I love my kids and my pets please help me!

[Lionne6980]

My kids were removed from my house for a list of stupid reasons, but now I'm being told that I may have to get rid of my animals to get the kids back. I raise and breed Ball Pythons. I have 14 and they are all about Medium sized. They are in a rack system and are properly maintained and cared for. Also I have 4 Large rats that I was using as breeders and feeding the babies to my snakes till my daughter said how against it she is, so we stopped and out of 60 rats we kept 4 and found homes for the rest. The 4 I kept are our pets and we love them. Each of our kids owns one of the rats but we keep them all together and we take care of all the animals as a family. My three kids love the snakes and help with the care and with educating others about them. Does anyone know of anything I can do or anyone I can contact to keep from having to lose all my pets. I will do what it takes to get my kids back, but I don't want them blaming themselves for the pets having to go. Can anyone help me?

[JoshSloane]

I don't think that you are going to find the information that you need on here. This seems to be a matter that a family attorney, who is privy to the details of your specific case, would be your best source of information. Lawyers can navigate extremely complicated legal precedents pertaining to child custody and pets. There also should be local crisis centers in your area that can put you in touch with social workers that have experience with this.

Considering there has never been a documented case of a ball python inflicting serious or mortal injury to a child, a good lawyer should be able to help you keep your animals.

[jclaiborne]

^this, but it seems hard to believe that keeping Ball Pythons was they reason your kids were removed from the home.

[JoshSloane]

^this, but it seems hard to believe that keeping Ball Pythons was they reason your kids were removed from the home.

Definitely. I think addressing and remediating the core custody issue is your first challenge. Once that is set, you can focus more time on the snake issue. Having non-traditional pets is always an added obstacle in these types of issues. Likely there are educational resources through USARK that can aid you in convincing the courts that bps are not posing a danger to kids. Data and statistics are your best friend.

[distaff]

Obviously, I have no idea what Lionne's personal situation is apart from her post.
That said, CPS (Child Protective Services) has gotten out WAY out of hand in the United States.

[JoshSloane]

Obviously, I have no idea what Lionne's personal situation is apart from her post.
That said, CPS (Child Protective Services) has gotten out WAY out of hand in the United States.

Totally agree. The intrusion of the state into family matters is unbelievable.

[Lionne6980]

Thank you for your posts. We live in a house that is 60 years old and has been a rental unit for 30 years. Listed problems were broken railing, stained hard wood floor from animals (Landlady told them it was from past renters not us). Medicine bottles on the floor in our daughter's room (she uses them to hold beads she learned this from pinterest), they scared my dog so he urinated on the floor and my handicapped fiance was the only one there with them and couldn't take him outside.

[JoshSloane]

So I am assuming that this is all after divorce and original custody proceedings took place? What is your custody situation now? Do you have visitation?

[Lionne6980]

no custody was ever set. I raised them with my fiance for the past 10 years, the animals were simply mentioned on the report and everyone in the court were like ewe snakes! I have fixed all areas that they complained about and I got rid of 95% of the rats. Now someone is saying that even though cps haven't come out and said it and the cabinet(social) worker has denied it. It still looks like they are waiting for us to get rid of the animals.

[Lionne6980]

my ex has temporary custody and I get visits every Sat. for 6 hours outside of my home.