Brenda Butler said the experience began with her 4-year-old grandson’s visit to the doctor.

The 4-year-old boy went in for a checkup and a pediatrician thought something was wrong.

The pediatrician said the boy may have been exposed to inappropriate sexual behavior while on weekend visits with his father.

The pediatrician referred the case to a therapist who agreed and referred the case to a psychologist who also agreed.

A police investigation began and police agreed that the boy appeared to be sexually abused when visiting his father.

Butler said her family asked Wilson County Circuit Court Judge Clara Byrd to cease visitations and order the father to take a lie detector test and undergo psychosexual evaluation.

Butler said Byrd wanted to talk to the child. Butler said Byrd conducted a 10 minute interview with the child in her chambers.

“When she came out, I think her words were, ‘OK, call off the dogs, call off the psychologists, call off the therapists. You attorneys call off your CVSA testing for tomorrow because this didn’t happen,’” Butler said.

After the meeting, Byrd decided to continue the father's visitation and discredit the Department of Children’s Services investigation.

“I left there with a sense of ‘What is she thinking? Why would you not try and protect this child?’” Butler said.

That was January of 2005. In August of 2005, the Butlers were back in court for a custody hearing.

The Butlers produced two experts that said the child appeared to have been sexually abused.

The father didn’t have any expert witnesses, and Byrd gave the father full custody of the child

Butler said she was helpless and was just trying to protect the child, but that there was no way to stop the court order.

“The bottom line was, this mother had never done anything except try to protect her child at the advice of professionals who gave her advice,” she said. “It was almost worse than if that child had died. It’s just like a piece of your heart is gone. … It’s like you get up every day and you just can’t go on.”

Attorney Cyndi Cheatham said she couldn't believe that it appeared the judge had based everything on a short interview with a 4-year-old.

“Every time, you know, we would say, ‘Well, this has gone so far field of what you would think would happen.’ It would get worse,” she said.

Butler's retired husband of 46 years went back to work to pay the legal costs of fighting for the boy.

“We were determined if it took every penny we had that you keep fighting. You keep fighting for your family,” Butler said.

The couple said their retirement fund was gone and that they needed money to appeal the decision.

“What’s money? You can’t put a price on a child’s life. You know, had we not done this, if we had gone out on a cruise or gone somewhere else, could I have enjoyed it? No,” Butler said.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals saw things Butlers' way and reversed every aspect of Byrd's decision and ordered the child back to her mother and vacating her decision entirely.

The court of appeals said what the Butlers said. The ruling stated that Byrd’s rulings were "based almost entirely on the trial court's interview of the child" and "the evidence simply does not support the findings by the trial court."

The case moved to Davidson County where the new judge reversed the previous decisions.

The judge awarded custody of the child to Butler and ordered psychosexual evaluation of the father and a lie-detector test.

After two days, the father gave up his parental rights.

“Two days after we were in court, we heard from the father’s attorney. He wanted to voluntarily surrender his parental rights, and that’s been done,” Butler said. She said they had not heard from the father since.

Byrd did not return any phone calls for an interview.