BRIGHTON, Mich. (WXYZ) - A local baby at the center of a wild child abuse case is now among Michigan’s most wanted kids.
Little Naomi Burns has been taken into hiding by her mother, who fears authorities will take the child from her.
An attorney for Brenda Burns is calling this legal terrorism. Brenda has been cleared of all abuse allegations, but when her attorney told Child Protective Services workers last week to stop contacting Brenda, CPS went to court, demanding an address for the child.
For two months in 2014, the Burns family was the picture of perfection.
Josh Burns was flying planes for a commercial airline. Brenda was a registered nurse, and little Naomi was their bundle of joy.
“Naomi was a very wanted child. We waited a very long time to have children,” said Brenda in an interview with 7 Investigator Heather Catallo in January.
“I attended daddy boot camp classes at St. Joe’s [Hospital] before she even came into the world, because I wanted to be the best dad I could be,” said Josh during the same interview.
But two months after Naomi’s difficult C-section birth – trouble started. Josh says the baby slipped off his knee one day. In the tumble, mom and dad say she suffered only a faint bruise on her cheek.
“She was smiling and giggling, we went about our normal day,” said Josh.
But the next day, Naomi started projectile vomiting. Josh and Brenda rushed to the ER.
“I told the attending physician there about it, and he scoffed at it, and said – ‘Dad, this is nothing you did, your daughter is suffering from an infection or virus,’” said Josh.
But a doctor at the University of Michigan later found more: bleeding in the area between Naomi’s brain and skull. That’s called a subdural hematoma. They also discovered retinal hemorrhaging.
There were no other signs of trauma on the child, but that doctor then accused Josh and Brenda of abuse. Both adamantly deny they ever harmed their baby.
Brenda describes the accusations as, “devastating, humiliating, and terrifying.” CPS put Naomi into foster care.
“We were shocked. We had been in the hospital for 10 days, trusting these people with our daughter’s life. We brought her back to these same people. It was like somebody threw a hand grenade into our room and walked away,” said Josh.
Brenda was ultimately cleared and Naomi was eventually returned to her. But Josh was charged with child abuse.
“It’s like living a nightmare. And you wake up every day and you’re still there. And you just think, what do I have to do to prove to these people that I’m not the man I say I am,” said Josh.
And despite experts who said the bleeding inside Naomi’s head happened at birth and was caused by trauma during her delivery, a jury convicted Josh in January. Josh says he hasn’t seen his daughter in nearly a year.
“It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” said Josh.
The night of Josh’s conviction, a Child Protective Services worker from the Michigan Department of Human Services showed up with Brighton Police at Brenda’s house. They wanted to see if Josh was violating a court order that prevents him from seeing Naomi. The encounter was captured on a nanny cam inside the home.
“I’m with CPS, I’m with DHS. I was asked to just come out and just verify that he was not here,” CPS worker Melinda Chamberlain can be heard saying on the video.
“You can check the house if you choose,” says Charles Burns, Naomi’s grandfather.
Brenda’s attorney, Elizabeth Warner, says they had no warrant to search the home.
“Five Brighton City police officers and a DHS employee committed a home invasion of the child’s home. The child was there with her grandparents. But regardless of who she was there with – it wasn’t her father, and they had absolutely no reason to do that,” said Warner.
Warner says this police raid is one of the reasons she sent CPS a letter last week telling them that Brenda was moving. Warner said they could write to Brenda at a post office box, or they could call Warner.
But now CPS has filed a new court petition against Brenda, demanding that she provide them with Naomi’s new address.
“Does she have to do that,” asked Catallo.
“No,” said Warner. “It’s definitely not a crime for her to take her daughter and live wherever she wants to with her daughter. Her daughter was given back to her, she’s the fit parent, and under our constitution and the way that our Michigan Supreme Court has interpreted it, they cannot put her child under supervision of DHS.”
Now Brenda is in hiding.
“I think that would be the safest thing for any good mother to do. These people in Livingston County have not acted either honorably or legally. It frankly is the most stupid, silly petition I’ve ever seen filed. It doesn’t accuse her of any child neglect. It doesn’t accuse her of any child abuse. It accuses her of moving. And having an attorney. Period,” said Warner. “It is pure hypocrisy, and legal terrorism. I don’t know any other way you can put it.”
A referee issued an order, demanding an address for the child by 5:00 p.m. on Friday March 6.
The Livingston County prosecutor told us that as of March 11, the child’s location has not been provided.
“It is not our desire to keep a child from her mother. We want to make sure that the child is protected from the man who abused her. To the extent there is a dispute over what the court can order the mother to do, that is a matter that will be litigated and ultimately decided by the courts,” said Bill Vailliencourt in an email to the 7 Investigators. “There is no vendetta here. Our primary concern has always been the protection of the child from harm and holding her abuser accountable for his criminal conduct.”
Both sides will be back in court next week.
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Originally Posted by Origanalist
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