I am not afraid to be totally transparent with my situation. There are way too many people out there who automatically assume that if you have your kid taken by cps that you're wrong and they are right. It's hard for them to believe that a nationwide government-funded agency could be kidnapping children and trafficking them. It's hard for small-minded people to understand that this country has made a business out of "protecting" children and that no one wants "broken goods" so they're going after good families, with good kids. Families that are secure, loving, happy, and healthy. Cps comes in and breaks up families without any remorse. They. Do. Not. Care. People who want to remain ignorant of the very real problem this country has right now with this huge government agency trafficking children. Open up your eyes sheeple!!
So i am a recovering addict. I got clean with the help of methadone back in january 2016. By december of 2016, i found out that i was pregnant. I was in my own place, working a job- life was going well and now i was going to have a child. I gave birth to james in august 2017. He spent 19 days in the nicu, which was an unnecessary amount of time to be there but you have to do what the doctors say. So i was on the methadone through my pregnancy, and so once he was born ocy/cps was called just to come in and check on the baby and see if they want to shop for this child or let them go home with their parents. I guess they did not want him at the time because after checking up on us in the hospital, checking my home, and making sure i had a way to care for my child, they let him come home. And so we started our lives together as a family of 3. Mark and i were so very happy. When james was almost 1 he had a fibril seizure and he was life-flighted to children's hospital in pittsburgh. He and i were down there for 5 days and he was released home with a medication to keep from any other seizures happening. He was supposed to go and see the neurologist 2 weeks after he got home and would be off the medication once he saw that doctor. The appointment then got pushed back to 5 weeks after he got home. At that time we started to notice that james was regressing. He was no longer cruising along the furniture, trying to stand, trying to talk, saying mama and dad...That all stopped. He wouldn't even try to crawl anymore. It got to the point where he would not acknowledge us in any way- we could bang a pot behind him and he would not even flinch to the noise. We took him to get his hearing checked and his eyes checked. Everything was fine with him... Then his pediatrician suggested we get him checked for autism... And so that is what we did. James was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3, which is the earliest age they like to diagnose. So began our journey into the world of speech therapies, behavioral therapies, and so many different terms for the things going on with our son... It was a bit overwhelming at first but once we had a routine, things got better. James had issues with his behaviors that stemmed from him being unable to communicate and get his needs met. The more we worked with him and got him talking the better his outbursts would get. It wasn't easy, but it was a learning experience for all of us. James began his schooling at pre-school, at a children's development center. We let them know what he was facing when he was put into a new situation and how he needed to be eased into things, they insisted that they were going to be able to give him the time and attention that he would need. They made it 5 weeks. At the start of the 5th week, i was contacted by the school and was asked if it would be a problem if we went from 5 days a week to 3 half days a week. The half-day because after lunch was nap time and james did not nap. So i was ok with that, i knew they were not going to be able to give him what he needed in the classroom but he was having so much fun going each day. So from 3 half days a week, we then went to 1 day a week and then he was not able to come back until he got the tss that he was approved for but due to severe understaffing, was unable to have one.
He finished preschool and then went on to pre-kindergarten, at a school that had a classroom specific for children with autism. He was able to go every day for the whole day! he was in a small classroom with 5 other kids. It was so good for him! he did well and he even got to graduate. By the time the end of the school year had come, is when his life was getting torn apart by the system meant to protect him.
In october of 2021, we found out that we were again pregnant! james was going to be a big brother and he was so very excited to be a big brother. He referred to my growing belly as benjamin. Once we knew we were having a boy, we decided to name him benjamin charles buczynski, after mark's grandfather who had recently passed away.
On march 29, 2022 around 11 am, my water broke and i called mark back from work so we could go to the hospital. Benjamin wasn’t supposed to be here until april 26 as a scheduled c-section. So mark called his parents in to meet us at the hospital so they could take james. We all met up and mark and i went into the er where i was promptly admitted and rushed off to the or as ben was breeched and i needed a c-section asap. They put me under as he was coming too fast and they had to cut me open. So at 1:01 pm, benjamin joined the world. He was whisked off and put with his dad while i was stitched up and sent to a recovery room. I was really out of it for the next 2 days. I was in and out of sleep, and a lot was going on.
Ocy was already involved as i am on methadone and so they were already there. They tested my urine and found opiates, fentanyl, methadone, and thc in my system. I had a lapse 2 days before ben was born- using dope.
**This needs to be clear from january 2016 until march 27, 2022 i was clean from opiates< heroin< fentanyl)**
I do have my medical marijuana card and it has helped with all 3 pregnancies. They also tested benjamin for drugs and there was none found to be in his system. He was taken to the nicu later on the day i had him as they were treating him for being early- not for withdrawal, and there was no nas scoring regularly as, again, he was not showing signs of w/d.
So on the 2nd night in the hospital, a few of the nurses finally realized that i was more out of it than i should have been. I was unable to wake up and stay awake for any amount of time. So around 11 pm I believe) they took me for a few tests and whatnot. It was then found that i needed a blood transfusion. I think i got 2 bags of blood... Once i had that done the next morning i felt so much better. I was discharged later on the 3rd day. In the 3 days after ben was born all kinds of people came to my room, attempting to talk to me and having me sign stuff, even though i was clearly out of it and unable to totally understand what was going on. What i do know is that after ben was in the nicu for 6 days they allowed us to bring him home. He had been treated for being pre-term and jaundiced. They Ocy) say they allowed us to take him home only because mark was with me, i was not the only caretaker. I guess they thought that i was getting high around my kids and whatnot. I was not) the thing is i had only gotten high that one time in the 8 months i was pregnant- and even before that.
Ben came home on april 4th or 5th and we started settling into our life as parents to a special needs child and now a newborn. I couldn’t wait for those moments. Ben did have what was called a ‘sacral dimple’ right above his buttcrack, and so we had to see a specialist just a few days after he got home. We had in-home nurses coming in twice a week as well as mark's mother tammy coming and staying a few days with us. Everything was so lovely... And perfect.
