Top Story |
Outrage: Boy Languishes
in Orphanage as Italian Courts Refuse to
Return Him to His American Dad
 When
a mother and father are divorced or
separated, and a child welfare
agency removes the children from the
mother's home for abuse or neglect,
an offer of placement to the father,
barring unfitness, should be
automatic.
Yet in the report What About
the Dads?, the Urban Institute
presents a shocking finding: when
fathers inform child welfare
officials that they would like their
children to live with them, the
agencies seek to place the children
with their fathers only 15% of the
time.
One example is the heartbreaking
Melinda Smith case, in which a San
Diego father and daughter were
needlessly separated for over a
decade. The daughter was shuttled
through a series of foster care
placements from the age of 6, even
though her father was paying child
support, was known to authorities,
was searching for Melinda, and was
perfectly fit. To learn more, see
my column Choosing
Foster Parents over Fathers (San
Diego Union-Tribune, 7/11/07).
A new case, involving American
father Michael McCarty (pictured
above) and his 7-year-old son Liam
Gabriele McCarty is similar, and
just as appalling. Barbara Thompson
of Examiner.com writes:
In 2007, Liam McCarty was
kidnapped by his mother and
taken out of the country in
violation of a NY court order.
After arriving in Italy, Italian
officials determined that she
was an unfit mother and placed
the boy in an orphanage. For
more than two years, Michael
McCarty, who has sole legal and
physical custody of young Liam,
has fought to bring his son
home.
In 2007, Michael McCarty and
Manuela Antonelli were involved
in a nasty custody battle over
Liam in New York where the
family resided.
Antonelli had made numerous
allegations of abuse against
McCarty but investigations by
the NYPD, New York District
Attorney's Office, Children's
Services, and numerous
court-appointed mental health
professionals all found the
accusations to be "unfounded,"
"baseless," and "false."
Antonelli was diagnosed with
severe personality disorders and
was determined to be an unfit
parent. Sole legal and physical
custody was awarded to McCarty,
an order was issued that Liam
not be taken out of the United
States, and a judicial finding
of parental alienation was made
against the mother.
On March 5, 2007, Manuela
Antonelli picked her son up from
kindergarten and fled the
country in direct violation of
the court orders. She returned
with the boy to her native Italy
where she continued to make
accusations of abuse against
McCarty.
According to the Hague
Convention, Italian officials
should have returned Liam to the
US where his father had legal
custody. For some reason, they
did not, setting off a battle in
Italian courts.
For nearly two years, Michael
McCarty was denied any access to
his son. Eventually, the Italian
courts came to the conclusion on
their own that Antonelli's
accusations were false and that
she was a danger to Liam. Still,
instead of returning the boy to
his father, Italian Social
Services assumed custody and
Liam was placed in an orphanage.
Over the past few months,
Michael McCarty has been able to
visit his son in the orphanage
under strict supervision, but
there is no word on when he will
be able to bring the boy home.
McCarty says he is concerned
that his son's condition seems
to be deteriorating while the
case is tied up in Italian
courts.
Manuela Antonelli is wanted
by the FBI and Interpol but
Italy has refused to extradite
her. She is still on the run.
Like David Goldman and
hundreds of other parents of
abducted children, Michael
McCarty has sworn to never give
up the fight to bring his son
home. He has set up a website to
tell his story and accept
donations to fund his ongoing
legal battle and travel to visit
his son.
Fox News did an excellent
interview with Michael McCarty–to
watch, click on A Father's Tale: Dad Fights for
Kidnapped Son (8/17/09).
McCarty's website is http://www.saveliam.org.
Canada's Justice Minister Criticizes Equal Parenting after Divorce
Canada's Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has weighed in on shared parenting, and he obviously doesn't understand the issue. The article in question is Kids' interests No.1 priority in divorce, justice minister says (Canwest News Service, 8/17/09)--let's break it down piece by piece. The article says:
The interests of children must take priority over a father's right to an equal parenting role after divorce, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said here Monday.
This falsely juxtapositions children vs. fathers, when in reality in most cases the interests of children are protected and served by equal parenting and maximizing father-involvement after divorce. What courts and the law must do--and what they currently so often fail to do--is to protect children's right to have a relationship with both parents after divorce or separation.
Are there exceptions? Of course. If dad (or mom) is a drug addict or a raging alcoholic, if dad (or mom) is mentally ill, physically abusive, or generally violent, then the other parent should get sole custody. And yes, there are times when the demands of dad's (or mom's) job make equal parenting unworkable. But these are exceptions–in general, kids do best when they spend roughly equal amounts of time with each parent, and when their right to a relationship with both parents is protected.
