The ACLU has officially lost all decency. They wasted time and energy helping UNNAMED DAD, who was sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl, so he could see his kids? How many other worthy cases did they turn down so they could help this daddy? And where was the mother in all this? Who knows. Written out of the story.
Shame on Judge Donetta W. Ambrose for going along with this sham.
INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/guestcolumn/s_754503.html
Fayette County will pay $242K to attorneys for blocking father
By Daily Courier
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Fayette County has been ordered to pay $242,753 to the civil rights attorneys who represented a man who sued the county for preventing him from seeing his children.
The amount, ordered on Wednesday by U.S. District Senior Judge Donetta W. Ambrose, is less than the $445,000 in fees that the American Civil Liberties Union in Pittsburgh had sought to recover.
The ACLU argued the $445,000 represented hourly fees and travel expenses for three attorneys and a paralegal who worked on the case. The ACLU sued Fayette Children and Youth Services and two caseworkers in 2008 for violating their client's civil rights.
The client, identified only as John Doe in court papers, died in a traffic accident last year.
His estate sued the county because CYS forced him to surrender custody of his three children because he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl.
The 32-year-old Smithfield man never was charged with child abuse, but the agency took the action based on the state definition that any adult having sex with someone younger than 18 is considered abuse.
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Custodial dad's estate argues that he was "crushed" because CPS objected to his 16-year-old girlfriend (Fayette County, Pennsylvania)
Is this kind of case really a good use of the ACLU's time? I can assure you that a custodial mom sporting a teen boyfriend would have been treated the exact same way as dad "JOHN DOE" was. And probably worse. But suddenly when it involves A MAN and his right to have sexual relations with a minor, uh, 16-year-old girl, constitutional issues are suddently a Very Big Deal?
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_734088.html
Father's estate argues that Fayette County agency 'crushed' his familyBy Brian Bowling
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A Fayette County agency`s threats to permanently take away his children isolated a Smithfield man and drove him to the edge of suicide, an attorney for the man`s estate argued today in opening statements in Pittsburgh federal court.
"This is a case about love, the heavy hand of government and the crushing of a family," said Vic Walczak, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU in 2008 filed a lawsuit on behalf of "John Doe" against Fayette County Children and Youth Services because it forced him to give up custody of his three children in 2006 after he started having sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl. The state police investigated but didn`t charge the man because the age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, Walczak said.
Marie Jones, a lawyer representing the agency, said the case is about a man who decided to have a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl.
"I`m not disputing that he loved his kids, but that doesn`t mean he made all the right decisions," she told jurors.
The state`s legal definition of child abuse includes sex between an adult and someone under the age of 18, so the county agency investigated the man and, during the investigation, required him to give up custody of his children.
Walczak said Fayette County was the only county in the state with such a policy. U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose already has ruled in the case that the policy violated the man`s constitutional rights.
The plaintiff`s wife had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia shortly after the birth of their first child, and her worsening condition left her unable to care for herself, much less the kids, he said. Consequently, he was both father and mother to the children until the agency ordered him to give up custody, Walczak said.
The man, a 32-year-old garbage collector, died Nov. 11, 2010, from injuries he suffered in a motor vehicle accident. The sole question in the jury trial that started today is how much the county agency should pay the man`s estate in damages.
Jones urged jurors to consider the plaintiff`s actions and award no damages.
Walczak asked jurors to consider how the agency`s actions damaged the man`s relationships with his children and led to him voluntarily admitting himself to the psychiatric ward at Highlands Hospital in 2007 after he lost all contact with his children.
The agency originally allowed the man to have supervised visits with his children but, with no warning, ordered him in August 2007 to cut off all contact. He wasn`t even allowed to ask his parents to pass a message to his children, Walczak said.
The family was so worried about what the agency would do that his parents and brother also curtailed or broke off their contacts with him for fear someone would claim they were passing messages from him to his children, Walczak said
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_734088.html
Father's estate argues that Fayette County agency 'crushed' his familyBy Brian Bowling
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A Fayette County agency`s threats to permanently take away his children isolated a Smithfield man and drove him to the edge of suicide, an attorney for the man`s estate argued today in opening statements in Pittsburgh federal court.
"This is a case about love, the heavy hand of government and the crushing of a family," said Vic Walczak, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU in 2008 filed a lawsuit on behalf of "John Doe" against Fayette County Children and Youth Services because it forced him to give up custody of his three children in 2006 after he started having sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl. The state police investigated but didn`t charge the man because the age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, Walczak said.
Marie Jones, a lawyer representing the agency, said the case is about a man who decided to have a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl.
"I`m not disputing that he loved his kids, but that doesn`t mean he made all the right decisions," she told jurors.
The state`s legal definition of child abuse includes sex between an adult and someone under the age of 18, so the county agency investigated the man and, during the investigation, required him to give up custody of his children.
Walczak said Fayette County was the only county in the state with such a policy. U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose already has ruled in the case that the policy violated the man`s constitutional rights.
The plaintiff`s wife had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia shortly after the birth of their first child, and her worsening condition left her unable to care for herself, much less the kids, he said. Consequently, he was both father and mother to the children until the agency ordered him to give up custody, Walczak said.
The man, a 32-year-old garbage collector, died Nov. 11, 2010, from injuries he suffered in a motor vehicle accident. The sole question in the jury trial that started today is how much the county agency should pay the man`s estate in damages.
Jones urged jurors to consider the plaintiff`s actions and award no damages.
Walczak asked jurors to consider how the agency`s actions damaged the man`s relationships with his children and led to him voluntarily admitting himself to the psychiatric ward at Highlands Hospital in 2007 after he lost all contact with his children.
The agency originally allowed the man to have supervised visits with his children but, with no warning, ordered him in August 2007 to cut off all contact. He wasn`t even allowed to ask his parents to pass a message to his children, Walczak said.
The family was so worried about what the agency would do that his parents and brother also curtailed or broke off their contacts with him for fear someone would claim they were passing messages from him to his children, Walczak said
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