MD - Anthony, 6, Austin, 4, & Athena Castillo, 2, drowned, Baltimore, 29 March 2008

[butwhatif?]

"is not clear and convincing evidence that the alleged acts of abuse occurred."

my bold and italic...I am sorry to keep repeating myself, but if you have not been through this, you do not know how black and white the law is vs. this type of stuff. The judges have seen it all in manipulations and machinations in divorce...the more high end, the more likely I suppose. If the GAl, or Social worker or whatever made the recommendation that the father was stable enough to have unsupervised visits, Mom's choices were to be in contempt of court where an officer of the law would enforce visitation, or to hope for the best. The outcome was going to be the same unless she ran and hid. If the courts do not see clear and compelling evidence of danger, they will not grant the RO.

In MA they just tightened up the criteria for receiving a RO because of it's overuse in cases where it is not warranted and is filed for ulterior motives. Bravo, until a scenario like this one arises and the judge looks at the plaintiff and says that their hands are tied....

Sadly there are too many parents out there who make false allegations against the other parent in custody battles, and its normally about revenge- not the childrens safety and wellbeing....so how is the court to know if a particular case is truely about revenge or safety for the kids? Its normally a 'he said, she said ' situation.
People need to stop using their children as pawns, and wasting court time, and put the kids before there own hurt feelings, so that the ones who are being honest, (like in this case) are taken seriously.

The doctor who assessed the dad and claimed he was a low risk to the children as long as he continued taking his meds- did he order that the dad be tested regularly to ensure the meds were being taken?



"After that, however, Amy Castillo said he had refused treatment and was driving around the country, living in his car and threatening to kill himself."

The above snip shows that this man was not eager to get treatment so he could be well in order to care for his children. Why would the doc trust that he would?
Just not good enough IMO.

 

[butwhatif?]

This article describes how a Judge Michael Mason last summer adressed Castillo. He told him he believed he had limited ability to control himself. He pointed out how fast he was talking and how excitable he was. He brought to light that even Castillo's therapist talked about it. Alas he still allowed the dude to see his kids. Link also tells that Castillo killed the children one by one and then took a bottle of Motrin or something like that. He awoke 19 hours later. Pah-leeeeese.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/01/AR2008040101063.html

BBM- The fact that he took motrin and not a bunch of the psych meds he SHOULD have had with him, leads me to believe he was not taking his bi-polar meds at all....which doesn't suprise me. He should have been monitored by the courts.

 

[Missizzy]

Being that we have more and more people everyday diagnosed with mental illnesses and treated with psychotropic medications, one would think that the courts would have a model/template to follow concerning whether or not a parent was remaining stable and safe enough to manage parenting.

Many fine parents have mental illnesses and manage to remain on their meds just as many parents successfully manage other major health and medication issues. My hat is off to them as it's a tough life. Mental illness is no different than any other disease and shouldn't carry a negative stigma. No one asks for bipolar, trust me. I find it interesting that many people are diagnosed with bipolar and other serious mental illnesses in their mid to late twenties--often after they have had a child or two. If this is becoming so common, we must develop ways to monitor these parents.

I would think that anyone who is stable and on their meds would not be put off from proving their fitness to care for children--any more than a recovering alcoholic/drug user would mind proving that he/she is sober or a person diagnosed with a serious medical illness who uses medications that might be mind-altering in some way. I know many who would jump at the chance to prove that they are safe. They are proud of their sobriety/mental healthiness. What is necessary is transparency and greater communication between all the professionals involved in a custody case where there is the factor of illness.

While I have great empathy for parents suffering with mental health/addiction issues, all bets are off when the safety of a child come into play. The child ALWAYS comes first.

 

[ziggy]

I think one thing that could vastly improve family court is to allow one party to be sued for making false accusations that they WOULD be liable for in other circumstances. For instance, case of mr. zig - the ex was allowed to accuse him of forgery, which is a crime, and also in her declarations she lied about alcoholism and drug use. This is character assasination and divorce court records are public. A future employer, if the really wanted to, could pull someone's divorce file to see what the ex said about them and it could all be just lie after lie - but people somehow believe there must be a kernel of truth to it.

The family court system lets the mudslinging go on that leads to the mental ruination of many formerly sane people. The "counselors" meet for a few hours with the parents and then make life altering decisions for an entire family based on their "perceptions".

Why was this guy so mad at the ex? That's what I want to know. WHAT the hell went on in that divorce that made him so crazy? Was there something that could have been prevented? Did the system take a mentally fragile man and then frustrate him even more, create a monster and then in the interest of fairness, turn the kids over to him by a court order?

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

oh my god. Reading how it happened. What happened. I feel so sick that son of a *****...he strong armed his last son, after seeing he was scared and sad. What kind of sick...and I agree Ziggy i'm choking back throw up. I can see her finding in her faith to forgive, but to visit? to continue to do so? oh my GOD!

 

[ckwood32]

This is so sad. I can't believe what I just read. How he held those precious children under water. God I'm sick. How she can visit him is just unreal to me. I cannot believe he was allowed unsupervised visits with the children. no - if I had any doubts as to whether my X had it in him to KILL my children - I would take off - Never to be found again.

 

[Soulmagent]

I could not put myself in hers shoes. I could guess she wants answers and he is the only one who has them. I could guess she has wants to see if he hurts like she does, To know he truely feels sorry for what he has done. I could even ponder if she is trying to rid herself of quilt over his hate for her and the death of her children. I speculate that the therapist told her to go, or even for just a minute she felt closer to her children when she went to see him. But it would all be just guesses as to her emotional mind set, the pain she feels isnt as black and white as we read it.