Visitation???

Many of you have asked if Patty has visitation with Steven. As far as we know she will have the same visitation she has always had. She will have Steven for one month during the summer and she will get Steven for some of the holidays. Naturally we dread those visits because Steven has to be "de-programmed" each time he comes home. There will be another hearing soon to address the "contempt of court" charges Keith filed against Patty--and the contempt charges she filed against him. (She claims he has not paid his share of Steven's medical bills. Those are the bills incurred when she tried to have Steven committed to the mental institutions and hospital. Those bills are still pending with the insurance companies so Keith will probably not be in contempt until the insurance companies have made their final payments.) So far the hearing has not been specifically scheduled but Judge Hartert hoped to have it in April. And on it goes . . .

And the Ruling Is . . .

Dear Friends,
After 12 LONG YEARS of worry, hope, prayer, anguish, anger, fear, more prayer, and many, many sleepless nights, we finally have a ruling from Judge Hartert. Beth and Keith now have full time custody of Steven for the very first time.The ruling came in last Thursday. I do not have the details as of yet, but will surely post them on my CRUSH website as they come in. I'm only aware of a couple of statements in the ruling. Judge Hartert said that "When Steven is with Dad--he wants to stay with Dad. When Steven is with Mom--he wants to stay with Mom. When he's with Mom, he cries, he whines, he cannot (or will not)talk. When he's with Dad he's articulate, speaks up freely, and appears well." He also said, "Mother's dialogue is indicative of the problem." Whenever she speaks of Steven's "illnesses", she speaks in the plural (a.k.a. "We" had this illness, "We" had this treatment, "We felt . . ."). He believes that Steven's "illnesses" are truly those of the mother.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT??? We've been trying to get someone to listen to that line of thought for at least 6 years, and they finally heard us! The most interesting part of this whole ruling was Steven's reaction.

Keith came home and talked with him about things in general. He then said that the judge had made his ruling. Steven started to cry (normal for Steven). But this time he was nearly hysterical. Keith asked him why he was so upset. "Because I'm afraid I'm going to have to go live with my mom . . . And, they're going to make her go to jail." (We can only hope.) The minute Keith told him that he was staying in Utah and would be living with them, Steven stopped crying, started smiling--was downright "giddy"! And he's been happy ever since. He has not been the same boy for several months now and we all assumed it was because he truly wanted to be home with his mother. We felt he was just "marking time" until the day he could live with his mom again. Not so. In reality he's been living under the dread of having to return to Florida. Now that he knows he's staying in Utah, he a different kid. Amazing! (FYI: Steven is doing extremely well in school. His report cards are mostly A's & B's--and that is on grade level. He's also only been sick once since Keith got him. He had a light case of the flu for two days.)

Are we happy? You know it! We know that there will most likely be an appeal--Patty may not truly want Steven, but she wants to WIN! So for now, we're going to enjoy the terrific victory and keep moving forward with this young man.

I want so much to thank all of you for your interest, your prayers, and your kind words since I published the book. I've heard from people all over the world. Some are adults who have "lived" Steven's childhood. They've encouraged us to keep fighting and often expressed they wished that someone had fought for them when they were victim to their own Munchausen mother. Those words give us strength to keep going and help us to know that fighting for Steven is the right thing to do. Thank you all so very much!

Most Happily!
C.B.

P.S. Just a small footnote: Patty's attorney is out of the office until April 5th. Just think--she's can't even yell at her attorney for another week. Sometimes God does have a sense of humor! Love it!

Time Passes!

Wow! I can't believe it has been over two months since I made an entry on this blog. Probably because . . . there's nothing new to add to the story. Closing arguments had to be submitted by the end of January. And we're still waiting. Hopefully, the ruling will come soon. Steven believes that he will be returning to Florida to live with his mom. Patty made it clear to him that if he stayed in Utah it meant he didn't love her. Therefore, she would no longer love him. He worries about it all the time. He doesn't understand that his mommy's idea of "love" is warped--to say the least. As soon as I hear anything I'll update the blog and the website. Thanks for reading!
C.B.

Not Yet--Thank Heaven!

