My birth name is Karissa Elizabeth Ann Lowell, although I am known by my family by my legally adopted name Lucie Elizabeth Ann Wesson.

 

Once apon time I was a very happy young woman that is when I finally divorced my first ex husband, Harold A. Covington, in March of 1977.

One year later after I started to take care of an elderly woman in Annandale I met the man I will love all my life. Even now we talk over the phone but the reason why we are not together is because of the meddling and interference Fairfax County Virginia Social Service/CPS caused us to break up and they broke up our marriage anda family.

 

I met my second ex by taking care of his gramdmother, Mrs. Baughman as a living in elderly care worker in February of 1978. Roy and I were immediately attracted to each other and a month later I became pregnant with our daughter, Rebecca Annalen Wesson.

Roy and I were not married in June of 1981 in The United Methodist Church in Annandale, Virginia.

 

Well my first encounter with CPS was in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama. I moved from Virginia because they denied me medicaid to take care of my prenatal care. Alabama granted you medicaid and AID as soon as you were pregnant.

 

The social wrecker, One Irene Smith, an African-American social wrecker told my attorney, John Cates and psychiatric social worker, Anthony Capowksi that she felt it was her moral duty to remove all babies from their un-wed mothers. She actually had an axe to grind with The Lord Our God, he left her infertile and she wanted a baby a so bad.

Niether my attorney or psychiatric social worker could believe she would actually be bitter enough to destroy so many lives by removing the babies from their mothers just because we were unwed.

 

Even before I found out what Rebecca was, before she was born I was being threatened by Alabama CPS if I did anything wrong and if any reported anything on me. They would remove Reebcca from my care.

 

Well my late sister and brother-in-law falsely reported to CPS I had left Rebecca in an empty sink unattended. I had only left her for a second to get a baby towel. With that it caused me to lose Rebecca at age 3 months old.

I was dragged into court and said, "I could do certain things and get Rebecca the same day, but I was on my way to Illinois. So they placed her in foster care.

 

Well I arrived in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and I immediately went to Denice Alexander, Director of ILDCFS in March of 1979 and she called Irene Smith to ask her what I needed to do to get my child back.

Irene Smith said, " I had to take parenting classes, I had to go into therapy, and I had to have homemaking services."

Denice Alexander said, "The State would give me all those services once my daughter was returned to me.

Well both my therapists, Bill and Mary, at Proviso Family Services and Dr. Ha said, " I was capable of raising my daughter, However Alabama stilll continued to hold on to Rebecca until my dear late friend, John had a friend who referred us to an attorney here in Chicago name Mr. Birndorf and he started to write letters to find out what was going on and he got enough evidence against Alabama and said what they had was flimsy and that with what evidence he had we would file a federal law suit if Rebecca was not returned to me since I had complied with Alabalma's uneasonable demands.

 

Mr. Birndorf was succesful in Alabama CPS Irene Smith flew Rebecca up to me on August 4, 1981 and placed her back into my arms.

Irene Smith did not stick around. Rebecca came with only a small brown bag of clothes and pink teddy bear. None of the clothes fit her and neither did the shoes.

 

The same day my late father had sent me a certified check for $500.00 and John, Rebecca, and I went shopping for baby clothes.

The State of Illiinois granted me TANF for Rebecca and I and we wre granted an emerency check and medicaid.

 

I had the support of two good therapists, a great DCFS worker, Herb Martin, and a pyschiatrist, Dr. Ha.

 

Roy found Rebecca and I in September of 1981 and we decided to move  back to Virginina. It was the worse thing we could have done because in the end Virginia was as ass-backward as Alabama was concerning parents with disabilities and they tried to say Roy had an alcoholic program and he submitted himself to an comprehensive chemical dependency program at Fairfax County Hospital who said he was sober and did not have an alcoholic problem.

 

Medical reports done by specialists in Birmingham's Children's Hospital stated that due to Rebecca's many developmental delays at no cost and for no reason shoud Roy and my parental rights should ever be severed because they felt that if someone adopted her they would not be able to accept Rebecca the way she is and with all her developmental delays.

 

Roy and I lost our battle in Virginia and lost our parental rights to Rebecca in November of 1983 in front of Judge Gaylord Finch, we did apppeal to the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, but then we were told if we lost that appeal the next level was the State Supreme Court and it could take up to seven years before they might hear our case.

 

Roy and I did not want our daughter, Rebecca to linger into foster care limbo and by that time she would be 12 years old. We withdrew our appeal and Fairfax County CPS/Adoption Division had a waiting family willin to adopt her. The family was actually a friend of the foster parents and that caused the state to speed up the hearing of termination of parental rights on us.

 

Rebecca was placed into her prospective adoptive home in February of 1984 and The Holdens legally adopted her six months later but on November 9, 1999 they voiced regretting adopting Rebecca. They said had they know how disabled she was going to be they would have never gone through the adoption in the first place.

 

In the year of 2000 in autumn Frank and I took a greyhound bus to Des. Moines Iowa to spend a week with Rebecca. I had Rebecca here many times but she tried to brew up trouble concerning Frank.

Our mother and birth daughter reunion did not go well at all.

The last time we spoke was April of 2004.

 

I had decided it was in both of our best interest to cut off all ties from Rebecca as she had made the decision to continue to call the Holdens her parents and Roy and I told she had to leave one and have the other.

 

Rebecca knows that the Holdens are not leaving her anything in their Last Wills and Testament and everything is being left to their natural sons, Craig and Dan.

 

Rebecca heard with her own ears they did not feel they were her parents anymore.

 

She still clings to the people who have placed her in poverty and holds on to her limited guardianship.

 

When parents do everything within reason that CPS asks and they still don't get their children back it drains them emotionally and all.

 

My last words to GayLord Finch were in the form a picture with Rebecca and I taken back in 2000 and 2002, You think you won but you have won nothing.

 

CPS is not about preserving the family but about desecrating the family, and ruining lives.

 

~Karissa Elizabeth Anne Lowell~

This 23rd day of August in the year of our Lord, 2006

 

In The Loving Memory of John Richard Werdell, who passed away and left me on December 3, 2002, without I could have never won the first fight against Alabama CPS.