Fighting For Jr.

At Fighting 4 Jr., our mission is deeply personal.  We're fighting ot bring our son, Jr. back home aftter a wrongful removal by child services in 2021. His story is why we exist, and it fuels our determination to ensure justice and safety for him and other families.

Why Fighting4Jr Began:  A Mother's plea

In 2021, the Arkansas Department of Human Services ("DHS") removed my son, Jr., from my home and placed him with half brother and his wife, despite my serious warnings.  The court papers stated "neglect" as the reason for the removal.  However, the caseworker assigned to the 2021 case later admitted to me, "It had nothing to do with neglect. We removed Jr. because you kept refusing to sign guardianship of the twins over (to the half brother and wife), and because you said you said you didn't trust them."  DHS used the legal term of neglect to justify their actions in court, but they were, in fact, using Jr. to coerce me into signing over my twins.  When I refused to sign, DHS took my son, Jr.

The situation escalated and my concerns regarding the half brother and wife later proved to be accurate.  In August 2024, Jr. was rushed to Children's Hospital after suffering a seizure and becoming unresponsive.  The doctor who treated my son called the hotline and reported that my son's sodium levels were fatally low and life threatening and said the cause was starvation.  The doctor also reported bruises my son had on his body.  In 2025, both the half brother and his wife were charged with Domestic Battering in the First and Third Degree and sentenced to 5 years in prison. They almost killed my son by starving him to death and they only got 5 years! 

After the convictions I was told Jr. was placed with the half brother's youngest sister who shortly after decided she no longer wanted to care for Jr.  I was then told that my son is currently with a school teacher, but no name was given for a teacher.   I contacted the child welfare ombudsman hoping to locate my son and ensure he was alive and ok.  The ombudsman informed me that she could not find any records for Jr. The ombudsman said she did find guardianship for the twins, but said she could not find anything for Jr.   

The ombudsman told me she had spoken to an attorney who specializes in cases like mine and said he was interested. She provided me with contact information and I contacted him. A week after I first spoke to attorney the ombudsman referred me to, he sent me a text message saying that he could not find any court records for Jr. either. I never heard from that attorney again. This was in November 2025 and its currently March 22, 2026.  I contacted the ombudsman again and told her that her attorney said he couldn/t find court records for Jr. This only raised more concerns for my son and I was confused I asked the ombudsman if that was normal has it ever happened before and she told me no not while she's been working there it hasn't. 

I told her that I was to the point of filing a missing child report reporting my son missing, and the ombudsman said "I understand it is a complicated situation and that may be the route you need to go. Let me see if I can get in contact with someone at the criminal justice system and try to get help that way.  I never heard anything else from the ombudsman.  I decided to take it to someone who was above the ombudsman or DHS, so I sent an email out to several important people and I included the ombudsman in the email. A day or two after I sent that email out I received an email from the Ombudsman.  She sent me an email address no phone number or anything only an email address and directed me to contact the Area Director for DHS.  I sent three emails to the Area Director and no response. I thought OMG there's got to be a phone number to contact her on. I got online and finally found a phone number.  I called the office number and no answer so I left a message telling her who I was and the reason I was calling.  No response or call back. I got online again and I found a cell phone number I called it and got the voicemail. 

As I was leaving her a message I received a text message from her that said "Sorry. Can't talk now."  I sent her a text back letting her know who I was and why I was calling.  Two hours she called me back. She tells me that she can't tell me anything about Jr. because my parental rights were terminated.  I told her I don't believe her.  All the of the ones I reached out to for help in regards to my son and the only thing I got from any of them was just more confusion and left wondering why would one person be telling no records exist while the other is telling me my rights were terminated. It just didn't seem right. So I started doing my work.  

I logged into my Access Arkansas account and found several documents one that told about Jr.'s medical emergency when he was admitted into the hospital. I also found a document that listed a name for Jr.'s current caseworker which I found strange since I was told  no records exist.  I found another document that does list the youngest sister as Jr.'s last known placement.  I have not yet found anything regarding Jr. being placed with a school teacher.   I did find very few people who were kind enough to help me and I am so thankful for them!  The Prosecuting Attorney's Office in the count  were the  abuser's trial was held sent me two files and then we went and picked up a disk that  had the other files on it. I printed out everything from the disk and went through everything more than once and still did not see anything about Jr. being placed with a teacher.

I contacted the lady who represented me in 2021 and she did send me the TPR (termination of parental rights) and it cleerly states that neither I nor Jr.'s biological father attended the TPR hearing. As I went through everything she had just sent me I noticed that the attorney who the court appointed for Jr.'s father in 2021, 2022, and 2023 was in fact the attorney that the Ombudsman had referred me to!  This attorney was also present at the TPR hearing.  I thought he lied to me.