Fight CPS And Win
Fighting Child Protective Services
False Accusations
Published in three parts:
October 24, October 31, and November 7, 1991
Enterprise News, Pixley, California
Used by permission of the publisher.
By An Anonymous Mother
PART II
Published October 31, 1991
This is the account of the baby's mother. It is dated according to when things happened in the life of little Jimmie and written in a very matter-of-fact style, similar to a diary.
Last week we learned of little Jimmie's constant visits to doctors and hospitals through his first two weeks of life and his parents shock when charges of sexual abuse were made against them.
8-18-91 (continued). They took us to another room while Dr. Kazaro examined (Jimmie). At this time they told us that Jimmie had been sexually abused.
My husband and I immediately went into shock. We told Judy Howard it was impossible for Jimmie to be sexually abused!
I then told Judy Howard that Jimmie had something medically wrong and I wanted them to find out what was wrong with Jimmie! Judy Howard told us that they were going to find out what was wrong.
Then Dr. Kazaro looked at him. Then the doctor told the nurse he wanted the victim kit.
I asked what they were doing.
The doctor told my husband and I that the baby was sexually abused.
Then Dr. Kazaro roughly examined him. The doctor grabbed Jimmie by the ankles and lifted him up in the air with his head still on the bed and twisted. Then he put Jimmie back on the bed, then grabbed his ankles again and roughly turned him over, and his body was all twisted around.
I then said to Dr. Kazaro, "You're being a little rough on Jimmie!" After he was done he told the nurse he believed Jimmie had been sexually abused.
Then he asked who all had the baby since he was born. I told him my mother and father and husband and I were the only ones that had him. I told him my husband and I had him most of the time.
He then stated that one of us had sexually abused (our baby). My husband and I told him that we did not do that. Then I told the doctor that my son was not sexually abused, especially by us. I told him again our son was not sexually abused, that he had something medically wrong, and I insisted that he find out what was wrong with our son because I knew he was not abused by my husband or I.
Then he stated it looked like sexual abuse. He said (Jimmie's) rectum was large and that it looked as if a penis had been inserted in his rectum.
Then the nurse had the victim kit and gave it to Dr. Kazato. The doctor roughly handled Jimmie as he was doing the victim kit. He used very large Q-tips through his rectum and his mouth.
The Q-tip went down towards his throat. (The doctor) then took a gauze pad to his mouth for saliva.
Then he asked if we knew how (Jimmie's) penis got blue. We told him that we didn't know. That's why we brought him to the emergency room.
He told us that someone had to of stuck something in his penis hole, or had to of sucked on it or pinched it.
We then told him he was crazy for thinking that! He then left and the officers questioned us.
Then the detective (Paul Marshall of Porterville Police Dept.) took pictures of Jimmie's rectum, penis and mouth.
Judy Howard came in and told us that Jimmie was being placed in a foster home. My husband and I immediately went into shock because they were putting Jimmie in a foster home and we were very upset with that.
Then Dr. Kazato come back in and roughly handled Jimmie again. He came in there an roughly grabbed Jimmie by the arm, between the elbow and wrist, and roughly turned him over on his side.
I then immediately grabbed Jimmie from him and held him because I didn't like the way the doctor handled him.
He then told us he wanted to do one more thing with him. At that time he roughly grabbed Jimmie again by his ankles and twisted him around towards him very roughly. He then turned all the lights out to make it dark in the room and took something he had in his hand and ran it across (Jimmie's) back. It shot a purple light out and showed spots all over his back.
Then Judy Howard asked a lot of questions to my husband and I. She then told us that the foster parent would be there soon to take the baby. Then she told us that they were going to take Jimmie to Fresno to the Valley Children's Clinic to see a professional that deals in child sexual and physical abuse. She told me that I could go with them when they take the baby to Fresno.
I said, "Yes, I do want to go," and I asked what time in the morning. She told me that I would have to call after 8 a.m.
Then Detective (Paul Marshall) took my husband to a room to question him and he recorded everything that was said. He then come to get me to question me. I went in the room and he recorded me.
When he was done I told him I wanted to see my parents that were in the waiting room. He told me that he would have to ask CPS first, if I could. They said yes.
So I went to get my parents and they came in. They asked what was going on. The detective told them a brief explanation of what was going on.
