The father of an eight-year-old Texas boy whose mother forced him to undergo 13 surgeries by lying to doctors about his health has regained custody of the child.
On Wednesday, a judge awarded Ryan Crawford temporary managing conservator ship of his son Christopher.
The decision comes a week after Christopher’s mother, Kaylene Bowen, was arrested for felony injury to a child after she admitted to convincing doctors that the boy was severely ill.
Crawford has been fighting for custody of his child for years, arguing in family court several times that Bowen was making up the boy’s illnesses.
Ryan Crawford (left) won back custody of his eight-year-old son Christopher (right) on Wednesday, after the boy’s mother was arrested last week for unnecessarily making the boy undergo 13 surgeries
But the judges didn’t believe him, and one even barred him from seeing the boy in November 2012.
It wasn’t until doctors raised concerns about the mother with Child Protective Services in November that the ruse was found out.
While authorities investigated the mother, Christopher and his two half-siblings were taken out of the home and put into foster care.
Following Wednesday’s decision, Christopher will soon be going to live with his father.
Crawford had seen his boy twice since his mother’s arrest.
‘He looked as if nothing had ever happened to him,’ he said. ‘He’s a blessing. God has watched over him.’
Christopher’s grandmother, Nelly Crawford, was joyous at the news on Wednesday
‘God answers prayers. We’ve been praying for eight years,’ she said, according to the Star Telegram. ‘…We’re so happy. This is a day we’ll never forget and celebrate. Y’all rest assured, he’s going to be well taken care of because he is loved.’
Kaylene Bowen, 34, was arrested for felony injury to a child after she admitted to convincing doctors that her son, Christopher, was severely ill
Bowen was arrested for felony injury to a child after she admitted to convincing doctors that her son, Christopher, was severely ill.
Since he was born, she’s taken the now eight-year-old child to the hospital at least 323 times. He’s also underwent 13 major surgeries since birth after she lied to doctors saying he had a severe milk allergy and needed a lung transplant due to the severe side effects.
Crawford Bowen’s arrest was a long time coming and that he hopes she goes to prison for life for what she’s done.
He said that he is upset it took so many years for the system to finally figure out that she was lying about their son’s illnesses.
‘How do you do 13 surgeries? How do you do it?’ he asked while speaking to KHOU. ‘How do you do 13 surgeries and not question the fifth surgery? The sixth surgery?’
Crawford explained after his son was born, he questioned the medical issues she was claiming he was suffering from.
He said the more he questioned Bowen, the less she was willing to let him see his son.
Crawford said that he tried to explain to Lori Hockett, a family court district judge in 2012, that his son was not sick, but she reportedly believed his ex and stripped him of his visitation rights because he refused to accept that his son was dying.
Since he was born, she took the now-eight-year-old boy on 323 hospital visits
Crawford (left) hadn’t been allowed to see his son since 2012
‘Every single [time] she went into [the] courtroom, she would say Christopher is dying,’ Crawford said.
‘The judge stated that I needed to accept that my son was dying and I said, ‘No, I’m not going to accept that my son was dying’ and she took away from my visitation.”
Then, two years later she hired an attorney to get full custody of their son.
He said he obtained medical records showing he was not sick, but claims the judge refused to even look at the records and dismissed his motion.
‘It makes me feel as if the system wants to believe the mother all the time in situations, when the father is there fighting,’ Crawford said.
Hockett, who is not currently a judge, told the Star-Telegram that she could not comment on Crawford’s allegations.
Crawford said that despite everything, he still continued to pay $600 a month in child support.
The doctors did not find Christopher to be sick, a Child Protective Services caseworker wrote after an investigation last month. The boy is now in foster care with his two other siblings and Crawford is fighting to get him back
The mother said her son was terminally ill and would have problems leading to a lifelong feeding tube
‘I was at a club and she seemed like a nice woman. She was pleasant, pretty. She just caught my eye,’ Crawford said of when he first met Bowen
He also said he complained to Child Protective Services twice, but a spokeswoman for the agency said they have no record of the complaints.
His coworkers have created a GoFundMe to help him in the difficult process ahead.
‘Out of everything that has happened, the worst thing you can do is put my children in foster care with strangers,’ he said. ‘I need my son in my life and my son needs me in [his] life.’
According to her Facebook page, Bowen publicly broadcasted her son’s ‘terminal cancer’ and started crowdfunding pages to aid in the his medical treatments and operations.
She continually concocted the stories to doctors – who became suspicious two years ago, and contacted CPS. Both doctors confirmed Christopher was not actually sick.
Bowen apparently told doctors during visits that her son would violently ‘throw up’ every time he drank milk, Crawford told NBC Dallas Fort-Worth.
‘She started explaining to the judge that the doctors stated my son would never walk,’ Crawford said.
‘And then she stated that he had problems continuing to eat and that he’s going to need a feeding tube.’
The now-separated couple started dating in 2009 when they met while at a club.
‘I was at a club and she seemed like a nice woman. She was pleasant, pretty. She just caught my eye,’ he said of Bowen.
Now, Crawford said he is worried that, rather than his son, Bowen may actually be the one with the medical condition.
He’s convinced she suffers from a condition called Munchhausen by Proxy, or MSBP.
MSBP is a ‘mental health problem in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care’ which is often times a child, according to WebMD.
The crying father said he feels partially to blame for not putting a stop to the visits years ago
‘Just so many surgeries that are just unbelievable,’ Crawford said. ‘He could have died’
The behavior may stem from ‘poor self-esteem, stress, anxiety’or a need for attention, the medical website said.
Of her extreme behavior, Crawford said it began eight days after their son was born.
‘The issues escalated to eventually she claimed that my son was dying,’ Crawford said.
‘I was horrified because from what I knew, my son was fine. He just needed — not even extra care — he was fine.’
A crying Crawford said he feels partially to blame for not putting a stop to the visits years ago.
‘Just so many surgeries that are just unbelievable,’ Crawford shared.
‘He could have died … only God saved him.’