ExtraLove Tributes

The Free Ashleigh site is a tribute to Florida'schildren-- little folks too young to speak for themselves yet who have been abused by Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF), a system designed to protect them. Specifically, the site chronicles recent details in the infamous 2 1/2 year legal custody battle in Florida to return child to father who has raised her since birth.

1 May 2000. NOTE: May marks the 1^st year anniversary of ExtraLove's launch as a tribute to Ashleigh. The site traces her 3-plus years of captivity by Florida's run amok Department of Children & Families' and delineates the father's continuing battle to get Ashleigh home.

OUTRAGE. Despite the infamy revealed within this site, on 5 Dec. 2001 a U.S. judge in Miami rejected a class-action lawsuit against Florida's foster-child agency, and the 20,000 children represented in the suit. In a stunning blow to child advocates, the most significant claims of a lawsuit designed to force sweeping changes in the state's foster-care system were tossed out. The Miami Herald.

Finally, a ray of hope as judge makes demands of state in Ashleigh case today

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 4, 2001 -- A Broward County Circuit Judge today gave the Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF) and its agents72 hours to explain why a Miramar dad has been barred from seeing his 6 1/2-year-old daughter. The judge also ordered an evaluation of the father by an unbiased out-of-state expert with no affiliation to DCF.

Observers who packed the small courtroom for today's two-hour hearing see the developments as significant progress, at last, in the case of Ashleigh Danielle Abbott, who was seized 3 1/2 years ago from the father who had singlehandedly raised her.

Judge Marcia Beach, the 17th judge assigned the case, set a Dec. 20 mediation for determining the independent psychosexual expert who will conduct an evaluation on the dad, Paul Scott Abbott, 45. The father has already passed numerous evaluations, which have been discounted by the state, but has been denied access to his child since a March 2001 hearing at which no evidence was presented by the state.

Coincidentally, that March 2001 order was among four orders, by two prior judges, for which appellate briefs were filed today by former Dade County judge May Cain. The appeals had been stalled as state officials held up providing transcripts. The brief contends that Ashleigh's being adjudicated dependent as to her dad was not legally justified, stating, "in the case of one young child... and her family, the system has failed."

Ashleigh remains in a group facility for mentally disturbed children, to which she was transferred in February from a group emergency shelter in which she was held for nearly 3 years, during which time, according to media reports, she was sexually molested. Ashleigh was taken from her father by DCF workers (who recently have been fired) on an allegation she was at risk of neglect because he "failed to protect" her because she returned home from a supervised visit with her mentally ill mother with a fat lip. The judge who ordered Ashleigh be held, Kathleen Kearney, was later appointed state DCF secretary by Gov. Jeb Bush, who has refused to take action to return the child.

Meanwhile, a civil suit filed on Ashleigh's behalf by Karen Gievers of the Tallahassee-based Children's Advocacy Foundation is expected to go to jury trial in early 2002.

Also expected to go to trial in early 2002 is the state's civil suit against the father, alleging he must pay more than $11,000 in back child support for the state's "care" of his daughter. The father's offer to pay the "ransom" through a foundation, on condition of Ashleigh's return, recently was refused by the state.

For further background, go to Ashleigh's web site (which state officials repeatedly have tried to shut down) at www.extralove.com

The father may be reached any time at 305-469-5276. Attorney Joe Quick of Daytona Beach, representing the father, may be reached at phone 386-252-2850 or beeper 386-691-5449.

Hearing Tuesday (Dec. 4) in Ashleigh case;
DCF demanded to say why dad not seeing daughter
PLEASE BE AT HEARING IF YOU CAN!

A Miramar man whose young daughter was seized from him more than 3 1/2
years ago finally has another court date -- this time on a motion to compel the Florida Department of Children and Families to allow him to see the child he has been kept from for more than 8 months and to force DCF to disclose why it has not allowed contact.

The hearing is set for Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 2:30 p.m., in Room 350, Broward County Courthouse, 201 S.E. 6th St., Fort Lauderdale, before Judge Marcia Beach. She is the 17th judge assigned the case.

Ashleigh Danielle Abbott, now 6 1/2, remains in a group facility for mentally disturbed children, to which she was transferred in February from a group emergency shelter in which she was held for nearly 3 years, during which time, according to media reports, she was sexually molested. Ashleigh was taken from her father by DCF workers (who recently have been fired) on an allegation she was at risk of neglect because he "failed to protect" her because she returned home from a supervised visit with her mentally ill mother with a fat lip. The judge who ordered Ashleigh be held, Kathleen Kearney, was later appointed state DCF secretary by Gov. Jeb Bush, who has refused to take action to return the child.

