Florida Department Of Children & Families took my child when she was 5 weeks because of the condition of my home, I had moved into the house on Febuary 2 and the house was deplorable, and in poor living conditions when I moved into it, but it was the only place I could find that I could afford because my fiancee (Jim) at the time (now my husband) had lost his job when my daughter was only a week old because (I was in the hospital for a week and a half prior to having my daughter and they had to induce labor 3 weeks earlier than my due date because I was extremly sick) he was at the hospital with me and his emploier said they didnt want a part time emploiee even though it was tempary and they fired him
So I had to move. I was still recovering from my sickness and my main priority was take care of my daughter and when I could I would try to clean up that mess of a house that I lived in. I also had 2 roomates who lived with me (Tamara and Brandon) Tamara went to school and her mom never cleaned house so she never learned so she never cleaned no matter how many times I would ask her to, and her boyfriend Brandon was just plain lazy (even he admits it and blames his self partly for this) and wouldn't clean.
NOW to the house... I never went in to look at the house when I moved into it I know that was a mistake but I had lived in the house with my grandparents when I was 15 and the owner lived in another state so I thought the house would be the same and never went into it prior to renting it. When I moved in the house had 2 refrigerators in it that were never emptied when the previous renters moved out and the house had been empty for at least 6 months prior to me moving into it so needless to say they were discusting, I tried open them to clean them out but I got sick every time I tried so I gave up and taped them closed with duck tape and borrowed money to buy a new refrigerator, I asked Jim and Brandon to move them outside constantly and (I even tried to move them myself but I didnt have the strength to do it myself) they never would they would always say later and "LATER" never came.
The floors were covered in animal feces, garbage, empty alcohol bottles, and other stuff that the previous renters had left behind. I worked on my daughters room first and cleaned it spotless (you could have eaten off the floor) then I started on the rest of the house, I striped the carpet out, and thru most of the stuff in the front yard to be taken to the dump, and took the empty alcohol bottles and stuck candles in them (the first 3 days I had no electric and I was cleaning as much as I could day and night before I had to move in and I needed light for the hours I was there at night)
Jim took two loads (in his BIG 77 Ford pickup truck so that tells you how much we could fit in it) to the dump and his radiator cracked so we couldnt take any more loads to the dump until we were able to fix the truck but those didnt even realy put a dent in the trash and junk from the house so the trash and junk had to stay in the yard and the house until we could get the truck fixed we did get it fixed but before Jim could another load to the dump the report was filed...
Now to the report... I had decided to move up to pensacola because the house was too much to handle I had an uncle that said he would help me get a place up there and he would get Jim a job but it would take him a week or two to get the money up for me to move up and to get a place so I told Tamara and Brandon that they could find another place or find another roomate or roomates to move in there to take my place they chose to find a roomate because they couldnt afford another place (they never payed me any rent to move in with me but Tamara got kicked out of her moms house because she gave me a ride somewhere and her unlicenced mother wanted her to be home 24/7 to take her places when she wanted to go somewhere so I felf guilty and let her move in with me and she was my best friend
Brandon just came with her and I didnt have the heart to tell him no because he lived w / her at her moms house) and Tamara found a roomate (Cheryl) that she was realy good friends with and that we went to school with Cheryl didn't like me (even though I didnt know it at the time) and wanted to move in right away in to my daughters room (it was a three bedroom house)
I told no that my daughters room was hers until I moved and she would have to wait until then she didnt like that and she called the abuse hotline and said that I never fed my daughter, that I never held my daughter, that I left her in her room screaming for hours at a time, that I shook my daughter, and that I blew in her face on a regular basis, non of these things were true one was close to true but not acrurate I blew in my daughters hair on a regular basis because she liked it,
This report caused them to come out to investigate ofcorse and they took her to the hospital for a checkup and a cat scan she was deamed totaly healthy and not abused but they didnt take her for any of the reasions that Cheryl called for they took her for inproper shelter on Febuary 14 that was only 12 days after I rented the place 3 of those days I didnt even live there I was just tring to clean it.
Most of th stuff that was left in the house was clothes, books ect. That I had packed in trash bags (I learned never to pack anthing in trash bags again) that I had not been able to unpack yet, I had gotten most of the trash out of the house and into the yard, the floor except for my daughters room still had the stains from the animal feces but there were no animal feces left on the floor.
They arrested me and put this in the paper...- An 18-year-old woman was arrested Thursday after deputies said they found her month-old daughter living in a house covered with animal feces, garbage and clothing.
They also said they found spoiled meat in the refrigerator, as well as decaying food in the sink. Angela faces a charge of child neglect, deputies said.
Her daughter was taken out of the home, deputies said.-... I didnt have any decaying food in the sink and the spoiled meat in the refrigerator was in the refrigerators that I taped shut not the one I used
In the report to the judge there were alot of discrepencys in what they said I started to go thru and hilight everything and corect it but it was so much and I was told it would do no good so I gave up and decided to just try to get my daughter back.
