My son-in-law, Andrew Phillips, has been fighting to keep his 3 year old daughter safe from an abusive and neglectful environment at her biological mother's home for most of her life. The mother has had 11 CPS reports filed against her starting when the child was 8 months old, and continuing through today. Due to the neglect of CPS, four valid complaints were screened-out.  The mother has been investigated 7 times, yet due to substantial errors during the investigative process, 5 of those investigations were not substantiated.  Andrew has proof of many of those errors, including CPS using the wrong hospital report in making one determination, and failing to follow protocol in nearly every other investigation. The mother was substantiated for physical neglect in January of 2013.  The mother was again substantiated for medical neglect in January of 2014. There has been ongoing suspicion and evidence pointing toward sexual abuse, including the diagnosis of an STD in August of 2013. This diagnosis followed Andrew’s insistence that she be tested and seen by a very well respected sexual assault specialist, after showing physical symptoms that the mother refused to acknowledge.  

In addition to all of these things, the mother has a history of being violent and abusive towards Andrew, has been arrested for domestic violence after assaulting her sister, and has threatened physical harm to the father’s ex as well as his wife (my daughter).  Andrew has evidence of all this, yet was never given the opportunity to show it during his evidentiary hearing.  Other factors that prompted Andrew to fight for custody included:  

•The mother’s numerous statements that she does not want her child and cannot care for her. (Proof available, court chose not to view)

•The mother’s transient lifestyle, which included 8 moves during the 18 month period preceding Andrew’s motion.  During this time, Andrew’s daughter was forced to live in numerous homes, none of which belonged to the mother, and one of which was occupied by 6 males. (proof available, court chose not to view)

•The mother voluntarily gave up parenting time, at least 18 days total during the 18 months preceding Andrew’s motion.  No explanations were ever given by the mother, and sometimes she just never showed up to get her daughter. (proof available, court chose not to view) 

•The mother has repeatedly refused to hold a job, and therefore has rarely provided financially for the child.  The mother now lives with her mother in a tumultuous environment that exposes the child to fighting, discord, and occasionally even being kicked-out. (proof available, court chose not to view)

•The child has a congenital kidney condition that the mother has grossly neglected to follow medical care for and has intentionally hindered Andrew’s ability to participate in his daughter’s care. Despite these problems, Andrew and his wife have fought to get her all of the medical care she needs, including care for two other chronic conditions that the mother ignored. (proof available, court chose not to view)

•It became a necessity for Andrew to seek the help of a mental health therapist for his daughter after she began displaying alarming behavior. The child was later diagnosed with PTSD, and has been under weekly in-home therapy at Andrew’s home for the last 7 months.  The therapist reached out to the mother, in an effort to include her in the therapy, and the mother refused. The child’s therapist provided expert testimony during the following evidentiary hearing.

In March of 2014, Andrew petitioned the court for full custody, with supervised visitation for the mother, and went into the evidentiary hearing fully prepared with text, audio and video documentation that could have proven his case, but was not allowed to show this evidence during the hearing, despite the fact that the hearing was specifically for the purpose of bringing evidence. The mother repeatedly perjured herself on the stand, including her own statements contradicting each other, yet was never held accountable for a single lie. Through her deception, and the courts unwillingness to view the evidence that proved the perjury, the mother seemed to convince the judge that she was a victim, and the hearing was really about her best interests, rather than the child’s. 

Andrew’s daughter had her case switched to a new judge twice, and the current one is Judge Julia B. Owdziej, who is a newly appointed interim judge for Washtenaw County, and is up for election in November.  I sat through every hearing, and given the fact that she is up for election, I feel it is very noteworthy how poorly she handled such a sensitive case.  She was dozing on the bench during testimony from the father's witnesses, had to ask the attorneys for advice about court procedure, and though during scheduling, ample time was promised, the judge finished early every day of the hearing...even to the point of rushing Andrew's attorney during closing arguments (at 4:15 pm), and forcing her to leave out some key points.  The evidentiary hearing did not begin until early August, and was not completed until September 18th, yet the judge took no time to deliberate, and ruled immediately, in spite of the fact that testimony had spanned nearly 6 weeks, and approximately 30 other cases were on her docket earlier that same day. Andrew’s case was her last of the day.  She ruled that the father was favored in 2 of the 12 best interest of the child factors, and that the rest were equal, although the decision regarding the other 10 factors did not appear to take into consideration the testimony, CPS reports, and evidence that was presented.  I firmly believe that her spontaneous decision from the bench was made without even remembering what was presented over the previous 6 weeks, and because she did not take the time to review her notes. The mother’s attorney lied during his closing arguments which likely created a further bias against the father. (Is it perjury when an attorney knowingly deceives the judge?)  The judge left the custody 50/50 but ordered Andrew to have all the responsibilities of keeping his daughter in school, and continued therapy during the week, but gave the mother every Thursday night through Sunday, and possibly every holiday.  So in reality, Andrew has had his family weekends taken away from him, and because he is employed during the week, has almost no time with his daughter.  His daughter is now far worse off, and gets less time with her father and siblings.  The mother gets all of the weekends, with absolutely none of the parental responsibilities.       

Most recently, and possibly the most alarming development to date, follows the child making a disclosure of sexual abuse perpetrated by her mother.  The police were contacted immediately, and an investigation was opened on September 23rd, 2014.  Law enforcement failed to send the report to the proper jurisdiction, even after being told clearly by the reporting person, that Washtenaw County has jurisdiction over the mother’s residence.  The report was then not sent to the proper detective until October 8th, 2014, and a forensic interview could not be scheduled until October 16th, 2014.  This left a 3 year old child waiting over 3 weeks for an opportunity to be interviewed.  Despite this negligence, the child was able to make some disclosures concerning the abuse she suffered.  However, the detective present informed Andrew’s wife, who had taken the child to the interview, that because the child could not describe the intent of the abuser to seek “sexual gratification,” that the burden of proof could not be met.  Andrew’s wife asked questions about how any child could be expected to prove the intent of the abuser.  The detective was adamant that even if the child were able to be more descriptive, they would still have needed to prove that what was done to her, was done for sexual gratification.  Because this is an open investigation, and due to my granddaughters age, I cannot give details, but I can say that what the child suffered could not have been done for any reason other than for sexual gratification.  Andrew now faces contempt charges for keeping his daughter from the mother during the course of this investigation.  In the past Andrew has been blatantly threatened by CPS investigators that if he returns her to the mother’s care while aware of abuse or neglect, that he would face “failure to protect” charges.  Yet, when he does keep her, he is then threatened with contempt charges.  He has another show cause hearing scheduled for Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014, where he will likely be told he has to return his daughter to her abuser.  All this after promising to keep her safe, but not allowed to do so by the system.  His ability to fight for, and protect his child has been ripped from his hands for over 3 years, and he has accrued over $15,000.00 in legal fees.  He provides for a family of 6 who has suffered through these ordeals as well, and no longer has the financial means to continue fighting the mother and the courts, so please sign this petition, and share it with as many people as possible.  It is time for a little girl, and her father to see some justice