Hello world!

Our children were taken from us yesterday by DSS/CPS of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  We had a court date at 9am to (so we were told) grant custody of our 3 kids (Booger, Monkey and Princess will be what I call them here) to my in-laws, temporarily.  We recently got reported to CPS for having a messy house.  When the Investigator/Case worker came by to follow up on the call, they found no proof of this.  But, included in this call was a report that I was breastfeeding while on the narcotic painkiller, Vicodin, which was true.  But as per Hale and LLL, it is considered a moderately safe drug, especially with a child 4 months or older, which Booger is.  Because of that, it was recommended to us (my husband and I) that we sign our older two, Monkey & Princess over to our in-laws, at least until the investigation was complete and the court listed it as “unfounded”.

We signed the paperwork and filed it with a clerk, with no questions asked.  We were assured by the Investigator that this would be immediate, and that our children could leave the state the following weekend with their grandparents.  She went so far as to make a promise to my children that they were going.  I had no reason to not trust her at the time, she swore up and down that she’d been honest with us all along, so we signed it.  It cost us $25, but we did it.  There is no expense too great to us than to keep our children out of the system.  They’d been in the system before, and they were both traumatized by mistreatment by their foster parents.  I had promised it would never happen again, and I had gone out of my way to ensure that.

Now fast forward to Wednesday, June 17th.  Around 5:15PM the GAL came by and did a very, very quick walkthrough in our home.  She was in and out in less than 2 minutes.  No hello, no goodbye, just came in, took a quick look around, and left.  Our home is spotless, so this didn’t really bother me in the least.  At almost 8PM, the investigator came by, and told us that we should give custody of Booger over to the grandparents too, or else they would put the kids in fostercare.  Her wording made it sound like I had to sign my baby over to the STATE not to the grandparents, so I refused.  She said that the kids being taken would be a worst case scenario, so I wasn’t too worried, though my hackles were now up.  So my in-laws and my husband drove down to the courthouse and signed a petition to obtain custody, but I did not, meaning, I was not granting custody.

Friday morning, we had court.  We learned that the Investigator lied to our faces, and not only that, filed an ERO at the same time that my husband and his parents were filing the petition.  The petition that SHE RECOMMENDED.  She had been in our home less than 48 hours previously, and had seen our home was clean.  She knew, even though I was suffering from extreme pain from a surgery I had on June 10th, I wasn’t taking my Vicodin anymore, just because I didn’t want it held against me.  I was taking Tylenol, a non-narcotic, deemed completely safe by the AAP.  She lied directly to the judge about the state of cleanliness of our home, without any proof and without any evidence to back up her claim.  The GAL, who I mentioned earlier also said that our home was a mess, and stated that it was “unsanitary”.  She lied.  She was barely in my home as it was, but she saw how clean my house is.  Together they, along with the CPS supervisor filed the EPO.  The judge took their word for it, and enforced the EPO.  We didn’t even get our attorneys until mid-hearing.  My husband didn’t get his until the judge had already decided on her ruling.  We never got the chance to discuss anything, to oppose anything, to prove our innocence, or to show that our children are better off out of the system.  Which isn’t fair at all.  I don’t even know if that’s legal.

My children, including my exclusively breastfed baby, are all living with strangers.  They literally ripped them from us at the courthouse.  A large, angry woman grabbed my older kids by the arms and pulled them, hard and violently out the front doors without even letting us hug or kiss them goodbye.  My eldest didn’t even know what was going on.  My youngest did, because Monkey was hanging onto daddy when we were told that they were being taken.  They stole my baby directly from my arms, ripped Booger right away from me.    Later that day we went to a “family meeting” at the DSS HQ, where they sprung the kids back on us for a short visit, where I had to dry many tears, both of my children and my own.  They brought in my baby, sleeping like the dead.

I REPEAT SLEEPING LIKE THE DEAD.  I know my baby.  Booger is a VERY light sleeper, and will wake even being moved from my arms to the crib.  I moved Booger around, moving from cradle hold to head on shoulder.  Booger woke a few seconds, almost cried, and then passed back out.  THIS WAS NOT NORMAL.  NOT AT ALL.  I truly believe that someone in DSS/Fostercare drugged my baby.  My 4 month old.  Which there is no excuse for.

At this time, we don’t know how long it will be until we get our children back.  We’re fighting like hell though.  We are gathering evidence in our defense, including medical records, photos, and testimony of friends and family that will show that all the CPS “findings” were falsified.  And we are filing grievances against the GAL and the Investigator who perpitrated these lies against us.  I don’t even know WHY they lied.  Why they stole my children.  But unless we find out, and are granted custody of our children again, it won’t matter why.  It won’t even matter THAT they lied.  We will file a suit against all the DSS workers who were on the case (4 at my count), the judge, the GAL and person responsible for my baby being drugged.

I will update this blog with more information when I have it.  If you’ve come across this as a fellow parent who is being screwed by DSS/CPS/DYFS, you are in my prayers, please keep us in yours.  We will fight until the ends of the Earth for justice, for our children, for my husband’s parents, and for ourselves.  And for all other parents who have been mistreated, lied to, misrepresented to and lost their children to a corrupt system.

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