Caseworker keeps eye on families

ABILENE, Texas (AP) - It was a Wednesday afternoon, three days into the new school year, and the kids were at home.

In the back room, while the air conditioner barely beat back the midday heat, they watched “Captain America” and argued over the next movie. The boys seemed completely unfazed by the presence of Child Protective Services investigator Catherine Eberhardt, who was there to check allegations of drug use in the home.

In the living room, their mother sat on a mattress - the only place to sit in the front room other than a folding chair - and wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging her legs to her chest and resting her dirty feet on the mattress. Beside her, her fiance rubbed her back. She sobbed silently as she used her cellphone to find a friend who would be willing to care for her two sons, ages 5 and 15.

Eberhardt’s trip to the Abilene apartment that late August day was due to a report received by the central CPS tip line in Austin less than 72 hours earlier. The report alleged that the mother of the boys had been arrested in Brown County four days before and was believed to be using methamphetamine and other drugs.

It was up to Eberhardt to separate fact from fiction.

Like many CPS caseworkers, Eberhardt has a background that influences her work. Her parents were divorced when she was young, but they never really talked in the open about their problems.

“Everyone who does this job has history,” she told the Abilene Reporter-News (https://bit.ly/1KncJAk) inside her supervisor’s office before her attempt to locate the mom and her two sons. “I can relate to a lot of these people.”

That is the task. Eberhardt’s job is not to judge the parents she encounters, but to relate to them. Once you realize these people are going through difficult times that usually are compounded by her knocking on their doors, it’s easier to relate to them, she said.

A criminal justice major, Eberhardt has been an investigator with the agency for two years. She is a mobile worker with no permanent office, frequently working out of her car and never knowing when her day is done.

At most, she has had nine cases to juggle in a week, and each case involves meeting plenty of people she first has to track down. More caseworkers would make her job easier, but she does not count on that. She goes to work and tries to keep families intact.

On Aug. 26, it was Eberhardt’s second attempt to contact the family identified in the report. Families on CPS’s radar often move around to avoid being found. Eberhardt usually goes to see the children in school first, but these two boys were not enrolled.

The Reporter-News shadowed the investigator on the case selected by CPS, and agreed not to name the family.

The case illustrates the challenges Taylor County caseworkers regularly face, combating the effects of meth and other drugs while simultaneously trying to keep families together. Sometimes parents cooperate. Sometimes they don’t.

Cases like these involving methamphetamine use by the parents or guardians have contributed the most to the increasing number of CPS cases filed in district court, Andy Meiron, CPS investigations program director for Taylor and nine other counties, said in a previous interview.

CPS cases spiked 139 percent in the first six months of 2015, compared to last year, said 326th District Court Judge Paul Rotenberry in August. Prosecutors filed 122 cases from January to June; they filed 51 in the same time frame in 2014.

Eberhardt said meth use has exploded in the area because of the “oil field culture” that requires workers to stay awake for long periods at a time. Plus, it’s a cheap drug that is easy to find.

In these cases, Eberhardt examines child vulnerability, which differs depending on age, and the parents’ ability care for their children while using drugs.

The investigation into the family begins before Eberhardt ever goes to the home.

“You never really know what you’re going to walk into,” she said.

She checks jail records to see if the parents or relatives have been arrested. She reviews police reports for the address she has on file for the family, and she ensures the home has functioning utilities, such as running water and electricity. All of this information gives Eberhardt the background she needs to approach the family.

Sometimes, Eberhardt receives resistance from the families she investigates, but she typically can reason with people enough to get in the door. In the past two years, she has had two cases in which the parents refused to comply with orders for removal.

In those scenarios, CPS caseworkers can call on law enforcement for help enforcing court orders, but that can lead to even more resistance, Eberhardt said. Court orders are required to remove children from their homes, but CPS can get court orders for families to adhere to safety plans, as well.

“We don’t just stop at ’no,’” said Kristie Cholewinski, investigations supervisor.

The goal of any investigation is to ensure the children in the home are safe, Eberhardt said. Ordinarily, she has 30 days to investigate a case, but she can immediately remove the children if she believes they are in imminent danger.

Each case has three potential outcomes: The caseworker will find reason to believe abuse or neglect occurred; abuse or neglect will be ruled out; or the caseworker will be unable to determine if abuse or neglect occurred.

The first stop was a house in a nondescript neighborhood with wide lawns and narrow alleyways, but the family wasn’t there. A relative informed Eberhardt that the family had moved into an apartment a few miles away.

Back in her car with the air conditioner blasting, Eberhardt looked up the address of the apartments on her iPhone and jotted down directions. She put her car in gear and got back on the highway.

At the apartments, she checked with the manager to see if the family stayed there. The manager gave her a new address for an all-bills-paid apartment around the corner. She went through the same routine in her car, looking up the address, but this time she parked in the shade of a tree.

