"Grandmother Prosecuted for Crime of Wanting to Bring Her Grandchildren Home"
- Details
- Category: Uncategorised
- Created: Thursday, 22 December 2011 11:31
- Written by Alecomm2
A Grandmother is currently a defendant being prosecuted by DoCS (Child Protective Services) for the crime of wanting to bring her grandchildren home. Although it is not a crime to ask for guardianship of your grandchildren, the state will pay a prosecutor to take away the rights of grandparents and other family members to keep children in foster care and then adopt them out.
You have to ask yourself, why is the government of the country, that you are a citizen of and pay taxes to, prosecuting the grandmother this way? She has committed no crime nor have has she been accused of one. The grandmother was given three reasons by DoCS several months after the children were removed as to why they would not place them with her.
1. Was that she was living in a two bedroom apartment and there were four children,
2. Was that she was working part time and would need to be working full time in order to support them. and
3. Was that moving them out of state would interfere with reunification efforts.
There was no mention of becoming a foster parent although she learned later that it was a requirement as well. The grandmother has done everything required of her.
1. She has moved to larger home to accommodate the children - in fact she bought a five bedroom three bathrooms.
2. She secured full time hours in the emergency room at the hospital that she is employed at as a registered nurse.
3. She became a licensed foster care provider, and the mother of the children has said she would like the children to live with the her.
No effort has been made to this day to place the children with her, even though reasonable efforts is required to be made. However extraordinary efforts were made to keep the children from her, she was even denied phone calls and visits with the children, and gifts she sent the children were returned.
When she was finally able to get phone calls, the children expressed their desire to live with her, they were yelled at by the case worker, and later told the grandmother they were punished for saying that. The children were told terrible things about the grandmother, and what would happen to them if they came to live with me.
When she was able to get a visit she brought family photos which were torn from my grandson’s hands while he was crying "no no they’re mine". It’s horrible to have to watch your grandchildren be treated in this manner by those who are supposed to be protecting them but are really violating them.
The grandmother has a copy of the closing argument from the prosecuting attorney - it is filled with lies and misrepresentations. There is evidence and testimony submitted that proves these statements are lies, yet he has no qualms about submitting these lies to the court in a written argument.
Whatever you think of foster care and adoption, keep in mind that it should be about finding a home for a child who needs one, rather than about finding a child for a family that wants one. When those two situations coincide, adoption is a wonderful option. But when an existing family is torn apart needlessly in order to create an adoptive family, it’s cruel.
May is the month that Foster Care is celebrated. While you’re celebrating and recruiting foster families - be sure to look at the statistics on terminations, reunifications and adoptions. Also look at the statistics of children who have been abused and died while in care, and keep in mind how many loving family members such as this grandmother are being prosecuted and denied access to their own family.
Think of the children who have been traumatized by their removal - when many could have remained with their families if given a minimal amount of help. Think of the children who are not being adopted and are left in care until they age out of the system, whom have grown up with no permanent home and moreover with proof in their minds that no one wants them or loves them. Much of the burden on the foster care system could be lifted if they would just try to help parents and allow children to be placed with family.
