Another mother, accused of child abuse by the State Dept. of Children & Families (DCF) has refused to plead guilty— so State Attorney Kirk Zuelch will put her on trial at the end of this month.
"Of course, I am mortified to have the State of Florida after me like this," said artist Pat Lloyd, who has lived and worked in Key West for eight years. "I am a good mother and everybody who knows me knows that I'm a good mother."
Lloyd, who has been divorced for five years, has three children— two sons, 15 and 11, and a daughter, 7.
"It hasn't been easy," she said. "We lost almost everything during the hurricane. But I refused to go on public assistance. I just went out and found work to ensure that I could care for my kids. They are everything to me.
"The DCF started getting involved in my life right after the divorce. My ex-husband began harassing me by calling the Child Abuse Hotline long distance and making false charges against me," Lloyd said. "Each time— maybe 20 times overall— the DCF investigated those charges and determined that they were unfounded.
"But nobody seemed to care that the guy making the calls was thousands of dollars behind in his child support payments," Lloyd said.
"Last year, it became apparent to me that I just couldn't control my 15-year-old son. He was staying out late, refusing to go to school and he was abusive to me, both verbally and physically. This sometimes happens in families. I understand that one of the women in a decision-making role at the DCF had a son who went to prison. She is on the state's witness list to, I presume, testify against me.
"After my son got into trouble at school, he was sent to the Children's Shelter— but he got in trouble there, too," she said.
"I even sent him to live with his father in California. But that didn't work either. His father sent him back to Key West in March. And he continued to get in trouble.
"I needed help. So I went to the Dept. of Children & Families. I thought that's what they do— provide help for children and families. But, incredibly, they told me that there is no help for families with out-of-control children. But they could take over my son's care if I would stipulate that I am an unfit mother.
"I couldn't do that," she said.
"But one morning, my son was particularly abusive to me. He even punched a hole in a door. Concerned for my safety, I called the Sheriff's Office. A deputy arrived and took my son to the DCF offices.
"No police report was written— but two weeks later, the DCF charged me with child abuse and `abandoning' my son," Lloyd said, "and a custody hearing was set.
"Meanwhile, they placed my 15-year-old son with two gay men for foster care.
"Then, I was horrified to learn that the DCF now wants to also make my two other children `dependent.'
"This is beyond my imagination," she said, trying to hold back the tears. "I went to the Dept. of Children & Families for help in keeping my family together. But, rather than helping, they seem to want to break my family apart.
"I am a good mother," Lloyd said again. "I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I don't leave my children home alone. My entire life is devoted to them. All of the DCF's investigations have failed to confirm a single charge against me!
"But, yet, they want to portray me as a bad mother.
"Even my court-appointed lawyer has advised me to plead guilty, to take the easy way out, because, she says, the judges never rule against the state. But just last month, Judge Jones did rule against the state. He threw out those bogus child abuse charges against Nick and Carrie Nowatney because, he determined, they didn't do anything wrong.
"Well, I haven't done anything wrong either," Lloyd said. "And I can't plead guilty to something I didn't do."