In Today’s Custody World, Good is Bad and Bad is Good.
In today’s society with all its ‘politically correct’ double talk, we are supposed to be accepting of a persons issues with addiction whether that is with drugs, (prescription or otherwise) or alcohol. We are also, as a compassionate society, supposed to help others with their struggles with mental illness. In most aspects of life, we would agree. We certainly believe helping those who have addictions and or mental illness recover, benefits the person who has these issues and society as a whole.
The line gets a bit blurred when it comes to child custody.
What we are seeing more and more is that parents who have a past of prescription drug abuse and/or alcohol abuse, mental illness and/or arrests have managed to get primary custody of the child or children. The other parent in many of these cases have none of these issues. They have no criminal history, are employed and have family support. But the new standard in today’s ‘politically correct’ world is that the parent with prior or existing drug addiction, alcohol abuse and/or mental illness get primary custody, thanks to guardian ad litems who ‘feel’ that this is ‘in the best interest of the child.’
The other parent, if they protest the choice presented to the court by the guardian ad litem and speak with fervor and passion that this should not happen is often times labeled as having ‘anger issues’ or ‘being difficult’. Many times that parent is ordered to get a psychological examination for the perceived ‘anger issue’ and no such request is being made to the addicted parent.
Good is bad and bad is good in this touchy feely world of pop psychology. The new standard should be ” for the safety of the child”, ”In the best interest of the child” is vague and subjective and there is no standard.
If you find yourself in a custody dispute with a GAL being assigned, ask questions, keep good detailed records, record your conversations, do research and if you disagree with your guardian ad litem, speak up!
Please send your ideas for the improvement of the guardian ad litem system due by July 1st, 2012 to: lawcourt.clerk@courts.maine.gov Comments for the needed change are due by July 1st, 2012, this doesn’t leave much time! If any of your concerns are addressed in this article, feel free to copy and paste but adapt it to your situation.
Please contact us at megalalert@gmail.com or on our Facebook page Megalalert.
The GAL I have dealt with was more interested in checking in on the parent then the child. Which caused the state to lose 2 very qualified people as foster parent.
This is pricisely what happened to our family. Is there change in sight and what can be done to reverse any present action taken because of false reports from the Gal's which, we know now, are completely biased.Family court judges need to review these cases individually and decide if justice has been served relative to the safety of the children.
Quite a sad situation with the Courts appointing GALs that do not have "the best interest of the child" as their priority. Sometimes more consideration is given to the sick or recovering parent versus the safety of the child. Because GALs are accountable to nobody, their recommendations are not scrutinized by the Court and, in fact, carry 99% of the weight in determining parental rights and visitation schedules. Hopefully, reform is on the way.