Bassette Family Story

 

To whom it may concern,

I am a thirty-nine year old single mom of four children living in Stow since September 2000. Upon moving to the area my (then) nine year old daughter was having many difficulties. She had been molested by her (then) thirteen year old brother who resides with his father in Cuyahoga Falls, she was newly diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and having problems adjusting, she was unhappy with her new school (Lakeview Intermediate), had been suspended for "threatening to kill someone" (when in fact, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time), had missed a lot of school due to being hospitalized for diabetic complications, ran away from home and was due for a probation hearing with Renee Armbruster of Stow Youth Services and had been hospitalized for suicidal ideations and put on an anti-depressant.

I had contacted her school counselor, Kristen Lewis (new to Lakeview that year) and both of her teachers regarding her difficulties at the beginning of the school year. I asked them to keep an eye on her and to keep me abreast of any problems, stating that I would keep them informed as to what I was doing at home to address her difficulties and how things were going

Shortly after she had run away from home, I found pictures that my daughter had drawn depicting various ways for her to kill herself. I immediately contacted Megan’s counselor at Kent Social Services and was told that she was in session all day. They referred me to the Townhall II hotline. I contacted Townhall II and together with the counselor, decided that the best way to handle the situation would be to confront Megan with her school counselor present.

I contacted Kristen Lewis, packed up my (then) eight month old daughter and went to Lakeview to take Megan out of class and get to the bottom of her purpose for the very graphic drawings she had left for me to find. They had been placed under rugs she knew that I would be moving that day. The school principal, Mr. Lockhart, was also present. My daughter's reaction led me to believe that she needed to be evaluated further by a psychiatrist and I made the decision to take her to Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron. I informed Kristen Lewis of my decision in private. Her response was, "I have to tell you, if you don't take her there immediately I will have to contact Children's Services." I was stunned by this threat, to say the least, as I had been very open and honest in my dealings with Kristen Lewis and was doing everything humanly possible to address my daughter's difficulties. I told her that I WOULD be going IMMEDIATELY and was not even going home for my baby's diaper bag! Before leaving the school the principal complimented me on the exemplary way in which I had handled the situation, telling me that he didn't think he would have remained as calm and collected as I had. I immediately put Kristen Lewis' threats out of my mind.

Needless to say, my daughter was admitted to the psychiatric ward of Children's Hospital. The day of Megan’s release, I was in the ER of Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital due to uncontrollable muscle spasms. The doctors ran a battery of tests, could not tell me what was wrong with me and wrote me a prescription for muscle relaxers and sent me on my way. I picked up my daughter and brought her home.

I had made arrangements for her to spend time with my parents out of state during the holiday break in order for her to have a vacation of sorts in the hopes that when she returned we could start fresh, both of us having had a break from all of the stress.

Now, in October of this year, Megan had come to me with the story of her brother molesting her. I contacted the Rape Crisis Center and was referred to Children's Services. They wanted me to press charges against my son. I contacted both the child sex crimes officer and the juvenile prosecutor in Portage County (where this incident took place) and neither could guarantee me that my son would receive treatment as opposed to punishment. I had been attempting to get him treatment for many years. His father, who had custody, would not cooperate. I refused to press charges and Children's Services did absolutely nothing as far as getting treatment for my son. His father's take on it was that "he was a teenager exploring" and that "the only reason that these kids have all of the problems that they do is because (I am) "crazy". Children's Services told me to lie to my children's father saying that my daughter was sick and could not visit him in order to give them time to investigate, which I did. Come December and the holiday season she was very angry with me because she was being kept from her family and wanted to visit. I contacted both her counselor at Kent Family Services and our CSB caseworker and came up with a plan to allow her to visit safely. (Plan: She was to call 911 if she was left alone with her brother.) Nothing was put into writing in a "Safety Plan" or a "Case Plan" by the agency.

Also, about this time, I had gotten a civil protection order through the Portage County Domestic Relations Court against the children's father for threatening (to my children) that he wanted to shoot me. He was very angry at the inconvenience (since he had to have someone else – his folks – pick her up for visits) and filling my daughter's head with all sorts of lies. I refused to talk about it with my daughter, telling her that it was between her father and I. The situation with my son and Children's Services leading her father to believe that I WAS IN FACT GOING TO press charges added fuel to his anger toward me. He and his mother immediately started a phone campaign to the CSB hotline with all sorts of nasty lies and accusations. Our caseworker told me that she wanted to close our case but could not as long as she was getting referrals. He had tried this before in Portage County and they immediately shut him down. I became close with the worker who investigated one of his outrageous lies and she was a good friend. She was not permitted to testify on my behalf.