THE DEATH OF A FOSTER FAMILY

Background

Nancee's story begins in 1992, when she was a teacher in a small, rural school in Northeast Central California. In February of that year, a new family with six children moved to town, living just up the road from Nancee's small ranch. Jordan and Kathy, the two smallest siblings in the family, attended the school where Nancee taught. Jordan and Kathy seemed to enjoy little parental supervision and care. They were often seen running on the streets unsupervised, and seemed to be dirty, unkempt, and hungry. Though they lived less than a block from the school, they rarely attended. When they did attend, they were often tardy. On occasion, Nancee had to go their home herself during recess to bring the children to school.

That year, Kathy was in kindergarten, and Jordan was enrolled in Nancee's second-grade class. From the beginning, Jordan in particular was trouble. Though he seemed bright and capable, he was also rebellious against authority, and refused to do his schoolwork. He was obviously undisciplined, and used to doing what he wanted. Regardless of Nancee's best efforts, he was failing school. Nancee could not turn to Jordan's parents for help. Their father was domineering and abusive to the children and their mother. Eventually, their mother attempted suicide, leaving the children to fend for themselves.

Nancee refused to give up on the children, however, and tried to think of ways to help them. She had noticed that Jordan seemed to have a penchant for animals. He seemed to enjoy reading books about animals in class, and especially enjoyed caring for two baby goats that had been in class one day. Thinking that working with animals might provide him with an outlet, she invited him to visit her ranch one day. Her stipulation, however, was that he had to complete two of the day's assignments beforehand and to be on his best behavior. This seemed to be enough motivation for Jordan, and indeed was the only way Nancee could get him to do any work at all.

His visiting the ranch soon became a daily ritual, and he began bringing his sister Kathy along with him. Jordan would help Nancee's husband with chores, and Kathy would help Nancee care for the animals, including giving food and water to the rabbits and chickens. Afterwards, Nancee would feed the children a small evening meal, and would clean them up before sending them home. They were often reluctant to return home, every night asking to stay longer. At times, their older sister or father had to come get them and when the children saw their father, they would shy away from him. It was heartbreaking to hear them ask to stay, but Nancee and her husband had no choice but to send them home every night.

Nancee's concern for the children continued to grow, and she was suspicious about that family situation. Therefore, as a mandated reporter for Child Protective Services, she began making reports about the family to the local CPS agency. "It was obvious that something was going on in that family, so as a mandated reporter, I finally took my responsibility to begin making reports to our local CPS agency." Little came of these reports, however. In the fall, when school started again, Jordan entered the third grade and Kathy became Nancee's first-grade student. Once again, the children were dirty and unruly, and exhibited uncontrollable, defiant behavior. In particular, Nancee noticed that Kathy had very poor teeth, probably as a result of poor nutrition. Kathy also spent most of her class time asleep in the corner of the classroom, and literally failed first grade. Over the next two years, Nancee continued to make reports to CPS about her concerns regarding the children's welfare, but never once did CPS do anything about her reports.

Jordan and Kathy continued to come to her ranch every night after school, helping to feed and care for the animals. This was the only thing that somewhat allayed Nancee's concern for their safety. Her relationship with both children continued to grow, and she cared for them very much. That year on Mother's Day, when Nancee was seriously ill, the children came by with a Mother's Day gift for her: a jar of rocks with wild flowers in it. Nancee still keeps that jar out by her front fence. Nancee saw little of Jordan and Kathy that summer, as their father had forbidden them to visit her ranch, and they were able to sneak away only occasionally. When she saw them again at the start of the new school year, she was horrified at the children's conditions. All of the major problems with the children, such as poor attendance, still manifested themselves; but Kathy, in particular, seemed to be in especially bad health. When she ate lunch at school, she was only able to eat soft foods and liquids, as her teeth had badly deteriorated. One day, she came to school with a cigarette burn on her body - the second time Nancee had seen such a burn on her (the first time, she had seen it on Kathy's back). Nancee reported the injury, again with no results from CPS.

In late October 1994, Kathy came to school with her face so badly swollen that she could not open her eyes. This was due to her "badly abscessed teeth." This time, Nancee called a friend who was a sheriff, and he helped her to get CPS to come to school to interview the children. They took both Jordan and Kathy into custody, yet the next day returned them to their father, who hastily moved across the state. After two months trying to obtain their school records, Nancee contacted the principal of the children's new school and told him of their family situation. In another two weeks, the principal had the children placed in permanent foster care.

