Where are they now?

As if by coincidence, while preparing for this cover story a few weeks ago, two phone calls came in. The first was Dorothy Perry, the mother of a newborn taken by Children’s Services Division in April 2009. The second was Gloria Garvey, the grandmother featured alongside Perry and her parents in a CN&R cover story about CSD (“Ripped apart at the seams,” Dec. 16, 2010).

Both offered updates on their current state of affairs.

For Dorothy, whose parents, Al and Rita Perry, also fought for custody of her son, she wanted to finish her story. In the three years since her son was born, she slowly saw less and less of him. Her last contact was more than a year ago. She doesn’t even know whether he’s been adopted.

Al Perry has kept the fight going for the whole family. He’s been out on the frontlines with Butte Families for CPS and Court Reform, holding signs outside the Butte County Superior Courthouse and trying to raise awareness of what he sees as discrimination against disabled parents. (Dorothy is developmentally disabled.)

Garvey’s story is somewhat different. Her daughter, Elaine, was in prison in 2010 when that first story came out. She was released last week. In the interim, Garvey said Elaine was tricked into signing away her parental rights.

“The social worker told Elaine that, ‘If you sign, you’ll have visitation, and your daughter can go back with you if she wants to,’” Gloria explained recently. “So, she signed.”

After signing away her parental rights, Gloria said the social worker started humming a different tune and no longer offered anything to Elaine as far as reunification with her daughter.

“They fed her all this propaganda to keep [her daughter] from us so they can get their bonuses,” Garvey said, distraught. She was referring to the fact that the federal government offers financial incentives to local agencies that increase the number of children adopted out. (See “Ripped apart at the seams” for more on these incentives.)

Al Perry continues to fight for the rights of disabled parents, and Garvey said her daughter is contesting the loss of her parental rights on the grounds she signed under duress. Neither the Perrys nor the Garveys have seen their children in more than a year.