Child taken from custodial mother placed in non-Native household
RAPID CITY – A family court decision in Pine Ridge in October 2017 failed to keep a boy in the home that he was being raised in.
After over four years of being in her physical custody, Bobbi Jo Handley, 43, had the child she had been raising taken from her and placed in a non-Native home in Chicago, Illinois.
According to Handley (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Member), her niece’s son Shane Handley, (now 6), was born with eleven drugs and substances in his system. Her son’s daughter had been addicted to heroin, opiates and “whatever else” during her life as a young adult, before she died of a “hot shot” in 2015, a few years after her son Shane was born.
Following his birth, Shane, had spent nearly six months in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Regional Hospital in Rapid City and in the care of the state. Handley claims the newborn had been born premature and had possible birth defects when he was born, including an enlarged tongue.
Bobbi Jo Handley has been a resident of Rapid City for most of her life. She has seen the struggles of her niece, Tia Handley, over her short life. Over the years, Handley has witnessed the highs and lows of her niece dealing with her addictions. According to Handley, these addictions had led her down a high-risk lifestyle and destructive path.
“When he was born, he was born addicted. He was kept in the NICU and the State of South Dakota took custody of him,” said Handley. “He was addicted to opiates, pills, and meth. He had an enlarged tongue and few other things wrong with him. They (caregivers) also said they didn’t know what the long term effects would be.”
During Shane’s time in the NICU, Handley said his mother, Tia, was back and forth between Rapid City and Minneapolis. “She would visit him. She loved him. She loved him very much.” Unfortunately, Handley said the mother was not stable enough to take care of a newborn at the time; especially a newborn with special needs.
After the boy spent time in the NICU and in the custody of the state in medical foster care, Handley had applied for, and received, temporary custody from South Dakota. “I picked him up at the DSS. It was awesome,” she said. She had to pass a background check and get the approval of the state before taking custody of the boy.
Handley said her niece died in Minneapolis in 2015 of an overdose, after going to Minneapolis to see her son’s father, Howard Johnson. She had gone to Minneapolis to ask the birth father to sign over his paternal rights to the child. This would exempt him from any financial responsibility of Shane. This coincidence is questionable, according to Handley.
“He was a pimp. That’s how she knew him (Johnson). She had a rough life,” she said. “She was an escort.” Handley said her niece had bouts of sobriety and long periods of active use. During the time of her death, she had been sober for a couple of months and wanting to get Shane back in her life. “She died three days after getting to Minneapolis.”
Handley claims the father was never involved in the child’s life. At no point did she or Tia receive help with the needs of the boy. During her time with Shane, Handley said she never asked for help and it was never offered. “I know he never wanted to pay child support.”
She understands it is not proper to talk about the bad situations her niece was in, but feels it is necessary in telling the events which led to Tia’s death and the current status of Shane Handley.
Aside from having “fits now and then”, the boy adjusted to his life with Bobbi Jo Handley and her family. “I knew he couldn’t help it. And we just worked through it. I never judged him for his behavior. He was just a baby,” she said. “He loved us and we loved him, too.”
NATIVE SUN NEWS TODAY
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