LEGAL OBSCURITIES AND LOOPHOLES USED TO OBSTRUCT A COUPLE'S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE IN "PREDICTIVE NEGLECT" CASE!

Their story is familiar now.  In 2007, Joey Watley and Karin Hasemann's two  children were taken away from them by DCF at birth. The grounds for this?  A controversial doctrine known as "Predictive Neglect". In other words,the concept that parents might neglect their children in the future even if they have not in the past.  CT DCF "experts" labeled the parents as mentally ill--Joey Watley received the diagnosis of Personality Disorder Unspecified, while Karin Hasemann was diagnosed with a broad range of conflicting diagnoses.  Since that time, both parents have taken care of other young children without incident.  

For a decade, Mr. Watley and Ms. Hasemann fought the removal of their children, ultimately losing three trials in State Superior Court in Middletown.  However, they did win appeals of those decisions due to legal error and malfeasance on the part of the trial court. Eventually, however, Connecticut State Court terminated their parental rights permanently. Consequently, in 2015 they took their case to Federal District Court. Initially, that Court denied their  complaint in response to a motion to dismiss filed by the CT Attorney General's office. However, the couple then appealed that decision to a higher Court--the Second Circuit Court in New York--which sustained their right to pursue their case.  Since then they have returned to the lower Connecticut Federal District Court.  

"REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN" REPORTS ON COUPLE'S DCF BATTLE!

 LARAINE WESCHLER reports as follows:

"Connecticut parents whose children were removed from their care at birth by the Department of Children and Families will have a chance to argue that their rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

DCF took custody of the children of Karin Hasemann of Watertown and Joseph Watley of Thomaston under what the agency calls predictive neglect. In this case, DCF assumed the parents' mental health would negatively affect their ability to care for their children. .."

READ MORE:

http://www.rep-am.com/news/local/936468.txt

HARTFORD COURANT REPORTS CT COUPLE CHALLENGES DCF DECISION TO REMOVE THEIR CHILDREN AT BIRTH!

According to Josh Kovner, reporter at The Hartford Courant:

"NEW YORK — The state child protection agency trampled on the rights of a Connecticut couple by removing two children at birth based on "perceptions and stereotypes" of the parents' mental health, a lawyer told a federal appeals court Thursday.

Lawyer Andrew O'Toole of Hartford was arguing on behalf of Joseph Watley, 61, and Karin Hasemann, 47, who claim that their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act were violated when the state Department of Children and Families terminated their parental rights.

O'Toole and the couple, along with several supporters, were at the U.S. 2nd Circut Court of Appeals to challenge a dismissal of the couple's case by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny..."

For more on this article, see below:

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-dcf-predictive-neglect-appeal-0115-20160114-story.html

THE HARTFORD COURANT REPORTS ON THE WATLEY/HASEMAN CASE WHERE PARENTS WERE FALSELY ACCUSED OF PREDICTIVE NEGLECT AND LOST CUSTODY OF THEIR TWO CHILDREN AT BIRTH!

Josh Kovner of The Hartford Courant reports as follows:

"A Connecticut couple whose children were taken from them at birth after the parents were deemed mentally unsound by child-protection officials have filed a federal appeal, claiming that they were denied rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

It has been a grueling struggle for Joseph Watley, 61, who is staying with his ailing mother in Thomaston, and Karin Hasemann, 47, who lives with her mother and father in Watertown.

They lost the boys — Joe Jr. was born in July 2005, and Danny came along in July 2006 — under the doctrine of "predictive neglect." The Department of Children and Families argued that it was more likely than not that Hasemann and Watley would neglect the children if they remained with their parents. So the state took them away.

"How do you defend against that?" said Watley. He's worked a number of factory and machine-shop jobs and now receives disability payments for a back injury suffered in a car accident..."

READ MORE:

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-children-taken-from-couple-under-predictive-neglect-20151005-story.html