reply to post by BarrySeward
Thanks for posting that link to your blog Barry. I'm posting the relevant comment from the sister below.
A little more insight into the story, from Brian's sister....
Brian and Brittany's mother were never married. They had children at a young age, and eventually split up. In his early twenties, Brian fought for
and won custody of his two daughters, ages 3 and 1. He met and married a wonderful single mom, and from there they raised their blended family under
one roof. Of course not without obstacles thrown in their way. Through the years his daughters had to learn to say, "No, I live with my DAD!"
Brittany, the middle child in this blended family, had not only truancy but delinquency problems during her teen years.
Brian & his wife tried
everything to help Brittany, including involving the police, which is how the courts became involved with this family.
At 16 Brittany got pregnant and had the baby shortly after she turned 17. This also put a wrench in her education. Brittany continually begged her
father to let her go live with her mother, and he eventually gave in, hoping Brittany would continue her schooling there. She enrolled in a new
school, but that didn't last, either.
Was allowing Brittany to live with her mother a wise choice? Hindsight is 20/20. One thing I can say about my brother is he always wanted what was
best for his girls, and he was hoping it was best for a troubled Brittany and her new baby to live with her mother. Many, many people told him to give
parental custody of Brittany, at the age of 17, to her mother, but he simply couldn't do it.
Anyway....
Brittany had sporadic court dates about her truancy through all this. It was June 2007 when the judge told Brian he would be go to jail for
contributing to the delinquency of a minor if Brittany did not return to school in the Fall. Brittany turned 18 yrs old August 2007 and was enrolled
in school, but did not attend because she was "18".
She returned to juvenile court, although she was now 18, on August 29th. The court then ordered her father to take Brittany out of school, and told
Brittany to get her GED before the next court date or her father would go to jail.
So, the court was ordering an 18 year old to make a choice, get your GED or your father goes to jail. Now you have to imagine all the possible
scenarios. What if she should care less about her father and decided not to get her GED? The judge never said....get your GED or YOU go to jail. I
think Brittany did not believe that the judge would seriously throw her father in jail, so she procrastinated. Brittany loves her Dad but she has the
thought process of a teenager.
By the next court date, March 2008, Brittany had been taking GED classes, but by the May 7th court hearing, she had no luck passing the math portion
of the test, and that's when her Dad was whisked off to jail for six months. No options to pay a fine, probation, house arrest, or community service.
Btw, Brittany's mother owes over $15,000 in back child support. Has she ever spent a night in jail because of it? Of course not.
It's always nice to have some context to a situation and this definitely adds some perspective to the case.
To
hotbakedtater who stated earlier:
"The father in this case, was court ordered to educate his child. If he found it too hard to do, all he had to do was call juvenile probation
officers, and they would have made sure the child was educated.
Please note that the father DID involve the police in an effort to get a handle on his daughters truancy and look where THAT got him.....
