MikeAllenP
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri
I won't give my real name right now. I want to say simply, here at the beginning, that I'm at a point where I don't know where to go or what to do. No local attorneys are willing to help me, and I'm at a point of desperation. This will be a long post, and some details will be missing, but this is the gist of it:
I live in Missouri, and have managed to anger a couple of county and state officials in the last few months that has resulted in my children being removed from my home multiple times. The first time was brought about by my son claiming abuse after being caught with a pack of cigarettes at a ballgame at Neosho High school. He told them he was afraid to come home because he was being abused. He did this because it worked for his sister about 2 years ago when she was caught cutting class repeatedly and was picked up by an officer who caught her walking around town during school hours. There was no abuse, and the Juvenile division sent her home, but only after asking me to sign an agreement not to punish her further for the incident. I agreed, thinking that a suspension from school was sufficient punishment anyway and that was the end of it.
I was notified by phone that my son had been taken into protective custody, but the DFS investigator refused to provide further information until I arrived in person. When I arrived, I was (understandably, in my opinion) upset, and demanded to know why she had kidnapped my child from the ballfield. She became extremely indignant and only after the deputy screaming at me to calm down (I never actually yelled, though my voice was raised a bit) did she tell me the details. My son had shown them two marks on his person, what appeared to be a pinch-hickey on his neck, and a scratch on his arm and claimed they happened during an incident earlier in the week. I described the incident he referred to and explained to them that it would've been impossible for him to have sustained those injuries as a result of it. And despite almost immediately recanting his claim of abuse, my son was removed from the home, and the investigator told me that in Missouri, when one child is removed, they take any other children as well. This was the first lie she told me.
At this point, they informed me that my children were being removed, and that a court hearing would be scheduled the following Tuesday in front of a Judge Kevin Selby. I asked if I could get a change of judge, and the investigator told me that I could, but it would result in the children being away from home that much longer because it would necessitate rescheduling Tuesday. By law, a hearing must be held within 72 hours of removal, or failing that, the next available day court is in session. This was the second lie she told me, though I didn't find out about either of them until much later, shortly before I discovered all the other fabrications she'd given the judge.
During the court hearings, the judge told me that I bullied and abused my wife and children and that they were afraid of me. This is absurd, and anyone who'd ever spoken to my children or wife would know just how absurd this really is. My wife was told that she hid her head in the sand while I beat and abused my children and that she was an unfit mother.
At first, I thought this was because the judge had a grudge against me personally as a result of a letter I wrote him after a very one-sided hearing of a small claims case I filed against a local utility, the first only time I have ever sued anyone in my life, and it left such a bad taste in my mouth I vowed never to attempt justice through the court system again. It was only fairly recently I learned that it was because of lies told him by the DFS worker, who fabricated everything she told the judge during her investigation, and threatened them with juvenile detention if they were disrespectful, uncooperative, or if they told anyone about anything she said to them. My children have stated repeatedly that they never told her anything that could even remotely be considered abuse. My two older children (both living on their own) tried to tell the investigator the same thing when she called them, but when they refused to claim I had been abusive to them as children, she became either disinterested, or openly hostile.
My younger children tried to tell me this some time ago when they were sent home on a "trial visit", but I told them that we couldn't talk about the case, it could cause problems and they could be removed again. I wish now that I had listened then and requested another hearing and asked the judge to let the children to tell him the truth. If I had, perhaps things wouldn't have come to this point.
