Tarri 10 years old when seized, 15 years old now. Has suffered the most. Ran away from DSS lockup during summer, 1999. Raped by three men in DSS custody. 

Troy 9 years old when seized,13 years old now. Has also suffered the most. Parents "fear for his life." Has been in 28 foster homes, 3 mental hospitals. DSS claims he has ADHD and post traumatic stress syndrome. On following drugs, Depakote, Zoloft, Clonidine, Prazadone, Disperidol and Buspar. Tried to commit suicide. Was abused at Arbor Hospital; taken to Children’s Hospital on May 27, 1999. Now at another, unknown institution. Parents not allowed to talk with doctors. 

Tom 6 years old when seized, 11 years old now. Now with a man who has adopted four boys and has no wife. 

Cory 4 years old when seized, 8 years old now. Two foster homes and Pembroke Mental Hospital the first year and has been in a third home since then. Foster parent has 24-year-old, mentally ill son. She wants to adopt Cory and Cameron.  

Cameron 11/2 years old when seized, 6 years old now. Five foster homes. Now with Cory at the request of foster parent who wants to adopt them both. 

Massachusetts News 
By Edward G. Oliver 

January 5--Donna Peterson remembers hearing a scream from her husband like no scream she ever heard in her life. Her family was just starting to get ready for school and work on that fateful morning of December 2, 1994 in Hyannis. Donna ran from the bathroom knowing from the sound that something awful had happened. Her husband Tom frantically told her their two-year-old son Randy wasn’t breathing. 

Donna called the paramedics while Tom gave his son mouth-to-mouth. They took turns trying to resuscitate him until the ambulance arrived. The paramedics tried for a long time to revive Randy, while his six siblings tearfully gathered around their little brother.  

The night before, Randy hadn’t felt like eating dinner. He said he didn’t feel well. Donna checked and saw that he had a slight temperature. The next morning Randy was dead.  

The afternoon of Randy’s death, a detective gently questioned the distraught Petersons. Then he left them to mourn. An autopsy was performed the next morning, but the results weren’t to be known until five weeks later. Next, a DSS field investigator arrived to ask some questions. In the following weeks, a Parent Aide from a DSS vendor, "New Hope Parent Aide Program," would come by regularly to visit and chat.  

A Barnstable Juvenile Court investigator, Linda Landsburg, began making unannounced visits to their home to sit and chat, starting about a week after Randy’s death. Donna believes the court was urged to send her also at the insistence of DSS. The couple’s relationship with the court investigator was pleasant enough under the circumstances. Likewise their relationship with Parent Aide Maureen Stanton was "very receptive," according to a letter Stanton wrote to DSS in February of 1995. Stanton wrote, "I see and feel that a genuine bond and concern for the welfare of each and every child exists…I see no indication of abuse or neglect of their children. I do see that there are challenges they have with a family of six children dealing with all the care that they need, and also dealing with the recent death of their son, Randy." 

In addition to the Parent Aide and the Court Investigator, the Petersons also began receiving weekly visits from DSS supervisor Carol Lee and social worker Jean O’Melia.  

According to the January 12, 1995 autopsy results from the Medical Examiner, Randy died of natural causes, pneumonia. The Petersons would later learn from their doctor it was "microscopic pneumonia," which lab technicians had to grow in a tube for weeks until they knew exactly what it was. He told them the virus was lurking inside Randy and there was nothing the parents could have done. According to the autopsy report obtained by Massachusetts News, the pathologist wrote that there were no suggestions of foul play or trauma.  

According to Donna, when the Petersons asked DSS supervisor Carol Lee why they were still coming by for regular visits even after the cause of death was established, Lee told the Petersons they were "under a microscope." Lee tells Massachusetts News she has no comment.  

The weekly visits from Parent Aide, the Juvenile Court, and DSS continued through February, March and into April of 1995. Someone told the couple that it was unusual to have two social workers come to visit from DSS, especially a supervisor. The Petersons began to feel harassed although the visits remained cordial. 

