Sorry I have not updated in a bit. Been busy with this court case, settling my daughter in here at home and many other important things.
First it is time to announce one of the on going things that have been happening the past year. You will remember last spring when I wrote about my daughters previous worker stating that I live in a fantasy land if I think I will ever get my kids back? Well what you don't know is after that conversation I decided that CPS was in no way going to do the right thing by my children. It was time to get the law involved since CPS would not. The step kids had already told me prior that if I ever decided to start the process that they would support me with their testimonies of their experiences as well. So as soon as my fiancé got home I had him take me to our local police department. I initiated the process to have my mother investigated for the abuse of my children and the abuse of the step kids. I also mentioned the perjury as well.
I was there for about 2 1/2-3 hours. They video taped my interview. I was shaking the entire time and crying at times as well. Part of me thought I was an idiot to do this. No one would believe us. Very few ever had. She was just too good at lying and convincing people of her stories. But the bigger part of me knew I was not there for me, I was not there for the step kids. I was there for my kids to get justice and understanding. I was there to stop future children from going through the same thing. That is what kept me in my seat and sharing everything I could.
When I went home and told my children's rescuer that I had initiated the investigation and that I had given them her name as well as the step kids, and my daughters she was very proud of me. She added her testimony to mine, as the months went by others got interviewed as well. I was informed that I would have to contact the police from the city the perjury happened to got that investigation going as well. By January of this year I was finally able to do that.
So currently there are 3 police investigations happening. For my mother there is one for the abuse of the step kids in the town that happened in. There is also another cop doing another investigation of the abuse of my kids and the youngest step kid in the town that occurred in and as of January of this year there is a perjury investigation of her in the city that occurred in for the PGO trial as well. 3 different police departments investigating her. BUT THAT IS NOT ALL. Also in January I also got the perjury investigations going for the lead social worker that was on my file and also his supervisor as well.
Why is this important? Well remember since I don't have a lawyer the department had to disclose everything to me. And in so doing I discovered that there is quite a bit of important things in those documents to aid in the police investigations for perjury and the abuse of my children. Can't state what that is since the departments lawyer had me sign a nondisclosure agreement. But it also prevented me from disclosing to the police what was in there. So I let the police know that they needed to get the files. But they needed grounds as to why they needed the files. So I volunteered to request it today of the judge since today was the next court date after the JDR last week. I had informed the department at the JDR that I planed to do just that but the lawyer today stated outside of the court room that no agreement to disclose happened at the JDR. I said I know. Because I stated I was requesting it at the next court date. He then said he would request to adjourn that decision since he had not read my affidavit that I filed last Thursday to the court about it. I knew it was a stall tactic but hoped the judge would not adjourn that decision. When we got in the court room and my turn came up I didn't really have to say much as to why I needed the courts permission. The court saw the issue right away. The departments lawyer tried and his boss also tried to convince the judge that the police could apply to get the documents themselves if there was a reason. But the judge shot them down without me saying hardly anything. He just asked me to explain why the police asked me to request it and I explained that they only had my word as to there being something important in there. So the judge said I had a due diligence to report anything that might lead to a crime to the police and that the nondisclosure agreement hindered that ability. The department lawyers boss did try to tell the judge that the perjury and abuse investigations have no baring on these court proceedings(Which I 100% disagree with him on but didn't say anything)but the judge was not swayed. So he amended it to me being able to allow the police to look at my copies of the documents and to discuss what is in there with the police but they are not allowed to copy mine. If there is what I say there is in there then they will then have grounds to request all the unvetted documents that show names and everything else that I can't see, to aid them in their investigations. I held off cheering till I was out of the court room.
Here is the interesting thing. At the JDR to me the judge was one sided right from the beginning. Within a few minutes into it, last week, the judge said since he had no evidence in front of him other then my affidavit that got this review going. He stated that to him it seemed like I was on a mission just to prove the department screwed me over and not what was in the best interest of my sons. I was shocked because I thought a JDR was suppose to be for all sides to be open and talk about the issue but it was plain that he had a judgment about me right from the beginning. He seemed to allude that these reviews always lead to the department still keeping the PGO so I asked him "wouldn't the PGO be thrown out if the perjury convictions come down and the abuse convictions come down?". For a criminal he could get his whole trial thrown out if someone committed perjury. Why should it be any different for a family that was torn apart from the CPS workers and the main complainant accusing me of abuse. The judges reply "Not necessarily." From there I only asked questions when I needed to clarify something or make sure my opinion was known. For example I made it clear that I would not agree to the couple who have my sons getting custody of my sons. The department then stated "you are ok with traumatizing them more after all they have been through?" I then stated "You guys have done that to my sons over and over again. From cutting contact with me with no termination visit to say good bye, to cutting contact with their sister the same way, to repeated placements and so on." So they said "That was to get them to a permanent home." I then said "If you can do it to put them to place them with strangers then you can do it to place them back with family who they never should have been torn from to begin with." They said "So you want to cause them more issues with cutting bonded people out of their lives?" and I said "I would never do to them what you have. I would ask the couple they are with to have visits to help ease their transition home and not cut them suddenly from their lives further traumatizing them." So then they asked me if I would consider it the other way around. So the couple keeps custody but I and their sister would get visits at the departments or the couples discretion. Of course I said no way. I had already seen how the departments discretion looks like. That was about the only time I was allowed to give my opinion without the subject being changed when I would state something valid. They tried to keep the conversation focused on how long my sons had been with the couple instead of the fact that the PGO should never have happened in the first place and that the department should never have cut contact between my children and I or their sister. So all that the JDR led to was that my sons would be assessed by a Child Psychologist. I tried to say that I disagreed with that assessment unless we are allowed to be involved but was shut down by the judge. Which I expected after what he stated in the beginning. I tried to explain that to properly assess what my sons truly want they have a right to have visits with us to rebuild our relationship and then better assess what they want but that was shot down too. The judge said it was up to the person doing the assessment.
So the next court date is in late November to give the department time to assess my sons. Step two could be assessments for my fiancé, myself and my daughter. Which we have no problem with. So until the next court date I continue to prepare for trial, make time to sit down with the cops in charge of the investigations to disclose everything to them and continue to battle for my children's rights to be with their family and each other. In my opinion if I can't win this with the overwhelming evidence I have with this new legislation then it is not truly there to help keep families together as much as possible. Instead it would be a smoke screen to make the public think the government is doing all they can to keep families together all the while doing the opposite. Fingers crossed that it is not a smoke screen.
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I would also ask that the children have a children's advocate lawyer to make sure they know there rights. This is perfectly normal and shouldn't be overlooked. Especially when they were taken from you wrongly.
ReplyDeleteThank you. They do have a lawyer.
ReplyDelete