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Avrett's lawyers want a judge to order the state to reinstate visitation rights and to provide the mother with medical information about Haleigh.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman yesterday took the requests under advisement and didn't say when she would rule.
Elizabeth M. Clague of Brockton, co-lawyer for Avrett, told the judge that Avrett has a constitutional right to see her child. She said the visits and her relationship with the child are important to the child's recovery.
Citing the child's privacy rights, lawyers for the state unsuccessfully asked the judge to close yesterday's hearing in Suffolk Superior Court. The state Department of Social Services has custody of the child. During brief remarks in open court, Assistant Attorney General Margaret J. Hurley said Avrett lacks legal standing to seek visitation rights or medical information. Hurley said Avrett is not the parent of the child.
Assistant Attorney General Sarah M. Joss said restoring visitation rights should be rejected because Avrett is unlikely to win the lawsuit on the merits of the case. She also said Avrett can't show any "irreparable harm."
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The New York State Legislature once again failed to pass a surrogate decision making bill so family members can make health care decisions for their loved ones without being appointed as their health care agent. This means that New York and Missouri remain the only two states without such a law.
What does this mean for you and your loved ones? It means the only way anyone can make health care decisions for someone over the age of 18, who cannot speak or make those decisions for him or her self, is to be appointed that person's health care agent using the New York State Health Care Proxy form.
On health care issues, who will decide for you?
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Ahem. Ms. Joss, YOUR client, the DSS, tried to kill Avrett's daughter. For all we know, they'll do it again. If that isn't "irreparable harm," what is??
It is hard to imagine what danger Allison Avrett poses to her daughter that is one-tenth as frightening as bureaucratic cannibals trying to kill her and cut her up for her organs.
Hurley is a weirdo. Avrett is, after all, Haleigh's mother! A mother-child relationship is forever. It doesn't end even if bureaucrats get custody and a mean state lawyer says so.
The DSS bears a large responsibility for this abuse. It failed Haleigh at every turn.
>> Wendy J. Murphy, co-lawyer for Avrett, also argued yesterday for the first time in open court that the state lacked jurisdiction over Haleigh when the state Department of Social Services took custody of her in 1998 and allowed her to remain in the home of her aunt, Holli A. Strickland, who adopted her in 2001.
>> The child and Avrett were living in Williamsburg, Va., when the child visited her aunt in Massachusetts, Murphy said. Holli Strickland reported to the state that Avrett's boyfriend in Virginia sexually abused Haleigh, but police in Virginia and Massachusetts investigated and determined the allegations were false, Murphy said.
>> The adoption of Haleigh should be "null and void" because Massachusetts had no jurisdiction over a child who was a resident of Virginia before she visited her aunt during 1998, Murphy said.