The Fight for My Right to Raise My Two Boys
by Michael Meyeres, II
Michael Joseph Meyeres, III - age 3
Christopher Jacob Meyeres - age 2
Family pictures at bottom of page.
TIME LINE
1993 – 1997 _ Kristy Foster and myself, Michael Meyeres, are living together and raising our two little sons.
8/29/97 _ I was sent to jail for six months for theft charges. I fully admit that it was a serious mistake.
9/16 - 11/21 _ Kristy Foster, the boys mother, works at Okee Hospital as a food preparer/dishwasher while their aunt Melissa Meyeres (father’s sister) baby-sits the boys.
11/22 _ Someone calls HRS (the state agency in Florida) and says Melissa is not doing a good job babysitting. HRS tells Kristy that Melissa cannot baby-sit anymore; HRS makes plans to help Kristy financially and she is told by HRS counselor (Dave Thomas) to quit her job and that they’ll take care of her bills and get her daycare. Kristy quits her job as she is told to do by HRS.
12/1 _ Kristy gets eviction notice from 46th Villas, Okee, FL 34972
12/7 _ Still no response from HRS; Kristy applies to a Winn Dixie grocery for a job; and is hired.
12/8 _ Kristy finally gets in contact with Dave Thomas - he orders her again not to go to work. They will support her and take care of eviction proceedings, he says.
12/14 _ Kristy goes to court to fight eviction and is granted two weeks to relocate.
12/15 – 28 _ No sign of Dave Thomas. Kristy and our kids are barely surviving with some help from friends.
12/29 _ Kristy goes to court – the judge gives her 3 days to get out. Kristy tells Judge Gieger that HRS counselor ordered her not to go to work and that HRS would help her financially until they could furnish daycare for her.
12/31 _ Kristy pleads with HRS to help her. Finally, they say they’ll help - they tell her to get our kids and her stuff together. They arrive at about 6:30 PM -- Okee officer Mr. T. J. Brock, Magaly Medina, Lea Swartz, Michele Atkins -- and order Kristy to give our boys to them. Kristy objects and T. J. Brock tells her to do it and there’ll be no trouble. Kristy is ordered by HRS & Okee County Police officer to do the hardest thing a mother ever has to do - give her kids into the hands of HRS.
1998
1/1 _ Kristy is staying with friends. She calls HRS and is told that Dave Thomas was fired - that they will contact her with the name of her new HRS counselor.
1/14 _ Kristy repeatedly calls HRS and gets the run-around - and goes into a deep depression. Misses her sons terribly and has no idea where they are.
2/3 _ HRS contacts me in jail and asks if I want to start a case plan when I’m released, and I immediately respond "of course!"
3/2 _ Released from jail at 2:28 PM.
3/3 _ I contact HRS and tell them I’m out and on probation - I ask if I can see my sons. HRS says they will contact me with that information.
3/4 _ I reunite with Kristi and join the battle to get our boys back.
3/7 _ HRS declines my motion due to my probation.
1/1 - 4/3 _ Both Michael & Christopher are put in numerous houses – not together, which is very painful for them.
4/3 _ HRS contacts me & Kristy in Palm Beach County and say they’ll give us a chance.
4/10 _ My family is reunited after a long time apart. Thank the Lord. It was only 2 hours, but it was wonderful. We had so much fun. We were in a little room 16’ x 22’ but that didn’t matter. It was a very special day and also Michael’s 3rd birthday - wow what a day - but it was so painful to leave. Our kids screamed when they had to leave us.
4/13 - 6/21 _ Went to court in front of Judge Gieger to announce the case plan. The first case plan consists of having stable housing, stable employment, consistent visits, have a driveable vehicle. I was working for a cement company, and Kristy worked as a waitress in West Palm Beach at Shoney’s restaurant and that‘s also where we resided - 4519 Sunset Dr, Palm Beach Gardens. Our visits were every Monday morning 9:00 - 11:00. In order to make this 134-mile round trip, we had to take the whole day off from work every week. "Wheena Harris" was our new HRS counselor. We had regular visits in the small room with HRS personnel observing our every move and documenting everything.
6/28 _ The next visit we started being allowed to take our boys out for the two hours which HRS said was the last step before reunification. So obviously we were happy. We would take our boys to Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and usually to Grandma’s house - JoAnn Meyeres.
6/30 _ We arrived in court and HRS explained that we were complying with everything that we were supposed to. Then our counselor went into labor and they gave us another one - Stephanie Clancy.
7/6 _ According to HRS, with a new counselor came a new case plan. It seemed liked they wanted us to fail for some reason. New case plan consisted of same as old one - house, job, car and parenting classes. We came to see our kids every week and also went to court at least twice a month. Every time we went to court, we were in and out, but not allowed to say anything. We went to Parenting classes a couple times in Palm Beach County where we resided, but were unable to continue going because of the cost.
9/10 _ We were in court again to do a case plan update. The following day while we were at HRS, we asked if they could move the case plan and our kids to West Palm Beach. They deny request because they say they are in a “stable” home. We were hoping they could be moved to PalmBeach county where we were living because it was getting more and more difficult for us to take time off from work every week and also go to court twice a month. If it was in Palm Beach County, we could just take off a few hours and it would have been a lot easier all the way around. Occasionally we had to cancel our visits because I couldn’t get the time off from work without getting fired and a few times we had car trouble. We only missed a total of six visits over the course of the year.