One also wonders who it is who's supposed to determine what is in a child's best interests? Most fathers are perfectly capable of judging whether equal parenting is in their children's best interests.
The article says:
Nicholson was responding to an emotional plea from a Canadian lawyer who, with the support of the Canadian Bar Association, urged Nicholson to reject a Conservative MP's private member's bill introduced in June that called for "equal shared" parenting.
"Will you stand up for children and oppose this private member's bill?" asked Meg Shaw of Kelowna, B.C.
"I believe, and I think most people who have been involved in family law or studied this, that the best interests of the child are always paramount... and should be," he said, triggering applause from several hundred lawyers attending the CBA's annual meeting in Ireland's capital.
There's a lot of anti-attorney sentiment within the fatherhood/shared parenting movement, and some of it is, quite frankly, way over the top. The system isn't as it is because of greedy attorneys (though they certainly contribute to the problem) and efforts at shared parenting don't die because of opposition from attorneys (though again they're certainly part of the problem). And there are many, many attorneys who have done great work to protect fathers' relationships with their children. However, it's hard not to look at this display and feel rather cynical about attorneys, as they applaud en masse for what amounts to restricting or minimizing children's relationships with their fathers.
The article says:
Vellacott's bill, according to a news release issued by the MP, instructs judges "to apply the principle of equal shared parenting unless it is established that the best interests of the child would be substantially enhanced by allocating parental responsibility other than equally."
I haven't read the bill but that seems pretty fair to me–have equally shared parenting unless there's a compelling reason not to.
The news release said research shows, "with limited exceptions," that "children generally demonstrate superior outcomes when both parents — mom AND dad — are actively involved in their children's lives, even if the parents divorce or separate."
Their reading of the research is correct–children do better in shared parenting arrangements after divorce or separation. I detail some of this research in my co-authored column HB 5267 Will Help Michigan's Children of Divorce (Lansing State Journal, 5/28/06).
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FAF in the Media |
F & F's Holstein
Discusses Paternity Fraud on the Mike McConnell Show (Audio Available)
 Fathers and Families'
Ned Holstein, MD discussed
paternity fraud and Fathers
& Families' paternity fraud
bill on the Mike
McConnell Show on 700
WLW in Cincinnati (8/13/09).
To listen to the audio of
his appearance, click here.
Fathers & Families has filed
a bill in the Massachusetts
Legislature to prevent the
babies of fathers from being
"switched" at birth. It
calls for DNA testing in all
out-of-wedlock births to
determine the true paternity
of children.
Because of the increasing
importance of genetic-based
medicine, the Massachusetts
Medical Society endorsed the
bill. |
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Fathers & Families has a massive
E-Newsletter list numbering over
50,000 members and supporters.
However, we could do more with
more information about our
supporters. We ask that each
person reading this email take a
brief moment to fill out this
form. It will help our movement
organize better and grow
stronger.
Please click here to fill out the form.
Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers &
Families
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board,
Fathers & Families |
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Kids & Dads |
'My dad took care of me
forever'
 "[H]e
taught me about hard
work, and fighting
through adversity,
and toughness. I
carry all the things
that he taught me as
a little boy growing
up. He was always
there for me."
Former baseball
player and current
New York Yankees
manager Joe Girardi
(pictured) has a
special relationship
with his dad. From
MLB.com:
The memories
of Joe Girardi's
father as a
strict
disciplinarian
with a
lesser-seen soft
side continue to
beat on in the
Yankees
manager's heart,
even though that
man no longer
answers the
ringing
telephone.
Girardi's
father, Jerry,
is suffering
from advanced
Alzheimer's
disease, but his
son continues
dialing the
numbers, hoping
to hear at least
a brief flash of
the role model
who took him
fishing and
would listen
along to Cubs
games in the car
radio.
"I think
about my father
all the time,"
Girardi
says...Now 77,
Jerry Girardi
does not open
his eyes much
anymore,
sleeping for
most of the day
in an
assisted-care
facility outside
Peoria, Ill.
Girardi has
been told that
the best time to
speak to his
father is early
in the day, so
at 10 o'clock
once or twice a
week, he will
pick up the
phone and try.
The
conversations
are mostly
one-way, but
Girardi keeps
his father up to
date on whatever
is going on in
his life...
"There's
always that
little
percentage where
I think, 'Maybe
he got it,'"
Girardi said.
"That's
encouraging."
Read the full
article here. |
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