A Mother's Heart

Cody & Emma Martin were abused by their father and step mother in their home in Baltimore County Maryland and later in their new home in Frederick County Maryland. The abuse was featured on Michael and Heather Martin's YouTube Channel called “Daddyofive” running under a business license for ad revenue that was created in August of 2015.

In October of 2016, Rose Hall of North Carolina, Emma & Cody Martin's biological mother was made aware of the videos of her children online and reported the alleged abuse to her local Sheriff's Dept. in North Carolina. The Sheriff's Dept. in turn faxed their report, signed by Child Protective Services, in North Carolina, to the Baltimore County Police Dept., as well as Baltimore County Child Protective Services. Rose Hall also reported the abuse directly to Child Protective Services the Baltimore County Wilkens Precinct, and the counties executive office.

The Baltimore County Police Department responded by stating the alleged abuse had been investigated, and was believed to be corporal punishment therefore it was not illegal, nor considered child abuse under Maryland law. Rose never received a direct response from Baltimore County Child Protective Services.

In May of 2017, about two weeks after several news outlets raised their concerns about the treatment of the children by the Martins on their YouTube channel, Rose Hall went to Frederick Maryland, to obtain an emergency custody order removing her children, Emma and Cody, from the Martins care and having them placed in her custody. A week later Rose Hall was granted a one-year protection order on Mike Martin for her and the kids. At that time the judge ordered that Emma and Cody should be put into protective custody pending a full investigation by Frederick County Child Protective Services, aka FCPS. Since May 5, 2017 Rose Hall has relocated from North Carolina to Frederick, Maryland. Rose stayed in a hotel until she was able to obtain an apartment, while she fully cooperated and complied with anything the courts and CPS of Frederick County, asked of her.

The Martins were both charged with child neglect and entered an Alfred plea on Sept 11, 2017 which gave them a suspended sentence and probation. On October 18, 2017 a court hearing was held for what was believed to be the final FCPS recommendation of custody and a conclusion to their investigation.

Despite recommending that Rose Hall be given full custody of her children, FCPS requested, that they be allowed more time for what they call the reunification process and advised they should be done by March of 2018, the courts approved this request.

A few days before the hearing on October 16, 2007 Rose Hall submitted the following written statement to FCPS:

"I feel that a sufficient amount of time has passed to allow your department to conclude investigations that deem me fit for full and permanent custody of my children. To my understanding I've been found fit on all levels. I also feel that this reuniting process after 5 months of supervised visitation to a slow process of unsupervised visits is something that is done with parents who at some point were found unfit and that situation doesn't apply to me.
I realize that you are only looking out for their best interest and I commend you for being so careful. However, there is evidence that both Cody and Emma's progress of recovery requires spending more time with me and other close family members. I believe that one could come to this conclusion by not only therapist recommendations but by also speaking with them. Please keep in mind that I have not chosen to relocate to Frederick, MD. permanently. I came here for the sole purpose of getting my kids away from their abusive environment and back into my custody. I wish to return to my home in North Carolina where most of my family lives. It is where I raised my children successfully for many years without any type of support from Mr. Martin until I requested that he take Cody to a better qualified doctor in Baltimore for the sole purpose of having his medication re-evaluated and changed. He agreed to send him home after but did not. I have a much better means of support in North Carolina on all levels including income vs. cost of living. Since I've been staying in Frederick my parents who also reside in North Carolina have become very ill. It's important to me to be with my family in need right now and I believe my children wish to be near them as well. They were wrongly kept from having contact with them for a long time. Plus, our life was simpler and happier there. Our faces weren't shown on the local news. I also feel that the children will feel safer farther away from their abusers, I know I will. Please don't take my statements as a sign of ungratefulness but I have done everything I've been asked to do while working to juggle all of it successfully since May. I'm obviously going to stay here for as long as it takes to get my kids back despite feeling it is under duress. I hope that all of this shows not only my level of dedication and love for my children but my cooperation so far with this entire process. I am requesting that me and my children be allowed to go back home to North Carolina this month and if needed refer our case to CPS in my county for follow up. I will be making this same request to the judge this week as well. Thank you for your time and consideration". -Rose Hall-

Several requests have been made by Robert Hall, the father of Rose Hall, to Governor Larry Hogan, the Governor of Maryland, to personally look into the specific case, revolving around Rose and her children, these requests have gone without any response. For reasons unknown to Ms. Hall, her pro bono attorney agreed to drop the protection order prior to the plea deal that was made with the Martins.

Rose Hall has been receiving multiple threats from “Daddyofive” fans that are angry that Emma & Cody are no longer being featured in the videos anymore, with Mike and Heather Martin and her three children, these children are Heather Martin’s from a previous marriage, on their new channel "Familyofive".

The Martins, who were convicted of child abuse, appear to still be exploiting children on their YouTube channel “Familyofive”, which they are believed to be receiving money for, not only from fans, but from YouTube as well.

Cody has reported that he has been tormented at school and in public, by fans of the channel, that recognize him. Since Rose has been in Maryland her car has been vandalized, she has gotten phone calls in the middle of the night from people saying things like “I know where you live” and she's even had people banging on her door in the middle of the night screaming at her to kill herself. Every day has been and continues to be a struggle for her and the children.

We understand that CPS has a process they must go through before letting the children return to North Carolina with Rose Hall and we hope that the courts and child protective services are acting in what they believe to be in the best interest of the children involved, especially considering what many of these caseworkers see every day and the massive caseloads put upon them, as well as the media attention this case has brought to all parties involved. We also believe that it is doing more harm than good to continue to keep them separated from their mother and family support.

Rose and her family have started a GoFundMe for when the courts release the family they will have the funds to go home to North Carolina, as well as allow time financially for Rose to get everything set up. Including housing, employment, and anything the children might need. If you would like to donate we have included the link: https://www.gofundme.com/save-cody-and-emma

The above information was obtained from the change.org petition started by Robert Hall, father to Rose Hall, as well as the above referenced GoFundMe campaign. Both accessed, and information was retrieved from, on November 4^th, 2017. Much of the above text and information was taken directly from the Change.org petition, thus is cited below.

Citation:

Hall, R. (2017, November 02). Free ROSE HALL,EMMA & CODY MARTIN to Gov Larry Hogan & Frederick MD CPS LET THEM GO HOME. Retrieved November 04, 2017, from https://www.change.org/p/larry-hogan-free-rose-ha...