My name is Lissia and i will be calling my kids by there nicknames that were given to them when they were babies Sunshine , Ms Mabis and Lil Bit
My story starts 10 months ago on September 4, 2008 . I was at at my job , Adance Auto Parts as a second asst manager, when I received a telphone call on my cell phone the lady said that she was with the Hopewell , Virginia DSS , and that there had been a report made to the agencyand that if she called me back that I would need to come down to the Police Station and talk with her.I said yes ma’mam and we hung up the phone. A few minutes later the phone rang at my job and I answeredand said ” Thank You for calling Advance Auto Parts this is Lissia How may I help you ” the womaan on the other end said that she had just spoken with me on my cell phone and that I has 20 minutes to pick my two older children and bring myself and them to the police station” I said yes Ma’mam I will be there as soon as I pick my ( then 12 and 7 ) daughters up . I looked at my boss and told him what had just been said he told me to go so I clocked out and ran to my vehicle , drove to my 7yr olds school and then to the babysitters to pick up my 12yr old , then to the police station .
While on the way to get the girls I called my husband to let him know what was going on and he told his boss and his boss told him to go. He was working 50 miles away so he wasn’t as close to home as I was.
When my two oldest daughter’s and I walked into the police station I was scared to death and I could tell that they were too. I walked up to the desk and said my name and I was called and told that I and my daughter were to report here to speak with Brandy Mabry , The dispatcher told me to have a seat and that someone would be out to talk to me in a few minutes. So we sat down , a few minutes later a Detective came out into the lobby and introduced himself and said that the worker was not there yet and reassured me that she would be there momentarily … It seemed like an hour to me .. I smoked like 7 cigarettes before she got there !!
When she did get there she introduced herself to me and said that she was a CPS Investigator and asked me if she could speak with my daughters alone one at a time.. I said sure we have nothing to hide and reassured my daughters that everything would be ok .. just to answer there questions and tell the truth . First the questioned my oldest daughter Sunshine . She talked to her for maybe 10-15 minutes .Then she talked to my 7 second oldest daughter Ms Mabis seemed like the were back there forever to me .. When they were finished talking to her they asked me if they could speak with me , I said yes but did not want to leave my daughters sitting in the lobby themselves, the CPS Investigator assured me that they would be safe in a room across the hall from where they were going to talk to me , they even gave Ms Mabis some cards to play with.. as we were walking to the interogation room Ms Mabis dropped the cards so I bent down to help her pick them up , not knowing that would be the last time that i would be able to do that!!!
In the interrogation room there was the CPS Investigator , the Detective and myself.. they asked me to sit in the chair in the corner , so I did , I was shaking like a leaf , and asking what was going on. the CPS Investigator was sitting next to me and the detective across from me !! They began again by introducing themselves to me . They began asking me questions like what was my full name? I answere, they asked me what my address was? I answered , where did I work? I said Advance Auto Parts , they asked the address so I again answered , they asked what my job title was so I answered 2nd Asst Manager , they asked my husbands name I answered Where does he work, whats the address? I answered , How long have u and your husband been together ? I answered 9 years ( then ) and how long have u been married I answered almost 3 years. I then asked for the reason that I was there and they went into telling me that an anonymous call was received by DSS stating that My husband was sexually molesting our 2 oldest daughters. They then asked me if I was aware of this and I guess I had this look on my face of sheer horror , or something like that … but they asked me again to which I replied are you crazy he is a wonderful father and provider and he would kill someone for doing to his daughters what you are saying ,, the CPS Investigatorvthen told me that one of my daughter said that he did . To which I replied there is no way .. she asked me if I was willing to seperate my self from my husband for the sake of the kids ,, being as I am not from Va and had no family and only a few friends I said no I will not live on the street then you would really have a reason to take all 3 of my girls .. I also stated that it would not be finacially stable either .. and again stated that there was no way he could or would do anything like this!!!
