| Please Help Families like Ashley's Stay Together and Thrive! |
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Ashley worked hard caring for her toddler Alexis while attending classes full-time in the Rockford area to earn her college degree. She balanced her academic goals with her responsibilities as a mother well, despite the troubles she faced from her sometimes violent live-in boyfriend. However, the issues escalated out of control in November of 2009. After a long day of classes and school work, Ashley returned home. Her boyfriend Ken, who weighed one hundred pounds more and was half a foot taller than Ashley, had evidently been drinking. He was watching television while their then-seventeen-month-old daughter, Alexis, played in a nearby play room. When Ashley tried to change the channel, Ken cursed at her, squeezed her wrist, and slammed her body to the ground, causing her great pain and injuring her lower back. When she arose, Ashley noticed that her young daughter Alexis had wandered into the room, but was fortunately never injured herself. Ashley took the incident very seriously; she immediately ended the relationship, moved out of their shared apartment, and secured an order of protection against Ken the very next day.
Despite taking proactive steps to protect herself and her daughter, Ashley was soon notified by DCFS that she was to be indicated for child neglect, specifically for causing an “environment injurious to health and welfare” of Alexis. Due to the “indicated” report labeling her guilty of child neglect, Ashley became hesitant to follow through with her plans to enroll in a medical technician program at a local college. With her future in limbo, Ashley was in desperate need of legal representation to help get this terrible black mark off her record.
Sadly, Ashley lost her case at the first level of the DCFS hearing system. The DCFS Administrative Law Judge ruled against her, holding her equally responsible as Ken for the incident in which she was clearly the victim. Luckily for Ashley, the Family Defense Center then stepped in and took her case on appeal. The Center represents many mothers who are domestic violence victims as part of the Center’s Mothers’ Defense Project, believing these mothers are being unfairly blamed for their own status as victims. The Center recognizes the importance of helping a mother like Ashley to be able to support herself and her child. The Family Defense Center’s Staff Attorney Allegra Cira Fischer represented Ashley in briefing and arguing the case. After a long delay during which DCFS got briefing stopped, the Circuit Court in Rockford ruled in Ashley’s favor and her record was expunged. Thanks to the advocacy of the Family Defense Center, Ashley’s and Alexis’s lives can return to normal, with Ashley’s academic goals and career plans back on track. As Ashley says, “Without legal representation by the Family Defense Center, I wouldn’t have been able to carry on with my life and take care of my daughter. My three years of college would have been for nothing. The Family Defense Center strengthened my backbone, my belief in myself, and my faith in the system of justice.” Please help us help more deserving mothers, fathers, and their children by contributing to the Family Defense Center. Please donate as generously as you can this holiday season, and help us help these families in their time of need. Ashley and Alexis thank you for your support!
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