Mom Says DCYF Wrongfully Took 3-Week Old Baby — Calls System “Sick and Twisted”
Saturday, October 05, 2019
The mother of a now month-old baby says that the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) wrongfully took her child from her.
She says that it might take six months to a year to regain custody in a “sick, twisted system.” She misses hugging, kissing and breastfeeding her daughter.
Amanda LaValle spoke with GoLocalProv.com about moving to Rhode Island to “get a fresh start” six months after a drug arrest in Illinois and a stay at rehab.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTShe learned was pregnant while moving to Rhode Island.
Three weeks after she gave birth, an outstanding warrant -- which LaValle hadn't known was issued -- led Providence police to take her in, and DCYF to take her newborn baby.
“I’m not a perfect person by any means,” said LaValle, who spoke to being homeless when she came to Rhode Island, and living in a Little Flower home for pregnant women. “But what happened to me shouldn’t happen anybody.”
One Mother's Story
Lavalle said she had been arrested for possession of a controlled substance in Illinois in January.
“I have a 19-year-old daughter who just moved out of the house, I was depressed and in a bad place,” said LaValle. “After I got arrested I went into rehab, and knew I had to turn my life around. And I’ve been clean since.”
LaValle came to Rhode Island, where she dealt not only with the health issues of both her and her newborn daughter, but addressing the logistics of not having a place to live.
“My [newborn] daughter was born August 29 at Women and Infants,” said LaValle. “She was a little early [five weeks premature]. I’m 39 — I had preeclampsia really bad. But she was a big healthy premie.”
LaValle said she was living in the Little Flower program in North Providence, which takes in pregnant women — and women with newborns up to three months.
It was when she took her newborn daughter to a medical appointment in Providence that her life changed.
“I’d been getting rides or medical transport to appointments,” said LaValle, who said she was taking her daughter back on the bus from an office visit — and stopped to talk with a couple of women at Kennedy Plaza.
“I’m exhausted, I’m postpartum, and these two women see my baby and start asking me about her,” said LaValle. “Next thing I know, the police come up to us — before I got there, somebody had apparently called the police and said there were women smoking crack in Kennedy Plaza. Again, I’ve been clean since rehab, I was drug tested throughout my pregnancy. These women did apparently have [drug paraphanalia] on them.”
“When they ran my ID, they saw that I had a warrant for my arrest in Illinois — next thing I know, they’re bringing me and my baby in," said LaValle.
LaValle said she was not told she had the right to call any of my friends.
"They said I could call my family — who are back in Missouri — or where I’m staying, but they said Little Flower wasn’t on the approved childcare list, so I couldn’t call them. So they took my baby to DCYF,” said LaValle, who said that she was charged by DCYF with not being able to care for her daughter.
LaValle said she spent several days in jail before going before a judge, explaining she was already planning on heading back to Illinois to deal with her charges back there — which she did this week.
LaValle’s lawyer Jessica Koester, who is representing her regarding the Illinois arrest, spoke with GoLocalProv about what happened following the arrest.
“[LaValle’s] police contact was in January, but they released her with no charges,” said LaValle. “But any time a controlled substance is discovered, it can take the state 4 to 9 months to determine what it is."
“After her contact, she got her act together, went to rehab and started over in Rhode Island. She was already out in Rhode Island when the charges were issued. They don’t send anything in the mail to say 'you've been charged' - they just issue a warrant,” said Koester. “When she was at the bus stop and they took her baby, the authorities there claimed she couldn’t provide care — but she was providing care, and they wouldn’t let her call her contacts [in Rhode Island] to come get the baby.”
“She was just weeks postpartum — she’s handling this way better than I would be. She was drug tested throughout her pregnancy. There’s no evidence she’s an unfit mother in any way,” said Koester, who spoke to how when LaValle returned this past week, she paid the bail money for the charges of possession of a controlled substance. “Her presence isn’t even required for her court date [in Illinois] in October.”
“To just take her child away like that, it’s appalling,” said Koester. “I can’t speak to the Rhode Island system — but it’s just common sense.”
DCYF said they could not speak to the case, citing privacy reasons.
Fostercare — and Homelessness
LaValle spoke to getting upset when she learned about the role of outside agencies that are part of the foster care system in Rhode Island.
“They have a monetary incentive to keep a child as long as possible,” said LaValle.
“And now that I no longer have my daughter, I can’t stay at Little Flower — so they’re saying I’m homeless and can’t care for my daughter,” said Lavalle. “I was caring for my daughter. I did have a place to stay.”
LaValle said her case is being recommended to drug court — but decried that DCYF would not help her get a drug test.
“I was charged with not having anyone to care for her. Then they want to bring up the fact I was talking with those women at Kennedy Plaza. I’m clean. I’m begging them to get me a drug test,” said LaValle.
“This is the cruelest joke. I can’t believe how the system is run,” said LaValle. “They couldn’t wait to put me in jail and take her from my arms.”
LaValle said she reached out to April Doyle, after finding the GoLocalProv article that showed an investigation found that DCYF wrongfully removed children from Doyle.
Now, LaValle has Doyle’s caseworker who helped her.
“I think it needs to be uncovered why DCYF has contracted with outside agencies in foster care so they are incentivized to remove these children and place them outside of the home — because there’s a market for children services now there is no incentive to return the children home, which is why it’s so hard to do,” said Doyle.
“Crossroads is at capacity — so you’re not able to stay there,” said Doyle. "But we have jails for people who committed a crime and they are allowed access to a mattress every night, they are allowed access to meals three a day, they are allowed access to a shower — but our struggling peers who have fallen on hard times are humiliated and are told to just wait. Wait to be assessed. Wait to get a referral. Wait to get into a shelter. Wait to get help. Wait wait wait. It was clear two years ago that it was a homeless epidemic — things have only gotten far worse."
“Poor people are too poor to fight the system,” said LaValle, who has an administrative hearing on Tuesday.
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