Emergency Custody

One month ago a series of events unfolded that opened our eyes to the truth of a situation we had always questioned. My fiances ex wife picked their children up after practice. She barely kept her car on the road we later learned. Soon after returning to their house a physical fight broke out between Mother and Daughter. Closed fist and pulling hair, they had to be separated by a grown man. It was after all of this that we got a call from both daughter and Moms boyfriend. Both told of many instances of impaired driving, fights and moving out. Six years this had been going on. Yet we were never made aware of the full extent of their home life. Sworn to secrecy with the threat of foster homes out of state no one said a word. I am not sure which drop of water filled the cup. All I know is that the information flowed like a river from the mouths of all involved. Cys was brought in to question each person. Mom admitted to driving while under the influence of alcohol. You would think that would be enough to remove the children. Well it wasn't. The system failed us in a number of ways. Most of which stemming from the State Trooper who responded to original call. He not only refused to administer a breathalyzer he also refused to take any note of any injuries to the teenager. Injuries that were inflicted on her by her own Mother. We were never told to call the 800# for CPS. Instead we were told that since it was late and a holiday we had to wait til morning to call. This prolonged the process and gave the Mother plenty of time to smooth things over with the children. The only saving grace we have had so far is the fact that the Judge in this case removed them pending a hearing.
The hearing is tomorrow and I am so nervous I could throw up. Every time I think of it my heart sinks past my stomach. I don't want to imagine what would happen if they had to go home to live with her. She is treating this change in custody as a clerical error. Its no big deal is her famous words. There is so much more to this whole story. Manipulation, substance abuse, and child endangerment are just a few. I just hope and pray that we can put all of this across in a manner that makes sense and follows a time line of progression. There is no telling how far this would have gone had we not stepped in. You just never know until you do it. So tomorrow we will walk into that court room and hold faith in the system.