Family Court Judge Courtenay Hall grants convicted pedophile dad prison visitation with 5-year-old daughter (Clifton Park, New York)

Thank you, fathers right of New York! Granting a convicted pedophile visitation with his 5-year-old daughter--in prison no less--has FR fingerprints all over it. Thank goodness there are some decent people left in the state who are outraged by this bullsh**. Family court judge Courtenay Hall should resign her post immediately.

http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2011/04/26/pedophile_visitation/

Convicted Pedophile Granted Daughter VisitationPosted on Tuesday, 26 of April , 2011 at 9:30 pm

CLIFTON PARK—The 3-2 decision of a mid-level appellate court to grant visitation rights to a convicted pedophile teacher who is serving 12 years in state prison for molesting young male students in his classroom has created a firestorm.

Former Chestertown resident Christopher Culver, 35, a former Shenendehowa elementary first grade teacher, pleaded guilty in 2008 to a 49-count indictment which included 29 counts of first degree sexual abuse from his molestation of eight of his male students. He had been arrested in 2007.

Following his sentencing, Culver petitioned the Saratoga County Family Court for visitation with his now five-year-old daughter. Family Court Judge Courtenay Hall granted the application which was opposed by Culver’s former wife, Kristi VanPatten Culver. The couple has divorced since Culver’s arrest.

It is expected that she will ask the Court of Appeals to review the decision.

Culver, who had not seen his daughter since she was 18 months old, has been granted four visits per year with the child at his correctional facility.

In March 2007, Culver signed a separation agreement which made no provision for custody or visitation of the child, who continued to reside with the mother. Thereafter, while the mother initially permitted the father to visit with the child, in July 2007 – when the child was 18 months old – she refused the father any further visitation.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court denied Culver’s appeal and he is incarcerated in Clinton County Correction Facility.

The parties were divorced in August 2008 in a judgment which incorporated their separation agreement. In November 2008, the father filed a petition in Family Court seeking regular visitation with the child at the place of his incarceration which is located about three hours by car from the child’s residence. Included in the father’s petition were affidavits from his parents and his sister offering to provide transportation to and supervision during the requested visits.

After four days of trial at which numerous witnesses testified, Family Court awarded the mother full custody and granted the father four visits per year with the child at the correctional facility where he is confined or such other facility provided it is within 150 miles of the mother’s residence.

The court further ordered, among other things, that the child be accompanied by a responsible adult – other than the mother – with whom the child is familiar and who will cooperate with the mother and father in effectuating each visit, that the child and her escorts engage in counseling in preparation for and subsequent to each visit, and that the father have monitored telephone contact and written communication with the child. The mother was directed to bear the cost of said counseling and telephone calls.

Culver’s ex-wife had opposed visitation asserting, among other reasons, that the child does not know her father, does not enjoy long car rides and that such visitation will likely frighten the child. The mother testified, however, that, prior to the father’s arrest, he enjoyed “[a] decent father-daughter relationship” – a fact corroborated by the testimony of others who have known the father and child – and that, since the father’s incarceration, the child has begun to inquire about his whereabouts.

To the mother’s credit, the child has received mail from the father on a regular basis, and both the child’s paternal aunt and paternal grandparents – who have been permitted ongoing relationships with the child by the mother – are willing to transport the child to the correctional facility and cooperate with the mother’s related wishes – e.g., to not discuss the specific circumstances surrounding the father’s incarceration and to attend counseling in order to facilitate the visits.

The court ordered that Culver is financially responsible for all expenses associated with visitation including counseling and telephone expenses unless his ex-wife acquires health insurance which will cover counseling expenses for the child.