Hello,

Yes, I did all the official complaints AFTER it was all dropped.
During the saga I smelt a rat and started to ring other offices to find out answers. I rang official offices along with other service centres to find out my facts.
Also after I noticed my child to be quite starving during my one only weekly access visit (child was 3.5 years old and ate solidly for 45minutes as soon as we arrived to the community hall at 10am) I tried to ring my CSO dealing with my case who of course was not available. In the end I rang the after hours line and stated that I felt my child was being NEGLECTED whilst in foster care.
A few days later the CSO rang my mother and said something to the effect that 'I was going to make things difficult for myself by ringing around and complaining and that she had to go and investigate the foster home after I lodged a complaint' to the afterhours line.
So basically the CSO was sending me an indirect threat.
Later I find out that my child ended up with bruising on his bottom that lasted 1 week - because he pooed his pants whilst in foster care and the foster father 'Andrew' did it. You should read my private journalling when I found out (maybe I should type it onto here for you all to read). It was all hushed up and when we found out the then CSO said to my mother she didn't have to tell me. I was given a new case worker who stated that she couldn't find this abuse whilst in foster care in the file! But some time later I received a letter stating that 'a breach has occurred'.
Yes, I should have made it more clear - I waited until the whole saga was over and then wrote out an (80 page) letter of complaint and sent it off to the various channels. That was 11 months ago that was sent off. The investigation is still going on apparently.

And as for the CMC, I don't think they do much. I rang up and found that most of these complaints are mostly referred back to the DOCS central complaints unit.
Dont' be fooled you can't win against this organisation.
But still having said this I do think you must meticulously document and gather your evidence. Because one day something is going to happen. Your chld needs a record of what happened and one day when they are adults/ grandparents there might be payback time. Like the aboriginal people and these children (aka the next stolen generation) might be given an official apology. Anyway I have a book now on all this (and then some more).

But I think you need to do the official complaints channels as mentioned here when the saga is over.
Then when you get no response as a lot of us do then we need to find a way to band together, and then the media will take notice. I am sure they are not interested at present.

And what was my heinous crime against my child?
I had fantasies about leaving him at a shopping centre and running off - catch a bus, plane and vanish. This was after conflict with the father. It was in the middle of the night and I rang the hospital to talk about it. They (put in a notification) said would you be ok if we sent the DOCS to see you. I said sure. as I had nothing to hide. I didn't know what DOCS was all about then - it was before mandatory reporting for nurses. So eventually I get back to sleep and wake up next day as usual and get on with it. Around mid morning DOCS arrived ( 2 young CSO woman) and talked to me and then said you need a rest - give us your child either you give him voluntarily or we take him involuntarily. I was confused, uhh ok. That was the beginning of it.
Later I am told by a CSO that 'thoughts are enough for us' - I have this on tape and am happy to play it to anyone who wishes to listen.
DOCS decided I had mental health issues and pushed it to the inth degree, I had to see a psychiatrist the whole time docs were involved. Eventually the psychiatrist wrote there is nothing wrong with her - no axis 1 or axis 11 diagnosis can be made and having her interact with her child on various occassion seems entirely normal.
So why do I have to see a psychiatrist the whole time docs are involved in our lives and then never again once they are finished with me. It was the CSO who stated 'we want you to see a psychiatrist for the rest of this year' - that was without any medical recommendation.
Remember I am actually a psychiatric nurse and was often in charge of the shifts during the whole time! Work that out - if my long time colleagues can't see anything wrong with me- who are professionals in the area of mental health, yet docs reckon I was mad.
Yep, I'm fucking mad alright at the way docs push people around and try and diagnose and dictate what's going on.
I did have post-natal depression but not whilst docs were involved in my life - I am the same as I was then as I am now. The ex CSO said that docs cannot take a child off a parent on the grounds of post natal depression.
The ex CSO is shocked when I told her the truth that docs took my child off me for a total of 7 months due to being what they classified as 'child being at risk'.
She said that the parent needs to be either incapable of looking after the child or unwilling to look after the child. She said the question is are they capable; are they willing. Now I realise why the CSO was writing such subject data into her court prepared papers as 'mother said to child sorry but I cannot look after you' (I never said that and anyway the CSO was not there at that time in the morning) and why they were trying out to say I was delusional when I dropped the child off to childcare that day. The day care mother was livid and wrote affidavit material to state that she never said I was paranoid. It was bizarre.
Remember I am the trained psych. nurse (past 15 years at the time - with lots of experience). Now that I talk to ex CSO I see what docs were trying to do, what sort of picture they were trying to paint.

Lots of stuff make sense to me now. It isn't about what's in the best interest of the child at all, but rather a legal game. Government against the little man. Power hungry people with their own agendas. Too much power given to the CSO.
There should be preventative measures first. There should be psych. trained nurses or Medical officers who accompany these CSO when on their rampages into your homes too.
I better shut up. I have too much to say and I could get in trouble with the government somehow. Like loose my nursing registration for being a big mouth. But that will just add to my book!
Talk to you some more....