Finding a Family

Chapter 24

Emily's POV
This was never easy. No matter how many times I did this, it was always difficult to take children away from their parents. Even if homes were abusive, children usually never wanted to leave their parents. No matter what, children still loved their parents and didn't want to go to an unfamiliar place. When I presented Hannah's parents with the court order, their reaction was the same as any other parent. At first they were in disbelief but then their shock turned into anger. They wanted to know why we were taking her away and what this was all about. I explained to them that they were being suspected of neglect and potential child abuse. "That's ridiculous, we aren't negligent and we would never hurt Hannah, take a look for yourself," Freddie said. "I'm sorry but this all has to be settled out in family court. Right now, Hannah's going to have to come with me. Could you please pack some things for her," I said.

Although they were still emotional they reluctantly let Officer Stevens and I into their home. Alan went upstairs to get some things together for Hannah while Freddie walked into the living room where Hannah was sitting on the floor playing with one of their cats. When she saw Officer Stevens and I walk in the room she clammed up. "Daddy, who are they?" she asked nervously. "Hannah darling, we need to talk about something important," he said to her solemnly as he stroked her hair. I could tell that she could sense her father's emotions, "Daddy what's wrong?" she asked, her lower lip trembling. "Hannah sweetheart, this woman's name is Emily and that's Officer Stevens. Darling, I'm afraid you're going to have to go with them for a little while," he said. By that time Alan had come back with a packed bag. "Are you and Papa coming with?" she asked as tears started to form in her eyes. "I'm afraid not angel. Daddy and Papa love you very much, everything will be alright," Alan said. "When am I coming back?" she asked desperately. "I don't know darling," Freddie said defeatedly. "No I don't wanna go with them, Daddy, Papa don't make me go!" she said as she cried and clung to Freddie. "Sweetheart, we don't want you to go either but these people say you have to go with them." Alan said. "Hannah, sweetheart, I know you're scared but everything will be okay. Do you have a toy that maybe you can bring with you to make you feel better?" I tried to comfort her. "I don't want to go with you! Daddy, Papa don't let them take me! I wanna stay with you!" she cried. "Hannah, listen to me. Daddy and I, were going to do everything in our power to bring you back home. I know this is scary but Daddy and I love you very much," Alan told her. "I'm sorry but you have to come with me, Hannah," I said gently. I gestured to Officer Stevens to pull her away from her parents. "Sweetheart, we're going to go for a car ride," Officer Stevens said as he gently pried Hannah away from Freddie. "NO, NO, NO! LET GO, LET GO," she screamed as she was fighting to get out of the officer's grip. "Hannah, it's okay it's okay, " Alan did his best to comfort her. She was putting up a pretty good fight but she was pretty small and Officer Stevens was able to pick her up as she continued to scream. Freddie and Alan looked heartbroken as they watched Hannah struggle and scream. "I know this is difficult for everyone but she's in good hands," I said as I took her bag from Alan. "Here, this is her favorite stuffie, she can't sleep without it," Alan said as he handed me a stuffed elephant. They followed me and waited at their doorway as they watched in horror as the Officer was struggling to get Hannah in the car. After he managed to get her in, I got in the backseat with her and Officers Stevens got in the driver's seat. "I WANT DADDY AND PAPA. DADDY, PAPA!" she cried as she banged on the windows. I could see in the distance that Freddie and Alan were still in the doorway, holding onto each other as they watched with tears in their eyes. "Hannah honey, look I have your elephant, "I offered in an effort to calm her. She took it but she continued to cry. As the car pulled away, her cries intensified.

