STOP THE STATE FROM ILLEGALLY TAKING MY CHILD *TIME SENSITIVE**

• by: Maire Kelly, Parents and Children United
• recipient: John B. Mattingly, Commissioner, ACS Administration for Children's Services

PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS AND SIGN for him:



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They call themselves ACS The Administration for Children's Services. They are supposed to keep families together. Do they honestly think that REMOVING a child from his/her natural birthmother AFTER they have been proven innocent of false charges is in the best interest of a child? I am asking for your help in me not losing my son to the State. I, as have many other parents, been proven innocent in terms of abusing/neglecting our children.
 The Allegations Are:
1. Brendan is "filthy" with matted hair that you cannot even get your fingers through.
2. Brendan's clothes are dirty and unwashed.
3. Brendan misses a lot of school.

Misc.:
1. The mother appears to be tired all the time; we feel that she is on drugs.
2. There is an unknown man who comes in and out of the mother's apartment. We do not know who this man is.

Okay, Here are the facts: My son is NOT dirty. Period.
My son's clothes are not dirty. I throw his clothes in the hamper the minute they come off his body. I do the laundry once a week.
My son has missed a lot of school but this is new for him. He attended nursery school and UPK without any problems. I keep in touch with Brendan's teachers to target any problems he might be having. I am always present at school for Parent/Teacher days and classsroom events. I have Brendan being evalutaed for psycho-therapy as well as seeing a specialist to figure out why he is sick( he has minor illnesses that interfere with his attendance; I am just as concerned as the school is about his absences. Also, whenever he is sick or misses school, when he returns, he ALWAYS has a DOCTOR'S note.)

Of course I am tired: I am a single mom, with little to no help from the natural father who has joint-custody but only exercize it when it suits his needs. I also am HepC+, have fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and anemia. In addition to my medicines THAT I TAKE AS PRESCRIBED at their lowest doses, I do yoga, meditation, and eat healthy to maintain & better my health. Yes, I am on drugs...prescription meds. ACS has letters from all my doctors. When I am overwhelmed, I have my Boyfriend come over and help me...maybe this is the unknown "man"? I am not allowed to have a boyfriend? Just because he looks about 10 years my junior doesn't mean that he is. He is my bf, who cares very much about Brendan and helps me beyond words.)

It is a shame that other children ARE abused but why am I paying for some other parent's crimes against their children? The system needs an overhaul. The State has become like Nazis in their efforts to look good in the eyes of the public. Anyone can make a call...let me say that again: ANYONE...and make a claim against you and your children in the state of NY. Once they come into your house (uninvited and without warning) they never leave. ACS has, by law, 60 days to make their judgement or close the case. If they decide to take the case to trial, the child is put in foster care until a decision is reached. They claim that ACS is to help families stay together...in fact, they cause more emotional damage than any other child abuser I can think of. Recently, it had come to light that removing children to foster homes is a scam; ACS is making money from the foster homes. I am asking that an investigation be conducted regarding ACS' procedures in determining a parent to be neglectful/abusive and their methods of keeping a case open longer than 60 days while they have the parents jumping through hoops to try and catch them doing something...anything... that will give them a  reason to take my /your child away and put them in the State's "care". I am asking that an investigation be made into ACS regarding their "scare tactic" policies and general harassment of parents and families. They are violating the law in their actions in investigating accusations..or at least they are in my and Brendan's case. I have been found innocent of charges that were never read or sent to me until recently (120 days AFTER the case was opened). They told me that I have faced "the initial charges" but it doesn't end there. They just come up with new charges and conditions: I must have a homemaker and Preventative Services in place or I am "non-compliant" and they will REMOVE my son. Preventative Services are to come in 3x /week and "help" me (really spy) and report back to ACS. So my case never really closes at all. Preventative Services and Homemaking Services agencies have not been placed in my home...yet. I have complied with these agencies but not fast enough for ACS.  I AM NOT EVEN REQUIRED BY LAW TO ACCEPT THESE TERMS but if I want to keep my child, I must submit. Because these parties(Homemaking, Protective Services) are third parties there has been a ton of confusion with my case. Mrs. Sealy, ACS claims that I am the one who is "not being honest" and that's why my case is complicated and confusing. She has stated that she is looking at my case and that "Your case is high-risk....I don't like what I see in your file." Mrs. Sealy refuses to look at my record which is on file with ACS when three different judges called a fact finding investigation during custody battles with my son's father. Three different Judges found me to be the better parent over the course of three different custody cases over the past five years and awarded custody to me. They say that they must have a meeting with the father, who is abusive to me [which is why I left him when our son was an infant]. He bad-mouths me every chance he gets in the hopes of  gaining custody of our son. ACS will listen to the father who does not care about me and subsequently, our son; in the five years of my son's life he has made four child support payments, has taken me to court three times, and lets his girlfriend badmouth me in front of our son. The father does not realize that ACS is trying to pit us against each other and then they will have good reason to REMOVE my child. Mrs Sealy loves to remind me that she is a supervisor and that she can sign the papers (to remove my son) any time she likes. My son now hides under a table whenever the doorbell rings or when he thinks they are "coming to get me." He used to be the most outgoing, friendly child. Now he has no friends (if I give ACS information about my son's friends, they might look into these families as well. My son cannot play with his old friends now. We are virtual prisoners in our homes. We must be ready for them to pop by at any time or we are non-compliant and they will REMOVE. Can you see how this is like The Gestapo, Communism Scares, Witch-hunts?). He has stomach aches, migranes, "nerves", wets the bed and has resorted to infantile talk (goo-goo) while curling on my lap like a baby. This only started after this ACS team stepped into our lives. Said team is from The Bronx field office, under Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Sealy, Mrs. Harris and Mr. Richie. I want then held accountable for their improper actions (harassment, lies, deciet, scare tactics, twisting my words, holding my case open longer than 60 days, never sending me written copies of reports against me and the status of my case, threats against me: "Don't go up against me, Miss Kelly; I always win." and to my five year old son: "I will remove you." [Mrs Sealy], making me take drug tests (THAT HAVE NOT BEEN COURT ORDERED and therefore illegal) at a facility that is very far away and hard to get to, walking into my house, disrupting dinner, questioning my houseguests and friends and trying to twist their words to their favor.). I never thought this would happen to me or that these low level totalitarian practices of wielding power with impunity could happen to me or in NYC. I was wrong. My son and I are living proof. We just want to go back to our old lives. He hasn't been taken...yet. I am asking that we create a petition to call ACS of NY State to be accountable for their unorthodox practices when dealing with children & family cases AND TO GET OUT OF MY LIFE NOW THAT THEY HAVE SEEN THAT MY SON IS NOT IN DANGER (from me) AND THAT THE ACCUSATIONS HAVE BEEN PROVEN FALSE.  Please help. You never know...sadly, your child could be next. I am trying to gather 1,000 signatures by this Monday 4/24/06 as I am scheduled to go before a meeting with Mrs. Sealy and Co. I will keep the petition up after that date but I only found out about the meeting today and I am doing all I can to protect my son. The petition will be submitted to the head of ACS, John B. Mattingly, Commissioner Administration for Children Services at ACS Contact information: http://www.nyc.gov/html/acs/html/contact/contact_acs.shtml
as well as my Assemblyman's Office and my Senators and Congressmen if necessary.

**This petition was modified on 5/11/06 to include the now known charges. I have gotten many letters asking me what the charges are**