Submitted by Jason

My name is Jason Michael Osborn; I am twenty three years old and I have been a father since May of 2007. On May 3rd of 2007 Claudissa Rose Osborn was birthed to myself and my fiancée Maryn Leeann Burns at Upper Valley Medical Center here in Miami County. Two weeks after our child’s birth it became evident that we could not emotionally and physically cope with taking care of a child on our own.

At the time we asked my mother Susan Gay Osborn to step in and be the primary caregiver to our little girl to compensate for our shortcomings. Despite my mother’s having Small Cell Carcinoma she agreed to do so; and we signed a paper so that she could take our daughter to her doctors appointments. At that time it had not occurred to us to sign over custody of our daughter to my mother as we were hoping our problems would pass with time and we did wish to have the best for and love our daughter.

In November of 2007 it became apparent that my mother was struggling with taking care of our daughter and she needed real help; since we were still having issues and trying to do as best we could, my mother called Miami County Child & Family Services; henceforth to be known as “MCCFB.” At the time my mother was undergoing both Chemo-Therapy and Radiation Treatments for her cancer; and was seeking assistance from “MCCFB” for everything up to temporary respite care. “MCCFB,” refused to come into our shared home then and no reason was given as to why they had refused.

Surprisingly, on December 12th of 2007 “MCCFB” showed up at our door with a complaint that had been lodged originally against my mother and father for medical and physical neglect. At the time, my mother could not care for our daughter and neither could we; still wanting the best for her though; we signed her into the temporary custody of “MCCFB.” However, we were given the affirmation that my mother could come back and get custody of our daughter should she become cancer free.

Unfortunately, we would find out later that not only was the complaint lodged against my parents illegally altered to include mine and my fiancée’s names but they had pursued this after changing the original complaint with a bottle of White Out on the originally filed document. Furthermore and perhaps more importantly, it was stated by the intake worker when she returned to our home a couple weeks after our daughter was taken, that our daughter; who is visually impaired, would be better off being raised in a fully sighted home. It was made clear to me as a parent and the rest of my family that there was a clear social and economical bias on the part of “MCCFB” from the beginning.

The paper that my fiancée and I originally signed in giving “MCCFB” temporary custody, said that our rights had not been stripped from us completely and that “MCCFB” was responsible for informing us before moving our daughter or getting her any necessary medical attention. However, they did not feel the need to abide by this, as we were informed after the fact by the foster parents and not by “MCCFB” of an eye surgery conducted on our daughter to remove cataracts from one of her eyes.

Then during the adjudicative hearing on our daughter’s case our lawyers convinced us that we should admit that our daughter was a dependent child under Ohio Revised Code; when asked if this was an admission of guilt in the complaint against us; our lawyers told us that; no it was not an admission of guilt. We also found out at that time, that the primary reason for her being removed from our home was because of a small semi-flat spot on the back of her head. There was also a statement in the official court documents that it was believed by “MCCFB” that a visually impaired person could not care for a visually impaired child; we asked that both things be stricken from the complaint and affirmed that we believed our daughter was a dependent child.

Later on we found out that our lawyers had lied to us, and told us that admitting our daughter was a dependent child would not be admitting our guilt, when in fact; that is exactly what it meant. At the final custody hearing on April 26th of 2008 it was read into official court documentation by a Dr. Hathaway that due to issues with our daughter’s brain, she would not be able to walk, talk, take care of herself, perform normal functions and that she would need around the clock care for the rest of her natural life. This was the primary deciding factor that swayed us to decide to give over permanent custody to “MCCFB” as we foolishly believed that the doctors were being honest when they made these diagnoses.

However, my mother continued to fight for custody of our daughter from “MCCFB” at our behest as we believed that her cancer would get better. While she was attempting to get better; she had to go through exhaustively humiliating and subjugating tests to prove she was able to handle taking care of our daughter. First, she had to be cancer free; second, she had to comply with home studies and “CASA” evaluations; third, she had to complete a physical capacity test; fourth, we, along with my younger sister and her two children had to move out of the home; fifth, she had to move; sixth, a calendar of our daughter’s appointments and needs had to be made for her; and seventh, it was court ordered that our daughter be in her home for no less than six hours a day, five days a week, for two weeks while “MCCFB” observed.

During this time, it was made known to my parents by “MCCFB” that despite the falsified claim and the use of deception and coercion to make us willingly give up our rights we were not permitted to be present at any of our daughters visits. The first time I saw my daughter since they took her from us was shortly after Christmas 2008 when I had five minutes to see her in the back of my grandmother’s van before she was to be taken back to her foster parents’ home. They treated us like criminals and dangerous abusers even though we had been deceived and tricked into willingly giving up our rights as parents to our daughter, sentencing us to worse mental anguish than should they have levied criminal charges against us.

Sadly, despite the fact that my mother successfully passed all of their tests and complied willingly while being made to jump through hoops and kick her children out of her home the court found at the final trial to take place between April 21st and 23rd of 2009 that it was in our daughter’s best interest that my mother’s motion be denied. During this trial it was allowed into official evidence and consideration that my mother’s visual impairment and financial standing in the community as well as the perceived assumption her cancer would return be entered as deciding factors. In fact, the fact that her cancer, which has been gone almost two years as of this writing; could come back, was the deciding factor according to the magistrate overseeing the case.

Pending finding sufficient legal council, our daughter’s biological mother and I are considering refilling for our daughter’s custody though at this point, it would likely do not good. We love her very much and the past almost two years has been utter torture for this entire family. Furthermore, as of Monday September 21st of this year, we were informed by the foster mother and then “MCCFB” that the foster father plead guilty to a charge of gross sexual imposition and continues to be free, until his date of sentencing under his own recognizance.

Doors are slamming shut in the legal channels and we do not have much time to get an appeal into the courts before the case is finally closed and our daughter is adopted out. Therefore we have no choice but to appeal for the help of the public, in hopes that someone will listen to us. It is sad that in a great democratic country; a child can be taken from his/her family under the guise of deception and lies; if anyone has doubts about our family’s story, then go to the Miami County Court House and file a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the documentation which backs this story.