EDWARDSVILLE – A Madison County grandmother has no standing to petition for guardianship of her preschool-age granddaughter who she claims has endured years of physical and emotional abuse, an appeals court said in a recent ruling.
The minor, who will be 5 in July and is identified in court records as O.A.W., will remain in the custody of her mother, Erica R. Weatherford, the Illinois 5th District Court of Appeals said in its 17-page ruling handed down March 26. The appeals court affirmed a Madison County Circuit Court finding last year that Matthews lacked standing to seek guardianship of O.A.W. The child's grandmother, Judith M. Matthews, had argued on appeal that the circuit court had been wrong in its finding about her standing.
The child's father, Travis W. LaBlance, a registered sex offender since a 2008 conviction apparently unrelated to his daughter's guardianship case, is listed as the petitioner-appellee in the appeal while the child's mother is the respondent-appellee and the child's maternal grandmother is the intervening petitioner-appellant. Weatherford, Matthews and various witnesses are referred to throughout the appeals court ruling by their first names.
"The circuit court was in the best position to judge the witnesses' credibility and to resolve conflicts in the evidence," Justice David K. Overstreet wrote the appeals court ruling. "Accordingly, viewing the evidence in its entirety, we cannot reverse the circuit court's determination that Judith failed to rebut, by a preponderance of the evidence, the presumption that Erica was willing and able to make and carry out day-to-day child-care decisions concerning O.A.W. Therefore, we cannot reverse the trial court's conclusion that Judith lacked standing to bring the petition for guardianship."
Justice Richard P. Goldenhersh and Justice James R. Moore concurred in the ruling.
Matthews claims O.A.W. has suffered since shortly after her birth July 7, 2013.
"Judith alleged that Erica and her wife, Brooke Monigan, were raising O.A.W. in an environment that was emotionally, physically and mentally injurious to her," Overstreet wrote in the appeal court's ruling.
"Judith alleged that Erica and Brooke engaged in sexual relations in front of O.A.W. and Brooke’s three children, they bathed with the children, they physically assaulted one another in front of the children, and they failed to utilize child safety seats in their vehicles. Judith alleged that Erica failed to keep O.A.W. clean and free from physical injuries, Erica verbally abused O.A.W., Erica refused to take O.A.W. to medical providers when necessary, Erica repeatedly threatened suicide, and Erica admitted to physically abusing O.A.W. Judith alleged that O.A.W. had reported being sexually abused by the other children in Erica's household, that O.A.W. had been physically attacked and injured while in Erica's care, and that O.A.W. stayed with Judith the majority of 2014, 2015, and 2016."
The appeals court's 17-page ruling details those allegations but said that in December 2016, a court-appointed guardian ad litem reported Weatherford "was willing and able to make and carry out the day-to-day child-care decisions concerning O.A.W." and that Matthews' allegations, "including those of sexual abuse against Brooke and Erica, were not credible."
The appeals court ruling also refers to conflicting witness statements, which range from supporting Matthews' allegations of abuse to describing Weatherford as "loving" and stating that Weatherford's wife and O.A.W. "also have a good relationship."
The circuit court successfully sorted through that conflicting testimony, Overstreet wrote in the appeal court's ruling.
"The circuit court recognized the evidence that Erica 'was going through some issues' in the past but found that the credible evidence presented did not demonstrate that Erica had failed to properly supervise O.A.W.," Overstreet wrote in the ruling. "Indeed, the evidence presented supported a finding that Erica and Brooke cared for O.A.W. during extended periods, thereby resulting in Judith's complaint that they were keeping O.A.W. from her, which resulted in Judith's filing the petition for guardianship."