FEELING STRESSED, SMACK A KID!

That’s right, you read it correctly. It is the considered opinion of the State of Michigan, that you may backhand a child across the room, as long as that child isn’t yours. Further, if you no longer want your child, the State of Michigan says its ok to give your child away, as long as its not to the legal parent. At this point in time, you may be laughing, or questioning what you are reading. Believe it or not, it is the truth. How do I know this? Because the Bay County Friend of the Court, and the Bay County Circuit Court have done just that with my daughter.

On January 16, 1994, my daughter Emily was born. She was a beautiful baby, and even though her mother and I were separated I was allowed to be at her birth. Now I will be the first to admit that I was young, irresponsible and fairly stupid about what it meant to be a father. Quite often during the first few years of her young life, I would push her off on others, such as my mother or father, or my wife, who I married about a year and a half after Emily was born. It may have been because I was afraid of getting to close, but I did try. After about three years, I finally straightened my life out, and started being the parent that I should have been all along. Now it should be noted that I have two children. Emily, who is my oldest daughter, and Deanna who is about two years younger.

About a year ago, my daughter disappeared for about three months. When I finally found her, it was because her mother called me and informed me that she had been living with her sister. Further, as that the sister was moving, Emily would be going to school and living with her Aunt approximately thirty miles from my home. Her mother didn’t have the time to take care of her and her new born as that she would be traveling as a musician. At this point in time, everyone I knew, family, friends, and people who were aquatinted with the family all said, "What the hell is wrong with this picture"

So in October, Emily moved with her Aunt to the county in which I lived. Now it was agreed by her mother and I that I could have her for the weekend, when they moved up, and that they would register her for school on the following Monday. When we were able to pick Emily up on Sunday, the Aunt told us t hat she had a funeral, and asked if we would be willing to take Emily for three days. No problem. We hadn’t seen Emily in three months, so three days sounded like a good idea. Eleven days later we still had not contact with Emily’s’ aunt or her mother. So being a responsible parent I enrolled her in school and filed a motion for change of custody with the Bay County Court System. Six days later, after several threatening phone calls her mother and aunt came into the school and took Emily. They stated to the school superintendent that Emily’s mother had sole custody and the Court backed her up. Conveniently enough the Court later said that they had made a mistake.