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	<title>Clouds in the Sunshine State Blog</title>
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	<description>“The official blog for Clouds in the Sunshine State by Jackie Webb”</description>
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		<title>Clouds in the Sunshine State Blog</title>
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		<title>Clouds in the Sunshine State</title>
		<link>http://cloudsinthesunshinestate.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/clouds-in-the-sunshine-state/</link>
		<comments>http://cloudsinthesunshinestate.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/clouds-in-the-sunshine-state/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:13:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jwebb76386</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Department of Children and Families]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[injustice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internal procedures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[policies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rules and regulations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statutes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[why children may be removed from their families]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[A Petition for termination of Parental Rights under oath has been filed in
this court regarding minor child Steven W. D.O.B. 02/09/2005. You are to
appear before Judge Judith B. Metzner at 435 North 7th Street, Fort Pierce,
Fl., on December 4th 2007, 10:30 am. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE
NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR ST. LUCIE COUNTY,
FLORIDA.
FAILURE TO PERSONALLY APPEAR AT THIS ADVISORY HEARING
CONSTITUTES CONSENT TO THE TERMINATION OF PARENTAL
RIGHTS TO THIS CHILD. IF YOU FAIL TO APPEAR ON THE DATE
AND TIME SPECIFIED YOU MAY LOSE ALL LEGAL RIGHTS TO
THE CHILD NAMED IN THIS PETITION ATTACHED TO THIS
NOTICE . . .

Three Years Earlier
August 11, 2004. School opens today and my six-year-old daughter Alexis will
be starting first grade at Woodmere Elementary. She’s so excited, all she could
talk about is if her new teacher will be as nice as her kindergarten teacher Ms.
Carr. I told her if she didn’t like her new teacher she can always go back to
kindergarten. She said “Oh, Daddy, that’s not allowed.”
I’m fortunate to have my daughter, she is truly a terrific kid. She
brings such joy to my life. Alexis’s mom had left when she was born,
however we maintain a good relationship for Alexis’s sake. I work for
my family-owned business, this permits me to build my schedule around
my daughter’s. If I have to work after hours my neighbor picks Alexis
up and watches her till I get home. I made the decision to move in with
my mother three years ago, I thought it would be a good way to save
for my own home. My mother works for a major airline at Palm Beach
International Airport, she transferred here from La Guardia Airport in
1995. Her hours fluctuate, and at times she doesn’t get home till late at
night. However, she cares for Alexis on her days off which allows me to
pick up extra hours.
I walked Alexis to her classroom, her new teacher Ms. Hinojas greeted
us at the door. I bent down to get a hug from my daughter, and I whispered,
“She seems nice.” Alexis nodded and ran in her classroom.
I thought I would surprise Alexis and pick her up after school with
my scooter. She was going to have a lot to tell me about her first day. All
the parents were standing outside patiently waiting for their little ones to
exit. Ms. Bernice Lloyd (school principal) walked over to me; she was
accompanied by a young woman. After exchanging a few words, Ms.
Lloyd introduced the young woman as Lavern Williams who recently
moved here from up north. Ms. Lloyd was aware that I was from New
York, so I guess she thought Lavern and I would have something to talk
about. Ms. Lloyd excused herself to go and assist with the children being
released.
Lavern asked what part of the north I was from, New York, I replied,
and you? New Jersey. We seemed to have visited some of the same places
but didn’t seem to know the same people. Lavern told me that Ms. Lloyd
and her grandparents were friends and that her younger sister Shaylyn
attended Woodmere Elementary.

