Hello!

Let me introduce us...

I would like to take a few moments to introduce myself, and my "tribe"

I'm Linda Hull,

I offer my situation here so that you can be more understanding with us and other people in similar situations, and in helping us to integrate more fully with the society in which we live.

Here is a little bit of our story. It's quite lengthy, but it's very difficult to say it with fewer words, or less information.

 

Craig and I were married in 1976. I was a Christian, but Craig's mother had brought him up in the Unitarian Church. I had left home, and like many others I left behind my beliefs, and the practice of those beliefs.

Craig went to the Church that my mother went to, to ask for help for me. They prayed with him, and he ended up going back for the service, "To find out what kind of hokey they are preaching."

I had to go to Church, too, when he was baptized. I knew the Lord would get me, He did!

Craig and I ran a Christian House with Calvary Chapel in Boulder Colo. I met a man then who was Autistic. I did not know then that I would find out that not only I had an Autism spectrum difference, but that most if not all of our family has traits. Craig feels that Autism/Asperger Syndrome describes much of his family too.

You can read about Asperger Syndrome, the links will open in new windows:

This article and test were in Wired Magazine: URL: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers.html

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version 4: (DSMIV) http://web.syr.edu/~rjkopp/data/as_diag_list.html

Autism is a 'Spectrum' from very impaired, to extremely brilliant: Einstein. Thomas Jefferson and Charles Lindbergh are regarded as having been Autistics.

 

My husband, Craig became ill in 1995, he was never diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and later it was recommended that we look at Multiple Sclerosis.

Then he had the stroke in 1999.

Our whole family got sick when Craig did.

Several of the children also did not recover in the normal way from that illness.

Zephaniah was the most severely affected of our children, with Hephzebah and Schiphrah (also having blue eyes) and terrible headaches as well as loss of feeling in their hands and feet, and fatigue.

Hephzebah used to ride in the buggy when we went shopping and hide her eyes from the light. She did not want to run through the stores as she had before.

She had been learning to read, and we were homeschooling. The lesson with 'that' and 'there' was the page where she became ill and unable to read. She was stumbling with 'that' and 'there' as recently as 2002, and Zephaniah re-taught himself to read.

Schiphrah was 2 years old. She started first grade in 2000, and reads above her classmates in 4th grade now.

Unfortunately the ongoing illness - and resulting problems - did not endear me to my older daughters, when their father and brother became ill and I got terribly depressed. One of the problems we have had to deal with was unprofessional innuendo that I might have been deliberately to blame for Craig's stroke.

Craig's stroke was caused by an infraction between the layers of his carotid artery. The doctor said that might have been caused by an extremely hard blow.

Our daughter Shoshannah felt that somehow I was to blame for the whole thing.

 

With homeschooling nobody really knew that the kids were so sick. I knew, but my husband was fighting for disability income. We were not getting regular medical care because of the lack of income to the family.

When we got Medicaid, our pediatrician did see the problems the kids were having and he referred Zeph to a Neurologist. Hephzebah also got to see the Neurologist as they both had terrible headaches. The doctor initially suspected that Zeph had a brain tumor, however none showed up on the CAT scan.

Our family also has Asthma, my brother having it as did I when we were babies. I don't remember having any until after my children had it. Zechariah was born in 1990 and by the time he was 6 months old, he had also been diagnosed. It was just a matter of time until we had all been.

We had a Pediatrician, an Allergist and a Neurologist. Craig and I had counsellors.

 

In 1986 (9 years earlier) we had moved here to Georgia. After moving, Craig wanted to become an Orthodox Jew, so we went to Beth Jacob Synagogue and studied at the Hillel with Rabbi Shapiro.

We both tried long and hard but I found it impossible to become Jewish in belief and outlook.

 

Let me now explain a bit about our legal situation.

On every document we get from the Court there are at least three different reasons why our children were taken. Surprisingly, those reasons have changed over the course of our cases with DFCS.

"Messy House" would be the base reason. I have an Autism Spectrum difference, Asperger Syndrome. DFCS does not know any other adults with Asperger Syndrome. They prefer to say that I am not up to the task of raising our children and keeping house.

 

My husband Craig and I want our children back. We have cooperated as much as has been possible with every request of DFCS.

Our 7 children are:

Shoshannah Ellice, 25, married to Sam Jonathan, mother of Michael 5, and Sarah Grace, 8 months

Shoshannah had obtained custody of our daughter Zipporah Rebeckah, who recently turned 18 and joined the Marine Corps. I imagine that custody is now cancelled.

Zephaniah Eliezar, our 21 year old son who lives at home. He has Fibromyalgia and other health problems.

Zeph was working in a technical capacity for a computer software company that went bankrupt. He maintains our home computer network. Recently we discovered that he is allowed to do Electrical work in Georgia without a license, and is looking for people to work with. He has been sick towards the end of December 2003 with Bronchitis, or Pneumonia; his doctor prescribed antibiotics.

Zipporah Rebeckah, 18

Zipporah Rebeckah, who recently turned 18, joined the Marine Corps.                                                                     She says she wants to testify against me in Court.

Hephzebah

Hephzebah is 15, which is a very difficult age.

Zechariah Daniel has just turned 13 seen here with his nephew Michael

Zechariah was recently moved by DFCS to the Methodist Children's Home. He attends Avondale Middle School in the 7th grade. He missed 11 days of school, spending his days at the DFCS office.

Schiphrah Devorah is 9.

Schiphrah is in the 4th grade.

Zedekiah Asher just turned 7

Zedekiah just turned 7. He is in first grade after repeating developmentally delayed kindergarten.

Due to DFCS intervention, Schiphrah and Zedekiah now live in Lawrenceville, and attend Lawrenceville Elementary School. All of them are doing very well in School.

Until recently DFCS told us we were "In Compliance" with everything they asked us to do. You can read about the contradictory situation we appear to have landed in on the next page, and a link will be provided when it is finished.

Thank you so much for reading this far. The next page is here, and you can see what we as a family look like here.

Linda Hull
December 2003