Speaker 2: 0:12

Welcome to. Like Mother, like Murder. I am Rachel and I'm Heather. We bring you the good, the badass and the crime this is.

Speaker 1: 0:25

Like Mother, Like Murder.

Speaker 2: 0:34

Hello everyone, welcome to Like Mother, Like Murder. Today we have a mother in need of all of the love, all of the support, all of the warriors to join her in the fight to make a change, a change that is too late to help her precious son but can hopefully help the next family and child. We have a mother who lost her son in a horrific way only 43 days ago. We have a mother who lost her son in a murder-suicide where his life was taken by the father before turning the gun on himself. We have a mother who tried to tell the courts, who tried to tell others that something was wrong. We have a mother who made a report when her son wasn't brought home, when he was supposed to be, and she wasn't taken seriously. We have a mother who looked the judge in the eye and was turned away the day before her son was found murdered in a home. We have a mother whose pride and joy was taken and today you get to hear from this mother. Today we have Brandi Maury-Poles.

Speaker 2: 1:44

Heather and I sat down and talked with Brandy. She shares stories of who Rowan was and the things that made him so incredibly amazing. She shared things he loved and was looking forward to, as well as how much he was loved by his siblings and his friends. She talks about custody over the years and different problems that arose, and then she gets into the day he was not brought home to her and how her life will never be the same.

Speaker 2: 2:11

We will have a call to action at the end of the episode of what you can do to try to help stop this from happening to the next child, because Rowan's murder cannot go without some sort of change. To help someone else, things need to change and Brandy wants to be the person to make that happen For others because of Rowan. Here is Brandy. First of all. Thank you so much for joining us today. The conversation that we're going to have is painful, it's heartbreaking, and the thing is we need to share Rowan's story. So can we start with you talking about him first, kind of telling us who he was, his interests, just all about him.

Speaker 3: 2:59

Crap. I'm going to start off crying right away.

Speaker 3: 3:02

We'll cry right along with you oh he was so, so, utterly spoiled and such a sweet, sweet boy Like, and my husband would get on me sometimes for spoiling him too much and now I'm so glad that I did like cause who knows how he had it on the other side and that's. I think that's a lot of the mom in me that took over and just over-mommed him. But he, he was really funny, he. One of the things I miss the most is hearing his feet running to my bed every morning and jumping in Like he had his little blanket like Spider-Man and would jump into bed with me.

Speaker 3: 3:46

He, he was raised by a hairdresser so he was a bit of a softie. He loved golf, because we're all golfers. But the one thing he couldn't wait for was to play flag football this fall because his big brother, bryson he's 13, he plays tackle football. He wanted to be just like him and his first game was the Sunday after he was murdered, so he didn't get to even play or practice with his team but his team's all wearing stickers for Rowan and they never even met him. He made friends so easily. His poor little friends are just having such a hard time through this. It's like going through this and watching the ones that love him.

Speaker 2: 4:36

Lose him too is just so heartbreaking um yeah, the impact that a six-year-old can have on so many is so real what he did in his little bit of life was just brought so much light and love to our family.

Speaker 3: 4:55

So you have to understand we're blended. My husband and I are, and between the two of us we have seven kids, and he was the youngest, so my oldest is 27 and he's married, so she's my daughter, then my other daughter's, 22, then 20, then his son is 18, 13, and then Rowan would have been seven. So he was the youngest out of all these older kids and they just their big thing. The older ones would always look older kids and they, they just their big thing they're. The older ones would always look at me and be like, well, we didn't have that because they see how much I spoil Rowan.

Speaker 3: 5:33

I'm like, yes, you did, I just didn't have an iPhone and all the stuff to record everything that you did like, and it just worked, it just blended so beautifully like. We just had a a big family vacation to silver lake where we took all of our off-road vehicles and my jeep and his bronco, and we all went up. There was 12 of us that stayed up there and we went off-roading on the dunes all weekend and and that was our last family trip all together.

