Not that anyone is asking

The second part of Paxton's mother's trial is on the 23rd and Jackie says this will probably be the end of it. She was in the courtroom for the first session. She said CPS showed up with no attorney, no legal representation at all. I don't understand that. The kids have an attorney, but how is it the state doesn't?...the state being CPS. And the kids' attorney didn't speak. Why is that? Why does the county pay an attorney to represent the kids if they don't?

And if the kids' attorney's only job is to make sure the kids get all the services and treatment they need, where in the hell has she been? Melanie was the one who finally got them in to see a child psychologist. They've been going every week now, but only since last month. They've been in state custody since Nov 4th of last year.

Jackie said CPS looked weak, uninformed, and extremely ill-prepared at the first part of the trial, and that Tara's lawyer is an older gent with decades of experience. This old guy's a tiger in the courtroom. Where he was smart, aggressive, and confident, CPS was fumbling and obviously nervous. The kids' caseworker and her supervisor represented themselves and both of them were newly assigned to the kids' case.

Anyway, CPS is just now gathering their evidence and sworn testimonies. Jackie said they called her this morning asking for a copy of the entire home security recording. All they had was one 10-minute clip (which was played at the trial), but Jackie's system recorded 3 hours of Tara verbally, emotionally and physically abusing Paxton. There's even a bit where his father showed up and his 2yr-old little sister tried to tell him in baby-talk what mommy was doing, and Tara tells her to stop bothering daddy and go play.

I offered Jackie the photos I took of Paxton's injuries after the first reunification. I emailed them to his caseworker at the time and she didn't even bother to open the email. And I followed up with 3 phone calls but I don't think she ever looked at those photos. I can't believe she did because, if she had, she wouldn't have requested the 2nd reunification.

Now Tara's asking for a 3rd reunification. That in itself has sway over the court, but this is the first time the issue is child abuse. Previously it's been about Tara not passing drug tests. Still, CPS taking the kids a 3rd time looks really bad. This paints a picture of an unstable parent. Each case is treated independently but Jackie said it's been the same judge every time.

Anyway, she's gonna send my photos to the CPS supervisor who called her this morning....for what it's worth.
This supervisor is preparing for the next phase of the trial.
 

One would think CPS would have more knowledge in court procedure. For the children's sake, I hope Tara
doesn't gain access to seeing them. I really can't believe she misses them or needs to see them.
 

Does she gets child benefit ?..

In the UK every parent ( or parents ).. get child benefit from the govt for each child from the time they're born until the time they leave full time education . For the first child it's approx £22, and then for every subsequent child after that it's £15.. .. this is free, and doesn't have to be repaid to the govt, which in many cases means it's open to abuse.

For example immigrants who arrive here and claim for children who don't even live in this country .. and other people who have child after child, despite perhaps not being fit parents.. because along with social security benefits /unemployment benefits, ( Dole).. they can stay out of work and just keep producing.. so I wondered if this is the reason that Tara continues in her quest to have the children despite being an unfit mother !..
 
Pinky said:
One would think CPS would have more knowledge in court procedure. For the children's sake, I hope Tara
doesn't gain access to seeing them. I really can't believe she misses them or needs to see them.
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She doesn't miss Paxton but she does miss the twins, and they say they miss her, especially Zoey. Originally, before the very first trial and reunification, Tara told her attorney she wanted to leave Paxton with me and get custody of the twins, but her attorney wouldn't allow it. The attorney said a request like that would prejudice the court.

Tara doesn't like Paxton. She doesn't like it that he was polite and mannerly when she got him back the first time, weeks before his 3rd birthday, and in fact, she didn't want to have anything to do with his 3rd birthday party. She dropped him off here 2 days before and picked him up 2 days after. I gave him a birthday party, and she didn't even call that day. She said "Oh yeah, thanks for his party" when she picked him up. He didn't take any of his gifts home because he knew she'd either sell them to her favorite consignment store, as usual, or she'd make him give 2/3 of them to the twins, plus share his 3rd. She prefers the first option because it prevents arguments over toys plus she gets $20 for a 6-pk and a joint.

She's freaking evil.
 
hollydolly said:
Does she gets child benefit ?..

In the UK every parent ( or parents ).. get child benefit from the govt for each child from the time they're born until the time they leave full time education . For the first child it's approx £22, and then for every subsequent child after that it's £15.. .. this is free, and doesn't have to be repaid to the govt, which in many cases means it's open to abuse.