Then I went back into the room where my husband and baby were. At this time my husband was holding Jimmie and then I held Jimmie, then gave the baby to my mother and she held him for a few minutes. Then she gave the baby to me and I held him for a few minutes. Then Judy Howard told me she had to take the baby because the foster parent was here.
Then Judy Howard roughly grabbed Jimmie out of my arms and took him away.
Then the detective told my husband and I that we could go and to call him in the morning to come and answer some more questions.
So, we said okay. Then we left the hospital and my husband and I stayed at my mom and dad's house so we could be near a phone. At this time we didn't receive but one paper from CPS.
8-19-91: (Jimmie was 15 days old today.) We woke up at 7 a.m. and got dressed and ready by 8 and I was making phone calls.
I called Judy Howard first to find out what time I was leaving to Fresno. She told me to call after 8:30 a.m. So then I called Detective Paul Marshall to find out what time he wanted to see us. He said he would have to wait until he found out something from CPS.
So we waited until 8:30 so I could call CPS back. I called and they still told me they didn't know when we were leaving. She told me that they were waiting for a phone call from Fresno. Then they told me they would call me when they found out what time we were leaving. Judy Howard called about 9 a.m. or so and said to meet them at the Porterville Police Station. So we left to go see Detective Paul Marshall.
We got down there and Detective Marshall asked a few questions about all of us. At this time he asked if my husband or I had ever been arrested and we told him "no".
Then my husband volunteered information about something that had happened when we lived in Ukiah, with this girl Amy, shortly after we got married.
Shortly after, the lady came in with Jimmie. Her name was Ramona Padia. She took Jimmie and I to Fresno.
When we got there I went in the room when they examined Jimmie. There were three doctors that examined him. One was named Dr. Knudsen. They all looked at him and said there was no way he had been sexually abused.
So then they asked me what had been wrong with Jimmie. I told them that he had been bleeding through his rectum since he was about a week old and when he was three days old he had been real fussy and stays up all night long.
I also told them that he doesn't eat very well. They asked me about his stools. I told them that as soon as we brought him home after first a day or so he got real constipated and stayed constipated for about a week.
So they tested his stools to see if they could find anything wrong with his stools. All the tests they took on the stools came out negative. Then they thought maybe he had a blood disorder so they took some blood tests for it. They took several other tests, too, but I don't know what they were for.
I asked Dr. Knudsen what was wrong with Jimmie and she told me the only thing she figured out to be was maybe he had a virus that just passed on through.
So then I asked Ramona Padia when I could get the baby back. She told me I would have to wait at least until tomorrow. I asked her why I couldn't get him back tonight.
So then Dr. Knudsen came in and asked if we could go down the hallway to the waiting room until she could get the rest of the test results in. We waited about 20 minutes, then she came back and said every one of the test results was negative.
Dr. Knudsen asked Ramona Padia when we could get the baby back. Ramona said not until tomorrow. Dr. Knudsen asked why we would have to wait until tomorrow. Ramona sid, because Lucia Irish had already left the office. Dr. Knudsen said she wanted Ramona to call Lucia at home to release Jimmie to his family, that they had been through too much already.
So Ramona called Lucia. Lucia said Ramona could release Jimmie to his family. So Ramona told us we could take Jimmie home and all we had to do was go down to Social Services Department in Porterville to get the case closed.
So we left for home.
8-20-91: I called down at the Social Services Department to set up an appointment to come down there to talk to Lucia Irish. She wanted us to come in later that afternoon to get the case closed. So I asked her if I could come in that morning, because Jimmie had an appointment in the morning and I would be in town. She said yes that it was ok.
So we got down there and she told my husband and I that the case was going to be closed and that was all she needed to say. I then asked her if I had to sign any papers and she said, "No, that's all we had to do was come down here to tell you the case was closed and so I can see all three of you together."
So then we left. Then it was about 1:30 p.m. We took Jimmie to Dr. Rao's office and told him what had happened about CPS taking the baby. I told him that Jimmie had been bleeding through his rectum and penis. We told him we wanted him to find out what was wrong with Jimmie.
He said he didn't know what was causing the bleeding and he wanted me to take Jimmie to have some x-rays done. So he told me to call and set an appointment up for as soon as possible. Dr. Rao then said it would be a barium enema. He told me to come back 8-27-91.
8-21-91: It's around 10 a.m. and Jimmie has his appointment for his barium enema x-rays. Me and my mother took Jimmie down there. I was the only one that could go in the room when they were doing the x-rays. My mother stayed in the hallway, but she could hear everything that was going on.
