Thursday, December 9, 2010

Stop the Abuse of Christian Coffey

 Christian Coffey, we have discovered a terrible, horrific life Christian has to live behind closed doors. His father Steven H. Coffey mentally and physically abuses him as well as isolates him from the outside world. Christian is 16 years old and he is missing out on soooo many important things in a normal teenagers life. We never really felt comfortable around his father. There was always something that seemed off about him.  His father (Steven) began to slowly take Christian away from his friends. His time on the phone was reduced to only one hour a day, then became only from 4-5pm. After a while his dad completely banned Christian from seeing his girlfriend. His mother lives in Tennessee though, and Christian got to visit with her every other weekend which was when he was able to talk and communicate to his friends. Everything seemed to unfold around the beginning of May 2010. At least that's when Christian finally had to start fighting for his freedom. He decided to go to the school counselor for help. (He had seen her before in October the previous year in 2009 because his father hit him in the face twice which left bruises and swelling). He talked to a social worker multiple times who did not help him. Rachel Logan was her name and she was on Steve's side. Christian spoke with Rachel again after his father beat him continuously with a belt because he had contacted his girlfriend. This event went on for 3 hours and left Christian with many bruises on the back of his legs, lower back, and buttocks area. Also, the beating has had an affect on his kidneys. They have not been functioning properly lately.  His mother came to Bowling Green and filed an Emergency Protection Order (EPO) for Christian and it was granted on May 26th, 2010. A court date was set on for June 21st on which the judge, Catherine Rice Holderfield of Bowling Green, KY would speak with Christian and determine whether or not to grant him a Domestic Violence Order (DVO). The DVO was granted but only for a month. This is not the normal amount of time for this order. Normally a DVO lasts for about 3 years. Another unusual thing about this DVO was that at the bottom of it, the judge wrote that his girlfriend was not to have any contact with Christian for one month(Until after the DVO expired) Were not really sure why the judge ordered her to stay away from him but it could have had something to do with that fact that Steve and his lawyer, Casey Hixson, created lies about a so called "plan" that his girlfriend and Christian had. Steve's story to the court was this: "Christian self inflicted pain and injury to himself in order to get out of the house because he was planning to get his girlfriend pregnant and they were going to move in with his mother to raise the baby." This of course was a big fat lie! So, having no contact with Christian for a month they waited until the next court date July 19th. This was a date for his mother to get the DVO extended and amended. We were really confident about going to court because the judge had stated that there was violence and could possibly be more violence by granting the DVO. Since she ordered it, there was no way she could go back on her order. The day came and we got a phone call saying that Steve was coming back to pick up Chrsitian on July 22nd. The judge would not extend the DVO. Apparently Steve's story to the court had changed. Christian's girlfriend was never mentioned but his new lie was that Christian's mother is insane and that she was mentally abusing Christian. It's been so crazy. Anyway, the judge went back on her order which she is not allowed to do! Judge Catherine Rice Holderfield is corrupt! Steve came to Tennessee on the night he was supposed to and attempted to pick Christian up, but Christian ran off from the car in fear and called the police from one of his mothers neighbors house. Steve left and Christian talked to a social worker from Tennessee who actually cared and believed him unlike Rachel Logan here in Kentucky. Turns out though, nothing could be done because they were in TN and everything was occurring in KY. Tenn did not want to turn Christian over to his father Steve since he was so afraid of him. Christian was made to go back with Steve the next day in court and his mother and his girlfriend are not allowed to have any contact with him. He was shaking and crying when he had to part from his mother. He feared for his life. There is another court date set for Thursday July 29th where Steve will attempt to strip Christian's mother, Kimberly Harris, of her parental rights when she has done nothing wrong!!! She is only trying to protect her son who is crying out for help. We have no other choice but to make this public. It's our only hope of ever getting Christian out besides taking this to a higher court which will take time. This is not even half of the story. There is just too much to tell! Steve is an evil, demented man and Christian's story needs to be known and heard! The judge is corrupt and she could lose her spot on the bench when the higher up people hear about this! We will NOT stop until Christian is safely in his mother's care where he can be happy and worry free.
   Casey Hixson Steve Coffey's lawyer is furious about Christians case being on the internet, and that several people have started FB pages to support Christian and his mother. Casey Hixson is trying to put Kimberly Harris in jail because of the internet activity. Kimberly has nothing to do with any FB pages or blogs nor does her lawyer have anything to do with FB pages or blogs. Yet Casey Hixson is determined to put Kimberly Harris in jail because we are exercising our freedom of speech.
     Christian has told social workers at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in Bowling Green, Ky that he wants to go home to his mother and that he will never go back to his fathers home because he is afraid of him. Yet the Cabinet refuses to listen to what he wants. Mike Pierce who is a supervisor at the Cabinet told Christian, " If you don't go back to your fathers I will control your life and  it will be 10 times worse than it is now."  Christian refused to go back to his fathers home after Mike made that threat to him. How come the Cabinet doesn't let Christian go back home with his mother? He was fine at his mothers home after the beating, he was happy and safe. Another social worker Edin Smajlagic also retaliated against Christian's mother. Telling her she could not have an offsite visit becauase he would not be able to supervise their coversation offsite. Yet Edin was able to supervise an offsite visit to Taco Bell with Steven Coffey, the step mother and Christian. Edin's Facebook page contained strong language and inappropriate comments relating to his job as a social worker for the state of Kentucky. Christian was ordered into counseling with his father, their counselor was Dr. Bruce Fane, who told Chrisitian that he had to refer to the beating as a spanking gone wrong, and not to say the words abuse, or fear while in counseling. Dr. Fane also ordered Christian to turn his chair around an face his father the man who beat him. Christian felt that Dr. Bruce Fane was on his fathers side and not helping him.  Christian kept telling his counselors he wants to go home to his mother. They ignore his pleas. On October 13th, Cabinet social worker Sheilia Drake and officer Jonathan Bivens paid a visit to one of Christian's friends interogating this minor child for two hours without their parents or an adult present. They wanted to k now who was behind the blogs and threatened the minor child. This was brought to the attention of the school which had no idea this had gone on. The vice principal was angry and relayed the information to the schools attorney. This case is still pending an outcome.
       On November 15th there was a hearing for Kimberly Harris, the cabinet had to prove that she was guilty of neglect. The Cabinet claims that Kimberly allows her son to have sexual relations in her home. These accusations were made by Steve Coffey her ex husband and are false and can be proven to be false. Casey Hixson the fathers attorney used up the courts time complaining about the Facebook page and blogs on the internet. They never got around to the issue at hand and a new court date has been set for February 7th. which keeps Christian in foster care longer. The cabinet cannot prove that Kimberly allowed her son to have sexual relations while in her home. Without these allegations, there is no reason for the Cabinet to keep Christian in foster care and he would go home with his mother. Officials in Tennessee have done a home study on Kimberly's home as well as a back ground,criminal, and financial check in which she has passed.
      It came to our attention that someone was arrested by order of the cabinet and Mike Pierce cabinet supervisor as retaliation for a complaint that was made. The charges will not stick as we have been told by legal counsel and that it was pure harassment and false arrest. This same supervisor has also been threatening Christian with jail for no reason at all, this is also harassment. They have also tried to intimidate Kimberly's lawyer by suggesting that they were going to file a complaint with the Kentucky Bar Association.
    The support for Christian and his mother has been tremendous, and will continue until Christian is home with his mother where he wants to be. We will never give up.

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