We Need To Talk About Leo
Honestly, anyone who thinks Child Protective Services (CPS) is always out there saving kids needs a major reality check. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are cases where kids are in real danger and need to literally be saved. But the truth is, the whole system is set up to target families who don’t have money and parents of color and or indigenous descent.
If you look at the stats, it’s completely unfair. Removal rates are way higher in households where people are poor or Black and Brown. If a rich white parent messes up or goes through a rough patch, they get offered “services” or a slap on the wrist. But if a low-income or minority parent struggles with the exact same thing, it’s labeled “neglect.” The system basically treats being poor like it’s a crime, and instead of helping parents get back on their feet, they just take their kids away. And offer the household that the child is being placed with, the resources the biological family could have needed and used to get through their “rough patch” in order to keep their family whole.
My personal experience does not involve “going through a rough patch” and needing support, it involves false accusations that CPS did not investigate were true which ultimately resulted in Reign’s wrongful removal from my home. He was 2 turning 3 the next month…. However, I have connected with parents who did “something,” to get their children removed and after completing every requirement for reunification, their children were put up for adoption.
As it relates to my case, and how racist and cruel the system is, we have to look at what happened with the “Mike’s Hard Lemonade” case back in 2008. A white University of Michigan professor accidentally bought what he thought was regular lemonade for his 7-year-old son at a baseball game. It turned out to be alcoholic. Even though a hospital test showed the kid didn’t swallow a drop of alcohol and doctors said he was totally fine, CPS stepped in. A Black judge signed the order to remove Leo, and CPS placed Leo in emergency foster care, and wouldn’t even give him to his mom, who wasn’t even at the game.
The only reason that family got their boy back within a couple of days is because they were wealthy, highly educated, and had instant access to top-tier lawyers and clinics who forced the state to back down. But it makes you think: if a rich white professor can have his kid taken away over an honest mistake, what chance does a regular, low-income mom of color stand against this system?
When I reached out to Channel 7 news investigator Ross Jones, the journalist who originally covered Leo’s case, I found out that the comprehensive article detailing the Black judge, the illegal removals, and the glaring racial disparities had been completely scrubbed and removed from the internet. “They” can try to erase the digital evidence, but they can’t erase what happened to baby Leo.
Reign was parentally kidnapped via uninvestigated lies reported interstate to CYS/CPS in 2021. Note that the person who made these false claims was warned in 2019 that reported false claims of neglect and child abuse is a crime. That there would be criminal consequences if the false claims continued. Despite this, there has been absolutely no oversight, prevision, or any consequences for Reign’s biological father’s actions, Victor Lane Turner.
Fast forward to 2024, Reign’s biological father, Victor Lane Turner, was substantiated as a child rapist. Vaginally and orally Victor raped his 5 year old for 2 or more years and has had his rights terminated to that child.
Instead of giving Reign back to his fit and biological mother who has been begging to get her son back, the state of michigan decided to continue violating my family by first revoking the joint custody order and giving Victor full sole legal and physical custody. With Victor’s CPS connections, they withheld Reign and threw him into the foster care system. Via a safety plan created by this substantiated monster.
Let’s go back to how this is a racial issue: Think about the difference here. When the rich professor’s kid was taken, his parents had the money to fight and get him back in 48 hours. The clinics that Reign’s case qualifies for but refuse to assist, including the ACLU, all represented Leo and that family received over 2 million dollars for Leo being removed from his home for 2 day. 2 days. Reign was not given alcohol or abused in anyway. But I, Reign’s fit mother, have been fighting the legal system across multiple counties for years, losing precious time and priceless milestones for a child who was abducted in 2021 and is now stuck in foster care as of 2024 via the person who abducted him in 2021.
The child welfare system isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. When a system is biased against race and pockets extra money for placing kids into foster care rather than keeping families together, it’s not protection, it’s just a broken bureaucracy. Kids like Reign are being deeply traumatized by the state, not saved by it.
The mission statement of the Foster Care agency refusing to return Reign, The Ennis Care Center for Children, is “With the support of the community, we preserve families when possible and create new families when necessary” drives our trained, dedicated and compassionate staff as they guide children and families toward a future better than their past.” Reign does not ned a new family and the “services” being offered to me, Reign’s fit biological mother, are not needed or “necessary.”
At the end of the day, we need serious reform, real accountability for CPS workers, GALs, and judges, and a system that actually protects children instead of just ripping families apart for currency, without any type of accountable oversight.