- 1
- 2
- next
- | single page
SOUTH BEND -- In Courtroom 1 of the Juvenile Justice Center, the tense body language of the several adults standing before the elevated judge suggests what is at stake: who will raise two children taken from their South Bend home in November.
Judge Peter Nemeth is presiding over a six-month review hearing in the case involving a 4-year-old boy, his 5-year-old sister and their parents, Rodney and Stephanie Cotten.
According to documents and that day's testimony, Department of Child Services workers, the children's therapist and their court-appointed special advocate say the children should be removed from their parents permanently and adopted by others.
The Cottens say they're willing to comply with an earlier court order for counseling -- that moving to another state and DCS delays in providing paperwork have complicated their attempts to find those services -- and that the abuses officials say their children have disclosed are untrue.
At the center of the debate are the two children, who are living in their fourth foster home since November.
How it began
About 10 on that November morning, the children apparently decided to take the family dog for a walk, leaving their south-side house while their mother, Stephanie, was sleeping. Their father, Rodney, was at work.
When a stranger found them a half mile from home and called police, a DCS report says, officers called conditions in the house "unsafe." In December 2010, DCS had removed the children for six weeks on a report of a dirty home, returning them once their mother successfully completed a parenting course.
Rodney Cotten says Indiana officials bought their Jackson Road home as part of the U.S. 31 project and that living conditions this time were a result of preparing to move to Alabama, where he had found a truck-driving job and they had bought a house.
The Jackson Road house, he says, has since been torn down.
The two children were placed in foster care, and after Rodney Cotten settled in Alabama, returning frequently for supervised visitation, their mother stayed with friends until March, when the Cottens' visitation was canceled.
"Visitation with the children was suspended in March 2012 due to allegation of sexual abuse with" the girl, a DCS progress report states.
During the June 13 hearing, the children's therapist said the girl discussed the size of her father's penis and "bottom" and had drawn pictures of them.
Rodney Cotten denies sexual abuse, saying his daughter walked in on him in the bathroom.
Since living in foster care, the therapist continued, the boy has discussed being locked in the basement. "Every time he goes into a room," she told the judge, "he has to make sure the door's unlocked."
But the Cottens say their basement did not have a door, and the children were not allowed in the basement. They say the children's cited misbehaviors began while in foster homes, where, they allege, the children have also wandered out of the house more than once.
In fact, Feb. 24 and June 1 DCS documents both state: "The children displayed no psychological or social deficits prior to removal."
After the Cottens' attorney, Phil Skodinski, questioned the therapist about the basement door allegation, she defended the conclusions of abuse.
"They rock, and that's a significant trauma when they are triggered," she said. "There are a lot of traumas we see in therapy. It's a calming mechanism for them."
Judge Peter Nemeth is presiding over a six-month review hearing in the case involving a 4-year-old boy, his 5-year-old sister and their parents, Rodney and Stephanie Cotten.
According to documents and that day's testimony, Department of Child Services workers, the children's therapist and their court-appointed special advocate say the children should be removed from their parents permanently and adopted by others.
The Cottens say they're willing to comply with an earlier court order for counseling -- that moving to another state and DCS delays in providing paperwork have complicated their attempts to find those services -- and that the abuses officials say their children have disclosed are untrue.
At the center of the debate are the two children, who are living in their fourth foster home since November.
How it began
About 10 on that November morning, the children apparently decided to take the family dog for a walk, leaving their south-side house while their mother, Stephanie, was sleeping. Their father, Rodney, was at work.
When a stranger found them a half mile from home and called police, a DCS report says, officers called conditions in the house "unsafe." In December 2010, DCS had removed the children for six weeks on a report of a dirty home, returning them once their mother successfully completed a parenting course.
Rodney Cotten says Indiana officials bought their Jackson Road home as part of the U.S. 31 project and that living conditions this time were a result of preparing to move to Alabama, where he had found a truck-driving job and they had bought a house.
The Jackson Road house, he says, has since been torn down.
The two children were placed in foster care, and after Rodney Cotten settled in Alabama, returning frequently for supervised visitation, their mother stayed with friends until March, when the Cottens' visitation was canceled.
"Visitation with the children was suspended in March 2012 due to allegation of sexual abuse with" the girl, a DCS progress report states.
During the June 13 hearing, the children's therapist said the girl discussed the size of her father's penis and "bottom" and had drawn pictures of them.
Rodney Cotten denies sexual abuse, saying his daughter walked in on him in the bathroom.
Since living in foster care, the therapist continued, the boy has discussed being locked in the basement. "Every time he goes into a room," she told the judge, "he has to make sure the door's unlocked."
But the Cottens say their basement did not have a door, and the children were not allowed in the basement. They say the children's cited misbehaviors began while in foster homes, where, they allege, the children have also wandered out of the house more than once.
In fact, Feb. 24 and June 1 DCS documents both state: "The children displayed no psychological or social deficits prior to removal."
After the Cottens' attorney, Phil Skodinski, questioned the therapist about the basement door allegation, she defended the conclusions of abuse.
"They rock, and that's a significant trauma when they are triggered," she said. "There are a lot of traumas we see in therapy. It's a calming mechanism for them."
