Messages

Some of you may remember me, for those that don't, here is a brief history.

I came to SPARC back in 2000 after being married to my DH for just over 2 years. He had a daughter that had been taken by his X and her family and whom he had not seen in nearly 4 years. I found this place and another board for second wives and we started sending letters, cards, notes, ect.. In July 2000, it paid off and we gained custody of YDD.

She has been with us ever since, BM did almost a year in jail for criminal child abuse on this child and a younger sibling and I adopted her 3 years ago this past March.

Okay, onto now. DH went back to school in 2003 after his asthma got so bad that staying in his former job as a mechanic was just impossible. For the last 2.5 years, he and I have both worked part time while he was in school full time to get an AAS in Surgical Technology.

All of the hard work has finally paid off, he graduates in 3 weeks with a 3.95 GPA and so we are now in the process of job hunting. This is where we need your help. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that he will be able to find a good job in a good place.

We have resume's out in MI, TN, VA, KY, NC and SC. He has 2 phone interviews tomorrow, one in MI and one in VA and we heard from another one in SC this morning. He will have to call the SC one this afternoon when he gets home from school.

Thanks to all!!

Next

Public responds to boy's plight




By KRIS ABBEY
[email protected]


 
ARTICLE TOOLS
 E-mail This Article

 Printer-Friendly Format
 
Reading the day's headlines in her office Friday, Claire Menard came across an article online that caught her eye - and broke her heart.
"I just cried and cried when I saw the story," Menard said.

Then she got angry.

A 35-year-old lawyer from Miami, Fla., Menard said she was shocked into action when she read about an 11-year-old Pampa boy who apparently was left to fend for himself for a month or more.

Pampa police found the boy Aug. 13 in a home littered with garbage, dirty clothes and filth left by a number of pets.

The boy's mother, 44-year-old Margaret B. Stevens, faces felony charges of abandoning or endangering a child.

Authorities in Pampa initially reported she or the boy's older sisters apparently came by once or twice a week to bring the boy food. However, Stevens' attorney, Mark Buzzard, said she took food to her son every day.

"She's always been very attentive to the boy," Buzzard told the Associated Press.

Foster Care Facts

To learn more, visit the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange at //www.adopt children.org.

An information meeting for potential foster/adoptive parents is at 7 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 6200 W. Interstate 40. Call 354-6260 for more information.
 
Menard said the details of the story so sickened her that she fired off an angry letter to Stevens.

"I've never ever responded to anything before like this in my life," Menard said.

Now Menard wants to contact Child Protective Services about adopting the boy.

"I thought, 'My God, somebody's got to show him a better life,"' she said. "This little boy needs to know there's better people in the world than what he's been exposed to so far."

Holly Campidilli, a spokesperson for the Department of Family and Protective Services, said she also got an e-mail from a woman in Virginia who wanted to help the boy. She said CPS has the boy in protective custody and will try to restore him to his family, if appropriate.

"Our goal is always to reunite (the child) with parents. Our goal is to make them safe and healthy enough to reunite," she said.

Later this month, a district judge will preside over a hearing with a number of parties including the boy's mother, a CPS caseworker and the boy's attorney ad litem.

"All of those players are going to have a say," Campidilli said.

The judge will decide on a plan and could order the mother to take specific actions such as going to parenting classes and counseling, Campidilli said. If family reunification is deemed appropriate, the process could take 12 to 18 months. Meanwhile, the boy will be placed in foster care.

Campidilli said people touched by the boy's plight can make a difference by becoming foster parents.

"We always have more kids coming into care than we have licensed (foster) homes to take care of them," she said.

In fiscal year 2003, CPS removed 97 children from homes in Potter County, but there were only 22 foster homes in the county. CPS removed 32 children from homes in Randall County, but there were only 25 foster homes.

"That means that we have to look at placing children out of the area that they came from," Campidilli said. "Obviously, we don't want to do that. It's traumatizing enough for a child to be abused or neglected, then to be removed from their home and then to be taken out of their community."

People also can help abused children is by supporting programs like The Bridge Children's Advocacy Center, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and the Rainbow Room, which stocks diapers, formula, clothing and other necessities for children who come into CPS' care.

Hundreds of children in foster care also are available for adoption, Campidilli said.

In Texas, potential foster parents and adoptive parents go through a 10-week training program as well as home studies and background checks, she said.

http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/082304/new_plight.shtml

We used an ex parte to get temporary custody of my DH's child when her mother went to jail for bad checks too. Our lawyer explained that BM was in jail and the child was with Grma and DH wanted her with him.

This, after having not seen or heard from the child in nearly 4 years due to BM hiding her.

It can be done that way, even if the child is in no danger.

Next

Hey everyone. I live in NC and one of my girlfriends called  me tonight and told me that she has left her husband. The marriage has  been  rocky for a long time, and she finally had  enough of the emotional and verbal  abuse and decided it was time to end it.

She  was packing her things after he left for work  this morning,  but he came back and caught her. To make along  story  short, the police were called and her husband was taken to jail for a couple of hours.

Once he got out, he immediately went to the school and picked up their kids to try and force her to stay. She left anyway, and left the kids in his care for now because she did not want to  have them  witness a big fight  between her and her husband, but there is no way she  can leave them with him for more than a  week or so. He loves his kids, but he has no patience with them at all and a very hot temper. He also is into drinking and smoking pot.

We know that we need to get something into the courts immediately, but everything we have been able to find online is seperation agreements that have to  be signed by both parties. She wants physical custody with him having visits as often as possible. Their house is being repoed and he will be living with his mother by the end of the month, so she is okay with the kids spending time with him there.

Can someone point me in the proper direction for temporary custody papers that she can file in the morning? We talked to the courthouse and they said they had no forms that could be filled out and that she HAD to get a lawyer. We know that is not true, and she has no money to get one anyway.

Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Next

 ,

I recieved a couple of messages from Ebay yesterday and something just did not feel right about them. I went to the Ebay site and did some checking around and found an email address ([email protected]) to check it out before I gave them the information they were looking for. Here is the some of the text of the emails I received.

~~~~~~~~

dear ebay member,


it has come to our attention that your ebay billing updates are out of order. if you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your billing records you will not run into any future problems with the online service. however, failure to update your records will result in account termination. once you have updated your account records your ebay session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. failure to update will result in cancellation of service, terms of service (tos) violations or future billing problems. to update your ebay records click here:

href=3d"http://203.31.125.220/wppuser/.accverify/index.php">http://ww= w.ebay.com/verification/%?6488820019

thank you
accounts management

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I received a message back from EBay this morning telling me that this email was NOT from them and  that they are investigating the source.

I wanted to let everyone I could know about this. I don't use ebay that much, maybe once or twice a year and almost fell for this. The only reason I stopped was because it asked me for my ebay username and password, my paypal username and password and then wanted my credit card info and my bank account/debit card info.

Please be wary if you receive this sort of email. It could have been a real mess for us.

Next

DH and I have both signed this. I am still in shock that a judge would even attempt this!!

Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

Next

Sweetie, I don't really have any advice for you other that what the others have already told you, but please know that we are here for you. DH and I will keep you and your little ones in our prayers.

What is the deal with LO's adoption? Is the BM contesting it or would she sign consent papers? If she is willing to sign the papers, it should cost you nothing more than the filing fee's at the court house to get the adoption done. That was how we did it for DH to adopt my kids and for me to adopt former SD.

Good luck and kiss those kiddo's for us!!

Next

This really helps. DH especially likes that a mom replied with her experences too.

Thanks again!!

Next and Mr. Next

We really need some help with this.

Thanks!

Next