Tuesday's hearing expects to revisit a March 2001 ruling in which, without any evidence being presented, contact was severed between Ashleigh and her father, Paul Scott Abbott, 45. That ruling and three others are on appeal to the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, with an appellate brief scheduled to be filed Wednesday (Dec. 5) by former Dade judge May Cain; the filing was delayed several months as state officials held up providing transcripts.

Meanwhile, a civil suit filed on Ashleigh's behalf by Karen Gievers of the Tallahassee-based Children's Advocacy Foundation is expected to go to jury trial in early 2002.

Also expected to go to trial in early 2002 is the state's civil suit against the father, alleging he must pay more than $11,000 in back child support for the state's "care" of his daughter. The father's offer to pay the "ransom" through a foundation, on condition of Ashleigh's return, recently was refused by the state. For further background, go to Ashleigh's web site (which state officials repeatedly have tried to shut down) at www.extralove.com

The father may be reached any time at 305-469-5276. Attorney Joe Quick
of Daytona Beach, representing the father at Tuesday's hearing, may be
reached at phone 386-252-2850 or beeper 386-691-5449.

22 June 2001: Only in Florida -- birthday cards endanger child! Kidnapping, molestation are deemed incidentals.

Ashleigh atrocities continue today -- no evidence necessary

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (June 22, 2001) -- Although they were not required to present any evidence, attorneys seeking to close hearings and gag all communication and publication in the Ashleigh Danielle Abbott case today "testified" themselves about the alleged damage to the 6-year-old captive incurred by a website reporting the horrors of the case.

During a 1 1/2-hour hearing this afternoon, Broward Circuit Judge Dorian Damoorgian once again heard no witnesses -- just as was the case in March when he de facto terminated the parental rights of the father who had singlehandedly raised Ashleigh for the first three years of her life. The last three-plus years of Ashleigh's life have been spent in group facilities where media reports say she was sexually molested.

Margaret Hesford, an attorney representing the Guardian ad Litem Program,who took on the role of "witness" in arguing in favor of the First Amendment violations, said hearings must be closed and participants gagged "to protect a compelling governmental interest."

While the father's attorney, Joe Quick, noted that that statement meant that "the government doesn't want oversight" and wants to silence the truth in Ashleigh's case, Hesford several times stated that media attention -- and the website in particular -- have endangered Ashleigh.

For example, Hesford contended that Ashleigh having been sent birthday cards and gifts from people throughout the nation -- items which Damoorgian ruled in March would not be given her -- was "a real issue" and somehow endangered her.

Hesford also said the website could hinder psychotherapy for the child, who did not display mental problems when taken, but now, according to recent reports from professionals, spends much of her time curled in the fetal position, sucking her thumb and babbling babytalk.

"The child's health, welfare and safety is being compromised," Hesford said, adding that the website and other publicity have now made it impossible for Ashleigh and other children to be "protected" at the school where Ashleigh just completed kindergarten and at the mental facility to which she was moved in February from the emergency shelter at which the sexual abuse occurred during her first 34 months of captivity.

Hesford also repeatedly stated that the website -- www.extralove.com -- as well as other websites are controlled by the father, when the fact is that the father has no website.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jill Bennett, one of several attorneys teamed against the father at the hearing, contended that Ashleigh's right to privacy has been violated because information about the case is "being blasted across a website."

Immediately prior to the hearing, Bennett, in her final day working for the state before heading to private law practice, made the parties aware of what she termed "a rather simple matter" that has slipped through the cracks since November 1998, when Judge Kathleen Kearney was still the judge on the case. The "simple matter" is that it seems Kearney, on her way to become Gov. Jeb Bush's appointee to the cabinet post of Florida Department of Children and Families secretary, failed to ever enter a disposition order adjudicating Ashleigh a dependent of the state relative to her mentally ill mother. Bennett is seeking to have Damoorgian enter such an order, backdated more than 2 1/2 years.

Damoorgian declined to simultaneously hear an earlier still-active state motion to open the proceedings, refused Quick's pleas for an evidentiary hearing on any true damage to Ashleigh and took ruling on the First Amendment issue under advisement.