They asked if there was anyone that could take custody of my girls I told them that my sister would have been willing to take them and I asked if I could call her , she said yes and I called my sister from my cell phone right there in the interrogation room .. she agreed to come and get the girls jumped in her truck and was getting on the interstate when the CPS investigator asked where she was coming from .. I told her Nebraska and she said that was fine ,, and a few minutes later she said that there was no way that she was waiting on my sister and that they were placing all 3 of my girls in foster care ,, they let me go into the room with my oldest 2 daughters and hold them for a few minutes and were trying to reach my babysitter who still had my then 2 yr old Lil Bit . I was in the room with Sunshine and Ms Mabis maybe 10 minutes when the worker came in there and told me to make it easier on myself and my girls and get up and walk out ,, that I was free to leave.. I thought to myself I can do this, it will only be a matter of a few hours and this will be cleared up and I will get them back …
I walked out of the room down the hall to the police station door to go out into the lobby when 6 police officers surrounded me and asked if I would be ok and said you’re not going to do anything to harm yourself? I said no Just please let me out of here I just want to go home.. they detained me in a jail cell for 6 hrs on suicide watch .. when they put me in the cell they took my cell phone, car keys ,cigarrettes and lighter. They left me with 2 metal zebra ink pens ( clipped on my work shirt) and my shoelaces still in my shoes !!! Some lady tried to come and talk to me I told her I had nothing to say to her and she left 6 hrs later they said that they were taking me to Poplar Springs ( a mental Hospital)2 police officers came into the cell asked me to stand up and 1 of them told me that if I moved he would taser me .. I stood still and asked the officer not to make the cuffs to tight because I have carpal tunnel in both hands ,, not only did they not listen but by the time I got to Poplar Springs my arms were numb from my shoulders down and I could not feel anything in either arm .
The lady at Poplar Springs was very nice and ordered the officer to remove the cuffs when she handed me a piece of paper and I could not hold it because I could not feel it .. she also allowed me to use the phone to call my boss and let him know what was going on and that I would not make into to work the next day . To my surprise she also allowed me to call husband , even though I was not sure that whether he was at home or whether he was in jail. He was free to leave the police that night even though he sat in the lobby of the police station (for the 6 hrs that I was downstairs in a jail cell )the whole time they told him I was not there and that I was either at Poplar Springs or John Randolph Medical Center and that he could sit and wait for the lady that I would not talk to to come back and she would let him know where I was she never came back !!! Finally the officers told my husband that the lady called and she would be there in about an hour and that if he wanted to he could go and get something to eat and by the time that he got back she would be there ,, so he left , while he was gone that is when they cuffed me and brought me out and took me to Poplar Springs.
The next day my husband and one of my few friends came to Poplar Springs because there was a hearing to see if I would have to stay there or whether I could go home … needless to say they wanted to keep me there for a week. My husband and friend talked the judge into letting me go home that day .
At the very first court date we were issued lawyers , and the next court date was set . We went to that hearing believing that my two oldest daughters would be there and the only one that was there was the one that said he did it . Well the DSS Lawyer questioned my 7 yr old daughter Ms Mabis , she asked her a bunch of questions about times and dates , they brought the anatomically correct dolls and started asking her to if the dolls were correct and my daughter said yes . They asked how many times did her daddy do this to her and she stated 2 times, then she said 10 times and then she said every weekend. She said that her daddy took off his clothes and that she took off hers, she said that he did it to her in the butt , and then said that it did not hurt , ( i am not trying to defend my husband but I was molested as a very young child from the age of 5 – 10 anally , vaginally,and orally , the very thing that I remember is that it did hurt and that , when this person was caught there was plenty of evidence) She also that her daddy wore underwear , and that he looked just like the “daddy doll ” to be quite frank he is not circumcised and in the now 10 years that we have been together he has never worn underwear , he sleeps in a pair of shorts so that his butt won’t hang out!
At the time this abuse supposedly happened she was 7 yrs old and weighed in at 80 lbs and stood right about 4′0 , my husband was 46 yrs old , weighed 255 lbs and stands 6′2 he is a very big man and she is so small, I told the Social Worker that if she expected me to believe this then I wanted to know if there was any physical evidence colaberating this claim and she told me ” No there is no evidence ,but in 99% of these cases there isn’t any” I’m sorry there is no way that there wouldn’t be!
Since this court date they have said that I knew he was abusing her and that I would have to do some things to prove to DSS that I wanted my kids :
1 . Psychiatric and intelligence exam
2 . Parental Assessment
3 . Parenting Classess
4 . Councelling ( to deal with the loss of my kids , and because i won’t believe her )
5 . FBI Background Check
6 . CPS Background Check
7 . Seperate from my husband
8 . Verification of Employment
I have done numbers 1, 2 ,3 , 4 , 7 , and 8 I was in councelling until my husband was laid offfrom his job and we lost our Health Insurance . The reason that I have not done the FBI Background check is because they want me to goto the same police station where I was treated so badly , and the cost of coming out of my pocket. The reason I have not done the CPS Background check is also because of the out of pocket expense.
