Christian, age 3, was thriving in his grandmother’s care. Now, the family doesn’t know where he is. Source: family photo

by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff

It is a bizarre tale of alleged police brutality and CPS corruption that has ended up with a Sacramento grandmother fleeing the state of California in fear for her very life, while the grandchildren she cared for have been seized by the state, with no apparent evidence of any wrongdoing by the grandmother. All Ann King wanted to do was to love and care for her grandchildren while the parents were unable to, allowing the babies to grow up connected to their own family roots. Apparently, that was too much to ask from Sacramento County CPS, because no one in the family even knows where the children are anymore.

Ann King is a former school teacher and day care director, and has cared for children all of her life. She is an avid student of the Constitution and history. Her views are not exactly conventional, and that has allegedly caused some government officials to take issue with her, even though there appears to be no evidence of any wrong-doing on her part. She had reportedly never been in trouble with the law, and had never had any problems with any governmental agency. Then her granddaughter was born.

Parents Give Guardianship of New Baby to Grandmother

The name of her granddaughter is Queen. That is the name that the family gave her. Before Queen came along, her mother, Ann’s daughter-in-law, lost 2 children to the CPS system. Ann was already caring for her next child, a little boy named Christian, age 2. The family feared that CPS would attempt to take the new baby. This is a very reasonable concern, since many CPS departments have the practice of removing newborns from mothers who already have children in the system, whether the reason for removal is legitimate, or the allegations even true, or not. See these previous stories covered by MedicalKidnap.com where this allegedly happened:

Breastfeeding 2-day Old Newborn Seized From Parents Because Mother Has Disability

Alabama Seizes 7 Children from Family After Child with Autism Wandered to Neighbors

Even though the family knew that there was little chance of the local CPS allowing the mother to keep her new baby, they wanted their newest family member to remain part of the family, growing up around relatives and learning about her own heritage. Before Queen was ever even born, they took the preemptive measure of signing over custody to her grandmother, Ann King.

She was born on July 2, 2013, 6 weeks prematurely. Ann reports that somehow the notarized papers that were given to social workers mysteriously vanished, twice. True to expectation, CPS took the breastfeeding newborn from her mother’s breast, and placed her in foster care. It took almost 3 months to get CPS to give the baby back to the family and into her grandmother’s care, on October 1. Ann also had Queen’s brother, Christian, age 2, living with her.

Adoption Pushed – the State Would Miss Out on Title IV-E Adoption Bonus if Children Not Adopted

An adoption worker was assigned to work with the family. She repeatedly encouraged Ann to adopt her grandchildren, but Ann refused to do so. She said that she wanted her son and his wife to have the option to parent their own children in the future if they got their lives straightened out. She only wanted the role of guardian of her grandchildren.

Ann also believes that it was this refusal to adopt that is the reason that CPS decided to go after her. As Health Impact News has learned, there is big money, in the form of federal Title IV-E funds, that come to the state whenever a child is adopted. Because Ann refused to adopt Queen and Christian, the state would not be able to gain access to those funds.

Christian, age 2 1/2, shows off his “alphabet book” to Grandma. Source: family photo

So, they began to get more and more involved in Ms. King’s life.

Unconventional – Yes; Criminal – No. Family’s Refusal to Get Birth Certificate Draws Scorn of Social Worker

CPS allegedly had a couple of concerns. First of all, the family declined the birth certificate. There are those who believe that a state-issued birth certificate gives the state rights in the life of the child, and Queen’s family are no exception.

According to the CPS records, the baby’s name is London, not Queen. The mix-up happened in the hospital. The family wanted to wait to name the baby until she was home. However, the hospital staff filled out a birth certificate form, which no one in the family signed, and called the baby “London,” because that was what they had heard in the hospital.

Ann laughs as she describes how “London” came to be on the birth certificate that the staff created without the family’s consent: London wasn’t a name at all! It was the code word that the mother was to use if she felt threatened by CPS or a social worker. The family never called the baby’s name while they were in the hospital, considering that to be a family matter.

