Custody cases wind through courts

Testimony continued last week in a contentious local child custody case that sparked weeks of protests last month.

There are five children in each of two homes, most of them either adopted or otherwise in the permanent custody of the two caregivers, Nicole and Dawn Ammesmaki, who are sisters. Both the women and all of the children in the related cases are Native American, which makes the case even more complicated, because of additional protections in the Indian Child Welfare Act.

In a more than 2-hour hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 16, Sixth District Carlton County judge Rebekah Stumme and dozens of people watching the hearing via Zoom heard testimony regarding five children in the care of Dawn Ammesmaki. Specifically, the hearing revolved around the question of whether the youngest four children should be returned to her care as their legal custodian. Dawn Ammesmaki is not requesting the return of the oldest child, a 16-year-old who testified about alleged abuse in the home on Wednesday.

“She would hit us a lot, make us wear diapers, make us jump up and down, break wooden spoons on us, pull our hair or cut it off,” the teen told the court.

Yelling, hitting and shoving were regular occurrences, she said, estimating four or five days a week. She also recalled a period of time when she was somewhere between 7 and 9 years old that her caregiver would sit on her and hold her mouth and nose until she stopped crying. “I passed out once, then she stopped doing it,” she said. She also told the court that Nicole Ammesmaki allegedly forced one of the children to stay up without sleeping for two nights as punishment.

The teenager told the court she had lived in the Dawn’s home from the age of 5 until December 2020, when her adoptive mother asked if she wanted to go visit family on Red Lake Reservation for a week and then, upon arrival, allegedly told her and her older sister (who had moved out previously) to “get the eff out of the car … get on the curb where you belong.”

In tears, the girl said she knew Dawn was angry with her sister but didn’t know she was angry with her. She said she has lived with family members at the Red Lake Reservation since that time and has had very little contact with her adoptive siblings since then.

She has been worried, she said, that things will get worse for the younger four children, “because we weren’t there to take it out on.”

Social workers for Carlton County and Fond du Lac Social Services offered starkly different opinions on whether the children should be returned to their home with Dawn.

Carlton County child protection investigator Raija Haag said she had not seen evidence of any “imminent danger” to the children, and believed they could be returned home safely.

Haag answered questions from Jessica Sterle, the attorney for Dawn Ammesmaki, as well as attorneys for the FDL band and others involved in the case.

The opposing attorneys focused a lot on past allegations of abuse, which Haag said were considered but didn’t rise to the level of keeping the children away.

Attorney Rebecca McConkey-Green, who represents Danielle Martineau — a relative who petitioned to have some of the children removed — asked Haag about those past reports.

“I’m aware of the school reporting a child with bruises, one of the children reporting being forced to eat vomit and multiple kids forced to wear diapers when they weren’t needed,” McConkey-Green said. “Are those not concerning to the agency?”

The county takes all information seriously, Haag said.

Next, McConkey-Green asked about the now-16-year-old being sent to live with other relatives, and whether Haag had verified that funds for her care were being sent to those relatives by her legal guardian.

“I verified some of it, the investigation is not yet complete, though,” Haag responded.

Fond du Lac social worker Josh Buck said he believes the county is doing what’s necessary with the ongoing investigation, but that he also believes it would not be safe to return the children at this point.

Buck said the affidavits show “patterns of abuse” and he has seen no evidence that those have changed. A child dragged by the ear, use of spatulas as disciplinary tools, all show a pattern of either losing control or anger. “That’s why we asked for a psychological evaluation,” he said.

Melinda Nelms, the ICWA guardian ad litem for the children, also testified.

“I continue to believe it’s in the best interest of the children to remain in out-of-home placement, due to the allegations the school made and I reviewed, and statements by [the teenage girl] similar to today,” she said.

The children have been staying with relatives or other county-approved placement since Jan. 18, when Stumme ordered they remain in the care of relatives or others until the abuse allegations could be cleared up.

The judge made no rulings last week, as the hearing went on for nearly 3 hours and time ran out. Stumme gave the attorneys a week to present written arguments in the case and set the next online court hearing for March 22. The next court date in the matter of Nicole Ammesmaki's children was set for April 5.