(Updated Aug. 15, 2012)

Emma Katherine Roey (Emma Kate Roey)

Dr. Richard Born who was chosen to do Emma’s psychological evaluation was basically a name drawn out of a hat.  Phill and I knew nothing about what was involved in a Psych Eval., and I have since learned that he did a pretty sorry job .  For one thing, an LCSW told me that there was no reason (other than $$) for him to do an IQ test on Emma.  We had her SAT scores.  I don’t remember now what her score was, something like 2060, I think.  I was told that an IQ test is done to see how functional a child is, and it wasn’t necessary in Emma’s case.

Another thing I was told was that Dr. Born should have interviewed Phill and I separately, Phill and I together, and the three of us together.  This was not done.

Because I took Emma to her first appointment with Dr. Born, I typed up a note for him that basically explained the situation and asked if he wanted to speak to me, to do so privately.  Emma was angry at me all the time, and I knew I could not speak in front of her because it would make things worse at home.

Dr. Born never spoke to me privately, but spoke to Emma and I together.  Of course, I could not talk freely with him.  Also, As I type up the Psychological Evaluation, I will point out many of Emma’s lies that she told Dr. Born.

I am posting the psychological evaluation, with my comments added in, using Italics.

Applied Psychological Health

Richard Born, Ph.D.  LLC

One Huntington Rd., #205

Athens, Ga.  30606
706-543-7605

http://www.appliedpsychhealth.com

Referral Information:  Emma Roey is a 17 year old female from Hoschton, Ga. who is referred for psychological evaluation following repeated episodes of unusual behavior that has been described as being “seizure-like.”  She has also been observed to enter into what was described as a state of “catatonia.”  The catatonia behavior was exhibited on 12/31/2010 during a session with her therapist, Suzie McGarvey.  At that time Emma was transported to Peachford Hospital in Atlanta.  she was then subsequently sent to Scottish Rite Hospital for further medical consulatation and then was admitted to Peachford Hospital where she stayed until her release on 01/04/2011.  Her therapist described Emma as going into a state of catatonia during a counseling session and just sitting very still and staring for approximately 5 hours.  (Note:  I believe the whole dramatic event went on for about 3 hours.)  She did not lose consciousness but was not responsive to attempts to communicate with her.  This episode occurred following a 10 day period that was extremely stressful and involved Emma alleging physical abuse perpetuated by her mother.  Following her discharge from Peachford Emma reportedly has had additional abnormal psychiatric episodes.  These episodes would involve her becoming very quiet and still followed by intense muscle contraction and thrashing around of her limbs.  following this her muscles would become limp for a short period of time and then she would have further muscle contraction and thrashing.   Her therapist reports that these episdoes have also involved urinary loss of control.  Emma reports having four of these episodes during the month of January, and according to Emma they all took place while she was riding in the car with her mother.

Note:  Actually, there were six episodes and four of them took place with her dad.  Four of them took place on her way to Jefferson High School, which she hated, and blamed me for the fact that she was going there.  She screamed at me many times that I had given up homeschooling her and it was all my fault.  One episode was with her dad in Suzie McGarvey’s office, and the other was when her dad was driving her to Peachford (Psychiatric) Hospital for a week of daily outpatient care.

Emma had taken AP psychology, and I believe that’s where she learned the symptoms of abuse and learned how to fake catatonia.  One mistake she made was that her seizure episodes lasted way to long, as long as 30  minutes, while in true catatonia, the seizures last only seconds.  Emma was very dramatic in the car, flopping around like a fish.  If I can figure out how to put video on WordPress, I will put one up to show.