First Years in the Foster Care System

Although Jordan and Kathy had moved away, Nancee was still concerned about them. She kept in touch with the principal at their new school, and kept track of their progress there. She also was in regular contact with the social worker assigned to their case, who kept her informed about the children. That year, the children lived in about three foster homes. About half way through that school year, she learned that Jordan had been placed in a home for children with major behavioral issues, and that Kathy was left to fend for herself in a local foster home.

Toward the end of Kathy's second grade year, the social worker contacted Nancee and her husband and asked if they would be willing to take Jordan and Kathy into their home, because they had asked to come live at their ranch. Nancee and her husband had already raised their own children, and were older and near retirement. However, after much discussion and soul-searching, they agreed to take the children in. It turned out that only Kathy would come to live with them, as Jordan had been assigned to a different foster home. Nancee and her husband took custody of Kathy on August 14, 1995. At that time, Kathy was eight years old.

In the beginning, Kathy was shy, withdrawn, and afraid of her own shadow. She was afraid of the dark, and had to sleep with a light on all night; she also frequently wet the bed. She often had horrible nightmares, and Nancee and her husband had to sit up with her night after night, consoling her, and reassuring her that she was now safe and loved. That first year was spent entirely in getting Kathy used to a normal home routine, normal rules, and expectations. She was given simple farm chores like feeding the chickens and the rabbits and keeping all the waters filled. She spent most of her free time out in the chicken pen playing with the chickens like dolls and toys. Nancee and her husband also got her a horse, and she soon began horseback riding lessons.

Even though she now lived in a safe home, Kathy was still afraid of her father. Whenever he called, she begged not to have to speak to him. However, Nancee and her husband were bound by CPS rules to allow her father to speak with her. When she did talk to him, she usually sat on one of our laps for comfort, and seemed to be afraid. However, Kathy also was able to keep in touch with Jordan, which comforted her. They spoke on the telephone frequently, and during winter and summer breaks, Jordan would visit the ranch. He and Kathy both relished each other's company in the short time that they had.

Kathy improved dramatically during the years she lived with Nancee's family. Parental rights of her biological parents were terminated after a while, and Nancee and her husband thus essentially became Kathy's parents. They wanted to help Kathy put the trauma of her early years behind her, and were thus committed to helping her build a positive self-image so that she could become a productive member of society. They encouraged her to get involved in extracurricular and academic activities, such as science fairs, choral groups, the 4-H club, and horseback riding lessons. They did everything they could do to help her succeed, including paying for all of her activities out of their own pocket, and encouraged her to do the best she could in whatever she took part in. As her parents, for all practical purposes, they stood behind her and supported her.

During those years, Kathy amassed an impressive list of achievements. By the end of even her first year with Nancee's family, she had maintained a perfect attendance record at school, had achieved honor roll grades, and won an abundance of top awards in her 4-H competitions and academic competitions. She also entered the Pre-Teen America Scholarship and Recognition Program, a national program for pre-teen girls aged seven to twelve, and consistently won honors and awards. She often won places in the runner-up category, and won prizes in the Speech and Talent competitions.

It was evident that Kathy had progressed far beyond anyone's expectations. People who had known her before she came to live with Nancee could not believe that she was the same fearful, unhealthy child who had entered Nancee's school in the first grade. She had become a happy, outgoing child who smiled and joked all the time, and who had already achieved a great deal at a young age with the love and support of Nancee and her husband.

CPS Steps into the Picture

In March 2000, Kathy was thirteen years old. A typical adolescent, she often engaged in confrontations or "battles of the will" with Nancee and her husband at home. Kathy and Nancee, in particular, were in conflict because Kathy wanted "total control." The final confrontation occurred on March 14, 2004 when Kathy had been punished for bad behavior by being forced to miss her music lesson for the week. After some fighting, she attacked Nancee verbally with abusive names. After continued bad behavior, she was disciplined accordingly. The next day, Kathy mentioned this incident to a teacher at school. The result was CPS being contacted; they stepped in, and removed Kathy from Nancee's home. Nancee and her husband had been planning to adopt Kathy, but the adoption process was halted, and later ultimately denied.

