It’s time
4 months ago
8/14/2006
Most of you know by now I made the call to DCFS about the little girl that lives next door. I was scared, mostly that they'd find out it was me and seek revenge, but I decided that my fear was less important than Savannah's.
So I go home on Friday after work and I'm sitting there with my husband and Alice watching Sesame Street when the doorbell rings. Husband answers and I hear a woman asking him if he was the one who called DCFS on her grandson. I immediately go to the door so he doesn't have to face the piper alone. I ask her what she wants and she repeats the question, "Did you call DCFS on my grandson?" "No," I reply. It may seem cowardly but when you are holding your two year old on your hip, your instincts to protect yourself and your family kick in. So she continues to say that someone in our building did. We live in a two flat so it could only be us or the upstairs tenants. I tell her that I don't believe it was either of us and ask her why she's going door to door. "Well I think it's pretty rude for people to stick their nose where it doesn't belong," she replies. I tell her that it's pretty awful when people don't get involved and a child suffers because we're all too scared to speak up. She goes on to say that her grandson is a wonderful father - I almost choke because it's quite obvious that this woman either has no clue how Savannah is treated or she thinks that threatening to strangle a child is acceptable. At this point I don't care what she thinks, I know the truth. I tell her again that I didn't make the call but I am not surprised someone did because the whole neighborhood heard the threats made to Savannah. "What threats," she asks? My suspicions are correct, she has no clue. She then asks me if I'm a racist. "Um, what the hell did you just say." She accuses me of being a racist because Savannah is part African American. My blood is boiling at this point and my husband asks her to leave. My last words to her - "Ignorance has no color does it?" I think I stunned her because she was speechless.
Part of me is angry at the system for giving my address out as the house that called in the complaint (they didn't have my name). It's no wonder that so many people are afraid to get involved, revenge is scary. I still don't regret that I made the call. Although Savannah is still there living with the same freaks as before, at least now they know 'someone' is watching. God willing, I hope that's enough to save her.
12 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
but sometimes it goes worse for the child too--but it won't be your fault
that was a good suggestion someone made about inviting the girl to your house--it may give her a respite and an idea there may be another way to live
ugh. how awful. and how idiotic of the cps (or whatever you said it was there) to tell which building called. ridiculous.
if you do have time i really think inviting her over would be great. but it will be hard on you maybe.
just do what you can sweetie. and take care of you. its great that you did something but it isnt just up to you to save this poor little girl. she needs others too.
take care.
I would not get involved much more than you already have, but I would definately call again if there is another occurance. This time be sure to tell them that she was knocking on you door and you would prefer not to have your address passed around.
YOu have every right to deny for your own peace of mind,to her.And your point is very well made.That man and his anger towards the little girl is no secret....everyone can hear him threaten her.I wish that family well.
I hope you won't feel too much anxiety about this Net.You did the right thing.Thanks for sharing!
I hope that maybe this will have scared some sense into the family. What an awful situation.
I pray things get better for her...
To Love, Honor and Dismay
Andrew
I highly doubt your information was shared there are severe penalties for that and anyone in that line of work takes the anonymity of a reporter seriously. The sad part is - when someone reports anonymously there is no ability to follow-up and see if things have changed, etc.
Again - thank you for speaking up. That takes great courage. The other option is silence and that does no one any good.
I highly doubt your information was shared there are severe penalties for that and anyone in that line of work takes the anonymity of a reporter seriously. The sad part is - when someone reports anonymously there is no ability to follow-up and see if things have changed, etc.
Again - thank you for speaking up. That takes great courage. The other option is silence and that does no one any good.