DV Victim and children ordered to "go home" to Florida (Hartford, Connecticut)

This is the insanity our courts have been reduced to. The mother fled to Connecticut, where she was originally married and had her two sons. The abusive UNNAMED DAD is now trying to force her and the children back to Florida, where she fears for their lives. And a Florida judge is going along with this scheme. Good old Florida, where domestic violence murders have doubled over the past year--in part, because the legal system no longer allows mothers and children the right to protect themselves or secure their own safety. Note that this mother's lawyer has been useless--failed to make the necessary arrangements for the mother to attend the child custody hearing via telephone. This deliberate "incompetence" is also way too common.

Getting murdered because you were forced to return to the "home state" is not an idle fear. In another local case cited below, the mother was forced to return to Connecticut to fight for the custody of her children. Her husband shot her dead once she arrived.

Domestic Violence Victim Ordered To Go Home
Victim, Children Fled To Conn. Six Months Ago

POSTED: 5:54 pm EST December 3, 2009
UPDATED: 7:13 pm EST December 3, 2009

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Tina Arrigoni has been back in Connecticut for less than six months. She was married here and had two sons. Now, she's being forced to move back to Florida where she said her abusive husband is waiting.

Arrigoni said, "I did flee Florida for the safety of my life and my children. I came back to Connecticut, where I got the restraining order against my husband. I feared he was going to kill me or our younger son."

This week, Arrigoni saw the story about the murder of Jennifer Magnano. She was a victim of domestic violence and was forced back to Connecticut to fight for the custody of her children. When she returned, she was shot to death by her husband.

Arrigoni said, "The tactic her husband used to get her back to Connecticut is the same tactic my husband is using to get me and my children back to Florida."

There is a restraining order that protects Arrigoni and her two sons from having contact with their father who she said, became increasingly abusive before they fled.

Arrigoni said, "He would tell me he would kill me if I ever left and took the kids."

However, a Florida judge has ordered Arrigoni and her sons back to Florida during the custody battle because the children are residents of that state. Her husband has been ordered out of the family home so they can move in and the boys must return to their Florida school by the start of the year.

Arrrigoni said, "He lifted the no contact restraining order on the kids. He ordered the children to speak with their father Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays."

Her husband pins it all on her. Through a lawyer he claimed there was no abuse. In his point of view, Arrigoni kidnapped the children. He said his wife could have filed for the restraining order in Florida, but she chose not to. He said he is not happy about being forced out of his home but is glad he will have contact with his children.

State victim advocate Michelle Cruz stepped in to help Arrigoni saying she has suffered several blows, including last month, when she was ordered to fly back to Florida for a custody hearing. She was legally allowed to attend the hearing via telephone, but lawyers never set it up.