The following account is lengthy, but has bearing on these events:
Recently, my daughter got into trouble at school on her birthday (Nov. 8) and was suspended. The incident revolved around another child (that she dislikes intensely, I should ad) dropping a bag of what appeared to me to be sawdust and rabbit turds, but when he dropped it into her bag he said "Here's a bag of weed for you, Happy Birthday". There were two other children who saw this, acquaintances of my daughter's, who then, as children will do, told everyone in school that my daughter had pot in her bag. My daughter, having been in trouble of nearly this identical type before, never said a word, but instead spent the day trying to get into a bathroom alone so she could drop it into a trash can unnoticed (apparently there are video monitors in all hallways). She was afraid to go to the principal, saying that she didn't think she would be believed. As it turns out, she was probably correct. At any rate, they caught her with it at around 2:00 PM and her probation officer came, took her to the JDC, and called me. When I got there, I was told that she had been running around at school telling everyone that she had a bag of pot. I didn't believe this even then because my daughter had been sent to Juvenile Detention a year ago for 2 weeks for having a bag of vitamins and when asked, she told someone it was a drug. This terrified her, and she has been extremely careful ever since to not get into trouble. But I figured that kids can sometimes do incredibly stupid things and figured it was something to worry about at a later time. Her court was scheduled for a week from that following Thursday. The next evening, I received a call from the head juvenile officer, saying that the judge had heard the story of two boys involved in the case and wanted to know why she wasn't locked up, and ordered her sent to JD. Her court was rescheduled for the next Tuesday instead, and she remained in detention until just before the hearing. The judge dismissed the case and my daughter was sent home. The next day I attended a meeting at the school involving the assistant superintendent, my daughter's probation officer, the principal and the school security officer. At this meeting, they constantly badgered her trying to get her to tell who all she told she was carrying weed, but she told them the same thing over and over...that she never said a word to anyone, and that she only wanted rid of it, and didn't go to her principle because she felt she wouldn't be believed. Initially I had believed what the probation officer and school officials said, but my daughter has told the same story over and over again, and in fact broke down in tears at this meeting with the assistant superintendent, though at the time I didn't know why. It was only when we got into the car and were leaving when she told me that she was crying because they keep telling her over and over to tell the truth, and when she does, they refuse to believe her. As we were leaving the meeting, they told me to come back to the school on the first of the month after the Thanksgiving break and they they would try and get her into an alternate program, so she could keep her grades (She is a solid honor roll student). I received a call from her probation officer on the afternoon of the 29th. During this call, she informed me that the school had called her and told her that I failed to make a meeting that day to get Mackenzie into this program. I told her that I thought it was on the 1st (so did Mackenzie, after asking her about it, but this isn't that important right now), and she became angry, so I became a bit angry back, and asked her why whoever from the school had called her hadn't been able to call me instead and tell me about it when there was still time to take care of it. She told me that the chance to get her into the Diversion program was now lost, and I told her that I would go down first thing in the morning and do whatever it took to make it right and get them to allow her into the program, and she hung up the phone. Incidentally, I had no scheduled meeting time of any kind, and two days after they removed my children this last time, I received a letter dated on the stating details about Mackenzie's suspension (90 days), the Diversion Program, etc. The letter itself was dated the 29th, and the envelope was postmarked the 30th.
<continued in next post, apparently there is a 10,000 character limit>
I won't give my real name right now. I want to say simply, here at the beginning, that I'm at a point where I don't know where to go or what to do. No local attorneys are willing to help me, and I'm at a point of desperation. This will be a long post, and some details will be missing, but this is the gist of it:
I live in Missouri, and have managed to anger a couple of county and state officials in the last few months that has resulted in my children being removed from my home multiple times. The first time was brought about by my son claiming abuse after being caught with a pack of cigarettes at a ballgame at Neosho High school. He told them he was afraid to come home because he was being abused. He did this because it worked for his sister about 2 years ago when she was caught cutting class repeatedly and was picked up by an officer who caught her walking around town during school hours. There was no abuse, and the Juvenile division sent her home, but only after asking me to sign an agreement not to punish her further for the incident. I agreed, thinking that a suspension from school was sufficient punishment anyway and that was the end of it.
I was notified by phone that my son had been taken into protective custody, but the DFS investigator refused to provide further information until I arrived in person. When I arrived, I was (understandably, in my opinion) upset, and demanded to know why she had kidnapped my child from the ballfield. She became extremely indignant and only after the deputy screaming at me to calm down (I never actually yelled, though my voice was raised a bit) did she tell me the details. My son had shown them two marks on his person, what appeared to be a pinch-hickey on his neck, and a scratch on his arm and claimed they happened during an incident earlier in the week. I described the incident he referred to and explained to them that it would've been impossible for him to have sustained those injuries as a result of it. And despite almost immediately recanting his claim of abuse, my son was removed from the home, and the investigator told me that in Missouri, when one child is removed, they take any other children as well. This was the first lie she told me.
At this point, they informed me that my children were being removed, and that a court hearing would be scheduled the following Tuesday in front of a Judge Kevin Selby. I asked if I could get a change of judge, and the investigator told me that I could, but it would result in the children being away from home that much longer because it would necessitate rescheduling Tuesday. By law, a hearing must be held within 72 hours of removal, or failing that, the next available day court is in session. This was the second lie she told me, though I didn't find out about either of them until much later, shortly before I discovered all the other fabrications she'd given the judge.
