Please bare with me, this is long and drawn out but I need some help.
What is the name of your state?Idaho
My (was) soon to be step daughter (who is 7) has been diagnosed with bipolar. She has had past violent tendencies toward herself and other siblings and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for about a week in July 04. In March and April of this year she had been getting mad at myself and her father for not letting her have candy, stay up late etc (typical 7 year old attitude). Every time she would get mad she would throw herself to the ground, hit herself, pinch and poke herself to the point of being so bruised that we were afraid of taking her anywhere in fear of what people would think and say. She has been to counseling and all that and nothing helped nor mattered.
In early April she had kicked my 10 month old son in the chest and made him fall hardly to the ground (my son is the same size as the 7 year old girls 22 month old sister, he this had been any smaller of a child he/she would have been seriously hurt/killed). I then took her gently by the wrist to turn her to give her a single, open handed swat on her butt... (who has never had a swat from their parents specially if they were violent toward much younger siblings...) When I had her wrist, it was gently enough where she could pull away, which she did. She pulled hard before I could turn her around for the swat and fell to the floor. I then heard a pop from the shoulder she landed on which was the opposite shoulder than the hand I was holding and from what it looked like her shoulder was dislocated. She wasnt complaining of pain that would go along with a break (which she didnt seem to feel much pain at all reguarding anything, her putting bruises on herself, hurting herself, nothing seemed to actually cause physical pain). I again thought it was dislocated so I tried minipulating it to go back into place as my family had done to me when I was younger and dislocated my shoulder in cheerleading. I heard another pop and thought it was back in place... again she wasnt complaining of pain and was going along with her usual activities, just favoring it a bit like it were sore.
Later that night (since I thought everything was okay) her father and I decided to take her into the ER to double check everything(which everything wasnt okay... her shoulder cuff had actually been broken... I have a feeling she got a fracture when she fell and me trying to put it back in place caused it to break because medical finding state that the break was caused by her arm being bent back). They automatically assumed abuse (before they even did x-rays or found out it was broken... they assumed just by the bruising which was VERY severe... a lot we didnt even know about because it was hidden by clothing and we didnt allow her to run around the house unless she was dressed and she bathed and dressed herself, so there was no way of us seeing the full extent of the bruising) even though she flat out told them she did it when she was mad and that we didnt hurt her, but they said that the bruising couldnt have been caused by her and that no child would do that to themselves, but they dont know her and they arent looking at her past mental history.
They took her into foster care that night and came 2 nights later at 11pm and took my son... in a t-shirt and a thin blanket (which is one of the many things I am upset about reguarding the police and other law enforcment... which we plan on sueing the county/state and making it very well known how we were treated so hopefully law enforcement will have better training in these situations etc... but I wont get into that in detail right now)
Anyways, I am under investigation for felony child abuse since I was the stay at home mom and they have fed so much stuff into her head... they are saying I hurt my kids which is killing me, my kids are my life... even though my son and Shelbie's (the 7 year old with bipolar) sister who we have half the time didnt have a mark, they took the 2 younger ones saying any child that has been in our home has been abused. I dont even get to see shelbie at all. When we have our 1 hour a week supervised visitation, I dont get to even give her a hug and tell her I love her because they say I abused her. Not only am I under investigation for abuse, I am 8 1/2 months pregnant and they are saying they will also take my unborn son when he is born, and Shelbies father is under investigation for felony child neglect.
Also, someone responded asking if she is doing the same behavior in foster care. She has not been violent toward herself or others that I know of. The only things I know of is that she is blaming herself for everything and she feels its her fault and she is being punished, she has gotten increasingly depressed. She has also been wetting the bed on many occassions (which she has never done at home).
How can we tell a judge our side of the story? We cant afford a lawyer so we have a public defender which is useless since they dont ever have the time to even talk to us, let alone actually go over our case, defend us or even let a judge hear our side of the story.
What can I do to keep them from taking my unborn son and to get my 10 month old back since there were not a single mark or anything on them at all... (it is obvious if we were abusive, all the children would be hurt)?
Is there any way around these accusations or to prove the truth?
What is the usual punishment (in Idaho) if I do get charged with felony abuse and her father gets charged with felony neglect even though we didnt do anything?
What steps can we take to either file a lawsuit or anything like that to make it very well known of how we have been mistreated so that there will be better training for a couple of the cops, and health and welfare workers, and possable loss of employment or repromand for the prosecuting atty and other law enforcment for how we've been treated?
Can a lie detector test be given to all 3 of us (myself, her father and her) and be credible in court in Idaho? (I know some states wont allow them as hard evidence)
If anyone has any suggestions or advice at all, please contact me!