Little did they know, the death of little Randy was only the beginning of sorrows for the family. 

DSS Coerces ‘Domestic Abuse’ 

As Donna described it, about 11 p.m. on her birthday, April 3, 1995, an acquaintance of Tom’s named Marc Schindler, who had been drinking, came by their house with his girlfriend, Heather. Donna and Tom knew the DSS was watching them and they didn’t want any drinking in their house. "Tom told him, ‘Donna and I just got back from a nice dinner and we’re going to bed.’ The man would not leave. Tom, who is a carpenter by trade, told him, "I want you out of my house. You’re drunk. Get out." But Marc began punching Tom, spilling his beer over them both. Marc’s dog, a pit bull, jumped on Tom at the same time when he saw his master hitting him. The altercation spilled into the driveway until Marc ran off. Donna told Massachusetts News, "I guess our neighbor heard the shouting." The neighbor called the police, she said. 

According to Donna, Tom then left the house angry saying he was going to find Marc at his house. Donna pleaded with him not to do it. Tom walked his anger off instead and went to a convenience store for a soda. When the police arrived, Donna explained there was a fight between the two men.  

After the police left, Marc’s girlfriend called Donna who told her Tom was on his way over there. When Tom returned home after cooling off, the police arrived a second time and arrested Tom for domestic violence. The police claimed Donna had called them. The couple denied there was any wife battering or that Donna had called them. The police presented a paper to Donna to sign, which would have the effect of a restraining order and acknowledge there was domestic abuse. Donna refused to sign it. Tom was presented a similar paper at the police station admitting domestic abuse.  

"To this day, everyone who has listened to the police tape says it’s not my voice," says Donna. "I say to everybody, look how many years we’ve been together without the slightest thing like domestic abuse. Nobody will stop and listen." 

Later they were to find out from a sheepish Heather and Marc that Heather called the police posing as Donna. And Marc signed a statement for the couple that the two men were fighting. The couple was willing to go to court if called to testify but Donna says DSS was not interested; they had their domestic abuse arrest. Police logs show two simultaneous calls at 0155 a.m. One call by "anonymous" with a note: "calling for wife, says husband has returned." The other call is logged again at 0155 a.m. as "domestic" and says it was made by Donna Peterson. A note says: "Husband has returned home." Donna says Heather made both brief calls, one after the other. Marc and Heather could not be located for comment. 

"Tom had to go to court that day straight from the police station. The judge at first believed Tom was guilty of domestic abuse. I stood in front of the judge and said, ‘Your honor, look at me. I do not have one mark on me. Look at Tom. He’s cut and bruised, his clothes are ripped up, he’s still bleeding, he has dried blood all over him. I will go to the hospital right now and let someone look at my body. There is not a mark on me.’ The judge let Tom go. He could see Tom’s condition and that I was fine. He did not believe there was any domestic abuse. That was regular court; Barnstable District Court." Donna provided photographs to Massachusetts News of Tom’s condition that day. 

DSS was not satisfied however. 

DSS Seizes All Children 

On the same day that the judge released Tom, the youngest children were with the couple that afternoon at home. Cameron was one and a half years old, Cory 4 and little Tom 6 who had come home from kindergarten. The other children: Troy 9 and Tarri 10, were at school. Their 13-year-old daughter, Deanna, had stayed home sick with strep throat and went with her grandmother to see the doctor.  

Donna’s voice choked with emotion when she recalled, "The kids didn’t come home from school that afternoon. We lived right in the back of the school and I was saying, ‘Where are my kids?’ Every day I saw them coming home the exact same time." Donna called the school and was told DSS had taken the children away. Only minutes later, little Tom cried out, "Mom, the police are here!"  

Donna looked out the window and saw about eight police officers – with Lee and O’Melia from DSS leading them up the walkway. Donna realized they were coming for her children, so she locked herself into her room. "I said, ‘Tom, I don’t know what is going on but I am not giving these kids to DSS and the police.’" She could hear the commotion outside the bedroom. "They threatened to arrest me if I didn’t open the door. Little Tom was screaming, ‘Mom, don’t let them take me!’"  

