RB’s case fits the classic mold of the national family court calamity. Her attorney husband claimed she had threatened him. His claim was accepted and she was thrown out of her house and her young children were removed from her and denied all contact with her.
Her denial of this alleged attack, the lack of proof, and her long history as a respected owner of a child care center, meant nothing in a court which was apparently stacked against her. Her husband appears to be on good, professional terms with the judge.
A parent who requests that his children be yanked from the other, loving parent, and a judge who complies with his unconscionable request, can only be viewed with contempt.
The most appalling part of this is that her children are being treated as property, to be given to the victor rather than placed with their own welfare in mind. The trauma they have been enduring will never be erased. It will affect them for the rest of their lives.
RB was limited to supervised visitation for many months, and even that was denied, based on damaging testimony by the agency supervising her visits. For many months in 2004, her bewildered children had no contact with the mother who bore and nurtured them, because her husband prevailed and a judge complied.
Update: The judge was asked to recuse himself, in a court room filled with court watchers. He did so, angrily and reluctantly. This was after he called a recess and entered his chambers to decide what to do. To the astonishment of those still in the courtroom, RB’s husband boldly followed him into his chambers.
The new judge, although strict and pessimistic about RB’s behavior, allowed her to have unsupervised visitation. Her children are ecstatic, although her young daughter was confused at first to be seeing her mother again after months of no contact.