A Father's Right

By Anthony Gallo

A parent's greatest wish is to love and raise their children. When my daughter, Danielle, was born, I easily could have been the happiest man in the world. At that time, I never could have imagined that she would one day be ripped out of my life and legally kept away from me. For years, I went up against a biased and dysfunctional legal system, Family Court, which claims to have "the best interest of the children" in mind, yet has no consideration for fathers. My simple response to the flawed system's claim is that it takes two parents to serve the "best interest of the children". This story is about my fight for compassion and justice. It's about the startling and damaging effects of "Parent Alienation" on both me and my daughter. Ultimately, this book is a testament of my love for my beautiful little girl, Danielle, with whom I often daydream of meeting again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 30, 2007
• ISBN: 9780595905812

Anthony Gallo

Anthony Gallo is a native New Yorker and grew up in Queens. He has done some acting and has been installing alarm systems in Manhattan for over fifteen years. He currently lives in Astoria, Queens with his family.

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A Father’s Right

Anthony Gallo

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Lincoln Shanghai

A Father’s Right

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Gallo

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-0-595-46284-1 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-90581-2 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1

Things Are Always Good In The Beginning

2

A History of Fatherless Children

3

The First Court Date

4

Fathers Not Considered!

5

Back to Court

6

Supervised Visits

7

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

8

Class Depression

9

True To My Word

10

The Next Court Date

11

Bag Full Of Tricks

12

Child Support Blues

13

Take It To The Supreme Court

14

Tony Fish

15

More Drama

16

Fending For Myself

17

Longing For My Child

18

More Value In A Mother’s Word

19

Forensic Evaluation

20

Desperate Dad

21

Waiting It Out

22

Liberty Medal

23

Father’s Rights Movement

24

Beth’s Visitation Center

25

Beth’s Visitation Disaster

26

Therapeutic Supervised Visits

27

My Testament

28

The Beginning of the End

29

Another Beginning

30

New Lawyer, New Problems

31

Just Another Way The Courts Favored Mothers

32

Life In Foster Care

33

Interfering With Our Father-Daughter Relationship

34

And Even More Waiting

35

Caught In The Middle

36

Changing My Petition

37

Canned Petition

38

Attempting To Separate

39

Something To Bring Us Closer

40

Close To Being Unbearable

41

A Picture Order of Protection

42

Handling The Situation Myself

43

Help Wherever I Could Get It

44

Positive Views Of Fathers

45

Keeping My Daughter’s Best

Interest In Mind

For my daughter

All I ever wanted was to be your dad. I Love You!

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for always keeping an open ear and an open mind:

My mother and father, who have always shown me right from wrong. My precious niece Jamie, who has always shown a deep love for her cousin. I love you, honey!

My brothers Nicky and Johnny, who have always put up with me. My Aunts, Uncles and Cousins for hearing my cries. My very close friends: Vinny & Annette, Tony & Kim, Tommy, Hans, the guys at work, and everyone else that has been part of my pain. John and the guys at Buon Appetit. Marien and the women from Sky Salon

for allowing me to vent. My roommate Monica (Eun-hwa Gu). And my neighbors, you know who you are. My friend George for all the times we grouped our thoughts down Astoria Park.

Keep up the great work bringing up your son, Chance.

Dr. Ryder, who always encouraged me to fight for what I believed in, and to overcome the anger associated with it. Arthur Trakis, my old attorney, who believed in me and gave me the chance to prove myself, both mentally and financially. I, especially, would like to thank Lissette Norman for editing my manuscript and always understanding my feelings.

Prologue

One day I was working in a jewelry store in Brooklyn, installing an alarm system. I had finished early and was on my way home. I boarded a crowded Q train at New Kirk Avenue, headed for Manhattan, and stood near the doors at the tail of the train. I always had trouble shutting my eyes on the train. I preferred to stay alert and watchful of who is leaving or occupying the seat next to me.

At the next stop, a woman wearing a nurse’s uniform got on the train with another woman who appeared to be her co-worker, and immediately caught my eye. Because there weren’t many seats available, they had to sit across from each other. By the time we reached Atlantic Avenue, the nurse had closed her eyes and her head slowly began to drop. As we pulled into the station, I scanned the train to see who was leaving so I could finally get a seat.

When I glanced back at the sleeping nurse, I noticed a tall, slim man standing in front of her. He looked dirty, seemingly homeless and suspicious. The young man clutched a very worn plastic bag tightly at his side as if it was his only possession in the world. Just as the train doors opened, the man slapped the unknowing nurse across the face. He struck her so hard, her glasses flew a good distance across the train. Immediately, the horrified riders jumped away from the man and started screaming. I wondered, What is this guy doing? Seconds after, he slapped her once more across the other side of her face, slicing it open and causing blood to gush from her face. It happened so quickly that I never saw what he used to cut her with in his hand. Chaos broke out on the train.

