When Corey B. Best I and his fiance Catherine Houston of Masury decided to go on vacation to New Orleans several weeks ago they never imagined they'd return home to their worst nightmare.

But that's what happened Monday when the couple stopped at their baby sitter's house to pick up their 18-month-old son Corey B. Best II and found Trumbull County Children's Services had placed the boy in foster care.

The couple left March 4 for New Orleans, leaving their son for the first time. While there, Best -- who has a degree in culinary arts -- found short-term work at a prestigious restaurant and was offered a permanent, good-paying job, he said.

"I was doing this for my family," Best said.

The couple began looking for a house to rent and called their sitter to ask for an extension on the vacation. They said the sitter, also their neighbor, said she didn't mind.

"We believe that (the sitter) wasn't being forthright with us."

For the next few weeks they said they kept in contact with the sitter, calling her every day and wiring money for the sitter and the child.

Eventually, the couple found a house in New Orleans and placed a deposit. They returned to Masury, hoping to pick up their son, pay their rent and the baby sitter and return to the bayou for good.

When they arrived at the sitter's home, no one would answer the door.

"We called the cops because they wouldn't open the door. We were going to file a kidnapping. We didn't have any idea about Children's Services," Best said.

To complicate matters, when the couple stepped into their own apartment, it was completely empty. They said someone had told the landlord they were away and planned to never come back. They were evicted by an order from Eastern District Court, Brookfield, and all of their belongings were thrown in a Dumpster behind the apartment complex.

"We spoke with them everyday. (The sitter), her husband and our son. We sent money to them and we felt safe with them watching our son," Beck said. "They never said Corey was a burden."

On Monday morning, as Brookfield police were serving the eviction order, the sitter told police that Best and Ms. Houston had never returned from vacation for their son and she wasn't willing to care for him anymore. She told police she had been caring for the boy for four weeks.

"We were not abandoning our child," Best argued.

While police spoke with the sitter, they discovered her husband Michael Marley had an active warrant out for his arrest in Pennsylvania. He was placed in custody and searched. Police said found drug paraphernalia at the home and Marley later tested positive for marijuana and cocaine.

Children's Services came and took the child from the sitter's home.

"We wholeheartedly know that none of this would have happened if we would have just come home," Best said.

On Friday, the couple sat sullen and teary-eyed, holding what was left of their memories, a picture of Corey laughing in his father's arms.

They found it in the garbage among other important documents and belongings.

Trumbull County Children's Services filed a complaint against Best and Ms. Houston alleging neglect and requesting a "dispositional order of temporary custody." The complaint said that there were no known relatives available to assume custody and responsibility for the child.

The Children's Services complaint also said that in the process of evicting the couple, police obtained "what appeared to be drugs and drug paraphernalia" at the couple's home. However, the police report contradicts that claim, stating the drugs and paraphernalia were found at the baby sitters' house.

Best and Ms. Houston were subjected to a toxicology exam, and according to the toxicologist report, both tested negative for drugs.

At a hearing Tuesday at the Domestic Relations Juvenile Division of the Court of Common Pleas, the court found Corey's health and safety an issue and ordered the boy placed in temporary foster care until the next hearing, scheduled for April 21.

Messages left with both Children Services and the couple's former landlord, Joe Fusco, were not returned.

For now, Best and Ms. Houston will have to settle for once-a-week visits with their son. Their plans to move to New Orleans for a new start are dashed. They lack a home and jobs. And though they say they can't afford one, they were also denied a court-appointed attorney and are constantly searching for legal help.

"I'm not understanding how the court can play God with my son. He must be traumatized to have total strangers take him away," Best said.