Charlotte—If you’ve phoned the home of the Strattons in the past several months, chances are, their poignant message made you pause.

“Hello, you’ve reached Jack and Kathy Stratton. We’re not here right now. We’re out fighting for our children. We love you children, more than anything in the world. You’ll be home soon.”

Why the unusual message? Because they’ve been forbidden from having any contact with their children, but they believe that their children might be calling just to hear their voices, and they want to make sure that their children – at least – know they love them.

And the “soon” of the voice mail is a relative term – and a word that the Strattons hope is not just wishful thinking, though it has been more than a year since their children have lived under their roof.

The saga that the Strattons describe as a “nightmare” began on Jan. 30, 2001, when the Mecklenburg Department of Youth and Family Services took the Stratton’s ten children, alleging that “the juveniles are neglected…they do not receive adequate care, supervision and discipline and reside in an environment injurious to their welfare.”

But the Strattons reject those claims, and they and their attorney Mike Schmidt, a North Carolina lawyer affiliated with the Christian-based Alliance Defense Fund, are fighting for custody.

The latest round in this battle occurred this week, on Jan. 8, when the Strattons appeared once again before Judge Libby Miller to answer the charges of neglect. And even if the Strattons get their children back, what has transpired in the past year raises questions about the procedures of the Department of Social Services, as well as basic constitutional questions that arise when a family with limited resources goes up against the legal system.

Poor, But Not Deprived

The couple, who regularly attend Central Church of God, admits their family doesn’t have a lot of money, but they also say they’ve never deprived their children of basic necessities. They had been living in both sides of a duplex on Eastway Drive for six years. They think that their problems began when it became obvious that repairs were needed and Jack moved his family to the smaller unit of the building until he could complete the repairs.

The scene was understandably chaotic, with a dozen people living in one-half of a duplex. But the Strattons say it was safe. Nonetheless, the scene must have aroused scrutiny from neighbors, because someone placed an anonymous phone call to the Department of Youth and Family Services, and DYFS officials visited the Stratton home on Dec. 19, 2000. In Kathy Stratton’s words, it was a nightmare.

“It was at the worst possible time,” she lamented. “It’s like when your hair is up in rollers and company comes to visit!”

DYFS reported that the children were “extremely dirty, unkempt, inappropriately dressed for the conditions. One child appeared to be blind or otherwise physically handicapped. One child also has diabetes. Some of the children appear to have some speech impediments.”

But that isn’t the way Kathy Stratton remembers tells the story.

Kathy Stratton said that when DYFS came to visit, the children were still in their pajamas. She instructed them to dress quickly and run next door to their grandmother’s house. Her six girls and four boys, between the ages of one and 16, scrambled to pull on clothes. But as children sometimes do, they grabbed the first thing available, thinking nothing of the weather. The result was a hodgepodge of spring and winter clothing.

Explanations for the children’s clothing and the duplex’s ongoing repairs went unheard.

The report further stated: “there was nothing in the home to indicate the children were being educated at home.” But Kathy homeschooled her children and kept all her school supplies stored in a cabinet the social workers never bothered to look in.

DYFS officials did get one thing right in their report. One child does suffer from diabetes. But none of the children is blind and only one child has a speech impediment. The Strattons believe that these allegations were made to make it easier for their children to be taken from them, and because the DYFS’s ability to place “special needs” children in permanent adoptive homes could ultimately result in significant financial incentives for the state. (See sidebar.)

Regardless of the inaccuracies, the report was written and, as Kathy Stratton says, “rubber-stamped” in court.

The DYFS report made another allegation that the Strattons deny: “[T]here appeared to be an extraordinary control by the father over the family” and “due to the father’s demeanor and the workers’ concern for their safety, the police were called.”

Again, Jack Stratton’s version of the story is very different.

“I came out the door. It was real cold and it was sleeting. I told them I was afraid because I knew of [the Department of Social Services] and they have a lot of power,” he said.

According to Jack Stratton, the DYFS supervisor grew hostile because the Strattons wouldn’t let her see their children. The police were called and once they arrived, Jack agreed to let his children meet the social workers, but only as a group. Jack said the social workers asked to interview the children individually behind closed doors but he refused, fearing they would be strip-searched.

