TheNetArchitect
New Member
What you are about to read, is neither a Fairy tale, a dream, or a tale of un/mis true statements. This is Happening to My Husband and I and we do NOT Know How to Stop it!
Five months ago, following a call to the department of child services by a neighbor that my children (ages 5 and 7) had allegedly run off down the street, case workers arrived at my home later that evening(after business hours) and without a court order, or even so much as a verbal order from a judge through means of intimidation and coercion took my children and placed them with the non-custodial father, who had abandoned them several years before.
Though DCS DID follow up with a lengthy, in-depth investigation, which focused mainly on my new husband, (we'd been married just a few days) who we were told had "nothing to do with the situation", there was never a preliminary or adjudicatory hearing in the matter, never a court order, it never came before the court, and after an initial "safety agreement" (a supplementary "Not Legal" form used to show reasonable efforts to prevent removal)was due to expire, instead of returning my children to me, they simply extended it, never offered any explanation or services to me and mailed a copy of a redated, altered after the fact , unsigned "safety agreement". I Still have the Unsigned Document.
Either directly, or indirectly related to DCS's investigation our plans to move into a new home we had already closed on, were scrapped, my husband lost a lucrative contract position at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the residence we were living in temporarily was robbed twice in 2 days. My husband was forced to liquidate all his assets including his sole primary residence, in order to allow us the funds to relocate to a safer residence.
Once we established a permanent residence in My Hometown in Iowa (wanting some family support and a safer environment for my children) and realized that DCS had never even gotten a court order to remove the children from our home and had no right to keep the children from us, we made plans to return to TN and retrieve our little girls. Immediately upon establishing our residence in Iowa, the biological father (with the help of DCS officials, two months after the children were removed from my home) filed a private party petition for temporary custody of the children, (using a standard DCS Pre-removal Petition) tying this matter up in court in TN.
I went to court for a hearing on this matter on August 26th, 2002, and was given a court appointed attorney, who was clearly under the impression that it was a DCS hearing and not a private party petition, and "strongly advised" that I sign another safety agreement, leaving the children in the care of their non-custodial father for another 3 months while awaiting the trial date on November 25th, 2002. No One informed the attorney who was brought in from another room of the fact that DCS Removed the children prior to that day and never gave them back or even filed a petition, or the judge for that matter.
During this 3 month period, I received no documentation on paper from DCS or the courts, no signatures, court orders, or copies of any paperwork promised to me. Case workers continued to make demands of me "by telephone, insisting that I had to comply with their orders" or I would never see my girls again, but would never put any of those "orders" in writing.
I sent documentation which made it evident to my attorney that the children had been taken from me by state employees illegally,(is this not Kidnapping and conspiracy to Kidnap, as the worker and the father were outside alone "discussing the situation") and placed with the father. No court orders had ever been filed by the state, no hearings had ever been held and no judgments ever granted by a court. When this became evident to the Court Appointed Attorney, he went before the court and asked to withdraw from the case Days before the trial date, leaving me without representation, outside the state of Tennessee and unable to afford an attorney.
On the Instruction of the court - Via the Attorneys Petition of Withdrawl, I compiled my evidence to present to the judge in the case and was prepared to motion for a dismissal of the case based on all of this evidence. On the day of the trial, the judge refused to allow me to present my evidence and allowed "the state" (who had not filed the petition) to present "their" case against me under the guise of representing the father, (Is this even Moral, Ethical, or even legal in a private party petition?). I asked to be appointed another attorney and was refused counsel by the judge. The DCS attorney was then allowed to see the statement I had prepared, but the judge refused to even look at it, simply denying my motion for dismissal or to even allow me to present any evidence telling My Side of the Story, even after I stood up in open court and stated, "At no time was I ever granted an adjudicatory hearing before the court in this matter." The statement was ignored and I was Ordered by the judge to "sit down"!
The judge found in favor of the petitioner, and court was dismissed. I was sent on my way without any court order or paperwork of any kind being given to me, or instructions on how to appeal the decision. "We'll mail it to you."
I would like to know why the State of TN has been allowed to kidnap my children, place them with the non-custodial parent for 5 months, help him in retaining them in his possession, help him financially by assisting him in terminating child support after having the children in his care for 23 days under a "voluntary" safety agreement that was scheduled to last 30 days, assist him with state funds for child care when he makes more than $50,000 a year, and grant him the assistance of a state attorney on a privately filed petition for temporary custody of minor children.
No One will help us, listen to us or even Believe Us and we have all the Legal Documents to Prove it! We want our girls back, and then Expose the Corruption and Sue the State of Tennessee and everyone Involved but no one will even tell us how to do that.
