We entered the court room not knowing what to expect. April had gotten in to a fight on the school bus a couple of months prior to this court date.

Two sisters had jumped on April (who weighed all of 96 .lbs. soaking wet). April fought back, tossing the smaller sister (more her size) off of her and tried to hold her own with the other sister (200 lbs.)

It was unfortunate but the smaller sister fell when April pushed her off of her and she broke her arm. The parents tried to sue us but had no case. The fight had been started by their children. However April was brought in front of the probation Judge and we expected that she might get probation or community service for her part in the fight.

There we sat. The judge entered and called the court to order. We had never been inside a court room for anything other than adoption and TPR before, so everything was new to us. April sat with her attorney and we sat at a table behind them. The Judge was really hard on April but we knew she needed to be taught a lesson. He sent April to a Juvenile Facility for two weeks and placed her on probation. April acted out at the facility and the Juvenile Workers told the Judge that she could not be controlled. We ended up back in court.

This time April was sent to Ladoga, Indiana to be placed in an intensive therapy and correction program. We were told they would do tests to find out what April's issues were and that the program would only be six to eight months long. Most children returning home within two months of good behavior.

We didn't know better. We trusted the Judge. That was where we first went wrong. April was not allowed contact with us for over two months. Then we were allowed to write letters and talk on the phone for short periods once per week.

It was so far from our home in Michigan that we had to plan for my husband to take days off and make it a long weekend just to be able to see April. When we first saw her, it was evident to us that she was not doing well. She had been placed on a few drugs and she was out of it. Our time with her she basically fell asleep in my lap and that was it.

She also began to gain weight. She left our home wearing a size 6 in teen's clothing and was now in a size 14 in teen's clothing. Within four months she had this drastic change. We mentioned it to her worker but didn't make a big deal of it. We thought maybe it was a growth spurt.

By September when she was allowed to come home for a weekend visit, for her birthday, we had a new wardrobe for her waiting to unwrap. Each time she tried an item on, it was too small. Size 14 was part of the past she was now in a size 16-18. In six months she had gone from a size 6 to size 16-18.

This alarmed us. It also alarmed us that she was on so much medication. It was more than evident that she was not able to comply with program rules and each time she got to a decent level, something would happen and she would be busted back to level two. She had to hit level eight to be able to come home. She never got past level five.