
07/12/2025
I WAS 15 WHEN CPS TOOK MY LITTLE BROTHER
Not because I hurt him.
Not because we were unsafe.
But because we were alone.
Our mom had passed away from cancer six months earlier.
Our dad had already been out of the picture for years.
It was just us.
I made sure he got to school. I packed his lunch.
I worked nights at a gas station and finished high school online.
It wasn’t easy, but we were getting by. Together.
One day a teacher noticed my brother had holes in his shoes and called CPS.
No one asked if we had food. No one asked how they could help.
They just came to our apartment and said, “You’re a minor. You can’t raise him.”
I begged them. I cried.
I told them he had already lost Mom.
That I was all he had left.
They said they’d “find a placement.”
Like he was an object. Like our bond didn’t matter.
I remember him screaming my name as they pulled him away.
I still hear it.
They put him in foster care.
I tried to fight for custody. I filled out forms, begged adults to help, called lawyers I couldn’t afford.
But no one took me seriously.
I was “just a kid.”
Now I’m 18. I finally have the legal right to try and bring him home.
But he’s changed. He barely talks. He flinches when people raise their voices.
They say CPS saves kids.
But sometimes, CPS is the thing they need saving from.
Please speak up for siblings. For teens who step up. For families that just need support. Not separation.
-Zack 18, New York