Five months ago, following a call to the department of child services by a neighbor that my children (ages 5 and 7) had allegedly run off down the street, case workers arrived at my home later that evening(after business hours) and without a court order, or even so much as a verbal order from a judge through means of intimidation and coercion took my children and placed them with the non-custodial father, who had abandoned them several years before.
Though DCS DID follow up with a lengthy, in-depth investigation, which focused mainly on my new husband, (we'd been married just a few days) who we were told had "nothing to do with the situation", there was never a preliminary or adjudicatory hearing in the matter, never a court order, it never came before the court, and after an initial "safety agreement" (a supplementary "Not Legal" form used to show reasonable efforts to prevent removal)was due to expire, instead of returning my children to me, they simply extended it, never offered any explanation or services to me and mailed a copy of a redated, altered after the fact , unsigned "safety agreement". I Still have the Unsigned Document.
Either directly, or indirectly related to DCS's investigation our plans to move into a new home we had already closed on, were scrapped, my husband lost a lucrative contract position at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the residence we were living in temporarily was robbed twice in 2 days. My husband was forced to liquidate all his assets including his sole primary residence, in order to allow us the funds to relocate to a safer residence.
Once we established a permanent residence in My Hometown in Iowa (wanting some family support and a safer environment for my children) and realized that DCS had never even gotten a court order to remove the children from our home and had no right to keep the children from us, we made plans to return to TN and retrieve our little girls. Immediately upon establishing our residence in Iowa, the biological father (with the help of DCS officials, two months after the children were removed from my home) filed a private party petition for temporary custody of the children, (using a standard DCS Pre-removal Petition) tying this matter up in court in TN.
I went to court for a hearing on this matter on August 26th, 2002, and was given a court appointed attorney, who was clearly under the impression that it was a DCS hearing and not a private party petition, and "strongly advised" that I sign another safety agreement, leaving the children in the care of their non-custodial father for another 3 months while awaiting the trial date on November 25th, 2002. No One informed the attorney who was brought in from another room of the fact that DCS Removed the children prior to that day and never gave them back or even filed a petition, or the judge for that matter.
During this 3 month period, I received no documentation on paper from DCS or the courts, no signatures, court orders, or copies of any paperwork promised to me. Case workers continued to make demands of me "by telephone, insisting that I had to comply with their orders" or I would never see my girls again, but would never put any of those "orders" in writing.
I sent documentation which made it evident to my attorney that the children had been taken from me by state employees illegally,(is this not Kidnapping and conspiracy to Kidnap, as the worker and the father were outside alone "discussing the situation") and placed with the father. No court orders had ever been filed by the state, no hearings had ever been held and no judgments ever granted by a court. When this became evident to the Court Appointed Attorney, he went before the court and asked to withdraw from the case Days before the trial date, leaving me without representation, outside the state of Tennessee and unable to afford an attorney.
On the Instruction of the court - Via the Attorneys Petition of Withdrawl, I compiled my evidence to present to the judge in the case and was prepared to motion for a dismissal of the case based on all of this evidence. On the day of the trial, the judge refused to allow me to present my evidence and allowed "the state" (who had not filed the petition) to present "their" case against me under the guise of representing the father, (Is this even Moral, Ethical, or even legal in a private party petition?). I asked to be appointed another attorney and was refused counsel by the judge. The DCS attorney was then allowed to see the statement I had prepared, but the judge refused to even look at it, simply denying my motion for dismissal or to even allow me to present any evidence telling My Side of the Story, even after I stood up in open court and stated, "At no time was I ever granted an adjudicatory hearing before the court in this matter." The statement was ignored and I was Ordered by the judge to "sit down"!
The judge found in favor of the petitioner, and court was dismissed. I was sent on my way without any court order or paperwork of any kind being given to me, or instructions on how to appeal the decision. "We'll mail it to you."
I would like to know why the State of TN has been allowed to kidnap my children, place them with the non-custodial parent for 5 months, help him in retaining them in his possession, help him financially by assisting him in terminating child support after having the children in his care for 23 days under a "voluntary" safety agreement that was scheduled to last 30 days, assist him with state funds for child care when he makes more than $50,000 a year, and grant him the assistance of a state attorney on a privately filed petition for temporary custody of minor children.
No One will help us, listen to us or even Believe Us and we have all the Legal Documents to Prove it! We want our girls back, and then Expose the Corruption and Sue the State of Tennessee and everyone Involved but no one will even tell us how to do that.