Donna was conflicted. She knew the police would get their way, yet she stood fast heeding her son’s cries because she wanted to protect him. The police again threatened they would call rescue to come break down the door, then arrest her. She relented and gave in to the inevitable when Tom asked her to. 

"When I opened the door it was unbelievable. They rushed in and began snatching up the kids and carrying them out. Cory, who was very attached to me, was screaming, ‘No! Mommy!’ A woman police officer was pulling him by one arm while Cory frantically grabbed onto everything he could, almost ripping the molding off the back door. He got a good hold of the molding, so the policewoman kept pulling harder on his other arm. Cory screamed in pain and I shouted, ‘You’re going to rip his arm out!’ 

"That’s when I saw Jean and Carol from DSS in the kitchen. I said to them ‘You’ve been in my home every week for three months looking for abuse, yet you’re allowing the police to rip Cory’s arm out? Look at Cory. Don’t you care about children?’ Then, Carol finally told the officer to stop it. I set Cory on a cabinet in the corner and shielded him so he could calm down." Tom took over for her while Donna returned to the DSS people in the kitchen.  

"I said to them, ‘Look, you people are making the greatest mistake you can ever make. We’ve told you the truth. We’ve definitely cooperated. We’ve let you in our house every week for three months. There’s a mistake here. There were two men fighting.’ Carol looked me in the eye and said, ‘I don’t believe you, I really believe you have domestic abuse in your home and you’re afraid to tell anybody.’" 

Donna continued, "That’s when I got really upset. I ran and got a small box and shoved it into her chest saying, ‘If you’re going to take all my children, you might as well take Randy too!’"  

The box contained the ashes of Randy. 

Donna feels that incident unleashed a personal vendetta against the couple by the DSS supervisor.  

While the incident with the ashes greatly upset the DSS supervisor, it was put on hold for the moment until Cory could be taken away to the DSS office with the rest of the children. "It was so awful. Cory was having trouble breathing he was so upset." Donna agreed to go along on the ride to calm him. Lee wanted assurance Donna wouldn’t strangle her in the car. 

Children Removed: Mother Wouldn’t File False Report 

"At the DSS office I met with a ‘specialist in domestic abuse’ from Independence House, a home for battered women. She wanted me to admit we have domestic abuse in our home. They said if I admit to it, I can take my kids with me to Independence House where we’ll be safe. I even thought for a moment that if I do, they won’t take the kids. I would not lie about Tom, however, and I refused. I told them, ‘I’m telling you people the truth, we do not have domestic abuse.’ As soon as I said that, DSS grabbed Cory, who started struggling and kicking over some filing cabinets. They opened the door and said goodbye to me as Cory was screaming ‘mommy’ and wrecking the office. I was in Yarmouth without a car, remember, and the next thing I knew I was walking down the street heartbroken in the middle of the road. The woman from Independence House picked me up a while later and drove me home. 

"Two days later we went back to DSS with my parents. My parents have a wonderful background. My father is a retired fireman who is well respected. He pleaded with DSS to let the kids come home, that it was all a mistake and not to leave the poor kids with strangers. Carol had a white blouse on and my mom and I could see the mark on her chest was still there two days later. Carol said she could press charges against me for that. I told her, ‘I don’t think so, Carol, there were 8 or 9 nine police officers there who could have done something.’ That’s when Carol pushed me against the wall and said, ‘When I’m finished, I’m going to have your children legally adopted.’ In fact, my three youngest children are up for adoption right now, but we’re appealing that." 

"Look at Tom and me now. We’ve been without our children for four-and-a-half years. We’ve gone to every court appearance that we’re supposed to be at. No matter what the DSS service plan says, we still go to every foster care review and state the same thing we have for the last four-and-a-half years, there is no domestic abuse. We moved into an apartment building with my parents for one reason; where my parents live are older people. The point is, if we had domestic abuse everybody would know it. That’s why we did it." 

