First, I want to give a GINORMOUS THANKS to all of my .Org family for the support you offered me while I was going through the very emotional trial as a juror. 
Tonight I am feeling better than I did this past Thursday Night. Thursday Night I felt so many emotions it was a roller coaster ride.
I feel that I should back up and give the details before explaining the end. The case was Child Protective Services seeking to terminate the parental rights from a mother to her (4) children. There is a fifth child born last month, but that case will be tried separately as the child was born after this trial was already too far along.
The mother is 24 years old with five children, the four that we were tasked with determining severing the parental rights to was an absolute heartbreaking case. You cannot imagine the abuse, molestation, neglect, filth, and domestic violence the children endured. Of the five children, there were three fathers involved. All the fathers have severely beaten the mother many times in front of the kids as well as molested the children. The father’s lost their parental rights due ALL of them have CPS history of molestation of a child under the age of 12 by touch, and domestic battery. They were deported from Travis County Jail back to Mexico. The father of baby number five was only 16 years old at the time of conception.
What is so heartbreaking is that this mother was receiving more government benefits that I even knew existed! $1050.00 a month in section 8 housing payments (yes you read that correctly)! Food Stamps, WIC, TANF, CCMS, Medicaid, and some other forms of assistance, yet she and those children lived for months without electricity and running water. The toilets just piled up with human waste. The children had lice infestations for a year. To the point of scratching bloody infected sores in their scalps. The domestic violence was so bad that the police were called to the house 4 times in 3 months with the last occurrence due to the sister’s b/f stabbing her in front of the children. The police then again called CPS to get the kids once they saw the living conditions, roaches, filth, and lack of utilities. Every man this mother associated with beat her and when these men went to jail, she remained in contact. She even had a relationship with the man that fathered her sister’s children, who consequently were taken away by CPS; except baby#5 who died two hours after birth due to her cocaine addiction.
I could go on and on about how these poor children were abused, neglected, and but in harm’s way at every turn. The molestation that she allowed to go on was sick. Children between the ages of 5 and 7 should not know that their family “may fight a lot but they always have a lot of sexâ€. They should also not know what or how to perform oral sex (the new foster mother walked in on this). I was sickened and heartbroken that they had to learn this.
I could go and on with more details that would break your heart and turn your stomach. It has taken an emotional toll. In the end, I was picked as presiding juror and had to sign my name to the unanimous verdict of public record. I then had to read it out in court, which rocked me more than I thought it would. The mother’s parental rights to all four of these kids were terminated and the kids are free to be adopted. She still has to go through another trial as to her rights to the fifth baby born last month. That baby was also taken from the hospital. There is a somewhat happy ending because the 17 month old that was removed from mom straight from the hospital is being adopted by the couple who took him home from the hospital. The other three have a loving forever home lined up as well. I know that I voted in the best interest of the kids but as a mother I have that “what if someone did this to me feeling?†Although this mother did not seem to deserve the “gift†of children. She was a ninth grade drop out and did not know what a GED was. Also testified that she was going to get an IUD, but the D.A. called her out on that one and proved there was never any appointment, and that she had no idea what the different definitions of birth control really are. Very, Very, Sad. These children have all been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and will need some serious help. I could go on and on, but I it is just not something to keep reliving.
Positive note: During lunch, I HAD TO GET out of the courthouse. I snapped some pictures of Austin to share.
Tonight I am feeling better than I did this past Thursday Night. Thursday Night I felt so many emotions it was a roller coaster ride.
I feel that I should back up and give the details before explaining the end. The case was Child Protective Services seeking to terminate the parental rights from a mother to her (4) children. There is a fifth child born last month, but that case will be tried separately as the child was born after this trial was already too far along.
The mother is 24 years old with five children, the four that we were tasked with determining severing the parental rights to was an absolute heartbreaking case. You cannot imagine the abuse, molestation, neglect, filth, and domestic violence the children endured. Of the five children, there were three fathers involved. All the fathers have severely beaten the mother many times in front of the kids as well as molested the children. The father’s lost their parental rights due ALL of them have CPS history of molestation of a child under the age of 12 by touch, and domestic battery. They were deported from Travis County Jail back to Mexico. The father of baby number five was only 16 years old at the time of conception.
What is so heartbreaking is that this mother was receiving more government benefits that I even knew existed! $1050.00 a month in section 8 housing payments (yes you read that correctly)! Food Stamps, WIC, TANF, CCMS, Medicaid, and some other forms of assistance, yet she and those children lived for months without electricity and running water. The toilets just piled up with human waste. The children had lice infestations for a year. To the point of scratching bloody infected sores in their scalps. The domestic violence was so bad that the police were called to the house 4 times in 3 months with the last occurrence due to the sister’s b/f stabbing her in front of the children. The police then again called CPS to get the kids once they saw the living conditions, roaches, filth, and lack of utilities. Every man this mother associated with beat her and when these men went to jail, she remained in contact. She even had a relationship with the man that fathered her sister’s children, who consequently were taken away by CPS; except baby#5 who died two hours after birth due to her cocaine addiction.
I could go on and on about how these poor children were abused, neglected, and but in harm’s way at every turn. The molestation that she allowed to go on was sick. Children between the ages of 5 and 7 should not know that their family “may fight a lot but they always have a lot of sexâ€. They should also not know what or how to perform oral sex (the new foster mother walked in on this). I was sickened and heartbroken that they had to learn this.
I could go and on with more details that would break your heart and turn your stomach. It has taken an emotional toll. In the end, I was picked as presiding juror and had to sign my name to the unanimous verdict of public record. I then had to read it out in court, which rocked me more than I thought it would. The mother’s parental rights to all four of these kids were terminated and the kids are free to be adopted. She still has to go through another trial as to her rights to the fifth baby born last month. That baby was also taken from the hospital. There is a somewhat happy ending because the 17 month old that was removed from mom straight from the hospital is being adopted by the couple who took him home from the hospital. The other three have a loving forever home lined up as well. I know that I voted in the best interest of the kids but as a mother I have that “what if someone did this to me feeling?†Although this mother did not seem to deserve the “gift†of children. She was a ninth grade drop out and did not know what a GED was. Also testified that she was going to get an IUD, but the D.A. called her out on that one and proved there was never any appointment, and that she had no idea what the different definitions of birth control really are. Very, Very, Sad. These children have all been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and will need some serious help. I could go on and on, but I it is just not something to keep reliving.
Positive note: During lunch, I HAD TO GET out of the courthouse. I snapped some pictures of Austin to share.
Very sad to hear that someone could do a child that way. Now, the h311 with deporting them back, they should have been tortured for hours at a time, for days, until they finally just died. Sorry i feel this way, but this kinda thing just P1sses me off really bad. We ( the USA )need to start making examples of this kind of trash. Sorry you , or anyone has to deal with this kind of trash.
