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	<title>Connecticut &#8211; Fighter Cries</title>
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	<title>Connecticut &#8211; Fighter Cries</title>
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		<title>Mother Being Blackmailed to Marry a Stranger To Get Her Children Returned by CPS</title>
		<link>https://fightercries.org/marry-a-stranger/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Apr 2021 23:22:56 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;A&#160;young&#160; American&#160;mother’s&#160; fight&#160;&#160;for&#160; her&#160;&#160;five&#160; children”&#160;&#160;( this&#160; author’s&#160;personal&#160; fight&#160;&#160;against&#160; the&#160;&#160;department&#160; of&#160; children&#160;and&#160; families&#160; and&#160;her children&#160;as&#160; well)&#160; My adult story starts like&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org/marry-a-stranger/">Mother Being Blackmailed to Marry a Stranger To Get Her Children Returned by CPS</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org">Fighter Cries</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>&#8220;A&nbsp;young&nbsp; American&nbsp;mother’s&nbsp; fight&nbsp;&nbsp;for&nbsp; her&nbsp;&nbsp;five&nbsp; children”</strong>&nbsp;<strong>&nbsp;( this&nbsp; author’s&nbsp;personal&nbsp; fight&nbsp;&nbsp;against&nbsp; the&nbsp;&nbsp;department&nbsp; of&nbsp; children&nbsp;and&nbsp; families&nbsp; and</strong>&nbsp;<strong>her children&nbsp;as&nbsp; well)</strong>&nbsp;</p>



<p>My adult story starts like many others here in&nbsp;America,&nbsp;raised by a&nbsp;single mother along&nbsp;with a&nbsp; special needs&nbsp;little brother who&nbsp;needed most of the mama’s&nbsp;time and energy. Sometimes left to&nbsp;raise me or raised by an older&nbsp;sibling. I&nbsp;struggled to&nbsp;be a&nbsp;&nbsp;normal child in society’s eye&nbsp;and later&nbsp;a&nbsp; teen&nbsp;in&nbsp;high school. I&nbsp;found my first “true love&#8221; &nbsp;at&nbsp;Norwich&nbsp;Free&nbsp;Academy in&nbsp;Norwich Connecticut.  My senior year&nbsp;I&nbsp;was engaged to&nbsp;be married&nbsp;to&nbsp; Tim&nbsp;Guyette&nbsp;a&nbsp;man&nbsp;that quickly became my everything until the birth of our first child&nbsp;Gabriella&nbsp;Rose.  Her&nbsp;skin was so fair&nbsp;and her hair was as bright as the sun.  She was a&nbsp;true angel on earth.&nbsp;She became my main&nbsp;focus and&nbsp;stole my heart.  We soon&nbsp;found ourselves traveling two&nbsp;different paths.&nbsp; Tim&nbsp;wanted&nbsp;freedom again and&nbsp;I&nbsp;wanted&nbsp;my family with&nbsp;my&nbsp;daughter.</p>



<p></p>



<p>I soon became a single mother of a 6-month-old.  And for months I tried to get him to come home or at least be in her life. He refused and I ended up moving back home with my mother.  For a while, I went on state assistance until I got my certification as a  nursing assistant and got my first job.   I struggled with trying to work and raise my little girl alone. When I received a large sum of child support from my father, I used it to buy Gabriella needed furniture, food, clothes, diapers, and toys. As I watched my firstborn sleep, my heart longed to give my little angel, the one thing I never had growing up and always wanted, a father and a true complete family. I found myself whispering to her late at night &#8220;don&#8217;t worry my angel mommy will find you a new daddy.&#8221; I spent months praying to God to fix our broken hearts. Our silent prayers were finally answered on March 9th, 2012. An old male childhood friend of mine (John) came by for a  visit six days before Gabriella turned one year old. While he was in the act of walking into our home, and past my daughter, she spoke her first-word “dada” and smiled reaching up for him. </p>



<p>She took to him immediately, as he helped us celebrate her first birthday at&nbsp; Chuck E Cheeses. My heart finally started to heal from the pain of her not having her biological father around, and I&nbsp;could finally start letting go of the anger I&nbsp;had in me since the day he left us for his freedom. I&nbsp;found myself expressing my inner dreams and worries to God. Most nights when&nbsp;I couldn&#8217;t sleep I prayed.  I&nbsp;prayed that I&nbsp;would have the joy of bringing my daughter some siblings. I&nbsp;was later blessed with&nbsp;my first son Mason Hunter.&nbsp;The thanksgiving he was born my heart grew in&nbsp;size to&nbsp;make room&nbsp;for our new favorite little man. Gabriella loved to&nbsp;speak to him&nbsp;and called him her&nbsp; “bibble&nbsp;or butter.&#8221; We were a family.  A&nbsp;beautiful, happy, loving family.<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/d0df663e-10d8-4e4b-927a-53d236362bf4">&nbsp;</p>



<p>I&nbsp;cried tears&nbsp;of joy that night thanking God for standing by our sides&nbsp;and blessing me with&nbsp;such&nbsp;a&nbsp;happy,&nbsp;healthy little family.&nbsp;We ended up&nbsp;moving from&nbsp;the state of&nbsp; Connecticut and into&nbsp;a&nbsp; studio apartment in&nbsp;Blackstone,&nbsp; Massachusetts.  I&nbsp;began&nbsp;my new job as a&nbsp;Certified Nursing&nbsp;Assistant at&nbsp; Blackstone Nursing Home.  I was working over sixteen&nbsp;hours a&nbsp;day caring for individuals with&nbsp;complex medical&nbsp;needs who didn&#8217;t have anyone&nbsp;else in&nbsp;the world. Even when&nbsp;times got hard,&nbsp;we always made it through&nbsp;as a&nbsp; family.&nbsp;We had&nbsp;a&nbsp; roof over our heads,&nbsp;food in&nbsp;our&nbsp;stomachs,&nbsp;clothes on&nbsp;our backs, and toys to&nbsp;play with. We were clean&nbsp;and had smiles on&nbsp;our&nbsp;faces because we had each other.&nbsp;A&nbsp; year later, God blessed us&nbsp;again with&nbsp;my youngest son Dallas&nbsp;Sage. He was the complete opposite of his&nbsp;two older&nbsp;siblings,&nbsp;but just as breathtaking. Two&nbsp;days after he was born, a&nbsp;&nbsp;Department of&nbsp; Children&nbsp;and&nbsp; Families investigator in Connecticut came into&nbsp;my hospital&nbsp;room.&nbsp;Loretta Drain claimed&nbsp;she was called by a concerned&nbsp;nurse who believed I&nbsp;was homeless because I&nbsp;gave a&nbsp;Groton,&nbsp;Connecticut address, and yet I&nbsp;gave birth&nbsp;in&nbsp;Norwich,&nbsp;Connecticut. So with my&nbsp;body and mind being denied the right to&nbsp;heal,&nbsp;I was being forced to meet with&nbsp;the&nbsp;Department of&nbsp; Children&nbsp;and&nbsp;Families removal team with&nbsp;the threat of losing my children and being charged with&nbsp;neglect if I&nbsp;did not.</p>



<p><img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/9b231c78-e6f0-4778-a466-c5d50869be1a">&nbsp;</p>



