Back....and frazzled...

[Orthocat]

well....this is where I've been all week. Anyone have prozac? just kidding...

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=5674866





For what it's worth, if you watch the video you can see me talking...and we get to do it all over again next week.

Pray for the continued protection of these kids please.

(oh, and by the way, a women's prison is NOT like it looks in those late night movies :) )

[Silentchapel]

Wait, I'm confused. She says that it wasn't true that they fed the child just with soup and water - but she doesn't deny that the poor thing was chained to a bed?

[DonVA]

Lord have mercy.

I watched the video, and will continue to pray for you and these precious children.

They are very lucky to have you.

[Orthocat]

Wait, I'm confused. She says that it wasn't true that they fed the child just with soup and water - but she doesn't deny that the poor thing was chained to a bed?


Even after being found guilty they still deny everything.
I can't go into all the details but what the children went through can only be described as demonic.

[cobweb]

Even after being found guilty they still deny everything.
I can't go into all the details but what the children went through can only be described as demonic.
My cousin's wife is doing the same thing. It is mind boggling.

It is horrific that anychild is hurt like that by someone who is supposed to love them.

[DonVA]

They cannot deny that that boy was abused.

[Orthocat]

My cousin's wife is doing the same thing. It is mind boggling.

It is horrific that anychild is hurt like that by someone who is supposed to love them.


Yes, that is what is truly horrifying.


We have actually received calls from Montel Williams and Dr Phil producers, wanting to tell this story.

We're holding out for Oprah ;)

We're still under a gag order though...

[Asinner]

(((Orthocat)))

How very painful to have to go through this . . . but, what a tremendous blessing to be able to care for these wounded souls and take them to the true Hospital for healing. Indeed, these children are truly blessed.

Love,
Christina :crosseo:

[DonVA]

Yes, that is what is truly horrifying.


We have actually received calls from Montel Williams and Dr Phil producers, wanting to tell this story.

We're holding out for Oprah ;)

We're still under a gag order though...
...and we knew you "when."

[Orthocat]

...and we knew you "when."


and I always thought my family would just end up on Jerry Springer :D

[choirfiend]

Wow, I hope everything goes well for you legally and I hope those babies are able to heal. Can you say how old they all were when they were removed?

[Orthocat]

(((Orthocat)))

How very painful to have to go through this . . . but, what a tremendous blessing to be able to care for these wounded souls and take them to the true Hospital for healing. Indeed, these children are truly blessed.

Love,
Christina :crosseo:

Thank you.

It is our hope that more and more families will find room in their hearts to help any child like these. There are so many out there.

In my county alone, there are (at last count) 1100 children needing foster/adoptive parents and only 200 foster parents.

I don't know....God has put a burden on my heart, to coin a protestant phrase, to help as many as I can. I would take them all if I could.

[Orthocat]

Wow, I hope everything goes well for you legally and I hope those babies are able to heal. Can you say how old they all were when they were removed?


One boy was 10.
One little girl was 6.
One little boy was 5.

They all suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents.
Their lives were somewhere around that of "Sybil" and David Pelzer's "A Child Called It".

[Lotar]

Lord have mercy

[DonVA]

Thank you.

It is our hope that more and more families will find room in their hearts to help any child like these. There are so many out there.

In my county alone, there are (at last count) 1100 children needing foster/adoptive parents and only 200 foster parents.

I don't know....God has put a burden on my heart, to coin a protestant phrase, to help as many as I can. I would take them all if I could.
Boy, do I know that feeling. I had done some TV locally on behalf of social services to help promote single parent fostering and adoption, something a LOT of people think cannot happen. The foster care system was so desperate for parents here that they had to stoop to calling me to care for an infant :eek: , knowing that I was going this alone, worked full time, and was dealing with a very rebellious young man. There are some homes here that they "break" the rules for with regard to the number of children per adult in a household, or the number of children per bedroom, JUST to house these kids. And when you consider my son's mother has had six children, all of whom are not in her care (and all of whom were placed with different families), you can see how the little ones in the system just start literally piling up.

