A bit of my story and a request...

[BrookeNHeart]

I, as I am sure are most of you, are hesitant to give too much personal information but I would like to tell you some of my story and about an idea my search for help sparked.
About 7 years ago I was in a bad marriage and in an even worse psychological state. I was suicidally depressed and being groomed by my now ex-husband to keep quiet and allow something terrible to take place. As a direct result of my very poor state of mind and my inability to stand up to or for anyone, much less him I made some very bad choices of how to handle a bad sittuation and ended up making it much worse. He and I both went to prison. My daughters, then 4 and 9 went to live with my sister. My daughters are now 12 and 16 and we all feel like we are fighting for our lives. I did my penance, went through years of therapy, including some with my daughters, and started putting my life back together. We made alot of progress and my girls started spending alot more time with me. Eventually they started spending time with both me and my new husband, whom they both love. My oldest will tell anyone who will listen that "he's the first guy my mom has ever been with that's not a loser". She includes her own and her sister's fathers in this statement. They have different fathers. It was the father of my youngest that I mentioned earlier. Well, I never wanted my sister's husband to be listed as one of their guardians but they were married at the time so the state took it out of my hands. About 2 years ago we, (my sister, my husband, and I) noticed that there was something grossly wrong with the relationship between my oldest daughter and her uncle. We did everything we could think of to put a stop to it. We called the police, we called DHS, we forced them both into counseling. No matter where we turned we were given the same answer. "Unless we have proof of a crime there is nothing we can do". But we all knew that wasn't true. For the police, yes, but I had worked for DHS briefly when my oldest was a baby and I knew that they had the athority to pull children from the home or force a no contact/protection order at thier slightest whim. They didn't want to get involved. Mom has a criminal record so obviously she doesn't know what she's talking about. The circumstances or the very obvious changes I had made, nor the sterling recomendations from counselors and parole officers alike had no bearing. My daughter wasn't coming forward, and there was no government authority figure demanding he be removed from the home so there was nothing they would do. As a direct result of thier inaction my daughter went though 3 years of extensive and ongoing sexual abuse at the hands of her uncle. He is now in prison doing 18 years 9 months plus 10 years post prison not because of the department of human services, child protection division, but inspite of it. It took ME the mom with a record calling the police over and over again, climbing the ladder of authority until I finally found someone who would listen to do something. AFTER he took her and stashed her away in an apartment somewhere where he could have her alone. This was about a year after my sister had managed to get him out of the house on her own. When he was at trial he sent his attorney to file a complaint that my girls were alone with me. We went in and talked to them. My girls, my sister, my husband, and me. They came and saw our house, thier room, and talked to my old probation officer as well as my counselors. At first they said "everything is good" and cleared us completely. Later because of a political pissing match between them and another agency they revoked that standing. They now are threatening to take my sister's kids too if she allows me to be alone with my daughters. She has done nothing wrong. She did everything she could to protect my children and hers and when she asked them for help they did nothing. this is just the bare bones of my story but you get the idea.

I've searched high and low for ways to fight to be able to see my girls and to remove the threat from my sister. In my search I have managed to find not solutions but more horrid stories. Many much worse than mine. I have found that the people at the heart of the worse of the strife caused to children and families is the very system our government has put in place to protect them. The facts are staggering and horrible.

Now a little other tid bit about myself and a request for help. I am a writer. I am a poet at heart and have the beginnings of several books in the works. One of them, a fantasy novel, is more than halfway done, but I am putting it on the back burner. I am in a rare position to tell a true story that could possibly change the way our nation views "the system" and hopefully help to spark some REAL change. The child wellfare system is often reformed with a simple name change and a shuffling of departments. They never change the important stuff. Like making sure our children aren't abused or killed in thier custody. Or acting when there is REALLY a legitimate cry for help. Or just staying the hell out of our business when the children would be in much more loving and safe hands in the families they were born to than in the cold system that so frequently completely fails them. I want to tell thier story. The children's story. The victim's story. My daughter's stories. My nieces and nephew's stories. The story of the 60,000 children that die in DHS custody every year in the united states. I want to fight the system on a level that has never been fought and tell the world what is really going on. I want to pack this book with individuals and families stories of how they were hurt either by, or because of, this "child wellfare" system. I want to pack this book with the staggering and horrifying facts of what REALLY happens to children and families in the system. I want to alert the world and hopefully spark the kind of change that is truly needed to protect our children and our families. It's time. I need your help. I am collecting stories. True stories from victims of the system. I will change names and locations to protect the privacy of the innocent. When this book is finally completed and published I intend to use a portion of the proceeds (put into a fund) to help individuals such as those that are to be featured in this book to fight for thier children, thier families, thier lives. It's inflamatory. It will spark hatred in some and discust in others. It will open the eyes of millions(I hope). I can't sit by and just feel helpless and hopeless anymore. It's time to fight this battle to protect our children on a larger forum. Will you help me??? If you are willing or know someone who is please share my story and my mission. Or just the mission. It's up to you. If you would like to help me with this fight by sending me your story, PLEASE DO. This is my appeal for help. This is my appeal for my daughters. This is my appeal for our children.

Please email me your story or any other information you think might be helpful in this fight to: [email protected]

Thank you,
Brooke N. Heart

[pebbles04]

I applaud you for what you are doing. I am not really sure as I would have the time to write out all the bad stuff that has happened to me and send it to you. I currently have two kids and classes that I take. If I do not I am sorry, but wanted to wish you luck. One day I am going to write my own story to publish in hopes to bring awareness to the world on the unjust system.

[BrookeNHeart]

thank you for the response - and the quote is great! Why everyone thinks that a social worker would be infallable when they are just people too I do not know.