Attempted Legal Kidnapping
November 19th, 2008 by boogiesmommyThere is actually a lot that happens that led to the near taking of my daughter, M. Nothing bad, mind you, but it all relates to the day that CPS wanted to take my child. Dead beat husband, a vindictive ex friend of his, and the dead beat husband’s past with a first wife.
In the fall of 2006, we had been living in South Carolina for barely a year. It started with a friend of my husband’s that owed him money for something. I think it was the stereo system he sold, something we had owned since before we got married 5 1/2 yrs prior. My husband was not the tactful type and began to harass this friend for the money owed.
A few weeks after his initial harrassment, I got a knock at the door while my husband was at work. It was a single social worker on the other side of my screen door. She told me that there had been allegations of abuse against me and my husband. Someone had made several reports that we beat our 3 yr old daughter and starved her when she misbehaved. The social worker asked if she could come in and I told her no. I brought M to the door so she could see that she was clearly a healthy, non-abused, well fed child. I did eventually let the social worker in and she went thru the home and told me that all was well and she went on her merry way.
About a month goes by and our marriage is falling apart. I found out I was pregnant with our second child. My husband insisted the baby wasn’t his and went about with wild accusations of cheating. It was early December, and I was fed up. After talking with my family, who lived in Washington state, arrangements were made to fly M and I home January 10th. My mom had found a friend of hers who lived close to my husband and I. She was going to pick us up and take us to the airport.
About a week and a half before our flight, the friend of my mom’s called me. It was not a social call. She worked for CPS in South Carolina. She had found out that they were building a case to take M from us. Their reason: M was at risk of possible future abuse. Their proof: 1998 domestic violence allegations against M’s father, my husband. Allegations that were never prosecuted or substantiated and all happened 5 years before M was even born. And not only were they planning on taking her, they had no intention of giving her back, regardless of what hoops I jumped thru.
When I brought this to my husband’s attention, he showed how much of a dead beat he truly was. “Well, we should let them take her. We’re having marriage problems and we are just not ready to be parents. You should let them take the one you are pregnant with, too.”
My mom’s friend used her own airline miles and personal money to bump our flight ahead to the 4th of January. She lied to her office about having some doctor appointments and took the 4th of January off to pick us up after my husband went to work. By the time M and I were on the plane back to Washington state, CPS, the police and my husband had arrived at the house with it looking like it had been looted (we couldn’t pack until the last minute).
Sadly, it didn’t stop there. South Carolina CPS put a kidnapping warrant against me and demanded that WA state return the both of us to SC. Even tho all of M’s immediate family resided here in WA, SC insisted she was to be returned with me so she could be placed in a foster home. I contacted WA state’s CPS agency and explained to them the situation. They did their own investigation and found absolutely NOTHING to hold up SC’s proof that M was in danger. WA refuses to turn us over to them. M and I are still working on rebuilding our lives. She is 5 now and in preschool. She has a 18 month old baby sister. We can never step foot in South Carolina again.
I have come to the conclusion that M was seen as nothing more than a piece of merchandise to be sold to the highest bidder. The social worker saw that M was a “Hot Commodity”(term used in the foster/adoption world to describe any blond haired blue eyed child under the age of 4) and wanted M so she could get that wonderful bonus. People don’t realize that our children are nothing more than product to the foster/adoption industry. The minute they take your children, you are guilty of everything and anything they can come up with in order to get that almighty dollar.