In the early morning of april 22nd, i was awakened by ben for a diaper change and bottle. So i did just that, taking him back into my room i sat down on my bed with my feet on the ground. I proceeded to feed him while i listened to the simpsons on my tv. Once the episode was over i removed his bottle from his mouth and stood up to place him in his bassinet... And that’s when i noticed how cold and limp he was... I turned on my light and saw how grey he was... I set him on the bed waking up mark while i called 911. On the phone, they told me to make sure his airways were clear and start tiny, delicate compressions... Paramedics came and took him right out, mark following behind them into the ambulance. I had to call my friend elisha to come to sit at the house with james so i could go be with benjamin. It took about 30 minutes and so while i was waiting and worrying and scared, i smoked a joint- it is my medication. So once she got here i took off as fast as i could to hamot er. I got in there and found where he was, mark was waiting outside the door, watching a team of nurses n doctors work on my tiny baby. I was then approached by a detective and an erie police officer. Mark refused to talk to him, but i was scared that if i didn’t talk that i would get into trouble. I told the detective that i was uncomfortable speaking with him without a lawyer present, to which he claimed that he didn’t know of any lawyers that would want to get up and come down to the hospital at 2:30 in the morning... And so i reluctantly went with him. I told him exactly what i have just written adding at the end that i felt like he intimidated me into talking with him and that i was not at all comfortable speaking with him. With that, the interview ended. I go to go back to the room where ben was still being worked on and was again approached by a woman saying she was the on-call ocy caseworker and she wanted to know what happened as well. This time i told her that i was not going anywhere and that if she wanted to talk it would have to be right there. So i repeated the story i have written above to this caseworker.
Once ben was stable and we were able to go in and speak with the doctors, we were informed that he was being kept alive by machines, although his heart was beating on its own everything else was being run by machines. We were told that a team was on their way up from children's hospital in pittsburgh to get him down there attached to everything keeping him alive.
And so james was again taken to his grandparents while we tended to what we needed to down in pittsburg. For the next 11 days, we talked to doctors, nurses, bereavement support, caseworkers, a priest, and more doctors, and nurses... We had been waiting for the phenobarbital to clear his system and it took the full 11 days to get down to levels where he should be having reflexes and signs of life, and there just wasn’t. We had gotten him baptized. James came down with his grandparents so they could all say goodbye. On the afternoon of may 3rd, we were informed that there was nothing left to do and that he was a vegetable, with no value of life. So we had to make the very difficult decision to take him off of life support and hold him close while he passed on- his little body finally able to stop...
Once he was gone, we hurried over to the ronald mcdonald house that is attached to the hospital for families to stay while their sick children fight for their lives. We went and packed up everything we had in our little apartment space we were given and left pittsburgh behind us, leaving benjamin behind us. That night i went and got high as soon as i got home. I knew james still needed me but i just did not care that night and i tried to do enough dope to make sure i wouldn’t wake back up... But i did. And so on may 3rd, we were attempting to settle back into a life of a family of 3. But there was so much pain in those first few days. James came home and ran right into the nursery looking for ben... That about killed me.
On may 5th, ocy caseworker sara keller and another caseworker knocked on my door. I allowed them to come into my home where they then asked to make sure we had everything james needed. Checked for food, got it. Checked for safety, got it. Checked he had his own room and was age-appropriate, got it. So once they were done that, we were then told that we had to submit to a drug test and go to a urine screen the next day. Mark, knowing his rights, refused to submit to the testing. Me on the other hand, i was so afraid of them taking james from us, that i told them i would do it the next day, just like they asked.
Dropped a ua on may 6th, 2022 and it was indeed dirty for fentanyl, opiates, methadone, and thc. On may 16th, sara and 2 erie police officers show up at my door with a court order to remove james from his home. I was not ready for that to happen. They had done nothing to try and keep him here with his family... They just took him. She did allow me to walk him down to her filthy car to buckle him into her backseat... Where there was no car seat or even a booster seat. James was 4.5 at the time, he is special needs and had to be in a car seat... I did offer her mine to which she did decline. James was stuck with this woman from that early afternoon until he showed up to his grandparents around 7:30 that night, having had nothing to eat and was in a very soiled diaper.
On may 21st james was moved from his grandparents' house and placed in a foster home with rachel bemis. He was with her for 2 days before he was moved once again, this time to edmond l. Thomas residential shelter. It’s a place meant for kids 10+, not a 4.5-year-old. We were able to visit james every night for 1 hour. And we were there every. Single. Night. We did eventually find out how he was being made to go to his room where they would lock him inside, he was forced into a place that is meant for kids his age. At elt we visited every night. Once a week my project first step caseworker would come to our visits to observe, and rachel would visit almost every day as well. Then he was able to go to rachels on weekends so he could get used to her. She was also allowing us to meet up with her and james on sundays before she took him back to elt. We met and after about 5 weeks or so (?) james went with her full-time. After that, she would no longer do our sunday outings because she did not want to have to report back to ocy about how visits went. She stated that she is there to keep james safe and healthy, not babysit our visits and report. So he's been with her since i believe the beginning of august 2022. We were able to visit with him weekly with supervision. Stipulation with that was if i looked like i was high or smelled like pot I do have my mmj card) then the visit would be terminated. That never happened.
So the first hearing we had was shortly after ocy picked him up and that is when i found out the whole “lack of care and control” and that i had a lapse – but never mentioned when that happened, and since the first hearing i was never able to get my pd to actually talk to me for any length of time... Just a few minutes we would have before we walked into court.
May 16th, 2022- i guess maybe this is the court order for emergency protective custody... They have 2 things on here, one is ‘removal of the child is necessary for the welfare and best interest of the child: the other one states ‘reasonable efforts to prevent removal or provide reunification were made.’( which they never did)
May 20th is when i got the dependency petition saying that james ‘is without proper care or control.’ and then to elaborate on that it says ‘the child is without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law or other care or control necessary for his/her physical, mental, or emotional health, or morals: a determination that there is a lack of proper parental care or control may be based upon evidence of conduct by the parent, guardian, or custodian that places the health, safety or welfare of the child at risk, including evidence of the parents/guardians or other custodians use of alcohol or a controlled substance that places the health, safety or welfare of the child at risk.
