Wednesday, October 16, 2013

In Re Aiden G. (Cal. Ct. App. - Oct. 16, 2013)

Mother clearly has problems.  Moreover, because she has children, her problems are our problems as well.

It's not run-of-the-mill substance abuse problems.  It's serious delusions:

"On August 28, 2012, law enforcement was called to the family home because Mother was yelling at the neighbors, claiming she was going to be the next female president. [Note: I'm confident Hillary Clinton's not too worried about this potential challenger.]  Mother was experiencing auditory hallucinations that were telling her to sing, run through the sprinklers, and lie down in the middle of the street. The minors 'were in the family home at the time of the incident . . . and witnessed the event.' The officers contacted the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and took Mother to the hospital because they determined she was a danger to herself or others. Mother remained hospitalized for two weeks. Mother later claimed the hospitalization was a 'mistake' because she did not do anything wrong. She was again hospitalized in September for two weeks when she claimed to have supernatural powers, danced around, acted bizarrely, and claimed she was Jesus. [Note: Ditto for Jesus.]

Mother subsequently failed to keep her psychiatric appointments and did not take her psychotropic medication, denying she had a mental illness and claiming her only problem was insomnia. . . . On November 30, 2012, DCFS reported the following. Mother stated she 'had a special gift from God and she was able to hear other people's conversations' and sometimes the people she spoke to said bad things about her. Mother said she recently started taking her medication because she had a conversation with President Obama, who had convinced her to take them. [Note: That's nice of Barack.]  Mother had one 'suicidal episode' where auditory hallucinations ordered her to take pills and kill herself, but Mother stated 'she had the pills but did not ingest them.' In the presence of the minors, Mother had attempted to stuff a piece of paper down Father's throat, saying he was a 'monster.' Father failed to take action for fear of escalating the situation; he was afraid to confront Mother about her delusions and hallucinations, and feared for the safety of the minors if they were left alone with her. Father and Mother were initiating divorce proceedings, which 'raises the
level of stress for both parents.' . . .

On November 30, 2012, DCFS filed a section 300 petition on behalf of Aiden and Elizabeth, alleging under section 300, subdivision (b) that Mother had mental and emotional problems, including delusional behavior, auditory hallucinations, suicidal ideation, and a suicide attempt, which render Mother incapable of providing regular care of the minors; in August 2012, Mother was involuntarily hospitalized for evaluation and treatment; in September 2012, Mother was hospitalized for evaluation and treatment; and Mother failed to take her psychotropic medication.

In December 2012, Mother reported to DCFS that she had special powers; she could channel the dead, who made her laugh; and she had spoken to President Lincoln, the Kennedys, Marilyn Monroe, and Michael Jackson. Mother read from her journal that 'she is the second coming and she must inform everyone.' She denied having ever heard a voice telling her to hurt herself or anyone else, and stated she would never harm her children. On December 27, 2012, Mother's psychiatrist reported that after discontinuing her medication, Mother 'recently became very psychotic with poor insight and judgment.'

On January 3, 2013, Mother told DCFS that '8 years ago' she had been diagnosed with 'persecutory delusion' when she heard people shouting at her at work, saying 'suspicious things,' calling her on the telephone and hanging up on her. She stated that she had been seeing a psychiatrist for six years and had been taking medication for schizophrenia, but she had been misdiagnosed. She claimed her only problem was insomnia, and she did not want the doctors to continue to misdiagnose her. She denied she had suffered from suicidal ideation when she had lain down in the street. She claimed she was having a 'spiritual experience,' not a 'psychological experience,' and that she had looked both ways before she lay down. Mother had no idea how long she remained on the street. When asked what kind of spiritual experience she was having, 'Mother refused to go into detail,' saying it was hard to explain. Mother also reported she was complying with her medication and psychotherapy because she did not want to lose the minors. Although she claimed that she did not hear voices anymore, she also stated that 'her God given talent [is] that she can hear people speak' and she has 'angelic and spiritual ability.' Mother was divorcing Father because he did not have the same spiritual beliefs. Mother said she was talking to 'the people that talk[] to her' about her current situation and they had been giving her advice. . . .

DCFS filed an ex parte application and order pursuant to section 385, stating that on January 17, 2013, DCFS received a telephone call from Bellamy, who reported that '[M]other was acting very bizarre, . . . [M]other was very agitated and was claiming that she is Jesus and Obama was her lover and speaks to her. Mother was acting very delusional and was not taking her medication.' DCFS reported that Father had been
advised by Bellamy to sleep in the bedroom with the minors and keep the door locked. On January 25, 2013, DCFS reported that Mother would not be discharged until at least February 6, 2013, her 'psychological condition had decompensated greatly, and . . . [she] had refused medication, until only recently.' . . .

On February 15, 2013, the date of the adjudication hearing, Mother requested to represent herself and waived her right to counsel. . . . Mother made her closing argument, sometimes referring to herself in the third person, stating that President Obama had chosen her to represent herself, she 'has never been mentally ill,'
and 'she has been misdiagnosed for eight years, and I'm doing this to try to protect her.' She stated, 'I have chosen this woman because she is respectful. . . . [¶] . . . Other people know that I am representing them today, that is, all of the people who are sitting in the lobby outside.' She argued that 'God believes in me, and that is why Obama is going to call right now and tell you that this woman is telling the truth. And the truth is she is not psychotic. She is not schizophrenic. She is not bipolar. She is not schizoaffective, and she's not even delusional.' She stated, 'And now it's my turn to contact you, the judge, to tell you that I am President Obama, and I speak through Caroline [G.], and she is a woman of honor, and she is a woman crying in front of you because her children were taken away from her because people thought she was psychotic, and it is the furthest from the truth because this woman is a professional woman who has worked hard all of her life.'

The juvenile court asked Mother, 'When you stated that you are Obama speaking now through Ms. [G.], are you using that as a metaphor, or should I take that to be that those are President Obama's words just through your physical body?' Mother replied, 'I am a medium, and people speak through me, including President Obama. He speaks through me because I am the chosen one, and people chose me to do this. And I didn't choose it. Someone chose it for me.'"

Scary stuff.

Couldn't possibly happen to anyone you know?  Caroline wasn't lying when she said that she was "a professional woman who has worked hard all of her life."  She's also got a nanny.  Living the big life in L.A.

This is not your classic crackhouse dependency case.

The delusions are far from typical either.