Autism One Day 2 (Parenting Under Attack)

I have to take back what I said in yesterday's post.  Today was Daddy Central!  So many couples..it warmed my heart.  Three cheers for the Dad's!

Erik typed up a summary of two of todays sessions.  I'll copy, paste, and add my thoughts in italics.

Parenting Under Attack

Attorney Lisa Colin discussed how parenting is under attack by Child Protective Services when the situation involves autistic children.  It was mentioned that in most states, CPS has a central registry where anyone can call in a report of abuse or neglect.  The reports can even be anonymous.  Once the central registry receives the complaint, it is passed on to the local/county CPS to make contact with the child within 24 hours.  

Complaints to CPS are also being used, according to Ms. Colin, “strategically.”  For instance, physicians have called CPS on parents that refuse to vaccinate their children according to the government recommended schedule or those parents that disagree with a doctor’s treatment plan.  In many cases, this is done by the doctor as a way of covering his/her own behind.  Same is true for some school districts.  She also mentioned that she had seen a case where a in-home therapist called CPS on a family after seeing numerous supplement bottles (a very familiar thing to families using bio-med treatments) and thought the child was in danger because the therapist did not understand why the child would be taking those products.  Yikes!  Supplements are essential!   It was mentioned that if CPS takes a child out of the home, they will want a medical examination done by a CPS contracted physician that will most likely not continue any biomedical treatments that have been helping the child since most mainstream physicians are ignorant of these therapies. She also mentioned they would more than likely vaccinate the child on a "catch up" schedule which means many vaccines at once.  

 Ms. Colin recommended that families with a special needs child have a plan for custody of the child in the (rare) circumstance where parents may be accused of neglect/abuse and detained by law enforcement.  This person would need to be someone that is familiar with your child’s therapy and willing to possibly keep the child for possibly several days.  It is important to provide detailed information or have a file with the information that would be required by a caregiver in this potential situation, for example the caregiver needs to know where the parent purchases the child’s required supplements.  Another take-home message Ms. Colin stressed was that administrators and therapists in the school system are NOT to be considered friends. You can be friendly, but it's not a girlfriend gab session.  They should be placed on a need-to-know basis.  They do not need to know all of the details of the bio-med therapies that the parent is using to help the child recover, as these individuals are most likely ignorant of the treatments and may view them unfavorably.