Donna has amassed piles of documentation. She hopes her children can use it someday to get some sort of justice in court for being robbed of their childhood. "If one of them wants to go to Disneyland, I want them to be able to do it after all they’ve been denied," she said. 

According to the Petersons, after the children were taken the couple endured increasingly bizarre charges brought against them by DSS supervisor Carol Lee in court, which served to lengthen their case to over ninety court dates. The allegations were never proven. The original allegation of domestic abuse which Barnstable District Court threw out expanded to sexual abuse from tales allegedly extracted from the smallest children – one who was barely able to talk at the time, from Cory who was four, and from little Tom who had a speech impediment. DSS alleged the Petersons were part of a cult that would steal dogs and eat them raw, dance around naked and bark at the moon, and inject cocaine into all of their children. They were said to be guilty of sexual abuse based on interpretations extracted from the youngest children by using sexually explicit dolls. Tom’s boss told Tom a rumor was circulating around their old neighborhood that a body was found buried in the Peterson’s basement and that’s why DSS took their kids. Donna said if any of that were true, it would be a scandal all over the TV and papers. 

The Petersons say if the allegations are based on anything the smallest kids said, it was twisted from what they actually might have said. For instance, they theorize that Cory might have been asked what his favorite food was. Donna said he used to love hot dogs straight from the package. The couple said DSS may have used such a statement to allege that the family eats raw dogs stolen from the neighborhood. Critics of DSS want all questioning of children to be videotaped because of similar interrogations in other cases. 

Fear for Troy’s Life 

Following the DSS seizure of all six children, Tarri and Troy fared much worse than the others in DSS care. At this point, the Petersons fear for the life of their son, Troy, who suffered in the custody of DSS much like Tara Gavigan, who was featured in a previous issue of Massachusetts News. 

As Donna describes Troy, "In the beginning, he was normal and healthy. He had a fourth grade education because he was in the fourth grade. He was just about to start baseball and Cub Scouts. He really wanted to play baseball so he was excited about that.  

"Four-and-a-half years later, Troy’s been to twenty-eight different foster homes and three mental hospitals. We found out he was moved six months ago from Arbor Hospital where he stayed for a year, and now he’s in a mental lockup facility somewhere. Now he’s 13 years old and he has a second grade education. They have him written off as having ADHD and post traumatic stress syndrome. When Troy was with us, we had him evaluated to see if he had anything like that. They found he wasn’t a good reader but that was the only thing the school could see. He is now on Depakote, Zoloft, Clonidine, Prazadone, Disperidol and Buspar. 

"We found out at the foster care review that he tried to commit suicide with his shoelaces.  

Never mind that he’s nervous, they are still badgering him trying to find out about sexual abuse. 

"Someone gave me an inside tip that Troy was slammed onto the floor at Arbor Hospital cutting his head, and he was picking big holes in his skin. The person who told me was concerned because Troy kept telling DSS he wasn’t safe at Arbor. This person told me he was taken to Boston Children’s Hospital from Arbor. Massachusetts News obtained a copy of the Children’s Hospital "Emergency Report." Troy Peterson was brought to the emergency room from Arbor Hospital on May 27, 1999 at 1:49 p.m. Dr. Marc N. Baskin wrote in the report that Troy had lesions above the forehead and on the nose. It also says Troy had "a history of falling two weeks ago and developing a wound on his right leg." He also had a "history of picking at chronic sores on his body for the last two weeks." 

"Nobody will tell us where Troy is now, but all we keep hearing in reports is, ‘He’s happy and feels safe.’ So we believe that with all that we’ve gathered, he was really being viciously hurt where he was before. 

"Tom and I keep asking DSS why we can’t be allowed to speak to Troy’s doctor. 

The doctor could see Tom and me and hear what Troy used to be like. He could talk to Troy’s teachers and guidance counselors. He could compare what Troy used to be like and what the system made him. I hear they never let him go outside and his biggest deal is growing plants in a window. He never got to play baseball. He can barely play with other kids. What kind of adult is that going to make?" 
 
