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Why Not to Ask for Help
June 29, 2012 permalink
A few misinformed parents turn to child protectors for help. Faced with abuse by her husband Layla Shiek asked child protectors on the island of Maui to help her. They took her children. After years of futile hoop-jumping in an effort to satisfy them, her parental rights were terminated.
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Letters to the Editor
CPS system needs to be reformed
If you are a victim of domestic violence and have children, I do not recommend calling Maui's Child Protective Services for help. You may end up like Layla Shiek, a Somalian refugee, who after years of abuse by her husband, went to the CPS offices for help. Instead, her children were taken away. She was put through a grueling court system, and though she fulfilled all requirements--including learning English in two years, getting a job and apartment, etc.--her parental rights were stripped and her children traumatized.
Travesties like this are quite common throughout the system--a system that is much needed, but sorely in need of reform. Victims seldom have adequate representation. In Layla's case, she has exhausted any lawyers on Maui who will even take on the CPS for any amount of money so she can be reunited with her children!
Now that her story is going viral on Youtube and Akaku: Maui Community Television, she may find justice at last when someone steps up to help.
So beware the catch-22, or you may end up in hotter water by going to authorities.
This is the tragedy of domestic violence.
Source: Maui Weekly
