Should CPS be involved if a baby is in a household where the family smokes heavily indoors?

Question

Do you believe it’s negligent / borderline cruel/abusive to smoke indoors when you have a baby / children?
It’s illegal where I am to smoke with your kids in the car.  Should there be some sort of enforcement in the home also?  How much intervention should there be?
My fiancé grew up in a household like this from birth until the age of 20 when he moved out and is heavily asthmatic as well as his sister.  She was also prone to numerous ear infections as a result of the smoke.  He tells me from a scary young age he was addicted to the smell of smoke.  
To me it just seems very selfish to put your child in that position, why couldn’t you just go outside at the bare minimum?

Accepted Answer

Our DCS can’t even handle keeping kids from safe from being beaten and raped. Like...no offense but I’m struggling to have the capacity to want DCS handling tobacco use, especially when they can’t handle what they’re already tasked with.

Answer

I think so. Might as well let the baby smoke itself. It’s the same thing. Smoking is disgusting and I honest to God to not understand why people ever start, or refuse to quit.

Answer

Assuming that CPS has enough workers to actually handle the caseload and we already have the more serious cases (physical abuse, sexual abuse, drug abuse, ect) being properly handled, then yes, I think that continuous secondhand smoke should be an issue that they can report on

Answer

It’s been scientifically proven to harm their health, so if the parent or caregiver is choosing to smoke in the house next to their child(ren) with all the info out there, yes that is negligent.

Answer

I do believe it’s negligent. There’s plenty of science to prove it. However the system is overburdened so I don’t know if it could handle it. From my experience CPS only gets involved with second hand cigarette smoke if a doctor is saying it’s negatively harming them because they have an underlying health condition (ex: asthma made worse by smoke) or it’s outwardly obvious that the smoke is harming them and a doctor confirms it’s specifically due to the smoke .  Although I know this likely differs by state. 
But you’re totally right. If it’s Illegal to smoke with a kid in the car then it should  be illegal to smoke with a kid in the house too. Although there’s no way to enforce that.

Answer

I would love if something like that could be enforced but a law like that will never pass. People already don't like the no smoking/eating/drinking in a car laws some places have...it would be an uproar if something like this was proposed. Not sure how it would even be able to be enforced. Sadly some people do unhealthy things to/around their kids and there is only so much control that can be exerted. I have seen people giving their 6 month old kid fast food everyday or as much soda for a toddler as they want. That is also dangerous and can lead to future health issues but are people gonna push for cps to be called when a kid is given junk food and soda all day everyday? It is horrible that is happens bit some people are just shitty parents and unfortunately some kids have them. Cps can barely deal with the cases they have now and things slip through cracks all the time. Unless we quadruple the size/budget of cps not sure having people call for smoking inside is feasible.

Answer

Second hand smoking is a thing, might as well give a cig to the baby if it’s gonna be heavy second hand lol. Tbh I think yes CPS should be called. 
I know a lot of people don’t see an issue with things I see an issue with in regards to child care so who knows. It might be an improper use of calling for help.

Answer

My husband grew up in a house hold where his parents smoked. 
He has asthma as a child, TONS of ear and sinus infections (his hearing is permanently worse because of it). And of course all the nasty stuff that comes along with living in a smokers household. 
His parents did not care. His mom even smoked when pregnant with him and his sister (they were both low birth weight and he almost needed NICU time). I feel like maybe if they were held to a better standard, him and his sister would not have had breathing/ear issues growing up

Answer

Absolutely. It’s dangerous and unhealthy! If smoking inside your car with children is illegal, then a house should be too. Not only that, it’s disgusting and dirty. Not sorry.

Answer

It has horrible health consequences and I would never support it, but DHS has so much and is so short staffed that this will never warrant removal or even an investigation.

Should CPS be involved if a baby is in a household where the family smokes heavily indoors?

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