[mgrich217]

Yrs ago.. September 22,2009 to be exact... When my daughter was 12yrs old - my adoptive parents who had recently disowned me - had my room ate take her out of school,so they could take her home. I was at a Dr.S apt that afternoon as I was terribly sick with thrush and pneumonia. According to my ex husband(her father) Maine dos was not only aware but had encouraged this. I considered'this' action kidnapping and tried reporting it to 3different police jurisdictions. I fought hard for my child- I've never hurt her physically or mentally. I was diagnosed with depression yrs ago after my second child passed from sids and I divorced my husband . I also have ptsd- and I've lived through more trauma since I was given that label. As a single mother of 2children, on disability - we also were put into the poverty category. Add to that recovery from addiction(10 yrs now)and on paper I'm a mess. I was a good mother though and am very close to my children. The people that adopted me are very different and on paper would seem to be lovely people. They rarely drink and are non smokers, they do have lots of money , and 'they' are more than capable -unlike someone.. To pick themselves up and brush BLAH BLAH BLAH..
I'm rambling and for anyone that reads ,I apologize. What it boils down to was
I was told by a case worker from the state of Maine that if I did not voluntarily allow the GPs to take my child
That a judge.. And an injunction against me... There was no way I could have known the best thing for my family
Would have been to go before a judge with or without an attty. Now 2yrs later we have been in and out of court
A reunification plan was ceases for reasons that made no sense to me.. Something about the counseling group I asked for help had not given the state information and that the apt I acquired in may of 2010 I Probably wouldn't
Be able to maintain' I'm getting upset as I write because when I think about what's happened to my daughter/our family... I doubt this could ever happen again, but its wrong. I was never found to have hurt my children. The 'grandfather' had leveled accusations against me the month prior to them taking her. I requested that the case stay open after reading the literature that stated the goal of cps is to keep families together and well. Because we were so poor at that time - I needed some extra help and asked the state to provide that.. They kept it open as long as they could(32days)and then 4days after closing this case with NO FINDINGS came the last day my family was whole.. september 22,2009.
I went to court for the last time a month ago- I won't go back as my child is 14 (15 in feb) and my atty had said something about waiting 9months.. SHED BE 15. I raised her well I know (I PRAY)and secure in the knowledge that she is loved and if she EVER wanted to be with me I would do any and everything I could to make it happen. Her and I are in contact via fb but the grandparents do not know this. She confides everything to me and I worry about many of the things she has to confide.. But my being angry and broken.. that is no help to her- for a moment in July the presiding judge started to question motives and order that the gp's and I attend mediation- only the grandfather came and it was horrific, finally I asked if it were not me.. Wouldn't he agree that the mother /child relationship is vital to a child's well being.. his answer was no ,its not.
Ive walked away only because as much as I know my daughter deserves a loving environment,a better one for her than what she has now- she seems OK and I fear that at her age if it were to be reversed there's already been so much pain and confusion.. I trying to do the right thing for all of us and without any support its been imposible for me to make any sense out of this - let alone progress.
My question I guesss is.. Is it a basic human and civil right to raise your child ? If it is can I take action against the state dept that was involved in my families demise?

[joypulv]

There are inherent rights of a parent and there are societal rights that take over for the rights of the child, and they conflict all the time. The system is made of people are people are flawed. They make mistakes just as drug addicts make mistakes, just not the same kind. Poor people often get poorer treatment by courts than rich people, mostly because of how much money they can throw at lawyers.

Do you have a case against the state? That would be tilting at windmills. The odds of winning are so tiny and would cost too much. What you can do sometimes, with a lawyer, is chip away at one little judgment at a time that was done wrong. But even that takes forever and often gets you nothing.

We can't judge what happened here; it's too complicated, and there are probably gaps. But you have a daughter who hangs on your every word on FB, right? She loves you and soon will be old enough to make her own decisions. I'm sorry for the time lost. You will have plenty of catching up to do.

[ValColgain]

I'm sorry but it sounds like your life has been anything but stable and even though you may love your children you may not be able to provide for them. The father is behind it... why didn't he request custody? I know that when children are removed that reunification is the goal and I'm not sure why you aren't having visitation with her. At the least, it could be supervised if there was a threat. After two years you should be clean, sober and stable enough to request visitation, if not, then you will most likely have to wait until she is 15, old enough for the Judge to listen to her desire of who she wants to live with, and I would suggest before going back to court that you have a home study done by the department of family services giving you a green light for custody. Good luck.