<p>With&nbsp;my body still&nbsp;bleeding out&nbsp;and being drained from&nbsp;childbirth&nbsp;3&nbsp;days prior,&nbsp;I&nbsp;was forced to&nbsp;leave my three infants alone with&nbsp;strangers.  I&nbsp;faced the Connecticut&nbsp;Norwich&nbsp;Department of Children and&nbsp;Families alone,&nbsp;and my&nbsp;ex-fiance that abandoned us&nbsp;2&nbsp;years prior.  There were allegations of mental&nbsp;illness, bad parenting, and neglect&nbsp;all thrown&nbsp;at me for going to&nbsp;a&nbsp; hospital&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;different city than&nbsp;where my address was.&nbsp;As the insults and the abuse of the department raged on, I&nbsp;was forced to&nbsp;move to a&nbsp;family shelter in Danielson Connecticut.&nbsp;Far away from&nbsp;home&nbsp;with&nbsp;my three infants alone or&nbsp;I risk losing&nbsp;them. Their father&nbsp;was not even allowed to&nbsp;know where&nbsp;we were.&nbsp;As time passed slowly I&nbsp;was able&nbsp;to establish early childhood education,&nbsp;throw myself into&nbsp;3&nbsp; different parenting&nbsp;classes: a&nbsp; housing program, support&nbsp;and parent&nbsp;them&nbsp;alone, and demand a&nbsp; housing&nbsp;program from&nbsp;DCF&nbsp;since&nbsp;they forced me to leave mine&nbsp;&nbsp;(no&nbsp;mental&nbsp;health program&nbsp;was&nbsp;offered or demanded) without them&nbsp;checking it out.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The meetings&nbsp;and late nights I&nbsp;spent crying over worries for our futures threatened to&nbsp;bring me to&nbsp;the deepest abyss of emotional&nbsp;fires of hell. I&nbsp;found my body forcefully bending till&nbsp;I&nbsp;was on&nbsp;my knees&nbsp;with&nbsp;a&nbsp; strong urge to&nbsp;look up&nbsp;at the sky and speak&nbsp;my heart&#8217;s worries away&nbsp;for someone will&nbsp;always be listening.&nbsp;Days passed as&nbsp; I&nbsp;made this my nightly ritual&nbsp;after all&nbsp;my children&nbsp;were taken&nbsp;care of and safely in&nbsp;their beds. My body ached, my soul&nbsp;barely breathing,&nbsp;as my children were pressed&nbsp;together near&nbsp;me.&nbsp;While my instinct to&nbsp;protect them&nbsp;kept me on&nbsp;guard, my only companion&nbsp;was my&nbsp;thoughts&nbsp;and the&nbsp;feeling of an archangel’s protection.&nbsp;Days turned into weeks, then months, as&nbsp;I&nbsp;fought alone to keep&nbsp;us together&nbsp;and&nbsp;their spirits high.&nbsp;On a&nbsp;sunny day&nbsp;in&nbsp;May,&nbsp;a&nbsp;day&nbsp;I&nbsp;should have&nbsp;seen&nbsp;as an&nbsp;omen&nbsp;instead of a&nbsp; blessing.&nbsp;My two&nbsp;toddlers,&nbsp;Gabriella and&nbsp; Mason,&nbsp;played in&nbsp;the backyard of the&nbsp;shelter, as&nbsp; I watched them&nbsp;playing with&nbsp;Dallas on a&nbsp;blanket in&nbsp;the grass.&nbsp;</p>



<p>A&nbsp; young man by&nbsp;the name of&nbsp; Brandon&nbsp;Messier introduced himself to&nbsp;my toddlers&nbsp;and began&nbsp;playing catch with them. At&nbsp;this sight my heart was filled with&nbsp;worry&nbsp;and guilt,&nbsp;they needed their father&nbsp;and he was nowhere to be found. I&nbsp;called my children&nbsp;over to&nbsp;me quickly and&nbsp;they came as fast as&nbsp;their little legs could carry them&nbsp;and so&nbsp;did Brandon.&nbsp;We spent&nbsp;the day&nbsp;talking and getting&nbsp;to&nbsp;know each&nbsp;other.&nbsp;He expressed&nbsp;how&nbsp;he used my children to&nbsp;get the courage to come to talk&nbsp;to me.&nbsp;He thought&nbsp; I&nbsp;was an&nbsp;angel&nbsp;sitting in&nbsp;the grass.&nbsp;He talked about how horrible his childhood was, how his parents were never&nbsp;there for him&nbsp;and how his mother always kicked him&nbsp;out for her new men. I&nbsp;opened up&nbsp;to him&nbsp;about&nbsp;my difficult childhood. we&nbsp;went out to dinner a&nbsp;few times and&nbsp;I&nbsp;met his&nbsp;wicked half-sisters Rachel&nbsp;and Courtney&nbsp;and his brother&nbsp;Tyler. He helped me with my children and I&nbsp;helped him,&nbsp;we became best friends in&nbsp;my eyes.&nbsp;But that all changed when&nbsp;my children’s real&nbsp;father and&nbsp;grandmother started&nbsp;to&nbsp;come back&nbsp;around. a&nbsp; switch&nbsp;seemed to&nbsp;turn&nbsp;off inside of&nbsp;Brandon.<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/4ae38c41-4820-49ee-b0c0-22ec5a0f99d8">&nbsp;</p>



<p>His words were no longer sweet and encouraging.  Instead, they became violent, engaging, excusing and emotionally abusive every time my children left with their father. Every&nbsp;man and woman in that shelter, even his sister-in-law, told me he was no good,&nbsp;I&nbsp;wish&nbsp;I had&nbsp;listened. The only thing at this moment I&nbsp;could be grateful for is that it never happened around my children. As time went on&nbsp;I&nbsp;prayed for things to get better and they finally did in August 2014&nbsp;when I&nbsp;was able to move back home to New London, Connecticut and into my new two-bedroom apartment, just my three kids and me. I&nbsp;became employed at&nbsp;New London Rehab and Care right after I&nbsp;moved into our new home, paying my bills with the help of Connection&nbsp;inc.&nbsp;in&nbsp;Norwich. Mason and Dallas were in an early home education program called&nbsp;Birth To Three and&nbsp;Gabriella attended&nbsp;Little Learners at New&nbsp;London TVCCA, which&nbsp;I&nbsp;paid for every&nbsp;week. Everything seemed almost normal, until one evening I&nbsp;got an&nbsp;email from Brandon&nbsp;Messier telling me how sorry he was for the way he treated me and that he was on the streets and had no one to turn&nbsp;to. Little did I&nbsp;know that was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.&nbsp;Guilt overwhelmed me and flashbacks of no&nbsp;one but him being&nbsp;there to&nbsp;help&nbsp;me and my children&nbsp;were brought back to life.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I&nbsp;agreed&nbsp;to&nbsp;allow him&nbsp;to&nbsp;stay with&nbsp;me until&nbsp;he&nbsp;got back&nbsp;on his feet, but little did&nbsp;I&nbsp;know&nbsp;that&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Messier had&nbsp;plans&nbsp;of his&nbsp;own. At first, the days seemed&nbsp;to be&nbsp;following&nbsp;a&nbsp;normal lifestyle&nbsp;routine. Gabby&nbsp;attended&nbsp;school, while&nbsp;Mason and Dallas&nbsp;came&nbsp;with me&nbsp;to be&nbsp;dropped&nbsp;off at their fathers&#8217;. Then&nbsp;I&nbsp;went&nbsp;to work and&nbsp;willingly complied with the parenting&nbsp;programs the state was making me do.&nbsp;John came&nbsp;around&nbsp;more to watch our children at&nbsp;my&nbsp;home&nbsp;since I was&nbsp;doing&nbsp;double&nbsp;night shifts. Brandon became aggressive&nbsp;once more.  As time went on&nbsp;he stole money from my children’s piggybanks, stole&nbsp;the money I gave&nbsp;him to pick up medicine&nbsp;for my sick&nbsp;children, threatened&nbsp;to beat&nbsp;John’s&nbsp;head in if he came around. He continually emotionally and verbally abused me. &nbsp;</p>



<p>I once again found&nbsp; myself turning to&nbsp;God praying&nbsp;for away&nbsp;to protect&nbsp;my&nbsp; children and&nbsp;myself.  Brandon was&nbsp; home less and&nbsp;less claiming&nbsp;he&nbsp;was&nbsp; spending time with&nbsp;family. I&nbsp;found&nbsp;myself&nbsp;most nights&nbsp;sleeping&nbsp;on the floor&nbsp;in my&nbsp;children’s&nbsp;room against the&nbsp;door so&nbsp;that&nbsp;he&nbsp;could&nbsp;not&nbsp;get&nbsp;in if&nbsp; he&nbsp;&nbsp;tried.  One&nbsp;night&nbsp;my&nbsp; world&nbsp;changed&nbsp; forever.  I just worked&nbsp; another&nbsp;late&nbsp;night&nbsp;shift&nbsp;as&nbsp;a&nbsp;CNA.  John had been watching the&nbsp;children while I was&nbsp;working. After I got home and John left for the evening l checked&nbsp;on&nbsp;all my&nbsp;children to make sure they were okay and kiss them goodnight.</p>