The judge's ruling likely will come after the appointment of an attorney ad litem in the case. Damoorgian said he will make such an appointment, to allegedly represent Ashleigh's legal interests, by June 29. He's taking suggestions from all attorneys, and it is feared he will choose someone else to join the growing team bent on destruction of the father and his equally innocent daughter, to whom he has been denied all access.

Meanwhile, a "judicial review" on the case, that had been scheduled for today, was postponed until as late as Sept. 24. In the meantime, the rapidly deteriorating child remains estranged from her dad. For further details, go to www.extralove.com and click on Ashleigh's picture, or call Paul Scott Abbott any time at 305-469-5276.
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14 June. State stunned in Ashleigh gag effort; June 22 hearing set

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (June 14, 2001) -- Confronted with having conflicting simultaneous motions by the State of Florida to both close hearings and gag all communication and publication in the Ashleigh Danielle Abbott case and, conversely, to open all confidential records in the matter, officials were stunned today.

At a half-hour hearing this afternoon, Broward Circuit Judge Dorian Damoorgian set for a Friday, June 22, hearing the issue of whether proceedings would be open and whether press reports and website accounts could continue. The hearing is set for 3:30 p.m. in Room 241, 201 SE 6th St., Fort Lauderdale.

More disturbing were reports, provided by the state minutes before the hearing, that Ashleigh, now 6, who has spent more than half her life illegally held in state group facilities, is psychologically deteriorating.

Attorney Joe Quick, representing Ashleigh's father, Paul Scott Abbott, dumbfounded attorneys representing the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), Attorney General's Office and Guardian ad Litem Program when he made the court aware that multiple DCF motions filed between July and October 2000, seeking to unseal and open all confidential records and proceedings, were yet unheard. At the same time, attorneys representing the state entities had recently filed motions to close hearings, gag everyone and stop media and website publications concerning the Ashleigh case.

A DCF attorney hurriedly sought to withdraw the unsealing motion, but Quick argued that he was willing to adopt it. Damoorgian said he would not discuss the motion at the time.

"I frankly think there's some First Amendment issues," Damoorgian said of the state's latest effort to stop reports on the highly publicized case.

Representatives of the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and various media outlets are among those who have indicated they will fight against so-called "prior restraint" of publication concerning the case.

According to media reports, Ashleigh was sexually molested while in a group emergency shelter to which she was ordered in April 1998 by Kathleen Kearney, then a Broward dependency judge and now Gov. Jeb Bush's much-criticized DCF secretary. Observers believe the state's effort at a so-called "gag order" seeks to keep the public from knowing about the abuse Ashleigh is suffering at the hands of the government.

In a report to the judge from Kids in Distress, which operates the group facility for mentally disturbed children in which Ashleigh currently is incarcerated, the child is described to be "exhibiting bizarre behaviors" in kindergarten class and "regressive behaviors, i.e. baby talk, thumb sucking, and getting into the fetal position."

Another report, from Kids in Distress licensed clinical social worker Kathleen Conrad, alleges that the presence of the website, although admittedly unseen by Ashleigh, somehow may cause her "intense fear and anxiety regarding her safety" and place her "at jeopardy of being a flgiht risk." That report also alleges that Ashleigh is "happy" that she has been denied contact with her father -- the result of a de facto termination of parental rights without due process of an evidentiary hearing.

Quick, Abbott's attorney, also objected today to that status -- the fact that the father is denied contact with his daughter based only upon third-hand innuendo.

Ashleigh was seized in April 1998 on an allegation that she was at "imminent risk of neglect" because he "failed to protect" her because she returned home from a court-ordered March 1998 supervised visit with her mentally ill, habitual child abuser mother with a swollen lip.

Additionally, to make this Father's Day particularly celebratory, the father last week was served with a lawsuit demanding he pay tens of thousands of dollars of alleged back child support to pay the state for having held his child from him in facilities where she was molested. He is threatened with seizure of his property, money and wages and with incarceration.

For further details, go to www.extralove.com and click on Ashleigh's picture, or call Paul Scott Abbott any time at 305-469-5276.
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8 June. Guardian office claims right to gag order, shut website. State sues Ashleigh's illegally disenfranchised dad for child support, gag order hearing set for 14 June

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (June 8, 2001) -- Guardian Ad Litem Program Attorney Melissa S. Fellman today filed a "memorandum of law" claiming that the state has a legal right to bar publishing of information about the Ashleigh Danielle Abbott case, including on the Internet, and exclude press from the courtroom.

