Wolf's Woman
2005-04-14 02:09:02 UTC
I've thought about this, and I've decided that i'm only gonna state my
opinion once. I side completely with Janet Miller-Jenkins, the woman
who still lives in Vermont. Beyond that, i'm gonna let this case
speak fer itself. I'm gonna post articles from various sources,
always providing a link to the site I got it from. I'll let everyone
else make up theier own minds without my input.
thanks ta everyone fer reading these........
December 8, 2004
EQUALITY VIRGINIA EDUCATION FUND JOINS LANDMARK CUSTODY CASE APPEAL
Today the Equality Virginia Education Fund (EVEF), the education and
litigation arm of Equality Virginia, represented by EVEF Board Member
and attorney Jay Squires, joined the appeal of a ruling by a Virginia
trial court that it had jurisdiction to hear and decide a child
custody case arising out of a civil union valid in Vermont. EVEF
argues in its brief filed with the Virginia Court of Appeals that the
ruling by a Frederick County Circuit Court judge violates federal and
state law.
We are confident that the Court of Appeals will apply federal and
state law properly and overturn the trial judges clearly erroneous
decision, said Equality Virginia Education Fund Board Chair Joseph R.
Price, Esq., the lead attorney for Janet Miller-Jenkins who is
challenging the lower court ruling that stripped her of her parental
rights. Price added, The Virginia Judge relied exclusively on the
so-called Marriage Affirmation Act in deciding that he could ignore
Janets rights as a parent. The Marriage Affirmation Act is not
only unconstitutional, it has no bearing on whether Virginia can
exercise jurisdiction over this custody case. The simple fact is that
federal and state law both prohibit forum shopping by parents in child
custody cases. The activist judge who heard this case in Virginia
ignored the law.
If the trial court decision is allowed to stand, it could cast
decades of family law in doubt, said Dyana Mason, Equality Virginias
Executive Director. The trial judges decision sets a dangerous
precedent that is clearly in conflict with the rules designed to
protect the children at the center of these cases. Once a custody case
is filed in one jurisdiction, it cannot be filed in another, competing
jurisdiction. If the Court of Appeals does not reverse this decision,
all Virginia families with custody and visitation orders from other
states will face the possibility that these orders could be set aside
on the whim of a single Virginia trial judge.
obtained from:
http://www.equalityvirginia.org/site/pp.asp?c=dfIIITMIG&b=262128
Background
Janet Miller-Jenkins is appealing the decision of the Virginia trial
court to exercise jurisdiction and its refusal to enforce a prior
Vermont custody order regarding the same custody and visitation
matters. The trial courts actions violate the Parental Kidnapping
Prevention Act (PKPA), 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738A, and Virginias Uniform
Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), Va. Code
Ann. § 20-146.1 et seq. A custody proceeding, initiated by Appellee
Lisa Miller-Jenkins on November 24, 2003, was already underway in the
Rutland County Family Court in Vermont when the Virginia case was
filed seven months later. Lisa Miller-Jenkins, unhappy with the way
the Vermont case was proceeding, filed the second custody action in
Virginia asking the trial court to undertake a simultaneous
redetermination of the custody matters already being decided by the
court in Vermont. This kind of forum shopping by parents is exactly
what the PKPA and the UCCJEA were enacted to prevent.
Reading the Marriage Affirmation Act verbatim in his decision, the
trial judge found that the case should be heard in Virginia. On
October 15, 2004, the trial court entered an order that stripped Janet
Miller-Jenkins of all parental rights to her daughter, ruling that
Lisa Miller-Jenkins solely has the legal rights, privileges, duties
and obligations as parent for their daughter and that neither
Respondent [Janet Miller-Jenkins] nor any other person has any claims
of parentage or visitation rights over [their daughter].
EVEF and Janet Miller-Jenkins contend that PKPA and Virginias UCCJEA
preclude the Virginia court, or any court other than the Vermont court
in which the custody case was first filed, from exercising
jurisdiction over this matter. EVEF and Janet Miller-Jenkins are
requesting that the Court of Appeals of Virginia i) hold that the
Frederick County Circuit Courts exercise of jurisdiction was improper
and its modification of the Vermont trial courts order was erroneous;
ii) vacate the Virginia trial court orders; and iii) instruct the
Virginia trial court to enforce the custody orders and decrees entered
in Vermont.
EVEF and Janet Miller-Jenkins are joined in the appeal by the ACLU of
Virginia, and the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund. Thomas M.
Wolf, Esq., of LeClair Ryan, also filed an amicus brief today
supporting Janet Miller-Jenkins position on appeal on behalf of the
Virginia Poverty Law Center, the Virginia National Organization of
Women, the Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Social
Workers, the Virginia Organizing Project, Inc. and the Virginia Women
Attorneys Association.
