Mother loses custody of son due to service in National Guard

"Tanya Towne says she lost everything in Iraq, starting with physical custody of her first child. Before Towne's 2004 deployment, a Montgomery County Family Court judge gave her son, Derrell Diffin, to her first husband because she was being sent to war. This month, Towne lost an appeal to get Derrell back.

The decision has devastated Towne, a specialist and radio repairer with the New York Army National Guard's Rainbow Division in Troy. It's also put her at the center of a legal battle that at least one lawyer who assists service personnel says will force future troops to choose between their families and service to the country.

"This decision marks a serious attack on our national security and the civil rights of military members," said Gregory Rinckey, who defended military personnel as a captain in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and now practices military and family law in Colonie. "Soldiers fighting in Iraq should not be burdened with worry that their children will be taken away because of their service."

Yet that's exactly what happened to Towne, who even the Appellate Division acknowledged in its ruling would likely have retained control of Derrell had it not been for her 18-month activation.

There's a growing national trend in which U.S. soldiers say they are losing custody of their children in family courts just because of their absences while on active military duty, according to the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism think tank. On many occasions, courts -- looking to establish a stable environment for the child -- have said it's in the best interest of children not to be moved again, especially if there's a chance the parent in the military could be deployed again..."

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=655899&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=1/17/2008&TextPage=1

:mad:

In 1981 the AF changed the criteria for child care support options for active duty from three alternative, ready at a moment, can get the kid within 24 hours and keep them for as long as necessary to SIX alternatives. Pretty much impossible to meet those criteria.

I was told that I could give my child up for adoption, give up permanent custody to a family member, or get out. I got out. Many single parents did. Mostly women, because women were the majority of single parents at that point in time.

In 1985 (86?) the AF Reserves made the same change.