Tarri Escaped Last Summer 

At a foster care review a couple years after the children were taken, DSS gave Donna a Mother’s Day card sent from Tarri. It was the only correspondence she was given in two years. She says her mother wrote cards to her grandchildren regularly but Tarri only received one. The cards are sent to DSS who is supposed to forward them. Tarri’s rambling message in the card read, "I wish I could hug you for some of the hard times I go through like growing up into a woman. So many questions that I thought you were going to teach me. Sometimes I understand what has happened but sometimes I don’t understand why it hasn’t been fixed. When that day comes, I hope we will still all love each other again. I’ve grown up a lot. It has been so long. Love Tarri P." 

Tarri, who is now fifteen, ran away from a DSS lockup facility this summer. She used the alias "Nicki Lamb" and was sheltered by a network of concerned citizens in a little known underground railroad for abused foster children. While on the run this fall, Tarri contacted a Cape Cod newspaper to try to tell her story. With assistance writing letters to her court appointed attorney, Tarri tried to arrange a court hearing where she could have witnesses and avoid being placed back in the Key Shelter which terrified her. DSS, however, caught up with her and she disappeared back into their custody on September 15 of this year. The September 23 Register, a local newspaper, did a front-page story about Tarri titled, "Runaway back in custody" – a story her shocked mother saw at the newsstand when she spotted the picture of her daughter.  

Tarri attempted to write down her experiences in a book she started titled, "Just Let Me Go Home." In an outline obtained by Massachusetts News, Tarri recalls her home life before she was taken: "…We had a warm and loving home. I used to write poetry, sing, and dance around the house." 

She wrote about her four years in DSS custody. "During those four years I was moved to five different foster homes, five different school systems and two states. The first was physically abusive, the second went through a divorce, the third wanted younger children and the fourth was mentally abusive. The fifth home was wonderful. I ran away when DSS was going to move me again. I eventually turned myself in and the department placed me in a locked facility. After battery and abuse I ran again." 

The "locked facility" that Tarri was placed in was the Yarmouth Key Shelter, a catch-all facility holding DSS kids ranging from those waiting for placement to dangerous criminals. "Physical restraints causing me to black out, the 24-hour chair, drugs, refusal to provide needed medical treatment, squalor and bad food are part of the house of horrors called the Key Shelter. I have been slammed against a wall, held down by four adults and sat on by a 200-pound staff member who twisted my arms behind me. There were twelve of us, ages eight to seventeen and we all have stories." 

About DSS, Tarri wrote, "DSS testified in court that our family ate raw dog meat, that my brothers and I hunted local dogs and that my dad sucked blood out of a cat. My social worker told me that we were sexually molested by our parents. They said that my grandmother witnessed it. More than four years later our family remains apart." 

The grandparents of Tarri are outraged and have signed an affidavit which reads in part, "Our six grandchildren, Deanna, Tarri, Troy, Tom, Cory and Cameron were severed from our family because the authorities wrongfully assumed domestic abuse to be in their parents’ household. There was not a battered mother or any reports of such…The MA. Dept. of Social Services has kidnapped our six grandchildren – why? Every day we ask God for the courageous person to recognize this horrible injustice to our family. We want our children returned back to the family life of happiness we once knew and enjoyed." 

Tarri’s account continues: "When I was in Arizona, I was an A student. My grades are now falling and I missed two months of school. I have been battered and I suspect (from needle marks) that I have been illegally drugged while I was restrained. I have been physically and emotionally abused. I have experimented with marijuana, cocaine and alcohol in an attempt to escape the emotional pain. 

Tarri Is Raped by Three Men 

"While in DSS custody I lost my virginity to forced rape by three men in their thirties. They were drinking heavily and using marijuana. There were ten to fifteen witnesses to the rape at the party. I went to a local health clinic and learned that I was pregnant. I told my social worker and asked if I could get money for an abortion. She said that no money was available but that I needed to get an abortion because it is hard to find a placement for a mother and child. Eventually a friend brought me to an abortion clinic and paid for the abortion. I cried out for help and was told by my foster mother that it was my fault. 

