Siblings stuck in Florida foster care system over a thousand miles from family home: ‘We need some help’

Grandmother desperate to bring kids home

Children who were placed in foster care must remain so even though the family wants custody. The grandmother of the kids flew from Michigan to Florida to get them but was turned away by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A group of five siblings was placed in foster care over a thousand miles away from home, and their family is desperately trying to get them back where they belong.

They are 37-year-old Shamika Mitchell's children, and she’s accused of abandoning her one-year-old son on the shore of Daytona Beach, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. Mitchell was visiting from Michigan when a group of bystanders found the baby unresponsive. The boy was admitted to the hospital for several days but has made a full recovery, according to the family.

Shamika’s mother, Valerie, said her daughter was experiencing a mental health episode at the time of the incident. Valerie lives in Michigan as well and has been in contact with officials from the Florida Department of Children and Families, with no progress toward moving the kids back. She said the frustrations have been growing by the day, and there is seemingly no end in sight.

Shamika Mitchell, 37, of Detroit, is charged with aggravated child abuse and unlawful desertion of a child.

"If [there’s] anybody out there who can help us get these boys home. I need some help. We need some help," she said.

The boys' ages range from 1 to 17. Valerie said the family had been given little insight into the nature of the delay, aside from issues with paperwork. According to her, those issues have resulted in several custody hearings being pushed back. Weeks after the alleged desertion occurred, the family still doesn't know if and when the boys will be removed from the foster care system.

"Me and their grandfather are trying very hard to get the boys back here," he said. "It's paperwork and red tape they've got to go through," Valerie said she traveled down from Michigan last month at the request of DCF. She was under the impression it was to bring the children back with her, but that was not the case.

After visiting the kids at the office for several hours, the family was turned away, according to Valerie. The children haven’t been in the family’s custody since. The family's contact with the boys is limited to cell phone interactions with the older ones who have phones. The younger ones do not, and according to Valerie, the group of five has been split up into three different foster homes.

"They're not used to this," she said. " [I’m] trying to explain to a seven-year-old when he’s asking about his momma, and he wants to go home. You know, that's kind of hard for him to grasp. It's hard for me to grasp, and I'm an adult."

FOX 35 News reached out to officials at DCF to learn more about how they handle custody cases connected to those suspected of crimes and has not heard back yet.

Shamika Mitchell is still being held in Volusia County Jail on no bond for Aggravated Child Abuse and Unlawful Desertion of a Child.

Volusia County Daytona Beach