Newly-available documents in the Nowatney case indicate that both Nowatney children— Natalie, 3, and Nathan, 1— may have been psychologically damaged when the State Dept. of Children & Families (DCF) and the State Attorney forcibly wrenched them away from their parents and held them in foster homes for 200 days.
Last September, Nick and Carrie Nowatney, a young military couple, were falsely charged with abusing their children and, in April, put on trial by State Attorney Kirk Zuelch. Judge Mark Jones threw the case out of court on May 10.
State officials say they have no responsibility to reimburse the Nowatneys for the more than $100,000 they had to spend to get their children back and clear their name.
Case records were under court-ordered seal until June 28, when Judge Jones ordered all records in the case made available to the public.
One of the records previously sealed is a Nov. 17, 1999, report by Psychologist James Holbrook. That report indicates that, after Natalie had been in foster care for two months, she considered her foster parents "mommy and daddy." And when asked about her real parents, Natalie considered them "gone."
Holbrook also reported that the foster mother impressed him "as having a poor general understanding of age-appropriate development/skills levels of the typical three-year-old child."
Holbrook also reports that the foster mother may have spanked Natalie, an allegation denied by the foster mother.
Holbrook said he observed Natalie at play and reported the following dialogue:
Examiner: "What's your mommy's name?"
Natalie: "Cindy." (Natalie's mother's name is Carrie. Cindy was the foster mother.)
Examiner: "What's your daddy's name?"
Natalie: "Jerry." (Natalie's father's name is Nick. Jerry was the foster parent.)
Examiner: "Do you have another mother and daddy?"
Natalie: "Yeah."
Examiner: "Who?"
Natalie: "Cindy and Jerry."
Examiner: "How about Nick and Carrie?"
Natalie: "They're gone."
Examiner: "Where have Nick and Carrie gone?"
Natalie: "`Cause they're gone."
Examiner: "Where are Nick and Carrie?"
Natalie: "Right here." (Perhaps referring to the doll figures she was playing with.)
Examiner: "Who loves you?"
Natalie: "My mommy and daddy."
Examiner: "What's your mommy's name?"
Natalie: "My mommy's name is Momma, Cindy and Jerry."
Examiner: "Does anyone give you spankings?"
Natalie: "Cindy gave me a spanking on my bottom."
Examiner: "Did anyone else give you a spanking on your bottom?"
Natalie: "Yeah."
Examiner: "Who?"
Natalie: "Cindy."
Holbrook quoted the DCF staff as saying that Natalie "exhibits intense separation distress" when visitation periods with her real parents ended. He also reported that Natalie "may be exhibiting some repression in self-help skill levels in reaction to the trauma of being separated from her parents."
The DCF attempted to keep the Holbrook report sealed, but Judge Jones overruled them.
In a March 24, 2000, report, Psychologist Tanju Mishara also provided an opinion on the probable effect the DCF's action had on the children. She wrote:
"This has been a very painful time for the Nowatney family. The allegations of child abuse disrupted little Nathan's breastfeeding relationship with his mother, terminating the infantile phase of his bonding with his mother, abruptly, with total deprivation of her presence in his life."
When the DCF showed up to take the children from the home, Carrie Nowatney was sitting on the couch breastfeeding Nathan. They took him anyway.
Dr. Mishara continued: "The lives of the children became unpredictable with placements in four foster homes over six months, with different adults and different environments. This experience was disruptive to the natural attachment process in the children's lives and most likely undermined their sense of security."
Dr. Mishara conducted comprehensive psychological evaluations of the parents, concluding that neither showed any characteristics commonly associated with child abusers.
Even though Dr. Mishara's evaluation had been required by the DCF and the State Attorney, they were able to squelch the report, preventing its presentation during the trial.
There is also some evidence that Nathan may have been neglected while in a state-approved foster home.
"When he was finally returned to us, he had a diaper rash so serious it was blistering," Nick Nowatney reported. "Diaper rash is caused by neglect."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The State Attorney and the DCF are mad at us because we continue to report this story. But as the newly-unsealed records and transcripts continue to become available, this scandal continues to grow.
In the meantime, Nick and Carrie have been financially exhausted by this ordeal— and there is no indication that state officials plan to willingly reimburse them, even though State Attorney Kirk Zuelch put them on trial on charges that have now been deemed "insufficient" in a court of law.
We have speculated here before that Zuelch knew that he didn't have a case— but that he put the Nowatneys on trial anyway to punish them for refusing to plead guilty to something they didn't do.
How weak was his case? After three days of testimony, Judge Jones stopped the trial and ruled for the parents without even needing to hear all their scheduled witnesses.
Many of you have already contributed to the Nowatneys' defense fund. But they still need your help. They were forced to spend their life savings, their kids' college funds and, still, much of Nick's military pay to try to make a dent in the mountain of legal expenses.
Send checks to them c/o Key West The Newspaper, P.O. Box 567, Key West, FL, 33041. Or drop them off at our office: 422 Fleming St. Questions: call Dennis Reeves Cooper, 292-2108.