Enough

For the past year and half I have been writing and emailing  people for help but it’s amazing how I never get a response . I guess people see C.P.S and just don’t want to get involved whether it’s their scared or just don’t care. But I’ve had enough, I am sick and tired of how C.P.S can just about get away with anything they want because they have the power to. Before I share my story I first want to tell you what someone recently asked me. They asked me why do I still continue to fight C.P.S that I’m just one person what could I really do. Well my response was that I am not alone there are people all over the world fighting the injustices of C.P.S but if we all stand up together and Say Enough just maybe someone will hear us….

I have been fighting Comal County, Texas C.P.S for about 1 1/2 to get my niece out of foster care. My niece was severely beaten by her mom ( my sister-in-law) when she was just 5 1/2 weeks old. By the grace of GOD she survived, I will Thank GOD for that everyday. I went into this whole thing so naive and gullible. I really believed that C.P.S would do everything they could to reunite us with my niece. Boy did I have a wake up call. The night she was injured and taken to the hospital a Special Investigator from C.P.S came to the hospital telling us that they had an emergency hearing and that they were granted custody of my niece. But many months later do to my own investigation I found out that there was no emergency hearing, a hearing did take place but the following day late in the afternoon. How cleverly planned. After spending day and night with her in the hospital for over a week and a half C.P.S was planning on sweeping in and picking her up and taking her without letting us know. They were going to take her and let us walk into an empty room. But there plan was foiled for at least 1 day, see they had called 12 seperate places to find her placement and they thought they had one but it fell through so they woundup having to wait another day. The reason I know all of this that the kind Doctor from the hospital told me. We got to have one more day with her before they came and took her away and placed her with a foster to adopt home.

The caseworker that was assigned to the case is a manipulative lier. She told me from the beginning that they were not ever going to place my niece with anyone in the family thats why they placed her with a foster to adopt family and that I should be grateful that I still have my children. I fought for months to get some sort of visitation and after several months I finally was granted 1hour visit every other mon. but that’s not exactly what happened. Sometimes my children and I would get to see her every other mon. then it would be nearly 6 weeks before we could see her and then there were times we would go to the office for a visit and wait for over 20 minutes to be told when the caseworker came out how sorry she was that she forgot that we had a visit and could we reschedule.

We were in and out of court for hearings and placement updates all the time. And at our pre-trail motions 1 week before we were supposed to go to trial the foster family announced they filed for adoption and my attorney at the time argued with them saying that they barely had my niece for 6 months that they could not legally do that they would have to have her in custody for at least a year before they could file. The Judge decided to make it fair and reschedule the trial in 6 months so then we would both have a fair chance. That didn’t seem to fair to me. The Attorney I had at the time was good but it was money or nothing it didn’t matter that I depleted my savings and sold everything worth value that I could to pay the thousands and thousands of dollars of fees. So I researched and researched and thought that I found a really good attorney that cared more about the case than the money but I was wrong really really wrong.

I couldn’t get him to give me a contract or tell me how much he was going to bill me hourly, he just kept telling me not to worry about that lets concentrate on the case.  So I did, C.P.S kept throwing every excuse they could at me on why they thought my niece shouldn’t be placed with me 1st it was because I was a single mom my response was that I was a widowed mother of 3 and that I couldn’t help it that my husband had been killed in a car accident believe me I would love for my husband to be here right now with us . 2nd excuse was how would they know that I could protect her from her mother or any other bad family member, that was easy we would move if need be where no one would no where we were and that I would do everything in my power to protect that sweet girl. 3rd excuse was my past when I was a teenager, well in the beginning of the case I was given some advice by a friend, this persons exact words were to tell C.P.S everything about my past and present because if I didn’t they might think I was lying and trying to hide stuff. So I did I told them all the stupid stuff I did as a teen, yes I drank, yes I did some drugs. Do I do any of that now NO ask anyone who knows me. 4th excuse that I might have some mental illness, so I went out on my own and did a psych eval. to show them there was nothing wrong with me. 5th excuse that my house wasn’t big enough that it was only 3 bedroom 2 baths that there would not be enough room for another child. With the help from my church we built  2 extra bedrooms onto the house so that each person would have their own room. We got the nursery ready for my niece it was decorated and stocked with everything she needed. But it didn’t matter how many hoops I jumped through they were never going to give me a chance.

CASA and the Guardian ad Litem were on C.P.S’s side, when the CASA worker 1st contacted me it was to let  me know that by hiring an attorney and going to court I was just stalling the inevitable and wasting everyones time. She did come out 2 times to look at the house but the 1st time she was only here for about 30 mins. and the 2nd time 10 mins and she didn’t even talk about the case or talk to my children instead she talked about her life. As for the Guardian as Litem he seemed nice at first but I was wrong, he came out once but wouldn’t look at pictures of us with my niece, or talk to my children and would not look at my niece’s room or even think about the possibility of her coming home to us. He did schedule an appt. to come back out 2 days before we went to trial but he never showed up or called to cancel instead we just sat there waiting for him.

We finally made it to trial a jury trial it lasted 4 long days, It was me against the Foster Family and their Attorney, 2 Attorneys from the State and the Guardian ad Litem and his partner. I never truly believed in legal corruption until then. I had 14 witnesses on my behalf but only 3 got to get on the stand my attorney without my knowledge told them he didn’t want them to testify after all, I had a day in the life video of us with my niece but wasn’t allowed to show it but the Foster Family was allowed to show theirs and the Guardian ad Litem lied to the jury telling them that I would still get to see her and be in her life even if I didn’t get custody. We lost the case and I won’t get to see her again until she’s 18 yrs old and if I can find her. I told my attorney that same day I wanted to appeal and I wanted him to file it immediately because they lied and we had proof we could of busted them right there in court when they were up on that stand but he said it wouldn’t of made a difference. I called my attorney’s office almost everyday for 3 weeks to find out if he filed the appeal. I was told by his staff several times that he did but when I called the courthouse they said that there had been no appeal filed. So my attorney hung me out to dry and I’ve taken things into my own hands I have filed my appeal, I’ve asked for a motion for new trial was denied that by the trial court so I’ve applealed that with the 3rd court of appeals. I need the transcript from the 4 day trial but was told it would be $4000.00 or so well I don’t have any money like that anymore it went to attorney fees. So I was told to file an affidavit of indigence and if I was granted it then I would get the transcript for free so I could turn it in to the 3rd Court of Appeals because they need that or they can’t review the case. So right now I’m just waiting. I did apply with the Pro-Bono Commitee for hep with an attorney. The commitee picked me up but they are still looking for an attorney, it’s been about 2 months and still no luck.

I love my  niece like she is my own daughter, I always have and always will. I will never stop fighting for her it doesn’t matter how long it takes or how hard it gets I won’t stop until she’s in my arms again and C.P.S is stopped from doing this to anyone else. It’s not right they can legally kidnap our children then adopt them out and when we confront them about it they threaten to take away our other children….

So if your out there and have had to deal with C.P.S or just hate what they stand for, PLEASE STAND UP AND SAY ENOUGH !!!!!!!!!!!

God Bless all of You and your Families

Jennifer

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