More from Dr. Born:
There are a couple of situational factors that appear important in assessing Emma’s recent difficulties.  The first situational factor has to do with Emma’s allegations of being the victim of repeated sexual molestation by the priest at her church that occurred over a period of several months when she was 12 years old.  She was an acolyte at the time and reports that the molestation would occur in the women’s restroom following church services.  Emma reports that she kept information about this to herself for several years until an [sic] call from a friend who was in the hospital following being a victim of rape.  Emma states that hearing this information “stirred something up in me that kept eating at me.”  She reports that she first revealed this information to her father and then to a church youth leader.  She reports that she is not sure how her mother found out about the information but states that her mother finally confronted her about the information on May 21 2010.  The person who she alleged had molested her was functioning as an interim rector at the time and had since moved on to a different church.  The church reportedly did conduct an investigation but this examiner does not know the details and specific outcome.  Based upon the information available at the time of this evaluation it appears the the allegations were seen as being credible.  As a result of these allegations psychological therapy was initiated for emma and she became a client of victim’s support agency, Social Empowerment.

Note:  I’ve already confirmed that the rape never happened, so I won’t go into that here.  Never happened.  There was nothing to stir up.  Emma did, however, tell her dad and I that her friend was raped.  We had gone to pick her up at her church youth group, and Emma ran up to me in the parish hall and told me her friend had called her from the ER, hysterical, and had been raped.     Emma was very upset.  Because it was Emma’s birthday, Phill and I stayed for birthday cake with the youth group, and I talked to one of the youth leaders about what Emma had told me.   Emma came up to us, when I was talking to the youth leader, and she could tell by the way the conversation stopped, what we were talking about.  I don’t remember what she said, but walking out to the car, she was very angry with me for telling her youth leader.  (This is the same youth leader that Emma later told Dr. Born that she spoke with about the “molestation.”)

Another interesting lie here is that Emma states I “confronted” her about the information on May 21, 2010.  First off, the date was March 21, 2010, which I believe was just an error on Dr. Born’s part, but there was no confrontation.  Emma told her dad and I that she had been molested on the evening of her dad’s birthday, March 21, 2010.  There was no confrontation. 

The Social Empowerment Center (SEC) did not get involved with Emma at this time.  That would not come until Jan. of 2011, after Emma accused me of abuse.  SEC works for DFACS and was sent to us through DFACS.  

Dr. Born once again:

The other signigicant situational stressor occurred around the date of her 17th birthday in December of 2010.  It is reported that Emma was at home with her mother and they were having conflicts that eventually led to physical altercations.  Emma repports that she was attempting to show her mother how to operate the computer to watch a TV show on-lilne when the computer malfunctioned and her mother apparently become [sic] frustrated and angry with her.  Emma reports that her mother shoved her into a wall and twisted her arm behind her back.  Emma also reports that during an interaction with her mother in the kitchen that her mother kicked her foot into the corner of a kitchen peninsula causing a toe injury.  Emma also reports that a third altercation occurred a couple of days later while they were both again in the kitchen.  She reports that she and her mother were arguing and her mother picked up a pot and struck her with it.  Emma reports that Emma called a family friend to obtain emotional support and apparently the information eventually led to a  telephone call to the Department of Family and Children’s Services who immediately pursued an investigation.  Emma was removed from the home and went to stay with a family friend who was a priest and his wife.  These individuals had to leave town for the Christmas break and Emma then went to stay with a friend of her mother’s for 5 days and then went to stay with one of her friends and his family for the next 3 days.  During the week between Christmas and New Year’s Emma and her father had a conference with the DFACS workers.  Then at her therapy session on December 31, her father announced to Emma that she was coming home.  It was apparently at this time that Emma exhibited the first episode where she became in a trance-like state and non-responsive.  she was subsequently transported to Peachford Hospital where she remained until her discharge on January 4.  Emma reports no conscious memory of this event, stating that her first memory was when she was in an ambulance being transported to Scottish Rite Hospital from Peachford Hospital.

There are so many lies here, I don’t even know where to begin.  First off, two of the dates that Emma gave DFAC where she claimed I abused her were Jan 17th, when she went with her dad to Marietta for a Dr.’s appointment, and her dad was with her all day.  I was out Christmas shopping for Emma and did not see her until we all got home late that afternoon.  Her dad was off work that day and home the rest of the day, so there was no time for me to abuse her.  

