Judicial Abuse of Parent’s Rights
When does the state have the right to remove a child from the custody of a custodial parent?
This story is about a little girl age seven living in the state of Utah.
This is Taelyn’s story and if you don’t get the facts it could end up being your story, too.
LAYTON, UTAH
LOOK OUT! This is for SINGLE MOMS, Dads, married couples, or non-married couples which ever you may be. If you are RECEIVING ANY KIND OF STATE ASSISTANCE YOU MAY NOT BE TREATED EQUAL IN THE COURTS! Discrimination against the poor in the welfare system is rampant in this state and probably in many other states as our rights are being ripped from us on a daily basis as we sit by complacently until it hits our own back yard. If this happened to one woman IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU! When reading this article always remember; “If not for the grace of God, there go I.”
I wrote this in the wake of the terrible death of a young girl in Syracuse, Utah, several months ago. I did not try to publish the article until the pending custody appeal was heard by the court for fear that it could actually do harm to the out come of that appeal. Yet, I do honestly believe that the people of the state of Utah need to know just how easy it is to lose their children without just cause. The judges and commissioners on the bench will continue to violate the laws of this state that have been put in place for us, the taxpayers, until we have the courage to do something about it. This is called “the abuse of power” and it will only continue until WE the people do something about it. Unfortunately many of us set oblivious to just how extensive the abuse of the power of the bench and their authority really is. Every day judges and commissioners make decisions based on their own personal opinion, not on law. They need to be stopped. Not all the judges and commissioners are unfair but there are too many that enjoy the power trip. They seem to make up the rules as they go along. They make their rulings from the bench on personal opinion and not by the law.
No one is exempt from the prejudicial opinions of the judicial bench and its God complex.
Are you a single Mom barely making it on minimum wage and supplemental help from the state? Are you a recovering alcoholic? Have you ever admitted to anyone that you once tried an illegal substance? Do not admit to anyone anything you have done in the past as it may be used against you later. There are some who sit on the judicial bench that will interpret this admission of once trying an illegal substance as a “history of drug abuse.” I was a pot smoker in the 60’s but now I am a licensed minister doing all I can to help the battered, abused, and underprivileged. I am not afraid to “fight city hall” so to speak. I am an activist for the underprivileged and I am not ashamed of that. I have made plenty of enemies along the way that have tried to slander my reputation while trying to destroy my life and ministry. This will not stop me from telling the truth or fighting the abuse of power in the system. Does my admission to using drugs in the 60’s make me less effective as a minister today? I think not. Here are a few questions that every person in the state of Utah or any other state, for that matter, needs to answer. Do you suffer from a mental health disorder such as Bipolar Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Post Traumatic stress Disorder, or any other obsessive-compulsive disorder for which you take medication? If you answered yes to any of the above WATCH OUT! Do you think that you have sole custody of that out of wedlock child that the father really didn’t want in the first place? Think again. The state owns that child just as it owns you! At the state’s discretion and from the formed personal opinions of the bench the state can take your child away from you and give that child to the person of their choosing. That person is usually of more monetary worth than you are.
As a minister and an activist against the “Abuse of the Power of the Bench” I will continue to research and to fight for justice for those who have suffered from this awful abuse. I want to search for truth and justice for not only my own family but also for yours. I am in the process of starting a grassroots activist group called, “Rebels With a Cause” that will be devoted to helping the underprivileged to receive justice in the system. I will be writing articles and researching others’ articles on the abuse of power. It is time that the people begin to rebel against injustice. We cannot continue to sit complacently while our rights are trampled by the system and the self proclaimed gods who sit on the bench. I am as guilty as the next person when it comes to complacency. Things sure change quickly when it hits too close to home. You see; the mother of the minor child I am speaking of in this article is my daughter. The child removed from the custody of her mother is my precious granddaughter, but for the sake of this article I will refer to them as “the mother” and “the minor child.”
The mother of the minor child, the rest of her immediate family, and numerous friends and relatives are still in shock that on July 20, 2006, Civil Number: 024500018 Second District Court in and for Morgan County, Utah, Commissioner Thomas removed a six and a half year old girl from her mother’s custody and gave custody to the father in Florida, on the grounds of “dental neglect.” This is ludicrous! According to the mother of the minor child, when she first told the child’s father that she was pregnant over seven years ago he told her to have an abortion then he told his parents that she had miscarried. His parents have admitted to this fact.
While that baby was in its mother’s womb she, the mother, had all the rights and he, the father, had none nor did he want any. The mother made the conscious choice to take responsibility for her actions and keep her baby. She now feels that the biggest mistake of her life was telling his parents they had a grandchild. She believed they deserve to know. The paternal grandmother once said, “We will get custody of that baby someday just you wait and see.” Well, they finally did and I am appalled that the state of Utah could do this. The commissioner gave his reasoning for removal of the child from the mother’s custody was that the mother had ignored the dental recommendations from the dentist in Florida to which the father of the child had taken her to while on her visitations with him. The father claims that every time the minor child came to visit him she was complaining of extreme pain in her teeth, yet there are pictures of her at his wedding in March of 2006 of her laughing and happily stuffing her mouth with wedding cake. If her teeth are as bad as the father is claiming then it is hard to reason why he would have allowed the minor child to put so much cake with icing in her mouth without it causing her teeth to hurt. There seems to be some important discrepancies in the reasoning and allegations of the father in this case. The commissioner refused to look at the child’s dental records from the state of Utah. Nor did he even look at the child’s teeth or talk to her.
According to Utah law, the only way the commissioner could legally remove the child from the custodial parent is if the so-called problem presented immediate and immanent danger to the health and well being of the child, he made his “judgment” on his opinion without a basis in fact, and not only was he WRONG, what he did was ILLEGAL according to Utah codes!
Utah law states that the minor can be removed from the custody of the custodial parent if under Utah code 78-3a-301 Subsection (a) there is an imminent danger to the physical health or safety of the minor and the minor’s physical health or safety may not be protected without removing the minor from the custody of the minor’s parent or guardian.
(h) The minor is in immediate need of medical care.
Utah Code 78-3a-301 also states that this can only occur if the court finds there is immanent danger to the child “by a preponderance of the evidence.” Not on false unsubstantiated allegations. Due to the fact that the appeals court judge found that the commissioner had erred on the subject of imminent danger to the child which was even substantiated by the father on the witness stand (which my daughter’s attorney jumped on real quick) that he had no choice under the law but to overturn the commissioner’s decision and have the child should be returned to her mother at the earliest possible convenience, it was not a total victory for the mother. She is now subject to random drug testing at the whim of the court or on the request of the child’s father, who, by the way has had is own problems with substance abuse in his past.
The commissioner’s decision did not come without great emotional cost both to the mother and the minor child. My granddaughter is now in weekly counseling due to her fear of having to go back to Florida for a visit. She is scared to death that if she goes there to visit that her daddy won’t let here come home again. She has even started wetting her pants, something she has not done since she was two years old. Before all of this happened she was a very happy, very well adjusted child. She now lives in fear of being taken from her mother again. Her first few weeks at home she would cry if her mommy got out of her sight.
I ask you; who has suffered the most from abuse of the power of the bench? It certainly was not the powers that be. It was a little girl who will not soon forget the fear of being taken away from her mother, again.