Strollerderby

North Carolina Accused Of Illegally Seizing Autistic Boy

Posted by Amy S.F. Lutz

This is such a crazy, unbelievable story, you'd never think it could happen here in the United States:  a boy on vacation, taken into custody by the state for no reason, sparking a frustrating, futile, two year fight for his recovery.

But it appears to be true.  I even checked on Snopes, and it's not an urban legend, even though it sounds like one.

Joshua William Smith, then seven years old, was in North Carolina for Easter vacation in April, 2006.  He was being watched by his father's girlfriend when Carteret County Social Services came to the house and took the boy into custody.  The agency claims Joshua was being neglected, but in over two years of legal proceedings, no evidence of abuse has ever been presented.  The fact that the girlfriend is also a registered nurse makes these accusations seem even more unlikely. 

Joshua's dad, Javan Smith, went to court in Texas, where the two were permanent residents, and was awarded full custody of his son.  In the meantime, North Carolina moved Joshua, who is autistic, to a treatment center in Virginia.  But when Javan took the Texas order to Virginia, officials there moved Joshua back to North Carolina to evade the order.  He has subsequently been moved back and forth between Virginia and North Carolina, making consistent care and visitation from his father virtually impossible. 

Why would North Carolina work so hard to keep a father and his son apart?  According to the report I read, "Their current claim appears to be that the State of Texas cannot provide adequate education for children."

Seriously?  Does that mean that North Carolina plans on grabbing every child from Texas that enters the state?  Besides, it's not like North Carolina is doing such a stellar job with Joshua.  He isn't on the special diet that his autism requires, and there are suspicions that he is being hurt by either his caretakers or the other kids in his facility.

Fortunately, it does appear that this nightmare is drawing to a close.  North Carolina State Representatives were ordered to bring Joshua to a Texas hearing this past Friday, and the FBI has offered to help bring Joshua back to Texas if necessary.  I haven't been able to discover the outcome of Friday's court session, but hopefully Javan and Joshua have already been reunited.


+ DIGG + STUMBLE

Comments

 

april said:

we are still fighting like mad to get joshua back.  this is very true.  check out hope4kidz.org.  the order was signed june 16th.  the judge has given nc until june 25th to hand joshua over to texas cps.  so far they are telling local media they are not going to comply.

thank you so much for posting this.  we're working like mad down here and can use all the help we can get.

april love

aprillove1969@earthlink.net

June 21, 2008 8:54 AM
 

marcie sinclair said:

Wow. Ms. Lutz does no research. And she is a published author!!! How pathetic. Some people will beleive anything! I guess we know the truth now! Do a word search on WNCT 9 JOSHUA SMITH and find out the latest. Mr. Smith is a fraud. Thank god DSS is looking after this poor child. Their director is strong to stand in the face of such poor propaganda for the sake of the child.

June 25, 2008 8:12 PM
 

Missy said:

Marcie Sinclair is exactly right.  Read the Virginia Judge's Order here -- it sets forth the long history of this case and Mr. Smith's deceptions and tells why the Texas order will not be honored by VA or NC:  www.icourt.info/.../javan%20smith%20memorandum%20order_1_.pdf

June 28, 2008 6:06 PM
 

Betty Davis said:

Javan Smith is a liar.  I know about this case from it's very inception and I am amazed that he has conned his way into the Autism Society as Vice President, conned his way into the news media with his tall tales and has everyone believing that he owns anything.  He is a bum and a con artist from the word go. He has paperwork from about twenty years ago where he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic.  I know for a fact that Javan was a resident of NC not Texas when Joshua was taken.  I was present when Joshua was taken.  I can not believe that a vast majority of Americans could ever believe this man's imaginative tales to such an extent as I have witnessed.  

July 1, 2008 8:02 PM
 

Betty Davis said:

I just wanted to add a bit more here. Javan is now angry that the true story is coming out to counter his fabricated one and he is now making further accusations about this issue.  The jurisdiction issue was fabricated by Smith to circumvent the order of NC.  In the NC Adjudication it is noted specifically that Javan has his own mental health problems which have been and would continue to be unhealthy for the young boy in question, Joshua who has already suffered because of his father's own shortcomings. Javan does not want the true circumstances known yet he made certain to appeal to the public likely as a means to draw support.

One poster in a post at www.wrongplanet.net/postt69284.html stated that they are hoping the story about Javan Smith’s fight gets national and international coverage.  Putting this in the public eyes has caused Javan Smith to become a public entity who is setting himself up for questionable speculation and intervention into all things related to the case which includes the public claims that Javan Smith has made in defaming others involved in the judicial arena and in other areas as well.  He wanted public notoriety and now he has it, so now he must also take the loss of privacy that his public outcry has produced. From my own observation I have seen Javan Smith as a philanderer, an opportunist and a predator.  He equips himself in his battles with both intellectualism and a condescending attitude in his attempts to garner support from others in all things.

The strategy in going public was not in my estimation a good one.  The end result of his attempts at making his story a national headline is that after listening to his version which is fabricated, the truth is being told to the public and he does not want the truth to be public knowledge.

The grandiose and extreme accounts in the version of the story that Javan Smith has wanted the public to believe is far from the reality, and it is the reality that has protected a little boy from further harm. Actually, I believe that the father needs as much help as the son. I would like to start seeing some articles in support of NC's actions instead those that help an unstable father use the public in his personal attempt to make a mockery of our judicial systems. There is much that I know personally about this situation having been there and having been involved to some degree.

July 7, 2008 11:23 AM
 

Katy North said:

Hats off to the ones fighting against the propaganda machine of April Love & Javan Smith. Mr Smith is nothing more than a fraud and soon people will see through his charade of lies.

July 7, 2008 10:53 PM

About Amy S.F. Lutz

Amy S.F. Lutz's work has appeared in dozens of literary journals, including Cream City Review, The American Poetry Review, Puerto del Sol, and Mid-American Review. She and her husband have five children. Amy and her sister chronicle their adventures in communal living in their blog whoelsewantstoliveinmyhouse.com

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