Father fights for custody of daughter

As printed in the Harrisburg Patriot News on 11-19-2006:

For a year, Ron Scott has been fighting a battle -- a losing one, so far -- for custody of his 10-year-old daughter.

It began, he said, when the Cumberland County Domestic Relations Office told him his child-support payments would change because his daughter had been placed in foster care.

That was a stunner, he said, because no one had told him a foster placement was even being considered.

Cumberland County Children & Youth Services secured a court order to send the girl to a foster home without contacting him, Scott said, after the agency removed her from the custody of his ex-wife.

"They said they couldn't find me," said Scott, 47, of Wheatfield Twp., Perry County. "I'm a ready, willing and able parent."

"They could have easily found him," Scott's wife, Sheila, said. "They didn't even try."

The result, Ron Scott said, is a legal nightmare.

He will resume the fight this week during a hearing in which he'll again try to convince a Cumberland County judge to give him custody of his daughter, who he said is living with his ex-wife's relatives in New Jersey.

The girl's initial foster placement was with a nonrelative, he said.

County Children & Youth Services Director Gary Shuey, who is barred by law from discussing specific cases, said his agency strives to contact both parents before making foster placements.

Information for such searches must come from the parent involved with his office, he said.

His agency asks the Domestic Relations Office for help if it knows child support is being paid, Shuey said.

Domestic Relations Director Rick Betts said his office aids such investigations.

"We've done Google searches," Shuey said. "We've even gone to Puerto Rico to track down an absentee father."

If a parent appears after a foster placement is made, the court must decide custody, he said.

Shuey said his agency usually has more than 180 children in foster care.

Scott admitted he has a criminal record, with assault and robbery convictions, but said he has reformed, is working and has tried to maintain a relationship with his daughter despite what he called interference by his ex-wife.

Children & Youth Services hasn't worked with him on the custody issue, hasn't arranged court-ordered visits and counseling and tried to misrepresent his motives in requesting a paternity test, he said.

"This is just a travesty of justice. There's no reason we can't take this child," Scott said. "Children & Youth has illegal custody of my daughter."

Court proceedings in such matters are closed, but Scott provided transcripts of hearings.

During a hearing before county Judge Edward E. Guido in May, a Children & Youth Services worker supported placing the girl with the New Jersey relatives, with a goal to eventually reunite her with her mother.

The child doesn't want to live with Scott because she doesn't really know him, the worker testified.

"So let me get this straight," Guido told Scott. "You want me to put this child with someone who is basically a stranger?"

"I'm not a stranger to my child," Scott replied. "She knows who I am."

"OK, I have had cases like this before ... where the father has not had contact, and [we] just can't have him come in and care for the child," the judge said.

Guido then questioned the girl, who said she wants to live with her mother.

"Do you remember him?" Guido said, referring to Scott.

"Not really," the girl replied.

"He tells me he wants to get to know you. What are your feelings on that?" the judge asked.

"I don't really know," she said.

The child said she is willing to visit with Scott.

Guido ruled that foster placement is in the girl's best interest.

"If you want to establish a relationship with this child, you, sir, must overcome any obstacle, real or imagined," he told Scott. "If you think [Children & Youth Services] is standing in your way, you scream bloody murder."

Scott said he won't give up his custody bid.

He accused Children & Youth Services of "doing everything they can to put a monkey wrench in this."

MATT MILLER: 249-2006 or mmiller@patriot-news.com