by the state of Oregon. I was first married to their mother 5 years ago and problems started soon after. She would physically abuse her three older children (mentally and emotionally as well.) I tried again and again to stop her from doing it and for a while she seemed to get better... then we had two more children of our own and almost immediately she went right back to her old habits of abuse. When I had to physically intervene on the kids behalf a few times and stop her from beating on them it was reported to the state of Oregon as domestic violence in the home.... she was arrested for it one day when she got out of control and assaulted me while I was on the phone with my mother trying to get her to take temporary custody of my two babies Harley and Amanda (as I was an interstate truck driver at the time and was not able to get them out of the home and start divorce and custody proceedings.)Soon after this the state of Oregon put a no contact order on my wife and we could no longer have legal communication between each other about what was going on.... and then they decided to take the children out of the home and place them in protective custody in foster care. Since then my son has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and learning disabilities that he is receiving treatment for this while in their custody. I have been given a list of things to do in order to gain custody of my children back but.... every time I complete something the state workers say that what THEY have told me I need to do is not enough and NOW they are trying to set my babies up for adoption. I have been through parenting classes and gotten the 2nd highest marks in the class... I have completed anger management classes at MY OWN choosing to do so...I have begun to learn sign language as well as my son does not speak.... they did not ask me to do ANY of these things... they asked me to complete a 52 week domestic violence offenders class even though I was the VICTIM of the violence in our home. I feel now as though no matter WHAT I do in order to show my fitness as a parent to the state they are going to take my children and put them up for adoption anyway.... because they can twist any and all information they receive about what I am doing to their advantage and tell the court they do not believe it is enough or that they THINK I am only putting on a show for their benefit. I am really trying to do all that they ask and my lawyer is even confused as to why they are still trying to put my kids up for adoption even though I have done all that I have been asked to do and more and have shown progress in ALL areas that they SAY they want to see progress in..... Now the only thing that I can assume is that they are going to try to put my kids up for adoption no matter WHAT I try to do.... my son has problems and they want to use THAT as an excuse for doing it... I am only halfway through the program they want me to complete and they are trying to use THAT as an excuse... they are trying to use whatever excuse they can to take my kids from me... I need help... I believe that this kind of legal kidnapping is going on more than people realize in Oregon and other states as well by the very people we trust to help keep our kids safe. There are cases here where drug dealers have been given back their kids in a shorter amount of time that I have been given in order to regain custody of MY children. I personally know of ONE woman who regularly hits her kids with a 3 foot wooden paddle that was given HER kids back by the very state that says they are trying to protect mine... They are trying to say that because i had to PHYSICALLY stop my soon to be ex wife from beating her children that THAT is domestic violence and i deserve to lose my two precious babies because of it! And all of this is in addition to the fact that I am not financially set up for this kind of ongoing legal battle... Once I run out of financial options I am going to lose (which is maybe what they are hoping for and or waiting for) if there is ANYTHING you can do to help me I would very much appreciate it. Donald Coffee dcoffeejr@earthlink.net