The third stop was the final stop.

In the two-bedroom apartment, seven people gathered in the dimly lit space - the 15-year-old and 5-year-old listed on the intake report in a bedroom, another 15-year-old boy in the other bedroom, and the mom and her fiance in the front room with two other adults. Tattered violet fabric hung over the window panes in the door to block the sunlight, a Confederate flag pinned to one wall. The smell of cigarette smoke permeated the air.

Eberhardt introduced herself and asked who everyone was. The other two adults - friends of the parents - quickly left. The mom asked who called CPS.

“I can’t tell you that,” Eberhardt said, explaining all tips are confidential.

Before she did anything, Eberhardt asked permission.

She asked if she could hand the mother a parenting guide as she went through the allegations reported to CPS - drug use, kids not in school, disturbances at the apartment.

She asked if she could check the refrigerator for food before peeking in.

She asked if she could talk to the children in the apartment before leaning into their bedrooms.

The two boys in the intake report sat on a bed in one bedroom, watching a movie. Eberhardt asked them what they were watching.

“Captain America,” they said.

The door to the other bedroom was closed. Eberhardt asked if anyone else was in the apartment. The fiance said his son was home, so she asked if she could talk to him. When he opened the door, she identified herself again and asked him how old he was.

“15,” he said and stepped outside to smoke a cigarette.

After taking stock of the home and its residents, Eberhardt turned to the difficult questions. Why aren’t the boys in school? Where do you work? Do you use drugs?

Their mother promised that she had enrolled them in school and planned to have them start in a couple days. Eberhardt asked how they would get there. The mom hadn’t figured that out yet. She just got out of jail, where she had been for three days.

The 5-year-old was supposed to be starting kindergarten, but the 15-year-old had a developmental disorder that would require special instruction. Their father lives in Brownwood and cannot be relied upon for assistance, the mother said.

Why were you arrested?

For making a wide turn, the mom said. She also had warrants out for her arrest on charges for possession of marijuana and meth, which she did in Brownwood, she said. She recently moved to Abilene.

Are you still using meth?

She denied it.

“I know meth’s a problem,” Eberhardt said, “and I want to help you with that problem.”

The mom denied it again, said she hadn’t touched the drug since February when she was arrested on suspicion of possession.

“I need you to be honest with me,” Eberhardt said.

The mom admitted to smoking marijuana the week before, and her fiance said he had smoked a couple weeks ago but had not used meth in 20 years.

Eberhardt asked if the mom would test positive if she gave her a drug test right now. She said she wanted to help the boys have everything they need. She said she knew meth was a difficult drug to quit and that the mother had a history with the drug.

Restless, the mother shuffled from one side of the room to the other. She admitted to using meth two weeks ago. Again, she asked Eberhardt who called CPS.

Eberhardt said she could not say and asked the mom if anyone could stay with the boys until she could pass a drug test. She asked the mother to call around.

In the other room, the two boys began arguing. Their mother sat down on the mattress on the living room floor and cried. Eberhardt walked back to the room the boys were in and asked if everything were OK. The arguing ceased.

On the phone, the mother relayed the conversation to her friend and asked her to stay with the family. Sobbing, she handed the phone to Eberhardt, who started asking questions again. Where do you work? Where do you live?

Eberhardt asked the mom to sign a form stating her drug use and where her children were at the time before stepping outside to call her supervisor.

Cholewinski and she agreed that the best plan of action would be to have the children removed from the home until the mother could quit using drugs. Cholewinski then ran a background check on the mom’s friend, while Eberhardt retrieved an oral swab drug test from her car.

Back in the apartment, Eberhardt handed the mom the oral swab and asked her to hold it in her mouth for a couple minutes. The mom stuck the swab in her mouth and stood up. She started pacing as Eberhardt explained that CPS would file to remove the boys from the home. The mother ripped the swab from her mouth and complained of the taste. She could not produce enough saliva to complete the test.

Later, Eberhardt wrote an affidavit to present to a judge to have the children removed from the home. She cited the recent use of methamphetamine and marijuana the mother had admitted to as reasons for removal, and established a plan of action that includes enrolling the children in school and staying with a relative until the mother and her fiance tested negative for drugs. On her return visits, various adults roamed in and out of the apartment.

It was up to the judge to determine if CPS had legitimate reasons to remove the two boys from the home.

Judge Paul Rotenberry of the 326th District Court ruled Sept. 29 to remove the children. CPS placed the boys with their maternal grandparents and ordered the mom and her fiance to complete a regimen of drug testing, counseling, parenting classes and home visits - announced and unannounced - from Eberhardt. The parents will be able to see the boys, as well, in supervised visits at a CPS office.

If she can adhere to the plan and become drug-free, the mother will be reunited with her boys. Eberhardt will be there to help the family along the way, without judgment.

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Information from: Abilene Reporter-News, https://www.reporternews.com