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Those wronged by DCF finally had an opportunity to be heard at 15 May 2002 meeting, only to learn that the panel was rigged!We were promised that those wronged by DCF would finally have an opportunity to be heard! But now, knowing that DCF chief Kearney handpicked the panel members, and that Jeb Bush OK'd the plan, questions arise. The new Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Protection scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday, May 15, from 9 a.m. to noon, at Miami-Dade Community College, Wolfson Campus, Chapman Room, Building 3, 2nd floor, 300 NE 2nd Ave., Miami.

For site author's speech, click here.

Panel chairman, David Lawrence, at dlawrence@childreadiness.org

Brief background: In an infamous Florida case an innocent 3-year-old child was incarcerated for nearly four years as authorities falsely accused her father of sexually abusing the toddler, then awarded custody to her mother, a known felon and child abuser. In March of 1998, Paul Scott Abbott called the local police when his daughter returned with a bruised lip after a visitation with her mom, whose history of child abuse is documented. Five weeks later, in April of 1998, she was hauled away by Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF) and was a prisoner in an emergency shelter where she was sexually abused. On 12 October 2000, following Ashleigh's 21/2 years of captivity, Judge Daniel True Andrews signed the adjudication order submitted by the Florida Department of Children and Families, ruling against Ashleigh's father and formally making the young girl a ward of the state. Then, on February 3, 2001 she was doomed to a mental facility by Florida judge. More than a year later, she went to live with her child-abuser mother, despite testimony from the mother's own therapist that she was not well enough to raise the child who the father had singlehandedly brought up since infancy. The father continues his legal battle for the return of his daughter in a case considered one of the most horrendous cases of "child abuse by government" in U.S. history.

Also see below for partial 2001 files including gag order and denial of birthday for 6-year-old releases.

Also below, Jeb Bush's statement re: 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. Since Bush promised to take a fresh look at things, Paul Scott Abbott has been denied visitation rights.
Father of state-snatched child seeks sanctions against DCF, Attorney General

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (March 19, 2002) -- In a motion filed today in the Fourth District Court of Appeal, the father of Ashleigh Danielle Abbott is seeking sanctions against the Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF) and Attorney General Bob Butterworth for their "clear pattern of reprehensive conduct," including a "blatantly misrepresentative" effort to seek dismissal of the father's appellate actions.

The father, Paul Scott Abbott, is asking the appeals court to issue an order for DCF and Butterworth's office to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court and to impose other sanctions following the state's March 15 filing of a motion to dismiss appeals that was based upon an openly false representation of the father's statement of the basis for the appeals court's jurisdiction. The state's motion claimed the father gave only one such basis while two appellate rules were clearly stated by the father.

The father's motion refers to the state's "unscrupulous tactics... that disrespect this Honorable Court by willfully and deliberately seeking to mislead it in such an atrocious manner."

The latest filings are among actions taking place in five separate courts as Ashleigh nears her 7th birthday, on March 27. It has now been a year since she has been permitted to see or talk with her father -- following retaliation after the father's meetings with Gov. Jeb Bush. Ashleigh was taken by the state in April 1998 from the father who had singlehandedly raised her.

The appellate actions for which the state is moving for dismissal involve two Jan. 29 rulings by Broward Circuit Judge Marcia Beach. One of those rulings moved Ashleigh from a state-supported group mental facility into the Homestead, Fla., home of her mentally ill, felonious child-abuser mother -- an order entered after that dependency judge allowed the Guardian ad Litem Program attorney to testify that a mental health professional was lying when she said she was threatened by the mother outside the courtroom that afternoon. Florida law bars attorneys from being both attorneys and material witnesses in a case. Beach moved Ashleigh in with the mother who had never raised her even after reviewing more than 100 pages of documents related to the mother's history of felony child abuse and other violence, including a suicide attempt when pregnant with Ashleigh and Miami Police homicide reports related to her breaking numerous bones of her first infant son.

The second Jan. 29 ruling being appealed is an order requiring the father to go to Memphis in April to undergo a psychosexual evaluation including controversial examinations entailing attachment of wires to his genitals. The father, who already has passed numerous evaluations following unprovable state allegations that he molested his infant daughter, contends that such a demand is a blatant violation of rights.

Also recently filed in Beach's court is a motion by the mother's attorney claiming the father is responsible for a website that had contained details of the case. The information on the case, including extensive newspaper articles, has apparently since been removed by the third party who operates the site.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal is expected to rule soon on earlier appeals of actions including the October 2000 order adjudicating Ashleigh dependent as to her father.

In other courts:

- A hearing has been set for April 10 at 11 a.m. before Broward Circuit Judge Miette Korda Burnstein on a motion for sanctions against the state filed by Karen Gievers of the Tallahassee-based Children's Advocacy Foundation, representing Ashleigh in a damage suit against DCF.

- A trial has been set for June 5 before Broward Circuit Judge Linda Vitale on a state effort to exact back child support payments of more than $11,000 from the father for the nearly four years Ashleigh was held in group facilities at which, according to documented reports, she was sexually abused.

- No date has been set by Broward Circuit Judge Arthur Birken on a motion questioning whether Paul Scott Abbott is, in fact, Ashleigh's father. That motion was filed based upon statements and actions of the mother.

Child and parental rights advocates have termed this one of the most horrendous cases of "child abuse by government" in U.S. history. It was now-DCF-Secretary Kathleen Kearney who, prior to her Cabinet appointment by Bush, was the Broward judge who initially seized Ashleigh, then 3, without just cause on an allegation she was at risk of neglect by her father because she returned home from a supervised visit with her mentally ill mother with a fat lip.
Partial files from 2001, includes gag order and denial of birthday for 6-year-old releases and Jeb Bush's statement re: 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.

Partial files from 2001

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. Contact 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

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.

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.