Re: virginia legal system

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On 11/07/02, dawn hopper wrote:
> My name is Dawn Hopper and I am the spouse of a Navy
> military service member who is stationed on the USS
> Kearsarge. I am writing this letter in hopes that someone
> will listen and understand the situation my three children
> and I have been put into.
>
> September of 2001 I hired an attorney, Mr. Timothy Wade
> Roof, to represent myself and my children in a
> custody/divorce case. Since that time we have been to
> court at least a dozen times divided between
> Juvenile/Domestic and the Circuit Courts of Norfolk. As of
> today, October 15,2002 I have only been awarded temporary
> custody of the marriages three children and there has been
> no court ordered support as of today .
>
> My children and I resided in Willoughby Military Housing in
> the city of Norfolk. Since the beginning of 2002 we had
> several calls to the NOB base police to our home for
> altercations and disturbances between my husband and I
> because of screaming and yelling and things being broken on
> his part.
> In January 2002 there was a call to the base police
> because of an argument in which he informed my daughter and
> I that he was taking our sons out dinner but did not bring
> them home until the next morning. When I informed him that
> I was upset for worrying our daughter and myself by not
> letting us know where he was for the evening he became
> irrate and locked our sons in his vehicle so that I could
> not have access to them. When I tried to get them out of
> his vehicle he proceeded to push and hit me. By the time
> the base police had arrived we were in our home where he
> once again had denied my access to our sons. I was kneed in
> the arm and had my hair pulled but the police did nothing
> but talk to each of us separately and then left. I went to
> file charges at the magistrates office for the assault and
> was sent away being told there wasnt enough proof to press
> charges.
>
> There were other incidences in which the NOB Norfolk police
> where called to the home but they turned the other cheek by
> just talking to him and then leaving. On March 19,2002 my
> husband and I had gotten into another altercation in which
> I questioned his judgement on leaving our daughter at home
> alone while she was ill , so he could take our sons out to
> dinner. In the altercation I was kept from having access to
> our daughter, and then I was forcefully pushed into a
> dresser in the master bedroom that stood no more than 10
> feet from where I was standing . The base police where
> called and my husband was arrested and a restraining order
> was put into place and then later convicted of the assault
> charge. In late May of 2002 we were informed that we were
> being removed from our home because of the removal of my
> husband. The rule for military housing says "if the service
> member is no longer residing in the home the family must
> leave also ". We were notified that we had to vacate by
> June 21, 2002 by 5:30pm . In the time between being
> notified of our removal and the time we actually left we
> had been to court for support for the three children but
> once again it was continued with nothing being resolved .
>
> Before my children and I were removed from our home my
> husbands command, the USS Kearsarge, had told me that they
> had come up with their numbers as far as support for the
> children goes and told me to come pick up a letter stating
> so. So my daughter and I had gone up to the ship and when
> we got there were told the letter was not ready. After
> about an hour I had the guards at the pier call up to the
> quarterdeck again and they told me that they were still
> working on it. After several calls to the ship from a
> carrier in the next pier , a master chief finally came down
> to speak with me and let me know it was almost done , then
> he left towards the ship. After waiting on the pier for 5
> hours in 98 degree weather they finally showed up with the
> letter we had been waiting for , and when I refused to sign
> it before my attorney had a chance to read it they took it
> away from me and walked off back to the ship.
>
> On June 21,2002 at 3:30 pm i recieved a phone call at my
> friend's house stating that the lawyers had come to an
> agreement. My attorney , Mr. Roof knew that my children and
> I didnt have the money to get a place to live and not much
> to be able to move out of the housing complex with because
> my husband had only been paying his children a very small
> amount of money each military pay day. Once I made it to
> Mr. Roof's office the agreement I was to sign was sugar
> coated by Mr. Roof himself to make it sound like a good
> deal. He told me that I had won, I had my kids. I was told
> by Mr. Roof that in order to get money to help us move out
> I would have to sign the agreement and if I chose not to
> the check would be returned to my husband.
