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May 2008

Mother's Day: May 11, 2008

The driving force behind Mother's Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. As the .annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers. She finally succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

How Many Mothers: 82.8 million

Estimated number of mothers in the United States in 2004. / Source: Survey of Income and Program Participation unpublished tabulations

MONTANA

State settles with disabled mother

By Matt Gouras - Associated Press

5-10-08 -- The state said Friday that it has settled accusations that child protective services workers unfairly discriminated against a disabled Livingston woman. . . . The settlement will cost the state $330,000. . . . Geri Glass, bound to a wheelchair following a car accident, said the workers put onerous and unfair conditions on her. Glass said that when her son Gage was a newborn, state Child and Family Services workers told her they would take her son if they learned she had been left alone with him. . . . The Department of Public Health and Human Services agreed to establish a special needs trust of $50,0000 for Glass, contribute $100,000 to future payments that will be paid to her child, and pay her attorney fees and costs totaling $180,000. . . . The agency will also train employees and correct procedures for dealing with similar situations. . . . Late last year, a state hearings officer ruled that the workers violated Glass’ rights and retaliated against her when she complained.

NEW JERSEY

Battered moms march to get kids back

By Paul Brubaker, Herald News

5-10-08 --  On the eve of Mother's Day weekend, a small circle of women marched in the rain in front of the Passaic County Administration Building on Friday to protest government actions that separated them from their children. To dramatize their parental loss, some demonstrators pushed empty baby strollers. . . . "I'm here trying to help my kids come back home," said Shamika Spaulding, 23, of the Bronx. "My house is no longer safe for them because I was living in a DV situation." . . . The "DV" stands for domestic violence. Spaulding was one of 20 demonstrators who were all residents of Strengthen Our Sisters shelters, which provides refuge for battered women and their children. Sandra Ramos, the program's executive director, organized the protest. . . . Holding a water-logged placard, Spaulding fought back tears as she recalled a three-year ordeal of being pistol-whipped and stomped on by her boyfriend, who would often lock her and the couple's three children in their home for sometimes as long as two weeks. . . . The boyfriend is now in prison, she said and their three children are in foster care. Spaulding said she is trying to earn approval from New York City's Administration of Child Services to get her children back by moving into one of Strengthen Our Sisters shelters, which has multiple Passaic County locations.

April 2008

NEW YORK

Allergic Mother Loses Attempt to Prohibit Kids' Contact With Cat

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

4-30-08 -- A woman who claimed that she is allergic to her ex-husband's cat cannot prevent their two children from visiting their father's home, a Long Island, N.Y., judge has ruled. . . . Following a hearing earlier this month in Mandel v. Mandel, 203448/06, Acting Supreme Court Justice Hope S. Zimmerman of Nassau County ruled that there was no "legal or factual basis to exclude the children" from their father's apartment. . . . The feline in question, an 18-month-old orange and white male tabby named Indie, was acquired by Stanley Mandel in 2006, after he moved out of the home he shared with Susan Mandel. The couple is in the process of getting a divorce. . . . The parties' 13- and 16-year-old sons live with Ms. Mandel but visit their father once during the week and during every other weekend. . . . According to the decision, Ms. Mandel is allergic to dogs, cats and certain foods and takes medications for her condition. . . . In November 2006, Ms. Mandel e-mailed her husband, asking him to "take certain precautions with the children" so that her health would not be jeopardized after the children returned from visiting their father.

ALABAMA

Judge Jails Moms Over Kids' Tardiness

New York Lawyer

4-25-08 -- A Mobile County juvenile court judge sent three mothers to jail after court hearings for more than 30 parents facing criminal charges for truant and tardy students. . . . Two of the three were jailed Thursday on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a child. The third, who has a history of substance abuse, was ordered to jail for violating probation when she failed a court-ordered drug test. . . . Judge Edmond Naman said he believes jail is not only for robbers, rapists and murderers but also "for people who break court orders and neglect their children." The jail sentences were not unprecedented. . . . One of the mothers sent to jail, Samantha Green, 32, of Mobile, has eight children, one of whom has been absent more than 100 days school. . . . The woman's 15-year-old daughter has been staying home to take care of an 11-month-old child of her own. . . . "It's just me; I don't have no help. I've got eight kids plus a grandbaby," Green pleaded.

