Posted on 08/10/2005 11:30:42 AM PDT by JZelle
RICHMOND -- The Virginia Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a judge's decision to terminate the parental rights of a man who kept his eight children isolated in a tiny, dilapidated home without electricity or plumbing. A three-judge panel rejected Granville Frazier Toms' claims that there was insufficient evidence to terminate his rights and that officials should have tried to help him before taking his children. The family's primitive living conditions came to light when Hanover County sheriff's deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call on Jan. 28, 2003. All but one of the children fled into the woods, without coats or gloves to protect them from near-freezing temperatures. They emerged about eight hours later, at 3:30 a.m., and were taken to a hospital for evaluation. Deputies described the Toms residence as a trash-filled, 16-by-16-foot unfinished structure with no separate rooms. The family used an outdoor bathtub and a crude outdoor latrine, and the yard was littered with liquor bottles and beer cans. Toms showed up about 30 minutes after deputies arrived. He refused to help find the children and was arrested, and the children were put in foster care.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Toms suffers from delusional thinking, paranoia, social phobias and other mental health problems, experts testified, along with a history of alcohol abuse dating to age 6.
Think termination in this case is long overdue.
Wonder why they only are seeking adoption for six of the eight kids.
And what is his WIFE's role in all this? She had to know he was nuts (of course, she could be nuts too.)
Three quarters of the people on the planet wish their living conditions were that GOOD.
Yeah, I'm sure they all wish their parents were mentally-ill alcoholics.
/sarcasm
And they pick up their beer and whisky bottles.
My fur is nicely smoothed down, thank you! (I homeschooled my son for about 4 months after I pulled him out of publik skoolz, and before I could find a private school placement for him.)
Once again, the government's jack-booted thugs have tromped through paradise and destroyed it. Bathing outdoors, crud ... sorry, crude latrine in nature the way God intended it, and the icing on the cake: liquor bottles and beer cans.
Not only does it make me homesick, but it makes me wonder if this feller ain't distant kin (we are first family of Virginia, afterall).
Anyone have a photo of this father of the year? Just curious
With 8 kids, presumably at least 2 were beyond the age where they could be safely managed and helped in a home setting, given their mental condition -- nor would there be many sane people lining up to adopt them. It's one thing dealing with a 6 eyar old in this condition, but a totally different thing to deal with an adult-sized teenager in this condition.
Indeed, this article has a misleading first sentence. If the lead-in description was the reason for the termination of parental rights, I'd have a big problem with it. But the rest of the story makes it clear that the physical amenities of the home had little or nothing to do with the decision.
When you read the article the judge makes it sound as if the moron is some sort of poor victim. I have never been for involuntary birth control but in cases like this someone should offer the jerk a free vasectomy in exchange for ....oh, I don't know......a years supply of beer?
"Not only does it make me homesick, but it makes me wonder if this feller ain't distant kin (we are first family of Virginia, afterall)."
LOL. Cue the banjo music.
He should have taken Steve Martin's advice and taught them how to talk wrong so that they say things like, "May I mumble dog-face to the banana-patch?"
Hope they're able to do more for the older kids than they could in the 18th century.
Consider the other things that Granville Frazier Toms has probably lost:
+ His job
+ His self-respect
+ His mind
+ Any chance of contributing anything productive to our society.
He will most likely live out the rest of his life as a drain on our society and our taxes dollars. Put your hands together for the waste of flesh otherwise know as Granville Frazier Toms!!
The court ruled that officials were not legally required to try to rehabilitate Toms before terminating his rights if they determined reunification would jeopardize the health and safety of the children.
suggests to me that this ruling means that a state job gets to decide if reunification jeopardizes "health and safety" of children.
Clearly no one will argue in favor of this guy keeping his grunting and hand-gesturing children, but what about the next case where it's bureaucrats making the decision. I would have assumed that it was up to the courts to terminate the rights of a parent prior to this.
Maybe this ruling doesn't give new authority to the state, but it reads to me like it does.
Is this really good reason to remove the kids? If so, where are we going to relocate the mass exodus of kids from Eastern Kentucky? LOL
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