UPDATEAug.29,1996
If our story shocks you, imagine what it has done to our family.
On August 1st our brother Ronnie called. He asked that we come to Atlanta and bring him,
his girlfriend Donna, and their infant son Thor to Kentucky, so that we could help them
with the baby.
On August 4th we brought them home. They asked that I keep the child with me because they
knew I was more able to care for him than they were. I readily agreed.
On August 5th I talked to our local Child Protective Worker, to advise her of the
situation, because the CHR worker in Atlanta recommended it. The first thing the Worker
said was "You don't have enough room in your home for another child, I may have to
petition the court to make this child a ward of the state".
Within the next 11 days the child saw his doctor 3 times, went to the ER once for spitting
up, and to the Health Department for WIC. On every one of these visits, I was told the
baby was well, and I was doing a great job.
On August 16th I took Ronnie and Donna to apply for a medical card for the baby. The
Worker saw me holding the baby at about noon. That afternoon she visited Ronnie and Donna.
She told them someone had called and said the baby looked yellow. She also told them that
they needed to keep the child with them.
On August 19th I took Thor to the health dept., the nurses checked to see if he was
yellow, he wasn't. After I left there I took Thor to see the Worker. I pointed out that
his eyes were clear, she agreed. She then asked me if I was going to obtain a
guardianship, I told her that I would try. She mentioned our home needed repairs, I told
her we were in the process of mak-ing the repairs and invited her to the house the
following week to see the progress. She said that would be fine.
On August 20th the Worker came to my home with someone else, her reason was she just
wasn't sure if the baby looked yellow or not. She then mentioned the lack of progress on
the repairs. I explained to her that we had a work crew coming over the weekend. She again
agreed to return the following week.
On August 21st I took Thor to the Dr. for a weight check. He was admitted to the hospital
for poor weight gain. This baby had been spitting up a lot. His formula had been changed
on Monday and he was not doing any better on the new formula. I called his Dr. on Tuesday
evening to see if I could try another formula, he agreed to this. On his second day in the
hospital he was put on a higher calorie formula because he still was not gaining.
Throughout his stay I received reports from the nurses that he was still spitting up too
much. The nurses told me that there is a muscle in the stomach that sometimes isn't fully
developed, and that since he was 7 weeks premature that this was probably the problem.
Since the muscle doesn't close fully when the baby is moved or lays down, every thing
comes back up.
During his hospital stay, the Worker obtained an emergency custody order. The day before
court she told me that I would not get this child because I am not a legal aunt since his
father did not sign the birth
certificate, and that I live to far off the main road and if the child needed any medical
treatment in the winter I would not be able to obtain it.
One of the Drs. in the office told my niece that the only likely person to get the child
was the Grandmother who lives in Florida. The parents do not want her to have their child.
This Grandmother did not even make an attempt to speak to her own daughter in the
courthouse. She has a son who was just released from a mental hospital last week, he was
hearing voices telling him to kill himself and other people. He lives at home.
In court the Worker presented the judge with letters of recommendation on behalf of the
Grandmother, who, after waiting over 3 hours in the courtroom, had a brief conference with
the Worker and disappeared 5 minutes before our case was called. The documents she brought
were read by the judge. The petition, letters of recommendation, and notes on the Dr.
visits that we brought were not accepted.
The worker said that they ordered the baby into the hospital, they did not. She described
him as being critically ill and medically unstable. The Dr. had told me the day before the
hearing that he was medically stable. She mentioned something about a dog in the house,
the day she came to my home the dog was not in the house, she wouldn't get out of her car
because he was out there, she asked me if he would bite. She also said that our lifestyle
was to active and that we live on a dusty, gravel road and that was not good for the baby.
She also said that we took the child out every day in the heat. This child had 9
healthcare appointments in 17 days, he had to be taken out to get to his appointments.
The Worker testified to something that the Dr. said. This Dr. saw Thor 2 times in 11
instances where he saw a Dr. I feel that he really is not involved in this case enough to
make a judgment. Furthermore I was under the impression that hearsay was not admissible in
court.
Although we had 6 different families in court, any of which would have taken this child on
a temporary basis, until our home repairs were completed, Two of which own new homes, with
extra bedrooms, in spite of this the child was placed in foster care with no visitation.
I honestly feel that we were not given a fair hearing. We were not allowed to obtain
hospital reports, we could not present our evidence.
The Worker will be doing home evaluations, I feel that her mind is made up, that she wants
the Grandmother to take this child. After all, if he goes to Florida it's one less case on
her caseload.
No one in our family was charged with abuse or neglect, no one was convicted of abuse or
neglect. We have done nothing but try to help our brother and take care of his child.
Although we committed no crime, there was a punishment. A child was taken from his family,
and for no reason.