The next few days we continued to run into each other at the school,
on about the third day we decided to take Alexis and Shaylyn to the park.
Lavern told me that she came to Florida about two months ago. She asked
me if I knew someone by the name of Germane in the area. I told her
no, that I basically just know my neighbors. Lavern told me that she had
CLOUDS IN THE SUNSHINE STATE
recently broken up with him when she found out that he was living with
a woman. She told me she worked at a local restaurant in the evenings.
It wasn’t long before Lavern and I started dating.
Things were going pretty smooth, and I was starting to really like
Lavern. We spent a lot of our free time together. One evening Lavern
started to open up to me and confided that the reason she was in Florida
was because she had recently been released from prison. She said she was
staying at her grandmother’s house until she could get on her feet. Lavern
told me that her mother had passed away seven years earlier and that her
grandparents had raised her brother, who now lives in West Palm, and
her younger sister who is eight. I asked, “What were you in prison for?”
For selling and using drugs, she replied (she was straightforward with
her answer) she added that due to this, she had lost her three daughters.
I have to say that I was thrown back a bit. She told me that she was clean
now and wanted to get her life in order. She came across very sincere
and believable.
Lavern brought me to meet her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Cheney. They
live in a gated community in Port St. Lucie. Port St. Lucie is a middle-class
neighborhood where little crime exists, and drugs are rarely heard about. Both
her grandparents are retired from the military and seem to be very nice people.
Lavern started attending church with Alexis, and I on Sundays.
I brought her to meet my mother; however, I forgot to warn her not to
mention her past. It didn’t take Lavern long to bring it up. Lavern showed
my mom some pictures of her daughters and said that even though she
lost her parental rights, that the family who have her daughters allow her
to visit. (My mother’s main concern has always been for me to find a
woman that would be a good mother to Alexis) . . . And Lavern certainly
wasn’t winning any points in that area. (I knew I would be hearing about
this later.) But my mom just gave me the look, the one that says “what
the hell are you doing?” and shook her head.

Things seemed to be going pretty well with Lavern and me until the middle of
September. It appeared that the young man whom Lavern had broken up with
wasn’t too happy about us being together. On several occasions we caught him
following behind us in his car. Then I noticed that he would follow me home
and ride around my house several times. At first it seemed harmless and I just
ignored him. I figured that he would eventually tire of it.
Then one day as I was about to turn into my block when the light
caught me, I noticed Germane pulling up along side of my car, when I
looked over to him, he showed me a gun. When I arrived home, I called
Lavern, I asked her why he would be going to this extreme. She said she
didn’t know, because they really hadn’t had that close of a relationship.

It was Saturday morning and I asked my daughter if she wanted to go for a ride
on the scooter? (Which was a foolish question, she always wanted to ride on
the scooter.) She put her helmet on and we headed out. We were only out for a
little while when I noticed a car approaching us slowly, I turned to look (I had
thought it was a neighbor being cautious) but instead it was Germane, as he
passed us he looked over to me with this weird look on his face. With concern
that he would keep coming back I headed home, and I took Alexis to the park
instead.
One of my neighbors was a sheriff. I struck up a conversation with
him and told him what this guy was doing. He advised me to fill out a
police report. I didn’t take his advice, much to my regret, I thought it
would only escalate the situation.
It was the next day (Sunday), Lavern had told me she was working
the night before. We met in the morning for breakfast. I had to go to the
store to pick up some things. As Lavern and I were leaving the store we
noticed Germane standing there. We attempted to walk past him. He
yelled to Lavern, “Did you tell your boyfriend that I slept with you last
night?” (only not in those exact words) I stopped walking and turned to
Lavern and asked her what was he talking about? She didn’t answer and
just said, “Come on, let’s go.” By this time Germane walked over to us
and kept repeating, “Go ahead tell him, tell him.” I asked Lavern if this
was true. She didn’t answer. I asked her again, still no answer. That was
enough for me.
I decided to put an end to this relationship. But that didn’t end the
harassment from Germane. He somehow got hold of my cellular number
and started calling and threatening, not only me, but my family as well.
CLOUDS IN THE SUNSHINE STATE<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=cloudsinthesunshinestate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=13224632&amp;post=3&amp;subd=cloudsinthesunshinestate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have always been under the impression that children were only removed from their families when in severe and life threatening abusive situations. Never did I think for a moment that the very people who the public put their trust in are actually guilty of gross negligence and outrageous behavior far worse than some of the reasons why children may be removed from their families. To top it all off there are no penalties for DCF workers who remove children without cause. My child was kept from me for absolutely no reason, totally without justification nor my knowledge and tossed in a system for almost 3 years by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) that failed to abide by their own statutes, internal procedures, policies, rules and regulations. During this travesty of justice my child suffered lifelong visible scars and irreparable damage. I was totally oblivious to what could and would take place in my child’s life as well as my families and my life. Upon feeling compelled to write this book I am in hope that my story will enlighten other parents that maybe, by no fault of their own, are faced with a similar situation…I am in hope that my story will somehow inspire changes to be made in a now very broken system, a system that seems to be totally out of control….</p>
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