TEXAS

FLDS mothers ask Texas judge not to take away nursing children

By Brooke Adams, The Salt Lake Tribune

4-21-08 -- Mothers in the polygamous FLDS sect on Monday filed a motion for a temporary restraining order demanding access to attorneys, privacy in prayer and a halt to Texas child-welfare workers plans to separate them from their breast-feeding children. . . .  Though filed specifically on behalf of four Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints mothers, the TRO is meant to include other mothers fighting to stop the state from taking their toddlers, who were taken from the sect's YFZ Ranch earlier this month. . . . Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) officials have repeatedly said they plan to separate all 416 children taken from the ranch -- including those under 2 who are currently breast-feeding -- once DNA testing determines maternity. That genetic screening began today. Texas Judge Barbara Walther set an afternoon hearing to further discuss the TRO motions. . . . The TRO also claims that since state officials have seized all cell phones from mothers and their children, they have no means to confer with attorneys. Further, despite CPS assurances that telephone access would be provided, that has yet to happen, the mothers argue.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Moms facing eviction to get days in court

By Schuyler Kropf, The Post and Courier

4-9-2008 -- Two single mothers facing eviction from the city of Charleston's Gadsden Green public housing complex because of criminal charges filed against their children will get jury trials in July. . . . Court dates of July 8 and 9 were set during a pre-trial conference Tuesday, Charleston attorney John F. "Skip" Martin said. The trials will be held separately for each woman in Magistrate's Court. . . . Martin represents Jacqueline Clinton and Elizabeth Speed, whose children were among six teens charged in two armed robbery incidents last fall. . . . After the charges were filed, the Charleston Housing Authority moved to evict the women, along with three other single mothers whose children were charged. Officials cited a section of their leases which allows entire households to be evicted if any member gets involved in detrimental behavior on or off housing grounds. . . . Two of the women already have left Gadsden Green for reasons unrelated to the arrests, while a third was given a reprieve by housing officials.

Let's just face it: Mother knows best

Column By Pamela Nisivaco

04-08-08 -- A little more than a week ago I turned 20 - not an exciting birthday. I did, however, have a significant revelation concerning my mom when I turned 20.  . . . And it all started with a birthday card. . . . Usually the birthday cards sent by my parents hold very loving and caring messages about how wonderful I am. This year there was a twist. On the front of the card were two dogs, one in pearls and one in a tie, to represent my parents, of course. The inside of the card read, "We think you're a really great daughter ­- and you know we're always right! Happy Birthday." Talk about sending an underlying message with your birthday wishes. . . . I knew my mom must have picked out this card. She is the one always telling me to take her advice more often because in the end we both know she will be right. . . . So, as far as my amazing revelation, it has taken me 20 long years of road bumps and missteps, but I am finally able to admit it: My mom is always right. . . . There. . . . I said it in print. Mom will be so proud. . . . I cannot ever remember a time when my mom gave me the wrong advice. When I was trying to decide on a college, all I wanted was to leave Illinois and get as far away from home as possible. Mom's advice: go to U of I. Here I am at the University of Illinois and I could not be happier. Then there was the time I was not accepted to a winter study abroad trip to France, but could reapply for a trip to China. Mom's advice: go for it! Who cares if it was not your first choice. When's the next time you are going to have an opportunity to go to China? I had the time of my life for two weeks getting to walk along the Great Wall and stare at the lights of Shanghai at night.

NEW YORK

Missing twin girls reunited with mother in Bronx

By Steve Ritea | Daniel Edward Rosen contributed

04-08-08 -- Twin 6-year-old girls who disappeared for five months after their mother dropped them off at the Brentwood train station have been safely reunited with her in the Bronx, Suffolk police said yesterday afternoon, after their father took them to Mexico where he remains at large. . . . "I thank God they're here again," their mother, Sylvia Trujillo, said through an interpreter at a news conference with her daughters, Luisa Fernanda and Luisa Maria, in the Bronx. . . . Luis Osnaya, 44, would be arrested on a warrant for first-degree custodial interference charges if he ever returns to the United States, Suffolk police said, adding that they are also working with authorities in Mexico to apprehend him there. . . . Police said they believe Osnaya has been associated with an organization that deals in human trafficking. A Mexico City home where the girls have been living for the past five months may have been a brothel, police said.