Speaker 2: 6:07

Yeah, that's something that you guys are going to have forever, and talking about all of the siblings, that is it's so painful to know With their ages, I just think about how much they played such a big impact in his growth and raising him as well, right alongside you.

Speaker 3: 6:28

My daughter, shelby, was second mom. I mean she literally looks just like me and has my voice, except for she's about five inches shorter and they were very close and she struggles a lot Like my boys are more quiet, they won't go to grief counseling because they're just being boys. But my daughter is going to see someone, I think next week. But our whole family has just been shattered by this Right, right, yeah, and you don't realize how much that one little person meant just was such a huge part of our family. There was like so many things.

Speaker 2: 7:13

Well, it's nothing that you can expect, or it's it's nothing you can expect, or it's nothing that should ever happen. I did.

Speaker 3: 7:20

I did expect it, I did expect it, you did expect it.

Speaker 2: 7:24

And that kills me.

Speaker 3: 7:25

It does. It does I, and and and talking about him. So I don't know if you guys you've read up on it or whatnot, but his dad had shaved him bald four times Cause I was a hairstylist. How else better to get back at someone than to do that right, which is just? And and he was so little when he first did it that I that I wouldn't show a reaction when I pick him up. I'd just be like, hi, baby, grab him and leave. I would not give him any inkling that it bothered me. So hopefully he would stop.

Speaker 3: 8:01

Um, the first time he did it, um was and I had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and we had to adjourn court to lower his child support because I had to have my breasts removed. So he sent him home bald. And that's when I knew what I was dealing with and I knew in my heart that CPS or any front of the court or anyone, no one would do anything about it. They'd say, oh, it's just hair. So I didn't really do anything the first time. Well, the second time he did it was just before my oldest son's wedding. A week before the wedding he just shaved all his hair off hair off. So in any of the big pictures that you see in our family my son's wedding. If he's got a hat on, it's because he had been shaved bald. So then after that time I put him into counseling. We had counseling for about a year and then I tried mediation with Mike to talk about it and then finally, the fourth time, he did it was the last time and I think it's the picture that everyone's seen that he's completely to the scalp.

Speaker 3: 9:12

And I could tell when Rowan got home that he had just done it just before he left the house Like he hadn't even seen himself because he had a winter cap on. It was 27 degrees out that day and I got him home and he took his hat off. I'm like hi, babe, and I don't react and my heart just sinks. And so later that night I go to give him a bath and he gets out and he's just staring in the mirror looking at himself for the longest time and he started to cry and he said mom, funny. I said, oh, baby, no, you don't, you're beautiful, you just got a whole lot more face. Yeah, yeah, I was trying to try to just turn it around for him, but at that point he had been telling me how dad was sleeping all day. He was only eating toast and I saw how disgusting his house was, and then the head shaving thing. So I called CPS. I'm like, okay, it's time Something has to be done Right.

Speaker 3: 10:15

And that it was. There's such a joke. It was such a joke. It's this young girl who didn't take me seriously Could have. I could tell she could care less, that she thought it wasn't a big deal. She came over and she took all my statements and looked at my home and whatnot, and then she went up to Mike's house twice and he didn't answer. I mean he didn't work and he can't drive. He was home, he's there, yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 10:45

Yeah. So she called and called, and called and finally he answered and he refused to let the CPS girl come out until he knew the allegations. So she told him. So then she goes out there, she comes back to me, to my home, has the audacity to stand in my house and tell me well, his house was immaculate.

Speaker 1: 11:09

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:10

Of course it was. You told him what the problems were.

Speaker 2: 11:14

You told him you were coming there to look at it and therefore someone's going to clean up to look a certain way. A hundred percent.

Speaker 3: 11:21

Right, a hundred percent Right, so then. So then you fast forward. We're in court this past year, in front of the judge, and Mike was his own attorney and I was on the stand for at least two hours. Guys, this was just for court. For what school he was going to? And he was already in it. I'd already put him in school.

