I have not written a diary here for a very long time. Most of you out there no longer know who I am or what I am about...but I need the KOS community to help me here in a HUGE WAY. If you can advocate for children and can help out with advise, connections, etc., let me know. What is below the fold is one case, there are actually three SO FAR, but this is the most haunting at the moment.
Doesn't matter if this doesn't get recommended, but I pray that the right person(s) will read this and will help to save some children by doing so....follow me below. It's a bit long and rambling, but it involves the lives of 6 children, 3 different cases,all in Jackson/Josephine Counties in Oregon and 4 of the children remain in danger....
I work for a State Legislator in Oregon as his assistant. I'm older, wiser, been around the block and am TENACIOUS when it comes to three things: 1)animals, 2) children in danger and 3)the elderly.
A constituent brought a concern into our office 4 months ago...4 year old child (girl) who was almost shaken to death by biological father at FOUR WEEKS OF AGE, biological mother protected the FATHER and withheld medical care until 7 weeks. When child was taken to the doctor, she said she didn't know why she had a bruise. Later she LIED to police and continued to so she would not be charged.
The 'bruise' was multiple skull fractures. Bio father went to prison for 3 years (reduced from 55 years on a plea deal). He is now out. Both bio parents relinquished parental rights to their child. She was in an amazing foster home for 36 months and had a loving couple who were approved for adopting her.
Two weeks before the adoption, things happened that the bio mom was told by a step parent, that she was 'parenting' her boyfriend's kids and should have her own, she was given $4k to hire an attorney. She ultimately got this poor little girl back.
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May 2009 - constituent contacted Representative's office (I was not working for him) and his wife was his 'assistant'...she appears to have made a call or two, but did nothing.
June 2010 - constituent contacts our office and I'm now working. From July 1, 2010 to the present, I have compiled pages and pages of documents indicating that the bio mother has abused and neglected this child and put her in harms way. There have been no less than 30 calls to DHS regarding this case in the past year.
The managing director of DHS for Jackson/Josephine County in Oregon told me in our first conversation that he was a little worried about LITTLE JANE DOE because three weeks prior to my contacting DHS he had received THREE anonymous calls that this little girl was in the home of a SEXUAL PREDATOR....while he said he was 'haunted' by this he did nothing about it and told me that there was nothing he could do! But he said if I would look into it, he'd consider getting involved.
This particular case has seen a CASA work walk away because she was told if she did NOT advocate for the return of the little girl to the bio mother, she would be blackballed and lose her ability to be a CASA...she walked away stating she would NEVER advocate for the bio mother. A DHS caseworker lost her job for the same reason. Little Jan Doe's pediatrician refused to advocate for the child to go back to the bio mom saying he felt she would die in her care. He and/or his office reported to DHS each and every appointment that was missed and suspicions of abuse, DHS DID NOTHING.
The allegations that have been reported to DHS have be substantiated. Below are things that were reported by her foster mother, that DHS NEVER investigated.
Below are incidents that the Foster mother felt were serious enough to report. Below that is a statement that the former CASA wrote to a representative at Justice for Children.
PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS if you can assist...
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You have most of the story on "LITTLE JANE DOE" from "C" (CASA worker), she gave you the facts of the case up until she was returned. The following are approximate dates of when I called either the DHS hotline or my certifier with concerns
July 23, 2009
"BIO MOTHER" told me that she hit "JANE DOE 2" and was currently seeking disability for "LITTLE JANE DOE". Her reasoning for seeking disability for her is that she had to make some money somehow.
December 2009
I had LITTLE JANE DOE for the afternoon, she had an accident in her pants. When I was changing her I saw 3 bruises on her back. Also LITTLE JANE DOE asked me not to spank her for ‘pooping her pants".
January 2010
After seeing BIO MOM'S MYSPACE page detailing LITTLE JANE DOE’s many illnesses and BIO MOM stating "she is better right now but I need to cherish her while I have her they said she won’t live a long life". I reported this with copies of her myspace page. I was so concerned that I called BIO MOM and asked if I could help in anyway and offered to take LITTLE JANE DOE for a couple of days so that they (she and BOYFRIEND) could get some sleep. LITTLE JANE DOE was supposedly in the hospital until January 21, 2010. I took her to my home and kept her from January 22, 2010 until January 24, 2010. At that time LITTLE JANE DOE had no problems sleeping or eating at my house. I reported to my certifier that I took LITTLE JANE DOE for the weekend.
April 2010
Again after seeing BIO MOM’s myspace I reported to DHS that she seems to be having contact with BIO FATHER. Also around this time BIO MOM asked me personally if I thought she should have contact with BIO FATHER.