They also claim that reasonable efforts were made to prevent the placement of the child: ‘the agency has met with the family and made efforts to come up with a family plan but the mother refused to cooperate.’ With this i did allow the man dan stone to come to my home to do this family plan. While he was here he began to get almost verbally abusive towards me and i told him to get out of my house. The argument was over me telling him that he can sit there and tell me that what we were doing was mandatory. That anything ocy tells you that you have to do something, you have to do it. He was trying to tell me that it was not mandatory- and that’s when he began to argue with me, i asked him to leave and now all over my paperwork they are claiming that i refused to do the family plan. They decided that if i didn’t want to work with that man, i refused to do it, even though they were more than able to send someone else in his place.
June 2nd is when i received the order of adjudication and disposition which starts off with all the misinformation amended. However none of these amended ‘facts’ never were changed in any other paperwork. It still all says the same lies. This is also when i received the first list of court ordered checklist:
Mother shall:
1. Submit to genetic testing to assist in establishing paternity Huh?) I completed)
2. Complete an assessment for her eligibility for treatment court. If deemed appropriate, mother shall participate in all recommended services through treatment court. This did occur but was not accepted into the program)
3. Remain drug and alcohol-free and participate in random color code urine screens through esper treatment center. This has not occurred/ several missed color code urines)
4. Obtain gainful employment and provide proof of employment to the agency. My paramour is the income of our family that provides a stable environment. Also, judge marucci specifically told me not to worry about employment since i am already financially stable)
5. Obtain and maintain safe and stable housing and provide proof of residency to the agency. This has occurred)
6. Receive a mental health evaluation and follow any and all recommendations. This has occurred; i've been in mh therapy since 2008 after my daughter was born and i had postpartum depression, so i went on meds. Been on and off different meds since then. Ocy made me get another mh evaluation thru their doctor)
7. Participate in an agency-approved parenting class and demonstrate the ability to appropriately parent her child during visitation. This has occurred and what i learned i demonstrated during supervised visits.)
September 26, 2022
This is a court summary where none of the amended remarks are not amended and the lies are still there.
- they state that ‘ additionally, mr. Ambrose He is bio dad to james but has been out of my life since i was 4 months prego) was aware of mother's substance use but failed to take action to obtain custody of the child. Despite several attempts, the agency was not able to make contact with mr. Ambrose. Mr. Ambrose has a criminal history including public drunkenness and access device fraud.
I reached out to mr. Ambrose on facebook messenger back in december 2022. He did reply back. I told him that i needed him to go down and get a paternity test so that the agency can see for a fact who the bio father is... He did talk to my ocy caseworker and made the appointment to go to the courthouse for a paternity test. For 3 weeks he led me on saying that he did it and then that he was waiting for results before saying that he did have the results but that he left it somewhere. Come to find out thru my caseworker that he never went to the courthouse. I tried to confront him and he then blocked me. I have no other way to reach him and neither does ocy since he is homeless. As for the remark above, i have been on methadone since jan 2016. I found out i was pregnant in december 2016, and had james in august 2017. I was clean from the hard stuff. I did smoke pot and i now have my card to be able to legally do so. Up until the pandemic hit i was clean and on methadone doing great. I had a relapse just a few days before my son benjamin was born, one-time use. The night benjamin passed, one time use. Then when james was taken, i used and i didn't stop, i was stuck in the cycle again, which is why i turned to rehab.
I do have a prior history with the agency due to false reports.
On 4/22/22 referred due to my baby going to er and being put on life support. There were no allegations of abuse or neglect then.
On 1/29/22 the agency received allegations of behavioral health concerns for the parent and substance use by the caregiver. They also said that the allegations were validated and we declined services. I do not recall this incident)
On 5/8/20 the agency received allegations of behavioral health concerns for the parent and substance use by the caregiver. They also said that the allegations were validated and we declined services. The person who called ocy only called because she was afraid of me turning her in for feeding her 15, 11, and 7-year-old thc gummies, which i told her i didn’t agree with and that i would no longer be hanging out with her.)
On 9/1/17 agency received a referral that ms. Bunce delivered an infant to term gestation and was transitioned to the nicu secondary to hypoglycemia. Both mother and son were positive for marijuana and methadone. This was validated and closed at the intake level.
· i have a 14-year-old daughter who lives with her father. I had her 2 weeks or so before i turned 20. I was at the height of my addiction to pain pills and so i walked away from her and my husband when i landed in state prison and he asked for a divorce. When she was under 3 cys Mckean county, bradford pa) was called twice by spiteful neighbors. The first allegation was that i was starving her and allowing her to sit in soiled diapers and garbage in the house. They found nothing because she was well taken care of in a clean home. The second time great grannies in-home nurses called due to my daughter's skin condition. They didn’t ask about it they just assumed we weren't doing anything to help her. Which went unfounded. My daughter was suffering from atopic dermatitis and was on 3 steroid creams as well as a very thick cream lotion. She was allergic to her own sweat and so she would have breakouts where her skin would look terrible. Cys came and went with that one too.
As of september 2022 the agency recommended services
Mother shall: by 05-15-2023
1. Refrain from the use of illegal/illicit drugs and alcohol and participate in random color code urinalysis screenings thru esper treatment center. Which was occurring, just missed some due to forgetting to call the night before)
2. Continue to participate in and follow thru with all recommendations made in drug and alcohol until successful completion and demonstrate the ability to obtain and remain in recovery. Despite doing my best to get and stay clean, i have been unable to at this point in time Clean from january 2023 to present)
3. Continue participating in and complete project first step, family engagement thru erie homes for children and adults. Follow thru with any recommendations made and demonstrate skills learned during visits with james. This of course has occurred, and never stopped) completed; caseworker quit the job and so they discontinued services.
4. Continue to participate in and successfully complete family behavioral therapy thru family services. Follow thru with any recommendations made by that program. This has continued to occur, even after goal change) graduated from fbt 07/20/2023
5. Complete a psychological assessment with dr. Peter von korff and follow any recommendations made. This has occurred before ivt hearing)
6. Attend any and all medical appointments and provider meetings for the child. This has occurred but stopped due to foster mom not wanting us to see him cuz he gets upset and she doesn’t like dealing with him when he's upset. Last seen in person in february 2023, since then the system has alienated james' entire family from him.)
