Leo and his siblings urgently need your help!
TL;DR Summary
Our battle for guardianship of Leo's siblings is at a critical crossroad as the court is going to hear petitions from both sides... If we lose, we might not get custody of the children for months or years! We hope you join us to hold the court accountable for their role in this tragedyFull Story
We have a guardianship hearing tomorrow morning (Friday, January 19th @ 8am) where the judge will hear motions from both sides. We are requesting what we have been asking for from the start, emergency guardianship of the children. The attorney for Joseph (Leo's father) has filed a motion to vacate and set for progress at a later date. In short, Joseph's attorney wants to put the Indiana guardianship case "on hold" until his criminal case in Louisiana is decided. We have been told that due to the magnitude of this case, it could be two to three years before it could go to trial. This could leave Leo's siblings in [redacted] for 6-12 months (perhaps more), instead of with family who've been advocating for their safety from the beginning.Sadly, Leo is no longer with us because our numerous concerns were ignored, seemingly at every step in the process. One would think we are now in a "no-brainer" situation regarding guardianship of the surviving children, but that is not the case. In light of the tragic outcome, certain decision makers have perhaps realized they showed poor, if not negligent, judgment when they determined there was no reason for the children to be removed from their father's custody.
Attorney Jillian Kratochvil, the guardian ad litem (GAL) that came to such a conclusion, has since been appointed as a judge over the court our case is being heard in. Despite knowing of her upcoming appointment as a judge, which could arguably cause a conflict of interest, she did not recuse herself. Consider the following timeline of events and make of it what you will:
8/1/2023 - A Courier & Press article titled: "Seven candidates vying to replace a 22-year Vanderburgh County judge" lists attorney Jillian Kratochvil as one of the applicants seeking the judgeship.
8/3/2023 - Attorney Jillian Kratochvil appointed as GAL on our case.
9/28/2023 - Kratochvil appointed as a judge to Vanderburgh County Superior Court.
10/3/2023 - GAL submits her report to court.
With the GAL now effectively the boss of the judge in our case, we were told she would be unable to continue in the case, meaning we would not be able to cross-examine her or her findings. The judge in our case ordered that the GAL's report would stay on record, and our only option would be to have another GAL appointed to do a second report, at our own expense of $250/hour. This second report would be in addition to, not in place of, the initial report.
We believe there have been numerous errors made by the courts throughout this process, including violation of our constitutional right to due process. At the end of the day, a child has died and his siblings are in [redacted]; old enough to realize their lives have drastically changed, but too young to understand why. The children need to be reunited with their family in Indiana sooner than later as it will only confuse and traumatize them more to get attached to [redacted], only to be removed from them as well down the road.
Leo's death was tragic, forewarned, and preventable. His death might be a sore spot for those whose questionable judgment we believe allowed it to happen.. but we will be damned if they will be allowed to sweep it under the rug! We ask that you please brave the cold to join us tomorrow morning as the judge hears the petitions.
Our hope is in the future, we look back upon tomorrow as the first major step in reforming the broken system. We hope you join us to hold the court accountable for their role in this tragedy.