JoAnna Davis (right) cries while talking about her battles with drug addiction. Her mother Violet Hobbs listens. Photo by Christopher Gannon of Gannett.

Des Moines resident JoAnna Davis, who was a heavy drug user, was so angry with the  Iowa Department of Human Services for taking away her daughter she would publicly denounce social workers at public meetings.

“They have abused their power and treat our children like an undercover slavery,” she said at one meeting, according to this article in USA Today.

But today Davis is grateful someone reported her drug abuse to the state. Faced with permanently losing her daughter Davis, 41, went into recovery and regained custody.

She then went on to work for Iowa’s Parent Partner program, working with social workers to advise families who have lost custody of their children on how to make changes in their lives so they can get their offspring back.

“I used to be such an angry person, but I’m so happy now,” she said. “I’m an over-comer. I’m victorious.”

Cheers to USA Today for telling her story.