WISCONSIN

Wal-Mart Employee Tells Mom to Stop Breastfeeding

WITI-TV

A trip to Wal-Mart ends in an unexpected ultimatum for a new Racine mom. . . . Pamela Nicholson says her newborn son Devon got hungry while they were shopping. . . . So, she says she did what any mom would do for her hungry child - she fed him. She went to a section of the store that wasn't busy, covered herself and started breastfeeding. . . . She says a store employee told her she had to stop or leave the store. . . . "All of a sudden I had a female employee come up to me and very rudely tell me that I could not breastfeed my child in the store - that I either had to go to the bathroom or that I had to leave." . . . Nicholson says feeding her son in the bathroom was not an option, "The ladies bathroom is the dirtiest place you could feed a child."

March 2008

ILLINOIS

Picture-Perfect Mom Goes to Trial

Mom-Logic

03-13-08 -- You'll never believe why this Mom is being accused of child abuse. . . . Yesterday in Moms Are Talking About, we told you about the mother who was arrested for leaving her child alone in the car for less than a minute. We spoke exclusively with her husband, Tim Janecyk.

Mom•Logic: What happened?
Tim: On December 8th, 2007, my two older daughters, Sierra, 9, and Haley, 8, were at my office with one of their friends. They found a bunch of loose change and asked if they could collect it and take it to the Salvation Army bucket at the local Wal-Mart. My wife, Treffly, took them to donate the money. Not long after they left my office, I received a call from my wife, crying. She said, "I am at the Wal-Mart being arrested, and they are taking our child!"

ML: Why was your wife being arrested?
Tim: When my wife got to Wal-Mart, she quickly parked the car, ran about 30 feet (approximately two car lengths)  to the Salvation Army bucket with the older girls, then was heading back to her car when the police stopped her. She was arrested for leaving our 2-year-old, Phoebe, in the car by herself, and the police said they were taking our baby into protective custody. The police left Treffly handcuffed in the back of their car for more than an hour. Meanwhile, my daughters were inside Wal-Mart crying. It was a confusing and chaotic situation created by the police.

ML: How has your wife been handling this?
Tim: It's been difficult. It's tearing my wife up. She's been labeled a child abuser by the state. Child Protective Services comes to our house whenever they want. They search our house and say they're "doing their job," but it's an incredible violation to have them do this when there is no neglect or abuse.

SOUTH CAROLINA

SC Mother of the Year advises a faith foundation

Chantelle Janelle

03-12-08 -- We all think our mom is the best, but Tuesday afternoon honors go out to the state's Mother of the Year. . . . Mrs. Mary Kate Brearley Glasser of Columbia was honored at the State House Tuesday afternoon. . ..  The mother of four and grandmother of 10 is a former teacher. She says raised her children to love and serve the Lord, and says one of the most important things to remember when raising children is to keep the family together. . . . "I think motherhood is the greatest calling, the greatest institution that God ever made, and that it is up to us to nurture our children in the faith, and make sure that the family is united and stays together." . . . Mrs. Glasser is now competing for American Mother of the Year. That honor will be decided next month.

Family welcomes man's birth mom

By Jan A. Igoe

03-12-08 -- After 38 years, he had good reason to be apprehensive about making the call. But he dialed anyway. . . . "Hello, is this Rose?" the unfamiliar voice said. "This is Kurt Cornett in South Carolina - and I think I'm your birth son." . . . It was the call Rose Bugden of Newfoundland, Canada, had dreamed of from the day she gave him up for adoption. Since their first October phone conversation, Cornett and his biological mother have spoken every day. Cornett and his wife visited her in January, where they were welcomed into their vast extended family. But Madeline Cornett of Forestbrook, the woman who raised him as her own from infancy, had to wait until March to thank her. . . . Talk about a reason to celebrate Can-Am days. . . . "My mother never dreamed it could happen," said Kelli Barker of Conway, one of Cornett's four older sisters. "All his life, we've known he was adopted. He had a birthday and a special day - the day he came into our lives." . . . Barker was born in Canada, where her late father was stationed in the Air Force. Adoptions were less complicated there, and after four daughters, her parents longed for a boy, she said. A teenage girl they'd never met granted their wish. . . . "I was 16. I had no way of looking after him. I had no other choice. I knew he would have a better life, but it was really hard," said Bugden, 55, who also has a younger son. "The day he called was the most amazing day of my life. It's like winning the Lotto."

