This week, the headlines have beared the bad news of two more little boys who lost their lives. It’s sad to hear when children die before they have even had the chance to live, but it’s even sadder to hear these two boys died at the hands of their father.
In the beginning of March, Duncan and Jack Connolly, ages 7 and 9, were reported missing. After spending some time with their father, Michael Connolly, they had not been dropped of Sunday, March 8.
After a month of pleading for the boys safe return and searching for the two boys, their bodies were discovered in Putnam County. It was not disclosed how the boys were killed, but the investigators are saying Michael killed the boys and then hung himself a few yards away.
The boys mother, Amy Leitchenberg, says the court system failed her two little ones. In 2006, Leitchenberg left Connolly and found refuge at a domestic violence shelter. Connolly was reported as abusive, which was documented in court several times.
The judge wanted Connolly to get a job, find a home and stop harrassing his ex-wife. When Connolly did, he was granted with unsupervised visits with Jack and Duncan, despite his history of threatening to cut open his wife, violating the order of protection taken out against him 57 times and concerns expressed about his erratic behavoir by a visitation supervisor.
Did our child custody laws fail these boys? Most state courts favor the idea of children having a relationship with both parents. If joint child custody is possible, the court will grant it. From there, it is up to the parents to work it out. But what happens if your spouse is just playing the system?
Despite Connolly’s past, he had Illinois divorce law on his side. Any parent without child custody is granted reasonable visitation rights, unless it’s felt that visitation would endanger the child. However, to prove that your child may be in danger, the custodial parent has a high burden of proof. Critics of the law are saying the law doesn’t really protect children from abusers.
I support the idea of both parents having an active role in their children’s lives, but I think the system failed Leitchenberg and her two sons. It’s hard to believe that a man with that much of a past was granted unsupervised visits with his sons. There are instances where people make improvements in their lives, but was nine months of “playing by the rule” enough proof that Connolly wasn’t a danger to his sons’ lives? I don’t think so.
To learn more about the Connolly case, check out the article in The Chicago Tribune. Does child custody laws need reformed? Have you felt like the law failed you? How do you think we should restructure our laws to better protect our children?
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