Suddenly, the loving, caring, and secure home that this child had lived in for the past five years was deemed "dangerous and unacceptable." It did not matter that while she had lived with Nancee's family, not one social worker ever set foot in their home to do their required weekly/monthly inspections, nor had a licensing worker ever fulfilled their legal responsibility to come and inspect the home. Additionally, as foster parents, Nancee and her husband still had never been given any assistance for dealing with a RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder) child, had never been instructed to take foster parenting classes, and had never been informed on what was expected of them as a foster family. The social workers had never been available to assist them, and indeed had never been involved with Kathy once she came to live with Nancee. Nancee herself had fought to obtain a $10,000 grant to pay for much-needed psychological therapy sessions for Kathy, and had made sure that she would continue to have contact with Jordan, her biological brother. They took Jordan into their home twice each year, with no compensation of any kind, and sent him home with new clothes and school supplies each and every time - simply because they loved the children and wanted them not to lose contact with each other. Yet in the end, CPS deemed as abuse everything that Nancee and her husband had done to help Kathy develop into a happy, self-confident child. The bottom line seems to be that CPS took Kathy from Nancee's family, and placed her back into the foster system, so as to obtain the Federal Funds that are given every time a so-called "special needs" child is moved from one foster home to the other.

Once taken into DCFS custody, Kathy was not allowed any contact with Nancee and her husband at all. For the first two years, she would sneak to the telephone to contact them; when she was caught, she was told that DCFS would put her into juvenile hall if she didn't obey them and cease contact with them. Hence, for over two more years, there was zero contact between Kathy and Nancee's family. In the meantime, Kathy was moved between a total of six foster homes in less than four years - a total of eleven foster homes for this child in a ten-year period.

In an effort to build a case, DCFS/CPS began to fabricate a variety of false allegations against Nancee. Many of the allegations ranged from silly to ridiculous. For example, CPS claimed that one time, Nancee had wrongfully prevented Kathy from going on a field trip; in fact, Kathy had never given them the permission slip that needed to be signed so that she could go on the trip. Other allegations were that Nancee had mistreated Kathy, when in fact Kathy had simple been punished, as children are, for misbehaving or for not following instructions. Social workers even went so far as to allege that Kathy's participation in all of her extracurricular activities counted as abuse; they claimed that Nancee and her husband had forced Kathy to enter win competitions in order to feel good about themselves. They also claimed that Nancee and her husband had been uncooperative with social workers and CPS, when in fact they had tried to do everything possible to seek assistance from those agencies, with no success.

Despite the ridiculousness of the allegations against Nancee, the result was that she lost her teaching job. After claiming that she had abused Kathy, CPS deemed her a danger to her students. In an effort to discredit her and win their case, the state attorney in Sacramento sent a list of unproven and false allegations to the superintendent of Nancee's school district. He, in turn, decided that Nancee was unfit to continue to teach in his district. Nancee was forced into an early retirement at half of the retirement sum that was entitled to her. The superintendent reported her to the California Credentials Board, and she was forced to defend her teaching credentials; she had held a teaching position for over forty years. Though she was successful in retaining her credentials, she has been unable to get or maintain meaningful employment. Her family's financial situation has deteriorated substantially; Nancee is the main support of her family, since her husband is disabled. The loss of her teaching job had a devastating effect on them. She and her husband, senior citizens, are being forced to sell their home and move, to begin a new life somewhere else.

The End of the Story

Over two years after Kathy was taken from them, Nancee and her husband rarely heard from her; DCFS was successful in their "divide and conquer" efforts to keep them apart. Only once were they able to arrange a formal hearing for their case, with the assistance of a Nevada Congressman they had contacted. However, after an eight-hour drive in snow and bad weather from their home to Nevada, they arrived only to be denied entrance to the courtroom. In the end, they were never allowed to present their side of the story. Kathy has been forced to grow up in a variety of foster homes, with people who didn't care for her that much. She did not even have the consolation of being able to keep in touch with Jordan, her brother. He had refused to comply with DCFS's orders to cease contact with Nancee and her husband, and as a result, they cut off contact between the siblings. Kathy and Jordan have grown up without knowing each other, as siblings should.

