I am not sure if the notoriety of some grievous decisions
made by Oklahoma's Dept. of Human Services has made the news
elsewhere, but it is front page here. Too many children have
been placed with violent natural parents who did not want
them despite signs of abuse and crying and resistance from
the children. It has resulted in a number of murdered children.

On the other hand, they have capriciously removed children
from parents and placed them in foster homes with almost no
evidence causing a lot of trauma to both children and parents.

I was involved in a case where the mother whose fury at her
divorced husband and his new wife started telling of sexual
abuse of the children when they visited him. The little boy,
let's call him Timmy vowed that he could only discuss the
problem with me. His tale was right out of a pornographic
movie. It involved being smeared on the face with semen and
other exotic practices. It sounded very rehearsed. The officer who investigated the incident and I compared notes.
We were both aware that children do lie. Timmy recanted
when very lovingly and gently was asked to repeat his story.
The officer had also observed a very disordered and unsanitary home.

I was retiring and pleaded with the mother not to call me
as a witness when the case came to trial. She had me
subpoened. By the time the case came to trial, I had already
moved to the farm. Of course, I know nothing of what came
out in the trial because I had to sit in the hall until it
was time for my testimony. I testified as to what I had
observed and believed to be the truth. I absolutely loathed
being placed in that position.

The upshot of the whole thing was that the mother lost
custody of both her children and the father and his new
wife were granted custody.

How could I be sure? I never could be but the fact that I
knew that one of Timmy's friends had no supervision after
school and was boasting of his access to pornographic
movies on tv was certainly a factor. Timmy often went home
with him after school.

Why me? I was working as a speech pathologist and Timmy
was in one of my groups. It is very boring for children to
repeat the same thing over and over until they get it right
so we devise various games to make it fun and are never
impatient with the children we work with. We are usually
beloved by the children. I also was a certified counselor.

This was a searing experience for me and even now recalling
it makes me ill.