Hearing the Case Round 1

When we got to the county building to meet Leyla I was so nervous I thought I was going to be sick. I couldn't wait to hear about the case but I also wanted it to be the right case for us. I didn't know if I could go in there hear about this child and then because of something we heard decide not to move forward. If we didn't like something about the case or if it just didn't feel like it was the right thing we had the option to say no thank you and be put back onto the waiting list. And that was my biggest fear...to have to wait again. Again I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I didn't even consider what my husband was going through in his head. It was like we had been put in this situation and we had taken every step together but each of us was on our own journey. We made decisions together but when it came to living thru it we did that alone.

As we waited in the Spring Time waiting room for Leyla I tried to decide what she would say that would make us say no. We had already filled out pages and pages of things we were willing to take on and things we weren't. We had agreed that most physical abuse and neglect we could live thru...but we had said no to any sexually abused children. We didn't want any fire starters or violent children. So as I sat in wonderment about what Leyla could say that would detour us from this case the only thing I came up with was that the parents were wanting to get him back. I knew that since we were a legal risk case we were the ones at risk of losing him if the parents complied with the county. But after talking to Leyla on the phone it didn't seem as tho the biological parents were interested in getting him back.

As I repeated every word back to myself that Leyla said to me on the phone that morning I felt my husbands hand grab mine. As I looked his way I caught Leyla's glance. She had a big smile and said...Come on back guys. We were lead down that Rocky Mountain Hallway again and I could feel my husbands hands get tighter around mine....he was nervous too. We entered a room with a table and three chairs. And we all took our seats.

Leyla sat down and opened up Julian's file. She was careful to not show us pictures because she didn't want us to fall in love with a photo so she only give us facts. Julian had been taken by his biological mother to a local Childrens Hospital and she told the doctors she brought him in because he wasn't eating and he was fussy. The hospital did a CT scan on the 3 month old and in doing so found that one of his forearms had been broken for two weeks and the fracture had begun to heal and he had two new fractures one in each leg. He was put into 2 full length casts on his legs and one on his arm and his injuries were ruled non-accidental trauma. He was taken immediatly from the biological parents until social services could figure out what had happened and who was responsible.

My heart was pounding...how did ANYONE break the bones of a 3 month old? Not to mention break a bone and let him stay in pain for two weeks! And besides the obvious fact that he was A THREE MONTH OLD and A HUMAN BEING...how was it possible? Baby bones are almost like rubber bands it would have to take some real force to break these bones...whoever did this must have really wanted to hurt this child. I must have been going pale as Leyla told the story because she asked if I was ok. I shook my head yes but in all reality I was ready to kill these parents and I hadn't even met this child....I had no idea it would be as hard to listen to the facts of this case as it was.

The police department could not get a plausible explanation from the biological parents as to how these injuries occured. They did know the the biological mother had waited until the father went to work before she took the baby to the hospital. She had told the police that he didn't want her to bring the baby in. She also mentioned that she had left Julian with a babysitter while she went to work. It was someone she didn't know very well but had offered to help her out for a few hours a day while she left for work and before the biological father came home from work. In the two months social services had the baby the biological father had also been arrested for domestic violence against the mother. Soon after his release from jail the father was also jumped by some guys and put into the hospital for a week at which time the mother decided to remain by his bedside and ended up moving back home with him.

As the information came pouring in I couldn't believe that in 5 months of life this child had been thru so much. He had been hurt and then his injuries were neglected and he was taken from his parents and put into a complete strangers home. And altho I let my mind wander just for a minute my concerns were only for Julian and I didn't even know him. Within seconds I was taking in more information from Leyla....and what I was about to hear only made me want to help him more!