 Emma told DFACS that I hit/shoved/kicked her foot (I’m not sure which one she claimed that day.) on her birthday.  I guess she knew she was caught in a lie, so she changed the story for Dr. Born and added the word “around.”  It makes it easier to lie if you are much more general.

The only time Emma and I were alone on her birthday, was when we went to church.  Phill woke up not feeling well that day, so Emma and I went to Sunday School and Church without him.  The church is very small, and there may have been 10 people at Sunday school.  I mentioned to Fr. George that it was Emma’s birthday, and everyone said Happy Birthday or spoke to Emma.  She smiled, chatted with folks,  and seemed to enjoy all the attention.  Later on, she would tell Phill that she was angry with me for telling the pastor it was her birthday.  That was something new.  Her whole life, Emma always enjoyed having people know it was her birthday, and all the attention she got on her birthday.

After we came home from church, Phill still wasn’t feeling well.  We had planned to go out to dinner for Emma’s birthday, but Phill told Emma we’d have to go another day when he felt better.  Later, Emma complained to her therapist that her birthday wasn’t “special” and we didn’t take her out for dinner on her birthday, although Phill fixed some cheese fondue that he’d picked up from Costco for us to try, and Emma loved it.  We had also gotten a cheesecake, which for the past few years was always what Emma requested instead of a birthday cake. 

That afternoon, Emma was in her bathroom, and Phill and I were on the other side of the house.  We heard a slam and Emma screamed, and we both went running to see what happened.  Emma claimed to have “accidentally” kicked the cabinet in her bathroom.  Because Emma had a small bathroom, I didn’t understand how she could have done this, but I was just glad she was ok, and didn’t question her story.  She held up her foot for me to look at, and I had her wiggle her toes and told her I thought she was ok.  Emma asked me what they do for broken toes, and I told her I didn’t think hers were broken, and that they didn’t usually do much but splint broken toes. 

Later, Emma’s therapist, Suzie McGarvey, pointed out to me, that if Emma claimed I kicked her foot into the kitchen “peninsula” they should have checked the inside of her foot/ankle because she would have had a bruise there as well.

   On Emma’s birthday, and the two days that followed, I thought she was acting oddly, but couldn’t put my finger on as to why.  She just seemed like she hated me.  Several times, I caught her staring at me with a look I had never seen on her face before.  I later told her therapist, Suzie McGarvey, about it, and I think I described it as pure hate.  A couple of times, when she was glaring at me, I asked, “What is wrong with you?” and Emma would turn away quickly and say, “Nothing.”  It made me uncomfortable, but I had no idea what this child was about to pull.

As for the tv show incident, we had been watching from the beginning, Criminal Minds.  (I’m sad to say I think Emma may have gotten some ideas from this program.)   I believe it was the night DFACS came to our home (I have tons of notes, so I’ll have to look back to be sure, but I’m fairly sure it was on that night.) that Emma told DFACS that I hit her with the handle of a pot.  (She again changed the story for Dr. Born.)  When I was interviewed by DFACS they told me this, and I said, “The handle of a pot?  How do you even do that?”  The two women who interviewed me acted like that thought hadn’t even occurred to them, and agreed that it didn’t make sense.

   When Emma went to stay with Fr. George and Paulette Ivey of Holy Trinity Anglican church, Fr. George and Paulette later told me of the drama Emma pulled at their home.  It was common for Emma to have low blood pressure because she didn’t drink enough fluids.  As a result of this, she frequently got dizzy.  It was nothing serious, but while at their home, Emma had some “dizzy” episodes, and Paulette told me later that she thought Emma was faking because she did it so dramatically and laid out on the floor like she was posing, not like someone who fainted.

  Another interesting note is that when Emma states she went to stay with “a friend of her mother’s for 5 days.”  Let me just say a few words about this “friend.”