For example immigrants who arrive here and claim for children who don't even live in this country .. and other people who have child after child, despite perhaps not being fit parents.. because along with social security benefits /unemployment benefits, ( Dole).. they can stay out of work and just keep producing.. so I wondered if this is the reason that Tara continues in her quest to have the children despite being an unfit mother !..
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She still has parental rights, so yes, she does get AFDC benefits - Aid For Dependent Children - but they are limited benefits. It's not enough to pay rent, and she's still homeless. She told CPS she lives with friends, but it's actually the mother of a guy she used to date. And the guy lives there, too. So, yeah, she's feeding her boyfriend with the benefits she gets for her fiance's kids.

Plus, Calif tax payers are covering her legal costs. Not that that bothers her, or that she's even grateful.
 
Murrmurr said:
She still has parental rights, so yes, she does get AFDC benefits - Aid For Dependent Children - but they are limited benefits. It's not enough to pay rent, and she's still homeless. She told CPS she lives with friends, but it's actually the mother of a guy she used to date. And the guy lives there, too. So, yeah, she's feeding her boyfriend with the benefits she gets for her fiance's kids.

Plus, Calif tax payers are covering her legal costs. Not that that bothers her, or that she's even grateful.
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..but surely if she doesn't have custody of the children her child benefits should be stopped ?.. if not someone needs to report her..
 
Pinky said:
One would think CPS would have more knowledge in court procedure. For the children's sake, I hope Tara
doesn't gain access to seeing them. I really can't believe she misses them or needs to see them.
Click to expand...
Back then, after I kept calling the caseworker about those photos, she just kept saying "We can't use them. It's a legal matter." That made zero sense, so I went over her head, and over that person's head, and meanwhile CPS changed their stance and asked for reunification.

I can't tell you why because no would tell me. Even though Paxton was living here, even though I was his foster dad since he was an infant, I was told I had no right whatsoever to know anything about the legal case. That was all confidential. I couldn't testify or even show up in court unless his mother said she wanted me to. I was absolutely powerless, and that was excruciating. That still weighs heavily on me.
 
Murrmurr said:
Back then, after I kept calling the caseworker about those photos, she just kept saying "We can't use them. It's a legal matter." That made zero sense, so I went over her head, and over that person's head, and meanwhile CPS changed their stance and asked for reunification.

I can't tell you why because no would tell me. Even though Paxton was living here, even though I was his foster dad since he was an infant, I was told I had no right whatsoever to know anything about the legal case. That was all confidential. I couldn't testify or even show up in court unless his mother said she wanted me to. I was absolutely powerless, and that was excruciating. That still weighs heavily on me.
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@Murrmurr

If what CPS told you .. that you had no right to know anything about the legal case - it somehow doesn't
sound correct. You were Paxton's foster parent, FGS!
 
Pinky said:
@Murrmurr

If what CPS told you .. that you had no right to know anything about the legal case - it somehow doesn't
sound correct. You were Paxton's foster parent, FGS!
Click to expand...
I looked it up (back then) and it's true. Unless the parent who still has parental rights gives the foster parent legal guardianship, then the legal case is none of my business. Paxton's father told Tara to make me Paxton's legal guardian, but she only gave me partial guardianship, which only gave me the right to decide where he could go to school and to attend school meetings.

She has since withdrawn that document, as well as one she signed that named me her "support person." That one gave me the right to make sure she got all the services she was eligible for, and more importantly, to sit next to her in court and meditations and team meetings..
 
Murrmurr said:
I looked it up (back then) and it's true. Unless the parent who still has parental rights gives the foster parent legal guardianship, then the legal case is none of my business. Paxton's father told Tara to make me Paxton's legal guardian, but she only gave me partial guardianship, which only gave me the right to decide where he could go to school and to attend school meetings.

She has since withdrawn that document, as well as one she signed that named me her "support person." That one gave me the right to make sure she got all the services she was eligible for, and more importantly, to sit next to her in court and meditations and team meetings..
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@Murrmurr

Sounds as though Paxton's father had more sense than his mother.
 
Pinky said:
@Murrmurr

If what CPS told you .. that you had no right to know anything about the legal case - it somehow doesn't
sound correct. You were Paxton's foster parent, FGS!
Click to expand...
This is why I tried retaining an attorney who would help me formally charge CPS with various failings but none of the attorneys I've talked to is willing.