<p>I was exhausted from work and I dragged&nbsp;my aching body into a hot shower. Time&nbsp;flew&nbsp;by and when I&nbsp;finally&nbsp;decided&nbsp;to&nbsp;get&nbsp;out&nbsp;I&nbsp;wrapped myself in a towel and headed to my room.  I&nbsp;didn&#8217;t feel Brandon&#8217;s presence&nbsp;until he was ripping my&nbsp;towel away from me.&nbsp;The look&nbsp;in his&nbsp;eyes when I turn around to face him will&nbsp;haunt&nbsp;me forever.  My&nbsp;body&nbsp;froze&nbsp;as he&nbsp;pushed me onto&nbsp;the&nbsp;sheets&nbsp;behind me.  As he forced himself onto me I automatically started fighting&nbsp;back.  My nails dug&nbsp;into the soft&nbsp;skin&nbsp;on&nbsp;his&nbsp;face&nbsp;and I begged him to leave me alone.&nbsp;The scent&nbsp;of&nbsp;his&nbsp;red&nbsp;Marvrick cigarettes&nbsp;mixed&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;smell&nbsp;of&nbsp;beer made me feel sick and dizzy.  He smiled&nbsp;as&nbsp;he leaned into me while&nbsp;ripping my&nbsp;bruised&nbsp;legs&nbsp;apart. He whispered, “&nbsp;Now&nbsp;&nbsp;Kirsten you wouldn&#8217;t&nbsp;want to&nbsp;wake up&nbsp;your&nbsp; children now would&nbsp;you?&#8221; I lost my fight after that.</p>



<p>After&nbsp;he&nbsp;left I&nbsp;called&nbsp;up John&nbsp;and&nbsp;told&nbsp;him&nbsp;everything.  He came right away and held&nbsp;me&nbsp;in&nbsp;his strong&nbsp;arms until&nbsp;I&nbsp;was&nbsp;able&nbsp;to calm down&nbsp;enough to shower and&nbsp;talk&nbsp;to&nbsp;the New&nbsp;London&nbsp;Police Department.  John stayed&nbsp;with&nbsp;me that night on&nbsp;one&nbsp;side&nbsp;of the&nbsp;couch while&nbsp;I&nbsp;stayed on&nbsp;the&nbsp;other.&nbsp;That night&nbsp;the&nbsp;nightmares were fierce&nbsp;and&nbsp;when&nbsp;dawn finally&nbsp;came I&nbsp;was drenched in sweat. Still&nbsp;managed with&nbsp;John&#8217;s help to seek counseling. I somehow found the&nbsp;strength&nbsp;to&nbsp;move&nbsp;on&nbsp;and be a&nbsp;good mother&nbsp;to my&nbsp;three toddlers.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>As the days passed I&nbsp;became&nbsp;very sick and&nbsp;weak.  The symptoms were familiar&nbsp;and it was&nbsp;confirmed by my doctor that I&nbsp;&nbsp;was once again pregnant.&nbsp;There was a&nbsp;75%&nbsp;chance it was my rapist’s baby. Flashbacks started to&nbsp;come rapidly&nbsp;to&nbsp;the point where I&nbsp;couldn&#8217;t&nbsp;catch&nbsp;my&nbsp;breath. Sometimes my&nbsp;chest&nbsp;felt&nbsp;like it was going to jump&nbsp;out of my chest.&nbsp;That night after we put the children to&nbsp;bed,&nbsp;John&nbsp;and&nbsp;I&nbsp;talked about the pregnancy and&nbsp;my fears.&nbsp;His words that night will&nbsp;always stay with me.  He promised to always be there for me.  He said that no&nbsp;matter&nbsp;whose&nbsp;DNA&nbsp; flows through the baby’s blood that he would always be there for us. he said that the baby deserved&nbsp;to&nbsp;be&nbsp;held&nbsp;and loved&nbsp;by a family. He told me that he would be the father of this child as&nbsp;much&nbsp;as he was&nbsp;the father of our other 3 children. He told me that&nbsp;God wouldn&#8217;t have given us&nbsp;this&nbsp;child if we were unworthy.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Month&nbsp;after month&nbsp;I continued caregiving&nbsp;while nurturing&nbsp;the growing baby inside of me.&nbsp;My thoughts went from thinking that I&nbsp;couldn&#8217;t carry&nbsp;&nbsp; Brandon&#8217;s&nbsp;baby to she is mine now and I was willing to do whatever it took to make it work.  A Snow storm&nbsp;hit us hard in&nbsp;the winter&nbsp;of 2014. John&nbsp;was willing&nbsp;to drive me to work but I was worried about having to take the children with us with all the snow on the road.  At 8 months pregnant, I was prepared to walk back and forth to work if I had to.  Missing work as a CNA was inexcusable and I needed to continue financially taking care of my kids.</p>



<p>I&nbsp;continued to&nbsp;work&nbsp;as a&nbsp;caregiver. Sometimes&nbsp;I&nbsp;even&nbsp;brought my children to&nbsp;see the residents and staff. I&nbsp;always believed that this type of&nbsp;environment teaches children&nbsp;at a&nbsp;&nbsp;young age how to&nbsp;show compassion and helps them understand how to&nbsp;care&nbsp;for others.&nbsp;Holidays and birthdays have passed. My children&nbsp;continued to&nbsp;grow&nbsp;and&nbsp;play&nbsp;happily&nbsp;with no&nbsp;worries.&nbsp; Mr. Messier&#8217;s nightmares&nbsp;of my rape by&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Messier started&nbsp;to&nbsp;retreat&nbsp;to&nbsp;the back&nbsp;of&nbsp;my&nbsp;mind.  &#8220;We are diligently prepared&nbsp;for&nbsp;the&nbsp;new&nbsp;addition to our family,&#8221;&nbsp;Waterford&nbsp;Juvenile Court&nbsp;judge&nbsp;Michael&nbsp;Mack&nbsp;ordered DCF to leave us alone. All&nbsp;appointments were being met&nbsp;and my pregnancy was going well.</p>



<p>The day&nbsp;I&nbsp;went into&nbsp;labor with&nbsp;my daughter&nbsp;Lillyana started off like any other. I&nbsp;was at my Aunt&nbsp;Debra&#8217;s house for&nbsp;a&nbsp;picnic.  Gabriella, Mason, and Dallas were all running&nbsp;around&nbsp;her backyard&nbsp;with&nbsp;their younger cousins&nbsp;laughing,&nbsp;bonding, and eating as&nbsp;the adults talked. For any&nbsp;stranger walking&nbsp;by&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp;street,&nbsp;the view would have been&nbsp;the hallmark&nbsp;version of a&nbsp; happy family getting together on&nbsp;a&nbsp;nice summer&nbsp;day.&nbsp; As day&nbsp;turned into&nbsp;night,&nbsp;my swollen body&nbsp;went into&nbsp;overdrive and&nbsp;the intense&nbsp;labor pains&nbsp;began. I&nbsp;called out to my big brothers&nbsp;Brian&nbsp;and&nbsp; John. Brian&nbsp;offered to&nbsp;watch Gabriella, Mason,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Dallas,&nbsp;while John&nbsp;drove me to&nbsp;the hospital. I was admitted to&nbsp;Lawrence&nbsp;Memorial Hospital in New&nbsp;London as soon as we arrived.</p>



<p>While&nbsp;the doctor prepared&nbsp;me&nbsp;for my&nbsp;delivery, I&nbsp;whispered a prayer quietly to God.&nbsp; Two&nbsp;hours later my sweet&nbsp;Lillyana was born.<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/ce775848-e6b6-47c6-888b-6a56f633a471">&nbsp;Her cries were as&nbsp;soft as the ocean,&nbsp;her blue eyes closed shining bright as I watched her take her&nbsp;first breath&nbsp;in&nbsp;this world. My baby girl weighed 8lbs and 13 oz.  She was healthy and safe and I thanked God for that.</p>



<p>Our&nbsp;first&nbsp;night&nbsp;home&nbsp;was&nbsp;uneventful. We&nbsp;spent&nbsp;it&nbsp;playing&nbsp;&nbsp;games&nbsp; and&nbsp;watching&nbsp;movies&nbsp;after&nbsp;dinner. The&nbsp;children were all&nbsp;bathed&nbsp;and&nbsp; in&nbsp;bed&nbsp; for the night. John and I had&nbsp;kissed&nbsp;their&nbsp; heads&nbsp;and&nbsp;said&nbsp;good night, sweet&nbsp;dreams, and&nbsp; love&nbsp;you to&nbsp;the&nbsp;moon&nbsp;and&nbsp;back.  After&nbsp; leaving&nbsp;their&nbsp; room I sat&nbsp; outside the bedroom&nbsp;door just listening&nbsp; to them breathing.&nbsp; John&nbsp;drew&nbsp; me&nbsp;&nbsp;a&nbsp; hot&nbsp; bath.&nbsp;My&nbsp; heart&nbsp;is still in&nbsp;bliss&nbsp;and&nbsp;&nbsp;finally&nbsp;ready&nbsp; to&nbsp;move&nbsp; past&nbsp;my&nbsp; abusive&nbsp; past. I started&nbsp;to feel like&nbsp;my&nbsp;nightmares&nbsp;were finally over.  When&nbsp;my bath was finally ready and&nbsp; I was sure our children were asleep I slipped&nbsp;deep into the&nbsp;water&#8217;s&nbsp;warm embrace.  My&nbsp; body&nbsp;began to lose&nbsp;the&nbsp;cramping aches and&nbsp; pains of&nbsp; childbirth. As&nbsp; the&nbsp; water&nbsp;massaged&nbsp;me gently a&nbsp;soft&nbsp; melody&nbsp;slowly played&nbsp;from my&nbsp; bathroom speaker.  Exhaustion swept its way into my&nbsp; body and carried me&nbsp;off into dreamland for a&nbsp;visit. </p>