Speaker 3: 11:41

Mike had fought me every way, on every single thing. So for two years I had him in preschool at a church and then DK at Fowles. Mike didn't take him on his days. He didn't go to school for two years on Mike's time and it's legal in Michigan until you're six years old. So we were arguing over what school and we were in court and he had me on the stand for about two hours and he brought up the CPS thing and I said yes, because you did this, this, this and this. The judge reamed me. He looked at me and was just he goes, not for one second do I believe he was only eating toast Gosh, my eyes started to twitch. I just yeah, anger, and it is. It's infuriating. Even my own attorney that I had at the time was angry with me. They were all like what a gross misuse of the resources that's for children that need it.

Speaker 2: 12:41

Yeah, and where are they today? What are they saying today?

Speaker 3: 12:46

after looking you in the eye and saying that Exactly.

Speaker 3: 12:51

I've not gotten any response out of the judge. I'm sure he's not going to, but I mean for him to. And here's where my confusion comes in. That judge signed a court order when our case first started. Why do I need to have his permission to get my child back? Why did I have to file an emergency motion? Did he not believe his own words to his first order that he buried? Why do I need his permission again for something he's already signed? Why did I have to wait 52 hours? 52 hours you imagine what that was like.

Speaker 3: 13:37

I knew. I knew at 903 that morning something was wrong. I knew all weekend because we had been in mediation with Mike for most of the year because I had moved about an hour and a half away and we were going to put him in a private Christian school and have this great big life for him and we were going back and forth and back and forth and it was getting down to, school was starting within a week and I think he knew he was going to lose and so he took his life at about 10 AM Cause you get like a half hour leeway in the court order to be late or whatnot and at 9.03,. I was just. I sit by the front window waiting for him and I knew right something was wrong.

Speaker 3: 14:27

So by 10 am I, I called the sheriff's department to ask for a wellness check, because Mike had done this before, I think twice before, where he had kept him three or four hours where I wasn't able to get in touch with him, find, find him, and the agony and the not knowing, and just this was different. This was worse and I knew it was worse because by the time we got to 18 hours, no communication, no, nothing. I mean Mike, throughout the years, had manipulated the communication between the two of us so badly he pretended he didn't have a cell phone, which they found too. Then we would only communicate by email, then he would block me, then he would only have a landline and have an answering machine and shut the answering machine off. So that's what was happening.

Speaker 3: 15:22

The day that he went missing, that Monday, was I. I would call and call the house and it would just go straight to you have reached. There's no answering machine. You know what I mean. So I called the police. They went out, they did a wellness check. They said no one's there. Well, when I dropped Rowan off, there was a white camper to the right of the driveway and a black truck in the driveway. Well, they went out and there was, that wasn't there. So that's when we put out a missing.

Speaker 1: 15:54

I started telling, right.

Speaker 3: 15:56

And so I I thought you know, maybe he's they're out camping, cause they had been camping like two years ago. And so, um, probably about six o'clock I called the sheriffs again and said you know, can we get a wellness, another wellness check? And finally my husband's, like you know what, I'm going to call the sheriff's department in our County, kent County. Okay, and they actually came to our house and he, he goes. I've already called all the phone numbers that I have for Mike. I'm like how many do you have? He had four different phone numbers. I'm like what? Wow? And then he's yeah.

Speaker 3: 16:36

So the Kent County sheriff said get in your car now and go up to Isabella County sheriffs, get in their faces and tell them how scared you are for this kid because of what's going on, right? And? And we did, and we drove an hour and a half. It was probably one 30 in the morning. So, technically, tuesday morning we got up there and I'm pleading, I'm like listen, you don't understand. This is different. He doesn't keep him overnight like this. He doesn't not, not communicate this long, Like there's something wrong. And I even tried to play it off, like I was worried about Mike too, which I really definitely was not.

