CBA Record October 2017

PRO BONOWEEK 2017– FOR THE SAKE OF THE COMMUNITY

Judy’s Grandchildren By Roya H. Samarghandi

served after several attempts, one attempt even getting lost in the system, and ulti- mately paying for a private process server. As I was trying to track Dad down, a separate but ultimately relevant process was unfolding. It took a very observant court clerk for it to come to light that Dad had initiated his own paternity case regarding the girls. In the time it took for us to find and serve Dad, he had asked a separate court to declare him the legal father and sole custodian of both girls. Although this was a positive step, bringing Dad into the fold, it only served to further delay the underlying request for visitation. Anyone who has had to maneuver the maze that is consolidation of cases can attest to the inconvenience of that process. Consolidating the cases, however, did succeed in finally bringing Dad into our case. After Judy’s daughter had passed away, Judy had been unsuccessful in her attempts to reach Dad, and through him, her granddaughters. My own attempts had been likewise unsuccessful. Thus, Judy and I were pleased to know he was now participating in our case. That happiness was short-lived, though, once we soon received Dad’s response, alleging among other things that Judy was not a “fit and proper person” to have visitation with her grandchildren. Although we were successful in keeping the case going over his objections, Judy and I are still working toward establishing con- sistent visitation with her granddaughters. We’ve had to consistently battle against the court’s belief that Judy doesn’t qualify for the legal mechanism for this visitation. Fur- thermore, despite negotiating with Dad to give Judy consistent telephone access to the girls, Dad has thus far refused to comply or respond to any of Judy’s attempts to com- municate. And thus, the case continues. I’ve spoken with Judy so often through- out the past nearly two years that when we finally met in person in August, we hugged as if we were long lost friends. In that time, she’s shared with me her successes (getting one of the boys off to college) and her heartbreaks (her husband

unexpectedly passing away). However, she’s always remained optimistic and incredibly gracious. After one particularly disappoint- ing day in court on her matter, I returned to the CVLS office to find a small gift from Judy. Enclosed with that gift was a note. “God bless and keep you. Thanks for all your help …” That note stays at my desk so I can see it every day, and remember how wonderful and fulfilling it is to help someone who needs it.

“Here are photos of the children … My heart breaks for them. Thank you so much for helping us.” That was an email I received from Judy, and attached were several pictures of two very loving and precocious little girls dressed in matching black dresses with pink bows in their hair. In a few of the pictures, the small girls are seen clinging to two teenage boys, identi- fied by Judy as their half-brothers. Judy sent the pictures to me in order to put faces to the names, to remind me of what she and I were fighting for. I’ve looked back at those pictures of “the girls” (as Judy always affectionate calls them) several times since I first began representing Judy in November 2015. Judy came to the legal aid organization I work with on a pro bono basis hoping to get visitation with her granddaughters. Judy’s daughter had passed away after bat- tling cancer, and Judy had had no contact with the girls since the day of the funeral. Not only was Judy desperate to stay in touch with her granddaughters for her own sake, but as the legal guardian of the girls’ half-brothers, she wanted to maintain their connection to their half-siblings as well. Fortunately, the law provides a mechanism for such non-parents to pursue visitation, and I believed that Judy met the criteria. One complicating issue was that, although we had identified the girls’ pre- sumed father, there was no legal paternity. No one had been listed on their birth certificates, and to the best of Judy’s knowl- edge, no Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity had been signed for either of her granddaughters. Thus, as part of our case, we also asked the court to adjudicate paternity. Little did I anticipate when that hurdle arose, it would be just the first of many to come in this case. The second obstacle was service: finding and notifying the presumed dad about the case. Despite having a known address and being employed as a Cook County Sheriff, it took nearly six months for him to be

Roya Samarghandi is the Managing Attorney at Carmel Law LLC.

Him By Angela Vigil “Please. I beg you. Please call him and tell him I love him.” With her leg up on the wall, Tabitha sat on a yellow cement block in a detention room in an orange jumpsuit four times her size. Despite her ankle packed in a mound of ice, you could plainly see how huge and deformed it was. Everything about Tabitha’s situation was a picture of defeat. I pride myself on being able to com- municate the meaning of an attorney-client relationship to my child clients. I am that hokey, naive believer in truth and the rule of law. I live by the adage that your justice is only as good as your lawyer. That is what I tried to share withTabitha when I entered her cement cell and explained I was her pro bono attorney sent to represent her against charges in juvenile court. Despite my best efforts to explain who I was and how I could help, she heard nothing. I was working so hard to connect and all she heard was a voice from the outside who CBA RECORD 33