbs agreed to let Trisha stay at Brittany’s Place for one month; however, when she was going to pick Trisha up, she got a call from CPS saying they were reopening the case and that Trisha was now suicidal.
CPS also opened cases on Hobbs’s other two 17-year-old children. Hobbs was required to get a mental health assessment and get therapy for herself and her 17-year-old children. However, Hobbs alleges that Trisha, who was in the State’s custody at the time, was not given therapy for months, even after saying she was suicidal.
No opportunity was given for Trish and Hobbs to do family therapy together. After a three-month evaluation, the CPS cases on Hobbs’ other children were closed, with Hobbs maintaining custody.
“It’s hard, because my children are at home, they miss their sister, they want to see her,” Hobbs said. “I miss my daughter, and this county did nothing to make sure that our family was reunited. They actually did the exact opposite.”
Hobbs believes that having been in CPS’s systems before—having lost custody of her kids nine years ago and only having recently regained custody—was used as justification to open cases on her other children.
“Once you’re in the system, you’re in the system, and they really try to keep you in that system,” Hobbs said.
Due to her experience, Hobbs wants to see a more diligent screening process for tips received by CPS. She holds concern about the ease of filing anonymous false reports, saying she believes some people in the community use CPS reports as a weapon to get revenge on others by trying to get their kids taken away.
“A lot of times, people call in [to CPS] out of spite,” Hobbs said. People call in just to get back at somebody or hurt someone, especially if you see they had multiple [past] calls.”
According to the Minneapolis NAACP, African American parents are over three times more likely than white parents to be reported to CPS, and they are much more likely to have their children removed for lesser charges.
In an email to the Spokesman-Recorder, DHS said its vision for child and family well-being included reducing racial disparities in CPS interactions. “DHS remains deeply concerned about the pattern of disproportionate placements concerning African American children in Minnesota,” a DHS spokesman said.
“We are working with system stakeholders to identify additional strategies to include in our upcoming federal Minnesota’s Children and Family Services Plan as we continue addressing this concern. Our recently established African American Child Well-being Unit is and has been working directly with communities to hear recommendations directly from those with lived experience and expertise as we seek equitable services in all areas of child welfare.”
Hobbs said she feels she did everything she could to fight for custody of her daughter and that CPS did not do enough to try to reunite her family. “[CPS] didn’t help to reunite us at all, even though they said that their policy of reunification is at their core. I do not have that testimony with them.”
For other Black families in similar situations, Hobbs recommends they find a support system and “keep your head up.”
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