NEW YORK

Judge won't make ACS return girl to woman accused of suffering mental woe

By Jess Wisloski, Daily News Staff Writer

03-03-08 -- A judge rejected a desperate bid last week by a Queens mom to get back from city custody the 6-year-old daughter she lost after being accused of suffering from a rare mental disorder. . . .  Some six months after the Administration for Children's Services took custody of Amber James, her family members finally got their day in Queens Supreme Court last Thursday - an uncommon venue for a custody case. . . . But the ruling by Justice Peter O'Donoghue to keep Amber in foster care for now was heartbreaking for the girl's mother, Vanessa James, 41. . . . "Judge! If you leave my daughter in the care of ACS, she will die!" the distraught mom wailed in the courtroom. "They will kill her!" . . . Amber was taken from her family because a doctor feared Vanessa James suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy - a rare disorder in which a person believes a child is sick, or actually makes the child sick, to get attention. . . . Since the city took custody in August, Amber has been hospitalized for evaluation twice at mental health clinics. She has also been hospitalized three times for pneumonia, according to court records. And, she has been diagnosed with asthma.

February 2008

NEW YORK

NY Mom Cleared in Death After 15 Years

By Carolyn Thompson

02-29-08 -- (AP) — A mother who spent 13 years in prison for her teenage daughter's murder was formally cleared of charges Thursday following a startling reversal by prosecutors over how the girl died. . ..  "I'm just very grateful that the charges have been dropped against me and I'm looking forward to getting on with my life with my children," Lynn DeJac said after a state Supreme Court judge dismissed her case. . . . DeJac, 44, was awaiting retrial on charges she strangled 13-year-old Crystallynn Girard in 1993 when Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark recently announced that a review by forensics experts showed Crystallynn actually died of a cocaine overdose. . . . "There are now three forensic pathologists ... who have ruled out strangulation as the cause of death of Crystallynn Girard," Assistant District Attorney Thomas Finnerty told the judge. . . . Finnerty said prosecutors, in preparing for the retrial, asked two independent forensics experts to examine the 1993 autopsy findings and photos to try to better pinpoint the time of death. Instead, both experts volunteered a different cause of death, to the shock of prosecutors. . . . "This opinion was neither sought nor expected," Finnerty said.

RHODE ISLAND  

A mother’s complaint

By Edward Fitzpatrick, Journal Staff Writer

02-25-08 -- The mother of a Warwick teenager killed by a drunken driver has filed a complaint against two lawyers, saying they came to her son’s wake and that, while standing next to the casket, one lawyer talked about a big case they’d just settled and about their billboard off Route 10. . . . The mother says the lawyers came to the funeral home with the boy’s father, who she says spent little time with his son during his life but is now trying to cash in on the boy’s death. . . . The lawyers say they were not trying to solicit business at the wake. They said they were there to support the boy’s father and that it was the mother who brought up the idea of pursuing legal action. She says that’s not true. But the lawyers question the timing of her complaint and say she’s made it clear she’ll do anything in her power to prevent the father from claiming his right to half of any money recovered from legal action. . . . Kathleen M. Gemma, 39, of Warwick, filed a complaint with the Supreme Court’s attorney disciplinary board on Jan. 7. She said an investigator has interviewed her and her relatives about what happened at the wake, but she has not heard whether the board is going to dismiss the complaint or formally charge the lawyers with violating rules of professional conduct.

NEW YORK

Wrongly imprisoned upstate NY mother exonerated by new findings

By Carolyn Thompson | Associated Press Writer

02-13-08 -- A 13-year-old girl believed to have been strangled in 1993 actually died of a cocaine overdose, forensics experts said Wednesday _ exonerating the girl's mother, who spent 13 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction. . . . Lynn DeJac, 44, was released from prison and her second-degree murder conviction was overturned in November after newly analyzed DNA evidence placed DeJac's former boyfriend in the bedroom of her daughter, Crystallynn Girard, around the time the girl died. . . . But prosecutors were planning to retry DeJac for the death this spring, saying the DNA found in her daughter's body and bed did nothing to refute the circumstantial evidence that led a jury to convict DeJac of killing the girl after a night of heavy drinking. . . . It was in reviewing evidence for the upcoming trial that the prosecution's forensics experts made the stunning find: . . . "Crystallynn Girard did not die as a result of manual strangulation," Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark announced Wednesday, "but rather from acute cocaine intoxication." . . . Cocaine was found in the girl's system at the time of her death, he said, but it was ignored at trial because prosecution and defense lawyers thought the amount was too small to be relevant.

