to this day, I have yet to be shown any of my daughter’s test results by a physician at that hospital. I notified my husband of the information and he returned immediately.
Upon my husband’s return to the hospital, DCFS and the police had already arrived. As I continued to ask for the results of our daughter’s testing, I was told that I “wouldn’t know what I was looking at” or “parents are not usually allowed to obtain results of their child’s testing”. As our own suspicions grew and we consulted outside medical professionals in the pediatric field, we began asking questions pertaining to Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Calcium, clotting and Parathyroid test results.
After all, our child received four blood transfusions and we were given no rhyme or reason. Doctors became more intimidated by us as our questions became more educated. The police were asked to return and we were separately detained for 72 hours. I was even walked out in handcuffs. We were restricted from seeing our child in the hospital. My husband and I even had to fight to see each other during that time.
Meanwhile, our daughter’s symptoms recurred as new findings were made weeks after our removal from the hospital—unbeknownst to us…
In the ensuing months, we lost our jobs, spent our entire savings and even lost housing, while fighting for our daughter. We made ourselves as available for her as we could (we were allowed very odd visitation hours), but were restricted from doctor’s appointments for quite some time after her placement in foster care.
Previously exclusively nursing and bottle-feeding, I was no longer allowed to breastfeed, discontinuing the bond my child naturally created with her mother. We assembled a legal defense team that consisted of both private and public attorneys, as well as doctors of various specialties.
As we began preparing for a juvenile trial against DCFS accusations of abuse, and expert doctors submitted reports, I found out I was pregnant again. The fear of losing another child to the system overcame us, so we decided to stipulate to trial. We knew that stipulating would cause the judge to rule with DCFS and