Orthocat, I don't know if it was the same for you, but as I was getting involved in this system, it felt like this was not a choice I was making, but what I am supposed to be doing.

[Paisley]

I used to work in a jail.... and they are all "innocent" according to themselves. It seems that there are none inside that have ever done anything wrong!

[DonVA]

Yea. My son's mother is such a victim, and she's taught my son to respond in kind. Teaching him to take responsibility for his actions has been difficult, since he's never seen an adult DO that.

[Anhelyna]

This is truly horrifying - I hope that the authorities see that she is not fit to be near these kiddies

[DonVA]

Orthocat: Has TPR happened yet? Did you say it was this month or next month?

[Orthocat]

Orthocat: Has TPR happened yet? Did you say it was this month or next month?


It is next month. DCS says it should be no problem. (The parents will appeal, but that almost always happens).


The father is claiming to have "found Jesus" again...I think this will be the 27th time, and that will be his only defense.
Oh, and the fact that the entire family made all this happen just to take the children away...

It is so bizarre to listen to them...

[Orthocat]

Orthocat, I don't know if it was the same for you, but as I was getting involved in this system, it felt like this was not a choice I was making, but what I am supposed to be doing.


Aye, if I didn't feel like I was supposed to be doing it, the system would have turned me off from it by now. It's a tough system full of glitches and red tape, and it takes a lot of patience...

But I just keep telling myself - what price could I put on the safety and welfare of a child, ya know?

[DonVA]

The appeal is just a delay in the process, and in my family's case, left a paper trail so his mom could one day claim that she fought to keep him, even though the records will show that she did not even show up in court for the appeal she called for, after having it delayed (continued) twice before.

My son had an excellent guardian ad litem, who plans to take him through is case file, page by page, when he's 18, so he understands why things happened the way they did, and what was really going on.

I just came home and said, "The judge agrees with you. You get to stay with me." Period.

[Xpycoctomos]

Isn't Joshua a minor? Why isn't his name kept private? I mean, they told very private stuff about him.

John

Now I know who you are! :)

[DonVA]

Social services saw a new side of me about 2.5 years into this, when they kept insisting that David was THEIR child, and that THEY would take care of the process, and that someone else dropped the ball two years ago, and one excuse after another, and I just needed to learn to be patient, which I thought I had been. Heading into David's 4th year in foster care, and having been introduced to five different social workers (he had me beat... I only had three!) I stood up at her desk and said "YOUR child is now MY family, and I will not let you delay permanency for him for one more minute. Either I see something happening, or his attorney will file an injunction against this department for delaying permanency for him" (something I'd cleared with his attorney ahead of time).

I demanded a supervisor be called in and that someone explain why nothing had moved on this adoption for more than six months, after being delayed a year by appeals and continuances...

Sometimes you have to MAKE the wheel squeak.

[kamikat]

You guys are doing great work!

[Xpycoctomos]

Wait... is Joshua just an assumed name? that idea just hit me.. duh...

If someone already answered thqat above, it's because I didn't refresh the page... so if you did, then thanks :)

[PrincessMommy]

I don't know....God has put a burden on my heart, to coin a protestant phrase, to help as many as I can. I would take them all if I could.

Yes, I have a similar burden. Unfortunately, my husband doesn't seem to share it. I would love to open my home to a sibling unit.


It just breaks my heart to hear about the abuse of children. Truely sad. :cry:

[Orthocat]

Isn't Joshua a minor? Why isn't his name kept private? I mean, they told very private stuff about him.

John

PS: Are you Jason Lawson? IT's coopl to see someone in their domain from TAW :) Thanks for that.


Ha, no I'm not Jason. I'm the other guy with the ugly ole face talking :) , not quite as clean cut...

And yes, Josh is a minor, and yes, they were supposed to keep his name quiet.

[Paisley]

Having been a foster-adopt mom I know a little of what you guys are going through.

