The contents of the following are based upon the views of the writer and may differ from the accounts of others.  Anything here that is considered hears say is based upon opinion.  It is our suggestion that you find out the facts for yourself and draw your own conclusion. All parties are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

            My husband, Adam C. Stewart, Sr. was deployed to Iraq in January of 2006.  During his tour, his two children from a previous marriage lived with their biological mother.  They were severely abused and neglected according to their accounts by the hands of their own mother and her teenaged boyfriend.  His little girl disclosed rape by this adolescent at the age of four.  The little boy was four/five and the little girl only two/three when the offenses took place.  Their disclosures to therapists and counselors have been startling and painful to deal with.  My husband and I are angered over the events that took place.  The sad truth is that the DFCS system in the county of their residence was sent multiple reports on the potential abuse that these children were living in, to include the suspected molestation and/or rape.  For whatever reasons, the case workers and judicial system chose to leave the children in the custody of their mother.  From a telephone in Iraq, my husband pleaded for them to be removed until his return.  My efforts to get them out also failed for I was informed that since I had no legal right to the children, there was nothing I could do.  After the Toombs County DFCS office placed the children under a safety plan in order for me and my husband to keep the children, we pushed for evaluations for both the physical and mental abuse and the sexual abuse.  The children were sent for evaluation and interview surrounding the suspected sexual assaults.  The follow up with the psychosexual therapist was never done by the DFCS case worker.  We sought and obtained an attorney for the change of permanent custody of the kids.  Once custody of the children was changed, DFCS closed the case and let us know that it was now “our problem” and they were no longer involved.  After multiple phone calls, to include Office of the Child Advocate, and the governor himself, we were told once more that since Adam had custody, it was no longer the state’s problem.  We have received some minor assistance, such as Welcare, for our children and financial aid for their mental health counseling taken from state funds through the county mental health service.  (UPDATE: Heather and Christian now recieve assistance needed to help care for them.  They are now seeing local pediatricians and have come a long way since thier services with the mental health center.  They were key in helping with the children's recovery and our deepest thanks to the doctors and staff there who helped make this possible.)  With two other children in our home (our oldest son, 11, from my previous marriage and our daughter, now 3) the financial strain had brought our family to its knees.  We are slowly recovering as are our children.  I now stay at home to tend to the kids.  Nurseries quickly turn us away because we are honest with them about the children’s backgrounds and our little girl’s violent tendencies.  If she harms another child, she may be a liability for a daycare.  The mother has never been charged with any crimes allegedly committed against her own son and daughter despite what seems to be refusal to cooperate with the court system in order to be able to have a healthy relationship with them.  It is believed she may still be with the individual that our 6 year old daughter alleges raped her.  (UPDATE: The biological mother claims to have cut contact with the individual Heather alleges genital to genital contact with.  It is now unknown if she still has any relationship or association with him.)  He has also never been formally charged in any offenses against the children.  Any charges at this point against their alleged offenders would have to be filed by my husband and paid for by us.  We had hired an attorney for the termination of rights on the biological mother.  The psychosexual therapist that took their statements for disclosure (that DFCS was supposed to set up) we now have to pay for since the system has left us to deal with “our problem”.  The information from the counselors and the therapist were turned in to the district attorney for the purpose of pursuing a case against the mother and adolescent boyfriend.  With no reason given for his decision, the D.A. for Toombs County was not going to pursue charges on these individuals.  It was only after we created Innocence Stolen that he decided to open a case on the alleged rape.  Because DFCS did not properly investigate the allegations when the suspicions of sexual abuse were brought up, any DNA evidence that may have been there is now lost.  All we have is the disclosure from Heather and it is not enough to prosecute her rapist.  The case remains open in hopes that he will slip up and tell someone that just happens to go to the authorities.  The only other hopes of putting him in jail is to wait until he does this to another child or children and is eventually caught.  With little or no other evidence of physical or mental abuse documented through the CPS workers, it appears that the mother may also never be held accountable for her part in these crimes.  Only substantial documentation appears to be made on the neglect.  DFCS relates that my claims on the abuse were not investigated further because it appeared I only wanted to cause the mother of these two children problems that were not substantiated by the CPS case worker.  During the open case a new CPS worker was assigned.  She was suspected to be friends with the biological mother the case was initially opened on.  This was the case worker that was at the forensic evaluation and was also the case worker that was supposed to follow up with an appointment for the children to see the psychosexual therapist.  The forensic DVD that became state evidence under the DFCS system because of the safety plan on the children went missing for a period of time according to a CPS worker here in our own county (We live in a different county from where the incidents allegedly happened).  We watched a CPS case worker (from the county that held the interview) receive the DVD into her custody and place it with her file.  To this date, this case worker has never been held accountable.  She was also the representative sent by Toombs County for testimony in the case of termination.  Our attorney has now dropped our case in light of having to call so many expert witnesses and the fact that it would be more drawn out than he expected.  He will no longer take the case pro bono.  Meanwhile, we live with two children with multiple diagnoses to include PTSD, ODD, Bipolar Disorder, Sexual Rape of a child, and ADHD among others.  This case, we feel, will never see its day in court.  We suspect there are too many questions the DFCS system would have to answer to which would in turn reflect poorly on the county itself.  We have discovered that is extremely difficult to sue the state for such allegations because they are immune from many law suites under Georgia’s statutes. Armed with this knowledge my husband and I have begun looking into other potential cases for those that may need help.  There are far more families out there dealing with the aftermath of child abuse and far more children out there still living in it.  Adam and I are now in the fight against abuse and neglect as well as seeking a change in the laws in this state and around the country to make it more difficult for individuals to get away with these heinous crimes against innocent little ones.  They don’t have the rights afforded us as adults.  Their voices many times go unheard.  A father fought to defend this country while no one here would defend his children.  The price we have paid is nothing to the scars they will live with for the rest of their lives.  Child abuse has far reaching affects and devastates the lives of many.  There are still children out there that don’t have a way out.  They sit and wait for help that never seems to come.  Our children were fortunate.  Some don’t ever live to see their day of freedom.