My name is Michelle Worley. I am the mother of 6 children. Two of my children are grown and no longer live with me. This email is about my four youngest but.more specifically my 14 year old severely autistic non verbal child. I would like to start this in 2014 when dad and I both went to rehab for drug abuse issues. While in treatment I made the decision to end our marriage as I felt strongly that our success at being clean would be best seperately. Bucks county children and youth were a part of that process and when I returned home covered my 4 youngest children under a safety plan. Meaning without my father's supervision I could not be alone with my children. Their father moved out of the county and even though bucks county children and youth could not govern his conditions we were told dad was not to be alone with the children. That his visits had to be supervised in our home by someone other than myself. Dad opted out of most of those visits only coming around a handful of times.
I wish I could say relapse was not a part of my story but I would be lying if I said it wasn't. In October of 2015 I went to bucks county correctional facility for what was supposed to be a 30 day probation violation. Unfortunately I thought I was smarter than the system and afraid to detox (herion) so I brought my prescription klonopin in with me and was caught. Which brought on additional charges and a longer sentence. I was released in November on 2016.
Seven months into my sentence in May of 2016 my ex husband found out i was in jail and petioned the court for custody and by default was given primary custody of the 4 youngest children . No one looked into his past the fact that agencies wanted to prove he was clean before even being unsupervised with the children.
My children were removed from the only home they knew with my father to people they either barely knew (dad) and a complete stranger (dad's new girlfriend). My 3 daughter's were moved into a laundry room where they slept on cots and roomed the cat litter box. Several times the.oldest of the four reached out to people begging them to help them get out of there. Multiple calls to Columbia county turned into absolutely nothing.
I returned to rehab in March of 2017. It's was then that I got clean and have been ever since. In April of 2017 I had a weekend visit with my children. During this visit Howie my now 14 year old soiled his diaper...during his changes my father and I noticed all sorts of foreign objects in his fecal matter. I contacted my attorney and he suggested I take him to the emergency room and contact the local police. Again Columbia county children and youth were notified and turned up no safety concerns in the home. Discharge from the emergency room stated follow up with a gi doctor. I filed for emergency custody figuring an emergency would turn a few days for the hearing and refused to give them back fearing for their safety. The hearing was finally held at the end of may 2017. Because of the difference in counties the kids had not been to school as there is a 2 hour driving distance between the 2. At that hearing I was ordered to return the children and that if I ever withheld the children again I would be thrown I'm jail and stripped of my parental rights. It should also be noted that my then 14 year old daughter testified against her father about my special needs son being locked in his room and her fear for his safety.
In febuary 2018 again during visitation we (my father and I) along with my best friend who was living in the home observed various foreign objects in Howies fecal matter to include..but not limited to plastic, bristles from a vent brush, wads of string, tape, hair ties, a tongue ring, various beads and parts of plastic toys. Howie was transported to Saint Mary's where an xray was obtained. In that xray a coin was found in his lower abdomen along with impacted fecal matter throughout his intestinal tract. Discharge instructions were given as push miralax and follow up with a gi Dr. On numerous occasions I asked dad to provide with with Dr information and follow up appointment results. No such information was ever given.
June 9th 2018 while on a visit Howie suffered a gran mal seizure and was transported via ambulance to Holy redeemer hospital. Lab's were obtained and Howie was discharged and advised to follow up with neurology. To my knowledge no such appointment was ever made.
