Beverly Ribaudo and her three young grandsons are on the run, fleeing a Child Protective Services system that she believes will never grant her family peace or a fair shake. 

          "I want people to realize what CPS is doing to people's lives, taking kids away on (unproven) accusations," Ribaudo said this week, while her grandsons munched burgers near their Orange County refuge. "I know I'm not the only person who feels as I do. " 

          No doubt. But few adults tangled in California's child-protective system dare to do what the 51-year-old Upland grandmother has done: skip town just ahead of a social worker intent on shipping the boys back to foster care, and then take her plight public. Yet her rebellion speaks to parents and critics who feel that CPS agencies statewide are given too much latitude to meddle in family life.

          "The esteemed child-protective system has succeeded in turning a granny into a fugitive," concluded Buena Park pastor Wiley Drake, whose battle to aid the homeless made his church Ribaudo's first stop on the road underground. "Go figure. "

          Child-abuse experts empathize, but say running is no answer. They know foster care can be hard on kids. But safeguarding children from abuse, they say, is rarely so simple as sending them home with a loving grandmother.

          "She means well, but nothing good can come of it," said Gene Howard, the director the Orangewood Children's Foundation and former head of Child Protective Services in Orange County. "You can't raise kids on the road. " 

          Beverly Ribaudo would be home in Upland with grandsons Mikey, 7, Justin, 3, and Jesse, 2, but for this: She does not believe that Mikey's dad, her son, punched Mikey and she won't say otherwise. And if she doesn't believe that her son is capable of abuse - or that her grandson was the victim of abuse - social workers worry that she can't be trusted to protect Mikey and his brothers from further abuse.

          This thinking is representative of most CPS agencies, which reason that parents who won't admit abuse can't work on the problems that led to the abuse, and that caretakers who don't believe friends or family members are capable of abuse may not be vigilant enough to protect the children.

          So social workers have urged the courts to place the Ribaudo boys in foster homes, not with relatives. For the most part, they have prevailed.

          The trouble began in September 1995 when San Bernardino County Child Protective Services got a call claiming Mikey had been abused. A social worker visited, looked Mikey over, and found nothing. In California, the state deputizes each county to look out for the welfare of children who have been or are at risk of abuse or neglect. This includes authority to remove children from their homes during abuse investigations and, with the approval of a family-law judge, to place them in foster care or send them home under the supervision of social workers until their family's problems are resolved.

          In Orange County, protective services workers field 35,000 abuse reports each year and juggle about 11,000 active cases at any one time. Roughly 3,200 children live in group or foster homes, which includes placement with relatives, while 7,800 others remain with their parents, but under a social worker's supervision. 

          San Bernardino CPS officials say state confidentiality laws prohibit them from discussing the case. According to the Ribaudo boys' case files, this is what happened:

          The worker made follow-up visits to Mikey's school. One day, he had a large bump on his forehead. He explained in detail that he fell off his skateboard. The social worker was unconvinced: The 5-year-old didn't recall the exact day of his accident.

          A few weeks later, Mikey had a bruise beneath his eye. This time, he told the social worker that his dad had punched him. The case took off from there.

          From interviews and other records, social workers learned that Mikey's parents, Michael and Karen Ribaudo, had used illegal narcotics and that, years earlier, Michael had been arrested on domestic-violence charges. The Ribaudos insisted that their home was not violent and that Mikey had never experienced discipline more severe than an open-handed spanking. To get the boy home, they agreed to attend parenting classes and counseling. 

          Michael was ordered to attend anger-management classes. The next few months were uneventful. Yet social workers filed reports saying the boys remained at serious risk because their parents refused to admit Mikey had been abused and were unenthusiastic and irregular participants at their classes.

          Then in June 1996, Mikey was spotted at school with a red mark and swelling on his face. Beverly Ribaudo says he was fine that morning and must have been injured roughhousing with friends.

          But Mikey said his dad had punched him.

          Mikey, Justin and newborn Jesse went into foster care and Michael Ribaudo spent a night in jail. The couple split up in July and are divorcing.

          The Orange County Register could not locate Karen Ribaudo, 30, for comment. The case files describe her as homeless and note an arrest on drug charges in August 1996. 

          Michael Ribaudo denied hurting his son, saying any injuries, bumps or bruises social workers thought they saw were normal for a lively boy. But short of admitting abuse, Michael Ribaudo was ready to cooperate.

          In a court hearing in August, he and the attorneys involved in the case agreed to an admission of "inappropriate discipline," a lesser offense than child abuse. No criminal charges are outstanding.

          He re-enrolled in anger-management classes and volunteered for individual therapy and sessions with his son, saying, "Mikey has things to tell me. "

          What frustrates Beverly Ribaudo is that while the case file notes that her son stuck with the required program, tested negative for drugs and attended monitored visits with his sons, social workers continued to say he posed a risk to the boys. That is, he wouldn't admit he had abused Mikey. They kept a tight rein, allowing him to see the boys only at protective services offices and with a monitor.

          In the spring, a judge decided that Michael Ribaudo's sister could take custody of the boys. That went well. Social workers noted that Beverly Ribaudo visited her daughter's Rialto home on her way home from her secretarial job nearly every day and that the boys were clearly attached to her.

          Ribaudo's daughter was due to have a child soon, so in March _ more than two years after the case began _ the boys were allowed to move in with their grandmother.
Beverly Ribaudo was in the process of moving to a two-bedroom apartment last week when everything fell apart.

          Michael Ribaudo said he had asked the social worker for gas chits to get to his visits. He says she told him to ask his mother. So, against the court's order, he went to his mother's house.A social worker saw him driving away.

          She confronted Beverly Ribaudo. Later, she called and left a message saying she was on her way to get the boys and place them in a foster home. Ribaudo decided right then to stop playing by the protective services rule book.

          "We just grabbed a few things and hopped in the car and went to see Pastor Drake," she said. "Michael did everything they said. What do they want? "

          What protective services wants is for Ribaudo to hand over the children, according to the Ribaudos and Drake, who spoke with officials last week. Beverly Ribaudo says they told her they have a court order to take the 
boys.

          Beverly Ribaudo is uncertain how much trouble she may be in. The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department and police in Upland said last week that they have no warrants for her arrest. Child Protective Services, the children's attorney and either of their parents could press charges.

          Beverly Ribaudo wants to go home. 

          But she says the agency would have to give her another chance and agree that the social worker overreacted to an infraction that could have been handled with a stern warning. She doesn't think this is likely.

          The grandmother's frustration and despair are familiar to Barbara Oliver, who often speaks with parents and relatives certain that social workers have made a mistake. But she feels sure that Ribaudo's actions are misguided.

          The executive director of the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Orange County, Oliver says small children rarely lie about abuse - and that left unchecked, abuse escalates.
This is why an admission from the parent or guardian is critical.

          Ribaudo calls such reasoning nonsense. She says it leaves no room for error by the system - only family members.  "Michael has had his problems, but no way could he hurt his babies," she said. "But does the system really think I'd stand aside and let anyone hurt my grandbabies? That's stupid. "

          And until someone listens, Ribaudo says she, Mikey, Justin and Jesse are not going home. 

All content © 1997 The Orange County Register and may not be republished without permission.