|
Rare appeal in abuse case succeeds |
 |
 |
|
Wednesday, 26 November 2008 02:56 |
Convicted criminals appeal their convictions every day in America, but
it's just once in a blue moon when a child sentenced to go home with an abuser gets a second look.
A lack of zealous and competent representation pervades the family court and child welfare system, because legal representation costs money.
That makes it news that Indiana attorney Daniel Pappas has won an appeal terminating the rights of two imprisoned meth dealers to parent a nine-year old boy. Family Division Judge Charles Pratt ruled against state child protection officials last February, when they sought termination. According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, the boy has languished in a series of foster homes since.
That's an outcome that also happens daily across the U.S. Children whose lives and safety are at stake are assigned only volunteers or attorneys who conduct a form of lax, quasi-legal advocacy that would get them disbarred if their client was an adult.
Earlier this month an appeals court agreed with Pappas, voting unanimously to put the child's rights ahead of the biological parents'. “It is foreseeable that J.M. would have to remain in foster care until his parents could take on the responsibilities of parenthood," wrote Appellate Judge Carr L. Darden, "however, there is no guarantee that either parent will be able to care for J.M. following their release.”
|
