Episode 112 - Social Worker Ray

[SomeCallMeK]

I understood his attitude toward police. His attitude was maybe a bit flippant in regards to people who can help him - or at some point even save him - in bad situations, but even Policeman Andy was critical of some of his fellow officers in his episode. Some cops are little more than bullies with badges. I get not loving or respecting those knuckleheads. Plus Ray seems to have some roots in the punk community, where an intense aversion to police - and pretty much all other authority figures - has run deep for decades. Even if he has become a low-level authority figure himself.

[ether667]

This was an episode I'm so glad happened. Months ago I had DCF called on me by my ex's bf because he's trying to get vengeance, plain and simple. The poor social worker had showed up at 6am and was pretty upset that they were wasting his time, while for us I was of course filled with anxiety just as Ray was saying, someone is in your house judging you and you pray they don't get the wrong idea.

Also hearing a certain few 'struggle in a sentence' surveys caught me off guard!

Paul - Thanks again! While I listen to the whole circuit of comedy podcasts out there, (walking the room being one) I have always found yours' to be the other thing I need in my life, and what better person than a comedian I respect?! There's something about comedians that has always resonated with me since I was a kid, and to know that people like that that I admire are almost exactly like myself in trials and tribulations makes my world seem that much less dark. "You are not alone" is such a true statement.

[Jose]

This was such an interesting episode to listen to amidst the horrific events we are continuing to learn about that happened over a decade long period at Ariel Castro's house in Cleveland. I keep imagining, what if that little 6 year old girl who Amanda Berry gave birth to against her will spoke out in some instance on what was happening inside her home. A person like Ray in that situation would be a greater hero than Charles Ramsey in my opinion.. but let's not bring this into hypothetical territory, what Ray does is one of the most important and overlooked jobs in our country. So many lives have the potential to be saved when someone in his position intervenes and calls the law into action. I remember being in rehab with so many addicts who were utter dogshit parents, getting CPS called on them every other day for public spats and endangering the welfare of their child, I guess I didn't feel as much sympathy for them because I was hearing these stories coming from their drug-addled minds where CPS is viewed as 'the man'. Ray spoke about this stuff so matter-of-factly that my heart actually went out more to him than these suffering women and children. It was nice to see a little sanity shed on the subject, and in times like these where we see reports of so many awful things happening to kids on a daily basis, to know that there are people on the front lines in these circumstances whose only job is to help. That's comforting.

[MizLzie]

Such an important guest to have, and I hope he is a true representation of what most CPS workers are like. Growing up in the small town/area that I did, I saw instances of people having their kids taking away as well as some that should have had them taken. It was brutal to hear/see some of the situations these kids or babies were in, but man some of those "parents" (if they could be called that) were slick and found ways to turn around the stories so they looked innocent...

My mom started mentoring a young teenage girl a couple years ago, surrogate grand-kid I guess, who had an extremely emotionally & verbally abusive mother. Weird thing is that I was good friends with this girl's half sister growing up, she lived with her dad and I recall hearing few, but negative things about her mom. My mom would hear the things this poor girl was told. How awful she was, how she was a terrible daughter, useless, dumb... Was forced to do all the house cleaning since the mom was "disabled". Sure she was, but why should a 12/13 year old girl be responsible for taking care of the house. Every time the government went the house to investigate or check on things, the mom would put on a show, so the daughter was left to look like a monster... This poor girl just wants to go through school, have fun with her friends, basically live a normal teenage life - and this mother was just not having it..
Presently, she is living with a different caregiver and doing MUCH better. In fact, in the last couple of weeks, this caregiver has asked if she can become this girl's legal guardian! Even though I think my mom became much too wrapped up in all of it, I could hear the happiness in her voice when she told me about the current state of things. There is hope for this girl now!

Without people like Ray - this girl would have never had the opportunity to do anything apart from her mother and now she is in a much better place and hopefully out of the cycle it can create.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELP THESE KIDS!!