Mother fights for custody of at-risk children

In horrifying detail, prosecutors described how three children, trapped in the back seat of their mother’s car, screamed for help before they drowned in four feet of water in an Illinois lake while their mother and her boyfriend escaped unharmed.

Amanda Hamm was convicted of child endangerment and served five years in prison for watching her boyfriend carry out a plot to drown her 6-year-old, 3-year-old, and 23-month-old children in 2003 because they interfered with the couple’s relationship and his sex-and-drugs lifestyle. He was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence.

The mother married and now, under the name Amanda Ware, is fighting to gain custody of three children — ages 5, 3, and 1 — she had after leaving prison. They were taken away by child protection authorities last year after a doctor recognised Ware as the former Hamm.