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Hale family torn apart by response of ‘system’
Hale family torn apart by response of ‘system’
by Holly Nelson http://www.iosconews.com/articles/20...ews/news02.txt HALE - Living with a handicapped and mentally ill child is challenging, according to a Hale mother, but never more so than now that it has, literally, torn her family apart. Starla Hawley had quite a time the past few weeks, since being given an ultimatum concerning her 18-year-old son, Nathan Pemberton, who suffers from retardation and mental illness. She is beginning to see daylight, but said she knows the challenges will never be over. Two different dramas have been unfolding in the single-parent household. First, Hawley contends, she was told to either turn her son out of the house or lose her three daughters, ages 13, 15 and barely 17. Then Nathan was arrested for crimes - which may have been the result of others taking advantage of his trusting nature. Nathan’s intelligence quotient (IQ) is 49, a number shared by less than one percent of the population. According to Dr. Arthur Jenson, in his book “Straight Talk about Mental Tests”, an IQ of 50 or below is the threshold below which most adults cannot cope outside an institution. In terms of age, Hawley’s son will always think and learn like a second or third grader. That’s not his only problem. According to Hawley and as documented by mental health professionals, Nathan has also been diagnosed with schizophrenia, which is an incurable mental illness in which the interpretation of reality is abnormal and can lead to delusions and hallucinations. He suffers from bipolar disorder - which comes with extreme mood swings from mania to depression. And he is diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiancy disorder, nonverbal learning disorder (NLD) and intermittent explosive disorder - a genetic condition characterized by repeated episodes of aggressive, violent behavior which is grossly out of proportion to the situation. Nathan has been in the mental health system since he was just five years old. Medication helps control his symptoms, but nothing completely stops the violent outbursts and hallucinations - which have led to plenty of holes in the drywall and can be triggered by something as common as an echo. His mental health problems have also resulted in Nathan shoving his sisters. Usually, Nathan said, he can sense when he is becoming angry, “so I go to my bedroom and punch the walls,” he says. This has been going on for 13 years, but now that Nathan is an adult, at least in the eyes of the law, it led to someone reporting him to the Iosco County Department of Human Services’ Child Protective Services (CPS) division. The CPS worker told Hawley - remove Nathan or move the girls, also threatening that failure to act would lead to the state taking her daughters, she said. Hawley has a long list of the agencies she contacted in an effort to find a safe place for Nathan, all without success. Ultimately, she found temporary housing for her daughters with friends in Bad Axe and Twining. The girls didn’t want to go, according to Hawley, but she did not want to lose them. She gave the friends signed consents and powers of attorney to make decisions on her daughters’ behalf, but temporariness of the situation and the documents were not sufficient to enroll the girls in school. “My girls are being denied an education,” Hawley cried. “It’s hard. They want to come home. And what about truancy laws?” “The school’s [Hale Area] on my side. They’re making calls and trying to help,” she said. Hawley said nothing has worked and she is being torn in half. AuSable Valley Community Mental Health denied her request for emergency placement of Nathan - since there was no imminent danger to him or others. The agency is, however, working to place him in a group home, where he can also be taught life skills. Hawley has been told this could take another month - 30 more days her girls would miss classes. So Hawley got back on the phone. This time, she reached a state ombudsman. The advocate, upon learning that the CPS caseworker did not have a court order, told her the girls did not have to leave the house, according to Hawley. One problem potentially solved, at least temporarily. The other is not going to be so easy. Nathan is trusting and easily manipulated, according to his mother and others who have worked with him over the years. “He’s like a puppy dog. He trusts everybody and pretty much does whatever he’s told, as long as somebody is there to remind him,” Hawley said. “But you could see him set something on fire and say to him, ‘That’s dangerous, Nathan.’ He agrees with you, but he doesn’t understand. That’s the NLD.” This trait is evident in meeting Nathan. He is engaging, friendly and cooperative. Ask him anything - no matter how potentially damaging the answer might be - and he will candidly respond. His memory is good, both regarding his own actions and what he has been told. He also appears articulate, until you realize he is merely repeating what he has heard from others. His mother blames his current legal woes on people who deliberately use him, one young couple in particular. Nathan would pay the pair to provide him with transportation, such as taking him to a store. He has also given them money because they needed gas, he said. It was this couple who, after learning that Nathan receives a monthly government check, took him to the bank where it is directly deposited. There, the female half of the couple aided him in opening a checking account - all without the knowledge of his mother. Nathan does not know how to add and subtract, Hawley said. He can scarcely