Second Time Foster Child

Second Time Foster Child is the story of a boy who was forced into foster care, to access treatment for disorders that resulted from the pre-adoptive trauma, which brought him into foster care as an infant. It’s a story of a child who was separated from the only family he remembers in exchange for treatment of severe emotional disorders. His parents, charged with neglect in exchange for his treatment, subsequently battled the state to unravel the injustices inflicted upon them by child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Second Time Foster Child links parents locked into a custody relinquishment nightmare with other historically oppressed peoples. Child welfare attorneys, judges, and child welfare professionals will gain understanding of the parents’ perspective of a no-fault dependency case.

 Daniel received a forever family when his foster family made a lifetime commitment to him through adoption. Daniel’s permanency was disrupted when the state denied every funding source for his severe emotional disorders, forcing him once again, back into foster care.

 His family grieved as they made the Devil’s Deal with the state, trading custody rights for treatment in order to give Daniel his only chance at emotional stability. Facing legal prosecution, while enduring personal persecution and oppression, his mother unscrambles federal laws, re-approaches the state, and fights back to regain the custody they never should have lost.

This week I'll be talking about the how I addressed both sets of critics-the "howdareyas" and the "whywudjawannas"