In August of 2008 an Illinois mother lost custody of her two children, and after more than two years of the young kids being fostered by an aunt, the state has now finally awarded custody to the father.
A recent article looked at the court’s decision, and the complicated child custody case the father had gone through in order to just have custody of his two biological kids again.
According to sources, when the children were first taken away from the mother, the father was actually in jail on a sexual assault conviction that has since been overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court.
However, even though the conviction has been overturned, his ex-wife was one of the people that had adamantly tried to have him put back in jail; and, according to sources, has gone as far as lying about previously made statements from her husband’s case. At one point, she even lied about lying in the hopes of getting her kids back.
Meanwhile, while she was lying, the father was trying his hardest to get his kids back. At one point, Catholic Charities, CASA and Guardian Angeles, all even told the courts the father should get custody, however, the state went against those recommendations, and the custody case continued on for months.
According to sources, it wasn’t until the mother relapsed from her substance abuse treatment that the judge finally had enough and ruled that not only should the father get custody, but that the state should leave him and his family alone. The judge also ruled that the mother was “unfit to be able to care for, protect, train and discipline the minor children.”
Now, even though the father has finally been awarded custody, one has to wonder why it took the courts so long to make the decision, and if the father’s rights were being disregarded by the courts that failed to take the advice of all three social services agencies that recommended the custody be awarded to the father in the first place.
Source: Batavia Sun, “Cardamone wins custody of his kids,” Denise Crosby, 19 Nov 2010