My lawyer for the criminal ofence of Child neglect (its a felany) told me to plead guilty because if I was found guilty I would not be able to get my daughter back because they would send me to jail for up to five years so I wouldnt be able to fight for my daughter and she told me that people who go to court for something like this are usualy found guilty,
So I did and I got 18 months probation and I started fighting for my daughter full time. The kind of things they put on my case plan were... Steady job for a min. Of 6 months& a steady job for 6 months& an infant parenting class& random UA's at within 24 hours of case workers request (because of the alcohol bottles even though I had never done drugs except for tryng weed when I was 16 but I didnt like it and I didnt drink except for mabie a glass of wine on new years)&
A psychological evaluation& Get my GED& see a family specialist at least once a week when my child was returned &and compling with anything FCP wanted, get the proper referals from my case worker and to keep in contact with my case worker at least once a month... There were a few more things but I cant think of them right now.
My first case worker was a B*%#*h and she never returned phone calls and she told the foster parents that they would be able to addopt my daughter that her mother didnt care about her and that she wasnt compling with FCP none of this was true.
When I went to court she told the judge I was non complient because I had not attempted to get the proper referals from her and because I had not done any UA's and because I was not contacting her once a month (I tryed to get the referals but she wouldnt return my calls to her and I tried to go to see her but she wouldnt see anyone without an apoitment and I had to have her send me to get a UA if I went to try to get one on my own they wouldnt do it because it would look like I knew I had done something to make sure I was clean at that time and it wouldnt count)
When she did this among other things I contacted her superviser and told her about my problem she imedently sent me to do a UA and got me the referals I needed. Apparently alot of other people had problems with her because not too long after that she left FCP I dont know why but I was told there were alot of problems with her
After that I got a new case worker and thigs seemed to be fine I completed my case plan I got married my husband joined the military and I had another little girl and I got my daughter back but the case had to stay open for 1 year after I got her back.
I should have senced something wrong when the case worker said that it was one of the hardest things she had to do when she had to remove my daughter from the foster parents because she was realy good friends with them (thats when I found out that the first case worker told the foster parents that they would be able to adopt my daughter) and it broke their heart but I didn't.
My daughter was in daycare and I had to keep her in daycare even though I worked nights so that they could keep an eye on her. Over the next 6 months she filed numors bogas abuse reports to list a few... I had no AC in my car so she filed an abuse report So I spent $250 that I didnt have and had it fixed... When my daughter was starting to walk she fell and busted the inside of her lip so she filed an abuse report...
She fell another time and skinned her knee so she filed an abuse report... My aunt was watching my daughters and my (oldest) daughter was plaing with har chawwaha and the dog jumped and scrached her under her eye so she filed an abuse report... My daughter had diariea (I took her to the doctor and he told me to watch what she ate and not to give her juice and I had juice in my house because I drank it and so did my youngest daughter so she filed an abuse report accusing me of giving her juice like it was a law that I couldnt have juice in my house...
My daughter was on a schedule for meals she got breakfast at 7am lunch at 12pm and dinner at 5pm and if she was hungrey in between she got a healthy snack (ie fresh fruit, carrots, celery, tomatos, cheese, ect.) I gave my daughter 2 slices of cheese as a snack between lunch and dinner while a gaurden ad litam was there because she was hungrey, thats what she asked for because she loved cheese, and because it is good for diariea, she made it sound like thats what I was feeding my daughter for dinner or like it was all I was feeding her all the time so she filed an abuse report...
My daughter steped in an ant pile on the 4th of July and had her legs bit up to the knee before I could get them all off her I took her to the doctor and got medicine for her bites so they wouldnt icth and so they wouldnt burn because I am alergic to ants so I was worried but once again so she filed an abuse report but this time CPI (Child Protective Investigators) along with my case worker came out to my house to investigate and make sure I didnt have ants in my house and before my case worker left she told me that after CPI filed the paperwork there was a 99.9% chance that they would be back within the week to take my daughter.
This pushed me over the edge I had done everything the court had asked and they seemed to want my daughter to be in a plastic bubble where nothing could ever happen to her, like I said it pushed me over the edge and I couldnt stand the thought of loseing my child again so I took Shyshy (my oldest) to daycare and jazzy (my youngest) to her grand parents and asked them to pick up shyshy from daycare for me and I went home and wrote a note to my husband (he was in korea) and to DCF and I took half a bottle of sleeping pills after about an hour I changed my mind and I threw up the pills but my husband called before they wore off and he called his father to come and check on me and when his fater took me to the hospital because of what I had done,
By the time I got to the hospital the pills were totaly out of my system but just the fact that I had done it got me baceracted and gave my case worker the amunition she needed to take my girls she tried to get shyshy back in the foster home and jazy with my husbands parents the judge over rulled her and they both went to their grandparents I found out later that CPI was investigating DCF for all of the the bogas reports they had made against me to close the case on me so I could keep the girls but I messed that up. I decided to close the case and reopen it later. Since then I have moved to Pensacola and have had a little boy, DCF came to the hospital when he was born to try to take him away from me she came to my house and investigated she has to keep the case open for 45 but she found everything satisfactory and I got the letter in the mail stateing the case was closed. I just wish I could have my girls back.
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