I found out I was pregnant in March 2014. I immediately decided to keep my baby. I used prenatal vitamins, ate healthy, and kept control of what I consumed and allowed into my body. I stayed healthy. About 2 weeks before my baby was due, I went to a grocery store with my baby’s father at night and when we left to go home, I slipped in the ice on the sidewalk and fell right on my belly. Two weeks later I checked in to the hospital to be induced into labor. I received my epidural and attempted to give birth to my son naturally. I tried a lot with help from many doctors and after a while, they told me they had to give me an emergency Cesarean section because my baby was in the breech position and his heart was in distress as well. I had a Cesarean section and was awake during the surgery, I looked at my baby after the doctors sewed up my belly and they said “it’s a boy.” They told me the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he would have suffocated for that reason too if it had not been for the Cesarean section. I woke up four hours later and held my baby boy and learned how to breastfeed him. I loved my baby instantly and felt so blessed and lucky and knew I was the luckiest mom in the world. Six days later, my doctor told me I was allowed to go home with my baby. A nurse came in and asked if she could “hold” my baby and “see” him, I said no, I had just breastfed him and was letting him rest. A few minutes later, a man came into my room who I assumed was a chaplain, but he told me he was a volunteer from dcfs. He told me that one of the nurses reported me to dcfs because they thought I reacted strangely when they asked to look at my baby, and they were trying to prevent possible “child neglect” based on my bipolar diagnosis. I have had so many unnecessary dcfs trials and open cases since then with both of my children, only because someone who is reporting me to dcfs assumes that something bad is going to happen to my sons because of my bipolar diagnosis. I have never neglected my sons as these people always presume and assume, I am a very good mother. One case opened and lasted for two years after I signed my firstborn son up for voluntary pediatric therapy with Easter Seals. I took him out of the therapy classes because we were planning on moving away and I did not think the classes were necessary. I was reported to dcfs by one of the therapists after I cancelled their services this time because they assumed my son had autism and that it must have been my fault and they considered me guilty of child neglect. (I was diagnosed with autism too in addition to bipolar, it is not caused by child neglect, it is no one’s fault in my case either). During this unfair dcfs trial, I got pregnant again and after my Cesarean section, I was badly beaten by older women in front of witnesses while my doctor was gone and my other son was away with my relative, and I was forcefully taken to the psychiatric hospital 6 days after I had this baby and wanted to take care of him and my other son who is a few years older than him. I almost died at the psychiatric hospital, they took me right out and put me back in the maternity ward to allow me to recover from preeclampsia. I did not get to see my sons very often and that dcfs case took about 10 more months to close. I still did not receive joint custody of my sons because the social services agency claimed I was incompliant. I was not incompliant, I made all doctors and counseling appointments that I could when I had transportation and did my appointments on the phone and video when I could. Another dcfs trial was opened after my firstborn son began attending kindergarten and the principal and a therapist came over for a home visit and saw that our home was messy. While this case was open, an additional case was opened up because someone saw that we had food sitting out on our countertops. We did not have a pantry. These cases closed out after a long time, and the social services groups would not allow my son to live with me for a long time because staff at the elementary school who had never even met me before seemed to think that I was “mentally unstable” and did not know how to take care of my son or myself. This case closed after a while. The most recent case opened up this year in March. For no apparent reason. The dcfs caseworker came by to do a home visit and saw me and my sons eating and drawing and just being normal, and after the caseworker had me sign paperwork, he called his supervisor and his supervisor said I was not allowed to live with my sons. The social services agency said I had to do three months of counseling in order to receive my parental rights back and to be able to live with my sons again. I have been on the wait list for counseling for almost 7 full months now, and the other important appointment I needed for closing out my family’s case is something I had to wait on for a long time too. My previous psychiatrist was not allowed to keep authorizing refills for my mood and antidepressant pill. I lost my rights to see my sons every day and any time I wanted to supervised by a relative for no apparent reason, because the caseworker found out that I had a small argument with my sons’ father. I am not doing well. I only get to see my sons once a week for one hour. I did not harm or neglect my sons. My sons and I need help! Signed, Heather Harmon | September 3, 2022
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