May 2010
BIO MOM informed me that she had moved out of boyfriend’s house. I reported to DHS that she had moved in with "WOMAN WHO HAS HISTORY OF SEXUAL ISSUES AROUND CHILDREN" (another former client of DHS who is well known to DHS) and her family, including HER BIO SON. "WOMAN" has a medical marijuana card and "SON", her biological son has admitted to smoking pot in the house.
I did not have any contact with BIO MOM or LITTLE JANE DOE for the next couple of months
August 2010
I saw BIO MOM so that some of my foster kids could say good-bye to JANE DOE 2 (boyfriend's daughter). While there BIO MOM invited me to look at the new van that she had bought. She then told me that they (she and BOYFRIEND) had used LITTLE JANE DOE's social security number to secure financing for the vehicle.
September 2010
BIO MOM called me to ask if I would be a character witness on October 4, 2010 at the hearing for the restraining order that BOYFRIEND'S WIFE had taken out on BOYFRIEND. She asked me if I could either come to court or write a letter on her behalf. She wanted me to say how well she treated the children. I told her that I had not seen the children since May and really didn’t think I could help her.
I reported the RO to my certifier and received a call back from intake asking if I wanted to report anything else.
September 2010
Again reported that BIO MOM was to have no unsupervised visits with BOYFRIEND's children.
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I was asked to contact you regarding the "Little Jane Doe" case. I believe Barbara has informed you of the current problems with this case.
To give you a little bit of information regarding me:
I was the CASA for *** for 3 years. She came into foster care at 7 wks of age because of proven abuse by her father, ***, which resulted in skull fractures (2). It was determined the abuse had been going on for about 2 wks that can be substantiated. During this time it was determined in the courts that ****'s bio mother, ****, was aware that her baby was being abused by the father and did nothing to protect her. Hence *** was removed from *** for failure to protect her. It was also determined that *** tried to protect ***, vs. her child, in that she lied to police about the extensive bruising about her face and head stating she "rolled off the bed." When she was confronted with the fact that a 5wk old does not have ability to roll, she then changed her story to state that perhaps she hit her head in a stroller during a mall outing.
*** later confessed to shaking and hitting his baby and served about 3 years in state prison. He relinquished his right to be ***'s father. During this time *** was offered parenting classes and other services. She was sporadic in her attendance and did not appear to have a real interest in being ***'s mother. After a period of 2 years, *** also signed relinquishment papers. After the relinquishments were in place, Child Welfare set out to find "relative" placement. This took almost another 2 years!! There were distant relatives that did come forward BUT during this time *** was parenting her boyfriend's elementary school age children. ****'s step father hired her an attorney and based on an initial premise that because *** was able to adequately parent these two kids, she could parent her own child now. *** went to court, essentially had the relinquishment over-turned (which I've never heard of) and she now has ***. **** has been dismissed from care from her pediatrician's office due to frequent no shows, which in an at risk child should be a red flag to Child Welfare. It is my understanding that the pediatrician did call Child Welfare about this. To my knowledge, nothing was done.
It has also been reported that now *** has seizures due to the head injury from her father. She is suppose to be taking anti-seizure medication. During one follow-up at the neurologist office, a blood test revealed that *** did not have a trace of this medication in her system. AND again, it appears nothing was done.
After 3 years of being a CASA for *** and stepped down from this case. I could not advocate for return to mother.
Now the course of events are such that the children that *** was parenting have been removed from the home because they are "afraid of her." There have been reports of lewd sexual content in the presence of the children as well as other concerns. The judge heard these two children's story in his chambers without parents present. He apparently heard enough to render in favor of these children's bio mother.
My question now to you is this:
If the whole premise for allowing *** to parent *** again was based on her ability to parent her boyfriend's children and the ability is now in question, does this not pose a substantial risk to ***?
I appreciate any help you can lend in this matter
What I need:
To know how to open Court/case records on the original CRIMINAL case against the bio father. According to the CASA work who was able to see them they are damning, not only against the bio father but even more so against the bio mother...that IF those were looked at, as well as other discovery and investigations that were done through the years, that no COURT would allow this little girl to stay with this woman.
I also need PRESS CONTACTS...someone who can investigate and is not afraid to push hard on DHS, especially in the state of Oregon.
NOTES:
Two children that were in the same home with bio mother and belong to her boyfriend have been given to their mother with the Court order stating that they are not to be alone with ***'s bio mother.
The boyfriend of ***'s mother has a history of domestic violence, is a former meth addict, who is now addicted to methadone...the drug of choice that DHS gives to all meth addicts in Oregon.
The ongoing abuse, neglect and questionable behavior with drugs, pornography and sexual misconduct....is all horrible. I have made calls (first hand knowledge) to DHS myself.
This story in four months of being investigated by me, now covers several hundred pages, there appears to be cover up, lies, deceipt and total ineptness within DHS from the very top. If anyone needs additional information, I am more than willing to share.