On July 3, 2004, a police officer showed up at my door and told me that they had a report that I had threatened to kill my 8-year-old son and myself and they needed to do an investigation. The officer came in and did his investigation and told me that he was sorry to bother me and to have a good night. An hour later my ex-husband came by because he had heard what was going on and wanted to make sure everything was ok. Well he left and my son and I went to bed.

Two days later, DFCS showed up at my door and did an investigation and interviewed my son. An hour later, my son was removed from my home. I am allowed to see him, but not allowed to have him in my home.

I went to court on Aug. 19, 2004 because my ex-husband decided to fight me for custody. We had joint-legal custody, but I was granted full custody of my son when we went to court even though he was removed from my home. I was told in August that he would be home in no more than a few weeks, but here it is October and my son still hasn't been returned home to me.

I have gone to counseling, seen psychologists, had mental evaluations done, and everything that DFCS told me I had to do in order to have my son returned to my home. I did all this even though there was no evidence that I had ever harmed my son or tried to.

I also received a letter telling me I was found to be abusive to my son, but they only talked to my son for 5 minutes and he told them I had never harmed him in any way he also had signs of abuse at all, but they still have "proof" that I have. I asked to know of this proof and was told that they couldn't disclose this information to me, so I had my attorney contact them trying to get it and he was told the same thing. He, in turn, contacted the judge that heard my custody case and found out that the judge had spoken the caseworker and she informed the judge that she didn't see any signs of abuse or neglect with my son and didn't think the things I had been accused of trying to do had actually happened (I have court documentation to back this up), but still my son has not been returned to me.

I completed all the steps in the safety plan that DFCS set up for me, but as soon as I get my hopes up of my son returning home, they find one more hoop for me to jump through. I hope and pray that this nightmare will soon end and I will be able to return to a normal way of life.

My son asks every time he sees me when he can come home and I tell him I'm working on it, but I know that after almost 4 months of this he is beginning to not believe it. I can't, however, understand how DFCS can remove my son when the police officer that came out that night found no reason to remove him and my ex-husband also found no reason to do so either. I mean if either of then had thought my son was in harm, do you think he would have been left alone with me in the home? Also, I don't think any judge in his right mind would have granted me custody if he thought I had tried to harm my son or was in any way mentally unstable.

I'm trying everything I can think of to get my son back home to me. He is almost 9 years old now and wants to come back home by his birthday (Nov. 25), but I don't see that happening by then.

I am looking for any one that can give me any suggestions on how to "fight" DFCS and to get my son back home and how to protect others from this happening to them. If anyone has any suggestions, please email me at let me know.