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by Jennifer Polton/Writer Facilitator: Lola Bean/PNN Please help us save our children! “It’s too dangerous. Just stay where you are. We’ll figure something out. You’ll get killed of you go out there.” I didn’t know what to do. I begged her to stay in one place. “But I can’t take it anymore!! So what if I get hurt? Anything is better than living here!” Chelsea was in so much pain. Years of torture and abuse and mind shattering helplessness sent her bruised and wounded body into an all out purge of her battered being. I was so scared for her. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t breathe. I knew my stepdaughter Chelsea and her brother Brandon were in serious danger, but I was completely helpless. I didn’t know what to do. All I could do is cry with her and beg her not to run away into the ice storm with nowhere to go and no one to help her. All I could do was try to stay with her on the phone. The first abuse hotline reports started coming in 2001. Chelsea was 6 and Brandon was 5. They were both living in Moberly, Missouri with their mother Kayela and now step father, Billy. Neighbors started complaining that the children were begging for food and other basic necessities from tenants in their building. Complaints of unclean living conditions, malnourishment, and neglect soon followed. It wouldn’t be long before reports of Kayela and Billy physically and sexually abusing the children began to surface. The Department of Social Services came out to speak with Kayela, but they did not speak with the children or any of the neighbors. They concluded that Kayela was a good parent and that the multiple reports of abuse were unfounded. That same year, Kayela pulled the children out of school and started moving around without letting Ron, my fiancé and the children’s father, and I know where they were. Brandon started engaging in suicidal behavior. “Why is no one helping me? Why is DSS leaving me like this? Why won’t they listen to me? I want to run away. Please Jen, please come get me!” Chelsea was crying hysterically and kept gasping for the air that seemed to fail her. All I wanted to do was go and get her and take her away and make all of her pain and fear stop. Ron and I have been fighting for years to get Chelsea and Brandon to safety. I couldn’t tell her why the Department of Social Services refused to help her. I couldn’t understand it myself. Early in 2002, Ron and Kayela divorced. Kayela was granted full custody and Ron was allowed “reasonable visitation.” When Ron tried to visit the children, Kayela left with the children and refused to let Ron see them. The police refused to help on the grounds that there was no way to define “reasonable.” With the help of attorneys, Ron was able to secure visitation in June of 2003. We couldn’t believe the state the children were in when we finally got to see them. Roaches scattered from the garbage bag where the children’s filthy, ill fitting clothes had been packed. Chelsea had lice and Brandon’s head had been shaved because he had lice. The stubble of his small round head made a weak attempt to conceal the raw, infected sore that festered there. It was ringworm. Brandon had already been diagnosed, but Kayela had refused to treat it. The children’s physical and emotional pain was visible. They started telling us about the sickening conditions they were being forced to live in. The children described how their home was filled with feces and urine. The toilet didn’t work and moldy food could be found on every floor. Billy had forced Chelsea to engage in sexual acts while they videotaped it. Billy and his family hit the children on their backs, arms and faces with switches from trees. Brandon had undergone a series of psych evaluations and was being prescribed multiple medications, which his mother was inconsistently administering. In one of these psych evaluations, it was revealed that Brandon had a problem with fire. He had been drawing pictures of buildings on fire. Ron was a fire fighter. Brandon told the psych that he thought if he set fires his dad would come and save him and take him away from everything. We contacted the Department of Social Services and they eventually sent someone out to speak to the children. Brandon and Chelsea describe the abuse and neglect they have been experiencing under Kayela’s care. DSS concludes that the situation was nothing more than a heated custody battle. Mike Shay states that the children should be with their mother no matter what. Chelsea had called me from her mother’s house. She had been left alone momentarily, but that moment of solitude ended. Kayela, Billy, and Brandon had just returned home. Kayela saw that Chelsea was on the phone and instantly assumed that she was speaking to her father. Kayela and Billy started screaming at her. “You’d better not be talking to your dad! You’re going to get punished Chelsea. We’re going to disconnect that phone for good!” The screaming escalated and Chelsea grew very upset. I could hear every word they were saying to her as clearly as if they were speaking directly into the phone. Chelsea begged them to stop. They would not stop. She ran into her room and hid under the bed with me on the other line of her cell