<p>Several weeks&nbsp;ago,&nbsp;through the Department of Children and Families,&nbsp; social&nbsp;worker&nbsp; Karina Klemm stopped&nbsp;by&nbsp;one&nbsp;last&nbsp; time to&nbsp;see&nbsp;my&nbsp;children.  She  checked on all of my children including&nbsp;my&nbsp;newborn&nbsp;and&nbsp;on the condition of&nbsp;my&nbsp;home.&nbsp;She&nbsp; finally&nbsp;states&nbsp;“ all&nbsp;is&nbsp;well&nbsp;and the&nbsp;case&nbsp;is&nbsp;closed”.  My&nbsp; body&nbsp;is still trying to heal from childbirth as I cook, clean&nbsp;my&nbsp;home&nbsp; and care for my children. I along with John&nbsp;bring&nbsp;Gabriella&nbsp;to school&nbsp;every&nbsp; morning&nbsp; in&nbsp;our&nbsp;black&nbsp;jeep.  After that, we&nbsp;head&nbsp;home&nbsp;for&nbsp;Mason&nbsp;and&nbsp; Dallas&#8217;s&nbsp;early special&nbsp;needs&nbsp; home services. Their education was&nbsp;going&nbsp; well&nbsp;due&nbsp; to&nbsp;our&nbsp; involvement.&nbsp;</p>



<p></p>



<p>On June 10th&nbsp;2015 we&nbsp;loaded&nbsp;up&nbsp;the&nbsp;van&nbsp;we&nbsp;borrowed&nbsp;and&nbsp;took&nbsp;the&nbsp; children&nbsp;to&nbsp;see Doctor Parkash in Norwich,&nbsp;Connecticut.  When&nbsp;we&nbsp;arrived&nbsp; I took&nbsp;Lillyana&nbsp;out&nbsp;of her&nbsp;car&nbsp;seat&nbsp;and&nbsp;placed&nbsp;her&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;sling&nbsp;on&nbsp;my&nbsp; chest.  As we&nbsp;waited&nbsp;to be seen by&nbsp;the&nbsp;doctor, I&nbsp;filled&nbsp;out&nbsp;the&nbsp;paperwork&nbsp;for&nbsp; Lillyana&nbsp;and&nbsp;Gabriella.&nbsp;When&nbsp;their&nbsp;names&nbsp;were&nbsp;called John&nbsp;agreed&nbsp; to&nbsp;watch&nbsp;the&nbsp;boys&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;playroom while I&nbsp;took&nbsp;the&nbsp; girls&nbsp;to&nbsp;their&nbsp; appointment.  Everything&nbsp;seemed to be going well.&nbsp;Their&nbsp;weight and height&nbsp;were&nbsp;normal&nbsp;for&nbsp;their&nbsp;percentile,&nbsp;they were not in pain or sick. They were both healthy.</p>



<p>John&nbsp;left that night to&nbsp;go to&nbsp;Massachusetts&nbsp;with&nbsp;his mother&nbsp;to get some things&nbsp;we left&nbsp;up&nbsp;there.  I&nbsp;begged&nbsp; him&nbsp;not&nbsp; to&nbsp;go, I had a bad feeling and I tried telling him I wasn&#8217;t feeling&nbsp;well.&nbsp;But&nbsp;after&nbsp;arguing&nbsp;with&nbsp;him for awhile,&nbsp;he left anyway. &nbsp;</p>



<p>She sounded like a beast pounding at&nbsp; my&nbsp;door the next day.  I&nbsp;walked&nbsp;to the&nbsp;door feeling afraid&nbsp;of&nbsp;whoever was&nbsp;on the&nbsp;other&nbsp;side.  Her name was Natasha Reed.  She was about forty , tall , with cruel black eyes&nbsp;like that of a demon.  She&nbsp; claimed she&nbsp;was&nbsp;an investigator for the&nbsp; Department&nbsp; of Children and&nbsp; Families. When&nbsp;I&nbsp;told&nbsp;her&nbsp;our&nbsp;case&nbsp;was closed she stated&nbsp;that an anonymous&nbsp;caller&nbsp;claimed I&nbsp;was driving&nbsp; unsafely&nbsp;with my newborn in a&nbsp; green&nbsp;truck.</p>



<p>Dallas&nbsp; cried&nbsp; from&nbsp;his&nbsp; bedroom.  She&nbsp;&nbsp;offered&nbsp;to&nbsp;get&nbsp;him&nbsp;for&nbsp;me&nbsp;as&nbsp; if I&nbsp;should&nbsp;not&nbsp;be&nbsp;alone&nbsp;with&nbsp;my&nbsp; own&nbsp;child &#8220;No&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp; alright&nbsp; I got&nbsp;&nbsp;him.&#8221; I made my way back to Dallas&#8217;s room..<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/93701dba-45a3-4620-b96e-78b5617a2a8d"><img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/d3eb0a6d-9833-4818-8b24-6230f3cf7d83"><img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/dbe2d484-438d-4332-a641-359547c1e7f0">&nbsp; After&nbsp; I&nbsp;took&nbsp;Dallas&nbsp;from&nbsp;his&nbsp;crib, I&nbsp;came&nbsp; back&nbsp;into&nbsp;the&nbsp; living&nbsp; room&nbsp;and&nbsp;placed&nbsp;him in his walker.  He&nbsp; eats&nbsp;his&nbsp;food&nbsp;and&nbsp; plays&nbsp;with&nbsp;his&nbsp;toy&nbsp;quietly, while&nbsp;Gabriella&nbsp;and&nbsp; Mason&nbsp;laugh&nbsp;and&nbsp;play&nbsp;around&nbsp;the&nbsp;house.  I started cleaning up around&nbsp;the&nbsp; house while&nbsp;answering the&nbsp;&nbsp;investigator’s&nbsp;questions.  She&nbsp;watches&nbsp;me for a reaction&nbsp;as&nbsp;she&nbsp;picks&nbsp;up&nbsp;my&nbsp;one&nbsp;year&nbsp;old&nbsp; son&nbsp;and&nbsp; places&nbsp;him&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp; floor,&nbsp;without&nbsp; my&nbsp; permission.  Her&nbsp;eyes&nbsp;scanned&nbsp;my&nbsp; home and she wrote&nbsp; down&nbsp;her observations,&nbsp;which&nbsp; I would&nbsp; later find&nbsp;&nbsp;out&nbsp; were exaggerated&nbsp; so&nbsp;she&nbsp; could&nbsp;steal&nbsp;my&nbsp; children, with&nbsp; Waterford&nbsp;&nbsp;Juvenile&nbsp; Court’s&nbsp;permission.&nbsp;&nbsp;She coerced&nbsp;me&nbsp;into&nbsp;signing&nbsp;a&nbsp;safety&nbsp;plan&nbsp;for&nbsp; my&nbsp;children.&nbsp;That day I let all my children go home with my niece so John and I could comply with the safety plan.</p>