read. They also “helped” Nathan issue an $800 non-sufficient fund check to buy a four-wheeler. Nathan was arrested on Jan. 15, charged with uttering-and-publishing, forgery and larceny in a building. If convicted of the felonies, he could be sentenced to as much as 14 years in prison. According to Nathan, he was at a man’s house where kids hang out when he found a checkbook on the floor of a porch. The man was gone, so Nathan put the checks in his pocket. Later, he said, his friends took one of the checks and the woman wrote it out for $250. The woman then asked Nathan to endorse it and she and her boyfriend took him to a bank. The teller refused to cash it. When he told the waiting pair, they instructed him to go back inside and retrieve the check. He tried, but says the teller refused to give it to him. Later, a state trooper showed up at the Hawley residence and questioned Nathan about the check. He says he told the trooper that he did endorse it and attempted to cash it, but that he also explained he did not write out the check and named the person who did. The trooper’s request for a warrant reflects Nathan’s admission, but not his alleged statements about who wrote out the check. Nathan spent two nights in jail - without his medication - before his mother was able to arrange for his release on bond. He was assigned a public defender who, according to Hawley, failed to inform the court of Nathan’s mental health status and was proceeding as though the young man were mentally competent. In fact, Hawley said, the attorney was planning to have Nathan plead guilty to reduced charges. Hawley subsequently found another attorney who, upon learning of the circumstances, agreed late last week to represent Nathan without charge. In the interim, the mail brought more bad news - a notice from a Hale store than Nathan must make restitution for two $100 checks. According to Nathan, this same couple suggested he could get himself and them some cash by signing one of his own checks. He did and the woman took it into a store while he and the man waited in a car outside. “When [the woman] came out, she said they don’t cash two-party checks and wouldn’t give her any money,” he said. “I asked for my check back, but [she] said she tore it up. I don’t know where she got the other one. Maybe I dropped it.” The copies of the checks sent him by the store show his signature on one, with the payee’s name and amount in different handwriting. The second check also appears to bear his signature; however, Nathan denies signing it. It was also made payable to the woman, with the name and amount in different handwriting. Hawley contacted the store and learned that both checks were passed by the woman. She said the store owner agreed not to prosecute if restitution is made. When he learned of the two checks, Nathan said, he confronted the pair. In doing so, he admitted he became angry, especially after the woman contended that he had given her the checks as payment for something. “I did no such thing and she knows it. I was rude,” he said. “They told me to leave or they’d have me put in jail for assault and battery, so I left. I shouldn’t have been rude. I shouldn’t have called [the woman] names. I called [the woman] this morning and I told her I was very, very sorry I was rude.” Nathan’s dog, Buddy, pressed against his master’s knee as he spoke. On Buddy’s white back were Xs drawn with a marker. “Buddy and I were playing Tic, Tac, Toe,” Nathan explained when asked why. After contacting the store, Hawley called the state police, seeking to have the pair charged with forgery. There will be no investigation, however, because the trooper told her that, to pursue the case, would mean Nathan would also have to go to jail, she alleges. So, Hawley said, they are simply going to scrape together the restitution sought by the store. Hawley has had to fight for Nathan since violent outbursts led to his diagnosis at the age of five. This has, she said, become a way of life, one which she does not always have the education and knowledge to deal with. “It’s chaos. I’m doing what I can do. It’s frustrating,” she said. According to Hawley, it would be much easier if people on all levels develop a better understanding of mental illness, especially within the system. Meanwhile, she is asking people if they think the CPS caseworker will make good on his threats, given AuSable Valley’s promise to look for a group home placement for Nathan. She is hoping not, since she plans to bring the girls home and get them back in school yet this week. “I love my children,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to choose between them.” CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS.... CPS Does not protect children... It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of Child Protective Services. every parent should read this .pdf from connecticut dcf watch... http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US These numbers come from The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN) Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS *Perpetrators of Maltreatment* Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59 Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13 Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241 Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12 Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5 Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per 100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a bunch of social workers. CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON... BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION... |
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