Deaf Daughter Wins Custody Fight

A deaf girl’s father who had refused to learn sign language has lost permanent custody of his daughter to the girl’s school interpreter.

District Court Judge Shelly Holt said that both of Sonya Kinney’s parents had been neglectful and that her father, Norman, placed “his need to consume alcohol over his child’s craving for affection and attention.”

Sonya, 15, was overjoyed by the ruling on Thursday.

“I’m saved. You saved my life,” Sonya told the interpreter, Joanie Hughes, through sign language. She ran to the bench and held her arms up to the judge, who took her hand.

Norman Kinney testified during the three-day hearing that he knows only two words in sign language--book and dog. He demonstrated by holding his hands in front of him as if holding a book and by snapping his fingers.

“I just feel guilty about Sonya being hearing-impaired,” he said earlier Thursday. “If the courts give Sonya back to me, I want her to teach me sign language. I want to learn to communicate with Sonya.”

He left court without comment after the ruling.

Sonya, who was born hearing-impaired, testified that she is scared of her father, especially when he drinks heavily.

Norman Kinney and Sonya’s mother, Leanne Estes, are divorced. Estes, who also does not know sign language, gave up permanent custody of Sonya to her ex-husband in January, after about five years of shared custody.