SAN ANTONIO — An AMBER Alert was issued for six children who were believed to be in danger in Bexar County, officials said Saturday. Officials said their mother took them after Child Protective Services was granted temporary custody.
Bexar County Sheriff's said the six children were found safe and their mother Jacklyn Davidson was taken into custody. The other suspect, Jaime Davidson turned himself in later, officials said.
On Nov. 30, officials say Jacklyn Davidson fled from CPS in the 900 block of Andean Emerald in west Bexar County. Officials said this happened after CPS was granted temporary custody.
Officials say both suspects had active warrants for interference with child custody.
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According to arrest affidavits, CPS told deputies that the parents stated they were going to take the children and go to Austin to speak with Governor Abbott about the custody battle.
On Saturday, Davidson's attorney Derek Ritchie released the following statement:
"I have the privilege of representing Mrs. Jacklyn Davidson. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson are the loving parents of six children. They are both military veterans, and Jacklyn Davidson is a former volunteer CASA advocate and Mr. Davidson received a Purple Heart for his service in the military.
Mrs. Davidson contacted me after her children were taken by Child Protective Services. At the initial hearing on November 1st, after hearing all of the evidence presented by CPS, a court determined that CPS had no grounds for removing the children from Mr. and Mrs. Davidson and returned the children to my client that same day.
Mr. Davidson has been in West Texas since November 9th where he returned to work to support his family and since then has had no physical contact with children since the Judge’s decision on November 30th.
In what appears to be a personal vendetta against my client and my office, CPS continued to harass the Davidson family, showing up at the residence completely unannounced with law enforcement on multiple occasions. Despite my office's efforts to facilitate a meeting between the children and CPS, all offers of cooperation to interview the children and the family with an attorney present made by my office were ignored or refused. This caused considerable distress to the family and the children, who were too scared to even go to school for fear that CPS would snatch them again. This is the stuff of nightmares.
Twenty-six days after the children were returned by a court of law to my client, CPS took a second bite at the apple. By circumventing the rules of evidence, CPS convinced a judge that the children needed to be removed from their home. Based on no evidence, the judge issued a ruling for the children to again be removed from the Davidson family.
My office has filed an appeal and we are waiting to see if the Fourth Court of Appeals will issue an emergency stay. I wish that I could say this case is unique and that the general public has nothing to fear from CPS, but unfortunately this is becoming all too common. I hear from people daily about the trauma and turmoil CPS puts good families through. This is just one example of a complete abuse of power by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The Davidsons have fully complied, and will continue to comply, with the law and the requests of CPS. They have turned themselves in, and the children over to the Department, without incident. Watching that family be torn apart was one of the most heartbreaking scenes I have ever witnessed. I know that these children are safe with their family, and were safe with their family for almost a full month before CPS interfered. I cannot say the same is true while these children are State care.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Davidson family during this trying time, and we will continue to fight this injustice to the fullest extent of the law."
KENS 5 also reached out the CPS for comment and was denied by a spokesperson. As for Ritchie, he plans to hold a news conference when Jacklyn is released from jail.
