Family Needs Help Finding Loved One

By Nicole Wiseman, NewsOn6.com

It has been 40 years since the Oklahoma Department of Human Services took a mother's 10 children away from her. They were separated from their home in Chickasha and put into foster care, each on their separate paths. It's been a long journey, but nine of those children have found their way home.

One child, however, is still out there. The family is desperately asking for help filling the void in their hearts.

"It's up to the kids to find her. I'm just about blind. I'm on dialysis and I know I don't have a whole lot longer to go," said mother of ten, Nelda Martin. "So, I pray somebody, somewhere out there, will know something about her."

Martin is crying out for the missing child who was taken from her many years ago.

"She always wanted a dress on. She always wanted her hair combed so-so, and that was everyday, whether it was a school day or not, that was how Louise wanted it," said Martin.

The latest picture Martin has of her missing daughter, Nelda Louise Martin, is from when she was just 6-years-old. That was 40 years ago, shortly before DHS took Nelda's 10 children away.

DHS records report the children failed to get the parental care and protection necessary for their physical and mental health. Despite all efforts to get their kids back, Martin and her husband lost all rights and the kids were placed in foster care.

"It was like I had really done something against my kids and I don't think any of my kids could ever say I ever did anything," said Martin.

Martin's kids say they were happy at home and didn't deserve to grow up apart. Her oldest daughter, Davanna Tillman, remembers the horror she lived while in foster care.

"I can tell you some gruesome stories. From their kids hitting me in the head and busting my head open, from me having to eat puke after I puked in my food," said Tillman, who is Nelda Louise Martin's sister.

Tillman, like the rest of her siblings, says she was forever changed the day DHS took them from their parents.

"We'd like to know where our other sister is. If she's not alive, then tell us that," said Kristy Goswick, who is Nelda Louise Martin's sister.

"If she never wants to see us, I can live with that. If she holds a grudge and never wants to see me, I can live with it as long as I know what's happened to her," said Martin.

The family says they are incomplete and will be until they find their loved one.

Nelda Louise Martin was last seen when she was 6-years-old and placed in a foster home in Chickasha. Today she would be 46-years-old.

EDITORS NOTE, July 17, 2008: Nelda Louise Martin has been located and has made contact with her family.

7/17/2008 Related Story: Family Finds Long-Lost Sister