August 18th I again while visiting with Howie noticed a bulging stomach change in eating pattern and total discomfort. I asked dad and his wife to take howie to the hospital. He replied with he was on vacation and wouldnt be able to do so for a.few days. By August 19th he was in so much pain I decided to take him back to holy redeemer hospital. An xray was obtained and it showed 16 metal objects throughout his digestive system to include the same coin that was in the exact same spot as it was in Feb along with a completely impacted bowel system. Holy redeemer was not equipped to handle his diagnosis and we were sent to the children's hospital of Philadelphia via ambulance. Howie was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.The moment we came to CHOP emergency room it became clear that Howie was extremely ill and that I made the correct choice in taking him to the emergency room once again. This time we had multiple Doctor's trying to figure out how to help him without hurting him. A surgeon told me that night he had never seen a case this bad and admitted he did not know what to do but because of the nemouros objects and months of backed up stool that surgery was not a safe option. Teams of nurses and Doctors were able to get him admitted to the PICU which to my understanding is the most serious of the entire hospital. They worked on Howie for 6 days trying to get as much stool out as possible in order to make surgery safe. During his 8 day stay in the p.i.c.u. he was given 4 rounds of golightly which is the same clean out med that is given before a colonoscopy. The golightly was able to push the impacted stool around the blockage but was also stripping him of vitamins and became unsafe as well as unsuccessful at removing the blockage and or foreign objects.On august 25th howie had surgery on his colon to remove what the dr called over a year worth of foreign objects. During this time I never left my son but his father only came 2 times for a total of 40 minutes. Howies surgery went ok and they were able to remove a number of objects but not all of them but the most alarming to me was the large amount of duck tape found in his stomach which was not on the x-ray. Unfortunately Howie got septic and had to remain in the PICU for 3 more days because he was not stable enough to move to a recovery floor. I should also add that because he is non verbal and autistic he was given a large amount of sedation and was put in soft restraints for his entire PICU stay. Howie was cleared of sepsis and able to move to the seashore house to start his recovery. The first day here he had 2 siezure within 6 hours and due to an additional siezure yesterday he is now on siezure medication and diagnosed with epilepsy. This is a child who's father claims never had any siezures at his home. His father has still not bothered to come at all to learn about how to help our son .
To date I haven't left my son day in and day out I have been here working with a nutritionist to get my son back to a healthy weight and a physical therapist because he was so week from being sick he now needs assistance walking around. An occupational therapist to help with everything day skills. Not to mention a nuerologist for his siezures a psychiatrist a pediatrician and eventually GI Doctor's. Howie has been put on with a 2 on 1 or 1 on 1 meaning it takes numerous people to take care of him including myself . Still his father has not showed or bothered to learn any of these serious home saftey plans I go through daily. My best friend has been here for the entire PICU stay but had to leave briefly this week to move herself and her son into my home and get everything prepared so that Howie has the safest homecoming.
During our time in the picu the social worker came to see Howie and I. I expressed my concerns for his safety at his father's house..explained that this has been an ongoing court battle trying to keep Howie safe. Both Columbia county and bucks county children and youth were notified. Bucks county came to the hospital and placed Howie and my 3 other children under a safety plan stating I was not allowed to be alone with any of my children. Even though the social worker here clearly stated that my son could not have gotten in his condition just on visitation which is all I have him. Columbia county allowed my kids father to take them and has no safety plan in place for the children. They have also deemed Howie safe to return to the home. I should also add that since Howie has been in the hospital he has had 3 more seizures . His father has clearly testified in court and to children and youth that he locks Howie in his room at night where there is no one to help him in the event he has a seizure and with him locked in there his father would have no way of knowing. Howie has been placed on a seizure medication that must be taken specifically at certain times of the day. I should also note that father (a man with known addiction issues) had Howie and his sister Giana on and off adderall and tried to hide that they were on it. During lengthy visits never provided the meds for me to give them and gave multiple excuses for the reason why he didn't. It wasn't until I called the Drs office that the dr stopped the prescriptions.
I am trying to raise awareness to this situation. The social worker here called a report in to both counties children and youth as medical neglect and lack of supervision. I'm assuming Columbia county deems it safe for this child to return because they dropped the ball on numerous occasions to keep him safe as well as his father and that they would have to take responsibility for that. Bucks county is still doing there portion of said investigation. Columbia county questioned my 15 year old daughter about her safety concerns in front of her father where she felt unsafe to answer honestly. I should also add that while Howie was locked in his room he picked apart his mattress(as reported by his sister 15 year old) and ate the foam in it. This said material was also found in his stomach after surgery. His father discarded of the mattress before children and youth came to the home ( also reported by his 15 year old sister.
My goal by bringing this out is the overall safety and concern for Howie and his three sisters who have been denied the medical and psychiatric treatment that they need. The agency that is supposed to protect them is not helping...so maybe if I make this a public matter the judges and social workers will be forced to do what's right for the children.
Thank you
Michelle Worley
