Free Republic

The autistic Long Island boy left to freeze to death in his garage — allegedly as “punishment” by his father — was sent to the house of horrors by a judge who ripped him from his mother’s custody without even holding a hearing, court transcripts obtained by The Post show. Nassau County Judge Hope Schwartz Zimmerman’s fateful Sept. 6, 2017, decision to put 8-year-old Thomas Valva and his two brothers in the custody of their dad, Michael, was made on the fly, the shocking transcripts show, without any formal, court-filed accusation of wrongdoing against their mom, Justyna Zubko-Valva. Michael Valva and his...

They thought she was making it all up. It cost a little boy his life. From cops and social workers to lawyers and judges, Long Island mom Justyna Zubko-Valva claims no one took her warnings about her NYPD cop husband, Michael Valva, seriously. Alleging sex abuse, starvation, brainwashing, beatings and possible child porn, the mom had insisted their three sons were suffering at Valva’s hands. But instead of getting help, Zubko-Valva became lost in a legal labyrinth where she was the one on trial, painted as a scorned woman with a “vendetta,” court papers show. One Suffolk County Family Court prosecutor...

Not even this brutal, caught-on-video mugging — in which a struggling 83-year-old woman was dragged to the ground, and her purse wrenched away — is enough to get a suspect locked up these days under the state’s new bail reform law. Exclusive video obtained by The Post allegedly shows 56-year-old Dana White, of Jamaica, Queens, walking up behind the victim in front of a building on Eldridge St. on the Lower East Side at about 5:45 a.m. Monday. The victim is so petite compared to her attacker, that she stands only as high as his chest as he grabs at...

The nursery in Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler's home is filled with unread children's books and unworn baby clothes. A Winnie the Pooh blanket lies untouched inside a crib where a child has never slept. For nearly four years, the Redmond couple has been fighting to prove to the state of Oregon that they are intellectually capable of raising their children. The Department of Human Services has removed both of their boys, saying the parents are too mentally limited to be good parents. Fabbrini, 31, and Ziegler, 38, lost custody of their older son, Christopher, shortly after he was born....

Greene County Division of Family Services Surreptitiously Invite Prosecutor and Defendant to same Meeting: Conflict of Interest Questioned. May 2, 2005 During a recent Family Services Team Meeting conducted by the Greene County Division of Family Services a serious conflict of interest was recorded. Sitting at the same table as the father in this open disclosure meeting was a Greene County Prosecutor. Jill Patterson, the prosecutor, recently leveled charges of child abuse against the Father for an incident that allegedly occurred in December of 2001. The Father has plead Not Guilty in the case which is currently working it's way...

Parenting a second generation Drug use, mental health problems often force grandparents to step in By Ilene Olson rep3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Terry Kenny's days have been full since the children came. She spends much of her time doing laundry, feeding the baby, picking up toys, reading stories, trying to keep up with the kids and driving them to and from school and appointments. That was something she expected when her own children were small. But it came as a big surprise the second time around, when she and her husband Tim became the foster parents...

<p>Charles Wiggins has been passed over for promotions so many times at the state Department of Children and Families that he's lost count.</p> <p>Francis Davila and Kelcy Laing say they've witnessed the same thing - members of minorities being routinely denied advancement at DCF despite years of dedication and professional service.</p> <p>Now, these leaders of the Black and Latino Coalition of DCF's North Central Region office in Hartford are challenging Gov. John G. Rowland and DCF Commissioner Darlene Dunbar to address what they claim is the agency's institutional discrimination.</p>