In lobbying Congress for taxpayer funding increases every year, the Legal Services Corporation claims that legal aid programs receiving federal money provide help for underprivileged children. The cases below call into question just what kind of “help” these groups are really providing.
Legal Services Argues Child Custody For Psychotic Mother
In an
outrageous case, the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of West Virginia
pursued a child custody case on behalf of Diana M.E., a dangerously psychotic
woman, all the way to West Virginia’s highest court. According to the
state Supreme Court of Appeals, a doctor had reported that Diana “has had
multiple suicide attempts and once attempted to kill her children by strangling
them. She maintains a historical diagnosis of Paranoid
Schizophrenia.” At one point, Diana apparently turned on the gas in her
house while her ex-husband and children were present in an attempt to kill the
entire family. Not surprisingly, the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the
decision of the lower court granting custody of the children to their
father. Legal Services has claimed publicly to be acting to help children
in need, but it is impossible to figure how Legal Service’s actions in this case
benefitted the children involved.
See Kevin S.E., Sr. v. Diana M.E., 1999 W.Va. LEXIS 68 (W.Va. July 12, 1999).
Legal Services Weighs In Against Circumcision
Ocean/Monmouth Legal
Services of New Jersey is arguing in state court against the father who wishes
to have his son circumcised. The father, Todd Hollander, who is Jewish,
wants his son Andrew circumcised so that the son may participate in the Jewish
faith. The child’s mother, represented in court by Legal Services, is not
Jewish and claims in the media that the circumcision procedure is “completely
barbaric.” Legal Services is arguing in court that, because she has
custody of Andrew, the mother may choose whether Andrew is circumcised, even
though not doing so would likely make it more difficult in the future for Andrew
to practice the faith of his father’s family. Although Legal Services
handles many cases involving family disputes, this case is troubling since it
appears that Legal Services is involved in an effort to lock the father of a
child out of passing on his faith and traditions to his child.
See Steve Strunsky, “Religion, Law and Health Vie In Dispute Over Circumcision,” New York Times, May 16, 1999.
Neglectful Mother Gets Child Custody With Legal Services Help
Thanks to the assistance of the Legal Services Corporation of Iowa, and
ultimately the federal taxpayers who support this program, Beverly Miller, who
has a history of neglecting the needs of her children, was able to recover
custody of two of her children from concerned in-laws who had been taking care
of them. Prior to Miller’s separation from the childrens’ father, when the
children visited the in-laws, they testified that “[i]t was necessary to clean
[the children], give them new haircuts, replace unclean and tattered clothes,
and provide new shoes that were the right size. One summer, Tyler’s boots
had to be cut off.” During the custody proceedings, evidence was provided
of drug and alcohol abuse by both parents, as well as times when their household
in Colorado had no electricity or running water. The Iowa court hearing
the case had awarded custody to the in-laws, but Legal Services was able to
challenge this ruling on appeal on jurisdictional grounds, since both Miller and
the childrens’ father live in Colorado and Colorado courts had intervened
previously in this case. In other words, Legal Services argued a
technicality over the apparent best interest of the children.
See In The Matter of T.H. and TH., 589 N.W.2d 67 (Iowa, 1999)