Family Law Lifeline

Posted on June 18, 2009 by John Steele

Judging by a typical day at family court, you would think the typical child in Cook county is lucky to make it to 18!  Its amazing how a person’s ability to parent seems strangely connected to their relationship.At least according to that person’s ex. In other words, some parents out there need to realize that just because their relationship is over with the other parent, doesn’t mean the child only wants one parent.  Despite this, more and more parents (usually mothers) are asking the court to prevent the other parent (the non-custodial parent) from being alone with the child.

Seriously, why do people suddenly realize that the person they fell in love with and had a child with is suddenly so dangerous that they should be prevented from being alone with that child! Sheesh.  For the record, there are a very small percentage of parents that truly risk their children’s lives.  And usually they end up on television. In Illinois, the standard is pretty high to keep a parent from have unsupervised visitation. There has to be a serious risk of harm to the child.  Harm means there is a chance that the parent might kill the kid, or might knowingly place the child into an environment where other adults may endanger the child.

The courts have been clear that just being a bad parent is not grounds to lose your rights to be with your kid. Most parents do the best they can, given their individual skills and issues.  All parents, myself included, have had moments we would not like DCFS to see. But VERY few parents should be forced to have some third party watching over them while they play with their own flesh and blood.

At the same time, I have went to court on behalf of clients and convinced the court that supervised visitation was warranted. But in those cases, I knew in my heart that I was helping a child.  Of course, nothing feels better then using the legal system to restore a child-parent relationship over some spiteful parent who was playing ‘parent politics’ with a 4 year old.   I think a parent asking the court to prevent the other parent from seeing the child should be forced to pay for both sides legal costs, and face sanctions, if the court finds there is no basis for the allegations.

In fact I rarely lose these type of hearings.  Not because I am the greatest attorney in Illinois, but because I use common sense and my gut.  I simply don’t represent clients in these type of hearings unless I believe my client.  If I feel my client is lying to me, or trying to use the legal process to screw the other parent, I decline to represent them.  I figure that is one of the best perks to having started my own firm.  Hey, I should write a post about that! Posted on June 18, 2009 by John Steele

Judging by a typical day at family court, you would think the typical child in Cook county is lucky to make it to 18! Its amazing how a person's ability to parent seems strangely connected to their relationship. At least according to that person’s ex. In other words, some parents out there need to realize that just because their relationship is over with the other parent, doesn’t mean the child only wants one parent. Despite this, more and more parents (usually mothers) are asking the court to prevent the other parent (the non-custodial parent) from being alone with the child.

Seriously, why do people suddenly realize that the person they fell in love with and had a child with is suddenly so dangerous that they should be prevented from being alone with that child! Sheesh. For the record, there are a very small percentage of parents that truly risk their children’s lives. And usually they end up on television. In Illinois, the standard is pretty high to keep a parent from have unsupervised visitation. There has to be a serious risk of harm to the child. Harm means there is a chance that the parent might kill the kid, or might knowingly place the child into an environment where other adults may endanger the child.

The courts have been clear that just being a bad parent is not grounds to lose your rights to be with your kid. Most parents do the best they can, given their individual skills and issues. All parents, myself included, have had moments we would not like DCFS to see. But VERY few parents should be forced to have some third party watching over them while they play with their own flesh and blood.

At the same time, I have went to court on behalf of clients and convinced the court that supervised visitation was warranted. But in those cases, I knew in my heart that I was helping a child. Of course, nothing feels better then using the legal system to restore a child-parent relationship over some spiteful parent who was playing ‘parent politics’ with a 4 year old. I think a parent asking the court to prevent the other parent from seeing the child should be forced to pay for both sides legal costs, and face sanctions, if the court finds there is no basis for the allegations.

In fact I rarely lose these type of hearings. Not because I am the greatest attorney in Illinois, but because I use common sense and my gut. I simply don’t represent clients in these type of hearings unless I believe my client. If I feel my client is lying to me, or trying to use the legal process to screw the other parent, I decline to represent them. I figure that is one of the best perks to having started my own firm. Hey, I should write a post about that!

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