If someone has already posted this somewhere on OKCTalk, I apologize in advance (I couldn't find it anywhere). Several Oklahoma bloggers are picking up the story to help spread the word about this shameful Realtor. The story is too long to post here, but here' what I posted about the story on my blog (http://independentchristianvoice.com/2006/03/15/abusing-the-system-meant-to-prevent-abuse/):
Sean Gleeson (http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/03/11/under-siege-1) (over the course of the last four days) has led his readers through a harrowing personal story that kept most of us on the edge of our proverbial seats, with mouths agape. It represents the nightmare scenario that haunt many parents, including yours truly: facing (unfounded) accusations of child neglect or abuse with the threat of having your children taken away from you.

What’s worse is that the accusations were not based on a good faith concern for the children, but rather a vengeful act of an angry, inconvenienced, spiteful real estate agent. While I’ll let Sean reveal the name of the agent and the details of the incident, this agent and the company he represents should be ashamed of these unreasonable and most unprofessional acts he willfully engaged in. I, for one, do my part in spreading the word about this truly shameful real estate agent. I’m wondering if a complaint can be filed with the state and national Realtor associations (or if it would do any good).

The Department of Human Services has its hands full with legitimate cases of child neglect and abuse and certainly doesn’t need to waste its time on frivolous and outrageously unfounded allegations by “panties-in-a-wad” idiots who are so self-absorbed that they don’t see a problem with such falsehoods. If there is not already a law, one should be passed that severely sanctions clearly and egregiously false accusations. It’s a clear case of abuse of a system designed to protect children from legitimate abuse and neglect.

Read Sean’s story (http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/03/11/under-siege-1) and then tell me if you’re not equally outraged.
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This kind of stuff is actually pretty commonplace. In a child custody case, for example, it's not uncommon for there to be accusations of sexual misconduct on the part of the father. I've heard that about 1% of those cases are ever confirmed. The hell that the father must go through though is very unfortunate. I often wonder whether the price we pay for the system is worth the 1 in 100 cases that it prevents? To date, I've seen this several times and never once has it ever been 'confirmed.'

I'm definitely wanting to become more familiar with DHS as I plan to practice in the area of family law (among other things) upon graduation so I've trained for and will soon be starting some volunteer work for DHS interviewing newly 'picked up' kids and evaluating kinship foster homes.

I wouldn't be as outraged at DHS here as I would be at the Realtor.

My outrage is squarely focused on one person -- the Realtor. From Sean's relating of the story, DHS and the OKC Police officer acted reasonably and fairly. There is only one person at fault and only one who should face the consequences. I'm hoping word-of-mouth negative PR spreading through the community will be its own form of street justice.

There are no consequences for making false DHS reports. They want the system to invite complaints rather than discourage them. Unfortunately, this results in a lot of false allegations by people who are trying to use the law as their own personal weapon. I think the line of logic goes something like "If it saves even 1 child, it's worth it." That line of reasoning works for me.

Scribe, what a story! Wow.. that would be amazingly scary and horrifying to think that your children might be taken away.

But how do we really know if the Realtor was being viciously vengeful and disgruntled or a concerned citizen?

There was one thing that startled me.. a pic of a room that was covered with piles of clothes. Playing Devil's Advocate here... what if this wasn't a safe Christian family and
what if the children were being neglected and the Realtor didn't call DHS?

We see horror stories in the media of this neglect and abuse daily because no one took the time to call DHS if they suspected abuse.


I'm not just saying this because I am in the business. I was also a foster parent for six years in Ca. There are thousands of cases that go undocumented because people do not call and report. And there are many documented cases of horrible child neglect and abuse because no one stepped forward.

This instance is different but we are only reading one side of it .. I'll show you the pic of what I am talking about..http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/7518/toymountain14aa.jpg

If I were in this home and saw this and didn't know the family I might be alarmed as well.

I'm not saying what he did was right, but I'm asking that before everyone jumps on this person, maybe give him the benefit of the doubt that he was acting in good faith. By the time the police arrive, I can only hope that the parents had gone through the home and cleaned it.