phone. She was scared out of her mind. She was sobbing uncontrollably. “Please come and get me. Please!” The children came to stay with Ron and me frequently during the summer of 2003. That July Chelsea and Brandon told us that a man by the name of Brian Roselius had moved in with him. Both of the children feared him. They said he was always trying to touch them on their butts and looking down Chelsea’s shirts and up her skirts and trying to touch her inner thighs. Brian had a past history of sex abuse in another county. Kayela refused to listen to us when we told her that Brian had been abusing Chelsea and Brandon. She refused to listen to us. In September of 2003, Kayela, Brandon, Billy, and their friend Janet showed up at our house at 11pm. Kayela was crying. Bandon’s clothes were filthy and he wreaked of urine. Kayela admitted that two days prior, Brandon had been sexually abused by Brian Roselius. They had just come from reporting the abuse at the police station. Kayela did not want to file a report, but Janet – the friend that was at our home with them – forced her to file the report. Two weeks prior, Brian raped Janet. Kayela was aware that this had happened, but allowed him to continue living with her and the children. Brandon told me that his privates hurt. I gave his small broken body a shower and dressed him in some clean clothes. Ron and I contacted the Department of Social Services to try and find help for the children. We could not find anyone willing to help us. After numerous calls, a meeting was set up with a woman by the name of Janna Clark. At the DSS office, we told Janna about Brain Roselius and the horrible things he was doing to the children. We told her about how he was sexually abusing Chelsea and Brandon. Janna Clark became hostile. She was not angry at the abuse the children were being subjected too. She was angry with us. She was not angry that Brian Roselius was a sex abuser and that our children were being fondled and abused by him. She was angry that Ron and I were trying to do something about it. We were shocked. Janna Clark at the Department of Social Services told us that she would see to it that Ron and I would be sent to jail if we pursued Kayela or Brian. We now know that Janna Clark is Brian Roselius’s mother. I have never felt so helpless in my life. I didn’t have any idea what to do or where to turn. I didn’t know how to comfort her. I didn’t know what to say to maker her feel better. Chelsea begged me to find her help. Gasping for air and fearing for her life she begged me to come and get her. “Please Jen. Please come and get me. I can’t take it anymore! Please Jen. Please come – .” The line went dead. We could not believe this was happening. We knew we had to find someone to help us. We were able to secure an attorney and hearings were scheduled for October of 2003. The court found that Brandon and Chelsea had been victims of physical abuse and educational, physical, and medical neglect. Ron was awarded joint legal\joint physical custody. In November, Brandon came to our house out of breath, pale and shaking. He was sick with fear. He stopped at his mother’s house to drop off his backpack after school. When he went inside, he saw Brian Roselius sitting inside with Kayela and his stepfather Billy. Ron was furious. He wet to the courthouse to file protective orders. Under Missouri statute, protective order papers must be accessible to anyone needing protection, even on nights and weekends. Further, court employees are obligated to assist people in filling them out. He tried twice to file protective orders against the man sexually assaulting his children. Both times he was denied access to these papers. In December, Ron received a letter from Boone County DSS worker Ashley Smethers, now Ashley Turner, that a co-investigation between DSS and police founded that Brian Roselius had sexually abused Brandon. Ron and I knew we had to get the children away from that man. Ron contacted Attorney Susan Henry in Macon Missouri and read her the court orders and statements. Susan told him that this was exigent circumstances and since he had the primary custody, he could legally relocate to Iowa with the kids. We finally had the green light to get Brandon and Chelsea to safety. We contacted police departments in Iowa and Missouri to inform them of where we were going and why. We also notified the courts about the move. In January of 2004, Ron and I moved back to Iowa from Missouri with kids in tow. On Jan. 6, 2004 Ron was arrested for kidnapping. Ron was extradited to Missouri and was let out on his own recognizance. He was not allowed to have contact with his children until this was settled. Another court date was set and by the end of January, all of Ron’s parental rights were reinstated. On the date of the last court hearing, Kayela took off with the children. Ron and I had no idea where they were for 3 months. “Chelsea? Chelsea are you there? Chelsea!?!” There was nothing. No crying. No screaming. No nothing. The line was dead and I was frozen in place. I have never felt so sick and so scared in all of my life. My stomach violently strangled the air out of my lungs and my muscles were locked in short spasms. I was so afraid for her life. She is so young. We did everything