This is pretty lengthy, so I'm only putting a teaser in here. Do read the entire article in full.
http://www.theind.com/cover-story/11142-parent-trap
Parent Trap
A dysfunctional system designed to protect children from abuse throws an Acadiana mom and her 7-year-old daughter into a nightmarish legal limbo.
By Heather Miller Aug. 8, 2012
Laney Wyble spent the first two years of her daughter’s life at her hospital bedside, watching, holding, nurturing her baby as doctors in New Orleans and Lafayette worked to stabilize a rare genetic disorder that nearly killed her “little angel.”
It’s been seven years since Macey Smith came into the world, and more than five months since her mother’s own world fell to pieces. Laney Wyble hasn’t seen or heard from her daughter since March. She does not know where her daughter is living, only that she’s somewhere out of state with a man Macey claims has been sexually abusing her since she was 4 years old.