<p>When John came home the&nbsp;worker&nbsp;explained to him that we needed&nbsp;to&nbsp; clean our house and that I&nbsp;needed to go see a doctor.  The worker was concerned that I was still feeling pain from Lilyanna’s birth.  She stated that&nbsp;they&nbsp;would&nbsp;come&nbsp;see&nbsp;our&nbsp;&nbsp;home&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp; morning&nbsp;and then&nbsp;we would have&nbsp;a&nbsp; meeting&nbsp;&nbsp;about&nbsp;my&nbsp; children&nbsp;coming&nbsp; home.  No&nbsp;one explained what our rights were or anything, but&nbsp;we&nbsp;got&nbsp;right&nbsp;to&nbsp;work&nbsp;on&nbsp;making&nbsp; everything&nbsp;perfect&nbsp;for their&nbsp;&nbsp;inspection. With&nbsp;a&nbsp;spotless&nbsp;home&nbsp;and&nbsp;a&nbsp;clean&nbsp; bill&nbsp;of&nbsp; health&nbsp;from&nbsp;Lawrence&nbsp; Memorial,&nbsp;we&nbsp; met&nbsp; with&nbsp;the&nbsp; Department&nbsp; of Children&nbsp;and&nbsp;Families&nbsp; in&nbsp;Norwich,&nbsp;Connecticut.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Walking&nbsp;into&nbsp;that meeting my&nbsp;lungs&nbsp;felt&nbsp;like they were on&nbsp;fire, my&nbsp; heart&nbsp;threatened to&nbsp;break&nbsp;free of&nbsp;my&nbsp;chest.  I don&#8217;t want this to go&nbsp;any&nbsp; further. My&nbsp;sister&nbsp; Jenny&nbsp;was there&nbsp;along&nbsp;with&nbsp;my&nbsp;Aunt&nbsp;Linda, two women that I&nbsp;never&nbsp;knew&nbsp;and&nbsp;who&nbsp;never knew&nbsp;me besides&nbsp;the blood we&nbsp;share&nbsp; from&nbsp;my&nbsp; mother.&nbsp;Never&nbsp;did&nbsp;I think&nbsp;they&nbsp; would&nbsp;hate&nbsp;me&nbsp;so much&nbsp;as&nbsp; to&nbsp;join&nbsp;the&nbsp;enemy.&nbsp;The&nbsp; meeting&nbsp;started&nbsp;with&nbsp;everyone&nbsp; introducing&nbsp;&nbsp;themselves&nbsp; and&nbsp;all&nbsp;of us&nbsp;signing&nbsp; in.  The investigator&#8217;s concerns&nbsp;were that our&nbsp;home&nbsp;wasn&#8217;t clean enough and she was&nbsp;concerned based on her own observation that I had&nbsp; postpartum depression.</p>



<p>My&nbsp; children&nbsp;first ended&nbsp;up&nbsp;first&nbsp;being&nbsp;split&nbsp;up&nbsp;into&nbsp;three of my&nbsp;relative&#8217;s&nbsp;homes,&nbsp; also&nbsp;known&nbsp;as&nbsp;Kinship&nbsp;Care.  John&nbsp;and&nbsp;I&nbsp;were&nbsp;allowed to&nbsp;go to&nbsp;their&nbsp; homes&nbsp;everyday, whenever we&nbsp;wanted, as&nbsp; long&nbsp;as&nbsp;it&nbsp;was&nbsp; okay&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp; foster&nbsp; parents.&nbsp;We&nbsp;brought&nbsp;food, clothes,&nbsp;toys, took&nbsp;many&nbsp; pictures&nbsp;and&nbsp;made&nbsp;sure&nbsp;we&nbsp;told&nbsp;our&nbsp;confused&nbsp;scared&nbsp; children&nbsp;we&nbsp; love&nbsp;them, that&nbsp;we&nbsp;will&nbsp;come back&nbsp;for&nbsp;them, and that&nbsp;everything&nbsp;would&nbsp; be ok.  I was still breastfeeding&nbsp;Lillyana often&nbsp;and I made&nbsp;sure she&nbsp;had&nbsp; plenty&nbsp;of&nbsp; breastmilk before I had to leave each visit.</p>



<p>I&nbsp;found&nbsp;a&nbsp;parenting&nbsp;class&nbsp;that&nbsp;complied&nbsp;with&nbsp;my&nbsp;work&nbsp;schedule as&nbsp;a&nbsp; nursing&nbsp;assistant.&nbsp;My&nbsp;parenting&nbsp;class was&nbsp;a&nbsp;52&nbsp;hour&nbsp;intensive&nbsp;parenting&nbsp; class&nbsp;that&nbsp;talked&nbsp;about&nbsp;everything&nbsp;from&nbsp;potty training&nbsp; to&nbsp;sexuality.  I&nbsp;took very&nbsp;detailed notes&nbsp; (<strong>respondents&nbsp;evidence&nbsp;QQ)</strong>.  My notes&nbsp;included&nbsp;a&nbsp;fire&nbsp; safety&nbsp;plan, a meal plan&nbsp;for&nbsp;3&nbsp;meals and 2 snacks&nbsp;a&nbsp;day for each&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;kids.  I&nbsp;also put together a routine for all&nbsp;of&nbsp;them.  </p>



<p>While I&nbsp;was&nbsp;doing all of this the&nbsp;foster&nbsp;parents&nbsp;were&nbsp;complaining&nbsp;to the&nbsp;department asking&nbsp;for financial help&nbsp;and&nbsp;vouchers&nbsp;for&nbsp;my children.  After two&nbsp;months on&nbsp;August&nbsp;18th, 2015,&nbsp;everything&nbsp;began&nbsp;to&nbsp;get worse. Mason&nbsp;and&nbsp; Gabriella moved to&nbsp;my&nbsp;Aunt Debra’s&nbsp; (their second&nbsp;home since DCF took&nbsp;them) Lillyana was moved&nbsp;to&nbsp;my&nbsp;cousin&nbsp;Jessica’s (her second home since DCF), and&nbsp;Dallas&nbsp;stayed&nbsp;where he&nbsp;was.  At&nbsp;first&nbsp;I was okay with&nbsp;three&nbsp;of my children&nbsp;staying with&nbsp;my aunt and cousin, as long&nbsp;as our visits continued normally.  My&nbsp;aunt&nbsp;and&nbsp; I were close.  I&nbsp;used to&nbsp;take my&nbsp;children to&nbsp;see her&nbsp;all&nbsp;the time.&nbsp;So&nbsp;I&nbsp;knew they&nbsp;would be comfortable and feel&nbsp;safe until&nbsp;I could&nbsp;get them&nbsp;home.&nbsp;As&nbsp;for my son&nbsp;Dallas, I&nbsp;was being&nbsp;blocked&nbsp;from&nbsp;seeing him&nbsp;more&nbsp;and&nbsp;more. My cousin Crystal&nbsp;Magee avoided&nbsp;all&nbsp;my phone calls. I contacted&nbsp;the Department&nbsp;of&nbsp;Children&nbsp;and families to speak to&nbsp;my caseworker&nbsp;Ted Parmelee&nbsp;and his&nbsp;supervisor&nbsp;Doug&nbsp; Howard&nbsp;about&nbsp;my concerns for my son&nbsp;Dallas.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>All&nbsp;this&nbsp;while&nbsp;my court-appointed attorney&nbsp;Michael&nbsp;Miller kept telling me to&nbsp;commit my kids or else face&nbsp;criminal&nbsp;charges and then I&#8217;ll&nbsp;never get&nbsp;them back, and&nbsp;there won&#8217;t even be a trial.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>I&nbsp;finally&nbsp;hired my own&nbsp;attorney by&nbsp;the name of&nbsp; Lisa&nbsp;Vincent.  As the weeks&nbsp;went by I&nbsp;continued my classes and visits with&nbsp;my children. I&nbsp;tried my&nbsp;best to&nbsp;stay positive around my children.&nbsp;My mind was with&nbsp;my children,&nbsp;especially my son Dallas.  Until&nbsp;one day,&nbsp;he arrived at my Aunt Debra&#8217;s with Ted Parmelee, his&nbsp;body&nbsp;was all skin&nbsp;and bones,&nbsp;his once beautiful&nbsp;blue eyes dull and sad. I&nbsp;took&nbsp;one look&nbsp;at him&nbsp;and pulled him&nbsp;out of the social&nbsp;worker&#8217;s arms&nbsp;and held him&nbsp;tight.</p>



<p>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I&nbsp;called&nbsp;up&nbsp;my only&nbsp;ally, my&nbsp;big&nbsp;sister&nbsp;Kimberly&nbsp;and begged her to&nbsp;help&nbsp;Dallas because I&nbsp;was afraid he would&nbsp;die.&nbsp;  I explained&nbsp;to&nbsp;her everything I had seen. She said she would go over&nbsp;there with&nbsp;my aunt Linda and demand that they take him&nbsp;to&nbsp;the hospital.&nbsp;The next day I called my attorney&nbsp;Lisa&nbsp;Vincent to&nbsp;update her on&nbsp;everything.&nbsp;My son was&nbsp;rushed to&nbsp;Connecticut Children’s&nbsp;Medical Center in&nbsp;New&nbsp;Haven and diagnosed with a broken wrist, brain&nbsp;damage,&nbsp;burns,&nbsp;hair loss, weight loss, and broken&nbsp;ribs (child&nbsp;advocate report&nbsp;available).&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/b20a9309-8d6b-4084-9ed6-35435978e826"><img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/e4ff9be5-dd7a-454a-8010-956bc9485fbf">&nbsp;</p>



