"Help"
I just finished a troubling story about 14-year old Shannon Cowan who reported her mother in Ireland physically abused her. She made the allegation to her older sister, Melita Carter, while staying with her in Provo for the summer.
What followed was ultimately a failed attempt to get the legal system in Utah to afford Shannon some measure of protection while things were sorted out.
What went wrong?
Melita Carter and her husband, Chas, tried to get help. Melita says they called Provo Police, but were told that because the supposed abuse happened in Ireland, it was “out of their jurisdiction.”
They went to DCFS. The Carters told me they actually had a Guardian Ad Litem assigned to Shannon’s case. Simply put, that meant that Shannon now had her own attorney looking out for her and no one else. (On Thursday, I tried to talk to the attorney assigned to Shannon, but was told she was out of the office.)
What's more, the Carters got a private attorney who filed for a temporary protection order covering both Shannon and them.
They intended to petition for guardianship. To that end, they had enrolled Shannon at Timpview High School.
But Shannon’s parents in Ireland did not take this sitting down. They hired their own attorney in Provo and got their own temporary order.
Her father, Ian Cowan, came to Utah and on Wednesday, with the help of Provo Police (remember, the same folks who could do nothing about the abuse allegation), pulled Shannon out of class and hauled her off. The next morning they were airborne for Dublin, Ireland.
As far as I can tell, none of the judges who issued this order or that heard from all sides in this sad story. There was a full hearing scheduled for September 20th in 4th District Court in Provo. But now that hearing is moot. Shannon is gone.
I'm no lawyer
I don’t even play one on TV. But I thought temporary orders or injunctions were meant to stop immediate harm from taking place -- a legal “time out” imposed until the court could have a full hearing.
I thought temporary orders were supposed to stop bad things from happening.
Allowing this teenager to leave the jurisdiction of the court and return to the control of an alleged abuser sounds to me like a bad thing.
Troubling questions
During the critical hours when the Cowan’s attorney was getting a temporary order signed, where was the Guardian Ad Litem?
When police served that order on a reportedly frightened Shannon at school, where was the Guardian Ad Litem?
When Shannon was carried off to the airport, where was the Guardian Ad Litem?
Who spoke up for Shannon’s legal interests?
Oh, well
Perhaps it is better this way. Think of the time and money we saved by letting the “problem” simply board a plane and vanish. No more muss. No more fuss.
And now the judge can cancel that hearing on the 20th.