Speaker 3: 17:13

But yeah when we would. When we went to leave, my husband was like you should have been more hysterical. I'm like, no, I wanted to be calm and respectful so they would take me seriously, right? Nothing, it didn't matter. They, they didn't, they didn't care, they didn't they, they placated me, they just were. You could tell they're standing there just to listen and then get rid of me.

Speaker 3: 17:40

And it was so sickening to drive home that night without him and then I didn't sleep and my older kids I listed him as missing that night. And my older kids, bailey and Shelby, called me at like three or four in the morning and they're like mom, what is going on? I'm like calm down, we're going to find him, it's going to be okay. And I got up and I drove straight to my attorney's office in Mount Pleasant. My husband stayed home, just in case you know, he dropped him off a day later or something. I got to my attorney's office Gavin McClintock, wonderful attorney, such a good, good man and he was already there, already at work. I'm doing the emergency motion, all the things we had to file. So I went with him to the courthouse to file the emergency motion for the judge to sign and I stood there waiting. I talked to my caseworker I you know, just hanging around.

Speaker 3: 18:48

So then, when we were done at the courthouse and that we just had to wait for the judge to sign it, we couldn't figure out what to do. Like you know, where do you look, what do you do? So we went to my mom's for a little bit and then they said you know what? Forget Isabella County Sheriff's, go to the state police. So I did with my husband and my stepson and I started talking to them telling them what's going on. And I could tell they're taking me serious, they care, they were okay. And so then the cop said to me he goes, listen, we're going to go out and do another wellness check and if they come back he's still not there, then we'll list him as missing. And I just started bawling. I'm like finally.

Speaker 2: 19:34

Yeah, yeah, that's what you need.

Speaker 3: 19:36

Yeah, so I was at the state police post and the actually the state police didn't get a chance to go out there to do the wellness check because the Isabella County sheriffs were already there. And they came back and I was standing by the window and the dispatcher, a woman from the sheriff's department, called the state police and said this is a civil matter. We've already to her. Send her on her way that is absolutely ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 20:07

It is not a civil matter, this is a criminal matter. At this point, I mean, he has taken like what in the world.

Speaker 3: 20:15

well, and here's the thing they think it's civil because it's a custody thing. But here's the thing he's's a felon and I had told them throughout the years, I had told the Isabel County Sheriff's department, cps, friend of the court, um, my attorney, that that he had guns. You're not allowed to have guns If you're a felon. Obviously he had them and I knew he did. So that's should have made it criminal right then and there. But they didn't take the time to look that up or give a crap. We even told him that night, that Monday night at one, 30 in the morning when we got up there, that he has guns, like and nothing. So we went home without him. Um, I didn't sleep. Did I sleep? I slept a little. I did not sleep. That night Went home without him. I didn't sleep, did I sleep? I slept a little.

Speaker 2: 21:07

I did not sleep that night.

Speaker 3: 21:08

Monday night no one slept. But then Wednesday morning we got up and our plan. What was our plan? I don't even remember. We were going to go back up. We were going to go back up, try and file another ex parte. Yeah, we were going to try and file another emergency motion, but in the morning my girlfriend was like you got to just how about?

Speaker 3: 21:31

just go about your day as usual. I was already being contacted by some news people to be interviewed that he was missing, and so I had an appointment to get my eyelashes filled because I'd been crying so much. They look like strangled tarantulas. So I left the house and as soon as I left, kent County Sheriff's pulled in and and my husband was left home for over an hour, about an hour and 20 minutes, knowing that I was coming home. To that I, uh, I left my appointment just talking to my girlfriend.

Speaker 3: 22:12

You know, have have you heard more stuff? Whatever there's. There was another news article that came out or something and I was reading it. And then I got in the car to come home. I turned down our street and there were there was a Kent County sheriff and an undercover sheriff two houses down and I pull in my driveway there's no cars there or anything and I go to go to the backyard to talk to my husband and be like nosy neighbor and be like, oh my God, do you see the cops at the neighbor's house, kind of thing. And he wasn't out there and I walked into the house.

