The Black Mothers Fighting to Get Their Kids Back, in “To Be Invisible”

[upbeat music]

[birds chirping]

[dog barking]

[Child] Is that our tree?

Yeah, I got blue, your favorite color.

Y'all favorite color?

[Child] Put it in our room.

Put it in y'all room, okay, okay.

[Child] I want you to show me my other toys.

Y'all wanna see other toys?

What other toys do you guys wanna see?

[Child] No, it's scary, that's a scary-

Scary one.

That's a scary one?

I heard your tummy hurt today

in school.

[Child] I had a boo boo on my leg.

Yeah.

[Child] Mommy? Yes.

Look, I got a book for y'all.

It says going to the firehouse.

Can you see it?

You see it?

Tell Prince to come to the phone, Zion.

Well, I think he's right there, but

move a little bit closer.

Look, look at the firehouse.

It says today my class is going to the firehouse.

Look, it says I dressed like a fireman,

time to fight a fire.

You see it?

Look at the phone, baby.

[Child] I wanna go home.

Okay, and that will happen soon baby,

but right now I want you to be good.

Do you understand?

I understand you wanna come home, I understand.

And Mommy loves y'all,

but Mommy still wants you to be good, you understand?

You understand?

You heard me?

You heard me, baby?

You said why you have to go to different houses?

I know it, look at me.

I know it's tough, I know it's tough.

But y'all are coming home soon, okay?

What you wanna be, Prince?

You wanna be an astronaut?

You wanna be an astronaut too?

[Child] No, he don't.

[Woman On Phone] You guys have two more minutes left.

[Alexis] All right.

Mommy gotta get ready to go, okay?

I gotta get ready to go, okay?

Mommy, love y'all, okay?

[solemn music]

You don't have to do anything but rest.

You don't have to do anything but inhale through your nose

and out through your mouths.

Allow yourself to go to a place

that brings you joy,

peace,

abundance,

prosperity,

happiness.

Where are you?

Who is there?

What does it feel like?

What does it smell like?

Does it have a taste, a sound?

Create the perfect dream, the perfect reality,

the perfect moment of peace.

[bells chiming]

[children laughing]

[bells chiming]

You love Mommy?

I love you, too.

Gimme kiss.

Gimme kiss.

Say cheese.

We are gonna take about another minute or so.

These journals are yours to have to keep and to hold.

But the more that you practice, the more you choose it,

the more you move forward, the more you heal,

the more you begin to realize

that you really are fully in control

and that you always have been and that you are the winner.

Dear Alexis,

I know right now you are feeling overwhelmed

because you've been fighting the corrupt

and broken system of CPS for your babies

for three long, hard years.

These three years of dealing with CPS

has been extremely difficult.

Having your babies ripped away from you

when God has blessed you

with these beautiful gifts, your babies.

[Man Offscreen] This morning, amen.

Amen!

[baby screaming]

I still have to go to work.

I still have to

still provide for my children

even though they're not with me

I pay child support, so.

I still have to be there mentally for my children.

I have to go to my visitations

and watch my children suffer before my eyes and,

when it's time to leave,

what rips my heart the most is the fact that

when my children cry and beg to come home

and follow after me, I just wanna pick them up

and just take them with me.

But I know I can't now.

[bird chirping]

There's a lot of things that I wish

I could go back and change.

They took my daughter

and then I had my son in 2022, 20.

And then they also took him.

I been fighting to get them back for almost

going on four years now.

I had a case open with Tequell,

they closed the case

because he's well taken care of.

And now they're trying to terminate my rights

and place my oldest two children up for adoption.

Their reasons on doing that is

because the case been open for so long.

I've done everything that they asked me to do

and they still won't give my kids back.

Well, we're certainly

in agreement with the children coming home.

You know, especially if you have done

what they have asked you to do.

And, so now they need to do what's right

and give them back to you.

Father, we bring your daughter to you,

Kelly, right now in the name of Jesus Christ.

We ask you Father for mercy right now.

Father, I ask you, you touch every official, every judge,

every lawyer, everybody, God, that is involved in this case.