   Janice, is one of my best friends.  We have volunteered together for about 7 years, and we talk on the phone several times a week. Because Emma used to volunteer with the dog/cat rescue with me, she was as close to Janice as I was and called her “Aunt Janice”.  When Janice would call, Emma often ran to answer the phone, and would talk to Janice for 15 or 20 minutes before she’d even let me have the phone, often talking to Janice longer than I did.  We celebrated each others’ birthdays, and we spent Thanksgivings and Christmases dinners together.  Janice was always good to Emma on her birthday and Christmas, and came to see Emma when the church youth hosted a Sock Hop.  Emma sent Janice her English papers, and Janice would go over them for grammar and punctuation errors.  When Emma went to stay with Janice, she was very upset because I wouldn’t let her stay with another friend, and she lied to Janice the whole time she was at her home.  Janice was shocked to see the child she knew and loved acting like she did in her home.   Emma had been to Janice’s home many times, but she told DFACS she was afraid to stay there.   Because of Emma’s bizarre behavior, Janice documented it after Emma left her home.  I am enclosing Janice’s statement: 

December 28, 2010

Dear Counselors,

I hope that you will take the time to read my account of Emma Roey’s short stay at my house while in DFCS custody.  I realize that I am not a pertinent party in this case.  I have also included some additional information regarding my relationship with Emma.

I have known Emma and the Roeys for nearly 6 years now.  Emma, her Mom Jerri, and Dad Phill  foster dogs with the same rescue group for which I volunteer.  Emma has always been a most respectful, well-mannered, reasonable, intelligent child and young lady.  She has called me Aunt Janice for a long time.  We have spent Thanksgivings and Christmases together for years now.  If I ever asked for Emma to fill a water bowl for a dog at adoption she did it willingly and with no problem.  Emma was “the perfect child”.  Over the last several months Emma has been emailing her English papers and book reports to me for proof reading.  She was very appreciative of my helping.  When I would call her Mom to chat and Emma answered the phone we would talk at length about various things and events at school etc.  Then she would turn the phone over to her Mom.

The Emma who was at my house was not the Emma I know.  She lied to me within the first few hours of being here and continued to do so during the next several days as I will explain below.  She was very disrespectful and defiant and I have never seen her like this before.

Friday December 24, 2010 10:30 AM

Emma was brought to my house by Father George Ivey and his wife Paulette.  Emma had been with them since being removed from her home earlier in the week.  All Emma’s clothes and belongings were put in a second master bedroom in my home.  The room has its own dressing room and bathroom.

Later in the day Emma was in her room and eating candy and drinking a Coke.  I noticed a big box of candy and a tin of popcorn on the chest of drawers.  I casually asked who the gifts of popcorn and chocolate were from and she said they were from Father George and his wife.  I said that was nice.  I also noticed several foil crumpled candy wrappers that I picked up and threw away   They were on the dresser, chest of drawers, and bathroom vanity.  I explained to her that I really did not want her to eat and drink in the room and that I would prefer the food be removed.  I asked her not to eat in the room for three reasons:

1 – I did not want bugs and

2 – I did not want the dogs to accidently find some chocolate or foil and get sick from it

3 – I did not want a wagging tail to cause something to spill on the floor

(I have 4 dogs and 2 foster dogs living here)

There was a big box of candy wrapped with a bow, a large tin of popcorn also with a bow on the top, an open bag of Reese’s Pieces, and a Christmas paper bag containing Snickers, candy canes, a partially eaten candy bar, and an apple.  There were crumbs of chocolate on the chest of drawers and that is why I decided to move the food to another room.  I got a shopping bag and put the above food items in the bag.  I asked Emma if this was all the candy in the room and she said that it was.  I told Emma I would put them in the kitchen.  Because of space and needing to prepare Christmas dinner I put the shopping bag on a table in the garage.  Emma made a point to tell me the candy and the popcorn had not been opened.

I mentioned to her father Phill when I spoke to him that I had taken the gifts of popcorn and candy out of Emma’s room because I did not want food in there and mentioned to him that Emma said they were from Father George.