[Orthocat]

Social services saw a new side of me about 2.5 years into this, when they kept insisting that David was THEIR child, and that THEY would take care of the process, and that someone else dropped the ball two years ago, and one excuse after another, and I just needed to learn to be patient, which I thought I had been. Heading into David's 4th year in foster care, and having been introduced to five different social workers (he had me beat... I only had three!) I stood up at her desk and said "YOUR child is now MY family, and I will not let you delay permanency for him for one more minute. Either I see something happening, or his attorney will file an injunction against this department for delaying permanency for him" (something I'd cleared with his attorney ahead of time).

I demanded a supervisor be called in and that someone explain why nothing had moved on this adoption for more than six months, after being delayed a year by appeals and continuances...

Sometimes you have to MAKE the wheel squeak.

so true.
We have been in the state commissioner's office before, and amazingly, due to the high profile nature of this case, things started happening while we were there.

Usually my wife handles it, but I'm pretty well hated by the defense attorneys involved, so they try to keep me out of it.

[DonVA]

so true.
We have been in the state commissioner's office before, and amazingly, due to the high profile nature of this case, things started happening while we were there.

Usually my wife handles it, but I'm pretty well hated by the defense attorneys involved, so they try to keep me out of it.
Stay in their faces. The judges in these cases know who cares about the welfare of these children and who cares only about their reputations and what people might be saying about them to hurt their feelings.

At the appeal, the judge had been asked for ANOTHER continuance, to which he replied "It is clear to this court that the people truly concerned with the welfare of this child are in this room today."

Again, for you and your wife, and especially for your children, I will continue to pray for strength and protection.

The process stinks, and your case is so much more complicated than mine, so I can only imagine the level of frustration you've reached since taking these children in.

I am sure you see the fruits of your labors in their faces, though, and when they're able to safely sleep at night with their guardian angel icons to watch over them. (An idea, by the way, that I borrowed from you to help bring my son closer to the church).

[Orthocat]

I am sure you see the fruits of your labors in their faces, though, and when they're able to safely sleep at night with their guardian angel icons to watch over them. (An idea, by the way, that I borrowed from you to help bring my son closer to the church).


:angel:
ya gotta have those, yes?


Here's another video that goes more in detail about some of what happened....

http://www.wsmv.com/news/10311698/detail.html

[ModernDaySpyridon]

Even after being found guilty they still deny everything.
I can't go into all the details but what the children went through can only be described as demonic.

I'm pretty sure that these parent's pictures would come up under dictionary entry for "Psychopath", ie, "a condition characterised by lack of empathy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy) or conscience (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscience), poor impulse control and manipulative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manipulation) behaviors"

Awful.

May our great Physician heal these children in both soul and body. :crosseo:

[Paisley]

Lord have mercy! :crosseo:

[DonVA]

It just breaks your heart. :cry:

Lord have mercy. :crosseo:

[Greg the byzantine]

God Bless you Orthocat, and everyone else involved in this process. May God continue to protect and watch over you all for great love which you wish to share with God's children.

[Xpycoctomos]

It's too bad she could only get six years.

[ByzantineDixie]

Orthocat, I am happy these children have an Uncle and Aunt that will care for them, love them and help heal the wounds. I suppose it was one of those "for such a time as this" moments for you and your wife. You knew exactly what you needed to do. What a selfless, loving act!

May your Light help to change the children's mother...no, not so she would ever have custody again, but for her repentence. :crosseo:

[Matrona]

Didn't people get longer terms for this kind of thing at Nuremburg?! :mad:Prayers for your family, Orthocat. I hope they lock up that sorry mother and throw away the key.

[Orthocat]

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support. At the age of 40...something, I would never have dreamed that I would be raising 3 more children that have been through this type of abuse.

Being a foster/adoptive parent is a hard thing, in so many ways that are different than raising your own. But as DonVA can surely testify, when one of those kids looks up at you as these do now, and says "I love you 'Poppa'"...yeah, it's worth it.

And now we are looking at adopting two more...

St John the Wonderworker, pray for us as we attempt to help these children...