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State indicated dad neglected child, but he wins appeal, clearing his name
Fathers’ Rights attorney Jeffery M. Leving will tell listeners to his weekly radio show about a decision his legal team won from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in favor of a father his firm represented.
“I believe there is little more troubling to any father than an allegation that he neglected his child – especially when it’s based on alleged evidence I believe is so thin that it doesn’t withstand the merest scrutiny,” Leving says.
“Over the decades, I have received many calls from frightened fathers, claiming that they have been falsely accused.”
Leving, founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd. in Chicago, is the host of the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour, on Power 92.3 FM in Chicago. He’ll talk about this victory on this week’s program, airing 9-10 a.m. CDT on Saturday, Nov. 5.
At issue is an elbow injury incurred by Dad’s 11-year-old daughter, for whom he shares parenting time with his ex. The girl apparently fell off a bicycle while she was with her father. The girl received medical treatment then, and in the following days was brought to doctors by both her mother and her father, and the girl’s pediatrician said the wound was healing.
At one point, the injury appeared to worsen – and the mother complained that the father was negligent.
The parents’ divorce is characterized in case documents as “hostile.” Leving says in his experience, divorced parents have lodged DCFS complaints based on flimsy or exaggerated evidence just to cause trouble for their ex-spouse. “This is wrong,” Leving says.
DCFS did indicate a finding of medical neglect against Dad.
Listeners may wonder – what difference does it make, as long as the girl is in good health now? The answer is, if this indicated finding by DCFS was upheld, Dad’s name would have been placed on the State Central Register of suspected child abusers, which could lead to grave legal and personal consequences down the road. He has a right to contest this – which we did, with the help of the Leving firm, and won.
The Leving legal team went to a hearing and showed that Dad actually took excellent care of his daughter, and any allegation to the contrary was based on a lack of knowledge of all the facts. The administrative law judge found that the evidence did not support the DCFS indicated finding of neglect, and he granted Dad’s request to have the finding expunged.
“This is an important victory for Dad, modified for broadcast, that prevents a report to DCFS from hurting him personally, and from damaging his relationship with his daughter,” Leving says. “Relieved is how I described this result, and I think you understand why Dad and I feel this way.”
Leving also will talk about his recent visit to Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt, in his studio. Hunt is working on a piece called “Book Bird” for the Barack Obama Presidential Center. It’s an elaboration from a piece he created as an award to supporters of the United Negro College Fund, and Leving was given the opportunity to preview it.
“I know President Obama pretty well – I served on his National Finance Committee when he was president – and I know he and Michelle are admirers of Hunt and his work,” Leving says.
Jeffery M. Leving is founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd., and is a strong advocate. He is the author of Fathers’ Rights, Divorce Wars and How to be a Good Divorced Dad, the latter of which was endorsed by President Obama and by Cardinal Francis E. George, then the archbishop of Chicago. To learn more about Leving and his latest court victories, follow him on Twitter and Facebook, and view his videos on You Tube.
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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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