Welcome

I'm starting this blog to make Doris Garretson and Jonathan Smalley's entire story public. I've known Doris for a number of years and have watched as the Illinois DCFS has perpetrated this injustice on her.

If you are just arriving at this site and are unfamiliar with recent news regarding Doris and Jonathan, let me give you a brief rundown of events. On Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007, a "Have You Seen Us?" flier was distributed in the mail in Tulsa OK and a number of other areas (including Dallas TX and Montgomery AL) in an effort to locate Doris Garretson and her special needs grandson, Jonathan Smalley. A young man who lived near Doris and Jonathan in Tulsa recognized their pictures and turned them in. Jonathan was taken into "protective" custody and Doris was arrested.

The next morning, of course, this made the news everywhere from Tulsa to Chicago. "Boy, Missing 2 years, Found. Grandmother Arrested", etc.

Here, read all about it.

Okay...so these headlines are merely a superficial summary on a single night's events. This story has actually stretched over Jonathan's entire 6 years, with DCFS involvement over the past 3 years.

Here's what really happened:

Doris' daughter is unable to care for Jonathan. The reasons why are not important. Suffice it to say she has emotional difficulties that preclude her from being able to care for a child. Jonathan's father is not and has never been in the picture.

Doris' daughter abandoned Jonathan to Doris' care shortly after his birth in Peoria Illinois, and she soon left the state. She has rarely supported Jonathan and hasn't much concept of the "wrongness" of this. She has married a fellow in her new state, and he seems as disinterested in Jonathan as she is.

So...Doris and Jonathan were in Peoria alone, relying on her Social Security checks, which didn't amount to much. I believe sometime in this period, she was able to obtain Social Security disability for Jonathan due to his developmental delays (I'm uncertain when this happened).

Sometime in 2004, Doris decided to switch Jonathan to a new pediatrician. When she arrived for the checkup, the good Dr. noticed that Jonathan was poor, thin (the boy was naturally skinny, but not malnourished), and his head was misshapen (he was born with sagittal synostosis). So, the good Dr. called DCFS, who arrived and confiscated Jonathan on the spot.

After placing Jonathan with a foster family for several weeks and examining every aspect of Doris' life, DCFS returned him to her care. However, they proceeded to make near DAILY checkups for several weeks, and they made an appointment with a doctor in Chicago to see Jonathan. When Doris could not make the trip on her limited budget, they claimed she failed to take him in for proper medical treatment. Doris and the DCFS had several disagreements regarding school (for a developmentally delayed 3-year old) and doctors (Doris did NOT wish to return to the pediatrician who called DCFS on her) over the next two or three months.

At some point, Doris found a report from DCFS which indicated to her that they planned to take Jonathan into their custody and were simply building a case against her. I'm not certain if this is the correct content of that report or if she simply read an older letter (from when they took him the first time). Regardless, after months of DCFS harassment, she fled Illinois in fear of losing her grandchild again.

Doris and Jonathan fled to Tennessee, and were eventually located by DCFS somehow (probably through the SS checks). Jonathan was taken in to custody by Tennessee and Doris was arrested. After 48 hours, Tennessee released both of them, saying that Illinois had failed to come get them. Doris worked with caseworkers at Tennessee DHS (or CPS, or whatever acronym they go by) and they were willing to assist Doris and Jonathan in any way possible.

At some point soon afterward, Doris telephoned the public defender who had represented her in Illinois. Doris was told there was a hearing in Peoria scheduled on March 3rd, 2005. Doris then called the DCFS caseworker in Peoria and explained that it was not possible for her to attend (or bring Jonathan) because her vehicle had broken down (it really had), and she did not have the money to have it fixed.

So...on March 3rd, when she was not in Peoria, DCFS KNEW where she was, KNEW that she would not be there, KNEW that Tennessee DHS was monitoring Doris and Jonathan. Regardless of all this, the judge awarded custody of Jonathan to Illinois DCFS and a felony abduction warrant was promptly issued for Doris.

Then, Doris' attorney in Peoria called her and...get this...TOLD HER TO RUN! So run she did. She borrowed money to rent a U-Haul and left, telling no one where she was headed, which we now learn was Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Illinois cut off Jonathan's support check, leaving Doris with only her monthly SSI, which was direct deposited into a bank in Illinois (I think). She went underground, changed their names, and kept him out of the public system. She went to homeopathic doctors and homeschooled him. Within the severe limits of her resources, she has done her best to provide for him. Now, she has been publicly brought out and humiliated, Jonathan has been taken away from her again, caseworkers have stated that she will "never see Jonathan again", and he is being taken back to Illinois.

Oh, and the felony abduction warrant against Doris? Dropped. Really. She was released from Tulsa County jail in less than 24 hours. There are no plans to charge her with anything in Illinois, even AFTER she was coerced into signing an extradition waiver. You see, there is now a hearing scheduled for April 12th in Peoria. Jonathan will be there, because Illinois is coming to get him. Doris, however, does not have the funds to travel to Illinois, and an extradition would have given her a free ride to Peoria. If she is not at the hearing, it's much easier for DCFS to make an open and shut case against her.

I plan to ensure she is in Peoria on April 12th at 1:30 to attend this hearing.

I wonder if anyone reading this would like to be there as well? Doris has nothing on her side now other than prayer and public outrage.

I would love to hear your comments.