First and foremost I would like to thanks you for taking the time out of your busy scheduler to read over this information for me and my family would like to send you and your family best wishes and great you and your family.
My name is Mahdee Muhammad and my wife and I about 2 years ago felt that we were doing something to help a family member and one little boy name Zion Washington. Zion mother name is Joyce Washington and she is the granddaughter to my Uncle (my grandmother oldest son). Joyce had decided that she was going to leave her mother house and make it out on her own about the age of 14 because she did not like rules. While out on her own Joyce became wise to the street and found herself in and out of a couple of mental hospitals and group homes. Joyce also had live at almost every family member house that would take her in and while her stay was short there she would leave a lasting memory. Sometime during the year of 2006 Joyce became preagent and decides to go back to her mom house in hopes that her mother would help her to terminate the preagenese. Joyce mother is a Johav Witness and would not take Joyce or pay for her to have this treatment done.
I believe that everything in life has the rules of for ever action there is a reaction and this came into play. As you read thought my reports of what my family has gone thought since March of 2007 know that my wife, kids and I love Zion with all our hearts. We don’t hold him at fault for anything that has happen these two years. Zion is a part that makes up our family, we tell people that we have 4 children and our biology children think of Zion as their brother. Zion has been living with us since he was 4 months and now he is 27 months so we are mom, dad, sister and brother.
January of 2007 my wife wanted to know if we could adopt Joyce child. Joyce was trying to give him up and my sister was not able to take him because she could not afford another child and Zion was not a ward of the state so she would be not be getting any finaluce help. I had never seen Zion or his mother and I told her no! Well February of 2007 my wife was keeping Zion some times to give Joyce a break that she said she needed. By the end of May 2007 Zion was living with us and I was keeping him most of the time and taking him to the doctor. During the time that lead up to this Joyce had been leaving Zion at by himself in a room while she would go out. And there had been two calls place into DCFS of child abuse.
In May of 2007 my wife and I were ask by Joyce caseworker if we could take in Joyce also to give her a stable home. Joyce was living at my mother house as a foster child; however once Zion was not there my mother had wanted DCFS to remove Joyce from her home because of Joyce actions. I had to decline this offer of taking in Joyce I had a daughter who was in eight grade and I did not want Joyce to bring her ideas into our house. Joyce was going to place into a shelter and I ask my mother could she stay at her house until DCFS was able to place her somewhere and my mother said yes.
About July of 2007 Joyce was place into a group home for young women with children. Although Joyce did not have a child with her and at this point did not want one it was some hope that she would want her son seeing all these other young women with children. Well about the end of July Joyce came to our house and for the first time I must say did what was best for her son. Joyce wanted my wife and me to keep Zion forever because she did not want him to grow up in the system. We took the steps to make this a legal action. During the summer of 2007 we notice that Joyce was becoming very jealous of Zion and all that he was doing with us and getting. Joyce express this to my wife when were set to take a family trip. Joyce told my wife that she should be able to go with us and why can Zion go and she could not. She also would ask for us to buy her things since we were buying Zion things. For the rest of the year my wife an I would go sit in on Joyce counseling session at the group home giving our input about her education and things that Joyce would tell my wife that were wrong at the group home.
In November of 2007 Joyce had become very demanding and wanted us to get her a pair of Pink Air force ones I had brought her some pink K Swiss, however she wanted air force ones. Then Joyce kept coming to our house with out calling and was taking things out of the house without asking. So one night I had a talk to her about this and other things and Joyce told me that she was a adult and could do what she wanted to and that since she was family she can come to our house when she wanted to and last that if we did not like it she was going to take Zion back. Well at that point I ask her to leave and told her that we were not going to treat her like a child anymore and she would have to get her own ride to our house and home. She began to cry and my wife took her home for the last time. The next day I stop up at the group home to find out what was going on and to let them know what Joyce had said. For the first time I meet a woman who told me that she was in charge at that home and she had been out on Medical. She also told me that Joyce should have never been place in that home. She did not have a child when she came nor did she want one. And I was told once the guardianship case was over that they were going to be placing Joyce some where else. My wife and I did not talk or see Joyce anyone more till the time she came to court and told the judge that she thinks she change her mind about giving up her right to Zion. Joyce was giving visiting days on the Saturdays for 5 hr.