CONNECTICUT

York teacher makes a difference in lives of young inmates

By Katie Warchut | The Day

02-08-08 -- The students in Beverly Washington's classes are serving sentences for stealing, assault and manslaughter. . . . Washington's job is to teach them. But sometimes, all she wants to do is be their mother. A mother who keeps and eye on them, and sets them straight. A mother who encourages and cares for them. . . . Washington, of Groton, who has taught at the Janet S. York Correctional Institution for 15 years, takes on both roles, because many of her students have no one else. . . . In a windowless classroom at the state's only women's facility, Washington takes out a blank U.S. map. They know what's coming: labeling each of the 50 states. . . . "I thought you forgot about that, Ms. Washington," one complains. . . . Another encourages, "We could do this, you guys."  . . . The teacher sits at a table among the women, ages 17 to 39 and dressed in maroon T-shirts, gray sweat shirts and jeans, as they take turns approaching the board. On the white cinderblock walls are children's book covers "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Curious George," "The Cat in the Hat" painted by former students.

FLORIDA

First Coast Mother's Tough Love Action Gets National Attention

By Roger Weeder, First Coast News

02-08-08 -- A First Coast mother's version of tough love is up for discussion across the nation. . . . Marcia Harvey had her second grade son holding a sign that said: "I was rude to my teacher." That was part of his punishment, she said, for him acting up in class at Brentwood Elementary School. . . . Harvey says she wanted her son to learn a lesson about making good choices. . . . "I decided to have him hold a sign up to let him know what attention he was really attracting and let him know that he had lost his rights," the mother told First Coast News. . . . The mother's discipline got attention across the country. CNN and Good Morning America both picked up on the story. . . . The message board on the ABC News web site attracted the opinions of hundreds of people. . . . One writer said, "Good for Mom" with another praising the woman for being an "Old School Mom."

TEXAS

CPS Returns Daughter To Accused Drug-Dealing Robstown Mother

Online Reporter: Roxanne Carrillo

02-08-08 -- A nine-year-old Robstown girl who claimed her mother made her sisters deliver drugs has been returned to her mother's care. The girl was placed in foster care two weeks ago. But on Friday, Judge Carl Lewis issued an order returning the nine-year-old to her mother. . . . 34-year-old Lisa Lerma's four daughters - ages 9, 13, 14, and 16 - were taken from her after her nine-year-old spoke out. According to a court affidavit, Lerma's nine-year-old told a CPS case worker that the drugs her mother sold looked like a "brown bar". She stated that her mother would "do the stuff" and "she would break it up and fix it." . . . She also stated that her 14-year-old sister would take the bar to her mother and bring it back home once it was done. She also stated that her 14- and 16-year old sisters would deliver "the stuff" to places her mother would tell them. . . . In the document, a Robstown narcotics detective told the case worker that he believed Lerma was "using some of her children as drug runners" and that he believed Lerma was drug dealing, but a recent search of her home had not turned up anything.

January 2008

MASSACHUSETTS   

SJC: courts can issue abuse prevention orders against
out-of-staters

By Globe Staff

01-17-08 -- In what one lawyer described as a victory for battered women, the state's highest court has ruled that a Massachusetts court can issue a domestic abuse prevention order against someone who lives outside of the state. . ..  The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in the case of a woman who returned to Massachusetts and sought an order protecting her from her domestic partner, a man who was living in Florida. . . . The court, in the case Caplan v. Donovan, said that allowing the court to issue such an order furthers the Commonwealth's "important public policy goal" of protecting people from devastating family violence. . . . It said that requiring the woman to return to Florida to get an abuse prevention order or requiring her to wait for her alleged abuser to follow her to Massachusetts and commit a new abuse were "unpalatable choices." . . . The court, in an opinion written by Judge Margot Botsford, noted that other jurisdictions had made similar rulings. . ..  The ruling is good news for battered women, said Claire Laporte, an attorney who represented Jane Doe Inc. and the Domestic Violence Council, organizations that filed a friend of the court brief in the case.