based upon a true story
I was stupid. The hearing came and there was a meeting with the lawyers right before. It was all hurried because the court was full, even at nine AM. I discovered, first thing, that if I didn’t have a lawyer, I would have had to wait all day for my case to be heard and that even meant waiting while they broke for lunch.
To say it was horrible would be such an understatement—no one can imagine.
After the meeting, my lawyer told me they had statements from the school, from my son’s teacher, the nurse and the principal. They were not there in person, of course. If they were my lawyer might have gotten a chance to question them.
They also had statements from the doctor. I would learn later that CPS took my son to one of their doctors, one they used all the time and who, by everything my lawyer would be able to find out, was one who never went against what CPS wanted, who reported every initial-visit injury as physical abuse and every subsequent visit while a child was in CPS care as either accidental or nothing at all.
I know. You don’t think this is true. You think such things don’t happen. Well they happen all the time. Everywhere. In just about every state. In just about every CPS jurisdiction. Some are much worse than others.
So I asked my lawyer if my kids were coming home after the hearing. That’s when he told me they didn’t need proof, they didn’t need just about anything. The statements did not need to be verified, not at this hearing, and in fact at this hearing we wouldn’t even have a chance to do that.
My lawyer said he would be able to make a statement. He would be able to tell the court that I had a clean record, had never been in any kind of trouble, didn’t even have an outstanding parking ticket. He would be able to tell the judge that the school had never had issue with me, had never ever even had a thought about my child being abused at home.
What my lawyer didn’t know, and what we wouldn’t find out until much later, far into the trial, was that the school report being presented was edited. My child had, in fact, told everyone exactly what happened. He told the nurse, he told his teacher and he told first the assistant principal and then the principal.
But somehow, his telling all those people, and his friend telling them too, was omitted from the paperwork CPS presented. Then, quite propitiously for them, no one was there to personally testify. Apparently that was not required, even better, not permitted at the first hearing.
And so it happened. It happened so quickly if I had blinked I would have missed it. What I did see was the judge yawn about ten times, and it seemed, but I couldn’t swear to it, as if he were actually dosing off. (He would actually fall asleep during the trial.)
He banged down the gavel. The kids were remanded to CPS custody and the next hearing was scheduled for more than a month away. CPS was told to arrange visitation for me, but they didn’t and when the second hearing came around they lied and said I wasn’t interested in seeing my kids.
Preponderance of evidence—that was the legal standard. They would argue in due time that even if what I was saying was true, I was still guilty of neglect because my child got hurt.