Joyce did not make a lot of her visit for that rest of that year and in 2008 she made few also. She did make one on March the 7th 2008 the day that I was sent to Jail because Joyce said that I had taking her head and pounded it into my oak floors in our house. She told others that I knock her head into the walls at my house but still she had no marks on her face or head. For some reason I had a cook county police officer to take me to jail for this. Joyce was able to get her visit change to the Aunt Martha’s group home in May 2008 since she did not come and see Zion or call about him for about since she left our house in March the 7th 2008.
On June the 24th 2008 my wife was giving guardianship of Zion and Joyce was giving overnight visit on Sat from 4 pm to sun 4 pm. From June till Oct of 2008 Joyce had only call about 2 times about seeing Zion and both times was when my family was out of town during the summer and she knew we were gone out of town. And on Oct the 16th Joyce came to our house to destroy a party that we were having for Zion; after I had to place an order of protection on her for saying once more that she was going to do harm to my family and trying to forcer her way into our home.
There has been so much going on these two years in our dealing with Joyce Washington and all that we have ever ask for was that DCFS and Aunt Martha’s keep Joyce from doing harm to our family. At ever step of the way I have been told that although Joyce is a ward of the state she is an adult and so she is reasonable for her own action, and there is nothing that anyone can do to stop her. As you read though my packet you will see that I have look for help and have not been giving any.
My family just wanted to make sure that Zion is able to have a life and not find himself place into a system that does little for little black boys in there care. Ever persons that were asked and know anything about this matter has said that the best for Zion is to stay with my family and give him the love, education and life that he has got to know. All that Zion is to his mother and DCFS is a check. I have said over and over that I can not out spend DCFS and for the first time that anyone can think of DCFS has put money into trying to help a ward. DCFS is helping Joyce make my family life unstable. As you read the packets of information you will see that I have been fighting for the life of Zion and I need some help in this fight.
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Inclosing I would like to thank my Aunt and Uncle Hammond Passmore for seeing that I have the chance to get this information out.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
How we got to this point with Aunt Martha's
Good day, I hope that you read this and get back to me as soon as you can. My name is Mahdee Muhammad and my wife and I were blessed about 18 months ago to change our minds about something that a lot of families are faced with. That is to take care in a child whose mother can no longer, or in our case didn’t want to take care of their child any more. My 2nd cousin Joyce Washington was placed in my mother’s house in Park Forest after going from my aunt and sister’s house after she could no longer live with them. Well just like other houses Joyce was in, she caused confusion and my mother put her out. My wife and I had been taking care of her son Zion (who is not a ward of the state) for about four months at this point Joyce case worker at that time was Ms. Tureen. Ms. Tureen asked my wife and me if we wanted to let Joyce move in with us since there was not an open in another house. Joyce did not want to go to a shelter because of her past dealing in one. We had to say no to this, because our daughter was in eight grade at this point, and we could not have Joyce bring her ways into our house. So after this my mother agreed to let Joyce stay with her until something better came around for her. Well, a room was open in one of Aunt Martha’s group home in Chicago Heights. This home was for mothers who had kids or was about to have a child. Joyce did not fit any of these; however this was a better placement for her then a shelter. Aunt Martha’s set up an Informal Arrangement Form with a lot of promise that were never following through. My wife and I were not upset about this our family was Zion family. The love that we feel for our kids is also felt for Zion, even if he did not come from us. So we never looked at the state or Aunt Martha’s for any help with Zion. As the summer came Joyce was getting use to living her life without Zion. She told my wife and me that she did not want Zion to live the life that she had and knew that it would be better to live with us. So she wanted to give us full custody of Zion. We drew up a child custody and agreement in July of 2007, signed and notarized it. We had a few problems; Joyce wanted to take summer trips with us and asked us to buy her new things. During the fall my wife and I wanted to put Zion on our insurance, so we took the forms that we had to the office and was told that they were not legal. So I made some calls and found out what we had to do to make this agreement legal. So, Joyce and her GAL met with my wife and I in court to give us legal guardianship of Zion on October, 2, 2007. On this court date we were not