Some residents of my neighborhood set of fireworks in the evening on December 24th and then later again around midnight.  After the first round I did tell Emma that they were just fireworks and that even at Easter the neighbors set them off around here.  Emma was worried about the popping noises.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Emma slept until about 10 or 11 AM and then took a 2 or 3 hour nap in the afternoon until her Aunt Lee called to wish her Merry Christmas.  That evening Emma asked if I had any sleeping pills she could take. I replied that I did not.

Phill dropped off several bags of clothes for Emma to wear.  One item he brought looked like it was a pair of jeans.  When Emma saw it she said it was a pair of capris and she could not wear them this time of year.  When they were folded up one could not tell they were not full length jeans.  Phill did bring some sweat pants for Emma also.  Emma had some jeans to wear that she brought with her as well.

On Christmas day Emma ate a good plate of food and some Christmas cookies for dessert.  Later in the day I think she was sewing in her room and I went to say something to her.  I noticed another what I thought was a crumpled candy wrapper on a chair.  I picked it up and started unfolding it and Emma shot off the bed and tried to grab it from me.  She said it was a receipt from the store and that Paulette had given her money to get something.  I told her that I would just keep the receipt and let Father George have it when she went back to stay with them.  When I got a chance to look at the receipt I noticed it was not a cash receipt but an American Express charge receipt so that did not jive with what Emma had said.  I also noticed that it was from a Walgreen’s in Lawrenceville, GA and that the receipt was dated December 23, 2010 at 8:19 AM.

In further reviewing the receipt I noticed there were 2 charges:

1- a Tracfone and

2- a prepaid card for it.

I mentioned this to Phill next time I spoke to him.  He said he would ask Father George about it.  Father George confirmed he did not buy the phone or prepaid card and that a lady named Sandy, who was a friend of the Roeys, had dropped the can of popcorn and candy bags off on Thursday.  It was assumed by him that the phone was in with the gifts.  I then looked at the tin of popcorn and found that it had been opened by Emma and one of the three bags of popcorn in it was 2/3 empty.  Emma had told me previously neither the candy nor popcorn had been opened.  I assume the Tracfone was hidden in the popcorn tin.  I don’t know why she would lie about the candy and popcorn tin not being opened unless she thought if they were not opened then I would not remove them from the room.

Each evening after I went upstairs to bed Emma went in the kitchen got a soft drink from the refrigerator and took it to her room (after me asking her not to eat or drink in there). She also helped herself to more Christmas cookies from the cookie tins on the kitchen table.  I did a lot of baking this year and had quite a few cookies.   I am not mentioning this because of what she ate or drank because I made the cookies to eat and gave many of them away as gifts.  I am simply stating this to show the pattern of defiance that I noticed all the while she was here and also the high degree of sugar she consumed.

Sunday December 26, 2010

I spoke on the phone to Emma’s Mom Jerri on Sunday and mentioned the candy, etc.  I admitted that Emma had had a good bit of sweets while here.  Emma normally does not even drink a soft drink when she has come to my house to visit.  She usually has iced tea or water.  She has stated many times that she does not drink soft drinks.  The fact that she had so many while here was out of character.  On Friday when she arrived she had 3 cokes that I know of.  She could have had more after I went to bed.  Anyway, Jerri suggested she not take the candy with her when she left my house.

Monday Morning December 26, 2010

Emma packed her things and asked for the shopping bag of candy and popcorn.  I told her that I would rather she not take that and it could be delivered to her later.  She told me that if I had been talking to her parents that I had no right to do that.  She said that DFCS said I was not to have any conversations with either of her parents at all.  I was certainly not told this and later found out this was not true but “made up” also.  Furthermore I did not think a 17 year old young lady had any business telling me who I could and could not talk to in my own home.

After returning home from leaving Emma with the counselors I went to the room Emma was staying in to get the sheets off the bed to wash them and also clean the room.  I found the waste basket in the bathroom had foil candy wrappers, outside packaging for a roll of Life Savers, and a soft drink can.

I did not set out to find problems with Emma.  It just seemed that if I asked any casual question she made up and answer to keep from telling me the truth.  This was very unlike her.

I sincerely hope that you can help her and get to the real cause of her problems.  She had such a bright future.

