The LAW & LAWYERS Blog

A Family Court judge ruled in 2004 that a homeless couple who are addicted to drugs were banned from having any more kids until they were able to take care of the four children they have already produced and had taken away from them.

Stephanie Pendleton and Rodney Evers already have four children, three who were born addicted to cocaine, who are currently placed in other homes.

Pendleton, who is now 38, appealed the Family Court judge’s ruling. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the appeal saying that the family court judge had overstepped her boundaries and basically ordered the couple to stop having sex, use birth control or get surgically sterilized. The Family Court judge said that she was within her legal boundaries because by law the court can order medical treatment.

A five judge appeals panel overturned the Family Court order which barred the couple from having more children. They found that the family court judge did not have the power to stop or limit procreation. The appeals panel did not overturn the Family Court decision that the couple’s four existing children were neglected and that the couple should have their parental rights taken away.

So Stephanie Pendleton and Rodney Evers are now free to have more children for the foster care system to take care of, if they so choose to procreate once again.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 30th, 2007 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Divorce Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.