we could to try to find the kids. We knew they were in danger and we wanted to bring them home safe. We desperately wanted to keep them out of the filth and the beatings and the molestation. We did everything we could to try to find them but we couldn’t. In April of 2004, Ron received court papers stating that there were court proceedings in motion to remove Chelsea and Brandon from Kayela’s custody permanently. We learned the children had been removed from Kayela’s home for 3 days because of lack of heat and hazardous living conditions. No one contacted Ron to let him know where the children were or to let him know they were in danger. His parental rights were completely ignored. The children were placed with Kayela’s parents, and juvenile officers were working to remove custody not just from Kayela, but from Ron as well. Kayela ran off with the children once again. Again we had no idea where to find them. Since Kayela took Chelsea and Brandon in April of 2004, we have only seen them a handful of times. The phone rang. “Chelsea?” “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. The battery on my phone is low and ---” The line went dead again. For the past three years, Chelsea and Brandon have been forced to continue to endure the most physically and psychologically torturous treatment. Their minds and bodies have been twisted for years without rescue. Reports show that dog feces and urine were on the floors of their house. Trash and garbage bags overflowed in each room. Moldy food sat out Chelsea was afraid to take her shoes off. She developed huge, red, raw, sores all over her feet as a result. It was foot rot. Brandon was put on multiple different medications. Kayela was inconsistently administering these drugs and Brandon was sick as a result. He was lethargic, wet the bed and slept ungodly amounts of hours. He had memory problems and could not even remember his birth date. He was hearing voices. Not even a teenager, and Brandon has been put in the psych ward on at least two different occasions. The second time he tried to commit suicide. He said he wanted to kill himself because no one cared. Now he is starting to turn his anger outward. He hits and kicks ad bites in his hopeless rage. He has even started to physically abuse Chelsea. Billy and his family continue to physically and psychologically abuse Chelsea and Brandon and reports show that Kayela still allows Brian Roselius around the children. “Jen why won’t anyone help me? I don’t understand why they won’t help me?” We have done everything we can to try and keep these children safe. The Department of Social Services refuses to help us. Kayela learned that she could keep the children away from Ron and I by filing false reports against us for abuse that occurs in her home. Each charge has been cleared, but in addition to fighting for the children’s safety, we are now being forced to fight to keep our names clear so we don’t lose what limited rights we’ve got left. All the while, the children continue to suffer and their mental and physical health deteriorates further. We have been treated like criminals for trying to protect our children while the people that have committed physical and sexual crimes against their little innocent bodies are allowed to continue abusing them with the protection of the Department of Social Services. We are continually punished for doing whatever we can to try to get someone to help Chelsea and Brandon. But what else can we do? We can’t just sit here and do nothing. These are our children. They are in very real danger. If we can’t find a way to protect them, who will? “Jen, please come and get me. I just want to live with you where it’s safe. Please come and get me. I can’t take it anymore. Jen, I can’t take it anymore.” I told her I wanted to do this more than anything in the world but if we did, we would go to jail. “But I have to get away from here. I can’t take it anymore!” The phone went dead again. Ron has not seen his children since February of 2006. We have had limited contact with Chelsea. She continues to beg us to help her. She begs us to take her away so the abuse will stop. My heart is torn open each time and I am sick with helplessness. I feel like I am failing her because I can’t keep her away from this abuse. She is only a car ride away and a safe loving home is waiting for her and for Brandon, but there’s still nothing we can do to get these kids away from safety. There’s nothing we can do to get them out of the filth and psychosis and sexual abuse and physical beatings. There’s nothing we can do to get them into safe, warm beds where they will not have to fear for their lives every single day. We have called numerous attorneys by the hundreds all over the state of Iowa and Missouri, Illinois and bordering states to Missouri. We just can’t afford a retainer. There is a gag order on Ron, so he can’t discuss the case with anyone. Now I am the only one that can try to find help for Brandon and Chelsea. I hope there is someone out there that will help us save our children. Brandon and Chelsea are begging for our help. They are just small children. They shouldn’t have to spend another day fearing for their lives. Please somebody help us. |
Original Post Date
2008-01-08 12:00 AM
Original Body