Then in March of 2004, Kathy, now seventeen, contacted Nancee's family out of the blue. The first thing she asked them was, "Do you still love me?" The second question was, "Do you still want me?" After reassuring her that they had never given up the fight to get her back home, she reestablished contact with Nancee's family, and has maintained this contact to this day. She says they are the only mom and dad that she has ever known, and that their home is the only real home she has ever had. She wants them to come to her high school graduation, and they plan to be there for her. And when she turns 18 and ages out of the foster care system, she is planning to come home to Nancee and her husband. Finally, after over five years, they will be a family again. DCFS may have won the battle, but in the end, Nancee and her husband won the war.

Because of the trauma Nancee has endured due to the illicit and illegal actions of California and Nevada DCFS/CPS, she has become a staunch advocate for foster families and foster children who face devastation in their lives due to the actions of a faulty government system. She will continue this fight until positive reforms are made and children are not kidnapped from the families that love and care for them. She is in this fight to the end.

UPDATE:

Shortly before Kathy turned 18, Nevada put her picture on a web site for children waiting to be adopted, against Kathy's wishes. She had already been in foster care for years and did not want her picture on the Internet and did not want to be adopted. Against her wishes, a picture along with a description was put on the Internet and a family came forward to adopt her. Kathy was livid. We have embossed the picture to maintain Kathy's wishes, not to have her picture put on the Internet, as the Child Protective Services of Nevada did.

UPDATE: 2006:

Just wanted you to know that the box of baby things arrived and I've forwarded it onto Kathy. She goes into the hospital today to deliver...Don't know exact time yet, but do know it will be sometime today. Will let you know when baby arrives.
Thanks again,
You were very kind to send her this box of baby goodies.
[Editor Note: Children who age out of the foster care system are often times alone and on their own. Kathy was very fortunate to have her "foster" parents step in and be the parents they had always wanted to be for her. The foster parents are now helping Kathy as she learns to care for her own children.]

EDITOR: A. Thurston

June 2006 Update:

Kathy graduated and met a nice young man. They are together and now have a little girl. Although they have not married, Kathy wants my husband to "give her away" when they finally tie the knot.

Unfortunately, Kathy's "daddy" passed away before he had the opportunity to walk her down the aisle.
"The Man In The Old Gray Hat"

She calls us two or three times a week and we talk for long periods of time, sharing small talk or recipes or just enjoying each other's company. She constantly asks for advice on raising the child or suggestions for various things that bother her. She calls us 'mom and dad', wants her daughter to call us 'grandpa and grandma', and constantly tells us that she loves us. She says that we are the only family that she has or has ever known and will remain our daughter always. The whole time she was in the foster homes after she was taken from us she continually told them that "nothing" had ever happened at our home and that she was never abused in any way. The SW's and the therapists who saw her constantly told her that she was lying and that she would never return to our home if they had anything to do with it. They even went so far as to rewrite the allegations as though Kathy was talking and forced her to sign the paper by telling her if she signed it she could go home to us again. Believing this was a way she would get to come back home to us she did as they requested, but they never allowed her to come back.

Since leaving her final foster home she has called DCFS and reported them numerous times for 'abusing' the foster children they have. It is a 'group' home and they get over $1200 a month for 'EACH' child they keep. They never have less than eight children in the home at a time. They have modified their home so that there are three stories, a basement, first, and second floor.

The foster children in the home are NOT allowed upstairs where the family living quarters are. They must remain on the first floor or in the basement. They also only give the older foster children a limited amount of money to live on each month, often forcing them to combine funds in order to buy even the most basic needs such as shampoo, soap, and personal supplies. The older girls in the home are forced to 'share' personal items in order to survive. Often times the older foster children are forced to fix their own meals and not allowed to eat with the regular family. They are not allowed to take part in any extracurricular activities and may only go to school or to work, if they are lucky enough to have a job.

Kathy was one who was allowed to work outside the home but usually had to wait a long time after work, in the dark, for them to come and get her. Although Kathy reported this to her SW's nothing was ever done. And although she has made numerous calls (since leaving) to the hotline reporting this family's abuse of the foster children in the home, NOTHING has ever been done to correct the problems. The family continues to foster children to this day and remains the "apple" of DCFS' eye.

In our case, DCFS may have won their 'battle' but in the end, WE won the proverbial 'war'. Our daughter returned to our family and we now have not only our daughter back but a beautiful granddaughter as well.