My 15 year old got ripped-off by adults. Please help me help her.

What is the name of your state? WI
My daughter got into trouble, sent to foster home (250 miles away from home), worked very hard, did extremely well in school, is now home for good. While in school there she was on the yearbook staff. I bought one for her, she earned it.
She was able to come home to stay before school year ended and was not able to pick up yearbook. We assumed the school or foster "parents" would send it.
The school confirmed, by long distance phone call from me, that the foster family received the book.
Well, no reply of any sort from them since June 17,'04 after many voice mails, emails and as of this week a certified letter.
Please, any advice would be great.

Contact the agency that placed your daughter and ask for the return of her yearbook they should be able to secure it and sent it to you.

Thank you. I have been in contact with the county office quite often. They are very aware of the situation and say they get same response.

Then they need to send a case worker over, unannounced to inspect the home and retrieve the yearbook, that will have some impact. Or if they won't return it report it as stolen to the police.

I will work on that today. I appreciate your input. will be checking back here regularily. Thanks again.

So Now,

I recieved my Certified letter receipt today, assured by my local USPS worker that the signature would be signed for by an adult, it was signed by their 12 year old daughter.
Is it still proof that the letter was received and enforceable in court?
Those people keep getting over me. Short of spending money on a Lawyer or driving 500 miles (round trip) to thier door, what else is there? Sould I call their local Police? Will I be taken seriously? I need to be taken seriously.
Please Anyone?

What was this you sent, a demand letter? How many days did you give them to respond? When did they get it?
Have you tried to contact them since they received the letter?
What happened?

rmet4nzkx said:

Or if they won't return it report it as stolen to the police.

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Where do you get this stuff??? Apparently from some drug induced haze or drunken stuppor!!

The police will NOT accept a complaint of theft as it is NOT theft.

The ONLY recourse the OP has is to either try to get the book by negotiation, or if that fails, to take legal (small claims) action.

Djlong said:

I recieved my Certified letter receipt today, assured by my local USPS worker that the signature would be signed for by an adult, it was signed by their 12 year old daughter.
Is it still proof that the letter was received and enforceable in court?

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What do you mean. Presumably, this was a demand letter and if correct, there is no statutory obligation that one be sent. However, if this is in fact a notice of a lawsuit and you sent by certified mail, the signature of a 12 year old will NOT be sufficient.

Short of spending money on a Lawyer or driving 500 miles (round trip) to thier door, what else is there?

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Nothing. As noted in my previous post, your ONLY recourses are to try to negotiate the turnover of the property, or to file a small claims suit for your damages (money spent in purchasing the book).

Sould I call their local Police? Will I be taken seriously? I need to be taken seriously.

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No. No. And you won't be.

JETX said:

Where do you get this stuff??? Apparently from some drug induced haze or drunken stuppor!!

The police will NOT accept a complaint of theft as it is NOT theft.

The ONLY recourse the OP has is to either try to get the book by negotiation, or if that fails, to take legal (small claims) action.

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I don't drink but I did run out of my Synthroid but will have it later today so I only missed 1 pill and it is for my thyroid! lol!

I based the suggestion on having had a similar experience upon graduating high school early and someone thinking they were entitled to things such as yearbooks (These are quite expensive these days) since I wasn't there, so when my authorized representitive presented to collect the yearbook someone else had already collected it without the receipt, because the person handing them out also knew I wasn't there. Filing a theft report was one of my options, luckily I discovered who had stolen it and it was returned once they knew I was going to file a police report. So I have it now filled with all their autographs and notes! The police will take a report, they may not do any thing with it, it may be strong leverage. It sounds like there is more happening at the foster home than this which is why I first suggested contacting their agency.

From OP's post someone took possession of the yearbook but refused to forward it, it wasn't their's, they have refused to respond, it was stolen.
"She was able to come home to stay before school year ended and was not able to pick up yearbook. We assumed the school or foster "parents" would send it.
The school confirmed, by long distance phone call from me, that the foster family received the book.
Well, no reply of any sort from them since June 17,'04 after many voice mails, emails and as of this week a certified letter."

rmet4nzkx said:

The police will take a report, they may not do any thing with it, it may be strong leverage.

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No they won't. Your circumstance (unauthorized person taking your property) is entirely different than this one (authorized person accepting delivery of property). And yes, the foster parents ARE authorized to accept or take delivery of the yearbook. As such, this is NOT theft and your suggestions for the OP to call the police and report it as a theft is NOT correct!!

It sounds like there is more happening at the foster home than this which is why I first suggested contacting their agency.

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And what the hell makes you think that??? The fact that they apparently refuse to talk or communicate with the OP???
That means absolutely nothing and your 'leaping to some other conclusion' without any facts is simply ludicrous.

From OP's post someone took possession of the yearbook but refused to forward it, it wasn't their's, they have refused to respond, it was stolen.

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And as noted above, no it wasn't. There is NOTHING in the post to even say that the foster parents took the book. Only that "the foster family received the book". Hell, for all we know, it could have been delivered to them by limousine!!! There is NO evidence of a theft!!

From your posts I cant tell if you have ever spoken with either of the foster parents about the yearbook. Have they confirmed they have the book?

have you contacted the yearbook vendor to ask for a replacement book?

rmet4nzkx said:

What was this you sent, a demand letter? How many days did you give them to respond? When did they get it?
Have you tried to contact them since they received the letter?
What happened?

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Yes, i sent it on the 8/16/04 the 12 year old signed the return receipt on 8/18/04. The letter specifically stated to reply by email by noon 8/19/04 of thier response/intentions. And to send the book by the 8/20/04. USPS certified letter.

jetx said:

(authorized person accepting delivery of property). And yes, the foster parents ARE authorized to accept or take delivery of the yearbook. As such, this is NOT theft and your suggestions for the OP to call the police and report it as a theft is NOT correct!!

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I understand your daughter was no longer in foster care and they were no longer authorized to take her year book and that if it was somehow delivered to them. They should have notified you, their agency and or forwarded it.

If you move into a new residence, and the airmer residents fialed to leave a forwarding address with the post office or it hasn't kicked in, you cannot open or destroy their mail, you return it to the carrier. So if perchance it arrived in the mail at the foster home,that would apply, if they picked it up or it was delivered that is another situation.

stephenk said:

From your posts I cant tell if you have ever spoken with either of the foster parents about the yearbook. Have they confirmed they have the book?

have you contacted the yearbook vendor to ask for a replacement book?

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"The school confirmed, by long distance phone call from me, that the foster family received the book.
Well, no reply of any sort from them since June 17,'04 after many voice mails, emails and as of this week a certified letter."
The school confirmed the foster home received the yearbok, and she has been trying since 6-17-4 to get some reply from them and they haven't answered, per the above quotation from OP and upon which I made my suggestions.