At press time, it was still uncertain whether or not the Nowatney children— little Natalie, 3, and Nathan, 1— would be allowed by the local State Dept. of Children & Family Services (DCF) to travel to Illinois to attend their elderly grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration tomorrow, Feb. 12.
Back in September, after Nathan was treated for a broken arm, the state came and took away both children. The charge: Possible child abuse.
The Nowatneys were shellshocked. The children were bewildered. Carrie was breastfeeding Nathan at the time.
More than five months later, DCF officials have not been able to make a case against Nick and Carrie Nowatney. But they still refuse to return the kids. Last weekend, the children were shuttled to their third set of foster parents in the Keys.
Nick is a medic with an Army Special Forces unit assigned to the Key West Naval Air Station (NASKW), so both the Army and the Navy conducted an investigation. Those investigations have long since been closed. No child abuse or neglect found.
But DCF officials still refuse to return the kids.
Full body x-rays of both children show no evidence of child abuse. But the DCF still refuses to return the kids.
Both Nick and Carrie voluntarily sat for polygraph examinations. No deception found. Innocence indicated. But the DCF still refuses to return the kids.
DCA officials say they're concerned because daughter Natalie was also treated for a broken arm in 1998. And an old fracture was also found when doctors treated Nathan for his recent break. Doctors who treated the children, however, say they saw no evidence of child abuse
What is not clear is who DCF officials suspect might be the "abuser". Nathan was home alone with his father when he fell off a sofa and broke his arm. Natalie was home alone with her mother when she fell off a chair and broke her arm. Nick was on duty in Kuwait.
"But," the DCF attorney says, "maybe the husband broke the little girl's arm before he left to go to Kuwait."
"Well, if they really think that, we could have moved Nowatney to the barracks while the DCF conducted its investigation— and left the mother in the home with the children," said Sergeant Major William Barcher, who serves with Nick at NASKW. "That's routine military policy.
"But they didn't do that. They chose to displace the children and completely disrupt the family," he said. "That doesn't make sense. It's wrong!"
DCF officials refuse to discuss the case because it is still under investigation.
The Nowatneys don't drink or smoke. They are both college-educated. They take the kids to church every Sunday. They have set up savings accounts for both kids to be used someday for college or a church mission.
Last November, the Nowatneys asked the local DCF officials to work with their counterparts in Illinois to approve Carrie's sister as a foster parent so the kids could attend the grandparents' anniversary gathering in Emden, a little town of 550 population in Central Illinois.
The request was reportedly not forwarded from local officials to Illinois until Jan. 26.
Officials in Illinois reacted immediately, sending an investigator out out to the sister's home over the weekend. But they still have to conduct a criminal background check. And, then, this information still has to be sent back to the DCF in Key West for final approval.
If and when that approval is granted, Carrie's sister must then fly down to Key West to get the children. At presstime Thursday, time was running out.
Up in Emden, the plight of the Nowatneys has mobilized the town.
• At first, the family did not want to tell Carrie's mother— who has been in failing health— that the State of Florida had taken her grandchildren. But when Carrie's parents did learn about the situation, they put the word out that those who might want to bring gifts to their anniversary gathering should, instead, bring checks to help Nick and Carrie with their legal expenses.
• A notice of the Nowatneys' situation was published in the bulletin of the family church in Emden on Sunday. Flyers are being circulated at local high school sporting events.
• A number of young mothers in the town are organizing bake sales and yard sales.
• One friend of the family is raffling off one of their hogs to help the Nowatneys.
"Only native rural Mid-Westerners may be able to understand the importance of someone putting on a hog raffle in your behalf," Carrie said.
The local press as well as the Peoria newspaper are picking up the story.
And U.S. Congressman Ray LaHood, who represents that district of Illinois, has intervened to try to ensure that the children are able to travel to Emden in time for their grandparents' anniversary event.
Meanwhile, in Key West, Nick and Carrie continue to wait for some action by the DCF.
If you want to help, make your check payable to the "Mama, Am I Still In Foster Care?" fund and mail it to Key West The Newspaper, P.O. Box 567, Key West FL 33041. If you want to drop it by, the KWTN offices are at 422 Fleming St.
Questions: Dennis Reeves Cooper at 292-2108.