Speaker 3: 22:53

And I saw my pastor from my church first and my husband crying and my parents. It was like a full metal wall hit me and there was like six or seven sheriffs there from kent county. We still don't know time of death. We nobody's reached out to us. No detectives, no, nothing. We don't have anything, I don't. We talked to Michael Mayne, the sheriff's from the Isabel County, and he said it did look like to them that he had been sleeping when it happened, which I pray for, but the problems Go ahead.

Speaker 2: 23:46

I pray for. But the problems I know that when Go ahead. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. I just know when we were talking on the phone you had said when they first went he could have still been alive. Yes, and then when they went back out there he was no longer there. So they would have done their job.

Speaker 3: 24:03

Yes, yes, yes, so that camper never left the property. So it's a long piece of property that goes back towards a river and the camper was back on the back part of the property. So if they would have just searched more or taken us seriously, um right, I do believe he passed away and my heart, I think it was Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, but it was not on Monday. And I know that because there's we've got body cam footage and we do have a police report that we got from wood TV eight. We are getting stuff from news people, not from detectives or anyone involved, and the body cam footage shows.

Speaker 3: 24:51

On monday the black truck was in the garage and then I think it was tuesday afternoon they found the, the white camper, on the property. Which is the most disturbing part is there are several vehicles on the property and so is his bike and there's like a little trailer behind the bike that he would drive or ride rowing around in. It was freshly pulled up to that trailer and all the blinds were pulled. They were inside that trailer, they were there and they. I guess there were no bullet holes at that time. On Tuesday afternoon, by Wednesday morning, there was a bullet hole and his sisters had found them.

Speaker 1: 25:37

I don't understand how 52 hours you said it's the Isabella County Sheriff, right? So they not only didn't do a wellness check to the best of their ability, or even to a basic ability, right, they are not communicating with you. It's the Kent County Sheriff that has to come in and and help you guys. You still have no information from the Isabella County Sheriff, who they are the ones who need to do the investigation because it's there and they still have not told you anything. Right, right, they didn't.

Speaker 3: 26:22

They didn't tell us you anything, Right Right. They didn't tell us they found the camper. I do not understand that. They never told us that they found the camper on the property. We didn't know that. We didn't know that until they told me that he was gone. So it's been five weeks now, just over, and I try to process this in a healthy way. I've tried to flip the script on my thinking and tell myself that God chose me to be his mom for that little bit of time that I got to.

Speaker 2: 26:59

He definitely did choose you to be his mom.

Speaker 3: 27:01

He definitely did choose you to be his mom. But what I want from this? I want a Rowan alert, not an Amber alert. Amber alerts are almost impossible to get. The cop even told us that. I want a Rowan alert for parental kidnapped children. You have that 30 minute window to get your child. If there's, you know, a breakdown of the car or whatever happens, you're running late. Whether, whatever, you have that 30 minutes, if there's something going on in that 30 minutes that you're going to be later than that, in this day and age, with all the communications that we have available to us, you should be communicating. So if there's no communication and that child isn't back to that other parent, the police should be able to get involved. I shouldn't have to petition a judge, 100% Exactly. I shouldn't have to petition a judge that's already signed an order saying my kid should be home at that time. I shouldn't have to ask him twice to get my son home safe and he said no.

Speaker 1: 27:58

Yeah, I don't understand how they turn like, how there's more, there's more regulation around child support than there is for custody, like, let's get real. Like, yes, yes, you guys care so much about child support which, don't get me wrong, is a great thing but where are all those rules and regulations when it comes to custody, if someone misses a child support payment, there you go, you're, you've got a warrant, you're, you're out, like you are on call. I think you, you are missing custody and there there's not something more severe.

Speaker 3: 28:38

I mean and and what that would do if there is a. If we do, by God's grace, get a Rowan alert. All those high conflict cases that front of the court deal with, you're going to deal with that a lot less, because that person is going to go to jail. That's causing that conflict, and that this I mean the evidence. Was there so much that he was abusing Rowan? Was there so much that he was abusing Rowan and that CPS worker? There needs to be more money allotted to CPS so they can take the time to recognize emotional and mental abuse, because emotional and mental abuse are going to lead to physical and or death.

