Teen Mom star Amber Portwood has been reunited with her two year-old daughter, Leah, after Leah spent several weeks in the care of her father. Leah will return to live with Amber at least part time. Many people hoped that Leah would be under her father Gary Shirley’s care permanently after we heard that Leah was made a temporary ward of the state of Indiana pending Amber’s investigation for two counts of felony domestic violence. Amber was shown choking and slapping Gary in two separate abuse instances on the show. Now Amber, 20, has moved to a new home, and she’s bought a bed for Leah and had the place professional cleaned. It seems to have been enough for Child Protective Services, as they’ve allowed Leah to live with Amber yet again. It’s not known whether this arrangement is permanent or temporary:
After having her two-year-old daughter temporarily taken away from her last week, Teen Mom star Amber Portwood cleaned up her home and on Monday was reunited with her daughter Leah, RadarOnline.com has learned.
“Amber hired someone to clean up her apartment recently and even went out over the weekend to buy a proper baby bed for Leah,” a source close to the situation told RadarOnline.com.
“She was trying to get everything up to par at home so that Child Protective Services would deem it a suitable place for Leah and she’d get her back; and it looks like it worked.”
Sources tell RadarOnline.com the exchange happened at 4:30 p.m. EST and that the baby’s father, Gary Shirley was very upset about the decision.
“He really loves Leah and was so excited to have her when the court placed her in his care,” the source said.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, baby Leah became a ward of the state of Indiana last week after an emergency child placement hearing on Tuesday in which Leah was temporarily placed with Shirley.
An assessment of Leah’s living quarters with Portwood by CPS proved unsuitable, although Portwood was awarded monitored visitations.
It’s unclear if Portwood’s parental rights have been reinstated.
“Originally Amber was supposed to have a monitored visit today with Leah, but when CPS saw the change in her apartment they decided it met Leah’s needs,” the source told RadarOnline.com.
“CPS will continue to monitor Amber a few times a week and check in with her to make sure it’s going well, but as of now, Leah is back in her care.”
The 20-year-old mother of one was charged with domestic violence earlier this month after an aggressive assault on Shirley was caught by MTV cameras while Leah stood at her feet.
Child Protective Services and the Anderson Police Department were unavailable for comment when contacted by RadarOnline.com.
[From Radar Online]
I really feel for that poor little girl. Amber is an angry manipulative person who seemed to spend very little time with Leah on the show. She was either ignoring her or yelling at her on Teen Mom, and the only one who really interacted with Leah was her dad. Now Amber has moved and she actually bought Leah a bed, so that makes her a fit mom? At least CPS has an eye on the situation, but given this latest decision it’s not looking hopeful for Leah.
wth? a cleaning service & new bed does not a fit mother make. can’t believe they did that.
That girl is trash. It’s almost nothing to do with her age, as I doubt she will change much ever.
That little girl is so cute…she seemed better off with her dad…but then I’ve never seen the show, just clips, I may be wrong. But definitely NOT with her mom.
I really had higher hopes for the state’s judgement on this one. I pray we don’t see this poor little girl end up in the hospital as a result of her mother’s behavior.
I don’t know how it works in the states but my sister-in-law in Canada was a horrible mother to my nephews. The youngest one lost all his teeth due to malnutrition and when my parents and I tried to get them removed from her, child services wouldn’t do so as she kept making “adequate progress in regards to providing for the children”.
One person told me flat out that unless the kids are being physically harmed themselves, they are probably going to stay with the mother. I don’t know, giving your kid kool-aid instead of milk seems like physical harm to me.
@guesty I totally agree, whatever happened to the welfare of the child being the top priority instead of the house being cleaned. I guarantee she wont have Leah for long.
This show is just sad. Way to glorify trashy people. I wish there were a way for the child to be adopted by a caring and loving family that could provide for her needs. Sadly, this kid may end up just like her mommy.
People like this shouldn’t be allowed to breed. There, I said it.
I can’t stand that States have all these rules that are there to protect the mom’s and/or dad’s best interest and not the child’s. Just because she gave birth to her does not mean she deserves as many chances as she wants.
I think a lot of people are forgetting (or just don’t know) a lot of what we see of Amber is MTV’s editing. Amber could be up and active with Leah 90% of the time, and all MTV shows is the 10% where she’s tired and on the couch/bed.
I’m not trying to be an Amber stan here, but people need to keep in mind the fact that we don’t know the whole story. CPS wouldn’t have given Leah back to Amber if she didn’t truly deserve it.
She JUST bought the little mite a proper bed? Where was she sleeping before?
