On a Sunday, I thought you all might like the story of a miracle. PR
Granddaughters adoption completes long legal process
By BRENDA SEXTON
Enumclaw Courier Herald Reporter
Aug 18 2009
Alexis Stuth celebrated her birthday Saturday with the best present a child can get – a family.
Earlier in the week, the Enumclaw 4-year-old was adopted by her grandparents Doug and Anne Marie Stuth of Enumclaw.
“Every holiday is huge, every day is huge,” Anne Marie said.
It was a long, ugly battle through the state’s child welfare system for the Stuths.
Brought to the media forefront through a KING-TV investigative series and the work of Sen. Pam Roach, the Stuths fought for nearly two years to bring their granddaughter, whom they have raised since her birth, out of foster care and back to their home.
In a King County courtroom, Aug. 12, the adoption was finalized.
The girl’s biological mother – the Stuth’s daughter – was a strong-willed, pregnant, 15-year-old who didn’t understand the consequences of her actions, her mother said, but as parents and grandparents they cared for both. Somewhere along the way, the state decided Alexis would be better in foster care than with her mother or her grandparents.
“We never would have dreamed it would have happened to us,” Anne Marie said. “Her mom was living with us. It’s enough to rock anyone’s world.”
Little Alexis was taken from the Stuth’s home and placed in foster care. The battle to get her back was exhausting.
“It was nothing but a fight from the start,” Anne Marie said, adding that she and her husband felt like outsiders in the proceedings.
“We couldn’t be a party to the case,” she said. “We couldn’t defend ourselves. We couldn’t present evidence.”
“The fear was we’d lose her forever.”
There are families who do lose the battle and Roach wants that changed.
“This is a monumental case. This is a big deal,” said Roach, who is currently helping other families in similar situations. “This is a huge, huge, huge story for me. I worked on it for a year and a half.”
She said the state unfairly puts children in foster care rather than looking at family as the first option, which is the law.
“Had we not been blessed with Pam I don’t know if we’d have her here,” Anne Marie said of Roach. “She’s a scrapper. She made sure the state followed their own rules.”
She also praised King County Superior Court Judge Ronald Kessler.
“Judge Kessler believed she needed to be with family,” Anne Marie said.
The parental rights of both Alexis’ mother and father have been terminated, but the Stuth’s daughter still visits Alexis.
Saturday’s small birthday celebration of friends and family was a cherished moment. Sunday, the Stuths planned to spend time together with Alexis going out and doing something special.
“It’s amazing how much children change over that time,” Anne Marie said. “They grow, they change. It goes so fast.
“We’ve had a lot of support in this community. A lot of people have been ere for us through the good, bad and the ugly. This small town has been wonderful to us.
“We are very, very thankful to have her home,” Anne Marie said. “Very thankful. I don’t know if we can put it into words. We’re very blessed.”
To comment on this story, view it online at www.courierherald.com. Reach Brenda Sexton at bsexton@courierherald.com or 360-802-8206.
Enumclaw Courier Herald Reporter Brenda Sexton can be reached at bsexton@courierherald.com or 360-802-8206.
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5 comments:
Senator Roach, All:
Hi this is Cat and I had a good conversation with another family who had their little niece snatched by CPS. We are going to meet for coffee this coming week and see if we can get more grandparents and relatives to gather as a group to get attention about what is happening to our loved ones. It needs to be brought out how a non-relative has to pay thousands of dollars to the state to adopt and then the State gets matching funds, while relative adoptions brings them nothing. In short it appears that DSHS sells children and puts them through this trauma and separation, so they can make a buck off them. I know it is true they took nothing seriously about my grandniece; they jeered and rolled their eyes while I was trying to speak out of my grief, as my grandniece wailed for her Nana as if it was nothing, so I know they don't care about what happens to these families or the kids. They also go in and tear extended families apart and use them against one another ~ just so they can snatch a little child and make money off them. I am beyond grief at this point. We need to band together, get our legislators together and show this for what it is.
You can email me at; mntleo2AT gmail dot com. Lets find a place to have coffee together and talk!
Cat in Seattle
Good job, Senator. Your involvement with family preservation will forever be written on the history of our hearts. Thank you for your care and concern.
Jan
Thank you Senator Roach from the bottom of our hearts! This story has given hope to so many, that they might succeed and have a happy celebration and life with their child/children. Who have been viciously taken by cps and sent to foster care. There are so many good parents who have been deprived of their children on the whim of a cps worker going only on false accusations from some angry person who uses the anonymous reporting system to get back at some unsuspecting parent. The problem is they succeed and the parent and child go through a life of pure hell for lies and trickery.
You have made the difference for all of us. I thank god you took the time to listen. We need many more like you to gut this system and save our children!!
Happy Birthday Alexis!!!
Dear Senator Roach,
Do you know if Sec. Dreyfus is doing anything about the stories she knows about? Or have things possibly just been pushed aside? It seems as though she may be one of our only hopes for anything being accomplished. She needs to start ridding DSHS of the snakes and making them examples.
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