Hello, I'm Laura and I grew up in an abusive and neglectful home where me and my siblings were taken away from our parents and put into foster care 3 seperate times before I had turned 6 years old.  The last time we were given back, our parents moved us to another state and as a result DCS did not check in with us anymore nor did we have any history on file in the new state we resided in.  Without any check-ins from DCS, my parents were no longer motivated to continue to be proper parents and things not only went back to the way they were- they became exponentially worse. 

Our parents also made us very afraid of talking to anyone about what was happening at home because we would be taken away again- in turn making us more secretive in an effort to not let friends, adults or teachers that could have intervened catch wind of what life was really like at home.  Our massive extended family such as aunts, uncles, cousins etc now say that when we moved it was like we all fell off the face of the planet- my parents didn't talk to them anymore.  They say that they had no idea what was happening and that they would have helped like they had before if they had known.

As children all we knew was that we loved our parents and family no matter what but as adults my siblings and I all agree that we should have been taken away permanently.  The foster system is not perfect, but we did stay with a couple of families that were amazingly kind to us and we still have fond memories of.  We all agree that we would have preferred to take our chances with foster care (or for DCS to have a paper trail of the abuse so that we could be continued to be checked on no matter where we went) than to go through what we did and the way it has later affected our adult lives despite our efforts to heal and move on from it.  Being taken away 3 times by protective services should be indicative of a high risk situation that warrants continued oversight.  I'm honestly at a loss as to why we were given back at all.  

Essentially all that's needed for an abusive parent to get a clean slate when DCS comes knocking on their door is to move to another state.  I hope this fact makes you as angry as it does me.

In the United States we have national databases that track points on driver's licenses, criminals, sex offenders, etc. but we do not have any system to track a child that has been previously taken away from their parents and returned.  Moving across state lines for a new job, better opportunity etc. has become commonplace over the years which shows a bigger need for this to be done.

I would also like the states to have more open communication concerning cases that involve children across state lines.  Recently I was helping a family member with her foster case for a child from another state and it became apparent that the caseworker from the other state was noncommunicative.  This resulted in a delay in this child being able to obtain Medicaid and get needed medical care and physical and speech therapy for a year.  These sorts of cracks in communication should not be happening in this day and age of technology.

I am currently working on writing my family's unique story in short story form in the hopes of influencing legislation for a bill to be written to have a national database created that will connect all the state DCS departments so they can share information more freely and keep better track of children who have a history of family problems.  Oftentimes new bills and policies in government are created and enacted because of a story of tragedy that a citizen brings to light.  I hope that my family's story along with this petition will be enough to affect real change in an area that has been a strong passion for me as an adult- helping the forgotten and invisible children of abuse, neglect, and poverty in my community.  

Please help me with getting their attention for this special cause by signing this petition and sharing it- all signatures will be printed and mailed along with my short stories to senators, representatives and any special interest groups that might be interested in helping.

Thanks for reading and listening!