Petition 13: the Nardone Petition

Additional commentary by Timothy Horrigan
(member of the House Petitions & Redress Committee)

(Click here to download PDF)

See Also:

Hope Nardone appeared before the old Ad-Hoc Redress Caucus in 2010. She told a harrowing story involving her two adopted children. She adopted two siblings from the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. (Actually I distinctly remember her saying it was Belarus in 2010, but most likely my brain simply mixed up one oddly-named former Soviet Republic with another.) Her daughter is doing well, but her son is doing very badly indeed— in large part, she tells us, because of decisions made by the family-law system.

I redacted part of her especially inflammatory third grievance after concluding that it would be wrong to leave it on my web site. If you want to see it, there are other places where you can find it. I have also redacted the names of two low-level DCYF employees, who in my opinion did nothing wrong.

PETITION 13

PETITION FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCE

TO: The Honorable House of Representatives

FROM: Petitioner Representative Daniel C. Itse, Rockingham 9

DATE: September 20, 2011

SUBJECT: Grievance of Hope Nardone

Your Petitioner Representative Itse on behalf of Hope Nardone hereinafter presents the following summary of her grievance and invokes the constitutional authority and duty of the Honorable House of Representatives pursuant to Articles 31 and 32 to bring about redress:

Grievances involving the members of the Division of Children, Youth, and Families including [two names redacted] for the following:

Making false statements to the Social Security Administration in order to receive mental illness financial benefits for a minor while refusing mental health services.
Alleging abuse/neglect because a parent sought mental health help for a minor.
Failing to disclose unsafe/aggressive behaviors including [redacted].
Omission of same from DCYF documentation.
Practicing medicine by refusal to comply with physician orders.
Refusing to transport and refusing to use Safe Passages transportation to bring a minor to family visits and physician ordered appointments.
Violating HIPAA practice of medicine involving slandering of the parent.
Withholding exculpatory evidence.
Failing to comply with Brentwood Family Court's court-ordered family visits.
Refusing to allow visitation hours during times that would allow the parent to return to work.

Wherefore, your Petitioner prays that the House of Representatives consider this proposed remedy:

Amend the laws of the State as follows:

Define the precise guidelines for the following terms for all State and medical/health providers regarding "in the best interest of the child" and "good faith reporting" in order to protect children and families from malicious reporting bias.
Remove State agency worker immunity regarding criminal penalties for failing to act in the best interest of the child/family or acting outside the scope of his or her practice to acquire a child into state custody.
Modify ex-parte hearings to protect a parent's/family's right to speak on a child's behalf and to defend themselves against allegations of abuse/neglect and to prevent psychological injury to the child.
Specify a time frame in which exculpatory evidence must be presented by the State.
Create rules of evidence requiring discovery and acceptance of all evidence which may clear a parent/family and return the child.
Require documentation beyond reasonable doubt showing attempts to locate and place the child with the grandparents or other family members prior to placing a child into foster care.

Respectfully submitted by Petitioner Representative Itse on Behalf of Hope Nardone.

It took six months for Ms. Nardone's hearing to take place. The committee chair says she had "issues" which prevented her from appearing.

Her son is now in an institutional setting in Massachusetts, apparently in a state-run facility, and she assured us that he is being well cared for. Her other child is doing fine. But she still has many grievances against the State of New Hampshire.

Ms. Nardone gave us a lengthy and dramatic narrative, which I used to have on this website— but it seemed best to take it down.

Ms. Nardone returned to repeat her earlier testimony in June 2012, and then the committee issued the following Majority and Minority report in the June 22 House Calendar.

PETITION #13 grievance of Hope Nardone.

Note from Rep. Horrigan: I redacted a couple of references to Ms. Nardone's grievance #3.

Grievance Founded with Recommendations.

Committee Majority Findings:

After hearing the Petition of Hope Nardone and seeing the supporting documentation and the written testimony of witnesses and receiving no response from the Division for Children, Youth, and Families, the House Committee on Redress of Grievances finds that employees of DCYF:

Did indeed make false statements to the Social Security Administration in order to receive mental illness financial benefits for a minor;
Failed to disclose unsafe and aggressive behaviors including [redacted] by a child in their care to the court and the parent including [redacted], and omitted them from subsequent DCYF documentation when they might have been used as exculpatory evidence;
Practiced medicine by allowing a nurse to override the orders of a child's physician;
Violated the Health Insurance Patient Protection Act and slandered a parent by revealing a (non-existent) mental health condition of that parent to school staff;
Failed to comply with court ordered family visits and persistently refused to make visiting arrangements that matched a parent's work schedule despite requests of same.

Recommendations

The Committee agrees with the Petitioner in recommending that the laws of the State of New Hampshire be so amended as to:

Define more precisely the guidelines for all state agencies regarding "the best interests of the child" and "good faith reporting" to protect children and families from reporting bias and abuse;
Include time frames in which exculpatory evidence must be presented by state agencies and departments, and support the re-introduction of HB 415 (introduced in 2012) making it more difficult for agencies to hold back exculpatory evidence;
Remove state agency worker immunity regarding criminal penalties for failing to act in the best interests of the child, acting outside the scope of his or her practice to acquire a child into state custody, put up a child for adoption, put child into foster care, or for failing to follow court orders;
Modify ex-parte hearings to protect a parent's or family's right to speak on a child's behalf as well as to defend themselves against allegations of abuse or neglect and to prevent psychological or other injury to the child;
Create a standing governmental oversight committee of the House similar to that of the U. S. Congress to be available when instances such as these are uncovered;
Make policies and procedures for adoption statutory guaranteeing that family members are given first priority unless there is overwhelming evidence that such placement is not in the best interests of the child;
Make better use of independent family advocacy organizations and programs in child welfare issues.

Vote 7-3.

Rep. Joseph Pitre for the Majority of the Committee

MINORITY

Grievance Unfounded.

Committee Minority Findings:

The Minority agrees that Ms. Nardone's situation is tragic. She is the adoptive mother of two children from the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. The younger child proved to have serious behavioral problems. The Division for Children Youth and Families' efforts to help her son were not entirely successful, but the Minority sees no pattern of malfeasance: DCYF personnel acted in good faith. The Minority also finds that Ms. Nardone's suggested remedies would make it more difficult for the DCYF to help families with problems like hers.

Rep. Timothy Horrigan for the Minority of the Committee.

2011 House Petitions:

See Also:

Home

The Forgotten Liars

2011 Session