School Calls CPS On Dad Because His 11-Year-Old Walks To School & Makes His Own Lunches
Were they acting out of an abundance of caution or majorly crossing a line?
Miljan Zivkovic | Shutterstock Sometimes, calling child protective services is absolutely the right thing to do if you have a sneaking suspicion that a child is in danger. But it seems all too often these days people call authorities for the most trivial of reasons — ones that only a few years ago wouldn't even raise an eyebrow.
Such was the case for a dad on Reddit, who's furious at his son's school for calling authorities over downright silly grievances like walking to school. However, it's hard not to wonder if there are other factors at play, underlining just how complicated and nebulous situations of abuse and neglect can be.
The school called CPS on the dad because his son walks to school and makes his own lunches.
At first blush, this truly seems like an utterly ridiculous situation. "School called CPS on me and is making my life so difficult," the 25-year-old dad wrote. "I will admit we aren’t the most stable family, but in no way is he being abused/neglected."
On a recent school day, the man returned home from work to find a CPS worker at his door saying she'd "received a call of potential 'child endangerment'" of his 11-year-old son and wanted to ask him some questions.
After confronting the school, he found that the reasons for the call were seemingly trivial and petty. "The reasons they gave were he didn’t have healthy lunches, he walked to/from school by himself, he said I would be mad if he failed his upcoming test, [and] some minor behavior issues."
He feels the school is blowing everything out of proportion.
The dad wrote in his post that he was furious about the CPS call because he feels none of these issues are actual problems.
He admitted that his son's lunches aren't "the healthiest," but if he packs his lunch for him, he simply won't eat it. So he lets his son handle it on his own, and he normally packs a sandwich and some snacks. Pretty typical for a kid.
As for walking to school, they only live a 5-minute walk away. Walking to school used to be a standard thing for kids far younger than 11 — just one of myriad perfectly normal things that many of today's parents regard as some kind of death trap.
Pixabay | Pexels
And as for getting "mad" about a test? The dad was truly mystified. "What parent wouldn’t?" he questioned. "It’s not like I yell at him but of course, I’d be mad if my son was failing."
He added that he doesn't assume ill intent from the school staff but feels "they are blowing this way out of proportion."
Experts say the vast majority of CPS calls are unfounded and often motivated by prejudice.
If there is indeed nothing to this CPS call but wild overreach, this dad certainly wouldn't be alone. Experts say that nationwide, as much as 80% of calls to CPS are deemed to be unnecessary once the agencies' social workers begin digging into the resulting case.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, CPS calls are overwhelmingly made against marginalized parents. In a 2020 study, the non-profit Casey Family Programs found that more than half of African American children have been the subject of a CPS investigation.
More importantly, Casey found that such calls are frequently made on the basis of "moral judgments" of events — like seeing a child walking to school and assuming he's "unsupervised," for example. These events are more often than not a result of poverty, not neglect. In fact, 85% of families investigated for neglect live in poverty.
In short, a huge majority of CPS calls are because of, essentially, bigotry — judging actions that wouldn't even arouse suspicion if it weren't for the prejudices we hold about the race or class of the parents.
Given that this man is just 25 with an 11-year-old son, he's surely subject to judgment other parents will never face. It's likely impossible that his young age didn't color the perceptions of those who called CPS on him.
That being said, Redditors pointed to other Reddit posts by the dad which indicated something truly might be amiss in their home.
Regardless, the question remains: If this dad were, say, 35 instead of 25 with a six-figure job at a law firm or something, would any of these supposed red flags have even raised suspicion?
And even if they did, is reflexively calling CPS authorities — which Casey pointed out are in the business of investigations, not services — actually a solution? It sure doesn't seem like it.
Rather, it seems that having a discussion with the dad before calling CPS on him would have been the better course of action.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of child abuse, there are resources available to help. Call 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) to speak with a crisis counselor 24/7.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.