Court summary from january 18,2023
Information that was asked to be amended still has not been amended in any of my paperwork.
The goal was changed to adoption.
James is currently seeing dr. Brunner for medication about his autism and adhd. He has regular medication management appointments with dr. Brunner. In addition to medication management, james has a support coordinator, behavioral health technician, and a blended case manager.
At some point, the foster mom, rachel bemis, stated to the caseworker, danielle that james has had an increase in sexualized behaviors recently. He will climb on top of women and try to push them down and will move his hips in a thrusting motion. He has also been reported to grab women's breasts and ask them to take their shirts off. This is something that has never ever been an issue when he was home. And this has only been reported one time in the jan 18th court summary. However, this was not brought up in the court hearing.
- james is supposed to have a behavioral health technician but to severe understaffing, this has been unable to happen for very long. He did have one named noah who lasted less than 2 months. James is still on a waiting list for a bht.
Progress as of jan 18, 2023
1. Refrain from the use of illegal/illicit drugs and alcohol and participate in color code urinalysis thru esper treatment center. After the goal change in december urines were no longer being offered as testing was no longer offered or mattered.)
2. Continue to participate in and follow thru with all recommendations made in drug and alcohol treatment until successful completion and demonstrate the ability to obtain and remain in recovery. As of november 2022 this has occurred, continued sobriety from january 2023 to the present time. Ocy is lying again)
3. Continue participating in and complete project 1st step, family engagement thru erie homes for children and adults. Follow thru with any recommendations made and demonstrate the skills learned during visitations with james. Finished and not continued due to ocy no longer offering services and the caseworker quit prior to my completion.)
4. Continue to participate in and successfully complete family behavioral therapy thru family services. Follow thru with any recommendations made by that program. Finished as of 07/2023)
5. Complete a psychological assessment with dr. Peter von korff and follow any recommendations made. This was finished as of february 2023)
6. Attend any and all medical appointments and provider meetings for the child. This occurred until the goal change made it so ocy and foster mom will not allow my son to have in-person appointments with his doctors due to my son being upset after having to leave us again and foster mom doesn’t like to deal with my son if he is upset.)
Ocy reported to the judge that there has been no progress with me and that is just not the truth. I have been busting my a*s to do everything they wanted me to do while trying to deal with the loss of benjamin and the taking of james. It has not been easy.
On may 9th they are going to try and terminate my rights involuntarily. This is not right. They also changed the goal from reunification concurrent with adoption to just adoption. It's not right. Ocy keeps a case open for 22 months, and they don’t usually change the goal at 8 months, which is what they did to me. They also used the removal of my child as a first choice instead of working with us and keeping him in the home. In the ocy rules, it is not until around 15 months of no progress is when they change the goal, they did it at 8 months despite me doing what they have asked of me, doing everything except unfortunately being able to get and stay clean.
As of january 27th, i have give clean urines. I have also continued with family based therapy, drug, and alcohol, mental health therapy, medication compliance and i am also completing iop and back to basics. Since the goal change, ocy has refused to communicate with me. They pulled me out of project first step, even though i was doing great in that program. The public defender that i was given just isn't interested in helping me get my son back. She knew when the hearing was to have the goal changed and she decided to go on vacation that day and sent in a woman that works under her... A woman i have never met and only had 90 seconds to talk to on our way into court. The judge made me sit in the jury box during this hearing so i was unable to talk to my lawyer when ocy and my sons guardian ad litem Christine konzel) started lying and telling the courts that my son was ‘feral’ when he first came into the system Again he is autistic and adhd, not feral!! hes not an animal.) she also stated that he was potty trained which he is still not fully trained to this day!
May 9th, 2023 was the first part of my involuntary termination of parental rights hearing. Ocy put the 2nd caseworker i had up on the stand, danielle urban, and her supervisor, julie lafferty. They did not put sara keller up there, who is the one who removed my son, and would have been the one to give the judge the reasons for having to remove james rather than helping my family through the grief and loss of losing benjamin. They also called up the doctor who did a 4 hour/ 500 question assessment on me and for real not a single one of them up there gave any kind of evidence that there was abuse or neglect in my home. They removed james solely based on one dirty urine screen 2 days after my son passed. My hearing was continued to june 16, 2023. On june 13 my sons gal went to visit him for the second time in 14 months. During the second part of my hearing, while tammy buczynski was up on the stand, ms. Konzel referred to her client, my son james, as 'spastic'. This is a derogatory remark. She should not be using that word at all let alone using it as a way to describe her client. I had 5 witnesses go up on the stand on my behalf. Each one testifies to the fact that my son wasn't ever neglected or abused. There was no reason for them to remove my son. A dirty urine screen is not grounds for removal. Cps has to prove abuse and neglect is happening and stemming from drug use.
Unfortunately, the senior judge shad connelly decided that it was ok for ocy to not have to follow the laws or follow the laws they're supposed to and sided with them to terminate my rights against my will. There have been 3 judges that have allowed ocy to break laws, violate rights, and traumatize kids and parents. Judge erin connelly- marucci, judge trucilla, and senior judge shad connelly Yes this is the father of the first judge)
My son has been handed over to these people who also work for family services. I was told that there were so many families that wanted my son, but it's all lies. All they do is lie lie lie!
Do not open your door to cps
Do not sign anything... Not a d**n thing!
No warrant no entry!
So to those out there lucky enough to not have to deal with cps do not automatically assume you know what's going on. Don't think that just because someone got their kids taken that it was cuz the parents did something. My son should not have been removed. They did nothing to help my family after losing our son to sids. Nothing! so unless you actually know what's going on, you should probably listen to us before it ends up happening to you and when you're in our position people will do what you're doing. Not everyone getting their children taken deserve to have their kids taken. Cps is a business that needs unbroken products, i.E. Kids from good homes!!
If you have any questions feel free to ask. If you want to see any of the actual paperwork, just let me know. I have no problems with that.
