Michigan mother wants to contact her twins now that they are legally able to communicate.

By: Leona Dunn

Latoya Bolden, a West Michigan mother of five, has lived a life of worry.

The only child she has been able to raise is her now 8-year-old dog, Taffy.

All five of her children were taken away after Bolden self-reported a case of sexual misconduct she witnessed one of her children commit back in 2005.

That report led to a battle with Kent County Circuit Court that Bolden says she was destined to lose.

Bolden claims once she introduced the state department of children protective services into her affairs they didn't leave until three years later, with all of her children in their custody.

Her eldest son was the first to go.

Bolden admits that she failed her firstborn by letting him go and stay with his great aunt the first half of his life. She was young when she had him and his father wasn't present.

What happened to her son in her families home resulted in a strained family relationship. By the time she got him back at 7-years-old, Bolden says her child went through some things she couldn't reverse.

"My son was sexually abused, in that house," Bolden said, "and I tried to help him with his behavior and questions, but I just couldn't."

Four years after Bolden sent her son to live with family, she had another child.

When she brought her eldest child home he had a baby brother and sister just one year apart. Within months of him being home, Bolden gave birth to a set of twins.

The second sons fathers wasn't present. The father, to her three other children was just in poor health due to his old age.

Bolden insisted she was fine raising them on her own with state assistance. But eventually she went to the state for help, after noticing her oldest son's sexual curiosity was starting to affect her other children.

Right after she reported a sexual misconduct incident, all five of her children where removed from her care 'temporarily'. She was still able to see them weekly.

Bolden was then referred to YWCA services and told that if she followed certain steps she could get them back.

Bolden worked with a counselor that testified to the fact that she was very willing to work and cooperate with the sessions, trainings, and help they provided. But the end result, was her signing away rights to her oldest child because she understood she could not endanger her other children while trying to find him the help he needed.

Now she was in a fight, she didn't even realize had begun. The battle to get the other four children back.

Court documents stated that "The main barriers to reunification for Ms. Bolden remain to be her mental health, borderline intelligence, and inadequate parenting skills. Those barriers remain an issue despite reasonably diligent efforts by the agency to assist Ms. Bolden in addressing them."

Next, The same 22 page document listed a detailed account of contradictions.

The document stated that her therapist diagnosed her with PTSD, and recommended that assistance with in home care was the solution, but those services were unavailable to Bolden due to her finances. Bolden scored low on an IQ test, but documents stated her score alone does not prohibit a person from parenting. It list that she successfully completed parenting groups, was generally appropriate in parenting, and has shown that her parenting skills have improved.

All of this was stated just to end with the court concluding "despite reasonable efforts being made to prevent the children's removal or to rectify conditions that caused the children's removal, the conditions of custody in the home and with whom the children will reside are not adequate."

Bolden says the system really messed her up.

"I really do believe its all about the money with the system," Bolden said. " How do you justify putting children through multiple foster homes when the mother is present, willing, and available to take care of them."

Bolden's oldest daughter, Naudia Bolden, went through multiple foster homes before her mothers rights were terminated.

In March 2008, a court order was signed by Judge Patricia D. Gardner terminating Bolden's parental rights.

Even after she did everything the court asked her to, according to the own courts documents.

"What kind of system watches you try, and then gives your children to strangers that they know will not treat them right? I didn't complain about the bad decisions I made, I tried to correct them, I kept trying and they kept making excuses....." Bolden said.

Naudia's current guardian told me on a recorded call that Naudia was placed in 19 different foster homes before she was permanently placed in her care. Naudia's guardian said when she got her, Naudia was so mentally messed up that the woman couldn't bare to let her go through another temporary home. They currently reside in Arizona, but Bolden talks with them regularly.

DeShawn Atkinson, her second son, never got placed in a home and aged out of the system while in a group home setting. He now stays up the street from his mother.

Her twins, Jaylun and Kaylon Bolden, are now Bolden's top priority.

Bolden wishes to leave the state to be closer with her daughter, now that she's had time with her son.

She is determined to not leave Michigan until she's seen and heard from her kids and gives them the option to possibly go with her.

"I was a damn good mother to my kids, when things happened I did my best to fix them. I still don't regret getting or trying to get my oldest son the help he needed. I just wish that asking for help didn't turn into all of this." Bolden cried.

As she teared up, here came Taffy pawing at her leg. Bolden got her dog Taffy, when the dog was just 6-months-old.

"She's always doing that, always coming when I need her." Bolden said.

Bolden remembers getting Taffy after a suicide attempt in 2013.

When Bolden's parental rights were taken, her visitation immediately stopped. Mad at the world, she kept trying to follow her children around, trying to find out whose homes they were in. She had on and off periods of more mental hardships as she struggled with understanding why she still didn't have her kids.

"Taffy reminded me and still does that I am not alone, we can get through anything together and if I give up then I let the people that tried to tear me down win."

Bolden sees Taffy and knows that she can never give up, because her kids need her, maybe now even more, after going through the system.

"All I know is that I can trust God, I can't trust people, because people will do you wrong," Bolden says.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of her twins, Bolden is asking that you contact her via Facebook. She has a public profile, with pictures of her kids as her background.