We plead the blood over her right now, Father,

and Father, I ask you Lord

that you lift up her continence in the name of Jesus Christ.

Give her peace and joy in the name of Jesus.

Strengthen this woman of God, hallelujah.

Father, for you have great and mighty things for her.

Protect those children, God.

Hallelujah God, wherever they may be.

And God we believe

and we trust that you gonna bring them back home to her

in the name of Jesus Christ.

Touch Father, you can do what we can't.

[upbeat music]

So I'm just ready.

I'm ready for my kids to come home.

And then the power of this just going right on down,

right to the- Word.

Right here on down, let's fight.

How you feeling?

I'm ready.

I'm ready for my babies to come home.

I'm gonna keep fighting,

no matter what.

How many stumbling blocks they try to put in my way,

I'm not gonna give up.

I'm gonna keep fighting for my babies.

[Woman With Camera] I know that's right.

And they coming home.

Yep.

Yep.

Bring our babies home now!

Right now!

I'm not going to stop until my babies come home!

We gonna say something.

We are not the problem.

We, the mothers, are out here fighting for these children,

fighting for these children,

and we want you to understand that you can't keep

them in this system.

[woman yelling simultaneously]

[Woman Off Camera] Wake up, wake up!

We are talking to you!

[solemn music]

These children have been in custody for three years.

Bring them home! Now!

Bring them home! Now!

Bring them home! Now!

[rain falling]

One, two, [toy phone beeping]

three,

four,

five.

[solemn music]

Five.

[solemn music]

Dear Kelly,

you have been through a lot.

You have changed for the best for you and your children.

[solemn music]

Right now, I am so proud of you

because even though you have so much going on,

you keep your head up high.

You don't let anyone or anything

get in the way of you getting what you need

to get done.

Each and every day I hope for my babies to come home

with me and their brother

and all the people that love them and care about them

and that will do anything to keep them safe.

[solemn piano music]

Mommy's almost there, okay?

[solemn piano music]

All right, I'm gonna see you when I get there, okay?

I love you.

Buh-bye.

[solemn piano music]

Look at my babies.

[Child] I wanna come home.

[Kellie] I know you wanna come home.

Just a little while longer, okay?

You'll be home, soon.

[solemn piano music]

Huh?

You are?

[solemn piano music]

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy Birthday dear Philip ♪

♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪

Bubbles.

[solemn piano music]

Pop, pop.

[solemn piano music]

[toddler babbling]

[solemn piano music].

Look,

my whistle.

[solemn piano music]

[Kellie] Mom, can I open my- Your whistle?

Yeah, you can.

[solemn piano music]

Oh, it's a bubble party.

[solemn piano music]

All right.

[car door closing]

Bye.

[solemn piano music]

I have a court date tomorrow

on the fifth and

it's reunification time.

And, I'm hopeful,

and believe and trust

that my children and I will be reunified tomorrow.

Pretend like none of us are in this room

and you talking to this judge

and when you finish saying what you say,

the judge is gonna say, I believe you.

Your kids are gonna come home.

That's the kind of passion and that's how you need to speak.

It's okay to read it.

It's not about memorizing the words,

it's about saying it from the heart,

So that they can see you as a human being

'cause right now you a number,

a case number on a piece of paper.

[Alexis] Right. Okay?

So do it that way.

I would like to make a statement

because my voice has been muted for far too long.

I'm standing before you as a mother who has been robbed

of irreplaceable time with my children.

I am standing before you as a mother who has been forced

to watch my children, Zion and Prince,

suffer trauma on top of trauma

because all of these people refuse to stop and listen

and see the truth.

This is at one thousands and eighty second day

my children have been in foster care.

We cannot allow it to be day one thousand and eighty three.

This past Thursday, Attorney Abney called my attorney

and told her that the department would be recommending

my children come home today.

For the first time in almost three years,

I was able to sleep peacefully

because I could feel the moment

my babies were going to walk through the door to our home.

My family has been through enough.

We've been through enough.

I'm not here today asking for more time with my children.

I'm here requesting the immediate return of Prince and Zion

to my care and custody

and the determination of the department and court's

jurisdiction over my family.