And just before the doors closed, the deranged homeless man ran off the train. He dashed through the exit at the middle of the train and I shot out another set of doors near me, barely making it out in time. There was no way I could have let that guy get away. Once outside the train, I ended up right before the subway station exit. Unaware that I had set out to stop him, I spotted the man running in my direction, towards the exit. I tossed my workbag full of tools to the ground just as he got close to me. Then I threw a left hook and hit him in the head. And before he had any time to respond, I tackled and knocked him onto the platform where he landed on his chest. I pinned him down with my knee and attempted to grab the hand yielding a steak knife. Finally, I managed a solid grasp of his hand so he could not cut me. At this point, the train conductor realized that an incident had occurred and stopped the train we both ran out of.

Above all the screaming, I suddenly heard a woman yell, He’s got another knife in his other hand!

I turned towards his other hand and could see him preparing to cut me with a second knife. I had been restraining him with both my hands so I instinctively used my foot to squash down his hand with the second knife. Then someone in the crowd rushed over and pried the steak knife out of his hand.

I could hear screaming and angry shouting, You lunatic!

Then a bunch of feet started flying by me from all directions. People stomped and kick the man repeatedly, making it difficult for me to hold him down. When I finally looked up, I spotted the visibly shaken nurse through the large crowd sitting on a bench. She was surrounded by a group of concerned bystanders and pressed a bloody towel or shirt to her face. I was shocked; I hadn’t realized how badly he cut her. I also noticed that the plastic bag the man had been carrying was filled with steak knives. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt a sudden urge to leave. Adrenaline swelled through my body and so much was running through my head. I thought of my daughter. More than ever, I needed to see her. If only her mother’s heart could soften, if we could put our differences aside, and I could hold her once more. It had been months since I saw Sofia and I felt her absence the worst in that moment. I asked a man standing over me to please take over and continue holding the man down until the police arrived.

After rising to my feet, people that had crowded around us told me that I had done a good thing by not letting him get away. But all I could think about was my strong need to get out of there. I grabbed my bag and walked down to the other end of the platform, away from the crowd. That area was empty of people so I was able to sit for a moment, to gather my thoughts and try to process what had just happened. And that’s when I noticed the blood. Until that moment, I didn’t know that I had also been cut. Blood dripped from my wrist onto my pants and I tried to recall the moment when the man could have cut me. I hadn’t even felt pain until then.

Panic set in and, though it didn’t appear to be a deep cut, I wondered if I should get a tetanus shot. I decided to walk back over to where the man who cut me was being held. By then, the area was swarmed with police officers. I approached a female officer, told her I had also been cut while stopping the offender from getting away, and she had me sit on the bench alongside the nurse until the ambulance arrived.

I looked over at the older woman and asked, Is there anything I could do for you? Holding the shirt to her face, she seemed to still be in a state of shock, and shook her head. On the other side of her, sat her co-worker, who was speaking on a cell phone with a member of the nurse’s family.

Many of the police officers and detectives spoke with me and asked what had happened. They also commended me for apprehending the offender. They informed me that he fit the description of a man who had stabbed another person in the head with a pair of scissors the day before. From what I understood, it had happened at Atlantic Avenue on the # 2 train line. A man had been reading a newspaper near the doors and, when they opened, he was stabbed in the head. The perpetrator ran out of the train before anyone could catch him. This information added to my state of shock. It also struck me then that my actions probably saved many more people from getting hurt.

When the ambulance arrived, we were escorted out of the subway station by the police and taken into the ambulance. I didn’t necessarily feel I needed an ambulance as much as the nurse did, but went along anyway. When she finally lowered the shirt away from her face, I was able to see the horrible gash that ran from the corner of her left eye to the bottom of her ear. My heart winced. Half an inch more and he would have cut into her eye.

Then I wondered why it had been her fate that day. Not that anyone deserved such a brutal attack. But she’s a nurse, I thought. Hadn’t this guy ever been sick or in the hospital? Nurses are such special people with big hearts and a noble commitment to helping others. But instead this guy wanted to hurt her. I concluded that he had to have been crazy.

She seemed to be handling the situation well. In the ambulance, I asked the nurse, What’s your name?

Erica, she replied in a soft West Indian accent.

I sat beside her, holding her hand until we reached the hospital.

1

Things Are Always Good In The Beginning

Jana and I were both thrilled when we found out she