Farmworkers Self-Help, Inc.

Recently one of the women in our community came to us in desperation. Her name is Maria Vega and the Florida Department of Children and Families has taken her children from her. Sadly, she has come to us at the end of this story and not sooner when we may have been able to do more for her. She says that she was misrepresented by her original legal council and that translation services were not provided for her throughout this ordeal. We present here an open letter from her in hopes that perhaps one of our readers may know of some resource that we could direct her to.

August 11, 2008

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Maria Martha Vega, my children, Azucena Pelajio-Vega 7 years old, Marisol Rodriguez-Vega 5 years old, Maria Carla Morales-Vega 3 years old and Francisco Thomas Vega 2 years old were taken from me by the Department of Children and Families on September 1, 2006. When my daughter Azucena came home from school one day and while she was changing from her school clothes I noticed that on her right arm she had some bruises. I asked her how she got the bruises and she told me that a boy from school had hit her. She said that they were playing on the playground and they got into a fight. Right after she told that to me I went to her school that same afternoon to talk to the principal. I was able to talk to the principal and she said she would discipline the young boy. The next day I went to the school again to drop Azucena off at school and when I went to pick her up they would not allow me to enter and they said that they had taken Azucena to examine her. That night she was brought home around 9 pm. The next day a policeman along with a Hispanic woman by the name of Rebecca came to take my other two daughters around 2 pm in the afternoon. They told me that they were taking them because Azucena had been physically abused and that they were in danger if they were left in my care. They also said that they received an anonymous call that told them that I physically abused them, I allowed many men in my apartment and that I would leave them alone at home. None of those allegations are true.

About a month later after my children were taken from me I was allowed to see them, the woman that was present when they were removed came to explain to me why they had taken them and took me to see them in New Port Richey. That same day I was interviewed on how I treated my children prior to being removed, they also asked me about the bruises and burn on Azucena’s right arm. After that visit I was able to see my children once a month, and then I had a court hearing in regards to the visitation of my children and the judge granted visitation for every week. I have attended every visit with my children and have seen that their Hispanic culture has been removed and they no longer speak Spanish. It is difficult to communicate with them since I do not speak much English. I feel that my children still love me and consider me their mother. I feel that the Department of Children and Families took advantage of my illiteracy and did not communicate certain matters to me and did not do enough to help me get my children back. I spent about a year going to my visitations, staffing and other meetings with the social workers on my case without anyone there to translate. I feel that my case was not handled properly by the Safe Children’s Coalition of Pasco and the other agencies involved and that there was bias in regards to the final ruling of the removal of my children by the judge in my last trial. I had visitation with my children today and just today I was told that I only have two more visits with my children.

I will go before Judge Linda H. Babb on August 18, 2008 for the final ruling of which an urgent response is needed from you since this is around the corner and I do not want to lose my children for I love them and miss them dearly.

Sincerely,

Maria Martha Vega-Saucedo

Ms. Vega with her children at their most recent supervised visit.Maria works making lunches for the farm workers that work in the fields here in Pasco county. It's not a lot of money but she has gotten by. Maybe the kids didn't have the newest toys or the latest fashions but if poverty were a reason to remove a child from a home, how many inner-city children would be in foster care. Has she always made the best decisions? Probably not, but who has? Of one thing we are certain, Maria loves her children and will be heartbroken without them. We decided to post this on our website as an example of the atrocities that can and do happen to our undocumented folks. If Maria had come to us when her children were first taken we could have provided translation services for her and perhaps gotten her better legal representation. New legal council was appointed for her in January of 2008. At this point we are not certain if anything can be done to stop the state from terminating her parental rights, but think about it, how would you feel if you were told that you would only see your children two more times before they would be taken from you forever. We also post this as a plea for help. If you know of anyone who could help Ms. Vega, please contact Margarita Romo at Farmworkers Self-Help, Inc. at 352-567-1432 or her new attorney, Sarah Sultenfuss at 352-567-7793.