@Roma & TG ~ Child protection laws vary from state to state, so what is adequate in one state may be considered neglect in another. Besides that, it may well be up to an individual judge to decide what the child’s best interest may be
That’s cool, it’s not like Amber was proven to be a physically abusive terror with anger management problems and no boundaries.
Oh, wait…
I agree with Susan…we need to start neutering these people.
Another CPS agency gets a big fat “F” in the “actual protection of a child” category. And @sf ~ Yes, CPS would absolutely give her back to Amber. They are all afraid of litigation; since babies/children can’t sue, guess who wins. HINT: It’s never the children.
@ Bodhi ~ If I’m not mistaken, Leah slept in a crib in a closet. If that wasn’t a closet, it was a bedroom for a hobbit.
@sf I agree, it is hard to know what is really going on b/c no one is there all the time.
Amber should face consequences for abusing Gary. And those 2 should never, ever get back together. They push each others buttons and its a bad relationship.
I still remember the first 2 seasons (including 16 & Pregnant) when Gary seemed like such a douche. Even this past season he would say things like “i’ll call CPS” when they fought.
They both need serious parenting classes and need to learn not to use that baby as a weapon against each other.
@ icantbelievethis ~ I totally agree with you about Gary – he is absolutely a 110% passive-aggressive prick. And he’s lazy. And no, these 2 should never get back together. Both need parenting classes, respectful communication with the parent of your child classes, anger management, and anything else you can think of. 😀
Such a cute little girl.
…Sigh…
Give these two enough rope and they will hang themselves, I can almost guarantee it. It’s just sad that Leah is the one suffering for their immaturity and selfishness. Once the teen mom money dries up, i bet there will be another cover story about Leah getting taken away. I give them six months.
A closet?! Thats awful! I hope that CPS is monitoring Amber & her situation very very closely
i’ve seen very single episode and Leah does not sleep in a closet! Amber never had bed sheets for Leah. I think the reason it is so hard to remove a child from the parents it’s because the alternative is usually worst than the home situation, which shows the whole system is fucked up. Gary is a very loving dad though, obviously he has his idiotic moments too, but i think given custody he would mature and grow into being a great father.
i also read that Amber had her mouth swapped by CPS to see if she was abusing clonazepan, which everyone thought she was, and she came back clean. if that’s true (i read it in Us weekly), then that alone is more than I expected CPS to do (just because i have low expectations of CPS)
When have you ever seen a bedroom that barely fits a crib in it and that has no window? It may be a walk-in closet, but it still looks like a closet to me!
And if I see one more of these MTV teen moms making her baby’s bottle in A BATHROOM SINK I’m going to scream. It’s disgusting.
I’ve watched nearly every episode of this show and sob for this poor child. Her mother has no problem going psycho angry and is unable to control herself even as she knows the cameras are rolling. Her father is one of the laziest excuses for a man I have ever witnessed. Even as he tried to replace Amber with another girl his main concern was what sort of job the girl had, what her education might potentially earn her and if she was okay with him not working but freeloading off her like he already does with Amber. The grandmother is the best choice for placement of this child but even that is not the ideal home(better than some foster homes though). This precious child is so adorable and her eyes speak of her sweetness. How long before her face tells a different story? Probably only as long as it takes her to become more aware of how much she stresses her mom out. I can only wish that Amber eventually changes but that change is a long way off and will require lots of education. Seeing as how Amber can’t seem to pass the simplest academic test I have very little hope.
And yes, CPS fails children in every state everyday and children do die while under CPS intervention. Pray to your God this is not the fate that awaits poor Leah.
CPS are the worst child abuser out there. they do much more harm than good. they take children from loving but marginal homes and make legal orphans out of them. they then dump them into the system, and if the kids act out, they are chemically restrained with drugs.
Poor kid she’s going to grow up all f*cked up. Amber with that orange face and drag queen makeup is a nightmare.I pray this doesn’t end badly for someone but this family has train wreck written all over it. 🙁
Amber does not deserve Leah!!!! Amber is an unfit mother that needs to get a grip on life and get over her issues. It’s not all about Amber anymore and that makes her mad. I have to words for you Amber TO BAD…. Poor Leah is going to be so messed up if her mother raises her.
I feel people should leave Amber alone because Gary also abused her verbally and do remeber gary ever changing a diaper. Oh please feel free 2 comment!
You actually make it seem really easy with your presentation however I to find this matter to be really something which I believe I might never understand. It kind of feels too complex and extremely broad for me. I’m taking a look ahead to your next post, I will attempt to get the hold of it!