"There is clear evidence this child did have gifts. Miss Chapman has provided every educational opportunity to her child." At the end of Justin's stay at Children's Hospital, Broomfield's Health and Human Services department removed Justin from his mother and placed him in foster care. He is living with a family on a farm. He is in third grade in a public school, said Chapman, who is now allowed supervised visits with her son for up to three hours each week, while a child-parent study is being completed. "I'd rather have him in foster care than going to public school," Chapman said. "He doesn't belong there. They had no right to take custody in the first place. It did more harm than good." She said Justin has regressed in foster care. "He's not questioning anything," she said, adding that he doesn't trust her because she can't act like herself. Officials in Broomfield refused to discuss the case, citing confidentiality rules that cover dependency and neglect cases. But in a Feb. 6 neglect hearing they made it clear they think Chapman has manipulated her son, and they question her mental health. One legal claim that Chapman has made -- it's one her attorney, Paul Dugas, repeated in a December hearing -- is that Justin holds a voter registration card in New York and should be treated like an adult. Chapman's argument is that Broomfield is "holding an adult against his will." The judge didn't buy the argument. Peter Quinn, an election commissioner in Monroe County in New York, recalled the day Justin filled out an application and made a pitch to the commissioners about why he should be allowed to vote. Quinn said the request was denied. Chapman says she has Justin's voter registration card but can't find it. Chapman's parents, George and Jane Chapman, came to Colorado from New York for one of the initial hearings. They are requesting custody of their grandson and have expressed doubt about the boy's giftedness, Elizabeth Chapman said. The couple declined to discuss the case. "He's been through a lot and I think it should be kept private," Jane Chapman said last month. Byron Howell, deputy city and county attorney in Broomfield, said at the hearing Feb. 6 that the senior Chapmans are worried about their daughter's mental health. "They strongly feel she needs a psychological exam," Howell said, adding that "everything with her son has been coached." In the dependency and neglect summons, Justin's father, James Maurer, 33, is accused of abandoning his son. But Maurer says he pays child support, even though he hasn't seen his son in more than six years. "She's alienated Justin from me, so I haven't really been able to have contact with him," Maurer said. "Social services told me she was using Justin for her own need for recognition or popularity. She's just very flagrant and compulsive about things." Chapman said she voluntarily underwent one psychological evaluation and that the court has ordered her to be tested further. She also said she has returned to church and is taking parenting classes. She said she recently began teaching gymnastics part time in Thornton and broke her arm on the job. A candle with an angel on it sits on a mantel next to a picture of her with Justin during a happier time. "I can't protect him and I don't know what's going on," she said. Chapman does have her advocates, including Neal, director of the Malone Family Foundation. Neal has visited the Chapman home and said, "I never saw anything that would fall under the rubric of abuse or neglect. I've seen her discipline him. She gives him the standard timeout. He didn't show any unusual fear around her. I saw food in her home. "It's their first case," Neal said of Broomfield authorities. "She's a single mother, a girl with very little money, an easy pushover. . . . I hope people can get past the gifted stuff and see this kind of thing can affect anyone." Neal said the foundation hasn't helped Chapman but that she personally has offered financial and moral support. When asked whether Malone, the cable magnate, has helped Chapman, Neal responded, "No comment." On Monday of this week, attorney Dugas said Chapman would admit to the accusations in the dependency and neglect petition in hopes of getting her son back sooner. The admission, which Dugas said would be filed within a week, would void a jury trial now set for March 18-20. Chapman said her main goals are to regain custody and get Justin the help he needs, such as returning to the Center for Inner Change and the Brideun School. "It will take a lot of time with just dealing with this situation," she said, a lot of nature walks, a lot of letting him be and saying, 'It's OK to be who you are. You don't have to be an average 8-year-old. You don't have to be a junior in college. You can do what you need to do.' " As of Monday, Chapman's phone was disconnected, and Dugas said she would no longer be talking to the media. For now, at least, the questions about Justin remain. Is he a genius, or a little boy who has been used as a pawn? Words from the song Reflection from the movie Mulan that he has used in his writings might begin to approach an answer: "Look at me, you may think you see, who I really am. But you'll never know me. Every day is as if I play a part, now I see, if I wear a mask, I can fool the world, but I cannot fool my heart." Contact Julie Poppen at (303) 892-5176 or poppenj@RockyMountainNews.com.
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