"I reported my rape to the police six to eight weeks after the incident. The men were questioned and DSS refused to bring me to the hearing. All charges were dropped. Later I attempted suicide. 

"Today at age fourteen, I am hiding and I am being hunted like a criminal. I just want to be left alone and go home to my family. I want to be a kid and have dates and go to school. I want to worry about my hair and my clothes." 

In a September 2nd letter to her court appointed attorney, Deborah Cassell, Tarri wrote she was upset that the court kept continuing her case. "I believe that much of the fault lies with your failure to follow my repeated instructions. We have spoken on the telephone nearly every day for the past two weeks in order to find a way for me to turn myself in. You have told me that DSS is insisting that I be committed to a mental institution for 90 days. This will cause me to lose a year of school and place me back into the control of my abusers. 

Eric Bliecken, the unsuccessful Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. William Delahunt in 1998, took Tarri for an independent physical and psychological examination while she was on the run. Bliecken heard about Tarri through contacts and took up her cause. 

Tarri referred to those examinations in the letter to her attorney saying her clean bill of health should deter the court "from honoring the DSS recommendation to institutionalize me." 

Tarri reminded her attorney to contact a detective at the Yarmouth Police station, the Attorney General and an Inspector General Criminal Investigator to investigate abuse at the Key Shelter. "You have failed to contact any of these individuals and have again gone before Judge Smith unprepared to represent my best interest. That you have finally decided to file a 51A against the Key Shelter employees is a step in the right direction. 

"I ran away from my foster home and I understand that was a mistake. I ran away twice from physical and mental abuse in a state facility and I believe that the Attorney General’s investigation will determine that my actions were justified and necessary." 

In another letter written on September 4 to her attorney and obtained by Massachusetts News, Tarri enclosed her medical and psychological examination results.  

Tarri wrote that her regular gynecologist, who examined her while being unaware she was on the run, was pleased that Tarri had quit smoking, was working out and lost ten pounds on her diet. She determined Tarri was not sexually active. Tarri continued in her letter, "She was angered by the fact that DSS and the authorities failed to prosecute the three men who forcibly raped me. She was the doctor who examined me and knows about the abortion which resulted from the rape." Tarri told her attorney in the letter she wants her gynecologist and the psychologist subpoenaed for her next hearing.  

Cory Sent to Mental Hospital 

Donna described her son Cory as a 4 year old who was very attached to her and "did everything with me." She said he was in two different foster homes the first year and a third foster home the last three-and-a-half years. His first foster mother complained to DSS that Cory was "spinning in circles and making funny voices." DSS put him into Pembroke Mental Hospital for three months and put him on Ritalin for a year. Donna said at his present foster home, "The foster family has a mentally ill son that’s 24 years old with a fourth- grade education. I found out on March 25 of this year that the foster mother stated in court she caught Cory and the 24-year-old son with their pants down in her son’s room. The foster mother stated to the judge that when Cory goes to the doctor, he will not take off his clothes and he makes a huge deal about it. When he’s in his room, he locks the door and will not let anyone in when he dresses, the same with the bathroom. 

"Cory was never like that," Donna continued. "It was never a big deal. It makes you wonder how come no one is allowed in the room and why he locks the door when he gets dressed? Why is he making a big screaming fit at the doctor’s?" Donna is worried because the foster mother wants to adopt Cory and would love to also adopt his little brother, Cameron, who lives there now after the foster mother requested it and the judge allowed it. "We’ve learned that Cameron is not doing good there. He’s fighting all the way; he hates it. So now we learn DSS wants to evaluate Cameron for medication and therapy." Cameron has been to 4 or 5 foster homes since he was taken at one-and-a-half years old. 

Tom Is Living With Man 

Little Tom is now ten and was taken from his family when he was in kindergarten. "His kindergarten teacher went to court for him." said Donna.  

