Kid Custody and Alcohol

Posted on May 2nd, 2008 by lilbitgabby.
Categories: Friday Chat.

At a party a year or so ago, I picked a Mike’s Hard Lemonade out of the ice bucket. One of my friends took it from me and chose another appropriate drink for me… Mt. Dew. Why? Mike’s Hard Lemonade is an alcoholic beverage. (Obviously this was not a church function).

I had no idea. Seriously.

Maybe you saw this in the news. This past week, a dad takes his 7 year old little boy to a baseball game. Dad buys the kid a Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Security guard sees the kid with the lemonade. Dad loses custody that very day. The child was put into foster care. Mom and Dad didn’t get to see the 7 year old boy for a couple days.

The dad, Christopher Ratte, said he didn’t know it was an alcoholic beverage. Honestly, I belive the dad.

So here’s a situation I question. We know a couple. They are going through a custody battle over 3 babies.  Well, a 4 year old and the toddlers. The situation saddens me to the deepest part of my soul. 

The mom gave the twin babies alcohol in their bottles. One of her friends saw this. Took photos on her cell phone. She turned the mom in to the authorities. The alcohol incident (and a bunch of other neglect and abuse incidents) are on record with CPS. The mom still shares 50 percent custody of those babies. Why?  

Why is this case still going through the court system? Why doesn’t the dad have 100% custody of the three babies by now?

For one thing, there isn’t one judge. There are many judges. Each time this goes before the judge, it’s a different judge. I want to know why! Why don’t they don’t have one assigned judge to review each case? This particular case has a file that would take a judge days to review. The last judge took about 15 minutes to read through some of the paper work.  We were there when he took a short recess to review the case. Then he put the case off for another review.

People. The mom gave the babies alcohol.

Security….

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Storm Watch

Posted on May 2nd, 2008 by lilbitgabby.
Categories: Family.

My best friend called me  yesterday to let me know there was a storm in Andrea’s neighborhood. I tell ya, I was more than a bit worried. Hubby and I said a prayer, then I tried to call the kids. Mitch called back. They were out in the yard along with the rest of the neighbors… Say what? Storm is coming, go to the storm shelter. Noooo. Storm is coming… block party.

I know I raised my kids smarter than this.

The storm passed right over their house. The tornado touched down about a mile away. Andrea has photos of the baseball size hail and the storm storm clouds and tornado on her myspace.

It’s past time for my kids to come home to Washington.

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