able to get full guardianship because Joyce had some guy sign the birth certificate and she could not get in touch with him. So at this point, we met this guy and told him that we needed him to sign his rights away. He had no problem with this. We had to set another date to come back to court on November 30, 2007. Now this is when things changed. We found out that the people we had been talking to at Aunt Martha were not the ones in charge. The person who ran the group home was out sick and she informed me that Joyce Washington should never have been placed in that home since she did not have her child and did not seem to want the child. I was also told that once we gain full guardianship of Zion, Joyce would have to be placed in another home and she knew this. So, we did not see Joyce from this date till our next court date on November 30, 2007. Joyce came to court with someone who said that she was her educator advisor (this is the person that I’m making the request for investigation on). When the case was called the judge checked to make sure that all the paper work was signed and in order. The judge asked were all parties still in agreement with the order and this is when Joyce said that she had changed her mind. Now this took my wife and me for a loop. And so the Judge ordered for a GAL for Zion and set the matter for another court date. So our next date was in February 2008 and another date was set for April 2008. On March 7, 2008, Joyce had not visited her son for some time and she came to our house on this date. My wife and I talked to her about some things that she needed to do like get her GED, go to college, get a job, dress better and stop giving Zion food out of her mouth. Well during this Joyce said she felt when she held her son he would touch her in a sexual matter. My wife and I asked her to get out of her house! She would not leave and became angry and violent. I asked my wife to call the police and Joyce ran out of our house. She made a call to someone as she walked down the street. When the police arrived, the officer took a statement from my wife and told us he knew someone that worked at the group home and he would go talk to Joyce. The officer came back to our house and told us that he was told that I had attacked Joyce and took her head and banged it on the wooden floor in our house over and over. I later asked Joyce why did she lie to the police, she told me that she did not tell the police this (I believe that her advisor told her to do this). Joyce came to court with her adviser on April 29th, 2008 and told the judge that she feared her life and wanted her visits with Zion to be at the group home (Joyce needed to have this in order to meet the rules of DCF). Her adviser gave Joyce legal advice and fought for her rights as if she was her GAL. Her adviser made a statement to me in court that she knew why I had to take anger management classes and that I had an anger problem. I told her that I had a problem with how she was handling herself and what she was doing. Illinois. I talked to a supervisor about these issues and I told them that I was going to give them one week before I took this matter up with the State of Illinois. I don’t know what this woman has done or not done; all that I know is that things have been said and done by this person who is far as I know is just Joyce’s adviser not her legal adviser. This person made remarks to me that I felt should not have been made. This person has helped Joyce make false statements. I know that the job of Aunt Martha’s is to take care of Joyce and help her in any way that they feel she needs help; however, if someone has been helping this child lie or break the law then they need to be dealt with. I have been told to drop this and just let it go. I have been told that most people are going to look at me as some ANGRY BLACK MAN. I am angry! I’m sick of hearing on the news about some person who has killed their kids after they have said they did not want the child, or state taken the child away. In these stories it’s always some case worker who cares more about the bottom line than the child. Aunt Martha’s gets about 4,000 a mouth for Joyce Washington and they would get this for about two more years until she turns 21, then what? It’s too late for me to help Joyce, however; if this adviser is doing what I think she is she does not and should not mess up another young woman’s life. If she is not doing this, then she just needs to do her job better, because what she said to me in court was uncalled for and very unprofessional and she has the job of educating and helping young women.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Something that is done today, will be reflected on tomorrow
Something that is done today, will be reflected on tomorrow
This letter is to apprise people of a situation that I believe merit everyone’s attention, as well if brought to the attention of people I feel someone may want to be of help! My name is Mahdee Muhammad I am a 41 year old male that has been education with a BA in History; minor in Political Science from Jackson State University and a Master in Education . My wife name is Danielle; she also has an education from Jackson State University with a BS in Education (focus in 3 areas) and has her Master in Education also.
