Posted on 09/25/2009 2:05:26 AM PDT by Johnny Gage
October 2008:
From the start, Baby-Kay lived with us nearly full time. Baby-Momma would take her for a day, maybe two, then "give her back", because she couldn't handle a baby and a toddler full time. Around janurary 2009, she wore out her welcome,abused the hospitality/welfare of Paula's sister, husband and 3 kids.
She and was asked to leave, and move out. At that point, baby-Daddy #1 got the legal work started to gain full custody of Baby-Boy. Baby Momma continued to be a mommy to baby-Kay when it was convenient for her.
April 2009:
Baby-Momma finally agreed to sign legal documents for us to have "Temporary Guardianship and Power of Attorney" This allowed us to get her the required Well-Baby checkups and vaccinations that she had been lacking since birth.
May 2009:
During the court hearing for "Baby Boy", the court required Baby-Momma to submit to a hair follicle drug test (IN THE COURT ROOM). She tested positive for Methamphetamine, at the current day, 3 month and 6 month levels. Meaning she had been using Meth before Kay was born.
Baby-momma lost all custodial rights to Baby-boy. She was allowed three 2 hour supervised visits. One of those visits was to be at our home, that way she could see both Baby Boy and Baby Kay at the same time. These visits lasted less than 2 months.
At one visit in early July, she took Baby-Boy for a walk to the park and met "friends" there, and returned 30 minutes late. Baby-Daddy #1, not surprisingly was very upset, and promptly had his lawyer revoke this visit. The other 2 visits were to be at a approved day-care facility. She has made only a handful of attempts to see her son at the "safety center"
July 2009:
During all this time, we continued to care for baby Kay as our own. Fully loved, fully cared for, willingly at our expense. Baby-Momma has made no attempts to offer us money for formula, clothing or diapers, etc. At this time, we spent a full morning at the Hennepin County Family Services Center, to enroll Baby-Kaye for Medical and WIC benefits.
Baby-Momma continued to ome around once in a while when it was convenient for her, or when we agreed to "drop off and pick up" Baby-Kay at her demand. In one 2 week stretch of this month, we had 2 emotional blowouts with her. The Police were called one night, and had to mediate the problem. At this time, baby-Momma can "legally" take Baby-Kay whenever she wants, for as long as she wants. Hennepin Child Protection REFUSED to get involved, after we called them to try and keep Baby-Kay safe. Baby-Momma is still homeless, jobless, carless, License-less and still using Meth.
Even with that, Hennepin CPS says there's still no immediate danger for Baby-Kay.
August 2009:
After the extreme stress, and police calls, of the previous month, we finally decided that the best and safest option for Baby-Kay was to seek emergency legal custody. We have been unable to find any social service organization willing to take us "pro-bono". We did find an organization called Hilary's House (www.HilarysHouse.Org). They do "sliding scale" legal services for low income, and those who cannot afford a "full price ($500/hr)" lawyer.
But the cost is still an issue. The lawyer has been great so far she is able to charge us just $100/Hr and is very conservative in her time billing.
Near the end of August, Baby-momma confided in us that she was now again pregnant, third child, by a third man. She kept telling us she was going to have an abortion, but after that day, she showed us an ultrasound of the baby, at that time, about 10 weeks along.
The "12 week" deadline was on 9/3.
September 2009:
On 9/1 the lawyer submitted the paperwork before the judge. He signed the petition for custody and an "EX Parte Motion". This allowed the custody to be transferred to us immediately upon service of the Court Papers. Baby-Momma was served on Friday afternoon.
On 9/8 we all went before the Judge. During the meeting, Baby-Momma continued to "embellish" her life, stating she was renting a house, had a job, and was making money..
NOT NOT NOT.
She got more and more emotional and angry in front of the judge, and eventually walked out of the judge's chambers. The judge affirmed our petition for immediate full legal/physical custody.
He granted Baby-Momma only three 2 hour supervised visits at our home. He made it clear that we should no longer provide transportation for her to/from any location, it is now entirely on her to make the visits happen. While in court, it also appeared that she had not followed through with her "plan" to have abortion, and now is beyond the 12 week deadline.
(No abortion clinics in Minnesota will perform a procedure after 12 weeks)
*** Is anyone now asking: "How can I help?" ***
Even with the discounted level of legal fees, its going to be costly to see this through to the end.
The inital retainer was $400. The "filing fee" for the petition wasis also $405.
The lawyers rate is $100 hour.
We are asking people to please pray for us, and if God leads you to help us out, please donate.
It doesn't matter how big or small, be it $0.50, $1 or $10, or $1000 dollars. Every penny will be put aside and ONLY used to pay the legal fees to help Baby-Kay.
I forgot to mention, the estimated cost of the legal service will be in the range of $3000 - $5000. If at the end of all this, the Baby-Kay fund exceeds the cost, any extra money will be donated to charity, Possibly to HilarysHouse.org or another similiar organization to help others who are in the same fight as us.
