Today we had court for the placement of our six children. The CHIPS hearing was scheduled at 2:30 pm, but court was running behind, and we did not get called into court until almost 4:00. The report that was written by the social services outlined the legal charges against my wife and me, and then went into detail on the six children’s lives. It then outlined my life and my wife’s life. The reports on the children were basically rubber stamps of each other. The children are average or above in all areas social and intelligence related. Healthy, happy, compassionate children. It was noted, that Thomas the oldest had a very in-depth understanding of medical marijuana and my need for it as a medication to control seizures. He also had a very healthy understanding of the difference between using a medication when needed, and abusing a drug. Also noted was that Thomas was an extremely outspoken advocate for the legalization of medical marijuana and spoke openly and intelligently on several issues of medical marijuana. When asked if they could change anything right now by the social workers, the three oldest all responded with a primary concern for my medical well-being, and the legalization of my medication (marijuana), followed by getting the whole family back home. The three youngest it stated did not have a full understanding of what was going on besides that the house was being fixed. The “Guardian ad Litem” spoke next. He started off by stating that he had seen literally over a thousand children in his years of service to the court, and he had never met a child as amazing as one of ours, and the fact that we have six of them all at that same standard speaks immensely about their parents. He then detailed several dozen things he had seen the children do in his times visiting with them that enthralled him. After detailing how intelligent our children were, he did state that he was concerned that they may be lacking in some specific subject matter due to being “home schooled”. He stated that we had already discussed testing for the children and that both my wife and I were already trying to get state funding for testing before the raid on my family occurred. He then stated that it was his findings that my “Medical use of marijuana” had not affected the children in any way negatively until the raid on my home. It was his belief in fact that my “Medical use of marijuana” was beneficial to the wellbeing of my children. He then stated to the judge that it was also his belief after talking with all the family and children that “The charges against Jacob and Lisa Sieg are BOGUS”. He believes from talking to the children, friends, neighbors and family that I was using marijuana for my medical condition only, and that it was a very valid need for the medication even though it is not legal. The judge then spoke to my wife and I about the conditions of getting our children back because we pled “no contest”. She started off by saying that it was very obvious based on the fact that every report she received was beaming about how wonderful our children were that we were very good parents and seemed to be doing an amazing job raising six children with all the medical problems and very little income. She said that she was extremely impressed with our entire family, including my brother Ben who has placement of all six of the children right now. She stated that there is absolutely no reason we can not have full placement of our children back as soon as we get the house up to code. That means completely remodeling the entire house, because the health dept will never allow us back into the home with construction still going on in parts of the house. We have made tremendous headway in the remodel, pure determination, and hoards of caring friends are making very short work of gutting the house where needed, and finishing areas that we had already been working on. The only hang up as of now is materials for some of the rooms, but I think we will be able to have the house back up for the kids within two months. In the meantime, we have absolutely no restrictions on when where or how we see our children.
It is late, I am tired and sore form a long day in court and a long night working in my house. I hope to have all the documents from court along with the transcript of the hearing soon. I will post as much as I can without invading the privacy of my children, but I will be sure to get the parts of the states own lawyer standing up for our medical case on the blog, as well as the judges reaction. Should make for some good reading.
Thank you to all that kept us in their hearts, minds, and those that lifted us up in prayer.
Together we can all make a difference in this state and in this country. It is time for humanity to win out over fear mongering and profits.
May God bless and keep you,
Jacob J Sieg Sr.
http://facebook.com/EauClaireNORML
We are so sad and angry that these heartless monsters could hold a gun to your precious little boy.
ReplyDeleteWe promise to help spread your message through any means we have so no other families have to go through what your children had to suffer.
You will be in our thoughts and prayers.