What I really want to see is a complete overhaul of the whole CPS system, and not just in Amador County, but across the whole freaking nation. Not one politician I talked to is interested. A few pretended to be, but obviously weren't. They didn't even seem phased by statistics showing extremely high rates of drug addiction, multiple arrests, and suicide among kids who are and were in the foster care system. They questioned my sources, which were totally legit.

It's gonna take a whole lot more than a few concerned citizens to take on CPS.
 
Just got a really distressing phone call from Paxton's grandma, Jackie. She was extremely loud and crying so it was hard to make out everything she said, but apparently, she attended Paxton's mother's 2nd half of the trial over her parental rights this morning, and the father lied on the stand. He testified for the mother, Jackie said. After Jackie testified that she saw a large bruise and a scratch on Paxton's face on the day her home security recorded an incident of abuse, the father testified that she was lying. He said Paxton was outside with him and fell against the car he was working on.

Jackie said that CPS didn't use any of the other recorded clips she sent them last week. They asked for them but they didn't use them. My guess is, they didn't use them because no one at CPS took the time to disclose them to the mother's defense lawyer, as required by law. And I'm 100% sure they didn't bother; they forgot about it; none of them took the responsibility of doing that. :mad:

After the father testified, Jackie walked out of court and then called me to tell me to call Melanie and tell her to pack Paxton's things so she can go get him and leave the state.

15 minutes later ~

Foster mom Melanie called. She attended the hearing via Zoom. She said Tara lost her case! She will NOT get the kids! Melanie said Jackie's testimony was fantastic, very persuasive, and when Tara testified it was blatantly obvious to everyone in the courtroom that she was lying and fabricating stories that didn't match up at all.

And Mel was crying because they love the kids dearly but they just can't adopt them. They've had 6 kids since Nov 4th, 3 of their own plus Pax and the twins, and her & Tony work full time and they're just not able to work out a way to give any of the kids the attention they need.

The couple who wants them will start the foster-to-adopt process in a couple of weeks or so. The kids will go live with them. It's like a try-out. I'm feeling ok about this because all 3 kids said they love these people. Paxton told me him and Brandon (the "dad") built his new bicycle together. He said he really likes hanging out with Brandon.

Anyway, the important thing right now is, Tara lost.

Jackie's on her way to my house right now, presumably to borrow my van to kidnap Paxton. Whatever. I'll get her calmed down.

Good news about the trial, though!
 
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@Murrmurr

Omigod! At first, reading about the trial, I was so upset and was losing it! Then, I read on .. am so glad that
all has turned out the way it should.

Let's hope this new Chapter of Paxton's life is the beginning that he needs. Brandon sounds like a very good
father figure.

Jackie will be so relieved. She's a good woman.
 
Pinky said:
@Murrmurr

Omigod! At first, reading about the trial, I was so upset and was losing it! Then, I read on .. am so glad that
all has turned out the way it should.

Let's hope this new Chapter of Paxton's life is the beginning that he needs. Brandon sounds like a very good
father figure.

Jackie will be so relieved. She's a good woman.
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Yeah, she's here and she's doing just fine now.

She's exhausted, though, so I told her she could go nap in Bonnie's room.

We'll be seeing the kids tomorrow, btw. It's the twins' 4th birthday. We're all gonna meet at Chuck E. Cheese's. Their foster-to-adopt mom will be there....the dad has to work. I'm super-anxious to size her up.
 
Pinky said:
@Murrmurr

Omigod! At first, reading about the trial, I was so upset and was losing it! Then, I read on .. am so glad that
all has turned out the way it should.

Let's hope this new Chapter of Paxton's life is the beginning that he needs. Brandon sounds like a very good
father figure.

Jackie will be so relieved. She's a good woman.
Click to expand...
The same feeling that I had, pinky. What a rollercoaster.
 
Jace said:
@Murrmurr..he's a cute kid👍
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I think he's a pretty handsome dude. I'll be glad when his hair finally grows out, though. His mother kept him in a buzz-cut, mainly because it's easy and she doesn't like to spend good beer money on a decent barber.

Me and him used to go get styled together at this real cool barber shop near by. It was mostly beard work for me, of course.
 


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