I have a lot to post over the weekend, but first...a correction and apology.
In the initial post of this blog, I indicated that Doris' attorney in Peoria advised her to go on the run after the March 3rd, 2005 hearing when Doris was in Tennessee and DCFS took custody of Jonathan. I have found this statement is incorrect.
Doris' attorney called and advised her of the outcome of the hearing. Doris was urged to run by someone else to whom she related the story. This does not change the motivations behind Doris' disappearance, but certainly changes the implication for the attorney in question. I am happy to report this attorney did NOT engage in such unprofessional behavior, and I sincerely apologize for the earlier inference. There are a lot of details to this story, and I quite misunderstood that one.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
DCFS
Doris met with a very hostile DCFS in Peoria yesterday. They made it very clear to her that their intention was for her to have no further contact with Jonathan, ever. According to reports, Jonathan has significantly regressed in his behavior since being taken. With Doris, he was speaking in rudimentary sentences, eating, playing, and making progress despite his developmental delays. Now, he is barely eating, not speaking at all, screaming, and smashing toys.
DCFS had the gall to say "this is where he belongs". This agency, who drove Doris underground with their constant harrassment and threats of taking custody, is now using the fact that Jonathan wasn't receiving state services (a situation THEY caused) as the primary reason they are justified in keeping him from her.
Please keep Doris in your prayers today as she meets with Judge Albert Purham today at 1:30 in Peoria at the county courthouse.
On another note, I mentioned a Paypal link in a previous post. I haven't even put that up and it has already been called "scam". I am not in the scamming business. If anyone would like to donate to Doris, please email me at FriendOfDoris@gmail.com. If you are in Peoria, Doris can meet you in person. If there are enough people, I will reconsider the paypal link.
DCFS had the gall to say "this is where he belongs". This agency, who drove Doris underground with their constant harrassment and threats of taking custody, is now using the fact that Jonathan wasn't receiving state services (a situation THEY caused) as the primary reason they are justified in keeping him from her.
Please keep Doris in your prayers today as she meets with Judge Albert Purham today at 1:30 in Peoria at the county courthouse.
On another note, I mentioned a Paypal link in a previous post. I haven't even put that up and it has already been called "scam". I am not in the scamming business. If anyone would like to donate to Doris, please email me at FriendOfDoris@gmail.com. If you are in Peoria, Doris can meet you in person. If there are enough people, I will reconsider the paypal link.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Traveling
Doris will be in Peoria for the hearing! She is traveling today, and has several interviews scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday). If anyone in the media is reading this and would like to interview Doris, please leave your information in the comments here and I will ensure you get in touch with her.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Communications from Doris
I have contacted Doris Garretson, and she has graciously agreed that this blog will be her voice to the internet. If there are any questions or comments from the net public, she will respond in this blog.
According to Doris, quite a few donation inquiries are being fielded by regional newspapers and television offices. For the moment, these donations are being directed to her in person by people local to the Tulsa area, and she is meticulously keeping track of these. If there are any media outlets who are uncertain how to respond to these inquiries, please direct them to take the donations to her in person for now. If any media do not know where she lives or how to contact her, please ask KOTV in Tulsa.
I have created a Paypal account for her and will post a payment link on this site if and when this site is publicly announced as her official blog by the news media. I don't want anyone to suspect the integrity of donations being collected, or that this site isn't really connected to Doris. 100% of donations collected on this site will go directly to Doris.
For now...any help you can render to her in person would be greatly appreciated.
According to Doris, quite a few donation inquiries are being fielded by regional newspapers and television offices. For the moment, these donations are being directed to her in person by people local to the Tulsa area, and she is meticulously keeping track of these. If there are any media outlets who are uncertain how to respond to these inquiries, please direct them to take the donations to her in person for now. If any media do not know where she lives or how to contact her, please ask KOTV in Tulsa.
I have created a Paypal account for her and will post a payment link on this site if and when this site is publicly announced as her official blog by the news media. I don't want anyone to suspect the integrity of donations being collected, or that this site isn't really connected to Doris. 100% of donations collected on this site will go directly to Doris.
For now...any help you can render to her in person would be greatly appreciated.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)