Donna continued, "Little Tom at first went to a foster home with Cameron and was there about three months. Then, I went to a store and was shocked to see Tom with no hair and millions of scabs all over his head. I didn’t really see the foster mother but I saw the car that he got in. It had a broken back window with plastic over it. I went home and called the State Police because I couldn’t believe what I had seen. The lady said in court she shaved his head to look for scars but slipped a couple times and cut him. Everybody believes he had lice from that place. It must have itched his head so much. Something must have been wrong; because after that, both Tom and Cameron were taken out of that home. 

"After that Tom was put with a man who he’s been with four years now. The man seems ok because I saw him in court. The only thing we all think is very strange is he’s already adopted four foster sons and he doesn’t have a wife. I would think when my kids were taken away that they would be placed in a setting with a mother and a father because they came from a family like that. 

Deanna Used to Have Excellent Reports 

"Deanna was really smart. She was going to have a scholarship given to her in the 7th grade. When DSS took her, she lost the scholarship or anything to do with that when they sent her away to Maine. Donna displayed a letter and certificate from President Bush, from January, 1992, congratulating Deanna on being among the winners of the Presidential Academic Fitness Awards. Her February 7,1995 report card from Barnstable Middle School in Hyannis shows she was on the honor roll with comments of "outstanding effort and behavior," "cooperative and attentive," "works well consistently." The Principal wrote to the Petersons two days later saying in part, "I also know that this kind of achievement is the result of your support and encouragement at home…Please know how much the staff and I appreciate having students of this caliber in the Barnstable Middle School in Hyannis."  

Donna continued, "Now I find out she’s still really smart and doing good in school, but she’s not doing as good as when she was home. She doesn’t have any scholarships after she was told she was going to have so many. She is eighteen now and in her senior year. She has been in Maine the entire time." A card Donna displayed that Deanna made when she was eight years old is titled, "To my wonderful family" inscribed inside a heart. She showed photos of a family project with Deanna and the other kids making homemade costumes for Halloween.  

Cooperated but Would Not Lie 

The Petersons complied with some of the service plan DSS imposed on them but not everything. They opened their home to the Parent Aide visits, took parenting classes, began seeing a therapist and took drug and alcohol evaluations. They refused to take domestic abuse classes, which would require Tom to admit guilt of domestic abuse. Donna refused to go to Independence House for battered women, they did not go to AA because they were not alcoholics and they refused urine testing because Donna had an information sheet that described all the normal substances that could give a false positive. 

After a half year of drug and alcohol abuse evaluations, in November of 1996, the clinical therapist Martin Kapp wrote in part, "As we both know, the parents deny the allegations listed in the service plan and have waited to present their case in court. I have been unable to uncover any clinical information that would support the allegations in the service plan…In this case there has been no verification of the allegations which are quite severe. It would seem contraindicated to continue ‘therapy’ on the DSS tasks at this time." 

The Crime Lab Toxicology results on little Randy all show negative for cocaine, barbiturates, alcohol, methamphetamines and morphine. Donna said no matter how hard they worked to disprove each false allegation from DSS, like the cocaine injection allegation, another allegation from social workers would come forth requiring months more to disprove it. 

The Petersons say that District Attorney Michael O’Keefe and State Police Investigator Kim Squire have begun to investigate Tarri’s rape and all the other things happening to their children in DSS custody. 

------ 

Independent Professionals Evaluate the  

Peterson Family – Very Favorably 

----- 

Maureen Stanton, Private Investigator for DSS 

Maureen Stanton, a private investigator for the DSS, wrote a letter to it in February of 1995. "I see and feel that a genuine bond and concern for the welfare of each and every child exists…I see no indication of abuse or neglect of their children. I do see that there are challenges they have with a family of six children dealing with all the care that they need, and also dealing with the recent death of their son, Randy." 

Principal at Barnstable Middle School 

Deanna was on Honor Roll at Barnstable Middle School with comments like "outstanding effort and behavior," "cooperative and attentive," "works well consistently." The Principal wrote to the Petersons two days later saying in part, "I also know that this kind of achievement is the result of your support and encouragement at home…Please know how much the staff and I appreciate having students of this caliber in the Barnstable Middle School in Hyannis." 