Erie County, PA Reviews
I am not afraid to be totally transparent with my situation. There are way too many people out there who automatically assume that if you have your kid taken by cps that you're wrong and they are right. It's hard for them to believe that a nationwide government-funded agency could be kidnapping children and trafficking them. It's hard for small-minded people to understand that this country has made a business out of "protecting" children and that no one wants "broken goods" so they're going after good families, with good kids. Families that are secure, loving, happy, and healthy. Cps comes in and breaks up families without any remorse. They. Do. Not. Care. People who want to remain ignorant of the very real problem this country has right now with this huge government agency trafficking children. Open up your eyes sheeple!!
So i am a recovering addict. I got clean with the help of methadone back in january 2016. By december of 2016, i found out that i was pregnant. I was in my own place, working a job- life was going well and now i was going to have a child. I gave birth to james in august 2017. He spent 19 days in the nicu, which was an unnecessary amount of time to be there but you have to do what the doctors say. So i was on the methadone through my pregnancy, and so once he was born ocy/cps was called just to come in and check on the baby and see if they want to shop for this child or let them go home with their parents. I guess they did not want him at the time because after checking up on us in the hospital, checking my home, and making sure i had a way to care for my child, they let him come home. And so we started our lives together as a family of 3. Mark and i were so very happy. When james was almost 1 he had a fibril seizure and he was life-flighted to children's hospital in pittsburgh. He and i were down there for 5 days and he was released home with a medication to keep from any other seizures happening. He was supposed to go and see the neurologist 2 weeks after he got home and would be off the medication once he saw that doctor. The appointment then got pushed back to 5 weeks after he got home. At that time we started to notice that james was regressing. He was no longer cruising along the furniture, trying to stand, trying to talk, saying mama and dad...That all stopped. He wouldn't even try to crawl anymore. It got to the point where he would not acknowledge us in any way- we could bang a pot behind him and he would not even flinch to the noise. We took him to get his hearing checked and his eyes checked. Everything was fine with him... Then his pediatrician suggested we get him checked for autism... And so that is what we did. James was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3, which is the earliest age they like to diagnose. So began our journey into the world of speech therapies, behavioral therapies, and so many different terms for the things going on with our son... It was a bit overwhelming at first but once we had a routine, things got better. James had issues with his behaviors that stemmed from him being unable to communicate and get his needs met. The more we worked with him and got him talking the better his outbursts would get. It wasn't easy, but it was a learning experience for all of us. James began his schooling at pre-school, at a children's development center. We let them know what he was facing when he was put into a new situation and how he needed to be eased into things, they insisted that they were going to be able to give him the time and attention that he would need. They made it 5 weeks. At the start of the 5th week, i was contacted by the school and was asked if it would be a problem if we went from 5 days a week to 3 half days a week. The half-day because after lunch was nap time and james did not nap. So i was ok with that, i knew they were not going to be able to give him what he needed in the classroom but he was having so much fun going each day. So from 3 half days a week, we then went to 1 day a week and then he was not able to come back until he got the tss that he was approved for but due to severe understaffing, was unable to have one.
He finished preschool and then went on to pre-kindergarten, at a school that had a classroom specific for children with autism. He was able to go every day for the whole day! he was in a small classroom with 5 other kids. It was so good for him! he did well and he even got to graduate. By the time the end of the school year had come, is when his life was getting torn apart by the system meant to protect him.
In october of 2021, we found out that we were again pregnant! james was going to be a big brother and he was so very excited to be a big brother. He referred to my growing belly as benjamin. Once we knew we were having a boy, we decided to name him benjamin charles buczynski, after mark's grandfather who had recently passed away.
On march 29, 2022 around 11 am, my water broke and i called mark back from work so we could go to the hospital. Benjamin wasn’t supposed to be here until april 26 as a scheduled c-section. So mark called his parents in to meet us at the hospital so they could take james. We all met up and mark and i went into the er where i was promptly admitted and rushed off to the or as ben was breeched and i needed a c-section asap. They put me under as he was coming too fast and they had to cut me open. So at 1:01 pm, benjamin joined the world. He was whisked off and put with his dad while i was stitched up and sent to a recovery room. I was really out of it for the next 2 days. I was in and out of sleep, and a lot was going on.
Ocy was already involved as i am on methadone and so they were already there. They tested my urine and found opiates, fentanyl, methadone, and thc in my system. I had a lapse 2 days before ben was born- using dope.
**This needs to be clear from january 2016 until march 27, 2022 i was clean from opiates< heroin< fentanyl)**
I do have my medical marijuana card and it has helped with all 3 pregnancies. They also tested benjamin for drugs and there was none found to be in his system. He was taken to the nicu later on the day i had him as they were treating him for being early- not for withdrawal, and there was no nas scoring regularly as, again, he was not showing signs of w/d.
So on the 2nd night in the hospital, a few of the nurses finally realized that i was more out of it than i should have been. I was unable to wake up and stay awake for any amount of time. So around 11 pm I believe) they took me for a few tests and whatnot. It was then found that i needed a blood transfusion. I think i got 2 bags of blood... Once i had that done the next morning i felt so much better. I was discharged later on the 3rd day. In the 3 days after ben was born all kinds of people came to my room, attempting to talk to me and having me sign stuff, even though i was clearly out of it and unable to totally understand what was going on. What i do know is that after ben was in the nicu for 6 days they allowed us to bring him home. He had been treated for being pre-term and jaundiced. They Ocy) say they allowed us to take him home only because mark was with me, i was not the only caretaker. I guess they thought that i was getting high around my kids and whatnot. I was not) the thing is i had only gotten high that one time in the 8 months i was pregnant- and even before that.
Ben came home on april 4th or 5th and we started settling into our life as parents to a special needs child and now a newborn. I couldn’t wait for those moments. Ben did have what was called a ‘sacral dimple’ right above his buttcrack, and so we had to see a specialist just a few days after he got home. We had in-home nurses coming in twice a week as well as mark's mother tammy coming and staying a few days with us. Everything was so lovely... And perfect.