<p>I was&nbsp;heartbroken when my visit was over and I left him alone that night. The look&nbsp;on&nbsp;his face&nbsp;was&nbsp;a&nbsp;look of betrayal and abandonment. I&nbsp;went&nbsp;home and&nbsp;cried the&nbsp;tears&nbsp;that&nbsp;I&nbsp;had to hold in&nbsp;for&nbsp;my children’s sake. I will&nbsp;never get&nbsp;the&nbsp;look&nbsp;of&nbsp;&#8220;mommy don&#8217;t&nbsp;go, why are&nbsp;you leaving&nbsp;me&#8221; out&nbsp;of&nbsp;my mind.  For&nbsp;three&nbsp;months&nbsp;my&nbsp;son&nbsp;Dallas was in&nbsp;the hospital.  I made&nbsp;the trip&nbsp;up&nbsp;there&nbsp;to&nbsp;New Haven which&nbsp;was&nbsp;an hour both ways every&nbsp;day. </p>



<p>I began to miss a lot of work.  The&nbsp;visitations&nbsp;(which&nbsp;my&nbsp;job&nbsp;did not&nbsp;let me&nbsp;use&nbsp;medical&nbsp;leave for) would change and I would have to take last-minute days off.  But&nbsp;I&nbsp;kept&nbsp;my&nbsp;visitations&nbsp;with&nbsp;all&nbsp;my&nbsp;children.&nbsp;Not once&nbsp;did&nbsp;their&nbsp;attorney or&nbsp;one&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;children’s&nbsp;attorneys&nbsp;contact&nbsp;John&nbsp;and me&nbsp;or visit our&nbsp;home. The&nbsp;guilt of&nbsp;the&nbsp;pain&nbsp;and the harm&nbsp;they&nbsp;were&nbsp;going through was&nbsp;eating&nbsp;me&nbsp;alive.  I&nbsp;had&nbsp;no one to turn to, the&nbsp; Department of&nbsp; Children&nbsp;and&nbsp;Families&nbsp;made&nbsp;sure of&nbsp;that. </p>



<p>I&nbsp;had an&nbsp;evaluation through&nbsp;my&nbsp;own&nbsp;therapist&nbsp;Nora&nbsp;through Connecticut Behavioral Health and&nbsp;the results&nbsp;came back&nbsp;with clear judgment,&nbsp;in touch with&nbsp;reality, able to&nbsp;make&nbsp;sound&nbsp;decisions,&nbsp;her&nbsp;moods&nbsp;in&nbsp;check and&nbsp;understandable&nbsp;due&nbsp;to&nbsp;circumstances, recovering&nbsp;from&nbsp;her&nbsp;rape&nbsp;well.(Respondent evidence&nbsp;&nbsp;R). Evidence&nbsp;later&nbsp;displayed&nbsp;in the trial&nbsp;by my&nbsp;attorney&nbsp;Lisa&nbsp;Vincent&nbsp;shows&nbsp;the&nbsp;Department of&nbsp;Children&nbsp;and&nbsp;Families sharing&nbsp;their version&nbsp;of&nbsp;exaggerated&nbsp;truth with my&nbsp;children&#8217;s biological&nbsp;father and&nbsp;family members and including foster&nbsp;parents&nbsp;who&nbsp;are not family. While starting&nbsp;a&nbsp; “witch hunt”&nbsp;by words&nbsp;of&nbsp;family members&nbsp;Joyce&nbsp;Barrios, Debra&nbsp;Post, Linda&nbsp;Barrios, Britney&nbsp;Post, (respondent evidence cc and dd),&nbsp;evidence&nbsp;shows&nbsp;alternative&nbsp;motivation to steal my children&nbsp;for cash&nbsp;(<strong>title</strong>&nbsp;<strong>5e&nbsp;funding</strong>).&nbsp;</p>



<p>Our visitations were moved to&nbsp;a third party and out in the&nbsp;community twice&nbsp;a week for two&nbsp;hours.&nbsp;The provider given&nbsp;to us at first was through Noank&nbsp;Behavioral&nbsp;Health and&nbsp;was&nbsp;fired for&nbsp;stealing.  The next provider they gave us was&nbsp;Ms.&nbsp;Kayla&nbsp;Laing,&nbsp;a&nbsp; woman&nbsp;of&nbsp;age&nbsp;22,&nbsp;with no children of&nbsp;her own&nbsp;and no&nbsp;experience with&nbsp;children&nbsp;besides babysitting.&nbsp;Our&nbsp; visits&nbsp;were&nbsp; moved into one of&nbsp;the provider&#8217;s homes for pregnant teenagers, then&nbsp;a&nbsp; camp&nbsp;for&nbsp; LGBT&nbsp;teenagers. Though it&nbsp;was&nbsp;a&nbsp;house the toys&nbsp;were&nbsp; very&nbsp; few&nbsp;and&nbsp; broken.&nbsp;<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/e8dd17a2-d122-408d-acb5-8f43537f499a">&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" width="768" height="1024" src="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-4.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-7163" srcset="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-4.jpeg 225w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-4.jpeg 450w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-4.jpeg 600w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-4.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></figure>



<p>.<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/52f353dc-4b2e-4873-9278-e0282e2cb563"><img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/ed682db1-b08d-4b2d-9d17-17596960505b">  During the visits no parental guidance was&nbsp;given.  All&nbsp;the&nbsp; provider&nbsp;did was&nbsp;sit&nbsp;on&nbsp;her&nbsp; phone&nbsp;and&nbsp;computer.  Even after the visits,&nbsp;there&nbsp;was&nbsp;no review or&nbsp;guidance.&nbsp;<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/ba41dbe0-57f2-45c1-afd2-052eeed2fab1">&nbsp; She told&nbsp;DCF&nbsp; that&nbsp;I&nbsp;was&nbsp;unfit&nbsp;and could&nbsp;not&nbsp; recommend&nbsp;reunification.</p>



<p></p>



<p>The department&nbsp;requested&nbsp;in&nbsp;court in&nbsp;January&nbsp;2016&nbsp;that&nbsp;John&nbsp;and&nbsp; I&nbsp;submit to physiological&nbsp;evaluations&nbsp;for&nbsp;our&nbsp;mental&nbsp;health&nbsp;and to evaluate our&nbsp; interactions with our children.&nbsp; John&nbsp;and&nbsp; I&nbsp;both&nbsp;agreed&nbsp; that&nbsp;we&nbsp; had&nbsp; nothing to hide. Our&nbsp;evaluations&nbsp;are&nbsp;set&nbsp;for&nbsp;February&nbsp;18th 2016.  It was a five hour test. &nbsp;The&nbsp;test&nbsp;started&nbsp;off&nbsp;&nbsp;with John&nbsp;and&nbsp; I&nbsp;separated. When&nbsp;it&nbsp; came&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Ink Blot Test, I&nbsp;told Dr. Kelly Rogers I didn&#8217;t&nbsp;see&nbsp;anything but he&nbsp;kept&nbsp;demanding that I have to&nbsp;see&nbsp;something.&nbsp;He&nbsp; then&nbsp;put&nbsp;me&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp; computer&nbsp;to&nbsp;answer&nbsp; questions&nbsp;about&nbsp;the&nbsp;last&nbsp;few&nbsp;weeks. A&nbsp;lot&nbsp; of&nbsp;the&nbsp;questions&nbsp;were&nbsp;about&nbsp;if&nbsp; I&nbsp;was&nbsp;hurting&nbsp;emotionally. I stated&nbsp;yes&nbsp; wouldn&#8217;t&nbsp;you&nbsp;if&nbsp;your children were stolen from you.  I was still&nbsp;living&nbsp; with&nbsp;the&nbsp; guilt&nbsp;of&nbsp; not&nbsp;being&nbsp; able&nbsp;to&nbsp;save my&nbsp; children from Crystal&nbsp;Magee&nbsp;and&nbsp;DCF.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p></p>