That is the only way my family can begin to heal.

I need to be able to love on my babies tonight

without the thought of dealing with the same people

who have been the cause of our trauma and pain.

But I'm at peace right now

because I believe you will see me today, Alexis Winn

the mother of Prince and Zion, remember my babies.

These are the human beings caught in the middle

of all of this.

Just send my babies home.

Thank you, Your Honor.

[women talking simultaneously]

[women laughing]

So.

Okay, well, we, at this point just need to

send out energy to the judge

and tomorrow we hear the final decision

of if the boys come home, right?

And we gotta believe that.

I'm gonna say this real strong.

And if you don't listen to,

say, listen to me at this point, it is what it is.

Use your voice tomorrow.

Ask to read your statement.

Ask to read your statement.

You need her to see you as a person, as a mother

and a mother is gonna make a strong argument

about why her children needs to be at home.

And this is what I have done.

I was in a terrible situation, but this is where I'm at now

and this is how my family has worked to heal.

She didn't hear any of that today.

[Alexis] Zion and Prince,

Mommy can't wait till y'all come home,

so that we can make up for all the missed times.

[Man Off Camera] Y'all tell everybody

to have a wonderful day, to have a good day.

But Mommy will always be your superhero

'cause I'm not gonna stop fighting for y'all.

Sometimes superheroes have bad times, bad days,

sometimes they may lose something in the moment,

lose a battle in the moment.

But one thing they always do is get back up

and they keep fighting till they win.

And Mama's gonna win this case and get y'all back home.

I have more visitations with my children,

meaning that I have unsupervised visitations.

I get to take pictures of my kids again.

I get to have my virtual calls back,

and I'll be spending time with my kids this Saturday

at our church.

And DSS tried to recommend one hour,

of unsupervised visitation,

but the judge granted three hours.

So, happy about that.

She has done everything right.

She's done everything that she was supposed to do.

And so, like this system has a way of like, putting,

giving us crumbs and making us feel, you know what I mean?

And that's just the reality of the situation.

But at the same time, we have to like, feel that,

accept that and move forward.

[Kellie] I'm sorry?

[Danielle] I said, this is Danielle.

[Kellie] Oh, how are you?

[Danielle] I'm good.

So unfortunately, we will not be able to have the

DFT next week.

Chantel is unavailable and Mark is going to be out

the whole entire week, next week.

[Kellie] Okay.

[Danielle] So, do you want to reschedule it

till the week after or do you just, no, don't wanna have it?

[Kellie] No, that's fine.

I'll just wait then.

I was trying to, you know, get a meeting going

before the court hearing,

but that's fine.

[Danielle] Okay, and just to also let you know,

just so it can be on your mind

because you are representing yourself

sometimes when there's like information

I guess that needs to be shared

because you are like quote unquote like your own attorney,

our attorney will have to be there as well, so.

[Kellie] Okay.

[Danielle] Yes ma'am.

But thank you so much.

[Kellie] Okay, buh-bye.

[Danielle] Okay.

[phone tapping]

[solemn piano music]

[Kellie sighing]

Ready?

[solemn piano music]

Dear Amaya, Philip, and Tequell,

Mommy is fighting so we can all be a family.

I spend every day trying to get you, Amaya

and Philip home where you guys should be.

I love y'all.

I knew I loved y'all the first time I held y'all in my arms.

I knew than we were meant to be.

I feel so bad that I can't come and get y'all.

And I feel even worse when y'all asked to come home with me.

And I have to say that y'all can't

and that y'all will be home soon

because y'all should be home now.

I miss y'all so much that I can't even explain.

I want y'all to know Mommy love y'all

and it is nothing that anyone or anything

that can stop that.

You guys will always be Mommy's number one, no matter what.

[solemn piano music]

[woman giggling]

[Alexis] I see.

♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪

[everyone laughing]

Jump jump, jump.

Jump jump, jump, jump, jump, jump.

Jump, jump, jump, jump.

Jump, jump.

And they jumping.

Look.

[woman laughing]

I see you.

Whoa.

I jumped the highest.

You did.

[woman laughing]

Here you go, jump back.