Charles Bloom, Guidance Counselor for Troy and Tarri 

Letter from Charles Bloom, Guidance Counselor at East Elementary School, Hyannis, who knew Troy and Tarri from March of 1993 until they were taken in April, 1995.  

"Never did the children indicate anything which would lead me to believe that they were physically or emotionally abused. They have never indicated to me that their parents were emotionally or physically abusive toward each other." Bloom said the children’s behavior was never typical of children who have been exposed to emotional or physical abuse or where violent behavior was part of the family dynamics. Describing them as hard working, polite and responsive to adults, Bloom wrote that, "[Tarri and Troy] always gave me the impression of having a loving family and they never said or did anything that would have indicated otherwise." Bloom tells Massachusetts News he remembers Tarri as a sweet girl and believes if she stayed at home, the worst thing that ever would have happened to her would maybe be an occasional missed bath or exposure to cigarette smoke. He confirmed that Troy’s only problem at school was that he was slower at his work than other students.  

Bloom says he has a lot of experience spotting troubled homes. He did social work years ago for the Department of Welfare, "with a police radio in my back pocket." He says he removed children from homes only in an emergency when they were literally abused and he was able to defend his actions later in court. Bloom also mentioned he remembers little Tommy’s speech was virtually unintelligible. Tommy and his one-year-old brother were the ones allegedly telling DSS at the time about eating raw dogs and being sexually abused. 

Verna Machado, Kindergarten Teacher of Tom  

Tom’s kindergarten teacher, Verna Machado, who teaches at Hyannis East Elementary School, wrote at the time he was her student, "[Tom] is a cheerful, loving, well-mannered, outgoing boy. He enjoys school and was making excellent progress in all areas. His parents both attended the parent-teacher conference held in November and showed interest in and pride in Tom’s school achievements. They have given support to any ‘at home’ projects. They provided him with a daily snack for school. Tom’s brother and sister frequently visited my classroom. In March they each made a project at home to share with the kindergarten as we learned about space travel. They came in and confidently explained their projects to the class. My experiences with Tom’s family have been all positive." Machado confirmed for Massachusetts News she’s gone to court several times about the Peterson case to testify to what she wrote. 

Maurice M. Small, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Saw Tarri at Request of Eric Bliecken 

The Ph.D. clinical psychologist who saw Tarri for a total of six hours on two different dates wrote: "In conclusion, Tarri appears on examination to be a normal, healthy adolescent who is thriving while living with the Blieckens. There is a need for counseling since she has undergone much experience that would have destroyed lesser women." 

Robert Taylor, Licensed Social Worker and Therapist, Counseled Mr. and Mrs. Peterson 

Robert Taylor has been in social work for forty years. He told Massachusetts News he began seeing the couple shortly after the children were taken from them. Taylor said he’s seen them regularly for the last four years and does not charge them. He said that is because they couldn’t pay, but he stayed with them because he thinks what they have gone through is almost too much to bear. He said he told DSS he thinks taking their children was a mistake.  

"We don’t get anywhere with DSS," says Taylor. "They’re sure that they are right and I’m reasonably sure that they’re wrong. The tragedy with the court is they were expecting a decision by Christmas of 1995, and they didn’t get a decision until this fall. The court would meet for an hour or two, then dismiss for a month. I don’t know how anybody can operate that way. In the long run, I don’t think the family was given a reasonable opportunity to tell their story." He confirmed that the Petersons followed some of their service plan but were never recognized for that. When asked about other aspects of the service plan to which the Petersons said, "No," out of principle, he said, "I think there has been so much hype about child abuse that DSS overreacts. When you think about the suffering this family has been going through, two of the children have been going downhill steadily, I think DSS resources should be put into prevention of placement because placement is not a good option for many children." In a nutshell, Taylor said he sees no reason why the Petersons couldn’t parent their children. "Nobody’s a perfect parent. They’re certainly proud of their children, they care about their children, and I couldn’t imagine that they could not properly take care of them."