MASSACHUSETTS DEMAND LETTER SUPPORTING NON OFFENDING PARENT AND BIOLOGICAL PLACEMENT / ALL STATE PARTICIPATION Copy cut and paste into one email; emails below LETTER; This letter is to bring legislator attention of the failure of the State of Massachusetts to follow the Child protection laws and Federal Statute requiring states to make all reasonable effort to place children taken into state custody with biological families. We bring to your attention, Caylee Norton, daughter of Danielle Gravel, granddaughter of Debra Gravel. Caylee was abused by her father while the mother, Danielle, was at her place of employment. The father was charged with the crime and incarcerated. Despite the known fact of the abuser sentenced for the crime, Caylee Norton has not been returned to the non- offending parent, Danielle, and to further the crimes of the state against the Gravel family, the Grandparent, Debra Gravel has been denied familial placement despite federal statutes to place a child in the biological family. Debra Gravel has no criminal history and no legal reason to deny the placement of her granddaughter in her custody. Judge Deborah Capuano, Juvenile court, Fitchburg Massachusetts has violated state and federal laws in failing to uphold the constitutional rights of Danielle and Debra Gravel, and in doing so, has chosen to complicate the case further by transferring the case to Worcester Massachusetts. In a failure not only to the state, but to her profession. We demand legislators remain firm in the Massachusetts Supreme Court findings to place children with their biological families and speak out on the violation of the child welfare agency promoting this failure to abide state and federal laws, but admonish Judge Deborah Capuano for failure to uphold her oath to the constitution and the constitutional rights of the citizens of Massachusetts in the Gravel case. We believe the Judge Capuano is ‘in the absence of all jurisdiction” in her transfer of the case to Worcester Massachusetts. We submit the following for your review; “Normally, judges are absolutely immune for their judicial decisions. That immunity is overcome, however, if the judges act in the absence of all jurisdiction. Normally that phrase is interpreted to mean subject matter jurisdiction, but if the judge doesnt have any jurisdiction over the non-offending parent, and he knows it, and he continues to deny the parent the custody of the child, there is a strong possibility he will be now be liable for denying them their civil rights under 42 U.S.C. §1983. There is case law supporting the requirement of personal jurisdiction to confer all jurisdiction. The case of Rankin v. Howard, 633 F.2d 844, (1980), clarifies the issue of jurisdiction necessary to confer judicial immunity:” We remind the legislators of Prince v. Massachusetts and the Supreme court statement; “ it is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of a child reside first with the parents, whose primary function and freedom include the preparation for obligations the state can neither supply or hinder.”18 Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166 We submit the following case laws and review; Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535 II. A REVIEW OF UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT CASE LAW: RIGHTS OF PARENTS IN CHILD PROTECTION CASES It is settled law that parents have a fundamental right to parent their children without interference by the state. This fundamental right is protected by the liberty interest inherent in the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and by the Ninth Amendment’s grant of residual liberties to the people.10 As a matter of constitutional law, the government may not restrict fundamental rights unless it demonstrates a compelling interest.11 In the relationship between parent and child, the state’s compelling interest exists if the parent is unfit to make decisions regarding his or her own children.12 Without a showing that a parent is unfit, the state normally has no justification to interfere with the family unit.13 Unfitness cannot be presumed by the parent’s circumstances; the state must make an individualized assessment of the parent’s ability to care for his children.14 Thus, the fact that one parent is unfit does not alter the state’s burden to prove the other parent is also unable to care for the child before it may interfere in the family.15 The United States Supreme Court has made clear that when both parents are available for their children, the state must prove that each parent is unfit before it may take custody of the children or otherwise interfere with the family.16 According to the Stanley Court, the individualized assessment of each parent is necessary to prevent the arbitrary and unjustified interference with a parent’s important fundamental right.17 To rule otherwise would lead to a situation where one parent’s actions negate the constitutional rights of the other. States protect this fundamental right by specifically defining parental unfitness in state child neglect and dependency laws. These unfitness definitions are not standardized. However, each has in common the goal of using the state’s parens patriae18 power to protect the child while maintaining, when possible, the family unit.19 No matter the particulars of the various state laws, once the parents have been found to have committed an act or failed to take an action, as defined under state law, that risks or leads to harm to their children, the parents are also found constitutionally unfit to exercise the fundamental right to care for and have custody of their children.20 At this point, the state’s compelling interest in the welfare of children overrides the parents’ rights, and the state is authorized to exercise its parens patriae power by taking action to protect the child. Without a finding of unfitness, the state has no constitutional authority to exercise that power.22 Furthermore, each parent is entitled to the same rights.23 In other words, under current Supreme Court authority, the existence of a single fit parent, regardless of the acts of the other parent, negates the state’s ability to interfere in the family unit.24 Adjudication of a child as dependent or neglected, even when a fit parent is present and able to care for the child, unconstitutionally trumps the fit parent’s fundamental right to parent his or her child without state interference. With a fit parent present, the state lacks any compelling interest sufficient to justify state involvement in the family. Thus, adjudication of a child as dependent or neglected, without a finding of unfitness on the part of both parents, is unconstitutional because it permits the court to interfere with the family unit without the requisite compelling interest. WE DEMAND THE LEGISLATORS OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS FREE THE CHILD, CAYLEE NORTON, FROM INCARCERATION IN FOSTER CARE SYSTEM AND ELIGIBILITY FOR ADOPTION. 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Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 17:12:16 +0000
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