People always ask me if Patty has found out about the book yet. Absolutely not! And do you know how I know this to be true? Because I haven't been sued yet! In previous court hearings Patty and her attorney have frequently referred to the infamous "munchausen letters" that I wrote to Steven's doctors. Nothing comes of it but it still "irks" them. If Patty knew about the book, I guarantee we would have been bombarded with accusations, lawyers, and threats. There are people who live in Patty's home town who have read the book and BLESS THEIR HEARTS--have kept the book under tight wraps! Thanks guys! I owe you B.I.G.T.I.M.E. I want to thank you all for reading and for checking in on the blog. Have a wonderful holiday and from the whole Barker clan we wish you a Merry Christmas!
C.B.

"Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie!"

You know the movie . . . A Christmas Story! It's become a holiday favorite in our family--lines from the movie are quoted on a regular basis. The day after Thanksgiving I popped the movie into the DVD player in hopes that the grandkids would sit down to watch it and the noise level would diminish to a tolerable level. Steven looked at me a little sheepishly and announced that he's not allowed to watch that movie. "My mom says there are bad words in it, so I can't watch it." Now under normal circumstances I always defer to the judgement of *the mother.* But since this particular mother has no judgement, we all sat down and watched Ralphie, Randy, Flick, and of course . . . Scutt Farkus. Hence the new poll! I'll be very interested in the results.

She Did What?

Last Friday Keith had an appointment at the middle school to attend Steven's I.E.P. (Individual Education Plan). The meeting was supposed to be at 7:15 a.m. but the school called and rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. No problem. Keith arrived at the meeting and sat down with the faculty from the school. Principal Petersen began the meeting by saying, "I've instructed my staff that if she comes, they're to usher her into the room." Keith was confused--he said, "Beth isn't coming." Principal Petersen informed him that Patty had called the special education teacher and told him to reschedule the appointment for after lunch because she was flying in to attend this I.E.P. "I've never missed one of these," she told the educator. Once again Keith's jaw dropped to the floor, then he burst out laughing. "She's not coming," he informed them. Principal Petersen is a cousin of mine and is very familiar with our Patty. The other educators are new to the situation, but I'm sure they'll be up to speed in no time. Patty loves C.O.N.T.R.O.L. She knew good and well that she was NOT going to fly 2,000 miles to attend a 15 minute meeting, but was successful in upsetting the schedule of 5 different people. All this is merely an attempt to put herself back in the game! Pathetic--life is too short!
BTW: Steven's I.E.P. was fantastic. After evaluating him on several levels the school came to the conclusion that he was functioning completely within the realm of a normal 5th grader and no further special attention was required. Naturally, this is music to our ears! With the help of dad and that wonderful step-mother of his, he's been able to catch up in a little over a year. Now that's PROGRESS. Thanks for reading!

And . . . ?

Keith and Dad have spent the last two days in Florida for Steven's custody hearing. The first day was spent, once again, with Patty's attorney trying to muddy the waters arguing over past rulings. They attacked Keith and his decisions regarding his job and family, they attacked Keith's attorney, they attacked Steven's attorney (Gloria Winston/former Guardian ad Litem), they attacked the principals at the school and questioned the validity of testing done on Steven. They attacked the testimony of doctors and psychologists who have treated Steven while in Utah. They went after everyone and anyone who felt that Steven might possibly be better off with his dad. The hearing ran long and was very tense. As time was running out on the second day, Keith and Dad had resigned themselves to the fact that this hearing could not be completed in the scheduled two days and a third hearing was inevitable. The judge thought otherwise. He said, "Let's get 'er done." The courthouse was locked up with the exception of one door and the hearing continued well into the evening. At the conclusion, the judge told the attorneys that they were to submit their closing arguments in 3 type-written pages (he even specified the font and size) and have them to him before January. Patty's attorney argued that she couldn't possibly do it in less that 20--he growled, "You've got THREE." So . . . the ruling will be handed down some time in February. I know it's frustrating as we all wanted a ruling now but we believe this is a good time for patience. This judge is taking his time and making sure every thing is legal and properly documented. Once all these legalities have been carefully scrutinized and covered, there will less likely be a reversal upon appeal--which is inevitable. I promise to update my website with more details as quickly as I can. Thanks for your interest and God bless!
C.B.

FYI: Patty was caught in one lie after another. The judge himself caught her in several lies that neither attorney caught. Her own exhibits and claims were filled with discrepencies and this sharp old retired judge didn't miss a thing. We love him!