Trial Days 2 and 3

Day 2

TEXAS CHILDREN'S DOCTOR
This day started with the doctor from Texas Children's who is an expert witness and had many credentials in the field of child abuse medicine.  She described J&B's condition upon entering the hospitals as starved to the point where their bodies had fully digested all extraneous fat deposits and some muscles, that neither of the kids could stand up unassisted due to weakness, that J was contracted into a fetal position and couldn't even hold up his own head.  She described that in order for them to be in this condition they would have had to have been deprived food for months, possibly the duration of the preceding year.

The doctor described her efforts to find a cause for their condition, and that there were no medical records of pre-existing conditions that would cause them to be in such a state.  She very adamantly said she was CERTAIN the parents were lying when they said they fed the children three times a day. She said that there would be long term cognitive damage (at higher levels), physical damage (for J) and emotional damage that would require extra attention from their future caregivers.  

The best thing about this doctor was her facial expressions and her emotions.  She had a way of informing the jury that she thought a question was idiotic by the way she answered it.  She never wavered on her convictions.  When our lawyer showed the doctor a current picture of B&J with our family, the doctor started crying and had to take a few minutes to collect herself because she was just so emotional to see them looking so happy and healthy. When our lawyer asked if the doctor saw any reason to move the kids from their current placement after seeing that picture, she said "Absolutely NOT!"

BIO MOM
The second witness of the day was Bio Mom, who continued her cross-examination from the previous day.  She continued to maintain that the abusive step-dad (who is in jail for criminal child abuse of our kids) is a good husband to her and father to them.  She also revealed that Bio Dad failed to appear to the court hearing where she established child support and where he could have fought for visitation rights.  Bio Dad's lawyer showed Bio Mom a record of child support payments and tried to make it seem like she was lying about not receiving much.  Our lawyer pointed out thatBio Mom didn't receive the money because it went to the government to repay what she had been given in food stamps and WIC and that Bio Dad had not willingly paid the child support but that it had been garnished from his tax returns.  Bio Mom also revealed that a mutual friend came to visit her and the kids, indicating that if Bio Dad had wanted to, he could have made the efforts to find them.  Our lawyer pointed out that instead, Bio Dad was busy impregnating a new 16 year old, this time while he is in his 30s.

Our lawyer talked about the 20 traits that the jury panel had listed for what makes a good parent.  Then he had Bio Mom rate herself on each one.  If she said she did good on one, for example, loving her kids, our lawyer would say something like: "Really, Ma'am, you think when you deprive your kids of food until they look like victims of the Holocaust, that is showing love to them?"  She then would plead the 5th to not incriminate herself.  He wrote down her answers on the chart of what makes a good parent and almost all of them where "the 5th."

Our lawyer then showed Bio Mom the picture of our family with B&J looking so happy and healthy.
Lawyer: Ma'am do you see this picture of your kids with their current family?
Bio Mom: Yes
Lawyer: Do they look happy?
Bio Mom: Yes
Lawyer: Do they look healthy?
Bio Mom: Yes
Lawyer: Do you want what is best for your kids?
Bio Mom: Yes (at this point she is crying...the first time we have EVER seen her show emotion)
Lawyer: Do you agree that what is best for your kids is to stay where they are at where they are loved and fed?
Bio Mom: I want what's best for my kids
Lawyer: Yes, and don't you agree that it is to stay with this family that loves them and feeds them?
Bio Mom: I want what's best for my kids
Lawyer: I pass the witness

BIO DAD
The District Attorney then called Bio Dad to witness, at which point, Bio Dad walked out of the courtroom.  The court recessed and we were told a while later that Bio Dad was scared to testify and wanted to relinquish his rights.  We were excited, but wary because the DA said she would not be able to accept his relinquishment if he was claiming it was made under duress.  Court was adjourned for the day for Bio Dad to talk to his attorneys.


Day 3

BIO DAD
On previous days, Bio Dad had worn a suit provided by his attorney.  On this day, he came into court wearing a white undershirt and jeans.  Bio Dad's attorneys started off by restating that Bio Dad wanted to relinquish his rights.  He was then questioned and it was established that he was relinquishing his rights:

• Because he believed it was in the children's best interest
• Not under any kind of duress
• That it is irrevocable - "no take backs"
• And that he intended the kids to be adopted by the Maddocks and Lagoy families

The jury was called in and the judge explained to them that Bio Dad was no longer a part of this case (that's all he said about it!)

CPS CASEWORKER

Then our caseworker was called to testify.  She described each of the kids

• Alejandra: reserved, initially took on the motherly role for her younger siblings, but is now learning to be a child
• Brenda: a people pleaser, likes to be told she's doing good, bright and bubbly
• Briana: A diva (ha, YES!), sassy, fun, talkative, affectionate
• JJ: tags along with siblings, chill, shy, flirty, goes with the flow (I'm not sure these are the best descriptors of him but they do fit so I won't argue too much)

She explained CPS's goal for the kids was unrelated adoption.  Her ongoing concern for placing the kids with Bio Mom is that Bio Mom has still never demonstrated her acceptance of her role as perpetrator of child abuse, that she does not have the ability to care fro the children, and that all of the children want to stay with their foster parents.  The CPS worker then stated that the foster parents are ready, willing, and able to meet all of the needs of the children.  She stated that the kids should NEVER return to Bio Mom.  