The seven-page memorandum, plus numerous pages of U.S. and Florida Supreme Court cases dating back to 1919 that allegedly support the contention, was filed as a First Amendment showdown is slated for Thursday, June 14, in Broward Circuit Court. The filing also comes the same day as the State of Florida served Ashleigh's father with a lawsuit demanding he pay child support for the 6-year-old daughter he is not allowed to see. The suit demands "retroactive" backpayment of child support for the 3-plus years Ashleigh has been illegally held by the state in group institutions, where, according to media reports, she was sexually molested, as well as payments for however long the state keeps her captive.

That summons, from the Florida Department of Revenue, on behalf of the Florida Department of Children and Families, threatens to seize the Paul Scott Abbott's "wages, money and property." State law also calls for incarceration of those who do not pay. The amount sought is estimated in the tens of thousands of dollar

The "memorandum of law filing" contends that the court "in an effort to protect an abused child under its jurisdiction, may enjoin a person from publishing specific information which exploits the child and places the child at imminent risk of harm," and that the court "in an effort to further the best interest of an abused child under its jurisdiction, under certain circumstances, may exclude the press from the courtroom and from publishing specified information."

The document states as "facts" numerous false statements, as well as the false allegation that the website, which contains only factual information, contains false information. The filing also falsely claims that the father has posted information to a site of which he has no knowledge whatsoever, in addition to the site -- http://www.extralove.com -- of which he is aware. The filing claims that the website information "places Ashleigh's safety at risk and continues the father's exploitation of Ashleigh."

For a fax copy of the complete filing, including attached cases, please respond via e-mail or phone the father, Paul Scott Abbott, at 305-469-5276.

The First Amendment showdown is slated for Thursday, June 14, at 3:30 p.m., in Courtroom 241, Broward County Courthouse, 201 SE 6th St., Fort Lauderdale.

8 June. Guardian office claims right to gag order, shut website. State sues Ashleigh's illegally disenfranchised dad for child support, gag order hearing set for 14 June

For a fax copy of the complete filing, including attached cases, please respond via e-mail or phone the father, Paul Scott Abbott, at 305-469-5276.

The First Amendment showdown is slated for Thursday, June 14, at 3:30 p.m., in Courtroom 241, Broward County Courthouse, 201 SE 6th St., Fort Lauderdale.

1 June - Gag Order set for 14 June

Attn: Assignment Desk (First Amendment issue)

MEDIA ADVISORY

Illegal Gag Order Sought in Ashleigh Case1st Amendment to Be Tested Thursday, June 14, at 3:30 p.m., in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

WHAT: An order to prohibit dissemination of any information, including halting news reports and a website, being sought in the case of Ashleigh Danielle Abbott, now 6, who has been illegally held in group facilities away from her father more than 1/2 her life.

WHO: Attorneys for the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), Guardian ad Litem Program and Ashleigh's mother (a mentally ill habitual child-abuser) are seeking the order. Kathleen Kearney, Florida DCF secretary, was the Broward judge who in April 1998 ordered Ashleigh seized from her father, Paul Scott Abbott, who had done a remarkable job of singlehandedly raising Ashleigh since infancy. Gov. Jeb Bush, in numerous interactions with the father, repeatedly has stood behind his appointee, Kearney, despite the fact that Kearney and DCF are under substantial fire.

WHEN: Thursday, June 14, 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: Courtroom of Broward County Circuit Judge Dorian Damoorgian, Room
241, Broward County Courthouse, 201 SE 6th St., Fort Lauderdale.

WHY: DCF and its attorneys and agents have retaliated against the father (a former journalist and now director of communications ministries at Coral Gables Congregational Church) and his equally innocent daughter because he has objected to the taking of his child without just cause and his continuing public criticism of DCF and Kearney. (The tot was taken on an allegation that she was at "imminent risk of neglect" because he "failed to protect" her because she returned home from a court-ordered supervised visit with her mother with a swollen lip.) The father has now seen Ashleigh 1 hour since January as his parental rights have been essentially terminated without a mandated evidentiary hearing -- one of four court actions currently on appeal to the 4th District Court of Appeal. (At the June 14 hearing, after addressing the gag order matter, the father's attorney will seek reinstatement of contact.)