While I was in there the nurse kept repeating to me that she didn't know how to do barium enemas on little babies, and she had never done little babies before. Then she told me that she would be right back, that she was going to go ask someone else what size of a tube she was supposed to use on a little baby.
When she came back she stated to me again that she didn't know how to do little babies. Then she told me I would have to help her hold Jimmie while she did this.
She then started putting this very long tube in his rectum. Then she took this board and placed it under the lower part of his back. Then she got an ace bandage and wrapped it around him very tight. At this time his legs were still bowed real bad. She wrapped his legs so tight that when she took off the ace bandage when she was all through his legs were white and his feet were red.
Then she took this large syringe and hooked it up to the tube that was in his rectum. She then put all that liquid plus a half of another one through his rectum.
Then Dr. Ganatra came in and took several pictures of the baby. The whole time Dr. Ganatra was taking these pictures he knew I was looking at the screen. Then one time he took a picture of Jimmie and was real interested in it. He even made a comment to the nurse saying, "Look here at this." Then he was real interested in it.
Then he saw I was still looking at the screen and he turned the screen real fast and took the picture off the screen.
At this time he said he was all done. Then the nurse took the ace bandage off Jimmie's legs and while she was doing that Jimmie was still screaming and crying so loud. Then she took the tube out of his rectum and Jimmie pooped out about half of what she put in.
Then she told me I could get him dressed and we could go. She told me that he would be pooping out the liquid for a couple of days. So I got the baby dressed. The baby did not poop out any more after that.
During this whole time they were doing the enema x-rays Jimmie was crying and screaming real loud.
8-22-91: Jimmie was running a fever of 100 degrees so I called Dr. Rao's office immediately when I noticed the fever. Dr. Rao told me to give Jimmie Tylenol and that should bring it down. He then told me if the fever didn't go down by tomorrow to bring him in to the office. Then he told me whenever Jimmie gets a fever to give him Tylenol and if it doesn't go down within a day to call him the next day.
8-23-91: I went in to Dr. Rao's office about 1 p.m. because Jimmie was still bleeding through his rectum. I told Dr. Rao he also had the fever yesterday. Dr. Rao checked his heart beat, looked at his rectum and then he said he wanted to take him to Fresno to see a gastrologist to see where the bleeding was coming from. He set an appointment for 8-29-91 at 8 a.m. to see Dr. Judy Davis.
Jimmie weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long.
8-26-91: I went to Sierra View Hospital about 11:30 a.m. to see an administrator to talk to her about the way my husband and I were treated at the emergency room on 8-18-91. I talked to Mrs. Stienberg.
I told her what had happened and told her I felt that what they did was completely wrong, and that I felt that they should have done more for Jimmie than they did.
I explained to her that when we arrived at the emergency room they immediately assumed my husband and I did this to our baby. Then I told her I felt they should have done x-rays on our baby that night before calling out CPS. I also told her that Dr. Kazato was real rough with Jimmie.
She told me that they couldn't do x-rays on Jimmie because it was not an emergency.
Then I told her if I didn't feel my son needed emergency care I would not have brought him to the emergency room.
She told me that if they had taken x-rays they would have to pay for them over time. I told her I didn't care if they would have to pay for them over time. I said my son needed medical attention that night and they should have given it to him no matter what the cost was.
She then told me they couldn't because it wasn't an emergency. I told her that if it wasn't an emergency I would not have brought him in. So then I left.
Took Jimmie to Dr. Rao's office about 1 p.m. because Jimmie sounded congested. I took him in, Dr. Rao checked his heart beat and listened to his lungs and he said that Jimmie was o.k. I also told Dr. Rao that Jimmie still is not taking his formula very good. He then told me to give Jimmie water bottles, so I said o.k. I also told him that Jimmie was still having runny stools and it was mucosae. He told me to come back on 8-30-91.
Jimmie weighed 8 pounds 11 3/4 ounces.
8-27-91: Took Jimmie to Dr. Rao again because Jimmie was bleeding through the rectum again. This time I took the bloody diaper down with me so maybe Dr. Rao would believe me about the blood on his diaper. I showed him and he immediately told me to get up to Dr. Davis in Fresno. So he set the appointment up for 8-28-91 at 8 a.m.
Jimmie weighed 8 pounds, 11 1/2 ounces.