On Friday, August 19, 2016, according to family members, Patricia Macias lifelong resident of Ventura County was heard crying hysterically. “Why? I do not understand why you are taking her if the judge granted me temporary guardianship.” Sobbed Patricia.
Witnesses allegedly overheard Monica Arevalo, a social worker for Ventura County Child Protective Service, reply, “You will never be able to care for her again; we will never give her back to you! We have the authority to overrule the judge’s decision,” before disconnecting the call.
Monica Arevalo attempted to deceive Patricia and her Family that morning shortly after a phone call informing her the judge had issued a warrant to remove her 4-year-old granddaughter Mariyah S, and if she didn’t she would have her arrested.
Approximately two years prior Mariyah S. was left with her grandmother Patricia Macias, 49, after her father Keith Sims Jr. became suddenly ill. Patricia cared for Mariyah like one of her own; they did everything with each other; colored, watched T.V. arts and crafts, cooked, cleaned, laundry, walks, there was not a day that went by where grandma and granddaughter were not spending time with each other.
During a dental exam, the Dentist informed Patricia that Mariyah needed a root canal. Although Patricia was her primary caregiver, the Dentist was unable to proceed without proper authorization. He then instructed Patricia to obtain guardianship from the court so he can work on her granddaughter’s teeth.
A simple process quickly turned into a nightmare.
On July 18, 2016, she was awarded temporary guardianship, on the condition that social services conduct a home visit for evaluation. Without thinking twice, she agreed. During the assessment everything seemed to have checked out fine, CPS stated that Mariyah was a bright-eyed talkative little girl who loved to color!
Now the question is why did Ventura County CPS worker Monica Arevalo remove Mariyah from her safe and stable home? Why was a four-year-old little girl, with no signs of abuse or neglect going through this emotional trauma? Why was she taken away from her grandmother, whom she loved so much!
According to the report filed with the court, signed by Kathy D’Inca (Via PDF) for ER CWSW Monica Arevalo, under penalty of perjury:
“The child has been left without any provision for support; or the child’s parent has been incarcerated or institutionalised and cannot arrange for the care of the child; or a relative or other adult custodian with who the child resides or has been left is unwilling or unable to provide care or support for the child, the whereabout of the parents is unknown and reasonable efforts to locate the parent have been unsuccessful.“
Then the report goes on to state “The child’s mother,…Lopez is currently incarcerated….The mother left the child with a relative who is unable to provide adequate care and support for the child. Such actions by the mother place the child at significant risk of harm and neglect.” Moreover, then “the child’s father….is currently residing in …..residential recovery home….The father left the child in the care of a relative who is unable to provide adequate care and support for the child. Such actions by the father place the child at significant risk of harm and neglect.”
The report seems somewhat confusing due to the fact Patrica (grandma) asked the court for guardianship Does a visit to the dentist show neglect to a child? Should she have left her granddaughter in pain? Should she have left her granddaughter with strangers, or in a facility where there is a high percentage of possible sexual, physical and emotional abuse? That is what the social worker did when she removed Mariyah from her grandmother’s care!
Are these “CPS” workers, whose job is to protect children lacking common sense or reasonable judgement? Instead, are they seeing dollar signs in the children whom they remove from their homes?
In 1997 Bill Clinton signed into law the Adoption and Safe Families Act. The Act was designed to give incentive for children to find permanent homes outside of the foster care system. To accomplish this initiative $4,000 – $6,000 is paid to the state agencies per each child adopted, but that is just a base figure. If a state can continually increase the number of adoptions each year, the state will be paid even more. The bill reads: “$4,000 to $6,000 will be multiplied by the amount (if any) by which the number of foster child adoptions in the State exceeds the base number of foster child adoptions for the State for the fiscal year.”
On the 19th of Augst when Mariyah was removed, Arevalo did not have the authorization to do so. She did not have a warrant issued by the judge nor did she have any reasonable explanation of why she was going to tear this family apart. Arevalo waited until her supervisor was out of the office and signed the documents on behalf of her supervisor giving her authorization to remove the child. A family member stated that Arevalo said, “I am not taking her away from you, I am taking her away from her parents because they can not care for her.”
The Department of Child Protective Services purpose is to ensure the ongoing safety and welfare of children by removing children who are alleged to have been physically or emotionally neglected and/or abused by their parents, legal guardians, or other caretakers.
The law allows a CPS agency to detain children from their parents or guardians for up to 72 hours for their protection if the Emergency Response Children’s Social Worker (ER-CSW) who initially investigates allegations of abuse or neglect believes that the children are at risk in their homes. Once the CPS detains them, children are usually placed in relative’s homes or in licensed foster homes. In some counties, the CPS places children initially in a central receiving facility, which houses children temporarily, pending placement in foster or relative’s homes. When children are taken into protective custody, ostensibly at least, the CPS social worker will immediately attempt to notify the parent(s) or guardian(s).
Immediately after Ventura Country CPS office, began to receive calls from family members who asked for a referral to be submitted for placement. Later that evening during a telephone conversation with Tim Meyers, Director of the Agency, he stated that Ms. Arevalo failed to present any referrals for approval to place Mariyah with family members before she left the office for the weekend.
The following week Patricia was told that her guardianship case was going to be vacated, but she went to her court anyway. It was there when she found out that the judge never issued a warrant nor did she know about the situation until she received a memo on her desk that morning. During with CPS worker Donte Few, the grandmother was informed that they had made a decision adopt her out within the next six months.
The family continues to ask for your help and show your support so they can hire a lawyer to bring Mariyah. Please visit gofundme.com/helpbringmariyahhome
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Website: gofundme.com/bringmariyahhome