<p>John&nbsp;and&nbsp;I&nbsp;did&nbsp;what we&nbsp;normally  We just&nbsp;&nbsp;enjoyed&nbsp;our&nbsp;time with our children.  We&nbsp;took&nbsp;pictures&nbsp;and&nbsp;couldn&#8217;t&nbsp;keep&nbsp;the&nbsp;smile&nbsp;&nbsp;off&nbsp;our&nbsp;faces.&nbsp;The&nbsp; children&nbsp;smiled too, we were&nbsp;happy just&nbsp;to be together.&nbsp;&nbsp;The last part&nbsp;was&nbsp;a joint evaluation&nbsp;for&nbsp;John and&nbsp;I&nbsp;to meet with Dr.&nbsp;Rogers&nbsp; .&nbsp;He&nbsp;did&nbsp;not&nbsp;ask&nbsp;us&nbsp; any&nbsp;questions, he just&nbsp;expected&nbsp;us&nbsp;to talk.&nbsp; The&nbsp;Department&nbsp;of&nbsp; Children&nbsp;and&nbsp;Families&nbsp;called him&nbsp;during&nbsp;our&nbsp;evaluation to speak to him&nbsp;about who knows what.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I&nbsp;moved into&nbsp;my disabled&nbsp;mother’s&nbsp;home&nbsp;to help&nbsp;provide&nbsp;proper&nbsp;care for her.  But my&nbsp;sister&nbsp;Jenny&nbsp;kept getting&nbsp;into&nbsp;fights&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;nurses and home&nbsp;health aides.&nbsp;Some&nbsp;days&nbsp;were harder&nbsp;than others,&nbsp;my&nbsp;mother would cry for her&nbsp;missing&nbsp;grandchildren&nbsp;as&nbsp;she&nbsp;stared at&nbsp;their pictures.&nbsp;&nbsp;And I found out I was pregnant again.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" width="768" height="1024" src="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-1.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-7160" srcset="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-1.jpeg 225w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-1.jpeg 450w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-1.jpeg 600w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-1.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></figure>



<p>By the end&nbsp;of my&nbsp;pregnancy&nbsp;with&nbsp;my fifth&nbsp;child, I was scared DCF was going to&nbsp;take her from&nbsp;me too.  The appointments came and went fast. And the day&nbsp;I&nbsp;went into&nbsp;labor&nbsp;with&nbsp;my fifth&nbsp;child&nbsp; Zuri&nbsp;Emerald, I was terrified. I knew&nbsp;they would&nbsp;find a&nbsp;way to take&nbsp;my newborn away from&nbsp;me again. I&nbsp;was up to&nbsp;date on&nbsp;everything,&nbsp;I&nbsp;had&nbsp;a&nbsp; job,&nbsp;I&nbsp;was in&nbsp;therapy and I&nbsp;was in&nbsp;classes.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When Zuri&nbsp;finally came into&nbsp;this world,&nbsp;they placed her right into&nbsp;my waiting&nbsp;arms.<img src="blob:https://fightercries.org/68d05de3-f29c-46e7-b161-1c4690490e30">&nbsp;&nbsp;It took all my&nbsp;strength&nbsp;to&nbsp;focus on&nbsp;looking into&nbsp;my beautiful&nbsp;baby&nbsp;girl&#8217;s eyes. I&nbsp;called my&nbsp;attorney to&nbsp;let her know&nbsp;she was born and&nbsp;then the hospital&nbsp;put security at my door and I was told they&nbsp;were ordered by&nbsp;the Department of&nbsp;Children&nbsp;and&nbsp;Families to&nbsp;take my baby from&nbsp;me and not let me bond with&nbsp;her.  I was informed that they were not going&nbsp;to&nbsp;let me&nbsp;take her&nbsp;home. I&nbsp;hadn&#8217;t&nbsp;even been served any papers yet. My&nbsp;attorney&nbsp;Lisa&nbsp;Vincent was ferocious&nbsp;and made me give her the hospital’s number&nbsp;and promised to&nbsp;handle it so I&nbsp;could bond with&nbsp;my newborn.&nbsp;They finally returned her to&nbsp;me, at least for a little while.&nbsp;</p>



<p></p>



<p>I&nbsp;couldn&#8217;t&nbsp;take&nbsp; Zuri&nbsp;home&nbsp;or&nbsp;even have her go with a family&nbsp;member.  I felt that the department&nbsp;wanted&nbsp;to embarrass me&nbsp;in&nbsp;front&nbsp;of the hospital. I&nbsp;could feel the invisible chains tied&nbsp;around&nbsp;my throat so I&nbsp;couldn&#8217;t breathe,&nbsp;I&nbsp;felt my flesh&nbsp;get whipped by an unseen&nbsp;flogger,&nbsp;demanding that I&nbsp;give in&nbsp;to&nbsp;what they want to&nbsp;label&nbsp;me as, to&nbsp;forget who&nbsp;I&nbsp;am.&nbsp;&nbsp;Again&nbsp;my body was denied the right to heal and the bonding a&nbsp;new mommy needs with&nbsp;her newborn&nbsp;baby.&nbsp;They claimed&nbsp;“predictive neglect.&#8221; I continued to&nbsp;attend all&nbsp;my classes&nbsp;and our doctor appointments.&nbsp;Every visit with&nbsp;the children&nbsp;was our happiness,&nbsp;we lived for those moments.&nbsp;They also gave us therapeutic family time at a&nbsp;&nbsp;daycare in&nbsp;New London on top of our once-a-week visit to Mystic.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>The provider&nbsp;of&nbsp;visits, Linsey Levan,&nbsp;first&nbsp;told us that&nbsp;she had no concerns&nbsp;about&nbsp;us as&nbsp;parents, but she did when&nbsp;it came to how&nbsp;the children&nbsp;were arriving at&nbsp;visits with&nbsp;the foster&nbsp;parents, dirty and unclean.&nbsp;&nbsp;DCF  social&nbsp;worker&nbsp;Janie&nbsp;Spera&nbsp;responded&nbsp;by offering&nbsp;foster parents&nbsp;a&nbsp;cleaning&nbsp;service and&nbsp;emotional support in&nbsp;the&nbsp;home to help&nbsp;them&nbsp;bond with&nbsp;my children.  But still,&nbsp;nothing like that was offered to&nbsp;me or John.&nbsp; </p>



<p>As the&nbsp;months went on&nbsp;I would argue with&nbsp;the department over always moving my&nbsp;children. My&nbsp;children&#8217;s mental&nbsp;state&nbsp;and&nbsp;health were being affected.  They&nbsp;placed&nbsp;my&nbsp;youngest&nbsp;child&nbsp;with&nbsp;a&nbsp;woman who let her older special needs child watch my newborn, and Zuri ended up falling down a flight of stairs.&nbsp;</p>



<p>&#8220;How does a six-month-old baby&nbsp;fall down&nbsp;a&nbsp; set of&nbsp;stairs,&nbsp;without anybody noticing,&nbsp; she&#8217;s not even&nbsp;crawling yet”?&nbsp;Was the question&nbsp;that came out of my mouth&nbsp;in&nbsp;front of the social&nbsp;worker, Abigail Bush. Even the doctor wanted to know.&nbsp;The foster mother looked nervous as she&nbsp;replied &#8220;My&nbsp;daughter was watching her upstairs and left the gate open&nbsp;as&nbsp;Zuri&nbsp;was nearby on&nbsp;the ground.&#8221; My blood&nbsp;boiled.&nbsp;They left my&nbsp;infant alone and supervised&nbsp;by an&nbsp;eight-year-old&nbsp;and yet took&nbsp;my kids saying I&nbsp;couldn&#8217;t let my oldest, who&nbsp;was 6 at the time,&nbsp;help me with the other children?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" width="768" height="1024" src="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-7159" srcset="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image.jpeg 225w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image.jpeg 450w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image.jpeg 600w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" width="768" height="1024" src="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-3.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-7162" srcset="https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-3.jpeg 225w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-3.jpeg 450w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-3.jpeg 600w, https://fightercries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image-3.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></figure>



<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p></p>



<p>The&nbsp; Waterford Juvenile Court allowed me to&nbsp;accompany my daughter to&nbsp;the&nbsp;court-ordered DNA&nbsp;test to&nbsp;see if Brandon Messier was&nbsp; Lillyana&#8217;s&nbsp;father. It turned out he was. I&nbsp;broke down. My&nbsp;rapist was the father of&nbsp;my little girl and I&nbsp;needed to&nbsp;protect her and her siblings from him&nbsp;at all costs. I&nbsp;ran down to&nbsp;the nearest courthouse and filed a&nbsp;restraining order&nbsp;to keep&nbsp;this evil&nbsp;man&nbsp;away from&nbsp;my children, especially&nbsp;Lillyana.</p>