God place Zion into my wife and I life at the age of 4-month during January of 2007; his biological mother, Joyce Washington, a unemployed 19 year old who has been a ward of the State of Illinois under DCFS for the past three years. Joyce received her GED in the summer of 2008 and her master in milking the system also that year. Joyce is currently living in a transition apartment under the budget of the State of Illinois under Path Way Inc. (a subdivision of Aunt Martha’s). My wife has been the legal guardian of Zion since June 24, 2008; and before that Zion had been living in our home in unincorporated Cook County since March of 2007 full time. Let me just give you a brief synopsis of why I am writing this letter.
When Zion was born on August 20, 2006, he lived with his mother in an unstable condition until they were place in my mother’s home in November 2006. During this time Joyce had 2 cases of documented child endangerment filed on her. My family was asked by Aunt Martha’s Inc to take in Zion; so that DCFS would not step in and take Zion during March of 2007.
Zion’s mother is currently trying to regain legal guardianship of him back! She began this process in August 2008; less than 2 months after my wife was appointed his legal guardian. Joyce took unprecedented legal action with the help of Aunt Martha’s Inc (DCFS) without having one major or minor thing in her life to improve or show reason why she should be giving Zion back.
There have been many incidents during these past 2 years that my family has been subjected to at the hands of Aunt Martha’s (DCFS). Our number one objective has and will always be to give Zion a safe, stable and nurturing environment with eventually a focus on education. These key points are needed in order to stop the violence that we have seen just this year that has led to 36 deaths of CPS students as of May 23, 2009. And many other young children who names are unknown that have been kill at the hand or actions of their parents.
We know that the full blame should not just be placed at the feet of Joyce Washington; however, she is just a product of her environment within the system (DCFS). The system has been the educator in giving Joyce her PHD in how to use the streets, Zion and the system it self to get what she wants in life.
Before this education Joyce requested that my family adopt Zion after asking my sister and her family could not afford to take on this job with out any help from the state. Joyce also knew that we could give Zion a chance that she knew in her environment he would to get his education in the system of DCFS, DOC and one day DOA.
Under Joyce unhealthy, unloving, uneducated life style Joyce knew that Zion would never have a chanced. This was Joyce wishes up and until her PHD in the system taught her that having Zion would comes with a $318 monthly allowance at the expense of Illinois taxpayers.
During our year long battle in probate court Zion had a very strong GAL; that work on his best interest. This is something that is lacking the second time around under his new GAL; that to this date has never ever meet Zion, nor feel the need to meet with him.
The Probate Judge also has become a product of our dysfunctional system by allowing Joyce overnight visits with Zion unsupervised affected ASP. After there a brief hearing this pass Friday May 22, 2009 that open up the facts of more drug use with Zion and Joyce not been able or wanting to feed Zion during her pass 7 hr visited with him.
My hope is that someone would have just as much compassion as I do and help bring those things done in the dark to light. We all know that the solution to these problems of our young babies being gun downed in the street is a stronger family nucleus and this is what Zion has in our home. Zion has been in our home for 90% of his life so that my wife has become mother, I Daddy and our kids are his brothers and sister. However, in keeping Zion in our home the System would be changing what we have become to know as the norm now days in the black community.
Zion is spending his first night in a bed (we hope) that he does not know with people he does not know having to breath thought the smell of drugs in the air; just so that the Judge, Gal and Aunt Martha’s Inc. can have a good weekend, and Joyce can get her bonus in June of for having the needed number of hours with Zion. I guess it like what the Judge said in this case many times; my family is just the unpaid babysitter until the system if ready to step in and place this child in a revolving door that we have come to know as DCFS!
You can look up this case information on line under case # 2007P005201 on the Cook County clerk web site or read more under my blog http://mahdee2yearinhellwithdcfs.blogspot.com
Let’s stop this head line today!
This letter is to apprise people of a situation that I believe merit everyone’s attention, as well if brought to the attention of people I feel someone may want to be of help! My name is Mahdee Muhammad I am a 41 year old male that has been education with a BA in History; minor in Political Science from Jackson State University and a Master in Education . My wife name is Danielle; she also has an education from Jackson State University with a BS in Education (focus in 3 areas) and has her Master in Education also.
