Category: Uncategorized
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A Response to Naomi Schaefer Riley on Child Abuse Pediatricians from a Former CPS Social Worker
This essay is in response to this piece written by Naomi Schaefer Riley. I was a Child Protective Services (CPS) case worker in Kansas for ten years and investigated over 1400 reports, some of which involved child abuse pediatricians. I currently work as a therapist in a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) in Kansas and…
Andrea Verbanic
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When Addicted Parents Come Back
As a Child Protective Services social worker, I encountered drug addicts whose behavior was so troubling it was hard to fathom they could ever be capable of helping their children whose childhoods they had seemingly destroyed. When a mother is driving her child around in the backseat of a car with an active meth lab…
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We Leave This Out When We Talk About the Police
I’ve never been able to tell what kind of day my husband has had when he arrives home from working as a police officer. His demeanor never changes whether his day has been chaotic or boring, or if he’s worked on patrol or as a detective. He’s been an officer for over twenty-five years, and…
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A Book Update and Memoir-Adjacent Articles
My memoir Renegade Agency will be available for purchase on December 2, 2024. I’m unable to list the physical book for pre-order, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order now. Click here to pre-order the Kindle version. I toyed with the idea of adding QR codes in the text to link readers directly to…
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Professionals Can Be Just as Dysfunctional as the People They Serve
When I describe people who misrepresented information and refused to take accountability in a child abuse investigation, you might assume I am describing the suspects. Instead, I’m describing the police officer and Child Protective Services (CPS) workers who investigated me when a child I provided care for was discovered to have a spiral fracture in…
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Is Child Abuse Pediatrics Really a Specialty?
When my twin sons were five, my husband built a treehouse in our backyard complete with a trapdoor, porch, climbing wall, rope ladder, and zip line that sent the kids from the tree house porch across the yard to another tree. It was just as fun as it sounds. Not content to use the zip…
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Who Controls the Narrative?
Being believed depends on who you are. “Who disagrees with this statement: I believe what a police officer says is true because a police officer said it.” I was in a jury pool fielding questions from a prosecutor designed to weed out the undesirables from the final twelve. I immediately disagreed with the statement he…
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I Don’t Trust the Police and I’m Married to a Cop
In late 2013, I was investigated for child abuse by the police. I doubt anybody expects to find themselves in this position, but my surprise was magnified by my history. I had previously spent ten years employed as a child abuse investigator for the state and I’m married to a police officer, and so being investigated…
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How Well Do We Serve the Most Vulnerable?
A case involving parents embroiled in a divorce-custody dispute sprang from the abyss one day and landed on my desk. Their conflict was so outrageous they had been reported to the child abuse hotline for it. Create an image of the worst divorce you’ve ever heard of and then multiply it by two. As a…
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The Emotional Fallout of a Police Investigation
As a child protective services (CPS) social worker, I routinely moved from family to family giving little thought to what happened after my work was complete. This detachment allowed me to work in chaos for ten years, but being insulated from the emotional fallout prevented me from recognizing how my actions truly impacted the people…
Andrea Verbanic 