You probably already know something about this case. After all, an Amber Alert went out on Thursday of last week, just after noon, for a child suspected of being in a red Ford Escape. It was suspected that 30-year-old Amanda Hayward and her 7-year-old daughter Sapphire Palmer were travelling with a registered sex offender, and were in great danger.  As more of the story has come to light, and the pair were found safe in Florida but CPS  took the child into Custody.  Now, many people are wondering if CPS should have taken the “missing” child.

Court documents reveal that Hayward, a resident of Hamburg Township, was scheduled to testify against Sapphire’s father in the Washtenaw County Court just before the pair fled the state. According to police, Hayward’s mental health has already been a cause for concern in the past, and it is suspected that fleeing may have been the result of a delusional episode in which she believed that she was being tracked.

The disappearance of Hayward and her daughter led to a massive search effort, which ended when the pair were found safe and healthy at Hayward’s mother’s house in Citrus County, Florida. Sapphire, however, was taken into custody by the Florida Child Protective Services as a result of a court order.

Child Protective Services here in Michigan has already filed a local court order to have Sapphie removed from her mother’s custody. The reasons provided include alleged abuse, sexual abuse and environmental neglect. They also cite Hayward’s long history of mental instability, which the court order terms “paranoid delusions”, plus the fact that she forced her daughter to travel in the company of a registered sex offender, and was suspected of being armed.

Douglas Steven Stanko, the registered sex offender that the mother and daughter were suspected of travelling with to Florida, was not present at the house when police arrived later.  As for the weapon that Hayward was suspected of having during her travels out of state, was later discovered in Michigan.

In addition, Hamburg Township police have an involuntary psychiatric order for a mental evaluation that the court has ordered Hayward to submit to.  The order was not honored in Florida, as Hayward’s mental state at the time of her discovery by police did not meet criteria under a Florida statute for her to be hospitalized against her will.

Since her discovery, Hayward has come forward and discussed her situation with the media, claiming that the Amber Alert was unnecessary. She says that she and her daughter are fine, neither was ever at risk, and that Stanko was not on the trip to Florida with them.

Hayward’s attorney claims that CPS has “overreached” in this instance, and had no reason to have Sapphire removed from her mother’s custody in Florida. Hayward left Michigan, according to the story her mother has shared with media sources, because she needed time to heal from the beating she received from Sapphire’s father in January. “Amanda wants peace,” she said about her daughter, “She just wants to be left alone.”