(l-r, back) Kimberly Stabler, Kevin Roberts and Christian Callens (l-r, front) Tiffany Roberts and Rhonda Roberts

Tiffany’s grandfather began to sexually molest her when she was five years old. With her mother’s knowledge, he continued to abuse Tiffany until she moved in with her father at age 10. Her life then went from bad to worse.

Tiffany’s father cut off her hair, forced her to wear maternity clothes to hide her developing body and beat her violently. One night she barely escaped with her life. Tiffany remembers, “My father came home real drunk and beat me up bad. I ran out crying. I had blood everywhere, and I was scared. I didn’t know where to go so I went to my friend, Ashley’s.”

Kevin Roberts, Ashley’s father, says, “I’m an iron worker, and I didn’t know how to go about doing what was right for the kid. She came in bleeding with bruises all over her face, saying, ‘Help me! Help me! Help me!’ So I said, ‘Sure, come on in,’ and closed the door. And I told her, ‘No, you don’t have to go home.’ That was the right thing to do, but my wife and I had no idea how to go about legally making sure she wasn’t ever put back
in that situation.”

Each year in the United States, roughly half a million validated cases of child abuse are closed without any protective services being offered to victimized children. Approximately 1,300 children are murdered annually by a parent. Kimberly Stabler, executive director of Justice for Children, explains, “The philosophy of family preservation is the number-one reason abused children often are returned and unprotected. Family preservation is the idea that children ought to be with their families at just about any cost, rather than focusing on the child’s safety. But the families we see are not families. They are criminal perpetrators and their victims. Child abuse is the only crime committed in which a victim is forced to live with the perpetrator.”

Tiffany’s father was charged with injury to a child, and the court prohibited him from contacting his daughter until after his trial. When Children’s Protective Services (CPS), a state agency empowered with protecting children, decided to send Tiffany back to live, first with her mother and then with her father, the Robertses called JFC to prevent something horrible from happening again.

Rhonda Roberts says, “While we waited for an official ruling on Tiffany’s custody, Justice for Children told us how to keep her safe until they helped us get managing conservatorship. In other words, we took an unplanned camping trip for about a week until things got settled.”

Attorney Christian Callens, a JFC volunteer, immediately stepped in to represent the Robertses on a pro bono basis and quickly arranged for their custodial rights. He also initiated formal adoption proceedings. Tiffany was safe until the court granted visitation rights to her father.

Mr. Callens remembers, “At first I thought it was going to be kind of a slow, easy case, but things escalated quickly. I’d been at work, and when I got home my wife ran out to the driveway and handed me the phone and said, ‘It’s Tiffany! Her father is at the door and is trying to take her away. Please, they need your help.’”

Tiffany’s father, along with his new girlfriend and three police officers, showed up to exercise his court-approved visitation rights. Mr. Callens told the police over the phone that he would file federal kidnapping charges if Tiffany’s father removed her. Her father backed down and vanished after that. During adoption proceedings, Tiffany’s mother relinquished her parental rights. Fourteen months after that horrible night of terror and pain, Tiffany was legally adopted by the Robertses and now lives in a secure, loving home with her new parents.

Mrs. Roberts, Tiffany’s new mother, says, “If Justice for Children had not told us what we could do to protect Tiffany, we would have believed what CPS told us. They called and said, ‘Okay, I’ve interviewed her, and I don’t believe she’s telling the truth. She needs to go back home.’ But she looked so bad. I mean, her ear was black. You couldn’t look at her and not know that she’d been beaten by someone. If she had gone back, I fully believe she wouldn’t be alive today. So what has Justice for Children done for us? They’ve given us a daughter, and they gave Tiffany her life.”

Back to index