Child taken from custodial mother

PART I

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, Ill.

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.”

Mike Handley, the paternal grandfather, had died after a bout with cancer. “My family, we love very, very deeply. We all helped to raise him (Shane). He was always around us, everybody. I have four sisters and another brother. He called my son ‘brother’. He was always surrounded with love,” said Handley.

Despite being born under the harsh conditions, Shane was a smart boy who loved to dance, said Handley. He learned how to smudge and understood this was part of a blessing. Handley said the boy liked to take the burning sage around the house to bless the home.

Like many addicted parents, Handley claims that Tia Handley loved her son. She was a caring mother to the boy, who helped when she could. Her drug of choice was heroin and despite the grip the drug had on her life, she always found time to give her affection to the boy, according to Handley.

Shane’s father was a non-tribal member, an African American man who was based in Minneapolis. “He was in and out of prison. He was in prison at the time they took him from me,” she said. “He seen him only once in his whole life when I had him, and the grandmother (paternal) never met him at all.”

The boy had been living in Rapid City with Handley and her family for nearly five years of his young life. He had gone to head start at the facility located in Lakota Homes in North Rapid (Rural America Initiatives). He began learning to draw, play, swim and cook, and always wanted to tag along with her son during their time together. “He liked to smudge everybody, even the dog. He was very sweet and kind,” she said.

Handley said she took custody of her niece’s son because it was the natural thing to do. “I would never let any of my sibling’s children, or anybody in family go to the state. I would never let anybody do that. In my mindset, I will do whatever it takes to take him,” she said. “I didn’t think twice about taking him.”

Originally, the state had sent letters to everybody who may be considered to take the boy while he was in medical care custody, according to Handley. “My parents were too old and my brother couldn’t do it at the time because he was going through cancer,” she said. “All of us girls (Handley and her sisters) tried, and the state chose me. Tia’s other family wasn’t able to. They (state) said it was because of their past dealings with them, they were unable to place a child with them.”

Shane Handley had gone to head start in Rapid City with Handley and her family. He had begun kindergarten in the Black Hills town also. He had gone to kindergarten until October, 2017. This was until she literally had to run for the Hills with Shane following an order to bring the boy to Pine Ridge by CPS workers.

In 2017, Handley had decided to adopt the boy. She felt it was time for her to make him a permanent part of their family. “I wanted to adopt him because that’s my baby. That’s my brother’s grandson. Tia, I love her. I miss her so much. It doesn’t matter what she was doing. I hated her addiction, but I didn’t hate her,” she said. “It broke my heart when she died. I bonded with him. That’s our baby.”

Handley claims it was the state who felt it would be a better choice to do the adoption through the Pine Ridge courts. This is where things became very difficult and she felt beginning the adoption process “kicked up dust and that’s when many people got involved.”

In October 2017, Shane Handley was placed in the joint custody of his maternal and paternal grandmothers and now lives with his paternal grandmother, Charlotte Johnson in Chicago, Ill. Handley and her family have had four conversations with Shane and has Skyped with him on one occasion since he was taken from her custody. She does not understand why a tribal court would place the boy in a non-Native home.

In next week’s issue, learn more about the strange case of Shane Handley and how the enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe was sent to live with his non-Native, paternal grandmother in Chicago, Ill.

(Contact Native Sun News Today Correspondent Richie Richards at richie4175@gmail.com)

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