To Roma and all of the other Victim Parents out there, add one more family to your list! Although my children were fortunate and able to go to various family members while CPS attempted to build their ridiculous case, they have paid the price for all of the state's "help and protection."
I can't help but believe everything Roma says and documents of her own case as similiar has happened in my own and from what I can tell, numurous others. Reform of these state run agencies is in order and long overdue! I am not going to go so far as to say there were not some problems in my home - nothing that warranted removal of my three children - but I will take ownership of downfalls in the home.
I have three boys, 13,12, and 4 in a blended family of his, hers and ours. The oldest is mine, the middle is my husbands (married 7 years) and the youngest is obviously ours. My ex was a deadbeat father until I asked him to give up his parental rights and allow my husband to adopt him, he was about six. He then stepped into the picture but has spent a majority of his time with my son bad-mouthing me and trying to turn him against me - and for all of you who are ready to say "Yeah, right, that's what they all say!" My ex has ADMITTED to doing this!
My husbands ex has been in and out of their son's life and had her own child abuse charges substantiated against her when he was three. She and her boyfriend-of-the-month beat him. During this period she vanished for approximately six months. Popped back in on his birthday, would visit about once a week for a few months, then dropped out of site again for another six months. When she became pregnant with her second child she came back into the picture and has had regular visitation since. She became pregnant with a third child by a third unknown man about two years ago, went into pre-mature labor, had her baby who was born with drugs in his system. She had her children removed from her home and had to go through an eight month CPS program in order to receive them back. She claims to be drug-free today but myself and many around us feel she is lying. She is extremely thin, overly-dramatic and flighty. I have suggested this to our CPS case worker several times and the response is 'no, she went through the program.' As if that guarantees she will not or can not ever fall off of the wagon that she has so often jumped on and off of in the past!
Now to our story, I decided to partner with a good friend of mine and start my own business almost three years ago. We took over an established retail store that had been open for almost twenty years. This business was run completely on paper, NOTHING on computer what-so-ever! We had to take this business, move it to a new location and basically start from the ground up which took countless hours and energy. My husband works in construction as a grade checker... in Arizona... Need I say much more? He works outside in 100 temperatures with no shade 8 - 12 hours a day. To say we have been stressed, broke, and busy is an understatement! But everything we do is to better our situation and provide everything needed for our children and provide a future for them.
Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned. My business was forced to close in May due to employee fraud/theft and that "good friend" of mine embezzling money and skipping out, to the tune of more than $100,000 in less than a year. This left me to pick up the pieces, move all of the store inventory and fixtures into my home and trying to figure out what my next move should be. I can't even describe what my house looked like after moving an entire store into it. It was cluttered and looked far worse than it actually was. Let me back up just a little bit here, I am a perfectionist who cannot stand clutter! I won't even subscribe to the daily paper or magazines because I can't stand to have those things laying all over the place. I spent the next month just trying to organize and find places for this stuff and to date have still not finished! And yes, I have been putting things on EBay, Craigs List, and will be having yard sales as soon as it starts cooling off a little. Did I mention we live in Arizona?!!: D
The end of June I started a new job. My second day of work happened to be a Friday. My husband and I decided our 12 year old could watch our 4 year old for the three to four hours that we would be away from home at work. My husband usually is off by one-ish and I left the house at nine that morning. Around 12:30, I received a voicemail from a police officer who had been called out because our 4 year old was found at the end of our cul-de-sac by himself. I immediately tried to call back but got a busy signal. Called my husband who had just hung up with the officer and was driving home as we spoke. Officer said it was nothing to worry about, he was fine, had slipped out while my other son was in the backyard petting the dog but neighbor had called CPS. Officer told CPS he was not doing anything about the call, that it was a simple mistake and he was not filing anything with them or anyone else.
CPS showed up at my home the following Monday evening. Case worker's name is Sally Leyva. She walked around my home and gave us a laundry list of items to correct which included changing all of our locks to the type that required a key on the inside and out (which I hate due to fire fear), fix pool gate that had pulled out of the wall two days before, and clean up the clutter and gave us one week to have it all done. I explained that I had been cleaning up the clutter for over a month non-stop and there was no way it could be done in one week! She offered free daycare and said she could get me help to clean up the clutter - to date, have never seen it.
The very next day, my husband picked up the youngest from daycare after work and went home. The older two were already home. He took a shower and laid down. Without asking or telling anyone what they were doing the older two left to go to a friends house. We have the child door stops on our door handles that you have to squeeze the two rubber spots just right to open the doors (most adults have a tough time with them!). My youngest had just learned that if he hit these hard enough with a toy they pop off explaining how he was able to get out. I can only assume this time he was trying to follow his older brothers but whatever the case he got out again.
Sally was at my house two days later demanding answers, making it clear she felt my husband must be on drugs to allow this to happen. She refused to hear his excuse that the older boys were home and should have woke him before leaving. She told him he had to go provide a UA which he did immediately. It was clean - no surprise to us. We had already fixed the pool gate, purchased the new door locks and were cleaning up the clutter when she arrived on this date (Thursday).