In the early morning of april 22nd, i was awakened by ben for a diaper change and bottle. So i did just that, taking him back into my room i sat down on my bed with my feet on the ground. I proceeded to feed him while i listened to the simpsons on my tv. Once the episode was over i removed his bottle from his mouth and stood up to place him in his bassinet... And that’s when i noticed how cold and limp he was... I turned on my light and saw how grey he was... I set him on the bed waking up mark while i called 911. On the phone, they told me to make sure his airways were clear and start tiny, delicate compressions... Paramedics came and took him right out, mark following behind them into the ambulance. I had to call my friend elisha to come to sit at the house with james so i could go be with benjamin. It took about 30 minutes and so while i was waiting and worrying and scared, i smoked a joint- it is my medication. So once she got here i took off as fast as i could to hamot er. I got in there and found where he was, mark was waiting outside the door, watching a team of nurses n doctors work on my tiny baby. I was then approached by a detective and an erie police officer. Mark refused to talk to him, but i was scared that if i didn’t talk that i would get into trouble. I told the detective that i was uncomfortable speaking with him without a lawyer present, to which he claimed that he didn’t know of any lawyers that would want to get up and come down to the hospital at 2:30 in the morning... And so i reluctantly went with him. I told him exactly what i have just written adding at the end that i felt like he intimidated me into talking with him and that i was not at all comfortable speaking with him. With that, the interview ended. I go to go back to the room where ben was still being worked on and was again approached by a woman saying she was the on-call ocy caseworker and she wanted to know what happened as well. This time i told her that i was not going anywhere and that if she wanted to talk it would have to be right there. So i repeated the story i have written above to this caseworker.
Once ben was stable and we were able to go in and speak with the doctors, we were informed that he was being kept alive by machines, although his heart was beating on its own everything else was being run by machines. We were told that a team was on their way up from children's hospital in pittsburgh to get him down there attached to everything keeping him alive.
And so james was again taken to his grandparents while we tended to what we needed to down in pittsburg. For the next 11 days, we talked to doctors, nurses, bereavement support, caseworkers, a priest, and more doctors, and nurses... We had been waiting for the phenobarbital to clear his system and it took the full 11 days to get down to levels where he should be having reflexes and signs of life, and there just wasn’t. We had gotten him baptized. James came down with his grandparents so they could all say goodbye. On the afternoon of may 3rd, we were informed that there was nothing left to do and that he was a vegetable, with no value of life. So we had to make the very difficult decision to take him off of life support and hold him close while he passed on- his little body finally able to stop...
Once he was gone, we hurried over to the ronald mcdonald house that is attached to the hospital for families to stay while their sick children fight for their lives. We went and packed up everything we had in our little apartment space we were given and left pittsburgh behind us, leaving benjamin behind us. That night i went and got high as soon as i got home. I knew james still needed me but i just did not care that night and i tried to do enough dope to make sure i wouldn’t wake back up... But i did. And so on may 3rd, we were attempting to settle back into a life of a family of 3. But there was so much pain in those first few days. James came home and ran right into the nursery looking for ben... That about killed me.
On may 5th, ocy caseworker sara keller and another caseworker knocked on my door. I allowed them to come into my home where they then asked to make sure we had everything james needed. Checked for food, got it. Checked for safety, got it. Checked he had his own room and was age-appropriate, got it. So once they were done that, we were then told that we had to submit to a drug test and go to a urine screen the next day. Mark, knowing his rights, refused to submit to the testing. Me on the other hand, i was so afraid of them taking james from us, that i told them i would do it the next day, just like they asked.
Dropped a ua on may 6th, 2022 and it was indeed dirty for fentanyl, opiates, methadone, and thc. On may 16th, sara and 2 erie police officers show up at my door with a court order to remove james from his home. I was not ready for that to happen. They had done nothing to try and keep him here with his family... They just took him. She did allow me to walk him down to her filthy car to buckle him into her backseat... Where there was no car seat or even a booster seat. James was 4.5 at the time, he is special needs and had to be in a car seat... I did offer her mine to which she did decline. James was stuck with this woman from that early afternoon until he showed up to his grandparents around 7:30 that night, having had nothing to eat and was in a very soiled diaper.
On may 21st james was moved from his grandparents' house and placed in a foster home with rachel bemis. He was with her for 2 days before he was moved once again, this time to edmond l. Thomas residential shelter. It’s a place meant for kids 10+, not a 4.5-year-old. We were able to visit james every night for 1 hour. And we were there every. Single. Night. We did eventually find out how he was being made to go to his room where they would lock him inside, he was forced into a place that is meant for kids his age. At elt we visited every night. Once a week my project first step caseworker would come to our visits to observe, and rachel would visit almost every day as well. Then he was able to go to rachels on weekends so he could get used to her. She was also allowing us to meet up with her and james on sundays before she took him back to elt. We met and after about 5 weeks or so (?) james went with her full-time. After that, she would no longer do our sunday outings because she did not want to have to report back to ocy about how visits went. She stated that she is there to keep james safe and healthy, not babysit our visits and report. So he's been with her since i believe the beginning of august 2022. We were able to visit with him weekly with supervision. Stipulation with that was if i looked like i was high or smelled like pot I do have my mmj card) then the visit would be terminated. That never happened.
So the first hearing we had was shortly after ocy picked him up and that is when i found out the whole “lack of care and control” and that i had a lapse – but never mentioned when that happened, and since the first hearing i was never able to get my pd to actually talk to me for any length of time... Just a few minutes we would have before we walked into court.
May 16th, 2022- i guess maybe this is the court order for emergency protective custody... They have 2 things on here, one is ‘removal of the child is necessary for the welfare and best interest of the child: the other one states ‘reasonable efforts to prevent removal or provide reunification were made.’( which they never did)
May 20th is when i got the dependency petition saying that james ‘is without proper care or control.’ and then to elaborate on that it says ‘the child is without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law or other care or control necessary for his/her physical, mental, or emotional health, or morals: a determination that there is a lack of proper parental care or control may be based upon evidence of conduct by the parent, guardian, or custodian that places the health, safety or welfare of the child at risk, including evidence of the parents/guardians or other custodians use of alcohol or a controlled substance that places the health, safety or welfare of the child at risk.