CONTACT: Attorney Joe Quick (phone 386-252-2784, beeper 386-691-5449), a former lawyer for DCF who was fired for whistle-blowing about rapes of youths in correctional facilities, has just signed on to represent the father in the circuit court. He'll be happy to further discuss the outrageous legal ramifications of the proposed order.

Paul Scott Abbott can be reached any time via his cell phone (305-469-5276) or digital beeper (305-277-1065).

NOTE: Media attorneys may want to file briefs objecting to the issuance of a gag order and/or be present for the hearing. Copies of the state's 8-page motion available by fax by contacting Quick or Abbott at numbers above.
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15 May. Five employees of the Florida Department of Children & Families have been told to hire independent lawyers to represent them in an ongoing grand jury investigation into child protection and foster care practices in Broward County, sources told The Miami Herald.

8 May. Bush refuses to help Ashleigh; says dad's efforts won't change anything

MIAMI (May 8, 2001) -- Gov. Jeb Bush today told the father of Ashleigh Danielle Abbott that he does not intend to help the Florida 6-year-old, who has been illegally held by the State of Florida for half her life.

During a speech at a Habitat for Humanity luncheon where Paul Scott Abbott, Ashleigh's father, was among invited guests, Bush said, "I honestly believe that every day God gives us 100 chances to make a difference in this world... with acts of love, encouragement and integrity instead of the opposite."

Shortly later, in the presence of media and Habitat officials, the father, who last had seen the governor at an event eight days earlier, greeted Bush and said, "God has given you an opportunity to do what's right for my daughter."

Bush responded, "It's in the courts."

"You can't keep following me around," the governor continued, quickly adding, as he hurried away, "Well you can keep following me around. It's not going to change anything."

Abbott had been invited to the closed luncheon as a representative of Coral Gables Congregational Church, which has given several thousand dollars to Habitat. Abbott is the church's director of communications ministries.

Since Abbott and the church's senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, met personally with Bush on Feb. 19, and the governor promised a "fresh look" at the situation, the state has succeeded in terminating the father's parental rights without due process of an evidentiary hearing. At an April 30 Weston function, Bush also referred Abbott to the courts, where the state has succeeded in keeping the matter mired for years.

Despite a growing wave of intense criticism, Bush continues to stand behind Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary Kathleen Kearney, whom Bush appointed to the cabinet post in December 1998. That was eight months after Kearney, then a Broward County dependency judge, entered orders illegally seizing Ashleigh, placing her indefinitely in a group emergency shelter in which she was later molested, and taking away the father's constitutional right to find out anything about anyone.

PLEASE EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS ON THIS "FRESH LOOK" BY SENDING E- MAILS TO jeb@jeb.org

1 May - Bush says DCF "a mess"; refers Ashleigh's dad to courts

WESTON, Fla. (May 1, 2001) -- Gov. Jeb Bush conceded that the Florida Department of Children and Families is "a mess" about which he "sure" is doing something.

Bush made the statements to the Rev. Charles Eastman of Coral Gables Congregational Church after a speech before an international business group. Just after he got out of his car arriving for the engagement, Bush was met by Paul Scott Abbott, illegally disenfranchised father of Ashleigh Danielle Abbott, 6. It was the first the two had met since Feb. 19, when the governor promised Abbott and the senior pastor from his church that he would take "a fresh look" at the tragic circumstances that have separated Ashleigh from her father for half her life -- a "fresh look" that has resulted in the state's severing father-daughter contact.

"Good afternoon, governor," Abbott said, gripping Bush's hand. "I'm really hoping to get my kid back." The governor responded, "I know. There's a process in place. "We've got courts," Bush added as he walked away, gesturing his hands in the air.

After a presentation to a Weston Area International Business Alliance gathering of 250, which the governor concluded with, "God bless you," he was engaged in conversation by Eastman, interim associate pastor at the Coral Gables church where Abbott also works.

After Bush told Eastman that human services issues are not important infrastructure matters in terms of business decisions, Eastman focused on the state's child welfare agency, asking, "DCF -- are you doing something about that?"

Bush's response: "We sure are. It's a mess."

