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!

Custody Hearing "POSTPONED"

Well, I have lost track of the number of motions flying around for this upcoming custody hearing. But the BIG ONE is the motion to remove Judge Hartert from the case. This motion has to be heard by the Florida State Supreme Court. ERGHHH! As of today, three days before the hearing was supposed to have taken place, we just received word that the hearing will be postponed until the Florida Supreme Court has had a chance to rule on whether or not Judge Hartert will be removed from the case. Once again, Patty has a slew of people "on hold" while she spins, manipulates, maneuvers and plays her little games. This could have been filed months ago but she waited until the last minute--putting everyone on hold. Judge Hartert, Gloria Winston, Tess Woodward, Deena Gooding, not to mention Keith, dad, and Steven (who have already purchased plane tickets totally over $1800.00) are all now left wondering when this hearing will take place.

Without realizing it, Patty unintentionally also postponed her month-long visit with her son. Judge Hartert had previously ruled that Steven would be allowed to spend one month with his mom AFTER the custody hearing. Since that has been postponed, so will Steven's trip to Florida. He was really disappointed as he was anxious to go "home" and see his family and friends. But what does that matter? Nothing matters but the fight. Optimistically, we're hoping that the supreme court will make it's ruling quickly and that the hearing will be scheduled within the next month. But who knows? Just try to figure out how much money, time and effort will be wasted on the legal maneuvers. Where does she get the money? I will never understand it! Keith and Beth are barely able to keep their heads above water with their legal bills mounting. Steven will never know how hard his father has fought to protect him. Nor will he ever understand the amount of money time and effort has gone into protecting him from his mother. Is that a good thing or not? I don't know.

FYI: Keith's attorney has filed approximately SIX "contempt of court" charges against Patty; including failure to pay child support, failure to refund Keith's "overpayment" of child support, and others regarding her complete disregard for Judge Hartert's court orders. Don't you hate it? I'm thinking a little jail time would go a long way in teaching Patty that rules ARE for her! Our legal system is a complete mess and you and I are paying for it! But that's just MY opinion!