Imagine calling the paramedics after your four year old had a seizure – thereby setting a chain of events into motion that causes both your children to be taken from your home for two years.
That’s exactly what happened to Chris and Laura Dobbins of Midlothian, Texas. Two trials later – one civil, one criminal – they were found not guilty of child abuse. The civil jury’s verdict that they should not lose custody of their children, however, was never affirmed by the judge so they have been in legal limbo since December.
Now, the final hurdle of the criminal trial cleared, they are just waiting to hear when their sons, now ages 7 and 6, can be returned to them. The oldest boy is Laura Dobbins’ biological son, the younger, Chris’.
They’ve been in foster care since the younger boy suffered a seizure at home in 2007 and doctors found the boy had bleeding on the brain, a cut on his pancreas, and old fractures on his wrists. Defense attorneys said during the criminal trial that the boy suffers from a rare disease called Henoch-Schönlein purpura, or HSP, which causes blood vessels to become inflamed and could have caused the injuries to the child's brain and pancreas. They also claimed the fractures could have happened when the boy was with his biological mother, with whom Chris Dobbins had recently finished a long drawn out custody battle.
If the juries were right, I am happy for these parents and hopeful for the boys that they can put this awfulness behind them. And in a child protective system where so many monster parents are left unchecked…I really, really hope the juries were right.
