Latesha Howard’s Story: Fighting for My Children Against a Broken System

A Mother’s Commitment

On January 2 2019 my two nieces and my nephew were placed in my care. For nine long months no services were provided even though they were struggling with extreme behaviors academic delays school suspensions and daycare expulsions. I begged Child and Family Services and the Snowline Joint School District for help but received nothing. Out of desperation I took ADA training special education courses and parenting classes for parents of children with disabilities so I could learn how to support my children. That is when I discovered that my children had a legal right to services under the ADA Section 504 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: rights that were being denied to us.

Retaliation for Advocacy

When I began to advocate for my children the retaliation began. Instead of working with me the Snowline Joint School District repeatedly called Child and Family Services. I reported serious abuse at school including an incident where my son Aaron tried to run away fell and had his ankle stepped on by his aide. No one cared. My complaints went uninvestigated while every false claim made against me by the school was taken as truth. By April 2023 the school had made more than thirty calls to CFS accusing me of refusing to sign IEPs or of trying to profit from special education services. These accusations were false and cruel. No program pays parents for obtaining services their children are legally entitled to.

Coercion of My Children

CFS interrogated my children seven different times even though they knew my children had disabilities and could not process repeated questioning without support. To get the answers they wanted they offered my children McDonalds and visits with relatives in exchange for false statements. At a Child and Family Team Meeting in June 2023 my son Aaron admitted that SSP Gerald Stone tricked him into lying by promising him McDonalds if he said I had hit him. He also revealed he never even received the food he was promised.

Unsafe Placements Abuse and Neglect

When my children were first removed they were forced to sleep in the Victorville CFS office because no foster placement was available. They ran out of the building into traffic and attacked staff in distress. Instead of ensuring their safety CFS placed them with their maternal grandmother Belinda White without background checks or a home inspection even though the children had been removed from her care in 2018 for physical abuse and a violent history. In her home the children were hit with paint sticks. When I reported this my daughters were pressured to lie and say that I was the one who hit them. My son Aaron never changed his story and told the truth — that his grandmother hurt him, but CFS ignored it.

Later my children were also placed with my ex boyfriend’s mother despite the fact that I had an active restraining order against him for harassment and threats. This caregiver mistreated my children and turned against us, feeding CFS more false allegations once she realized I had filed the restraining order.

During their time in state custody my children were harmed again and again. Aaron suffered a serious eye injury in May 2023 while in placement. Judge Steven Mapes allowed CFS to investigate itself instead of requiring an independent review. Nothing came of my reports. My daughter Miracle, who has cerebral palsy, was denied the AFO braces she had been wearing at home; essential medical equipment she went without for over two years. That was medical neglect.

Aaron, who had never been hospitalized while in my care, has now been placed in psychiatric wards seven times in two years. He is suspended from school nearly every week.

Education Rights Stripped Away

From April to June 2023 while my children were in placement the district quietly removed their independent transportation and AAC devices without my knowledge or consent. They acted as if I had no educational rights as their adoptive mother which is against the law.

When I reported these violations to the Department of Education, Snowline retaliated again. In September 2023 a SELPA employee I had never even met called SSP Tiyana Benitez and said the agency needed to take control of the IEP meetings “to control the parent.” She even accused me of making up my children’s autism diagnoses to get money: a blatant lie since my children had official diagnoses from licensed psychologists. After SSP Benitez told her the call sounded retaliatory, she became angry, asked for the SSP’s supervisor, then hung up.

By August 2024 the court removed my educational rights without informing me or my attorney. I only learned about it later in October 2023 when the district already had a copy of the order before I did. Immediately after, the district cut off the vital supports my children had, without conducting new assessments or evaluations: a direct violation of IDEA 20 U S C 1414 d, Section 504 29 U S C 794, and California Education Code 56341.5 and 56346.

A Pattern of Misconduct

From the start this case has been riddled with misconduct and retaliation.

• Judges dismissed valid motions and ignored clear evidence.

• County Counsel submitted false reports while disregarding medical proof.

• Children’s attorneys failed to advocate for my kids and engaged in improper ex parte communications with Judge Mapes.

• CFS placed my children with unsafe caregivers despite their history of abuse and neglect.

Together these actions created a pattern that looks like a coordinated effort to silence me and protect the system instead of protecting my children. Under 18 U S C 1962 this pattern meets the definition of a RICO enterprise; a network of actors using fraud retaliation and obstruction to deny due process and secure federal funding.

My Fight Continues

Even after my rights were taken away I never stopped fighting. I hired a special education attorney in October 2023 and filed a due process complaint against Snowline for failing to provide my children the services they were legally entitled to.

By April 2025, after years of delays and retaliation, my education rights were finally restored when CFS could no longer ignore the complaints about my children’s worsening behaviors and unmet needs. Since then I have:

• Paid for ADA advocates and attorneys out of pocket.

• Scheduled and attended doctors appointments and assessments.

• Worked to rebuild the IEP supports and services my children lost while in foster care.

I completed two case plans, totaling 72 hours of parenting classes and 35 counseling sessions, far exceeding what was required under WIC 366.21 e and WIC 366.22 a. The law is clear, my children should have been returned to me once I completed these requirements, absent any real evidence of danger. Instead, my advocacy has been met with more delays retaliation and denial of my children’s rights.

The Road Ahead

My children deserve safety stability and the services they are legally entitled to. They were taken from a loving home and placed into environments where they were abused neglected and retraumatized. Their voices were silenced. My rights were stripped away in secret.

I will continue to fight for them and for every family who has been mistreated by a system that was supposed to protect us. This is not just my story. It is a call to action to expose injustice and to demand accountability.