Dylan came to stay with us and the end of June 2009. He was sad and broken about losing his brother, they were best friends and his life was changed forever. As the days went on Dan and I noticed a lot of anger in Dylan, and as we discussed things with him we found out that he had actually witnessed his brother being hit by the car. Not only had he witnessed his brother dying about he also started to disclose to us about the abuse that he and his brother had endured by his step-father. Dan and I were heart broken, we had no idea that any of that had been going on. When Dan tried to discuss it with his Ex she denied it all, she told us that she didn't want to call Dylan a liar but she didn't think anything bad had ever happened to the boys.
As difficult as the transition was during the summer Dylan was thriving, he was enjoying the freedom able to be a 6 year old boy. He was able to feel safe and secure and he was able to be himself.
We made a lot of memories and had a lot of fun while Dylan was here, we had camp fires and roasted marshmallows, we went swimming and enjoyed everyday we had together. We loved having Dylan all summer but also felt bad that we had let him and Danny down by not getting them out of that situation. At the end of the summer we had to let Dylan go back to New York with his mother as much as it pained us to do it we still had no proof of any of the things that Dylan told us. So at the end of August Dylan got on a plane back to New York. We promised him that we would call everyday and keep in contact as much as we could.
When he got back we did call everyday, but a lot of the time the phone wasn't answered and the majority of the time we didn't get a call back. Then in November of 2009 we received another horrible phone call.
Emily and Dan- I can't imagine what sorrow your family feels at not only the loss of one son, but the knowledge that another is in such a situation. My prayers are with you.
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