Bring EL home, stop the abuse
10/13/2017
Steven has been found guilty of felony parental kidnapping and custodial interference and sentenced to 3.5 -5 years in prison. But that still has not brought my daughter home. Because when Steven so humbly turned himself in, in October 2016, he did so knowing that Elyzabeth was going to still be held hostage on the Cheyenne Rover Sioux Reservation. His mother was granted TEMPORARY custody of Elyzabeth for the purposes of getting Elyzabeth counseling due to her issues with abandonment by her step mother and father. He lied and him and his family continue to lie to the triball court in regards to Elyzabeth real causation to her problems. They say it's cause I abused her without any evidence to prove that disgusting allegation but in actuality they themselves have damaged and harmed Elyzabeth by repeatedly telling her over and over that I tried to kill her by shoving a coin down her throat. They have alienated her from me and have caused her to fear me and she also has abandonment issues because her step mother who they forced her to believe was her real mommy, left Steven and took her daughters with her but not Elyzabeth and because her daddy has been gone for a year and keeps telling her every night I will be home soon (which he won't). It's disgusting and cruel to subjet her to this when she needs to be in a loving and caring environment with her sister and ACTUAL mother who has and never will abandon, abuse or neglect her. I am fighting tribal court in efforts to get them to enforce my custody agreement which states that she is to be in my custody. I need help I can't afford that provide for my other daughter and give her the love and portection she needs and continue to accrue attorneys fees because the Mitchell family consider themselves above the law.
02/09/2016
I am in need of another lawyer in a different state. Its almost been a year since I received my custody agreement and I still have not been able to see my daughter. I know exactly where Steven and Elyzabeth are but I can't do anything because he is hiding on the reservation and Tribal Court does not recognize the felony warrant of Custodial Interference nor the Custody Agreement that I received a year ago.
Steven has decided to pull out all the stops, he has filed a petition with tribal court to get an order of protection against me. In the event he is apprehended he thinks a protection order will keep me from getting custody of Elyzabeth. A hearing is set and I need to once again defend myself against a man who will do anything to keep me from our child and obtain legal counsel. Because he filed the petition with tribal court, my current attorney cannot represent me because she is not licensed in the state of South Dakota. I have found an attorney that is experienced in tribal matters and I need a retainer of $1,000 and my financial situation is grim. Since 2012 I have been trying to gain custody of my daughter Elyzabeth and the toll it has taken on me and my oldest daughter has been very trying.
The cost to seek legal counsel and the cost to put in place a custody agreement has totaled over $15,000 due to the fact that Steven has not complied with the court order and refuses to do what the District Court Judge orders him to do and now he has fled to the reservation to avoid taking responsibility for those actions. I am constantly bombarded by letters and phone calls from my utility company, my storage facility (that I have to have because I was forced to move), student loan company, car insurance company, daycare because most times during the month I have to choose which bill isn't going to get paid because of the attorney fees that I accrued to get custody of my daughter and my attorney has graciously allowed me to make payments to her. I have been awarded $13,000 worth of attorney fees that Steven is required to pay but he is either working under the table or not all because I can't locate an employer on him to garnish his wages. And as far as government assistance (Snap, Medicaid, Free Lunch Program, Lieap) goes I make too much money by $100 a month. I can barely afford groceries and that's minimal.
My Oldest Daughter, Emmaley, has been forced to change schools 3 times and she is only a 2nd grader because we were moving so much, I try to keep her life as normal as possible and put her in activities so that she doesn't have to feel any pain or sorrow for her sister but I know that it is there especially when she asks me when are we going to see Elyzabeth again or when its her birthday and she says the only thing she wants is to have her sister here at her party. I am a single mom who works full time, I love my job and it pays well and I have benefits but with all these extra expenses to get my daughter back, We are drowning. Emmaley and I just want to see Elyzabeth again, please any contribution is extrememly appreciated.
02/25/2015
This was created to aide me in bringing my daughter home . In 2012 Elyzabeth (my daughter) was stolen from me by her father, it was a normal weekend and he came to have a family dinner with my family to celebrate St. Patricks Day and that weekend he asked if he could take her for the week and I said that it would be ok and that was the last time I saw Elyzabeth, because her father had took her and refused to let me see her. I had saved up enough money to retain a lawyer to establish custody for Elyzabeth in 2013 . I just recently finished my court proceedings in establishing custody (3 years later) which granted me full sole custody and her father visitation and now I am trying to find her because her father is in hiding. Elyzabeth's father's name is Steven Mitchell and he is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe,. Him and my daughter have been missing since December 2014.There is a felony custodial interference warrant for his arrest which was effective April 2015. I am only asking for as much help as you can give. I am going to need support from friends and family to help me find her. If you need me to verify any information to confirm what I am stating feel free to contact me.
