If you remember a few months back I went on a rant about my developmentally disabled great aunts who had been removed from their home and we had no idea where they were. Then Hamilton County MRDD wanted to say that my uncle physically abused them. An article was written in the Cincinnati Enquirer blasting my uncle and his wife, making them seem like the scum of the earth and out to get my aunt's money. I was so heated by all of this and have remained that way since because NONE of it made sense. Why not contact other family members to have the girls stay with family instead of some strange hotel? What investigation was ever done to substantiate these reports of abuse? I personally felt the whole thing was a sham and MRDD screwed up somewhere and was trying to cover their ass; that or they wanted control of my aunts' estate for their own use.
Well, yesterday my uncle went to court to fight the charges against him. There were only two supposed instances of abuse and they had no evidence to appropriate the abuse. I wasn't there, but my mother said my uncle's lawyer basically handed them their ass on a silver platter and all charges were dismissed. Ironically, MRDD reps served my uncle with papers suing my uncle for control of the estate. Does it sound sketchy to you? I think so. MRDD didn't have a foot to stand on with all the charges they had against my uncle and were made to look like fools.
After court, my aunts were out in the hallway and my mom and some family approached the girls. They were hugging and kissing them and telling them how much they missed them. My uncle and his wife stayed back so as not to cause any problems and no one else in the family mentioned that they were there. My aunt Peggy caught glimpse of my uncle and began to trot on over to him. A woman from MRDD actually tried to grab my aunt's arm to keep her from going, but what could she really do in a crowd of people, but let her ago. Not to mention, holding her back is a complete violation of her rights. Peggy grabbed hold of my uncle, hugging and kissing him and saying how much she missed him. She also hugged my aunt, who began to cry. The MRDD reps just kept giving each other looks, knowing that all the crap they've said regarding my aunts being afraid of my family was exactly that: a bunch of crap!
The same journalist who wrote the first blasphemous article was present at this hearing and printed somewhat of a retraction in today's paper. I really think an apologize was deserved because my uncle was slandered and horrible comments were made about him in regards to the article. My family has every intention of trying to get guardianship of the girls to make sure something like this never happens again. Not only was my uncle thrown out of the home he was sharing with the girls, the rest of our family were not allowed to see them or we were threatened to have the police called on. Are you freaking serious? Totally screwed up. Their job is to protect their rights, not violate them. Their case coordinator from MRDD had the gull to say that they've spent thousands of dollars on these girls and my aunt was like "hello, i'm a taxpayer. i vote for those levies." - like the money was coming directly out of that woman's pocket. Get real.
UGH! So if anyone knows of good/cheap lawyers for obtaining guardianship or has any suggestions on how to handle this situation, please send them my way!
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