************* Additional Info added 9/10/2009 ******************
Since the initial posting of this note, we have received a number of donations.
After the intial retainer and petition fees, We have about $600 in the fund, with the Court Hearing time and the most recent "legal work" yet to be billed.
****************************************************************
**** UPDATE: 09/28/09 *****
This week, we have received two notices from the Judge handling our case.
The first one was to notify us of an mandatory "Custody Evaluation". The "fee" for this is $450. If we fail to pay this, we are in default and could lose our fight.
The second notice, is to inform us that based on our income, we are now required to pay $650 for the "Assignment Fee" of the Guardian-Ad-Litem to Baby-Kay.
Other than a short 20 minute visit the evening after the court hearing, Baby-Momma has not contacted us, and has made no attempt to come and visit Baby-Kay.
**********************************
There is no way we could ever be able to re-pay anyone, but you have our deepest and utmost thanks and appreciation of your selfless act of giving.
Be assured that any assistance you may give, whether its prayers or a donation, you will know that you helped keep this beautiful child safe, out of harms way, and be allowed to grow up and reach her fullest potential.
If God leads you to donate to Baby-Kay's fund please send me a FR-Mail and I will send you our address or PayPal information.
Thank you, and may God Bless you for letting us share her story with you!
In our utmost appreciation, Johnny Gage & JG's Wife (David & Paula)
PRaying for this situation. I know it well! We ended up adopting our now 11 year old grandson. We are in our 70’s!!!
We were foster parents for 30 years and saw a lot of what you are describing. Prayers for you!!
Prayers for baby Kay and your family.
You have freepmail.
I don’t know about MN, but here the failure to visit and/or pay support for 3 months is considered abandonment, and is grounds for terminating parental rights.
Joining with you and prayer warriors in prayer.
BTTT!!!
PRAYING.
Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement!
Dave & Family
Good Morning!
I have a small favor to any & everyone.
If you read my post, please ping someone else to come and read it also.
Thank you to everyone who has read and responded with prayers or gifts to help us keep Baby-Kay safe.
David
BTT Ping.
wow.. what a story.. thanks for sharing & good luck with your journey of love with Baby Kay
October 2009:
Miss K. news
On 10/1 Miss K. was officially charged with Felony Auto theft.
That's because She "took" her grandma's car in late August and never returned it. The bank assumed ownership on 9/1 and after 30 days "breach of trust" it became Felony Auto Theft.
She was arrested on Oct. 2 and then and released on her own recognizance. (WHY???)
BIRTHDAY TIME
Baby-Kay celebrated her 1st birthday on 10/10 - We had a big party for her on 10/11 and had about 30 people show up.
** I am working on gettng photos posted for all to see ***
On 10/19 She was supposed to be in court for her arraignment and she failed to appear.
(Like we didn't see that coming HA)
Ramsey Co. has now issued an arrest warrant for her.
According to her Grandma, she also may have more charges coming, stemming from her Domestic Assault of grandma, and also theft of a bicycle from somewhere else.
10/17 - The Ramsey Co. Guardian-Ad-Litem was assigned to Baby-Kay (YEA !!) November 2009:
Baby-Kay was brought to the Doctor for a check up and to get her shots up to date.
Doctor is very concerned because of the E-Coli bladder infection she had earlier in the year, and that it was known by Miss-K since shortly after her birth, and that she failed to have it addressed when she was a newborn.
She was treated for it earlier this spring by us, but the 2nd set of antibiotics could not administered because the prescription was almost $100, and we could not afford it, and Miss-K didn't have Baby-Kay signed up form Medcial Assistance at that time.
What does this mean? Well thankfully we now have Kay covered by Medical Assistance, and they will cover the $4000 worth of medical tests, plus strong antibiotics Baby-Kay will now need to battle the infection. This problem, could cause damage to her kidneys and the ureter tubes between her bladder and kidneys.
Please continue to pray for Baby-Kay.
Pray that the infection has not caused any permanent damage to her urinary tract.
All this continues to stack up against Miss-K and her lack of parental caring and involvement. She still has not come to visit Baby-Kay snce Sept 8th, and has only made limited contact via text messages to us. Usually only a rare "How is Kay".
We are now waiting for the final Custody Evaluation report to be issued by the Guardian.
Our legal bills are currently more than we have available in her legal fund, but our lawyer is very sympathetic and is willing to accept payments on an "as available" basis.
Thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers!
Pingers, please ping anyone who you think would like to read Baby-Kay's story!
Mr. and Mrs JG and Baby-Kay
Instead of baby-momma, she is referred to as Miss K.
BTTT
Thank you for the update.
Continuing with prayers for Baby Kay’s health and well being.
Continued prayers.
Prayers continue for Baby-Kay.
I will continue praying for you all.
By the way, our adoption is now final!!!
Praise God!!!
Thank you for the update, Johnny Gage.
We will continue praying for Baby Kay and your family. I will also pray that Miss K. will get her life straightened out.
Thank you for keeping us informed! Prayers continue...
Congratualtions! Very happy to hear that!
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