Needing help....
Ashley
What is the name of your state?Idaho
My (was) soon to be step daughter (who is 7) has been diagnosed with bipolar. She has had past violent tendencies toward herself and other siblings and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for about a week in July 04. In March and April of this year she had been getting mad at myself and her father for not letting her have candy, stay up late etc (typical 7 year old attitude). Every time she would get mad she would throw herself to the ground, hit herself, pinch and poke herself to the point of being so bruised that we were afraid of taking her anywhere in fear of what people would think and say. She has been to counseling and all that and nothing helped nor mattered.
In early April she had kicked my 10 month old son in the chest and made him fall hardly to the ground (my son is the same size as the 7 year old girls 22 month old sister, he this had been any smaller of a child he/she would have been seriously hurt/killed). I then took her gently by the wrist to turn her to give her a single, open handed swat on her butt... (who has never had a swat from their parents specially if they were violent toward much younger siblings...) When I had her wrist, it was gently enough where she could pull away, which she did. She pulled hard before I could turn her around for the swat and fell to the floor. I then heard a pop from the shoulder she landed on which was the opposite shoulder than the hand I was holding and from what it looked like her shoulder was dislocated. She wasnt complaining of pain that would go along with a break (which she didnt seem to feel much pain at all reguarding anything, her putting bruises on herself, hurting herself, nothing seemed to actually cause physical pain). I again thought it was dislocated so I tried minipulating it to go back into place as my family had done to me when I was younger and dislocated my shoulder in cheerleading. I heard another pop and thought it was back in place... again she wasnt complaining of pain and was going along with her usual activities, just favoring it a bit like it were sore.
Later that night (since I thought everything was okay) her father and I decided to take her into the ER to double check everything(which everything wasnt okay... her shoulder cuff had actually been broken... I have a feeling she got a fracture when she fell and me trying to put it back in place caused it to break because medical finding state that the break was caused by her arm being bent back). They automatically assumed abuse (before they even did x-rays or found out it was broken... they assumed just by the bruising which was VERY severe... a lot we didnt even know about because it was hidden by clothing and we didnt allow her to run around the house unless she was dressed and she bathed and dressed herself, so there was no way of us seeing the full extent of the bruising) even though she flat out told them she did it when she was mad and that we didnt hurt her, but they said that the bruising couldnt have been caused by her and that no child would do that to themselves, but they dont know her and they arent looking at her past mental history.
They took her into foster care that night and came 2 nights later at 11pm and took my son... in a t-shirt and a thin blanket (which is one of the many things I am upset about reguarding the police and other law enforcment... which we plan on sueing the county/state and making it very well known how we were treated so hopefully law enforcement will have better training in these situations etc... but I wont get into that in detail right now)
Anyways, I am under investigation for felony child abuse since I was the stay at home mom and they have fed so much stuff into her head... they are saying I hurt my kids which is killing me, my kids are my life... even though my son and Shelbie's (the 7 year old with bipolar) sister who we have half the time didnt have a mark, they took the 2 younger ones saying any child that has been in our home has been abused. I dont even get to see shelbie at all. When we have our 1 hour a week supervised visitation, I dont get to even give her a hug and tell her I love her because they say I abused her. Not only am I under investigation for abuse, I am 8 1/2 months pregnant and they are saying they will also take my unborn son when he is born, and Shelbies father is under investigation for felony child neglect.
Also, someone responded asking if she is doing the same behavior in foster care. She has not been violent toward herself or others that I know of. The only things I know of is that she is blaming herself for everything and she feels its her fault and she is being punished, she has gotten increasingly depressed. She has also been wetting the bed on many occassions (which she has never done at home).
How can we tell a judge our side of the story? We cant afford a lawyer so we have a public defender which is useless since they dont ever have the time to even talk to us, let alone actually go over our case, defend us or even let a judge hear our side of the story.
What can I do to keep them from taking my unborn son and to get my 10 month old back since there were not a single mark or anything on them at all... (it is obvious if we were abusive, all the children would be hurt)?
Is there any way around these accusations or to prove the truth?
What is the usual punishment (in Idaho) if I do get charged with felony abuse and her father gets charged with felony neglect even though we didnt do anything?
What steps can we take to either file a lawsuit or anything like that to make it very well known of how we have been mistreated so that there will be better training for a couple of the cops, and health and welfare workers, and possable loss of employment or repromand for the prosecuting atty and other law enforcment for how we've been treated?
Can a lie detector test be given to all 3 of us (myself, her father and her) and be credible in court in Idaho? (I know some states wont allow them as hard evidence)
If anyone has any suggestions or advice at all, please contact me!
Needing help....
Ashley