An attorney should correct me if I’m wrong, but, although she is now 18, I don’t think she is emancipated. According to this, emancipation in Ohio occurs at 18 or at graduation if the kid turns 18 during their senior year. I assume that’s so the parent still has authority to make them go to school, even if they turn 18 and think they know everything. This case will probably become a textbook example.
The guy’s real mistake was in not filing for a modification to the custody order when she went to live with mom.
To me, there are two possibilities. One is that he wasn’t really trying very hard to get her to go to school, in which case, fair enough I suppose. Have we had the prosecution’s side of the story? There is usually more to the story than one party to the case (or the media looking to sensationalise their story) will ever tell you.
The second possibility is that the father was doing what he could, in which case what the judge did amounted to using the father as a hostage to pressure the daughter: go to school or your daddy goes to jail. Which would clearly be despicable.
Who knows. I suspect the first option. I’ve seen too many sensationalised one sided reports of court cases to believe them.
Re moving to live with the bio-mom in the original stories it seemed to indicate this was because the then minor daughter insisted on living with her baby daddy boyfriend as her father and step mom were not down with that.
Wait, that guy got a court-appointed lawyer? If there is ANYONE on the Board who knows the definitive answer regarding the circumstances in which a parent is entitled to court-appointed counsel in Family Court, I would dearly love to know. Because no one here in California, from the bottom to the top, seems to even have an educated guess.
Just curious. What if your 16 year old just flat out refuses to go to school? What if she tells you to go get fucked, that she isn’t going and that you can shove it up your ass if you don’t like it?
What recourse would a father have? If you don’t force her to go to school, this judge would send you to jail. If you physically forced her to go to school, you could be arrested for domestic battery. The police will tell you it is a civil matter if you call them for help getting her to school.
I’m sure an attorney here will advise you to go back to the family court judge and tell him the situation. But you were just there and HE was the one that put you in the situation to begin with.
I just love these judges that act like Judge Judy on steroids (“Sir, it’s time for you to be a man and a father!”) but when you stand your ground and set rules, they are the ones wanting the Police and Child Protective Services to get involved. It’s a no-win situation…
Everything you said plus the fact that we have something like a 50% dropout rate with inner-city schools. This judge is completely out to lunch. I’d like to make him her guardian and see what magical powers of persuasion HE has.
That’s essentially what my son has done. I’d kind of like to know what recourse there is as well?
As a parent, you could certainly file charges for incorrigible and/or unruly behavior. But it’s up to the judge as to how they respond to the charge. It’s not unheard of that the kid gets off with community service. Then you go back again until you establish a pattern of delinquency and habitual truancy. The thing is until and only if the child commits some other serious charge, they really don’t consider placing the minor in a youth facility.
Without more information, though, it’s hard to tell what information the judge based his determination that the father was complicit in her delinquency. Specifically, how did he “aid, abet, induce, cause, encourage, or contribute” [ORC 2919.24] her delinquency and can we assume that she was adjudicated delinquent at some point?
Incidentally, the judge pretty much threw the book at that guy. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor is misdemeanor of the first class with a maximum penalty of 180 days (6 months) in jail. That’s pretty harsh. He apparently saw no mitigating factors that justified a lesser punishment. I find that pretty hard to believe considering the girl is a young mother living with her baby daddy in the non-custodial mother’s house.
So what if his daughter, who is legally an adult, refuses to attend class? Dad goes back to jail?
What does the judge suggest he do if she refuses? Can he beat her with a baseball bat until she goes to school? What if she goes but doesn’t pay attention? What if she goofs off in class? Back to the pokey for him?
When would this stop? What if 25 years from now, this girl is 43 years old and still pissing around and not getting her GED? Will Dad get cuffed at the nursing home and taken to jail?
It’s interesting that the Judge is still holding this guy hostage to his adult daughter’s academic performance and keeping him in jail. The case is so public at this point I would think he would be looking at some face saving way to release him ASAP.
That the Judge can legally do this is fascinating. How could you punish a Judge for doing this if it’s legal?
How did he fuck up if his daughter skipped school? By definition, skipping school is not attending school and your parents (and the school) have no knowledge that you’re not legally allowed to have the day off.
Ohio Revised Code 2152.02 (C)(6): “The juvenile court has jurisdiction over a person who is adjudicated a delinquent child or juvenile traffic offender prior to attaining eighteen years of age until the person attains twenty-one years of age, and, for purposes of that jurisdiction related to that adjudication, except as otherwise provided in this division, a person who is so adjudicated a delinquent child or juvenile traffic offender shall be deemed a “child” until the person attains twenty-one years of age.”
Also: “(D) “Chronic truant” means any child of compulsory school age who is absent without legitimate excuse for absence from the public school the child is supposed to attend for seven or more consecutive school days, ten or more school days in one school month, or fifteen or more school days in a school year.”
And: “(F) “Delinquent child” includes any of the following:
…
(5) Any child who is a chronic truant.”
Then: 3321.38: “If the juvenile court adjudicates the child as an unruly or delinquent child for being an habitual or chronic truant pursuant to section 2151.35 [procedures for hearings in juvenile court] of the Revised Code, the court shall warn the parent, guardian, or other person having care of the child that any subsequent adjudication of that nature involving the child may result in a criminal charge against the parent, guardian, or other person having care of the child for a violation of division (C) of section 2919.21 or section 2919.24 of the Revised Code.” (2919.24 being “Contributing to unruliness or delinquency of a child”)