In all fairness, the rest of the pics looked like a happy family with healthy children... but the author did allude to lots of dirty dishes in the sink - without knowing the family and seeing this above pic, wouldn't anyone be concerned for children living like this? I know kids can be messy - I have two boys! But, this just might make me wonder about how well the kids were being taken care of.

People have different standards of cleanliness so that is not a gauge for neglect but all I'm trying to say is that maybe, just maybe the Realtor didn't do this out of malice.

If the home had been cleaner, then I might have jumped to the conclusion that this Realtor was mad that he couldn't show the home.. but in this business, that is a daily occurence. We try to show the home and can't. It's a well known part of this business that we all go through. Never have I heard of my fellow realtors calling DHS because they couldn't show a home. We expect that to happen, especially with renters.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2233/abbyfaithsofa15gc.jpg

I know the family of Kelsey Briggs would have appreciated interference to save their little girl - with the publicity of that incident, DHS has been under fire so they are probably being more aggressive with investigating complaints.


I think the proper thing for the real estate broker to do was to try to schedule another showing, talk to the residents to get a better feel for the family dynamics and reassure himself that the children were safe.


I'm really sorry that this happened to this family. They do seem very happy and healthy and a nice Christian family. I'm not saying that what the Realtor did was right.. but there are two sides to every story. I imagine if we ask him about he might say he was worried about the kids and that is why he called. We just don't know. And it is unfair to jump to unproven conclusions based on one blogger's interpretation of the event.

What I saw in those pictures was a messy room -- a messy TODDLER'S room. I didn't see filth, I didn't see trash, I didn't see ANY signs of neglect. There are times that my house can look messy... and my girls' room -- oh my gosh, don't get me started. Does a messy house automatically equate to neglect? Hardly. What if they were in the middle of spring cleaning? What if they were sorting through things and the toddlers decided to help. Keep in mind they have FIVE very young kids.

It's true that we only have one side. But could it also be true that the Realtor hastily jumped to conclusions? Could it also be true that the Realtor was irritated that Sean was not being convenient for him so he decided to exact some revenge?

Karrie, on this one, I think you're giving the Realtor too much benefit of the doubt.

Wow, that's scary to even think about going through. What a lowlife scumbag.

What I saw in those pictures was a messy room -- a messy TODDLER'S room. I didn't see filth, I didn't see trash, I didn't see ANY signs of neglect. There are times that my house can look messy... and my girls' room -- oh my gosh, don't get me started. Does a messy house automatically equate to neglect? Hardly. What if they were in the middle of spring cleaning? What if they were sorting through things and the toddlers decided to help. Keep in mind they have FIVE very young kids.

I completely agree with you. Those pictures actually looked tame compared to some of the pictures I've seen. My wife and I were just talking about this the other night. Disorder is a big pet peave we have, but we pointed out that most people's homes aren't very organized, or at least the ones we've been to aren't.

I've seen toddlers rooms that look much worse.

The whole point I was making wasn't just based on a messy toddler's room.

I was trying to say we don't know both sides of the story. It is easy to jump all over the person reporting to DHS when the kids are safe - but when they are in danger we need to take action and maybe that is what he thought he was doing. I'm trying to say that perhaps the reporter felt that the children were not being taken care of properly based on the condition of the home. We just don't know.

This is the title of this thread:

Apparently disgruntled OKC Realtor makes "anonymous" false report to child welfare ...

That's just an assumption made based on knowing this blogger as a fellow Christian and his circumstances. I don't know anymore than any of you if the Realtor thought he had a valid reason to call or not but to just assume he did it because he was mad about not being able to show the house is not right either.

My son's room has toys all over it all the time. We clean up and organize on the weekends pretty well. The room pictured above looks like a toddler had pulled out all their toys from a toy box and maybe even some of their clothes from the dresser. Kids like to do that. It doesn't mean neglect or a warning for neglect. I am with Patrick, that if there was trash on the floor or dangerous items,etc. then I would be more concerned about the well being of the children. Toys & clothes... that should be expected in a home with small children.

Well, Karrie, I'll concede that I did not interview the Realtor to get his side of the story. Any volunteers? I don't think I could be very nice to him right now.

Besides, who can fault the guy really? He looked at the "best intelligence" he had, made his (predisposed) conclusion and preemptively acted upon it without any sort of reasonable verification. If it's good enough for our foreign policy, it's certainly good enough for a Realtor. So what if it was completely groundless? It's the thought that counts.