They also claim that reasonable efforts were made to prevent the placement of the child: ‘the agency has met with the family and made efforts to come up with a family plan but the mother refused to cooperate.’ With this i did allow the man dan stone to come to my home to do this family plan. While he was here he began to get almost verbally abusive towards me and i told him to get out of my house. The argument was over me telling him that he can sit there and tell me that what we were doing was mandatory. That anything ocy tells you that you have to do something, you have to do it. He was trying to tell me that it was not mandatory- and that’s when he began to argue with me, i asked him to leave and now all over my paperwork they are claiming that i refused to do the family plan. They decided that if i didn’t want to work with that man, i refused to do it, even though they were more than able to send someone else in his place.
June 2nd is when i received the order of adjudication and disposition which starts off with all the misinformation amended. However none of these amended ‘facts’ never were changed in any other paperwork. It still all says the same lies. This is also when i received the first list of court ordered checklist:
Mother shall:
1. Submit to genetic testing to assist in establishing paternity Huh?) I completed)
2. Complete an assessment for her eligibility for treatment court. If deemed appropriate, mother shall participate in all recommended services through treatment court. This did occur but was not accepted into the program)
3. Remain drug and alcohol-free and participate in random color code urine screens through esper treatment center. This has not occurred/ several missed color code urines)
4. Obtain gainful employment and provide proof of employment to the agency. My paramour is the income of our family that provides a stable environment. Also, judge marucci specifically told me not to worry about employment since i am already financially stable)
5. Obtain and maintain safe and stable housing and provide proof of residency to the agency. This has occurred)
6. Receive a mental health evaluation and follow any and all recommendations. This has occurred; i've been in mh therapy since 2008 after my daughter was born and i had postpartum depression, so i went on meds. Been on and off different meds since then. Ocy made me get another mh evaluation thru their doctor)
7. Participate in an agency-approved parenting class and demonstrate the ability to appropriately parent her child during visitation. This has occurred and what i learned i demonstrated during supervised visits.)
September 26, 2022
This is a court summary where none of the amended remarks are not amended and the lies are still there.
- they state that ‘ additionally, mr. Ambrose He is bio dad to james but has been out of my life since i was 4 months prego) was aware of mother's substance use but failed to take action to obtain custody of the child. Despite several attempts, the agency was not able to make contact with mr. Ambrose. Mr. Ambrose has a criminal history including public drunkenness and access device fraud.
I reached out to mr. Ambrose on facebook messenger back in december 2022. He did reply back. I told him that i needed him to go down and get a paternity test so that the agency can see for a fact who the bio father is... He did talk to my ocy caseworker and made the appointment to go to the courthouse for a paternity test. For 3 weeks he led me on saying that he did it and then that he was waiting for results before saying that he did have the results but that he left it somewhere. Come to find out thru my caseworker that he never went to the courthouse. I tried to confront him and he then blocked me. I have no other way to reach him and neither does ocy since he is homeless. As for the remark above, i have been on methadone since jan 2016. I found out i was pregnant in december 2016, and had james in august 2017. I was clean from the hard stuff. I did smoke pot and i now have my card to be able to legally do so. Up until the pandemic hit i was clean and on methadone doing great. I had a relapse just a few days before my son benjamin was born, one-time use. The night benjamin passed, one time use. Then when james was taken, i used and i didn't stop, i was stuck in the cycle again, which is why i turned to rehab.
I do have a prior history with the agency due to false reports.
On 4/22/22 referred due to my baby going to er and being put on life support. There were no allegations of abuse or neglect then.
On 1/29/22 the agency received allegations of behavioral health concerns for the parent and substance use by the caregiver. They also said that the allegations were validated and we declined services. I do not recall this incident)
On 5/8/20 the agency received allegations of behavioral health concerns for the parent and substance use by the caregiver. They also said that the allegations were validated and we declined services. The person who called ocy only called because she was afraid of me turning her in for feeding her 15, 11, and 7-year-old thc gummies, which i told her i didn’t agree with and that i would no longer be hanging out with her.)
On 9/1/17 agency received a referral that ms. Bunce delivered an infant to term gestation and was transitioned to the nicu secondary to hypoglycemia. Both mother and son were positive for marijuana and methadone. This was validated and closed at the intake level.
· i have a 14-year-old daughter who lives with her father. I had her 2 weeks or so before i turned 20. I was at the height of my addiction to pain pills and so i walked away from her and my husband when i landed in state prison and he asked for a divorce. When she was under 3 cys Mckean county, bradford pa) was called twice by spiteful neighbors. The first allegation was that i was starving her and allowing her to sit in soiled diapers and garbage in the house. They found nothing because she was well taken care of in a clean home. The second time great grannies in-home nurses called due to my daughter's skin condition. They didn’t ask about it they just assumed we weren't doing anything to help her. Which went unfounded. My daughter was suffering from atopic dermatitis and was on 3 steroid creams as well as a very thick cream lotion. She was allergic to her own sweat and so she would have breakouts where her skin would look terrible. Cys came and went with that one too.
As of september 2022 the agency recommended services
Mother shall: by 05-15-2023
1. Refrain from the use of illegal/illicit drugs and alcohol and participate in random color code urinalysis screenings thru esper treatment center. Which was occurring, just missed some due to forgetting to call the night before)
2. Continue to participate in and follow thru with all recommendations made in drug and alcohol until successful completion and demonstrate the ability to obtain and remain in recovery. Despite doing my best to get and stay clean, i have been unable to at this point in time Clean from january 2023 to present)
3. Continue participating in and complete project first step, family engagement thru erie homes for children and adults. Follow thru with any recommendations made and demonstrate skills learned during visits with james. This of course has occurred, and never stopped) completed; caseworker quit the job and so they discontinued services.
4. Continue to participate in and successfully complete family behavioral therapy thru family services. Follow thru with any recommendations made by that program. This has continued to occur, even after goal change) graduated from fbt 07/20/2023
5. Complete a psychological assessment with dr. Peter von korff and follow any recommendations made. This has occurred before ivt hearing)
6. Attend any and all medical appointments and provider meetings for the child. This has occurred but stopped due to foster mom not wanting us to see him cuz he gets upset and she doesn’t like dealing with him when he's upset. Last seen in person in february 2023, since then the system has alienated james' entire family from him.)
