n April 2001 on a visit to New York,My daughter was ill and hospitalized in Long Island while on a vacation for a week with the children. My daughter gave DSS our name and phone number so they can call us in NC where we [including she and the children] lived to come and get the children. They never did.

The case worker [Armfield Wong] made threats about getting our Permananet Residence status revoked and getting us deported. Wong also made the statement to us in the presence of others that my grandchildren who are bi-racial will be more "sociably accepted if they grow up with people who look like they do"

My daughter was so scared she fled the State of New York and went into hiding at a Church in Ohio.

In the mean while the Law Guardian [Valerie Zuckerman] was fighting us every step of the way so her Pastor [Genevieve Mancini] could adopt the last 2 [Arianne Tilerie Martin, then 2+ yrs and Jiordan Connor Martin [1yr old]

DSS, refused to let us see the children even though the Court Judge [Dudley Lehman] granted us visitation with the children. My daughter's attorney [Stephen Hellman] never filed a complaint with the Judge even though he said he would.

The case dragged on for almost 3 years, during which time we travelled from NC to Suffolk County every week. They eventually terminated my daughter's parental rights as they say it will not be in the children's best interest to remove them from the foster parent who is now the adopted parent.

Through all of this, I hired an independent attorney [Jordan Trager] and he just took over $4000 from us, and when we thought he was working for us [the grandparents] he was not. He never filed the appeal in my daughter's parental rights termination. We never knew until two [2] days before the time to file would have expired so with any experience in the Law, I filed the appeal on my daughter's behalf.

The eldest child Garrett Logan McKinley was diagnozed as mildly autistic to my knowledge at that time has not been adopted and is being bounced around from foster home to foster home.

Mr. President, I was present when they were born, I cut their umbilical cords, held them in my arms and I whispered in their tiny ears "Gammam loves you"

What these people at DSS/CPS have done to us was wicked and cruel, and what they have done to my 3 grand children was even worse. They were taken away from their family who adores them and are being forced to live with strangers under conditions that only God alone knows.

We have not seen the children since being taken from my daughter and everyday the pain grows stronger and the anger grows deeper for these children were never neglected or abandoned.

I am scared for my grandchildren especially Garrett because at age 18 he will age out of the system. He has no relatives in NY. I have heard and read of the horror stories of children like him, and so I am beseeching you to please, please do whatever you can to help us bring these children home.