Please join me in being VERY irate...

[Spiky Bugger]

Short version...child protective services removed little girl from Mom (in Michigan) and custody went to Dad (a sailor who now resides with daughter and new wife in Washington State.)

Mom has decided to try to regain custody...in court, in Michigan. Dad is deployed and is at sea.

Ignorant c-word judge in Michigan has decided that she doesn't have to honor the Soldiers and Sailors Act (I'm a vet and this really pisses me off) and give the dad an automatic 90-day stay. She has ordered him to appear in her courtroom (because certainly the Navy will just turn that submarine around) in Michigan or be held in contempt.

If you know anyone who lives in the state, please share with them and ask them to bug the governor and the senior judge of the court.

More info:

http://www.lenconnect.com/article/20140620/NEWS/140629919?Start=1

Or google:
Justice for the Hindes Family Facebook. (It keeps selecting the mobile link when I want the full page.)

This idiot judge says that if the girl can't be with her dad, she needs to be with her mom. Not her step-mom. No...she wants her with the woman who was endangering her.

The judge needs to be off this case and off the bench...especially if she won't obey federal law protecting our service members!

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Found, liked, shared and went to the fundraiser.

 

[JackieOnLine]

Benita-Lynn Hindes said she has been hearing from many other service members across the country who have lost custody of children while deployed.

WTH? because the judge says they have to appear in court and they are off on a submarine or something?

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I don't know how it works today. In the olden times, a parent who enlisted had to have custody arrangements made in advance and an enlisted person who became pregnant had to have custody arrangements made well in advance of the birth of a child or the service member would be discharged. (This is why I had no sympathy for those moms who said that they should not be deployed because they had kids....?...they had to have made temporary custody arrangements to be active duty with kids.)

And I even get why a parent who is always gone isn't really available to do much parenting. (I used to SILENTLY take issue with military wife moms of six year olds who said, "Oh, Herman is ia wonderful father...and he just got back from his third 18-month tour in Vietnam." Hello? Your husband has been gone for 54 months...uhm...that's three-quarters of your kid's life.)

But...this mom lost custody for a reason...AND there are federal laws in place to protect thist sailor's rights. Not to mention that the step-mom is the only mom this little girl has known for the past four or five years of her very short life.

This is NO WAY to support our troops.

 

[k9ophile]

I agree. I had a friend I met in the USAF. Her husband had custody because the mom was an alcoholic and had several outstanding arrest warrants. My friend had to get out of the service because someone had to be available in case either she or her husband got sent to a remote base where families cannot accompany them. Her husband had the higher rank so it made sense that he stayed in. I thought it sucked, but she did what was best for her family. No way should this sailor lose custody because he can't be there to defend his rights. My friend is living proof that a step-mom can be a much better parent than a loser.