God place Zion into my wife and I life at the age of 4-month during January of 2007; his biological mother, Joyce Washington, a unemployed 19 year old who has been a ward of the State of Illinois under DCFS for the past three years. Joyce received her GED in the summer of 2008 and her master in milking the system also that year. Joyce is currently living in a transition apartment under the budget of the State of Illinois under Path Way Inc. (a subdivision of Aunt Martha’s). My wife has been the legal guardian of Zion since June 24, 2008; and before that Zion had been living in our home in unincorporated Cook County since March of 2007 full time. Let me just give you a brief synopsis of why I am writing this letter.
When Zion was born on August 20, 2006, he lived with his mother in an unstable condition until they were place in my mother’s home in November 2006. During this time Joyce had 2 cases of documented child endangerment filed on her. My family was asked by Aunt Martha’s Inc to take in Zion; so that DCFS would not step in and take Zion during March of 2007.
Zion’s mother is currently trying to regain legal guardianship of him back! She began this process in August 2008; less than 2 months after my wife was appointed his legal guardian. Joyce took unprecedented legal action with the help of Aunt Martha’s Inc (DCFS) without having one major or minor thing in her life to improve or show reason why she should be giving Zion back.
There have been many incidents during these past 2 years that my family has been subjected to at the hands of Aunt Martha’s (DCFS). Our number one objective has and will always be to give Zion a safe, stable and nurturing environment with eventually a focus on education. These key points are needed in order to stop the violence that we have seen just this year that has led to 36 deaths of CPS students as of May 23, 2009. And many other young children who names are unknown that have been kill at the hand or actions of their parents.
We know that the full blame should not just be placed at the feet of Joyce Washington; however, she is just a product of her environment within the system (DCFS). The system has been the educator in giving Joyce her PHD in how to use the streets, Zion and the system it self to get what she wants in life.
Before this education Joyce requested that my family adopt Zion after asking my sister and her family could not afford to take on this job with out any help from the state. Joyce also knew that we could give Zion a chance that she knew in her environment he would to get his education in the system of DCFS, DOC and one day DOA.
Under Joyce unhealthy, unloving, uneducated life style Joyce knew that Zion would never have a chanced. This was Joyce wishes up and until her PHD in the system taught her that having Zion would comes with a $318 monthly allowance at the expense of Illinois taxpayers.
During our year long battle in probate court Zion had a very strong GAL; that work on his best interest. This is something that is lacking the second time around under his new GAL; that to this date has never ever meet Zion, nor feel the need to meet with him.
The Probate Judge also has become a product of our dysfunctional system by allowing Joyce overnight visits with Zion unsupervised affected ASP. After there a brief hearing this pass Friday May 22, 2009 that open up the facts of more drug use with Zion and Joyce not been able or wanting to feed Zion during her pass 7 hr visited with him.
My hope is that someone would have just as much compassion as I do and help bring those things done in the dark to light. We all know that the solution to these problems of our young babies being gun downed in the street is a stronger family nucleus and this is what Zion has in our home. Zion has been in our home for 90% of his life so that my wife has become mother, I Daddy and our kids are his brothers and sister. However, in keeping Zion in our home the System would be changing what we have become to know as the norm now days in the black community.
Zion is spending his first night in a bed (we hope) that he does not know with people he does not know having to breath thought the smell of drugs in the air; just so that the Judge, Gal and Aunt Martha’s Inc. can have a good weekend, and Joyce can get her bonus in June of for having the needed number of hours with Zion. I guess it like what the Judge said in this case many times; my family is just the unpaid babysitter until the system if ready to step in and place this child in a revolving door that we have come to know as DCFS!
You can look up this case information on line under case # 2007P005201 on the Cook County clerk web site or read more under my blog http://mahdee2yearinhellwithdcfs.blogspot.com
Let’s stop this head line today!
Black child Zion Washington is killed or kills at the hands of another!
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