9/15 _ The very next visit following our request, we learned that Michael and Chris had been moved to another family (out of the stable home?) They were moved (we were told) because that family wanted to adopt a little girl. We had just asked them to move our boys to West Palm Beach so they could be closer to us!
9/22 _ Back in court doing very well in case plan except for the parenting classes because we were unable to afford them. HRS advises us that it would be better for us to reside in Okee because the parenting classes there would be free. Magaly Medina (head of HRS) herself told us to move to Okee – it would be easier to complete our case plan. We begin to make plans to move to Okee.
10/1 _ New social worker - Sylvia Enida. Still had our regular visits.
10/30 _ We came for our regular visit - before our visit they brought us into a room and ask us if we can explain a bruise on Michael’s face. So I got really upset and explained to them that we see our kids 2 hours a week - do they really think that we would abuse them during that brief period of time! Kristy was crying. I believe they said that to get a reaction from me and they sure got it. I could not believe that they were accusing us of abuse. After that visit, they started our visits back in the small room again. It seems like, we had to start all over again.
11/1 _ We moved to Okee and got yet another new case plan - stable house, job, car, parenting class, psychological evaluation. By this time we have everything complete except for the new request for a psychological evaluation. Kristy completes parenting class. A lot of major changes occurred at this time: 1) My salary was a lot less - I was working on a ranch for $55 a day compared to $10 hourly I had been receiving in Palm Beach County and Kristy had not started working yet -- all because HRS insisted that we move. 2) Part of HRS’ case plan home study said that "They never come to visit!" That was an outright lie. 3) HRS begins Termination of Parental Rights, and we had no idea why. We had been doing everything they asked us to!
11/25 _ Met an angel in disguise. We were invited to Thanksgiving Dinner to the home of one of Kristy’s friends. That’s where we met Sandy Musser. We showed her our paperwork and she got very upset and said, "you guys can‘t go into court without an attorney or you’ll surely lose your kids," so she hired us a private attorney, Janet Schaffer, who supposedly was the best in the area.
12/9 _ Had an appointment with the attorney and explained everything to her. She starting laughing and I asked her what was so funny and she said - "Sorry it’s just that I know how HRS is - I used to work for them and this doesn’t surprise me a bit." She said - "No problem - you’ll have your kids home by Christmas!"
12/19 _ Went to court with attorney in front of Judge Geiger. We explained our case and stated the facts. We were in court all day; in fact they had to reset everyone else’s schedule. Janet explained to the judge that we had been having unsupervised visits which is the last step before reunification. They called Magaly Medina to the stand and she said that was true. By that time, the judge ordered us to come back on the 22nd of December. We were really happy.
12/21 _ Kristy went for her psychological evaluation.
12/22 _ Court - the best date ever - Judge ordered HRS to let us have our kids over the holidays. HRS was really upset. Janet said, "They’ll be out for blood" - Judge said we could get our boys on December 24th at 12:00 noon. We were so happy.
12/23 _ Kristy gets a call at home from Sylvia (caseworker) and she says to come to McDonalds today to exchange Christmas presents with foster care providers. Kristy said ok, but Mike is working. She said, "well then let’s make it for tomorrow at 11:00," Kristy says OK.
12/24 _ We arrive at McDonalds in Okee and exchange Christmas presents. I was playing with my boys in the playground when Det. Noel Stephan (in plain clothes) asked me to come into the restaurant. I did. He stated that he had a warrant for my arrest for violation of probation for leaving Palm Beach County. That move was made at the insistence of HRS. I said, “You must have the wrong person’ (I panicked). He looked at the HRS rep. Michelle Atkins and she said "that is the one." (After insisting on the move they report it to the police?) So we went outside and I started to run, but then I stopped. I couldn’t believe that I was only 30 minutes away from getting my kids for Christmas! I was charged with 2nd degree felony "escape" charges.
12/25 _ Kristy had our kids for Christmas, but then had to take them back to HRS.
I’ve been in jail since Christmas. My court date has been changed three times. Up until a few weeks ago, Kristy was seeing our kids and staying in contact with me, but HRS told her that if she wants to get her kids back that she has to stop having any contact with me and not to accept my calls. Now HRS tells me that she has disappeared, but I don’t know what to believe. I think they’re trying to pit us against one another. I’ll dedicate my life to getting my boys back. I’ll never give up.
Up Date August 1999: CHS has been successful in separating these two little boys from their mother, Kristi. Mike is still fighting to keep his sons, but CHS refuses to give him a "case plan" until he signs a surrender form. His court appointed lawyer is already accepting defeat as the most likely outcome. While Mike tries to fight CHS for his children, he is kept in jail by countinuous changes in his court dates. Please, can anyone help this family?
Up Date September 1999: Mike is finally out of prison and has a court date scheduled for September 27 (next Monday) - HRS is
terminating his rights that day - or attempting to. His attorney doesn't seem to be working on his behalf. Mike is staying in Ft. Myers and there are two wonderful women willing to take the children until Mike gets on his feet. If anyone has any words of wisdom, please let us know. He'll be 23 in November. Mike now has an e-mail address if anyone wants to send him their support, write to Encouragement Only Please
HRS already convinced Kristi to sign surrender papers, but Mike has continued to refuse, even when threatended. They will not stop until they've completely destroyed this family.
If you have comments or can think of anyway you can help please contact SANDY or KAY
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