In regards to Jerri – she is a sweet, giving, warm person who would do anything for anybody.  She is the picture of a caretaker and nurse, which she is – a registered nurse.  Her foster dogs love her dearly and after adopted occasionally come to visit her at PetsMart.  They are all wiggles and joy at seeing her again.  They all receive kind and compassionate care with her.  I believe this carries through to all other facets of her life.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and bless you for helping Emma.

Sincerely,

Janice

ADDENDUM:

 

April 7, 2011

As a follow up to the above statements I am adding the following:

I am not sure why Emma continued to lie about the “gifts” from Father George and Paulette and the Tracfone story as well.  We later found the gifts and phone came from Sandy.  But at this time Sandy was not suspected of any problem related to Emma and by Emma just stating the gifts and phone were from Sandy would not have aroused any suspicion.

After Phill monitored Emma’s cell phone calls he found that Emma was talking for hours late in the night with her adult friend Sandy.

Apparently this whole DFACS event was because Emma wanted to live with Sandy.  She did not want  to be at my house or anybody else’s house.

Sandy even called Father George on Christmas vacation in Tennessee to plead with him to suggest that he intercede on Emma’s behalf and suggest to DFACS that Emma be allowed to stay with Sandy and her and her family.

Emma told her therapist that she could not come back to my house to stay because she heard shooting at night.  I had already told Emma that the noises were fireworks and she knew that. – yet another lie in an attempt to get to Sandy’s.

Emma has not wanted to face me since she was here at Christmas.  I think she knows she lied to me repeatedly and defied me about keeping food in the bedroom and that I know she lied.   Furthermore, Emma states that she does not remember even being in my house over Christmas.

On the cookie issue –

I had all the cookies in tins on the kitchen table.  After Emma left I started consolidating the cookies so as not to have so many tins out.  Because I do so much baking I keep a spreadsheet with the ingredients for each cookie and the quantity in dozens that each cookie makes.  I do this so when I go shopping I can look at the spreadsheet and get all the flour, sugar, preserves, nuts, etc that I need to do all the baking.  When I consolidated the cookies I realized that Emma must have eaten 5 or 6 dozen cookies in the 3 days she was here – mostly one particular cookie.   I determined this by checking the quantity that the recipe made and subtracting the number of cookies given as gifts as well as what I may have eaten and realized there were 5 or 6 dozen cookies missing.  If nothing else this should have called for a diabetes check up but I think this may point to other problems with Emma since I later found out she would even pick a lock at home to get to sweets that were locked up so she could not get to them. I also would find cookie crumbs on the kitchen table in the morning.  After dinner the night before I would wipe the table so there should have been not crumbs remaining from dinner.

On the day that Phill delivered some clothes for Emma I was outside helping him.  The pills that Emma was to take were in a Sunday – Saturday pill dispenser on my kitchen counter.  Emma was to take the Lexapro for one more week to wean herself off of it since we thought this pill is what caused all her confusion and hallucinations.  After Phill left I went to give Emma her pills and they were no longer in the container.  I asked Emma were they were.  Emma said she had taken them.

I asked where the glass she used for water was.  She responded that she had some Coke in her room (remember I asked her not to take food into the bedroom) from the night before and she drank that.  I asked where the can was and her response was that she had already crushed it in the can crusher in the garage.  I did not believe her but had no proof she did not take the pills.  After that I put the pills where she could not find them and gave them to her myself and watched her take them.   When her Mom and Dad took her possessions home from Peachford her Mom found pills in the bottom of one of her bags.

I believe now that Emma has a serious mental problem that no one is addressing and she is not receiving the help she needs.  She is a very smart young lady and is apparently smarter than the therapists that are currently working with her.

Janice

Sadly, Emma cut off all contact with Janice, I guess deciding Janice was on the side of her mom, but more likely because Janice saw all the lies that Emma tried to pull, and saw the real Emma.

(More to come.  This installment is too long for one sitting.)

(It will take me several days to post the entire Psych Eval., so I am stopping at this point and will continue later.)