An Oregon couple, who had committed no crime, had their twin boys taken by social services when one of them received a fracture on his collarbone. When the parents explained that the fracture had been caused by an abrupt stop to avoid a traffic accident, all criminal charges were dropped, but the twins were still not returned. To keep the young parents’ children, social services claimed that the father and mother were not experienced enough and that their apartment was too small for children. Because the parents were only allowed to see their children for a couple of hours a week, the children lost connection with their parents and naturally began to bond with the foster parents. Because of this bond with the foster parents, social services is supporting the foster parents’ wish to adopt the children. To add insult to injury, Oregon law allows social services to charge the parents $365 per month for each child’s stay in foster care.
“How do they know that I can’t parent when they haven’t even given me the chance to try and I’m a first time parent”
They think their financial situation acted against them, particularly in their in ability to hire a lawyer. “I got a court-appointed attorney. They work for the state, doing what the state wants,” [the mother said].
“Our boys don’t look at us as parents, they look at us as the Monday babysitters[.]”
“It hurts. It doesn’t feel right. I carried them for practically nine months. We’re the ones who [conceived] them. I went through the c-section and the recovery time. I spent all those nights taking care of them and I make a single mistake and someone else gets to have my kids” ”
Read an update: An update on the Webers’ DHS struggle
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