Things just keep getting worse for Taylor Frankie Paul.
On Wednesday, TMZ broke the news that Utah’s Attorney General filed a petition on behalf of the state’s Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to find that the ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ star’s three children meet the criteria to be declared “abused, neglected or dependent.”
DCFS also requested that the court order protective supervision over the children and appoint them a guardian ad litem– a neutral guardian solely in place to protect the children’s best interest during a legal case. The Attorney General has asked for an expedited hearing.
Taylor shares two children– eight-year-old Indy and five-year-old Ocean– with ex-husband Tate Paul and two-year-old Ever with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.
View this post on Instagram
The petition claims that Dakota and Taylor agreed to work together with DCFS in March as part of ongoing domestic violence investigations. Both Dakota and Taylor have had home visits and been interviewed, as have Taylor’s oldest two kids.
The petition claims that in previous DCFS visits, the team had observed behaviors that caused them concern over the children’s safety and Taylor’s fitness as a parent. One incident occurred when Taylor “stormed out” of the home with her children and DCFS agents present after “looking up messages on social media.”
“The mother left DCFS alone in her residence, and DCFS had to lock up her home after she stormed out,” the incident report showed.
DCFS claims they’ve “addressed concerns with lack of progress in the child and family plan” in place for Ever, which was decided after the court granted Taylor supervised visits with him. (The Ashley has reported extensively on Taylor’s domestic violence allegations; click here to read the latest update.)
“[Taylor] stated that she is being treated unfairly because of her ‘status,’” the report continues. “Furthermore, when DCFS suggested the Families First Program Intervention, [she] became escalated and dysregulated. Ocean, who was in another room of the home coloring, heard his mother crying and told her to ‘take deep breaths’ and that ‘everything was going to be okay.’”
(The Families First Intervention Program is offered to families the department deems in need of behavioral intervention and helps parents to improve their communication, set and teach healthy boundaries, and find non-violent forms of discipline. This could also be referring to the state program offered to families DCFS sees to be at immediate risk of foster care placement.)
The report addresses concerns raised by Taylor’s court-ordered therapist about her “lack of investment in therapy.” Allegedly, when her therapist attempted to address why she wasn’t “taking therapy seriously,” Taylor got frustrated and explained that she “does not have time to attend therapy because she is very busy with work.”
The therapist treating Taylor allegedly told DCFS that Taylor did not seem dedicated to her program, and seemed to only be going to sessions because she felt like she had to. (Taylor apparently requested a new therapist because she felt she wasn’t being completely supported by the previous one.)
DCFS also stated that it witnessed Taylor become “dysregulated” when she was confronted about her “lack of progress with the child and family plan and the additional concerns regarding her mental health and emotional instability.”
“[Taylor] was unwilling to take accountability for her role in the domestic violence incident and continued to blame Mr. Mortensen for his role in the incident,” the report continued. She “did not see how any of the concerns are impacting her children and was focused solely on how things are impacting her.”
View this post on Instagram
On Thursday, TMZ released more info regarding the petition filed by Utah’s DCFS against Taylor.
The DCFS report states that Taylor allegedly told the DCFS caseworkers in May that her life coach, Kari, was “the only reason she was still alive,” and asked that Kari be allowed to conduct Taylor’s mental health and domestic violence assessments. According to the report, Taylor was told that Kari could not do the assessments, as she was not qualified.
During the same visit in May, the DCFS report claims that Taylor stormed out of the house and then told her caseworkers that she wasn’t suicidal. However, she also mentioned that they “should know who killed her if she ends up dead because she felt no one believes her.”
The report goes on to discuss the workload allegedly placed on Taylor’s eldest child, eight-year-old Indy. It alleges that Indy changes her little brother Ever’s diapers and prepares his bottles. She allegedly stated that hearing her mom and Dakota fight “makes her sad.”
View this post on Instagram
A caseworker also noted that they had observed Ever go to Taylor’s sister instead of Taylor— something the caseworker claimed “upset the mother because he was seeking comfort from his aunt instead of her.”
One month later, it was noted that Ever soiled his diaper but resisted when Taylor tried to change him and instead ran to his aunt.
In response to the petition, Taylor’s attorney released a statement to TMZ explaining that the petition was filed in juvenile court, which is “a common step for families engaged in highly contentious, complex custody matters.”
“Taylor is not deterred by this transition; she welcomes the added structure and oversight it provides and looks forward to continuing her progress toward normalizing custody and becoming the healthiest version of herself,” the attorney continued. “Taylor remains fully committed to doing whatever is necessary to reach that goal and will not be swayed from it. Taylor appreciates the professionalism of DCFS and its representatives.”
A source close to Taylor told TMZ that the report should have never been leaked to the press, and that it being leaked does not protect the kids’ best interest. The source also claimed that a lot of what was inside the DCFS report was left out.
“This is also based on incomplete information,” the source stated. “It leaves out DCFS’s documented concerns about the other side [the kids’ fathers], which are on-record in district court and with law enforcement. The juvenile court will weigh all of that in full.”
Stay tuned…
RELATED STORY: Taylor Frankie Paul Takes Accountability for Role in “MomTok Mess” & Insists She’s Always “Had Their Backs: “Never Felt So Betrayed”
(Photos: Hulu, Instagram)
3 Responses
She couldn’t even control herself while DCFS there? Im glad it sounds like CPS is on the ball there. I hope the fathers are better parents, but if they chose to procreate with that they did not have much foresight.
Oh maaaaaan. She is so much more messy than I thought and that’s probably not even the worst of it.
Sad for those children.
idgaf how dramatic this sounds but you’re automatically a bad parent if you have to rely on your children for emotional and physical help when you’re perfectly capable of doing it on your own or have family, friends, and resources for an actual adult to help when you’re not doing too good! idk why anyone would ever say people are jealous of taylor because why would anyone want the life she’s currently living???