Location: Wisconsin
Someone I used to work with and had a work friendship with was recently arrested for child abuse. I only know about this because, while in jail, she had another person contact me to see about putting money on her books. I declined and have not spoken to her.
That said, since first meeting her in 2019, I have maintained a somewhat friendly rapport with her, primarily as a means of helping her kids. I am not surprised by this arrest. Those kids lived and slept (on the floor in the living room) amongst dirty diapers, and piles of rotting food. Their hair was always matted from months and months of never being cleaned. They stank so badly to the point that I once heard people in the store with us gagging. I once picked the kids up to take them trick or treating (it was like 40 degrees out) and she sent her 1 year old out of the house with no shirt, no coat, no socks, and covered in dried food that looked like it had been caked on him for weeks. She has told me that her own traumatic childhood has made it hard to find love for her own kids.
I never called CPS myself because CPS was already familiar with her and she had a case worker actively coming over to work with them. I met this caseworker various times.
That said, those kids need to get out of her care, and I feel somewhat relieved that something has finally come of it all. My question is, without being presently involved in the court case, is there anyone I can contact asking to testify?