Editorial: 'Baby Vanessa' needs a parent

By the Dayton Daily News | Sunday, July 25, 2010, 12:00 AM

There isn't a judge in his or her right mind who is going to give Benjamin Mills Jr. his biological daughter, a 2-year-old named Vanessa who has spent her entire short life with a California woman who's trying to adopt her.

But the process of formally getting to a decision is making the courts and other authorities appear as if they've lost their minds.

Statement from Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. (July 23)

This statement can be attributed to LAWO Attorney Elizabeth Gorman:

As the custody case between Benjamin Mills and his daughter's mother, Andrea Conley, progresses toward court next week in Dayton/Montgomery County, Ohio, Mr. Mills continues to place his trust in the court to reach a fair resolution regarding the custody of his daughter.  Mr. Mills sought legal assistance in July of 2008 in order to protect his rights as a parent of his daughter. Mr. Mills did not consent to the adoption or the removal of his daughter from Dayton/Montgomery County and took immediate action to establish himself as the father, to locate his child, and have courts honor his parent-child relationship with her.

Statement from Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. (July 14)

The following statement can be attributed to Elizabeth Gorman, attorney for Benjamin Mills. Ms. Gorman is an attorney with Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. in Dayton, Ohio.

Since being ordered by the Ohio court to return Benjamin Mills' daughter to Dayton, Stacey Doss has gone to two courts in California to prevent Mr. Mills' child from returning to Ohio. Previously, three judges, including two California judges have ruled that issues surrounding Mr. Mill's daughter's future should be heard in an Ohio court.

Statement by Attorney Elizabeth Gorman (July 7)

For most people, it is difficult to imagine anything more painful to a father than having his child offered up for adoption in a distant state without his knowledge or consent. That is exactly what happened in this case.

Rules regulate water shutoffs
Judge cites 20-year-old pact

The following article was published July 2, 2010 in The Toledo Blade. Read the story below, or view on The Blade's website.

Any regulations implemented by the city of Toledo's water department must be consistent with an agreement put in place nearly two decades ago - including the notification of homeowners before their water is shut off, a Lucas County Common Pleas Court judge recently ruled.

Visiting Judge Steven Yarbrough's order, released earlier this week, effectively halts some new administrative regulations that the water department had intended to implement. Instead, the regulations outlined in a 1992 consent judgment agreed upon in court will continue in effect.

Attorney George Thomas from Legal Aid of Western Ohio said the ruling was in response to a recent filing by the agency on behalf of a man whose water was turned off without notice. He added that the judge's decision will keep Toledo's obligations status quo.
 

_{JULY 7, 2010}

Citizenship not based on mother

The following Letter to the Editor by Managing Attorney Mark Heller (ABLE) appeared July 7, 2010 in The Toledo Blade. Read below, or view the article on the Blade's website.

Contrary to the July 2 Readers' Forum letter "Mother's country decides citizens," a mother's country does not decide the citizenship of newborn babies.

The only persons born in the United States who are not citizens of the United States — because they are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction — are babies born to foreign diplomats and foreign occupying armed forces.
 

Statement by attorney Elizabeth Gorman (July 2)

"Our client, Mr. Mills, has consistently acted to protect the parent-child relationship between him and his daughter," says Elizabeth Gorman, lead counsel and attorney with Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. in Dayton, Ohio.  "Before his daughter was one month old, Mr. Mills had registered with the Ohio putative father registry and filed a complaint for paternity and custody of his daughter. In fact, Mr. Mills had filed his complaint for paternity and custody before Ms. Doss was approved as the placement through the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children and before Ms. Doss and his daughter left the State of Ohio.  Our client was found to be the biological father by genetic testing and established paternity of his daughter in Ohio," she says. 

Re "Consumers want option of small-dollar loans," June 1: Ted Saunders, chief executive of CheckSmart, says that with Ohio experiencing an economic downturn, people need reliable access to short-term credit. This is certainly true. What Ohioans don’t need is high-cost, short-term credit that they can't repay.

The new payday loan products being offered are similar to the old payday loan products that led the Ohio legislature to amend the payday loan law in 2008 to reduce costs to borrowers.

Unfortunately, there were loopholes in laws that licensed other forms of loans, and the payday lenders have sought to maintain their high-cost structure by migrating there.
 

Group forms to monitor well-being of the elderly 

The following article appeared June 28, 2010 in The Toledo Blade and was written by Blade staff writer Sarah Mervosh. Sandra Hamilton (ABLE) is featured in the story. Read below, or view the article on The Blade's website.

When Sandra Hamilton was employed as a lawyer, she handled a case in which an elderly man was taken advantage of by his much younger wife, beginning when she forced him to live alone while she lived with a boyfriend.

"He was starting to complain to his neighbors because he didn't have food. He was out of cigarettes," Ms. Hamilton said.

"She wasn't really taking care of him."

The abuse culminated when she kidnapped him from the hospital so she could start receiving his pension checks again.

"At the time, I really didn't realize the crime that was being committed. It just seemed to be wrong," Ms. Hamilton said.

Now, she knows the woman was guilty of financial exploitation and neglect - two common types of abuse against the elderly. To raise awareness and help protect the elderly from being victims of abuse, Ms. Hamilton recently founded the Coalition of Organizations Protecting Elders (COPE).
 

ABLE Mobile Benefit Bank Secures $1 Million in Benefits
for Residents of Lucas County

The Mobile Benefit Bank (MBB) of Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) reports securing close to $1 million in food stamps and other benefits for residents of Lucas County since April 2009.

The following appeared in La Prensa on June 25, 2010. Read below, or view on La Prensa's website.

Unique seminar for social workers
examines plight of the undocumented

_{By Alan Abrams, La Prensa Senior Correspondent}

The preamble to the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics clearly spells out their primary mission "with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty."

Thus it was no surprise that Martha Delgado, Social Work Field Director and Workshop Facilitator of the University of Toledo Social Work Department quickly associated that mandate with the plight of undocumented workers and immigrants. Delgado is responsible for UT's Social Work internships as well as for the curriculum for Master's and Bachelor's candidates.

The result was an informative "Social Work Practice Workshop" presented June 17, 2010, at La Galeria at 1222-24 Broadway Street in Toledo, Ohio.

Press release from the Ohio Department of Development:

HEAP Summer Crisis Program begins July 1.
Up to $175 available for eligible households.

Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel today announced that funding to assist eligible households with summer cooling costs through the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) Summer Crisis Program is available July 1, 2010 through August 31, 2010.

"The HEAP Summer Crisis Program is vital to the safety and well-being of Ohio's older citizens, ensuring they receive the assistance they need during the hot summer months," Patt-McDaniel said.