Opening Statement
I, Dean Allen Snow, a living survivor, state the following of my own knowledge and experience. I write to preserve the truth while time still tests it, and to speak for those who were silenced or separated until their names blurred into case numbers. When they tried to make me doubt my worth, to bury my voice beneath procedure and “policy,” I learned to roar. This is that roar—documented, calm, and undeniable.
When love is real, it does not vanish—it is vandalized. The record must show who held the chisel.
Summary of Harm
I witnessed (and endured) systems that too often confuse paperwork with truth and closure with justice—processes that separated families first and justified later. I observed reports built on hearsay, incentive structures that rewarded permanent removal, and a culture that treated poverty as neglect and advocacy as defiance. The cost was measured in birthdays missed, rooms left quiet, and futures rerouted without consent.
First-Person Account
- Coercion by complexity: I faced demands wrapped in jargon and deadlines that shifted like sand. When I asked for clarity, I met silence; when I persisted, I met penalties.
- Character inversion: The more I showed up, documented, and defended love, the more some actors framed me as a problem to be managed rather than a parent to be heard.
- Public story, private cost: I was told to move on. That is the lie harm tells when it’s not done. Healing without truth is only quiet.
Why I’m Putting This On the Record
I am not here to perform grievance; I’m here to preserve a signal. Time is my witness. I want the paper trail to show that I stood up, spoke clearly, and named what happened while it could still be answered. I want my daughter to inherit a documented truth, not a curated version of me. If this roar scares anyone, it’s because truth carries echo.
Requests & Commitments
- Transparency: Open the doors where stories go to suffocate—on paper and in practice.
- Proportionality: Stop treating poverty, persistence, or pain as proof of unfitness.
- Repair: Prioritize reunification and reconciliation where safety allows. Do not pay to sever what can be healed.
- Record: Preserve the full context of parents who kept showing up. Let the file include love.
Declaration
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. I submit this statement so that time, which reveals all things, may have something honest to reveal about me.