Sorry, I'm Ranting now!!
Journee,
I live in Ohio. I don't know if you have heard about a case of neglect and abuse here involving 5 children---the media is calling this case "The Kenmore Kids". CSB here is rediculous! The kids in this case were locked in a closet by their mother and her lesbian lover for months. They were not permitted out to go to school. They were forced to eat dog crap. The kids eventually escaped. Both women are in jail for life, I believe.
My boyfriend's cousin was Charlie Wright. He and his brother, David, had a neglectful and abusive drug-addicted mother. The children were removed from the home and placed with an aunt and uncle --who provided an EXTREMELY good home to them. The children were back and forth to their mother and then to the aunt and uncle FOR SIX YEARS. This went on and on until they were placed back with their mother one last time. Her boyfriend, Wayne Doyle, beat little Charlie really bad--he was 6 years old at the time. It took Charlie 3 days to die from internal bleeding he received from the beating. He died curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor from being in pain, with his brother by his side. The mother never took him for treatment fearing jail time. The mother and her boyfriend are both in jail now. The brother, David, was sent back with the aunt and uncle--and has had a good life with them. Its really funny to me that when you mention Charlie Wright to ANY Summit County Children's Services worker, they shudder. They KNOW they screwed up sending these kids back! There is now a 2 year limit on keeping abused and neglected children in the system because of Charlie. Also, the mother had a baby BEFORE the kids were removed the first time that died. She 'claims' that she rolled over on to the baby while she was sleeping and smothered her. WE ALL KNOW BETTER!
Back to the case with the boys I have...you can look it up online if you want to. Summit County, Ohio. I can send you the link if you want me to. The court didn't make a big issue of the sexual abuse. The kids (there are 4 of them--i have 2 of the boys) were dependent and neglected. They cited mother's inability to provide for them, her drug abuse, violence, and her mental instability as reason enough.
The court documents do NOT mention how three little boys (at the time they were 5,3, and 1)--the older sis lived elsewhere at the time--were living in the back of a dump truck with no adult supervision overnight and many times during the day. Or, how they huddled up in the back of the truck to stay warm when it rained and stormed at night. The papers failed to mention how eaten up by mosquitos they were, how sunburned they were, or how they wandered around town running the street with no clothes on asking the neighbors for peanut butter sandwiches to eat because their 'mother' had been sleeping now for 4 days after several days of heavy drug use.
The papers do not mention the 3 year old crossing 4 lanes of traffic during rush hour on a busy-as-HELL state route in his underwear, or how he fell out of her car twice because he wasn't in a child safety seat or even buckled up. ITS PATHETIC! I am not sure if any of us will ever know exactly what these children have had to endure. I only get bits and pieces from them from time to time. I think they are trying to forget...
Yet...Mother files a motion for UNSUPERVISED visits!
Originally, the court gave us (the relative caregivers) "full discretion" as to where, when, how, and even IF visits are to take place." They were to be at her mother and father's house, with her mother supervising. Naturally, that wasn't happening. The first visit, the youngest boy fell in a pond behind their house when they went for an UNSUPERVISED walk with the mother. He was ok. We tried a while longer to keep the visits going, in spite of this--demanding that they be supervised. We were ordered and told to try and maintain contact. We tried. She kept showing up late and on drugs, and her mother laughed about "supervision" and said she didn't know what they meant by that.
During the course of the trial for unsupervised visits, they permitted her to visit the children at a paid supervised center. She had 5 visits before our next hearing date. She showed up late for 3 of them, one visit came in EXTREMELY HIGH --to the point where the supervisor noticed--and she missed 2 visits all together. The visits were terminated by the center for lack of payment, drug abuse, and because she showed up late each time, or didn't show up at all.
We went to the last hearing date 2 weeks ago. The CASA/GAL showed up, myself and the aunt that has the youngest boy showed up, mother's attorney
showed up and that was it. We waited for 1/2 hour for her or the father (who had later joined this case when he got out of jail) to show. They never came. They never called. No one had spoke to either of them. Mother's attorney moved for a continuance. The magistrate overruled and dismissed for failure to prosecute. So we revert back to the full discretion ruling. The kids are safe, FOR NOW.
How long do these kids have to suffer because the egg and sperm donors have RIGHTS? These kids are trying to heal and they just keep ripping the scab back off again.
Honestly, it is sickening!
Sorry this is so long. I guess this became more of a RANT than anything. I just don't know what to do...I need permanent custody so I can adopt the boys, but can't hire an attorney at this point financially...
Thats their story.
Sky