> I went to my husbands command , the USS Kearsarge, for
> help , on several occasions and was constantly being told
> that my husband was doing his part by having the home we
> had and were about to be removed from. I was told by Master
> chiefs in my husbands department that he would be recieving
> his military housing allowance on the day we left the home.
>
> Within the first few days after we were removed from our
> home I sat down and read the agreement that I had signed
> several times and had taken down two full pages of notes as
> to the points I disagreed with. I had held onto the check
> for almost a month and then when we had another
> continuance Mr. Roof told me to cash the check so as my
> kids would have some money for the things they needed . On
> that note I asked Mr. Roof to write me a letter in stating
> that I was given permission to cash the check and it
> wouldnt affect my disagreement with the agreement. I
> repeatedly asked him for the letter but I have never
> recieved it as of yet.
>
> A few more months had gone by and more continuances from
> the Norfolk circuit court for one reason or another. Since
> June when were removed from our home the children and I
> have been staying with a friend of mine and sleeping on the
> floor with blankets and pillows. We have been given the
> runaround by the Norfolk social services department, the
> USS Kearsarge, and the Norfolk court system. Everyone I
> have spoken to about getting help for my children and I
> have all given me the same answer, "I'm sorry we cannot
> help you, your husband earns too much money ".
>
> We were in court on September 27,2002 and the judge at
> Circuit Court ordered that the child support be brought up
> to state guidelines. In doing some investigating myself
> once again , I found out that a support order was never
> entered into the courts. So once again he is not being
> forced to hold up to his responsibilities as a father.
>
> Over the past year we have been given the runaround ,
> deceived, and lied to by Mr. Roof, the United States Navy,
> social services in the city of Norfolk, and the list goes
> on .
>
> My children have been without their belongings except for a
> few items of clothing since June. They have been let down
> and neglected by the legal system which is supposed to be
> there to protect them and take care of them. The Navy gives
> people the impression that they are there to help the
> families of the service members and I thank the few people
> at the Navy Family Advocacy center on Naval Base Norfolk
> but that is as far as I can go . Our daughter is now in
> counseling and has physcological problems and her grades
> are slipping in school because I have to hold down two jobs
> just to put food in their stomachs and clothes on their
> backs. Yet still even with the child support supposedly
> raised and my husbands lack of responsibilities we are no
> closer to any help than we were before we went to court.
>
> Yesterday October 30th, 2002 my husband recieved custody of
> my three kids because of the curcumstances of which my
> children and I were put into. My children and I know for a
> fact he lied under oath. I think it is very wrong to give
> someone who has a record of family abuse , a DUI , and a
> visit to a Physc. ward for a suicide attempt custody of
> three small children. I think there is something seriously
> wrong with this picture and I and others that know about my
> case think the same also , we believe that the USS
> Kearsarge had something to do with this happening to myself
> and my children.
>
> All I can possibly say is that I really feel for the
> housewifes of Virginia if they are not happy in their
> marriages. What I have learned from dealing with the Navy ,
> the Norfolk Court system is that if you arent cold hearted
> and uncaring for your children then a housewife has no
> chance in the world of keeping her children, even the
> working ones. That is a very very sad state for women to be
> in. I work during school hours so I am able to be there for
> my kids when they return home but that is obviously not
> good enough for the state of Virginia. I have learned that
> in order to keep the children a woman carried and nurtured
> from birth on they must be magicians and hold down a high
> paying job and still be able to be there when the chiklren
> come home from school. All I can say now is that I did my
> best to protect my children from the violence and alcohol
> that my husband brought into our home and recieved no help
> whatsoever from the state itself , the court system , the
> Navy, and social services in Norfolk. I am very angry and
> very hurt that I tried to protect my children and recieved
> cold shoulders. Now my three children are in a home which
> they do not want to be in and have expressed that to family
> members and friends.
>
> Thank you for your time ,
>

Re: virginia legal system , 2/17/04, by Stefanie.

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