Speaker 1: 29:19

Almost always.

Speaker 3: 29:20

Yeah, and he was failed on so many levels and I fought for him so hard.

Speaker 1: 29:29

You did.

Speaker 3: 29:34

It's just frustrating. Knowing that, I mean, God chose me to make this change is how I try to look at it. I hate that it had to be my son's life, but things do need to change and there are so many people out there dealing with it. You wouldn't believe the amount of stories of people reaching out to me that they're dealing with this. I want his life to mean something. It means that no other child will be lost to something so stupid.

Speaker 1: 30:13

Yeah, we talk about it a lot in our episodes, where we talk about there's so many points along the way leading up where this could have stopped, where this could have been handled and yours is your story is that there's so many places where you fought, you fought, you fought and they did not back you up and it could have made 100% of a difference.

Speaker 3: 30:42

So the CPS worker, when she came back to my house that day to tell me you know his house is immaculate. This, that and the other, and you know it's it's. He gets to take care of his hair the way he wants on his parenting time, it's hygiene or whatever. I looked at her, I go if it was a little girl you wouldn't say that True, and she had nothing to say. So true, it it was abuse the whole time. And I just felt so unheard and just I just had this gut feeling it was. I mean, if you're doing something so blatantly obvious by shaving a kid's head, what?

Speaker 2: 31:22

else are you doing to this?

Speaker 3: 31:23

poor boy. Like how that girl, that CPS girl, didn't think of that, like it's just mind boggling, it's infuriating actually. And he just was such a sweet, innocent little boy. He loved life. He loved bragging about himself, about what a great golfer he was, his golf swing. He's good, wasn't he? He was so good. He has a big brother and a stepdad that are pretty good golfers too Not so much me, but he, he just had a light about him and he was super sweet. He had this Spider-Man costume that was skin tight and he was tiny, skinny little kid anyway. So it was hilarious to see him in it and he'd like sneak around the house and pretend. And then one day it was like a few weeks after I got him that costume I'm looking at a picture of him on my phone that I had taken of him in it and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's not a spider, it was a cockroach. That's not a spider, it was a cockroach. So my husband started calling him la cucaracha. But I told all, I told all the older kids.

Speaker 3: 32:53

I'm like, don't you dare tell him that's spider-man.

Speaker 1: 32:57

Damn it, I have literally done the same thing. I thought I bought my daughter a dinosaur costume and it was a crocodile. Oh, you were a dinosaur. That holiday, like that halloween, the same thing was happening he was fun.

Speaker 3: 33:16

I think my daughter ratted us out at some point, though, that he knew it was a cockroach. Oh my god, we were out. We were out golfing at one point. My husband and I were in one cart and Bryson and Rowan were in another one, and Rowan went to slide his finger in the cup holder to grab his drink and he cut his finger. And if this will tell you what how I was as a mother with him, he starts screaming for mommy turns around to come, run to me, but limps. He was like that, like here, when we were on vacation in uh Silver Lake and my whole family's there. He was wrestling with his big brother, bryson, and his teeth went into his knee and he had like a teeny little cut on his knee. He limped like it was like dragging his leg for a whole day.

Speaker 2: 34:22

He was enjoying it. He is really, really missed by all of us. Yeah, yeah, I I wanted to say because when you were talking about how you were unheard, in all of those moments you were, I want to say, disrespected by so many people as you tried to seek help from those who are obligated to help you.

Speaker 2: 34:46

And it's not okay. It's not okay and there's nothing that we could say or do to help make any easier. But I can tell you our hearts are with you, a million percent, and that we're going to do what we can to talk about Rowan, to share Rowan's story and to help in any way we can with Rowan's rights, to make a difference for other children's and families. However, you need us. We want to be there.

