Soldier Returns From Iraq Mission To Fight For Family

INDIANAPOLIS -- A soldier with the Indiana Army National Guard's 76th Infantry is home on emergency leave to fight for her parental rights regarding two of her children.

Samantha Fulk left her three children to be deployed to Iraq in January, but she now faces an even bigger battle at home, 6News' Tanya Spencer reported.

Fulk got an e-mail from her ex-husband last week that said the two children who had been staying with him, Gabriel, 3, and Katie, 5, were taken by Child Protective Services.

Fulk got an emergency leave from the war zone -- an unexpected return home considering that she had just said goodbye to her children months earlier and wasn't supposed to be home until December.

"I called the case worker that was originally assigned to it. I called the supervisor that's ahead of that person. I called the on-call CPS worker. I've called all of those individuals about seven to 10 times a day," Fulk said.

It was five days into her 14-day leave before Fulk was allowed to see her children for four hours.

"It's horrible that I put my life on the line, I go across the world to help other people fight for their rights and I come home on emergency leave and I don't have any rights to see my children," Fulk said.

Katie and Gabriel are staying with their paternal grandparents. Fulk wants them with her mother and their older brother but was told she has to be released from her duties in Iraq before she has a say -- a choice the career soldier and mother doesn't think she should have to make.

"I've been with my unit for 11 years. I want to be there to be with my military family," Fulk said.

The military is helping to get Fulk reassigned state-side so she can again have legal rights over her children, which she said is her first priority now.

If she isn't allowed to stay in the U.S., Fulk won't be home until Dec. 10.

There is an ongoing investigation involving Fulk's ex regarding the possible abuse of another child, Spencer reported.