Complaint Review: hild Protective Services - Phoenix Arizona

It is difficult to decipher what is relevant trying not to get caught up in the details of my situation to avoid too to lengthy of a letter. Please understand that any issues I have stating in this letter I feel are valid and are important for you to know. Please bear with me and I will make this as brief as possible

I was incarcerated on the 26th of June, 2013 for a crime I committed on the 4th of May, 2012 for a paraphernalia charge. By the time charges were filed in Superior Court. I was pregnant and living quite a different lifestyle then a year prior.

While pregnant, I abstained from the use of illicit drugs, for the health and wellbeing of my babies and will continue to do so.

I was sentenced to Maricopa County Jail until the birth of my twins the judge respected some concerns I addressed during sentencing and specifically stated in my sentencing that I was to be released immediately after the birth of my twins. I should have been free to take my babies home from the hospital, but I wasn't.  I considered the possibility that I might still be incarcerated when they were ready to be discharged. So I made preparations for my adult son Dylan to pick up my twins from the hospital and care for them until I was released from jail.

Important to know that as an inmate in the hospital I had no phone and wasn't aloud any visitors. So I wasn’t able to make any further arrangements or even made aware of anything going on outside my hospital room.

Jayce and Jaxson Dyess were born on the 4th of September, 2013 it was early Wednesday morning. After my babies were born I asked the hospital social worker to please contact my son, and let him know that I had the babies and to be prepared to take them if needed,  

    Supposedly CPS received a phone call from someone making allegations' of “substance exposure” the same day they were born. So, they ordered a Meconium drug screening for each baby and a blood test for me. The tests were back early in the morning on Thursday the 5th. Myself as well as my babies tested negative for illicit drugs.

Sandy Colburn (a caseworker for CPS) visited me in the hospital to ask me some questions. She told me she received an ammoniums phone call but wouldn’t tell me what their allegations were. I told her that I was under the influence of narcotics (hospital administrated for pain) and that I couldn’t think clearly. She also presented me with a form to sign. I than told her I couldn’t see without my glasses. I didn’t feel comfortable saying anything or signing anything. She told me that it wouldn’t look good if I didn’t cooperate. I did speak to her because I was fearful of what would happen if I didn’t. I am not certain of what all I said. I believe that was Thursday the 5th.

On Friday it didn’t appear as though I was going to be released and my twins were ready to be discharged from the hospital. So the hospital social worker contacted Dylan to come and get my twins to take them home. Dylan, along with my oldest son Justin came up to the hospital as requested. They even took a class to help them better care for their new siblings.

But when they got ready to take them they were met by Sandy Colburn who stated that they couldn’t take them unless they were prepared to care for them for at least one year.  Dylan then told her that there was no reason to have to care for them that long because he had spoken to my probation officer and she told him I would be released no later than Wednesday the 11th of September. So then, She told him that the twin’s father was going to take them home and that he had rights before Dylan.

Dylan was not permitted to pick up my twins.

Jason the babies father was also at the hospital the day the babies were ready to go home.(on Friday the 6th) but he wasn’t permitted to take them  (even though I made it known he was their father).  He was told there was a hold on my twins pending the results of the Meconium drug screening but the results were already back on the 5th.

The last I had known they were calling my son Dylan to come and get them.

I was under the assumption that my twins had gone home with Dylan Friday morning.

It wasn't until Late Saturday afternoon that Sandy Colburn showed up at the hospital to inform me that she was taking my babies. She said she had tried all day to reach Jason and wasn’t able to and that Dylan changed his mind about taking them. But she didn’t say why.

I was very upset I pleaded with her to please try once more to reach Jason and she stated she had been trying all day.. I later learned that she tried to call Jason one time that day while he was at work leaving him a message that she was taking the twins. Not requesting him to come and get them He did not receive the message until he got off work. . He was not expecting a call regarding to their discharge. Or he would have been prepared to pick them up..