Even though he's not abusing the kids, it's a good thing the father didn't happen to turn out to be a mass murderer. Then, regardless of his original reasons for reporting them, he would deserve praise, right Scribe? :p

If that was me I woudl be highly very upset and would be right ion the realtor office makeing a big sence demanding to speak to this Paul Brooks and tell him and know of his lies and would make a call to main realtor office that I know over sees his office and make sure it followed through. Rerading that story and seeing the pic thats a normal house with toddlers, I can contest by that. I mean my god I have had to clean up eggs off the floor, clean shampoo and lotion out of the carpet, no big deal thats toddlers and you have to clean up after there mess, and most times I can ge tmy toddler to help me clean her mess she made.

As much as it might be nice to get back at such a person, it's probably smarter to let that particular sleeping dog lie. Someone who would do such a thing is a dangerous person, and if they've already tried to mess with your kids once, heaven knows what they'd do if provoked further.

In this particular instance, word of mouth is probably going to do this guy considerable harm. Sounds like the kind of thing Brad Edwards would just eat up.

-SoonerDave

Brad Edwards wouldn't touch this one with a ten-foot pole. There is no shred of evidence, at least from this guy's story, that the realtor is the one who report this person to the DHS.

The blogger is pissed that someone (in the case he says the realtor) turned him in without any reason/fact/claims-based-on-truth/evidence yet he turns right around and does the same thing to someone else by putting it down in writing in a blog. Both cases are just as unethical.

I do not think I am giving the realtor too much benefit of the doubt. Sure he probably did it, that's kind of the direction I am leaning. But it's pretty pathetic that this guy turns around and does the same thing. Although the possible ramifications aren't the same between the two situations, the DHS can do more damage that an internet message board, the basis for both accusations are just as negligent.

OKC -- you bring up a good point. The blogger in this case has perhaps even exposed himself to some civil liability in posting potentially libelous material.

There is a strong public policy argument for keeping the identity of those who make these reports secret. What the blogger says is that the house was a mess. It's VERY possible that he's not being completely honest as to just how messy the house is. The realtor is probably not properly trained in identifying dangerous situations for kids, and in his situation may have done the right thing. If someone suspects abuse, they are legally bound to report it -- and where kids are involved, I couldn't possibly think of any reason why we'd place the comfort and stress level of good parents over the safety of potentially abused children.

And let's be honest, the fact that they were hauling the kids off right as the DHS workers showed up was just a tad suspicious -- at least enough so to constitute further investigation.

I'm going to be doing some volunteer work for DHS (did the training a couple weeks ago). I'm hoping to learn a little more about the nature of the beast. As best as I can tell, DHS does as good a job as they can with extremely limited resources. None of their workers are in it 'for the money,' and the DHS employees who I've dealt with have been great people -- sometimes misguided and wrong in their facts, but they want what is in the best interest of the kids.

There are opportunities for volunteers to work with DHS, and if you're sitting on your keister, you might want to call one of the organizations that provide those services up. The one I'll be working with is Oklahoma Lawyers for Children (they have a website) and you don't have to be a lawyer to work for them (or even a law student, or even a primary school graduate). If anyone has any questions, my PM box is open.

Check th blog again. There is an update. Apparently, it might not have been the realtor. The realtor called the blogger, and now claims he told the landlord the house was too messy to show, and the landlord must have called DHS and beefed up the story.

The blogger presents this as certainly plausible. I am sure, however, that the landlord would say he told the DHS exactly what the realtor told him. So, it turns into a 'he said, he said' situation (landlord v. realtor). So, we, and the blogger, may never actually know the truth.

That was my point all along.. we may never know the truth .. but I fear that many readers jumped to conclusions based on the blogger's interpretation of the events and some may have reported the Realtor to the board .. I know there were links to do so.. a sad story all the way around.

But, I still contend that it is better to be safe than sorry... it took an hour to show DHS that all was well - an hour isn't much to spare to prevent a child being abused.

I think Midtowner said it best...


I couldn't possibly think of any reason why we'd place the comfort and stress level of good parents over the safety of potentially abused children.