Since all of this has gone down we did buy a trailer and fixed it up , my husband has been living with friends and family ,so that I would be able to get the girls back , and prove his innocence. In the ten months since they were taken I have had no vistitations with my daughter’s not even supervised , but not from the lack of me trying , I have begged DSS to let me see the girls , with 50 social workers there , they said no I asked the Judge and she said that it was not up to her , that it was up to DSS . My daughter that they say made the allegation has been in 2 mental institutions , and a psychiatric group home, the social worker said that she hear voices and sees dead people threatened suicide 2 times and threatened to kill the foster mom , that she has uncontrollable hissy fits. My oldest daughter Sunshine, when she was with us was a straight A and B student , since she has been in foster care her grades have fallen to C’s , D’s and F’s !
I know that they think that they are doing what is best for the children , and I know that at one time my daughter may have said those things about her father , but a few weeks ago when I received the letter from lawyer stating that she had recanted I just knew that this was all about to be over , and that I would have them all three home where they belong , boy was ever wrong , far from it !!
DSS is now trying to say that :
1 . I keep a messy house!
2 . I never clothe my kids !
3 . I never fed them
4 . That my husband is a falling down drunk
In our defense we may not have a spotless house , there are 5 of us here , and at the time they were taken we were 40 plus hours each a week. The kids were at the babysitter almost 7 days a week , since Feb 2008 , and alot of the time that is where we spent much of our time,because the babysitter is also my best friend , the girls would spend the night over there alot times because I work in retail and my hours not set , and my husband worked 50 miles away from home, so he would not get to the babysitters until 8-9 pm at night , the girls would be fed ,bathed and in the bed at the sitters , we did not think it would benefit them to be woken up to go home . I would get off work at around 10:30 – 11:00 pm every night and would call to see if the girls were ok and if they went home with there father or if they stayed with the babysitter. I would go home and goto bed , get up at 7 am call the babysitter to see if the girls were ready for school , and either she or I would take them to school and either one would pick them up at the busstop or at school in the afternoon.
My daughter stated that when her father did thisto her that it was on the weekends , midday while I was working , on the rare occasion that he kept the girls on the weekend , he usually worked on cars for other people and would eithertake them with him , or take them back to the babysitters , alot of the time they stayed thenight at the babysitters Fri. – Sun and when they were picked up on Sun it was by me at around 4:30 – 5:00 pm. When the girls were taken Sunshine ( @ age 12 ) weighed almost 200 lbs , we were working on getting her out and moving around alot so that she would loose some weight. Ms Mabis ( @ age 7 ) weighed almost 80 pounds and Lil Bit ( @ age 2 ) weighed almost 40 lbs. They all loved to eat and when we did not have a whole lot to eat, we always made sure that they did! They all 3 have dressers and closets full of clothes !!! As far as there father being a falling down drunk , he may have a few beers when he got home from work, but it was never like theyare saying. personally I do not drink , but I do not see anything wrong with him having a few beersafter drinking coffee all day at work.
While Ms Msbis has been in the psychiatric group home she has been saying that her daddy did not do anything to her and that she wants to come home to her daddy and mommy!! She says that her daddy loves her and her sisters and that he would never hurt any of them , apparently she has told this to many people since she has been there and this has just come to light in the past few weeks . My lawyersent me a letter on June 23, 2009 telling me that my daughter recanted her story and that DSS did not know what they were going to do now , they cancelled the Termination of Parental Rights hearing and our Appeal of ajudication Hearing which was supposed to be held on June 26, 2009. Instead DSS Lawyer , The Guardian at Litem , My husbands Lawyer , and my Lawyer were going to have a meeting with Judge to discuss what or where this case would go from here . My lawyer said that they had 7 days from that day for DSS to come up with a new plan with the Goal of Return Home instead of ADOPTION!! As far as I have heard that has not been done but they make no qualms about asking me to provide them with a bunch more stuff .