Abbott spent much of the evening handing out fliers that on one side bore a reprint of an April 21, 2001, article from The Miami Herald in which a former Broward head of DCF (who lost his job in 1999 after wanting to return Ashleigh) condemned the "Nazi" tactics of DCF and Bush appointee Kathleen Kearney, DCF's state head and, at that time, the Broward dependency judge who seized Ashleigh, then 3, from her home. The other side included details of Ashleigh's tragic saga, urging readers to look to <http://www.extralove.com> for more information. The fliers also urged e-mails be sent the governor at jeb@jeb.org (AND ANYONE WHO WISHES TO EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS ON THIS "FRESH LOOK" ALSO ARE URGED TO SEND E-MAILS TO JEB@JEB.ORG)

30 April In the continuing battle to get Ashleigh home and for all the illegally incarcerated kids and destroyed families in Florida and beyond, Paul Scott Abbott, father of Ashleigh, will be at the Gov. Jeb Bush event at the Weston Hills Country Club on Monday, April 30.

Joining him will be the senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, as well as others. The event, for which he has tickets, starts at 5:30 p.m., but Abbott anticipates being there an hour or so early to hand out fliers and have petitions available for signatures. You needn't have a ticket to be outside. Although he is not the person organizing it, he has been told that a family advocate group plans a large-scale picket demonstration as well. If you cannot be there in person, please be there in prayer.

As you may recall, the state retaliated after the Feb. 19 personal meeting that Pastor Donna and Abbott had with Gov. Bush and a month later essentially terminated his parental rights without due process. If you want to drop the governor an e-mail, send it to jeb@jeb.org.

17 April 2001

State misconduct continues; judge to decide appeal fate in Ashleigh case

Misconduct on the part of the State of Florida continues as efforts step up to prevent Ashleigh Danielle Abbott, 6, from ever seeing her father again.

Aware that rulings that have led to the severing of parent-child contact are illegal, attorneys for the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Guardian ad Litem program today (Tuesday, April 17, 2001) maintained their pattern of last-moment trickery -- this time with the filing of a 91-page document ("memorandum of law" and attachments) which the father and his attorney had only a few minutes to review before today's scheduled hearing.

The state's latest tactic involves preventing the father from proceeding with appeals, claiming that, although having had to go through bankruptcy and having been declared indigent a year ago, the father deliberately brought this condition upon himself and so should not be entitled to a special public defender nor to transcripts and other necessary appellate costs.

The father's attorney argued that it is "an impossibility" for the father, who already has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in a 3-year struggle to get back his daughter from the state, to come up with the tens of thousands of dollars of such costs.

The judge also has yet to rule on the state's motion for a "gag order" to prevent any publication or discussion concerning the case.

Next hearing formally set not until June 14.

Tues., Apr. 17, Ashleigh hearing: State seeks to bar appeal

A key hearing is set for Tuesday, April 17, at 3:30 p.m., in Broward County (Fla.), at which the state apparently will seek to prevent the father of 6-year-old Ashleigh Danielle Abbott from proceeding with appealing a series of rulings that have illegally led to his being barred from seeing his daughter.

In the most recent hearing, March 29, Broward Circuit Judge Dorian Damoorgian essentially terminated the father's parental rights without a legally required TPR trial. The father contends that this was in retaliation for his February meeting with Gov. Jeb Bush and his other efforts to seek the return of Ashleigh, illegally seized from him 3 years ago.

Ashleigh, who spent nearly half her life in a group emergency shelter where media reported she was sexually molested before being moved in February to an institution for mentally disturbed children, is now to be moved in with her mentally ill, habitually abusive mother by July, according to the state's plans.

Meanwhile, Ashleigh's father, who had singlehandedly raised her since infancy, has been trying since fall to proceed with appeals of a series of rulings -- the first of which came a full 2 1/2 years after Ashleigh's captivity was ordered by then-judge and now Florida Department of Children & Families Secretary Kathleen Kearney. Kearney has directed the vendetta against the father (and equally innocent child) as the father as battled the out-of-control system.

At next Tuesday's hearing, the state (via the Attorney General's Office, Guardian-ad-Litem Program attorney and others) intends to attempt to prove that the father (bankrupted by the legal struggle) has somehow deliberately made himself indigent and therefore should not be entitled to transcripts needed to move forward with the appeals. The state already has succeeded in delaying the filing of appellate briefs for four months.

The state is also likely at Tuesday's hearing to again argue for a complete "gag order," including barring any media coverage or accounts of the case, as well as outlawing a website -- www.ExtraLove.com -- that has reported the truth of this tragedy.