Grandmother Wants To Use Her Own Pediatrician, Not the State One, to Avoid Vaccines

Also, when CPS followed up after Ann finally got Queen back, they wanted to know when Ann was going to take her to the CPS-approved pediatrician and get her vaccines. Because her brother Christian had already had a bad reaction to some vaccines, Ann decide to forego vaccines for Queen, out of concern for her health. She also wanted to take the baby to her own pediatrician, not the one the state picked for her.

The CPS department scheduled an appointment with the doctor that they wanted to use for January 7. When they also scheduled a court hearing for her to discuss adoption, Ann reports that she interpreted that as CPS saying that the court hearing was more important for her to attend. Yet, later documents would accuse Ann of not showing up or even calling the doctor’s office for the appointment that she did not schedule.

All the while, Ann was planning to take the baby to her own pediatrician, without state interference, for a checkup. But things took a turn for the worse before she could get to the doctor.

Penalized for Queen Being a Small Baby, from a Family of Petite People

Ann admits that, yes, Queen was little. She was born 6 weeks premature, weighing under 5 lbs. On January 13, 2014, Public Health Nurse Roberta Carpenter came to the home and found that she weighed 11 lbs 9.6 oz. On this basis, she told CPS that the baby was at “risk of being failure to thrive.” She was never officially diagnosed as failure to thrive, but the nurse told CPS that “London’s weight was not where it should be according to the growth chart.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, babies generally double their birth weight by 5 months. By the January check at 6 months, Queen had certainly more than doubled her weight. Ann reports that she was growing, and was happy and healthy. At a later doctor’s visit in February, the Kings’ doctor found her to be healthy and had no concerns about her weight.

Queen’s mother and father are petite – only 5’2″ and 5’3″. Many other family members are also small. Queen was growing and was proportional to her small stature, and she was reportedly a very active baby.

However, her small size, to CPS, translated to medical neglect. When they questioned Ann about how much she fed her, she simply responded that she feeds her whenever she is hungry. Like millions of parents who practice attachment parenting, Ann fed Queen on demand, intuitively, not on any set schedule. She didn’t cry, Ann reports, from hunger.

“Why would I keep track of how much they eat? I have been taking care of kids for 30 years!”

Queen had been partially breastfed, whenever her mother visited, and because she was a preemie, she was on the highest calorie formula available.

This is Queen at 11 months, still in her grandmother’s care. Source: family video

Creeper in the Neighborhood?

Two days later, Ann’s world went mad. The children were at a neighbor’s home playing with a little friend, whose mother was watching the kids. Ann had gone home to clean house. A little while later, her neighbor called to tell her that there were suspicious people parked in a car on the street. When Ann looked out, she recognized the social worker, Shanna Bunno. She walked to the car to find out what was going on, with video tape going. Shanna told her words that shocked her:

We’re on our way to come and take your children.

Ann asked:

Based on WHAT?

The social worker told her that it was based on medical neglect. Ann told her there was no medical neglect, and asked what concerns she had. Bunno told her that she would let her read the papers when she gives them to her. The passenger in the car was holding the papers, which Ann later learned were the papers for the removal of the children. However, she points out that they were not ever stamped by the court clerk, which she says renders the papers invalid.

Social worker with removal papers. The empty spot in the top right-hand corner is where the court clerk stamp is supposed to be. Source: screenshot from family video.

Accused of Being Mentally Unstable

Ann asked why Bunno didn’t say anything earlier about them wanting to take the children.

“Well, Ann, I thought maybe you’d be a little mentally unstable about it if I did.”

Mentally unstable? Is that what they call a parent’s reaction when their children are taken from them? Others would likely call it a “mama bear” response. Despite that, Ann’s response in the video was remarkably calm.

In the papers, the reasons for the accusation of Ann being mentally unstable seem to be the family’s refusal to get a birth certificate, her reluctance to vaccinate, the desire to pay for their own pediatrician instead of using the state-approved one, not knowing the precise schedule of when Queen ate since she fed her when she was hungry, her refusal to call Queen “London,” her requests of the CPS department of how they have legal authority and who has jurisdiction, her problems with the “smart meter” installed by the power company, and her assertion that her family are “indigenous people.”