1 . FBI Background Check ( i have to pay for )
2 . CPS Background Check ( I have to pay for)
3 . A copy of my DMV Record ( I have to pay for )
4 . Verification of Employment (hours and pay )
5 . Three years of Tax Forms
6 . Babysitters name , address , and telephone number
7 . A List of all of My expenses
My lawyer says that is not all , according to my lawyer they will want me to do more , I have no idea what else they could want from me , the social worker came to my home on June 26 , 2009 under the guise of doing a homestudy and all she did was walk through it , she did not check to see if there was food here for the kids, she did not check there dressers or closets to see if there was any clothes for them, I tried to get to but she did not , she wasnt even here 30 minutes , we talked a little about the girls and how they were doing but she mostly said that Sunshine and Lil Bit were doing ok and that Ms Mabis had some more fits at the psychiatric group home , and they were physically restraining her for throwing the fits ,, that was about it and she was gone .
In my eyes the Department of Social Services has been given to much power and they think that they can do what they want when they want, they had no merrit or evidence to do what they have done to my girls , they ripped them out of a loving home and away from the people that love them the most !! When and if my girls come home is at there discretion and what they want , not what I have done to prove myself to them . My girls will probably be scarred for life and be afraid to see anyState or Government Vehicle for the rest of there life . Honestly I believe that the Department of Social Services needs to be reformed to help the parents of the children that have been taken! They told me that they were there to help me so that I would be able to get my children back ,but in all reality they have not done anything to help me with the exception of paying my co payment( when I did have health insurance) so that I could go to councelling ! Other than that , they have kept them from me and me from them , with no merritt and justification other than a story of a 7 yr old ,without and evidence!!! I also think that before they can take someones children that they should not be able to talk to the children alone without at least one parent present , or someone in the family . If the child says yes they were abused no matter what kind of abuse it is , the parent or parents, and officer and CPS investigator should all go the nearest medical facility together and have the child checked out and if and only if there is evidence of abuse should the parents be interogated by the police and given the option to leave the offending parent or guardian , and if they can’t or won’t then the child could be placed in the Foster Care System !!!!! God gave me them 3 beautiful girls and the DSS stole them from me and a wonderfulfather .
The Department of Social Services has done nothing to prove or disprove my husbands innocence, but they make no qualms about telling him that he will never see his daughters again until they turn 18 and decide to track him down ,, I can understand that if he was actually guilty , but as I have said many times in this letter there is no physical evidence or proof that anything has happened to any of the girls ,, Matter of fact he adopted our oldest daughter in 2006 and has been the father figure that any woman would want for there children , you see and hear so many men say thats not my baby and even when it is there child they run and do not own up to there responsibilty as a parent , but the minute there is one man that wants to be a father and will do anything to prove it , this is what happens .. I am starting to see why so many men run the other way when they hear the wordsI’m pregnant !!! after all who wants there name dragged through the mud and be accused of doing something like this ,, My husband has stood right in there and not one time has his story changed hell they did not even offer him a lie detector test or anything !!!! my guess is that when it comes time to see what DSS wants done on both our parts they are going to want him to do all the things that they wanted me to do ,, and he will do them , for our girls, no matter what , he offered to do all the things that i have done months ago because they put in TPR papers that they offered it to him when they actually told him that there was no use in him doing those things because he would never see his daughters again ,, even though he has never been charged or arrested for anything!!!! As a former foster care dependant the system is not all it is cracked up to be… I know someone that knows the foster mother where my girls are , and she has told me a few things since the girls have been there like before this woman got my girls she had gastric bypass and that she had lost alot of weight and when she did she also lost her breast , and that a few weeks ago when this person saw this foster mother at a local convience store she was talking about she got breast implants recently and how she was so in love with her new aquirement , my guess is that they are perfectly new and that she has gotten them since my girls have been there , apparently they are making alot off my kids ( at least enough for her to get implants) !!! We may not be the Huxtables , or the Cleaver’s but one thing is for sure we love our children , and would die for them, we want what is best for them , and we work hard for everything that we have and want !! The one thing that I love more than anything is my kids and I want them homewhere they belong , I have done all that was asked of me , I have even put it in gods hands , American Citizens should have there god given rights to be the parents that we have the right to be , that just because we do not make millions of dollars , or may not have graduated high school , we may work blue collar jobs, and eat beans and cornbread instead fillet mignon and chicken cordon bleu doesn’t mean that we do not have the right to have kids , let alone have them and then in an instant they are gone .
You should have your husband call around and see if he can have a lie detector test give to him. He will have to pay for it and I believe it costs around $250 and while it’s not concrete evidence, it would be counted in his favor.
It is horrible what has happened to your children. I do hope you have filed a complaint and requested an investigation with your U.S. House Representative. It could help you get your children home faster.
My prayers are with you.