My ex-sister-in-law (my ex-wifes sister) had her 2 boys taken away by child protection services. The kids were around 5 and 7 years old.
Seems she was in an abusive relationship with a guy (not the father of the kids). One night he beat her up so bad, he broke a rib and she went to the emergency room. After a few trips to the ER the police were called, it came out that there were kids in the house. Police and CPS go to house to check on kids, come to find out, the kids had been physically abused as well.
Kids were removed from house, ex-sister-in-law had to go through some kind of anger management class to get her kids back.
Ex-sister-in-law lived in California at the time of the abuse. She makes a trip to Texas to visit with family, gets served court papers, the father of the kids is taking her to court for full custody.
Court hearing last 1/2 day, ex-sister-in-law loses custody of kids due to past drug arrest, and allowing the kids to be physically abused. Repeated trips to the ER showed a history of physical abuse in the house.
Couple of days after court, she gets on a bus back to California (without kids), sees kids "maybe" 2 or 3 times over the next 5 - 10 years.