I was required to take my youngest son to a forensic interview several days later as she was now pushing to have my husband charged with criminal child neglect. Sally asked me to take my son to interview at ChildReach with a detective. She said she could do it but thought he would be more comfortable with me. She also told me that nobody wanted to talk to me and that I would not be allowed to sit in on his interview.
As soon as I arrived, I was wisked into a room with a detective and a counselor and grilled about my relationship with my husband, my past, his past, any drug use ever, children have any issues, etc. It was maddening! After attempting to interview my little one they determined he had "special needs" because they couldn't understand what he was saying! They then pulled me back in and told me they had serious concerns because they couldn't understand him. I had already told them that he had already undergone extensive hearing tests at the Phx Children's Hospital and was found to be normal. His speech is delayed. I knew this and experienced the same issue with my husband's son and to be quite honest knew the drill. Most doctors won't bother with testing until after five years of age.
Needless to say, they are now looking at me like a leopar! Detective tells me to call Sally right now! I do and she tells me that they think I'm on drugs and she orders me to go drop a UA! Did someone mention jump through hoops? I did as requested but only after I was told I could not drive my own car, was handed bus passes and told to go wait for the bus in 100 degree temperatures with my four year old on Central Avenue!!! I was beyond furious. My UA was clean but of course never received any apologies.
Have to stop here and ask several questions: if I was suspected to be on drugs, in the presence of a detective, why was I not arrested? Why was my four year old released back to me to go sit on one of the busiest streets in our city in 100 degree temperatures? How was I supposed to go drop a UA with no car? Did they expect me to take a city bus with my 4 yr old to a place full of parolees and criminals to pee in a cup? Sally could not even tell me where the place was! I had to go home and look it up in the phone book. CRAZY!
After all of this, my children were still ripped from my home a few days later while we were at work. A note was left on my mailbox explaining we had a TDM the following day and no other explanation was given. During the meeting we were told CPS could not devulge any information due to the ongoing criminal investigation but "we" needed to decide the best place (s) for the children to go to. MY HOUSE! No, sorry, not that. My son went to his fathers. My stepson went to his mothers and my youngest was able to go to my sister-in-laws. We were told we had to go through "Family Preservation" program and would have our children back in the home within 30 days. We were promised that someone from the program would be in touch with us NO MORE than two weeks tops and we were also required to drop UA's twice a week.
We have complied with all of the CPS requirements and still have our kids ripped from our home! To add insult to injury, our case worker didn't bother faxing over the request for Family Preservation (what a joke!) for over three weeks. It was supposed to be done the day after our TDM. She also coached my stepson's mother - yes, the child abusing, crackhead to file for sole custody while she stalled our counseling and family's re-unification! After leaving repeated voicemails to our case worker and not receiving any return phone calls, I went over her head to her boss and was told three different stories as to the delay in my case.
With only two days remaining in our 30 day timeline a counselor finally arrived on my doorstep. I greeted her with "It's about time!" She looked at me puzzled as she had no history on what had been occuring. She was on the phone with three different people before I could finish telling her our story. I had the o.K. To pick up all three of my children the next day but still no explanation for the delay and funny enough, Sally was currently "out on sick leave"!! Sally has lied to my face about several things. She has lied in the final reports she has submitted. She excuses her unexcusable actions with threats like "I could have made you go through the eight month program instead. Do you understand that?" After reading the way that usually occurs, with an actual hearing, proof, and lawyers; I wonder if she was too afraid to allow it to go that way!
I am beyond happy that I was able to get my children back home but I have to wonder how many people don't stand up against these KIDNAPPERS! I can't tell you how many people told me to just do whatever they say, no matter how unjust, just do it to get your kids back. I did but consider myself intelligent and won't just roll over and take it when I feel something is not right. How many people are becoming victims of this witch hunt? How many innocent people who maybe made a poor choice in judgement once are being victimized by these people?
For the next 3 to 4 months we must have two different counselors in our home 3 times a week, we are required to drop UA's twice a week and now have to fight a child abusing, crack head in court to get custody of our middle child back. My ex is also threatening to sue for custody of my oldest and the most sickening of all is due to all of this, they will probably win. I'm not perfect, I'm not The Best Mother Ever but I am a good parent. I have never had any run-ins with the law - never had so much as a parking ticket. I attend all of the parent-teacher conferences at my kids school. I do what every parent should do, I'm involved in my kids and love them more than they could ever know. I don't even mind the counseling as I feel the more resources the better and there is always room for improvement but I deserve to be treated with some respect and dignity. CPS needs to be held accountable for their actions just like the parents and when they screw up they need to OWN IT just like the parents!
Roma please continue with your fight! Don't give up and know that you have one more believer in your court and I'm bringing a small army with me!!! If you have any suggestions on how to fight this monster please let me know because I'm not letting this go just because I got my kids back. This is an injustice that needs to be fixed!
PJ
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
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