During the court hearings, the judge told me that I bullied and abused my wife and children and that they were afraid of me. This is absurd, and anyone who'd ever spoken to my children or wife would know just how absurd this really is. My wife was told that she hid her head in the sand while I beat and abused my children and that she was an unfit mother.
At first, I thought this was because the judge had a grudge against me personally as a result of a letter I wrote him after a very one-sided hearing of a small claims case I filed against a local utility, the first only time I have ever sued anyone in my life, and it left such a bad taste in my mouth I vowed never to attempt justice through the court system again. It was only fairly recently I learned that it was because of lies told him by the DFS worker, who fabricated everything she told the judge during her investigation, and threatened them with juvenile detention if they were disrespectful, uncooperative, or if they told anyone about anything she said to them. My children have stated repeatedly that they never told her anything that could even remotely be considered abuse. My two older children (both living on their own) tried to tell the investigator the same thing when she called them, but when they refused to claim I had been abusive to them as children, she became either disinterested, or openly hostile.
My younger children tried to tell me this some time ago when they were sent home on a "trial visit", but I told them that we couldn't talk about the case, it could cause problems and they could be removed again. I wish now that I had listened then and requested another hearing and asked the judge to let the children to tell him the truth. If I had, perhaps things wouldn't have come to this point.
The following account is lengthy, but has bearing on these events:
Recently, my daughter got into trouble at school on her birthday (Nov. 8) and was suspended. The incident revolved around another child (that she dislikes intensely, I should ad) dropping a bag of what appeared to me to be sawdust and rabbit turds, but when he dropped it into her bag he said "Here's a bag of weed for you, Happy Birthday". There were two other children who saw this, acquaintances of my daughter's, who then, as children will do, told everyone in school that my daughter had pot in her bag. My daughter, having been in trouble of nearly this identical type before, never said a word, but instead spent the day trying to get into a bathroom alone so she could drop it into a trash can unnoticed (apparently there are video monitors in all hallways). She was afraid to go to the principal, saying that she didn't think she would be believed. As it turns out, she was probably correct. At any rate, they caught her with it at around 2:00 PM and her probation officer came, took her to the JDC, and called me. When I got there, I was told that she had been running around at school telling everyone that she had a bag of pot. I didn't believe this even then because my daughter had been sent to Juvenile Detention a year ago for 2 weeks for having a bag of vitamins and when asked, she told someone it was a drug. This terrified her, and she has been extremely careful ever since to not get into trouble. But I figured that kids can sometimes do incredibly stupid things and figured it was something to worry about at a later time. Her court was scheduled for a week from that following Thursday. The next evening, I received a call from the head juvenile officer, saying that the judge had heard the story of two boys involved in the case and wanted to know why she wasn't locked up, and ordered her sent to JD. Her court was rescheduled for the next Tuesday instead, and she remained in detention until just before the hearing. The judge dismissed the case and my daughter was sent home. The next day I attended a meeting at the school involving the assistant superintendent, my daughter's probation officer, the principal and the school security officer. At this meeting, they constantly badgered her trying to get her to tell who all she told she was carrying weed, but she told them the same thing over and over...that she never said a word to anyone, and that she only wanted rid of it, and didn't go to her principle because she felt she wouldn't be believed. Initially I had believed what the probation officer and school officials said, but my daughter has told the same story over and over again, and in fact broke down in tears at this meeting with the assistant superintendent, though at the time I didn't know why. It was only when we got into the car and were leaving when she told me that she was crying because they keep telling her over and over to tell the truth, and when she does, they refuse to believe her. As we were leaving the meeting, they told me to come back to the school on the first of the month after the Thanksgiving break and they they would try and get her into an alternate program, so she could keep her grades (She is a solid honor roll student). I received a call from her probation officer on the afternoon of the 29th. During this call, she informed me that the school had called her and told her that I failed to make a meeting that day to get Mackenzie into this program. I told her that I thought it was on the 1st (so did Mackenzie, after asking her about it, but this isn't that important right now), and she became angry, so I became a bit angry back, and asked her why whoever from the school had called her hadn't been able to call me instead and tell me about it when there was still time to take care of it. She told me that the chance to get her into the Diversion program was now lost, and I told her that I would go down first thing in the morning and do whatever it took to make it right and get them to allow her into the program, and she hung up the phone. Incidentally, I had no scheduled meeting time of any kind, and two days after they removed my children this last time, I received a letter dated on the stating details about Mackenzie's suspension (90 days), the Diversion Program, etc. The letter itself was dated the 29th, and the envelope was postmarked the 30th.
<continued in next post, apparently there is a 10,000 character limit>
