jennharkey
New Member
So I want to tell the whole story so that someone might be able to help. Its long but please bear with me. I have a now 3 year old daughter, Liliana, who was wrongly taken away from me when she was 6 weeks old and I need help to get her back. I took pain medication to help with contractions that started at about 26 weeks and then the nurse who was monitoring my labor with my daughter forgot to record a dose of morphine they had given me while I was in labor. They tested me and my daughter's blood for drugs after her birth, and of course we tested positive for opiates. They took my daughter from me less than 24 hours after her birth. My OB wrote a letter saying that I had a prescription for the pain meds and the judge ordered the return of my daughter but also required that I take parenting classes as a condition of my daughters return to us. My hip gave out while I was holding Lily one day when she was 6 weeks old. I felt dizzy after I fell, so I set her gently on the floor before I passed out. When I woke up my daughter was sleeping happily on the floor. I went to the hospital just to make sure neither of us was hurt. I was release with no injuries, but they thought that in the best interest of my daughter, that they would transfer her to a children's hospital. The doctors at the children's hospital had a reason to believe she was injured, so they did the standard work up including a skeletal survey. They found that she had a fracture in her wrist. They immediatly called child welfare saying that my daughter's wrist was broken due to abuse. I was told to leave the hospital as was my boyfriend, Lily's dad. At court the next day, the child welfare people admitted that they had not gotten all the facts straight before taking my daughter. She was diagnosed with Ricket's after the skeletal survey. No one had told me that babies that were exclusively breastfed in Oregon need vitamin D supplements. The judge decided that because I had not yet finished my parenting classes and Lily's dad couldn't take custody of her because we lived together, that she should stay in state custody. I finished my parenting classes and continued to visit my daughter 1 hour per week supervised in the Child welfare building. My boyfriend, Lily's dad, did not speak english well, so he requested a case worker that spoke spanish. The case worker, after a couple weeks, told Lily's dad that we would not ever get custody back if we stayed together. We seperated a few weeks later. While I was still seeing Lily only 1 hour a week supervised, he was given unsupervised visits progressing to weekend visits. He got custody shortly there after. I saw her for about 3 months after he got custody. I really felt like I was discriminated against because I was not hispanic.The week after she turned one year old, I called her dad to arrange to meet for payment of child support. His phone was disconnected. I tried calling everyday for the next few months and nothing. I went to his house and found that he had moved. I went to his sister's house but no one was ever home when I stopped by. After a few months I stopped calling knowing there was no hope. I got married that fall and became pregnant with my son. Lily's dad called my parents on Christmas day, 6 months after the last time I had talked to him, to wish them a Merry Christmas. My mom called me immediatly after talking to him and gave me his phone number. I called him and he told me that my daughter was doing good and that she was currently visiting his parents in Mexico and that she would be back in a few weeks. he said that he would call me when she got back so that we could arrange for me to see her. He never called me back and after 3 weeks passed, I called him back to see what was doing on. His phone was disconnected again. I tried this new number everyday for several months, but never got an answer. This was in December 2007 and he "accidentally" called my parents a few days ago, in May 2009, no one answered, but my mom recognized the name, so she called me and gave me his number. I called him and left a message to have him call me back. When he did he informed me that my daughter had never come back to the US, that she was still living in Mexico because he did not have the time or money to take care of her. He said he would call me in a week or two to get me some new pictures of her. He said she doesnt know who I am. I have an older daughter who was 2 years old when Lily was born and she doesn't understand why she can't see her sister. I really think that there is a breech in our parenting agreement and think that there must be something I can do but I don't know what to do because she is not physically in the US. I think that some one should have given me the opportunity to step up and take care of my daughter. I decided that I am going to do something about it now. Does any one know someone that can help me? I am seeking to get full custody of my daughter and have her returned to the US.Please some one help me. I really miss my daughter. Thank you for reading this. I hope soome one out there can help me.