The reason she gave for taking my children was "neglect" She stated that I neglected to have anyone there to pick them up at their time of discharge

She clearly manipulated the situation to create "cause" to take them. On the day they were initially ready to be discharged She lead Dylan to believe that Jason was taking them and would not permit Jason to take them. She lied about the “pending” Meconium drug screening results. (Which she already knew)

I was permitted to see my babies briefly just before they took them. My newborn son was wearing a t shirt that said "daddy's little helper"

That the foster parents put on him before taking them home. I thought it was odd but tried not to let it bother me.

Before taking my twins Sandy Colburn made it seem as though “the whole ordeal” was a simple matter that I could easily clear up as soon as I was released. She told me that I had 72 hours from Monday at 8:00 am to pick up my twins. What she really meant was she had 72 hours from Monday at 8 am to file to dependency.

On my court paperwork CPS stated that they made every effort to keep my children with me. That is not true. No efforts were ever made to keep them with me. In fact I feel like CPS was trying everything to get them and keep them from me without just cause.

The following Wednesday the 11th of September at about 2:30 pm as soon as I was released from jail called Sandy and her supervisor. I called and I called and got no answer. I must have called a dozen times over a two and a half hour period before she finally answered. I requested to pick up my babies and she told me she had already filed a dependency in juvenile court and told me I would have to wait until the hearing to see if I could get them back.

 Later, I learned that the dependency wasn’t even filed until the 12 of September. (a day later, passed the deadline)

I called the judge that sentenced me to the county jail. It was his intention that I be out of county jail immediately after their birth to specifically avoid dilemma such as this. He called Sandy Colburn and left a message for her to return his call. Two days later she still had not called him back. So he called her supervisor and left a lengthy message. Stating that if my twins were taking because I was not free to take them home after their birth she needed to give them back. The paper work I received from CPS stated their reason for taking them was “NEGLECT” They alleged that I failed to have someone there to pick my babies up from the hospital when they were ready to be discharged.

Sandy’s supervisor called the judge giving substance exposure as additional safety concern. Knowing they were not substance exposed.

Judge Woodburn told me that there was nothing he could do at that point because they had already filed a dependency in Juvenile Court.

 When I went to my team meeting with CPS the supervisor of the meeting was shocked to learn that the babies were not substance exposed. I guess Sandy Colburn had told a number of people that they were even though they weren’t. They said it was not to be treated as an SEN case yet that is their primarily reason at this point. I tested clean when they were born I have since given a hair follicle drug test and also frequent UA’s and they have all been negative..

 In addition to that Sandy Colburn neglected to turn in my referral for the substance abuse intake so I can start classes. She was initially asked to make the referral back in September at the “team meeting” It has been Months now and she has just recently make the referral.

I recently sent her an email stating that her delays were effecting my progress.

We filed the five day dependency and when the court date arrived I was sick and in the hospital. I couldn’t not attend the hearing in person I listened over the phone in a conference call. The Judge called the attorneys to her chamber for a private meeting and then my attorney spoke to me privately over the phone and she told me the judge had pretty basically made up her mind favoring CPS. The judge never even once has heard any of the testimony from myself or any of the witnesses who can testify on my behalf.  I didn’t understand how she could have already decided. Anyway my attorney asked me if there was any way I would be capable of picking up the babies that day myself and caring for them. She already knew I couldn’t or I would have been in court. So she told me that we were going to post pone the hearing until the trial. Not that we were waving our rights and submitting to the dependency. My attorney led me to believe that she was going to fight the false allegations made by CPS and the circumstances in which they took my twins. Then the day on the Trial She tells me she has never seen this particular judge favor the parents in a dependency case. I asked her even though I am innocent? And she said just the fact that I ever in my life used drugs and even though my twins were not exposed to drugs during my pregnancy that the judge would rule in favor of CPS

 Not to mention the fact that she could sever my rights if I lost.. So I decided to go along with CPS in the mediation not admitting guilt just agreeing to their terms out of fear of if I didn’t.

In court following the mediation the babies father and I walked in five minutes late.

 My civil rights have been violated so many times over and just to update the most recent violatons would take several more pages.Please contact meregarding this matter.

my email (((REDACTED)))

Sincerely,

 Cyndee W

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