Parents Fight to Get Kids Back

A North County family is involved in a desperate struggle to regain custody of their children.
   
The heartbreaking situation started in June, when their 1-month-old inexplicably broke her leg.

"I had both kids," said Trevor Reynolds. "I work very late, I'm not normally up during the early morning hours, and I was right here watching the kids, kind of in and out."

Reynolds said the infant was asleep on the couch next to him in a makeshift crib. His wife, Heather, said she noticed when she got home from her doctor's appointment that Little Rebecca was cranky and knew something was wrong.
   
Child Welfare services became suspicious and ended up removing Rebecca and her 2-year-old brother from the home, then placed them with their grandmother. 

Rebecca was recently tested for osteogenesis imperfecta -- also known as OI -- a rare disease that, among other things, makes bones brittle, according to Heather. The mother said doctors have given Rebecca a clinical diagnosis of OI. Heather said that despite the diagnosis, there has been very little movement with the county regarding getting her children back.

"We requested the genetic testing when she was in the hospital, and it wasn't done for six weeks," Heather said. "This shouldn't have torn our family apart. They should have figured out what was wrong before this."

The county department of child welfare services says they can't talk about specific cases but did say that they are forced to err on the side of caution in situations like this. Health officials also said that OI testing and analysis is not a a quick process.

Read more in the North County Times.

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