Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca ordered 3 siblings to have a “healthy relationship” with their father and sent them to juvenile detention when the kids
refused. You can read the complete Fox2 story here.
Three Bloomfield Hills kids (ages 14, 10 and 9) have been ordered to a juvenile detention facility by Judge Lisa Gorcyca for refusing her order to go to lunch with their father.
The Tsimhoni family was in Oakland County’s family court for a hearing on supervised parenting time when Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca ordered the Tsimhoni kids to have a “healthy relationship” with their father, to apologize, and have a nice lunch with him.
They refused and Gorcyca held them in contempt. She had each child taken to Children’s Village’s juvenile hall, where they will remain until they are 18 years old! The Tsimhoni kids are now separated from both parents as well as each other. Their mother is not even allowed to visit them.
Divorces are unfortunately common now-a-days. It is a very difficult situation, and extremely hard on everyone involved. Most families try their best to protect the children and keep them emotionally stable. Fourteen, ten and nine are young ages… and difficult ages for experiencing a parental divorce.
I can’t say I know the full story, or what happens behind closed doors, but I can say that this doesn’t seem like a solution that would help these kids during this difficult time. I honestly don’t understand how a judge could make such a call and put these young children in a frightful situation… away from their mom! It should be way more difficult to take kids away from a mother who has not been deemed harmful toward her children.
Why not listen and be more understanding for the children’s decision to not follow the judge’s order? The son tried to explain to the judge that he felt his dad was violent since he saw him hit his mom. The judge brushed it off by saying he was brainwashed. These children are old enough to voice concerns and make decisions that they feel comfortable with, yet they’re being treated as though they have no rights.
What if there are dark, untold secrets or reasons in this family where it would be perfectly justifiable for children to not want to spend time with their father?
ARTICLE SOURCE – Fox2 – www.myfoxdetroit.com
What are your thoughts?
Omg…THAT is the most ridiculous and horribly harmful outcome a case could have against these poor kids! Why doesn’t this country protect children?! This makes me sick. So is the Dad HAPPY with this decision?…maybe the Dad and the judge should be locked up. What a terrible decision that will destroy three young futures. Over a lunch? How stupid….
Here are the problems with this outrageous ruling:
1. First and foremost, why did the father not protest this remedy? Did he endorse the judge’s actions? Does he feel it was appropriate to enforce his rights in this manner? Does he think his kids will now be more likely to have a good relationship with him?
2. Parental alienation is committed by a parent, not by a child, so why are the kids the ones being held in secure confinement if the issue is that this is one of the most serious cases of parental alienation the judge says she’s ever seen.
3. What business did this judge have insulting a child by saying she doubted he had a high IQ?
4. In most states, minor children are not parties to a divorce. Compliance with parenting plans is — or should be — the responsibility of the parents, not the children. The remedy should be against the mother, not the children.
5. That’s not what juvenile detention is for. It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars, at an average of $200+ per day, per child. These kids are not a danger to society.
6. Under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (federal legislation) status offenders cannot be held in secure confinement. Violation of a valid court order is an exception to this law, but it is overused and its use is being discouraged nationwide.
7. Further, although status offenses are officially offenses such as drinking alcohol, skipping school, and breaking curfew – things that are against the law for juveniles only because of their age and would not be crimes if done by adults, I argue that a parenting time order is in that category because no adults would have to visit their parents against their will.
8. Here are some sobering facts:
a) Incarceration increase[s] the likelihood that a youth would drop out of high school by between 11.1 and 18.3 percentage points.
b) Nearly two-thirds of youths leaving detention never re-enroll in school, Those who do often drop out quickly, and around half are rearrested within three years.
c) A court appearance nearly quadruples the odds of dropout.”
d) “First-time arrest during high school nearly doubles the odds of high school dropout.” (OJJDP: Sticker Shock, 28)
Judge Gorcyca has no business wearing the black robe. I’m all for giving family court judges latitude, but this is so clearly an abuse of discretion that will almost certainly accomplish nothing productive and will likely result in irreparable harm to these children and to their assessment of whether adults can be trusted.
In Michigan, “the Judicial Tenure Commission serves to promote the integrity of the judicial process and preserve public confidence in the courts.” How can anyone have confidence in the judicial process in Michigan?
Any media wanting an interview or commentary, contact me: media@mediatormatthew.com.
Matthew House, J.D.
What if we called it something else? What if the judge put these children in protective custody away from a parent who was harming them mentally? “Contempt of court for not dining with their father” is just a great way to make a very sad and difficult issue salacious enough to get people to look at the news without considering the full scope of the situation.