More on the deal with CPS

Several readers have questioned my claim that my ex-wife made a deal with CPS, and asked why I don't do more to prove that there was such a deal.

Deals with CPS are not unusual. People who know CPS much better than me tell me that a case like mine would be impossible without my ex-wife making a deal with CPS.

CPS investigated my kids in Nov. 2007 as a result of complaints from a public school worker and my ex-wife. After my ex-wife met with CPS agent Sally Mitchell and some ex-parte communication with Cmr. Irwin Joseph in the family court, the local cops came to my house and took my kids.

I was stunned by this, and asked a lawyer for an explanation. He said that Cmr. Joseph had made a deal with CPS where he always sends the cops when CPS requests it. The court would not have done it on my ex-wife's request. The lawyer said that my only hope to get my kids back was to go make my own deal with CPS.

So I made an appointment with Sally Mitchell, and offered to do whatever would accommodate her. But she said that she had already made her deal with my ex-wife, and that as far as she is concerned, there is nothing that I could do to get my kids back.

Flabbergasted, I insisted on talking to her boss, her boss's boss, and the department head. They all made it clear that they would back up Ms. Mitchell's deal, and would do nothing to help. They had no interest in the facts of my case. Sally Mitchell ended up testifying as my ex-wife's witness in support of her motion for sole custody.

I considered mentioning the CPS deal in my oral argument before the appeals court, but I ultimately decided that it was just a distraction. If the judges know anything about CPS, then they will know that CPS had to have made a deal with my ex-wife. If they don't know much about CPS, then the CPS agent will be just another lying witness to them. There is plenty of evidence on the record that Sally Mitchell lied under oath, and did an incompetent job in my case. Explaining her deal with my ex-wife was superfluous.

As it turned out, my ex-wife acknowledged her deal with CPS by arguing that she was "obligated" to "back them up and stand firm", and not let me see our kids.