Avery was born on September 22nd, 2011 to Britney Roll Mayes & Jamielee Hobbs. A few short weeks after she was born she was taken to the hospital with substantial injuries which included a tibia, femur, & skull fracture that were sustained in a bathtub. Avery was placed with my family (the Risen’s) the day after these injuries and remained in our home until mid-May of 2015. Hamilton County, Ohio Courts, and Child Protection worked with Avery’s mother to reunify mother to child because it is the concept of these services that it is in the best interest of children to be with their parents. By this logic, social services convinced the courts to give this abusive mother custody of Avery. They did so by concealing & altering the truth. Not once in Avery’s lifetime, but twice.
Avery was a very loving and intelligent child & had a deep understanding of her surroundings. In fact, Avery was the bravest little girl I have ever known. She accepted things that no child should. She fought for her life, which no child should. She had the courage to tell people of mandated power that she was being abused by her mother when no child should. She sustained torture, abuse, and sexual assaults when no child should. Especially, when people placed in the position of her protection were watching.
Avery was remanded back into her mother’s care in May of 2015 after years of battle in the Hamilton County Juvenile Court. The county’s Child Protection workers convinced this court that Britney Roll Mayes, who had a psychological disorder & abused two children, was the only appropriate party for the custodianship of Avery. The courts agreed with these services based on unsupported, defaming, illegal, & slanderous claims against her father & grandparents who were also petitioners for Avery’s custody.
On September 22, 2015, Avery’s 4th birthday & a few months after this reunion, Avery was severely assaulted. This time, child service workers could not conceal that Britney Roll Mayes was abusing her child. The State then removed Avery for a second time after all injuries mirrored those brought forth in the custody trial by the “delusional” grandparents. In a court-mediated agreement, social services were to notify all petitioners of a custodial change. However, the workers insisted they were not involved with the residential change & claimed that Britney took a respite in Avery’s care. This direct falsification not only depleted the petitioner’s rights & ability to save Avery’s life, but it convinced the courts to reunite Mother & child once more.
Around December 28th, 2015. Avery was again reunited back with her mother. Shortly after this reunion, Avery started showing severe signs of abuse. Mentally and physically. By March of 2016, the injuries were so heinous that a call was made directly to the magistrate who returned the guardian to Avery’s care under a lengthened protection order. In the spring of that year, the guardian was also involved during the time of Avery’s overdose on drugs prescribed due to Avery’s behaviorial response to her mother. All agreed that Avery’s defiance to abuse caused her mother to assault her justifiably. The guardian’s response in a text message after the overdose defined how she would teach Britney how to administer the drugs correctly. After this, Avery’s health declined rapidly. In May of 2016, Avery announced to a room of people at a local business that her mother & step-father was torturing her in horrid detail. Again a call was made to the guardian who then scheduled a visit and reported to Mrs. Risen that Avery appeared healthy and was able to play with toys.
This type of negligence and purposeful endangerment of a child in child protections care led to Avery’s final assault on the evening of July 29th, 2016 in and around a bathtub. Avery had been bound, gagged, & beaten. The head trauma inflicted caused a brain bleed that was uncontrollable and on August 1st of 2016, Avery died in the early afternoon from critical injuries while in her mother’s care.
Britney Roll Mayes who was the court-appointed custodian was arrested on August 10th, 2016, and later charged with three counts of murder and one count of child endangerment. Avery’s remains were kept at the county coroner’s office for 19 days because the law dictates that Britney’s parental rights were still intact though she murdered her child. On August 17, 2016, a probate court concurred with Avery’s parental family & placed Jamielee, her father, as her eternal custodian. On August 19, 2016, Avery was laid to rest with her family unable to kiss, touch, or see her beauty on her final departure because the length of time it took to obtain that custody caused her little broken body to collapse.
In January of 2020, Britney pleads guilty, on a suspicious deal, to one count of Aggravated Murder and is incarcerated in a local women’s prison for life with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
This story should never have been written. Avery was loved very much by our family. She was protected by our family. She was NOT protected by current laws, logic, or child protective services, and the courts. In fact, they not only took Avery’s life via their corruptive efforts, but they also took Britneys and imprisoned our family for life.
Avery’s story has been told on many media platforms. Local Channel 12 News Investigative Reporter Duane Pohlman did an in-depth investigation and reported Avery’s story in one of the longest episode ever aired during the local news with three episodes aired simultaneously. Mr. Pohlman received countless awards for his efforts. Avery’s story has been told on Suffer the Little Children Podcast by hostess Laine Hissett. Her story has also aired on channels 9, 5, 12, 19, and 64 & been written in newspapers such as the Enquirer & in the U.K. magazine, Take A Break. Unfortunately, it all comes too late. A child’s “story” such as Avery’s always comes too late.
In the summer of 2016, Tammy E. Risen started to write her biography. This book was written to shed light on Avery’s case. In the fall of 2020, the book titled “In The Best Interest of a Child” was released. It was in the top ten sellers on a few reading sites. In the fall of 2016, Tammy also started writing petitions for a law to aid abused children. To date, no one has listened & again, we hear more & more cases of dead children just like Avery.
A note to those in care of abused children.
Let me express that no pain could ever compare to losing a child to murder. It is barely palatable to accept a child lost to disease or accidents. These losses consume who we are and regurgitate us as people we do not know, and there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with being human. Being human makes us ponder things we could or should have done when it should elate us knowing that the child no longer suffers. Yet, living without them seems impossible.
I will advocate for abused children until my dying breath. I will always try to make this world a safer place for abused children. I am the GRANNY WITH A MISSION. A mission to change the logic of those in power. A mission to change what we as people accept & one to change an outcome in the lives of abused children.
#ISTAND4ABUSEDCHILDREN
Mama~
Justice4Avery 
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