Protocol was to take her to our doctor to be evaluated for any signs of abuse. The whole way she cried her eyes out not matter how I tried to calm her. We pulled up to our youth center where we had a doctor on site. "Okay, Hannah. We're going to go inside now. We're going to get you check out by a doctor, okay sweetness," I said. "NO! I wanna go home!" she cried. Although she put up a bit of a fight once again, the officer managed to carry her out of the car and into the exam room. Officer Stevens waited outside while I sat in the room with her and waited for our doctor, Mary to arrive. The poor thing looked terrified and pushed herself against the wall, clutching her elephant as she cried. "Sweetheart, it's okay. You have nothing to be afraid of, the doctor here is really nice and I'll be here the whole time," I tried to comfort her. "My goodness, what do we have here, little one?" Mary said as she entered the room. "Hello, my darling, my name is Mary. Can you tell me your name love?" Hannah remained curled up whimpering without answering. "Mary this is Hannah, she's a little nervous but I told her she has nothing to be scared of," I said. "That's right Hannah, no one is going to hurt you here. Would it be alright if I took a look at you love?" Hannah shook her head no and remained trembling. "Sweetheart, I'm just going to take a look and make sure you're okay," Mary said as she went to lay her hand on Hannah's shoulder. "NO! GO AWAY, GO AWAY," Hannah cried as she pushed Mary's hand away. "Okay, okay. Why don't we just talk for a while," Mary said as she backed off. "Hannah can you tell me your stuffie's name?" Mary asked. "El- El- Ellie," Hannah said she as she stiffed back tears. "Oh what a lovely name. Now can you tell me your favorite color?" Mary went on. "Purple," Hannah whimpered out. "Good, now do you go to school?" Mary asked her. Hannah nodded her head yes. "Mmm hmm and what's your teacher's name?" Mary asked. "I, I have two teachers. Miss April and Mr. Ryan," Hannah replied opening up a bit more. "Oh wow! Are they nice?" Mary asked. "Yes, I like when we do art," Hannah said. "I bet you're a great artist Hannah. Now sweetheart, I need to ask you some more questions okay? These ones are important. Hannah have you ever been sick?" Mary said. "Yes. One time my ears hurt me really bad and I had to go to the doctor to get medicine," Hannah said. "Hannah, I have to ask you a bit of a scary question love but it's really important, has anyone ever hurt you before?" Mary asked gently. She looked at Mary with sadness in her eyes and nodded her head. "Honey did one of your Daddies hurt you?" I asked. Tears started to build back up in her eyes as she nodded her head. "He used to hit me and do bad other bad things to me," Hannah said tearing up a bit. "Sweetheart what kind of bad things?" Mary gently asked Hannah. "I don't want to talk about it," Hannah whimpered. Mary and I looked at each other knowing that she likely meant sexual abuse. I couldn't let her go back to that home not after I found this out. But my Daddy and Papa protect me, they said they'll never let him hurt me again," Hannah said. Mary and I looked at each other confused. "Sweetheart I thought you said your Daddy hurt you?" Mary asked. "That was my old mean Daddy. Before I lived with Daddy and Papa," Hannah replied. "Oh? That wasn't Freddie or Alan?"I asked. Hannah shook her head no intensely. "Freddie and Alan, Daddy and Papa have they ever hurt you?" I asked "No they love me! They wouldn't hurt me! I wanna go home!" Hannah protested. "Sweetheart I need to look you over, I need to make sure you're okay. Do you think I could do that?" Mary said to Hannah "O.. okay, but can she go outside?" Hannah said referring to me. "Yes, Emily can go outside. It will be just you and me love," Mary said.

I wasn't offended that Hannah asked me to leave. After all she probably associated me with being taken from her home. I sat down next to Officer Stevens, "So how's it going in there," he asked. "A little rough but she seems comfortable with Mary. Hannah says Freddie and Alan never abused her but I can't be sure," I said. "That's what a lot of kids say, they are just trying to protect their parents. At the end of the day most kids still love their parents no matter how awful they were to them," Officer Stevens replied. After a while Mary came out of the exam room. "How is she? Are there any signs of abuse?" I asked her. "She has quite a few scars but they don't appear recent. How long has she been with Freddie and Alan?" Mary asked "About six months," I replied "Those scars have been there for far longer than six months, there's no way they happened when she was in their care," she said. "So there are no signs of abuse?" I asked. "No," Mary said as she shook her head. "Are you certain? My supervisor made it sound urgent, when he gave me the order for protective custody," I said "There are no bruises or other injuries on her. The scars are consistent with what Hannah said about them happening in her old home. She seems well taken care of, even told me that she sees a therapist," Mary replied. "Then why did we just take her away," I said defeatedly.

After my conversation with Mary I walked back into the examine where Hannah was. "Can I go home now?" Hannah asked me desperately. "Sweetheart, you can't go home right now. Right now I'm going to take you to stay with some foster parents," I said gently. "Like Nana and Grandpa," she said hopefully. "Hannah you won't be staying with your Grandparents. You're going to be staying somewhere else for a while. Their names are Annie and Jack, they are very nice.." I tried to tell her. "NO, NO! I DON'T WANNA GO THERE! I WANNA GO HOME!" she cried. Officer Stevens walked back in the room and carried her to the car as she fought to get away. We started on the drive to Jack and Annie's and Hannah began to wail again. I sat next to her questioning what we had just done.