Wolf's Woman
"With my hand on the head of the beautiful Black Wolf,
I walk now in beauty and light."
opinion once. I side completely with Janet Miller-Jenkins, the woman
who still lives in Vermont. Beyond that, i'm gonna let this case
speak fer itself. I'm gonna post articles from various sources,
always providing a link to the site I got it from. I'll let everyone
else make up theier own minds without my input.
thanks ta everyone fer reading these........
December 8, 2004
EQUALITY VIRGINIA EDUCATION FUND JOINS LANDMARK CUSTODY CASE APPEAL
Today the Equality Virginia Education Fund (EVEF), the education and
litigation arm of Equality Virginia, represented by EVEF Board Member
and attorney Jay Squires, joined the appeal of a ruling by a Virginia
trial court that it had jurisdiction to hear and decide a child
custody case arising out of a civil union valid in Vermont. EVEF
argues in its brief filed with the Virginia Court of Appeals that the
ruling by a Frederick County Circuit Court judge violates federal and
state law.
We are confident that the Court of Appeals will apply federal and
state law properly and overturn the trial judges clearly erroneous
decision, said Equality Virginia Education Fund Board Chair Joseph R.
Price, Esq., the lead attorney for Janet Miller-Jenkins who is
challenging the lower court ruling that stripped her of her parental
rights. Price added, The Virginia Judge relied exclusively on the
so-called Marriage Affirmation Act in deciding that he could ignore
Janets rights as a parent. The Marriage Affirmation Act is not
only unconstitutional, it has no bearing on whether Virginia can
exercise jurisdiction over this custody case. The simple fact is that
federal and state law both prohibit forum shopping by parents in child
custody cases. The activist judge who heard this case in Virginia
ignored the law.
If the trial court decision is allowed to stand, it could cast
decades of family law in doubt, said Dyana Mason, Equality Virginias
Executive Director. The trial judges decision sets a dangerous
precedent that is clearly in conflict with the rules designed to
protect the children at the center of these cases. Once a custody case
is filed in one jurisdiction, it cannot be filed in another, competing
jurisdiction. If the Court of Appeals does not reverse this decision,
all Virginia families with custody and visitation orders from other
states will face the possibility that these orders could be set aside
on the whim of a single Virginia trial judge.
obtained from:
http://www.equalityvirginia.org/site/pp.asp?c=dfIIITMIG&b=262128
Background
Janet Miller-Jenkins is appealing the decision of the Virginia trial
court to exercise jurisdiction and its refusal to enforce a prior
Vermont custody order regarding the same custody and visitation
matters. The trial courts actions violate the Parental Kidnapping
Prevention Act (PKPA), 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738A, and Virginias Uniform
Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), Va. Code
Ann. § 20-146.1 et seq. A custody proceeding, initiated by Appellee
Lisa Miller-Jenkins on November 24, 2003, was already underway in the
Rutland County Family Court in Vermont when the Virginia case was
filed seven months later. Lisa Miller-Jenkins, unhappy with the way
the Vermont case was proceeding, filed the second custody action in
Virginia asking the trial court to undertake a simultaneous
redetermination of the custody matters already being decided by the
court in Vermont. This kind of forum shopping by parents is exactly
what the PKPA and the UCCJEA were enacted to prevent.
Reading the Marriage Affirmation Act verbatim in his decision, the
trial judge found that the case should be heard in Virginia. On
October 15, 2004, the trial court entered an order that stripped Janet
Miller-Jenkins of all parental rights to her daughter, ruling that
Lisa Miller-Jenkins solely has the legal rights, privileges, duties
and obligations as parent for their daughter and that neither
Respondent [Janet Miller-Jenkins] nor any other person has any claims
of parentage or visitation rights over [their daughter].
EVEF and Janet Miller-Jenkins contend that PKPA and Virginias UCCJEA
preclude the Virginia court, or any court other than the Vermont court
in which the custody case was first filed, from exercising
jurisdiction over this matter. EVEF and Janet Miller-Jenkins are
requesting that the Court of Appeals of Virginia i) hold that the
Frederick County Circuit Courts exercise of jurisdiction was improper
and its modification of the Vermont trial courts order was erroneous;
ii) vacate the Virginia trial court orders; and iii) instruct the
Virginia trial court to enforce the custody orders and decrees entered
in Vermont.
EVEF and Janet Miller-Jenkins are joined in the appeal by the ACLU of
Virginia, and the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund. Thomas M.
Wolf, Esq., of LeClair Ryan, also filed an amicus brief today
supporting Janet Miller-Jenkins position on appeal on behalf of the
Virginia Poverty Law Center, the Virginia National Organization of
Women, the Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Social
Workers, the Virginia Organizing Project, Inc. and the Virginia Women
Attorneys Association.
Wolf's Woman
"With my hand on the head of the beautiful Black Wolf,
I walk now in beauty and light."