Speaker 3: 35:11

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Our whole family thanks you and I'm so, so thankful that you're helping get his story out you're helping get his story out.

Speaker 2: 35:33

First, I want to say thank you from all of me to Brandy for talking with us Through the tears, through the laughter, as beautiful memories were shared, and through the horrific tragedy that has shaken your world. We are so sorry, from the bottom of our hearts. You were Rowan's mama. For a reason it wasn't long enough, but you gave him all of you for those six years and he has that eternally. You'll fight for him the same way you did while he was here, and he will always know your endless love. He was here and he will always know your endless love. And this next part, where you fight for justice, fight for a difference. We hope to be a support system for you and your family in any way.

Speaker 2: 36:14

As I mentioned in our conversation with Brandy, things need to change. We see way too often children harmed, abused mentally, emotionally and physically, and that can lead to even worse, just like in Rowan's case. The ultimate goal here would be to create a Rowan's Law to help the families that are fighting with custody agreements and not having the other parent meet their end of the contractual agreement. These are put into place for a reason and so when they are broken in one way or another, the parent should be held responsible immediately. In Rowan's case, he should have been dropped off at 9 in the morning. There was no communication whatsoever from the father and therefore, at 930 AM, after the allotted and agreed upon leeway time that is given by the courts at 931,. That is when the parent should be able to say my child is not back, you need to go and get him. Then it should be as simple as that. Okay, You're right, he should be back, the leeway is up, we are going to go do our fucking jobs. But no, in this case it took over 52 hours. Yes, people went out and knocked on a door. We don't want you to knock on a door, we want you to knock the door down. Then, after you knock that door down, you have the right to arrest the person for withholding the child and not following the agreement that was put into place. That is now criminal and it should be taken seriously as such. Creating a Rowan's Law would give the parent or guardian the ability to get the help they need for their child in circumstances such as these, such as parental kidnapping. I truly believe this would help parents to be held accountable. Then, if they're not. It's jail time, Goodbye, Follow your court order or get the F out of here. As much as we see cases where we talk about custody disputes, children going missing, children abused, children murdered Charlie and Brayden Powell, Gabriel Fernandez, Kyra Franchetti, just to name a few. These are all cases that CPS was involved and Brandy, she wants to find a way to help get more funds for CPS so they have enough employees. They have the right training necessary, the ways to do their jobs accurately, to pay attention to the mental and the emotional abuse that's happening as well, because it leads to physical abuse and in too many cases it leads to murder. And in Rowan's case, Brandy stood in front of the court, she stood in front of the judge and they didn't take her seriously, they didn't hear her and that's why, right now, right here, she needs to be heard. A change needs to happen for these children, for these families.

Speaker 2: 39:31

I wanted to read two lines from Rowan's obituary. Rowan was a delightful little boy whose laughter could light up any room. His infectious giggles and playful nature brought joy to everyone around him. He had a unique ability to find humor in the simplest of things, making even the dullest days feel like an adventure. Whether he was cracking jokes or pulling silly faces, he had a knack for making people smile. Although Rowan's time with us was brief, his impact was profound. He taught us all the importance of laughter, love and living life to the fullest. He will be deeply missed by his family, friends and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.

Speaker 2: 40:21

Brandy, her husband, Brian, Rowan's seven siblings and their beautifully combined family Bailey, Carly, Shelby, Ethan, Aiden, Merrick and Bryson and the rest of their family are all suffering the loss of Rowan. A GoFundMe has been set up by a family friend for Brandy and the family to offer support through this difficult time. Everything we talked about today will be in the show notes, including the Rest. In Peace, Rowan Morey Facebook page the GoFundMe page if you're able to donate and any other way to follow along to help us make a change. Thank you all for taking the time to listen to Brandy today. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers through this truly devastating time. We will talk to you next Tuesday. Until then, put on an orange shirt and go out of your way to make someone smile today For Rowan k. Love you bye. Outro Music.