But in spite of the scene that day – the sleet, the ongoing construction, and the presence of the police -- DYFS officials didn’t take the children that day, something Jack feels supports his case.

“If it was a dangerous situation they would have taken them that night,” he said.

The family moved to a log cabin in Gaston County and lived there six weeks, with Jack going to work every day and Kathy teaching their children at home. But according to Jack, DYFS officials tapped his cousin’s telephone line and eventually found the Strattons. On Jan. 30, 2001, despite the inaccuracies in the original report, all ten Stratton children were taken from their parents and placed in foster homes.

That was the beginning of their nightmare. Since then, the Strattons and their children have been subjected to numerous psychological and medical evaluations and home visits. At first the couple was eager to comply with DYFS officials and any of Judge Miller’s orders, thinking it would be one step closer to having their children returned home. But when DYFS began canceling the last examination in a series of tests and even prescribing new rounds of testing, the couple grew suspicious and soon began thinking that DYFS spoke with empty promises.

“They weren’t going to give us our children back,” said Kathy.

Jack’s worst fears were realized in mid-June when one of his sons told him he’d been attacked in a foster home and sexually assaulted. According to Jack, he reported the incident immediately to DYFS official Sherry Glenn but only after threatening a lawsuit was his son redirected to another home. According to Jake Jacobsen, Jr., Director of DYFS, the law requires that a child abuse case be screened and investigated within 24 hours after it is first reported. But DYFS officials waited eight days before taking the boy in for a medical examination.

Glenn refused to speak about this case and referred questions to DYFS attorney Tyrone Wade, who could not be reached by press time.

The more the Strattons fought to protect their children, the more resistance they met. On June 27, the couple saw their children in a supervised visit for the last time. They have not been allowed to see them since then and have had to rely on the children calling them sporadically at their home for any contact – which motivated them to record the unusual phone greeting on their answering machine.

Another roadblock for the Strattons is the couples’ religious conviction against immunizing their children. When they discovered that DYFS officials had begun vaccinating their children, they cried foul. According to Jack, his oldest son, after resisting a shot was chased down and vaccinated against his will. Jack attempted to seek redress in court, but he soon learned that DYFS officials weren’t all that stood between he and his children.

Jack stated his religious exemption on June 28 before Judge Miller, but five days later, the judge ordered that the vaccinations should continue. Jack appealed, which should have stopped the vaccinations temporarily, but they continued. Without the knowledge of their court-appointed attorney, whose help they feel was useless, the Strattons filed an appeal in Raleigh on July 16. Less than three weeks later, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Strattons and Judge Miller was forced to stop the vaccinations.

While all of this was going on, the Strattons were taking steps to comply with the court’s requirements to get their children back. They have moved into a bigger house to accommodate their children, procured a home school certificate (something Kathy lacked), and both have maintained steady employment. But still, no children.

As the Strattons continued to fight, their struggle was becoming known to more people at Central Church of God, some of whom encouraged the family to contact the media. In August, The Charlotte World first reported on the situation, but when a reporter from The Charlotte World attended a Sept. 13 hearing, the hearing was postponed and Judge Miller placed a gag order on the Strattons, others associated with the case, and – for a short time – on The Charlotte World. Charlotte World publisher Warren Smith, believing that the gag order was unconstitutional, contacted the Alliance Defense Fund to seek legal representation in the matter. The gag order on The Charlotte World was ultimately rescinded, but remains in effect on the Strattons. Laurinburg attorney Mike Schmidt, who was recommended to The Charlotte World by the ADF, now represents the Strattons.

And while all of this was going on, the human costs continue to mount. Jack and Kathy Stratton have missed nine of their children’s birthdays and are soon to miss a tenth as their oldest son celebrates his eighteenth birthday in mid-January.

For now, the hearings, as well as the pain of separation, continues.

If you ask Kathy what the past few months have taught her, she’ll tell you two things.

“Knowledge is power,” she says matter-of-factly.

She then tearfully adds, “And I can empathize with anyone going through pain.”

Six DYFS officials were contacted for this article, but only two returned phone calls.