Ann told us about the history of the Moors, and how much of the historical records have been altered. The author’s research into this concept revealed that, though not a mainstream concept, there are people who teach and believe this view. Constitutionally, she has a right to have views that differ from the mainstream.

Ann has never been diagnosed with any kind of mental disorder or instability, and she says that they made it up because she doesn’t swallow everything they say, hook, line, and sinker. Therefore, they accused her of being crazy so they could take the children.

But they didn’t take them that day. Ann allowed her grandchildren to stay at the neighbor’s house, while she went back home to finish house cleaning.

Police Barge into Her Home Without Knocking and Without a Warrant

Later that day, Ann reports that she was on the phone with another friend, and had gone into the bathroom. She heard a “loud noise.” She told her friend she would call back, and went to investigate. She heard a voice say,

Come out with your hands up.

The loud noise was the police kicking in her door! Ann told them that she assumed they had a warrant, since they kicked in her door. She says that the paper they handed her before snatching it away was NOT a warrant. The officer reportedly told her that they were there on suspicion of child endangerment, and asked where the children were. She informed him that, if he showed her a real warrant, she would answer him.

They put handcuffs on her and put her into a patrol car. She reports that a neighbor came out and saw the officers talking, and yelled,

Baby, you better be careful! They are trying to get their lie together, and they are planning to do something to you.

Racist Deputy

After a rough ride with the handcuffs digging into her wrists, this grandmother, who allegedly had never had any altercations with the law before in her life, was taken to the booking area of the Sacramento County Jail. Based on Ann’s requests for them to follow the law and demands for her rights, she says that Officer Daigle told the booking deputy:

This one is a smart ass.

Ann reports that the booking deputy was verbally abusive to her:

She started saying how she hated black people. She told me how she hated my kind, how dirty and nasty we are, and how she hated to even touch me, we are just nasty people.

The deputy allegedly told her to spread her feet on the foot signs on the floor. Ann told her that she would try, but her legs weren’t that long (Ann is 4’11”). Then, she reportedly frowned at Ann, took her left arm and started twisting her wrist and bending her fingers back. Ann screamed out in pain asking “Why?”, and says that it felt like she was breaking her fingers and hand. She kept going, and Ann says that her body instinctively started to defend herself even though she was cuffed and ended up kicking the deputy.

At that point she says that 5 or 6 officers jumped on her and beat her up, cuffed her feet, then they beat her some more. Then they made her apologize to the deputy for kicking her:

Like a slave on a plantation.

They took her to a cell, where she reports that she heard many screams all night.

I heard people being beat all night long.

Source: CBS 13 Sacramento

Move Along – Nothing to See Here

The next morning, there was paperwork, and then she was released. When her daughter picked her up, she asked:

Mom, what happened to your face?

Ann says:

I did not really think about it. My body was in so much pain, I just wanted to lay down.

On her court date of February 5, 2014, she found that her name was not on the roster. She reports that a sheriff told her that the charges had been dropped, and she was free to go. They declined to give her any paperwork stating such, however, saying that it would come in the mail. When it didn’t, she was told she would have to come in person.

Ann – People Know What Is Going On, But Nobody Stops It

She says that she was terrified to go back to that jail after what she went through, so she never got the papers.

I just let it go. These were people I had always looked up to, and taught my children to look up to as well. Only to find out that they were the worst kind of abusers. They laugh about hurting people, but what really saddens me is that everybody working on that floor can hear people screaming. They know what’s going on, including the nurse, and nobody will speak up, while people are being beaten and killed in the county jail.

We really need to get back to the Constitution. Didn’t these officers take an oath to protect the people, not war on the people?

She says that she was never mentally unstable, but she believes that the beating at the jail was intended to make her mentally unstable. Her daughter reports that she had thought that her mother was just being paranoid, and then she saw it for herself. She says that all of the allegations against her mother were based on unsubstantiated hearsay.

