Boys, Claiming Abuse, Try to ‘Divorce’ Parents

Alleging that they have been physically and emotionally abused all their lives, two Orange County brothers are attempting to “divorce” their parents in a court action that their attorneys say is the first of its kind in California.

In a Superior Court lawsuit filed Thursday, the older brother, 15, is seeking to end his relationship with his father and stepmother, claiming that they constantly beat and mistreat him.

Family Court Commissioner Richard G. Vogl ordered court officers to investigate the boy’s allegations so that a decision on temporary custody can be made before a trial is held.

In a separate lawsuit filed a day earlier, the boy’s 11-year-old adopted brother made similar allegations of parental abuse, and requested separation from his parents, as part of their divorce case.

The boys’ parents could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuits by the Orange County youngsters come two months after the 5th District Court of Appeal in Florida ruled in a widely publicized case that a 13-year-old boy had no legal right to divorce his biological mother because he is a minor. The decision is being appealed.

Similar lawsuits have been filed by children in Arizona, South Carolina and Michigan.

“From what I know, this action is unprecedented” in California, said Daniel Boehm, president of the family law section of the Orange County Bar Assn. “A parent has a constitutional right to parent his or her child, and to sever it requires clear and convincing evidence.”

“I haven’t heard of it being done because the burden of proof is so exceedingly high,” Boehm said. “It would be difficult, if not impossible, unless your parents were Charles Manson or something.”

But Richard C. Gilbert, an Orange attorney who is representing the brothers, said he plans to prove that “it’s a detriment to continue the parent-child relationship. There is clear and convincing evidence of abuse,” he said.

According to Gilbert, the brothers recently reported their alleged abuse to their local police. When social workers began to investigate, their father moved them to a trailer home in San Bernardino County, outside the jurisdiction of the child abuse workers, Gilbert said.

But the boys telephoned Gilbert from a post office near their new residence, telling him about their life of abuse.

Gilbert said the brothers alleged that the mother pointed a loaded handgun at the older child’s head, that she tried to run over the younger one with an automobile, that both parents consumed drugs, including cocaine, in the presence of the children, and that they frequently beat and abandoned them.

Social services workers had not taken any action to protect the children, Gilbert said.

“This is why the children don’t want a juvenile court case,” Gilbert said. “The purpose of juvenile court is to establish a reunification and the kids do not want to reunify. They want a divorce.”

Gene Howard, director of the county’s Children’s Services Department, said social workers had received the complaints and “we’re investigating them at this point.” Howard said he could not provide additional details.

The 15-year-old boy is the natural son of the father, described by Gilbert as a 42-year-old unemployed Orange County man. The boy’s estranged natural mother lives in Washington.

The 11-year-old was adopted at age 2 by the father and his wife, who are now involved in their own divorce case.

The younger boy has always enjoyed a relationship with his grandmother. Now he wants to be reunited with her and his natural mother, who lives with his grandmother. The 15-year-old wants to join them.

Gilbert said the strained relationship between the father and sons continued Wednesday night when the man went to the grandmother’s home, where the boys are now staying, to force the youngsters to leave with him.

“The children threw fits, and kicked and screamed, so the father allowed the children to stay with their grandmother,” Gilbert said.

Boehm, the family court expert, described the case as a social tragedy.

“This saddens me because it belongs in a therapist’s office,” he said, “not a court of law.”