<p></p>



<p>Judge Driscoll&nbsp;asked&nbsp;Brandon&nbsp;if&nbsp;we engaged in&nbsp;sexual intercourse? Brandon&nbsp;Patrick&nbsp;Messier&nbsp;smiled&nbsp;an evil&nbsp;grin while looking&nbsp;at me and&nbsp;licking his&nbsp;lips “&nbsp;yes your&nbsp;honor. He&nbsp;asked me, and with&nbsp;tears falling down my face, staining my&nbsp;cheeks&nbsp;I&nbsp;stated&nbsp;aloud&nbsp;and clearly &#8220;willingly&nbsp;no your honor,&nbsp;I&nbsp;was raped.&#8221;&nbsp;The judge&nbsp;stated after that,&nbsp;“So&nbsp;I take&nbsp;that as a&nbsp;yes then?&#8221;&nbsp;I&nbsp;broke down&nbsp;even more&nbsp;as he&nbsp;deemed my&nbsp;rapist officially the&nbsp;father of&nbsp;my baby.&nbsp;As&nbsp; I&nbsp;broke down&nbsp;in&nbsp;the courtroom, Lillyana&#8217;s&nbsp;attorney&nbsp;Ryan&nbsp;Ziowaski&nbsp;was laughing and whispering to&nbsp;Brandon&nbsp;Messier pointing&nbsp;at me. My attorney took&nbsp;me outside and pulled me in&nbsp;for&nbsp;a&nbsp; hug&nbsp;as&nbsp;I&nbsp;cried for my baby.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong><em>*After&nbsp; trial&nbsp;after&nbsp; the&nbsp;&nbsp;notice&nbsp; of&nbsp;rights taken*</em></strong>&nbsp;</p>



<p>On April 16th, 2018 at 5 pm&nbsp;I&nbsp;found out&nbsp;I&nbsp;lost my rights to&nbsp;my children. The very next day&nbsp;John&nbsp;and&nbsp;I&nbsp;walked&nbsp;3&nbsp;miles to the&nbsp;Waterford Juvenile Courthouse and filed a&nbsp;notice of appeal with the&nbsp;court. Every&nbsp;free&nbsp;moment I&nbsp; had&nbsp;that&nbsp;was&nbsp;not&nbsp;spent&nbsp;sleeping&nbsp;was&nbsp;working&nbsp;on my&nbsp;case even taking&nbsp;some classes to keep&nbsp;me going. Some really&nbsp;wonderful&nbsp;ladies with the Family Forward Advocacy Group&nbsp;helped&nbsp;me&nbsp;prepare&nbsp;my&nbsp;papers&nbsp;for the appellate court.&nbsp;I was determined to get my children back.</p>



<p>We filed a&nbsp;rebuttal&nbsp;brief and&nbsp;waited several months&nbsp;until&nbsp;January&nbsp;12th, 2019 to hear back&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;appellate&nbsp;court. They again took&nbsp;the side of the&nbsp;state as always.&nbsp;&nbsp;But this&nbsp;time&nbsp;I&nbsp;did not&nbsp;cry or&nbsp;scream. I was&nbsp;already prepared for this.&nbsp;I took&nbsp;it higher, and now we in&nbsp;the&nbsp;Federal Courts are arguing with&nbsp;federal&nbsp;court&nbsp;Judge&nbsp;Farrish&nbsp;who&nbsp;stated&nbsp; “It&nbsp;doesn&#8217;t matter&nbsp;what&nbsp;these&nbsp;attorneys, judges, or&nbsp;the&nbsp;department&nbsp;have&nbsp;done, they are&nbsp;protected&nbsp;under&nbsp;the&nbsp;11th&nbsp;amendment of sovereign immunity and it&nbsp;doesn&#8217;t&nbsp;matter&nbsp;if your&nbsp;case has&nbsp;merit, &nbsp;you&nbsp;can&#8217;t fight them.&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>I have looked&nbsp;for help&nbsp;everywhere.  The days get harder and harder and I never sleep anymore. I still try to hold my head up&nbsp;and&nbsp;fight. I&nbsp;have gotten&nbsp;a lot of fake help offers from&nbsp;men. One&nbsp;attorney tried&nbsp;to&nbsp;get me to&nbsp;marry his client as a way to get my kids back.</p>



<p>I&nbsp; am&nbsp;still&nbsp;waiting&nbsp;to&nbsp;hear back&nbsp;from&nbsp;the United&nbsp;States&nbsp;Court of Appeals in New&nbsp;York.&nbsp;Please help me.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org/marry-a-stranger/">Mother Being Blackmailed to Marry a Stranger To Get Her Children Returned by CPS</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org">Fighter Cries</a>.</p>
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		<title>Police Stalk Defenseless Mother in Connecticut</title>
		<link>https://fightercries.org/police-stalk-defenseless-mother-in-connecticut/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Fighter Cries]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2020 08:24:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Abuse of Power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Complaints]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Connecticut]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Targeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DCF]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harassment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Police]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://fightercries.org/?p=3510</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The police would come and harassed me saying that they had a call he was in my house and the police would knock on all my neighbors doors asking questions...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org/police-stalk-defenseless-mother-in-connecticut/">Police Stalk Defenseless Mother in Connecticut</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org">Fighter Cries</a>.</p>
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<p>I would like to give my story anonymous please. I&#8217;m from Connecticut. I moved here from Niagara Falls NY 2018.  I got into a relationship with a man and woman.  Things did not work well.   DCF got called saying my kids were in danger, because we had an argument.  The police put down DV which there was never. </p>



<p>The man I was involved with, DCF advised me that he was a registered pedophile. When I checked Connecticut records he wasn&#8217;t in the system. </p>



<p>They told me not to have my kids around him.   While I was at work one day he came over my house.   The kids let him in to get his credit card.   He left, he was arguing with his then wife.   Who had left him she moved back to NY.  She called the police in Connecticut to tell them she was being beaten by him.  The police picked me up from my work so I could let them into my place and of course I had no idea he was there. </p>



<p>They found him hiding in my attic.  I yelled at him afterwards for being there. After that DCF had cops coming to my place mornings, noon and night.  Just to search my place and he was never in my home.  I would go to Walgreens down the street.  He&#8217;d be there. The police would come and harass me.  Saying that they had a call that he was in my house.  The police would knock on all my neighbors doors.  Asking questions.  The 2 neighbors across the street told the police that he will wait for me across the street.  To bring him dinner or clean clothing because I kicked him out.  He was homeless. </p>



<p>Then another time.  DCF called the police when I was walking down the street with him.  Saying that he was in my house, the police came.  Told me to go into a different room.  While they questioned my children.  Asking if he was in the house and my kids told them no. </p>



<p>My youngest child has autism.  I cut his hair one day.   He said it was like how his &#8220;dad&#8221; (my ex) does it.  I said yeah it is. He went to school and the teacher asked him who did his hair well he said his dad did. So police came again.  I said here we go again check the house he isn&#8217;t here like the 6 other times you all checked. </p>



<p>They told me they weren&#8217;t there to check this time they were there for my kids. </p>



<p>I cussed them out.  They told me they were only going to take them for 3 days.  Went behind my back got a court order to take my kids away from me. </p>



<p>When they took my kids on hear say, I went down hill.  Lost everything the place I rented and my job. I was lost without my kids.</p>



<p>So I was homeless with my ex.   DCF  wanted me to do steps to get my kids back, okay whatever it takes.  I did drug test, passing.  I did a counseling group.  They put me in with my kids, I went to the Susan B. Anthony for woman who were abused.  For counseling but they denied me. I knew the red flags.  DCF had no right to make me do that they said. </p>



<p>I got a room in the ymca.   But I had no way to get to my kid&#8217;s.  My kids mean everything to me.  So I gave up my room to see them. </p>



<p>DCF said I choose to be homeless.   They twisted the truth again.  I found 2 jobs and found a place to live.  I tried to do counseling but it was too hard to do with 2 jobs.  And find a spot for counseling sessions 2x a week. </p>



<p>They said I was putting my own needs before my kids.   This was their steps for me so I gave up one of my jobs to continue counseling.  They (DCF) was helping me get on track with an apartment.   So I can get my kids back but they pulled the rug out from underneath me. </p>



<p>I have been doing everything that they have asked me to do.  But they keep finding reasons and excuses to take my kids away from me. On hear say, my kids were taken.  Each day and night my heart breaks and cries for them. DCF is getting their big fat paycheck for taking my kids.  My youngest keeps telling them he wants to come back to me but their not listening to him.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org/police-stalk-defenseless-mother-in-connecticut/">Police Stalk Defenseless Mother in Connecticut</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://fightercries.org">Fighter Cries</a>.</p>
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