She explained that although Bio Mom completed her service plan such as counseling and parenting classes, she never demonstrated the ability to apply those learnings to her family situation by changing her explanation of what happened to the kids or by taking responsibility for it.  She explained that Bio Mom's relatives cannot be considered as placements because they saw the kids in their starved condition and did not intervene to save them, nor do they acknowledge in hindsight that anything was wrong with them.  Bio Mom's lawyer's biggest argument was repeating that Bio Mom repeatedly told CPS that she desired to be reunified with her kids.  

CHILD ADVOCATE

He testified that:

• The children were very lucky to be in our homes
• That the foster parents were very proactive in seeking to meet their many needs
• The foster families went above and beyond to keep the siblings connected
• He shared the same concerns about the Bio Mom as did CPS
• He believed it is in the best interest of the children to terminate Bio Mom's rights and for the kids to be adopted by their foster parents

MEGAN LAGOY

After the Child Advocate, the DA had no more witnesses. (She would have called many more, but now that Bio Dad has relinquished his rights, and neither he nor his lawyers are in the courtroom, she was able to simplify her witness list). Our lawyer called me as his first witness.

He first asked me to tell about when the kids were first placed with us, so I told the jury about how we got the call and went to pick them up two days before Christmas.  He asked if we had Christmas presents for them and I said, yes, probably more than we had for our biological children.  Then he had me answer the same 20 questions he had asked of Bio Mom about whether I was a good parent and my answer was yes for all 20 questions.  Interestingly, our lawyer remarked that Bio Dad "is gone.  Doesn't matter." Then he marked N/A under Bio Dad's name on the chart.  Many of the jury smirked at this and seemed to appreciate the clue into what happened to Bio Dad.

Then he brought out a 60 page document I had created for him, that had a timeline and photos of us and the kids over the past year and a quarter.  We then spent about 20 minutes going over pictures and sharing many of the special moments that are captured in this blog.  I will spare you the touching details but suffice it to say that the jury was smiling and visibly touched by the photos and stories I shared.  

He asked me what I was asking the jury to do and I told them I was asking them to terminate Bio Mom's rights and allow us to adopt the kids.  He asked me why we intervened in the case and I said I wanted to make sure we did everything in our power to keep the kids safe and provide stability and on-going support.  He asked me to tell the jury about our previous foster son that we helped reunify with his biological mother (to show that we weren't just out to steal someone's kids). 

ADEL LAGOY

Then it was Adel's turn.  His was much shorter as he was asked if he agreed with everything I said and did he fully support our adoption efforts.  He also stated that he was asking the jury to terminate Bio Mom's rights so that we could adopt them. He explained some more about how we support the kids and that we love them like we love our own kids.  He explained that fostering them has helped our family by giving us new family members to love and also by helping us appreciate the family we have and to understand that not everyone experience the same in life.

HAROLD MADDOCKS

He was asked about how he and Tina measure up on the chart of 20 parenting requirements and of course they answered yes to everything.  Then he went through his document of timeline and photos. It was great to see how happy the girls are now and hear the stories of how the foster parents have worked hard to help them get to where they need to be.

TINA MADDOCKS

Similarly to Adel, Tina basically agreed to what her husband said and that she was fully committed to  adopting their girls.  

Then we were dismissed for the day as there were no other witnesses. Tomorrow, the lawyers will each deliver their closing statements and then the jury will deliberate and give their verdict.  We have a lot of hope that they will chose to terminate Bio Mom's rights because the case was laid out very well!  Since Bio Dad has relinquished his rights, we would then move into the adoption process for our babies!  

Just to be clear, Bio Dad never would have relinquished his rights if we hadn't hired a lawyer to intervene in this case.  Under the associate judge, he was gaining access to the kids against the kids' lawyer's, CPS's, and the Child Advocate's recommendations.  In fact, there was a point in March when the court decided that Bio Dad would get three weeks in a row of family visitation and family therapy and then, if all was successful, the kids would be given to them.  That is when we intervened, when we saw that the kids would be given to him if we did nothing to stop it.  We never believed this was in their best interest and the kids have never wanted to go with him (my kids didn't even know who he was at first).  We feared for their futures and believed the right thing for us to do with the responsibility we were given when we took them in was to stand in their defense.  The minute we intervened, things began to change:

• The trial was moved out from under the associate judge to the main judge (much better!!!)
• The DA found the courage to stand firm in insisting on terminating not just Bio Mom's, but also Bio Dad's rights. 
• We found we now had a voice, and major (because of our lawyer) influence in the court

And then, as the trial progressed, Bio Dad saw for the first time that everyone was aligned against him and that everyone sought to hold him accountable for the abandonment of his children that lead to their neglect and abuse by others.  He saw that the other parties in the court condemned him as a three-time sexual predator of sixteen year old girls as well as having previously abandoning another of his children who is now 14 years old.  When it came time for him to testify, he was just too scared and we believe it was the first time he saw his situation clearly from the eyes of the rest of the courtroom.   It's crazy to think of how different the outcome was going to be without us intervening!