Court summary from january 18,2023
Information that was asked to be amended still has not been amended in any of my paperwork.
The goal was changed to adoption.
James is currently seeing dr. Brunner for medication about his autism and adhd. He has regular medication management appointments with dr. Brunner. In addition to medication management, james has a support coordinator, behavioral health technician, and a blended case manager.
At some point, the foster mom, rachel bemis, stated to the caseworker, danielle that james has had an increase in sexualized behaviors recently. He will climb on top of women and try to push them down and will move his hips in a thrusting motion. He has also been reported to grab women's breasts and ask them to take their shirts off. This is something that has never ever been an issue when he was home. And this has only been reported one time in the jan 18th court summary. However, this was not brought up in the court hearing.
- james is supposed to have a behavioral health technician but to severe understaffing, this has been unable to happen for very long. He did have one named noah who lasted less than 2 months. James is still on a waiting list for a bht.
Progress as of jan 18, 2023
1. Refrain from the use of illegal/illicit drugs and alcohol and participate in color code urinalysis thru esper treatment center. After the goal change in december urines were no longer being offered as testing was no longer offered or mattered.)
2. Continue to participate in and follow thru with all recommendations made in drug and alcohol treatment until successful completion and demonstrate the ability to obtain and remain in recovery. As of november 2022 this has occurred, continued sobriety from january 2023 to the present time. Ocy is lying again)
3. Continue participating in and complete project 1st step, family engagement thru erie homes for children and adults. Follow thru with any recommendations made and demonstrate the skills learned during visitations with james. Finished and not continued due to ocy no longer offering services and the caseworker quit prior to my completion.)
4. Continue to participate in and successfully complete family behavioral therapy thru family services. Follow thru with any recommendations made by that program. Finished as of 07/2023)
5. Complete a psychological assessment with dr. Peter von korff and follow any recommendations made. This was finished as of february 2023)
6. Attend any and all medical appointments and provider meetings for the child. This occurred until the goal change made it so ocy and foster mom will not allow my son to have in-person appointments with his doctors due to my son being upset after having to leave us again and foster mom doesn’t like to deal with my son if he is upset.)
Ocy reported to the judge that there has been no progress with me and that is just not the truth. I have been busting my a*s to do everything they wanted me to do while trying to deal with the loss of benjamin and the taking of james. It has not been easy.
On may 9th they are going to try and terminate my rights involuntarily. This is not right. They also changed the goal from reunification concurrent with adoption to just adoption. It's not right. Ocy keeps a case open for 22 months, and they don’t usually change the goal at 8 months, which is what they did to me. They also used the removal of my child as a first choice instead of working with us and keeping him in the home. In the ocy rules, it is not until around 15 months of no progress is when they change the goal, they did it at 8 months despite me doing what they have asked of me, doing everything except unfortunately being able to get and stay clean.
As of january 27th, i have give clean urines. I have also continued with family based therapy, drug, and alcohol, mental health therapy, medication compliance and i am also completing iop and back to basics. Since the goal change, ocy has refused to communicate with me. They pulled me out of project first step, even though i was doing great in that program. The public defender that i was given just isn't interested in helping me get my son back. She knew when the hearing was to have the goal changed and she decided to go on vacation that day and sent in a woman that works under her... A woman i have never met and only had 90 seconds to talk to on our way into court. The judge made me sit in the jury box during this hearing so i was unable to talk to my lawyer when ocy and my sons guardian ad litem Christine konzel) started lying and telling the courts that my son was ‘feral’ when he first came into the system Again he is autistic and adhd, not feral!! hes not an animal.) she also stated that he was potty trained which he is still not fully trained to this day!
May 9th, 2023 was the first part of my involuntary termination of parental rights hearing. Ocy put the 2nd caseworker i had up on the stand, danielle urban, and her supervisor, julie lafferty. They did not put sara keller up there, who is the one who removed my son, and would have been the one to give the judge the reasons for having to remove james rather than helping my family through the grief and loss of losing benjamin. They also called up the doctor who did a 4 hour/ 500 question assessment on me and for real not a single one of them up there gave any kind of evidence that there was abuse or neglect in my home. They removed james solely based on one dirty urine screen 2 days after my son passed. My hearing was continued to june 16, 2023. On june 13 my sons gal went to visit him for the second time in 14 months. During the second part of my hearing, while tammy buczynski was up on the stand, ms. Konzel referred to her client, my son james, as 'spastic'. This is a derogatory remark. She should not be using that word at all let alone using it as a way to describe her client. I had 5 witnesses go up on the stand on my behalf. Each one testifies to the fact that my son wasn't ever neglected or abused. There was no reason for them to remove my son. A dirty urine screen is not grounds for removal. Cps has to prove abuse and neglect is happening and stemming from drug use.
Unfortunately, the senior judge shad connelly decided that it was ok for ocy to not have to follow the laws or follow the laws they're supposed to and sided with them to terminate my rights against my will. There have been 3 judges that have allowed ocy to break laws, violate rights, and traumatize kids and parents. Judge erin connelly- marucci, judge trucilla, and senior judge shad connelly Yes this is the father of the first judge)
My son has been handed over to these people who also work for family services. I was told that there were so many families that wanted my son, but it's all lies. All they do is lie lie lie!
Do not open your door to cps
Do not sign anything... Not a d**n thing!
No warrant no entry!
So to those out there lucky enough to not have to deal with cps do not automatically assume you know what's going on. Don't think that just because someone got their kids taken that it was cuz the parents did something. My son should not have been removed. They did nothing to help my family after losing our son to sids. Nothing! so unless you actually know what's going on, you should probably listen to us before it ends up happening to you and when you're in our position people will do what you're doing. Not everyone getting their children taken deserve to have their kids taken. Cps is a business that needs unbroken products, i.E. Kids from good homes!!
If you have any questions feel free to ask. If you want to see any of the actual paperwork, just let me know. I have no problems with that.