This story is truly bizarre.

Calm Before the Storm

The next few months were relatively peaceful, but Ann says that she never went back to the house again where the police took her from.

The children grew and thrived. A doctor in February said that Queen was healthy and doing fine.

There were no hearings scheduled during this time, and things seemed to get back to normal. She didn’t hear anything from anyone in the system. Then, Ann started hearing stories that police and social workers were showing up at various neighbors’ and relatives’ homes looking for her.

CPS Gets Their Way

When she investigated, she learned to her horror that CPS had accused her of kidnapping her grandchildren, and unbeknownst to her, a warrant had been issued on June 27 for her arrest. Her attorney advised her to surrender the children to the Department. After what she had been through in January, she was scared not to comply.

On July 3, the day after Queen’s first birthday, Ann took her beloved grandbabies out to eat, packed up their clothes, including new clothes she had recently bought for them, and drove them to Palm Springs CPS office, where a friend took Queen and Christian inside to surrender them to CPS.

Queen – 5 minutes before going into CPS custody. Her 1st birthday was the day before. Source: family photo

Ann Flees For Her Life – In Hiding Today

On July 12, Ann learned that CPS came back to the house where she formerly lived. Her daughter was living there at the time. They had about 10 police officers with them. Some came in the back door, and others through the front, looking for Ann. When they didn’t find her, they left peacefully. Neighbors told her that they came up the street like a S.W.A.T. team, and someone told her that the officers “had been told to make sure she didn’t talk.”

Ann was terrified. Her daughter reports that she literally feared for her mother’s life, because of the extremes that they have gone to already.

Ann fled the state, and now has communicated her story to Health Impact News from an undisclosed location.

The warrant, Ann later learned, “went away,” and CPS now accuses Ann of abandoning the children. But she fears for her life if she were to go home to Sacramento.

The Children’s Whereabouts Unknown Now

No one in the family knows where they are. Various family members have tried to find out information. They have learned that Queen (the state calls her London) and Christian have been separated.

In his grandmother’s care, Christian was happy and thriving. She taught him the alphabet, and by age 2, he could read simple words and recognize many sight words. Now, a family member learned during a call to CPS that they were medicating Christian with psychotropic drugs. CPS allegedly said that this was because of the trauma suffered at the hands of his grandmother and being “malnourished.” More likely, says the family, it is the trauma of being separated from everyone he knows and loves. They fear for his safety.

Christian – 5 minutes before being taken into CPS custody. Age 3. Source: family photo

The children’s parents were allegedly given “the run-around” and were denied requests for visitation. Ann says that they were not drug addicts until CPS took their children. Now, she says that they are devastated and lost without their children.

They fought and fought, but they just gave up. They took her new baby who was breastfeeding, and it destroyed her. My son never smiles any more.

Numerous family members have requested that CPS allow the children to live with the relatives, per federal law, but all have been refused. Ann’s daughter believes that they may have been adopted out, because some family members have been told that they are not legally blood relatives. In fact, they say that they were sent letters by CPS:

Don’t contact us.

The family is hoping and praying that something can be done. The children were never in imminent danger, they say, and they “were NOT abused.” They assert that those were “bogus charges” against Ann.

The children were well looked-after.

“No Parent Deserves This”

Ann King says that all she wants is for a family member to get the children back.

Everything that you can do to destroy a child, they did it.

No parent deserves this. No child deserves this.

She says that CPS wasn’t always bad. Their original cause was to help families, she says, but now they are “making orphans, and for what? Money!” It is all “in the best interest of the child,” theoretically.

Nothing saddens me more than that they take a child based on someone’s opinion.

They are not giving up, Ann says.

I’m keeping hope alive. I don’t know how, but we’re going to make that happen. Our prayers are with these children. We genuinely love them.

Call to Action

Anne Marie Schubert is the Sacramento County District Attorney, and she may be reached at 916 874 6218, or contacted here.

Scott Jones is the Sheriff of Sacramento County, and his office may be reached at 916 874 5115, or contacted here.