Protector Of Children

The first time I appeared in front of Judge Hunt, I was still in jail. Jefferson County DSS was aware that bail was to be set and they wanted to get an Order Of Protection (OOP) against me from seeing the kids. They used a bogus statement and the opinion of a medical examiner that never even saw the body.

Family Court has got to be the biggest waste of tax payers money ever.  Normally a judge in a court would listen to both sides of a story in order to give a fair hearing.  But in our family court system the judge just basically crosses "t's" and dots "i's".  If you get to him first with your petition, you win the case.  No ifs, ands, or buts.

First Time In Family Court

In my particular case, DSS were the ones that did the petitioning, and I was the respondent. My girlfriend was what they called a non-respondent as we both were under this OOP. The OOP was actually called a pre-petition OOP which was for me to stay away from my home and supervised visitations with the children and that my girlfriend and I to abide.

Before we went into the courtroom, DSS caseworker Maureen Gilligan met with my girlfriend and explained in detail her role in upholding and abiding by the order. Maureen told her that if she did not abide by the order and violated it, she could face criminal and family court action and the children could be ordered into foster care.

Then Maureen goes on to state that in no way is this a threat, but only the possibilities of what could happen if the order is violated. I'm so glad she cleared that up.

Before court appearance, I also was taken to a room to meet with DSS caseworker Maureen Gilligan and my girlfriend. I didn't know until later that she was taking notes of my body language, probably in an attempt to show that somehow my body language would give me away. She even described the orange jump suit and the waist chain and cuffs. She described how my body was "tense" and my voice "loud and curt." She would explain something to me and than write down my reaction to it.

For example:   "CW (caseworker) explained the OOP consisting of stay away (from home) with supervised contact with the 3 children. At this point Frank became agitated at this, shuffling in his chair and raising his voice, upset that he has to move out and only see (child's name) a couple times a week."

What really upsets me is that she was being so exact and precise with the surroundings, and yet when she was at my place a week earlier, she failed to take note of all the teenagers there and leaving my 4 year old with them. She also failed to note that she and the 12 year old walked around my property, without permission, looking for the dog (the dog turned around and knocked the 14 month old child off the deck.) It just amazes me how DSS will brag about how their job is to help families, yet they won't write down all the facts. Like I said before, their main focus was to get me.

With an Attorney

"Due to the seriousness of the charges" blah, blah, blah, cross the "t's" dot the "i's" and back to jail I went.

Anyone that has appeared in front of Judge Hunt knows what I'm talking about. He seems to be entertained by intimidating attorneys. Most attorneys will speak very softly for fear of what Judge Hunt will say next. DSS attorneys are usually just "yes" people as so are law guardians. Of course, DSS was the petitioner so there isn't much for them to say anyways.

After I was released from jail, I had asked an attorney to represent me. The first time we went in, it was dismissed because I hadn't paid him yet. The second time I went in, my attorney asked for a hearing based on the assumption of innocent until proven guilty. But that just does not work in family court. He next tried to get some other reasoning out of Judge Hunt by saying with all due respect, at which time all Judge Hunt did was mock him and made jokes to the other attorneys about the "all due respect remark." Of course the other attorneys snickered a little. That pretty much sums up every court appearance with Judge Hunt.

To make a long story short, I ended up living with my brother, Phil, and had visitation with the children there in the evening or at my sister's, Connie's, place.

How DSS Affected Us

The OOP created a great deal of pressure for me, my family and especially my girlfriend. Not only did she have to relive the death of her daughter, but she was also trying to keep up with the demands of DSS and family court.

Every night she would make dinner, pack it all up, bring it down to Phil's with the kids, just so that I could have my visitation. But that wasn't all.

Family court and DSS wanted psychological evaluations of all the children and of herself. She actually had to make as many as three trips a day to Watertown, NY (25 miles one way) in order to keep up with the demands of DSS. Between that and two of the children being teenagers (friends, school, and activities), it was very hard for her to keep up. And I could no longer help.

At one point, the DA had suggested that she (my girlfriend) should go the Victim's Assistance Center for counseling to help her cope with things that were going on. But all they kept telling her was that she needed to "get away" and needed "time for herself." I don't know what they expected her to do with the kids. I just couldn't believe that they were actually telling her to run away! At one point they even told her that there was no point in her coming in anymore. I still think it's because she wouldn't say anything bad about me.

Anyways, back to the psychological evaluations. Family court and DSS had requested that all the children, my girlfriend, and myself get psychological evaluations. I don't know why. Judge Hunt will just ignore it, but it is just another example of how family court wastes taxpayer's money. Judge Hunt completely ignored the psychiatrist stating such phrases as:  "(child's name) was surprised when Frank was arrested because he has been good to his mother and was good to (baby's name,)" or "Frank has been like a father to him. He has enjoyed activities with him and is not mean." All three of the children's evaluations basically said the same thing. There were phrases such as "positive relationship" and "like a dad." But he chose to believe a bogus statement and an opinion of a doctor that just "reviewed" an autopsy report. 

They also sent me to a psychologist to make sure I was safe to be with the kids. This cost DSS another $2500.00 per visit.

It was very frustrating not being able to prove to Judge Hunt and DSS, that they made a terrible mistake. The impact that it had on the kids and their mother was astounding. Yet every time we asked for a hearing, he just wouldn't allow it.

I'm not going to say too much about the contempt of court charge, due to the fact that I would have to reveal too much of the children. 

All I can say is that it is very hard to say "no" to them. We lived in a small town and it was impossible to avoid running into them. 

By this time, my girlfriend had gotten a job as a cook, and it was very hard to find a babysitter every single night. We never had to worry about such things before because I was home every night. I think it was her way of escaping from all the torment that was going on. She was just plain tired.  

I found myself doing more and more to help her out until the point where I got caught, but the thing that really gets to me is how they did it.

With all the stress going on, we ended up splitting up. This prompted the DA's office to send out the Calvary; representatives from the DA's office, the state police,  DSS, and even a sheriff's department detective. 

I wish I could get into more detail, but I made promises.

My girlfriend was in constant fear of losing the children so she made a statement against me that would make it look like the helping out was all my fault, but what really bothers me is that DSS Caseworker, Sarah Hoistion, had the children make statements against me also.

Here are the exact words that Sarah Hoistion wrote in her report, "Mother stated to tell the children it was okay to tell as children fear of being placed."

Ms. Hoistion and Sheriff's Detective, Gregory Bush, were going to also charge my girlfriend with contempt if she didn't cooperate. 

One of my biggest fears was how much they got to her and if she would start lying to save her kids, but she didn't. She supported me even though we were no longer together.    

To make a long story short, back to family court; and, of course, I lost all rights to supervised visitation of the children; and my girlfriend ended up losing custody of the oldest boy back to his biological father.

By fall, I did start visitation with the youngest boy, who was five-years-old by now. The visitation consisted of my meeting with him at family therapist office of Douglas H. Ort. This, of course, cost the County yet more money of $250.00 per visit. Once a week for almost a year. 

HUNTLEY HEARING