Don’t Condemn the Judge

In the case of Michael Fingert vs. Pamela Fingert Besser, those who have condemned Judge Edwin M. Osborne and the Ventura County Family Relations Department for the decision that Joshua was to travel 300 miles and attend two different schools for kindergarten are in error!

Joshua’s parents alone are responsible for his traveling dilemma, which brought on depression and an inability to function in school. One or both should have moved! Instead they sat back in their prideful stalemate and watched their son suffer.

In September, 1988, Judge Charles R. McGrath stepped in to help poor Joshua, because his parents wouldn’t. He gave Pam Besser the choice of moving from San Francisco back to Ventura or lose custody of her son. I have to ask--why did she move away in the first place? Being a bright lady, I’m sure she was aware that when it came time for Joshua to enter school, the distance between their residences would create a major problem.

Obviously she assumed that since she is the mother, she would get sole custody. Joshua’s time with his father would then change from continual contact in his father’s home, to being a visitor every other weekend and on vacation breaks. What gives any parent the right to move away for a career when it drastically affects the child’s time spent with the other parent?

Every parent has a moral obligation to respect the child’s relationship with the other parent, and they should restrain themselves from creating situations which will interfere.

JUDITH HOFFMAN

Camarillo