Pubdate: Sat, 29 May 2010
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2010 The Register-Guard
Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/#contribute-a-letter
Website: http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Mark Baker

JUDGE ORDERS BOY, 12, BACK TO CANADA

Noah Kirkman, Who Has Been In State Custody Since 2008, Will Go To
Live With His Maternal Grandparents

Making it clear he had grave concerns that it might not  be in the
child's best interest, Lane County Juvenile  Court Judge Kip Leonard
nonetheless ordered that a  12-year-old Canadian boy who has been in a
Springfield  foster home since last fall be returned to Canada to
live with his maternal grandparents.

"I am confident in my legal decision that Noah return  to Canada,"
said Leonard, announcing his decision after  Friday's hearing in the
international child custody  dispute. "I am not as confident in my
social decision."

Noah Kirkman has been under the custody of the Oregon  Department of
Human Services since 2008.

Leonard said Noah's mother, Lisa Kirkman, a Calgary,  Alberta, medical
marijuana advocate, "abandoned" him in  Oakridge in the summer of 2008
when she left him with  his stepfather, John Kirkman, who has health
issues and  also uses medical marijuana.

"I didn't ask him where he wants to be, but he told me  where he wants
to be," Leonard said, referring to the  half-hour meeting he had with
the boy before the  hearing. "Noah is very happy where he is," Leonard
  said. "It's not a criticism of his grandparents. He has  had success
he has never had before. But he continues  to be a young man with some
very special needs."

After Oakridge police kept spotting an unsupervised  Noah, then 10,
doing such things as riding his bicycle  on Highway 58 without a
helmet and playing in an  industrial park, they called the Springfield
office of  the DHS toward the end of the summer of 2008.

Case workers took custody after discovering Noah had a  lengthy case
file in Canada, a history of living in  foster homes there, and that
Lisa Kirkman had been  convicted for growing marijuana in British
Columbia,  where she ran a medical marijuana dispensary, in 2003.
Noah was first taken to the SCAR/Jasper Mountain SAFE  Center for
abused and emotionally disturbed children  before being placed in
foster care.

Lisa Kirkman, 34, and her parents, Michael, 58, and  Phyllis Heltay,
60, have been pleading for Noah's  return to Canada for almost two
years. Kirkman went  public with her cause earlier this year, starting
a  Facebook page -- "Return Noah Kirkman to Canada NOW! --  that now
has more than 4,000 "fans," and contacting  Oregon politicians, the
governor's office and local  media. She sent The Register-Guard DHS
case files last  winter.

On May 9, Mother's Day, she held a rally on the steps  of Calgary's
federal government building with other  protesters, who carried signs
asking Canadian Prime  Minister Stephen Harper and President Obama to
help  facilitate Noah's return.

According to court records, Oregon officials earlier  this year told
Kirkman she had to comply with several  conditions before they would
return her son. Those  included receiving therapy for borderline
personality  disorder, undergoing parent training, establishing a
safe home in Canada for her son and living a drug-free  life.
Kirkman's interest in pot stems from her  husband's battle with
myalgic encephalomyelitis, a  neurological disease, she has said.

Kirkman said last winter that she was living in  Montreal in the
spring of 2008 with Noah and her  daughter, Mia, now 7, and was
planning to move back to  her hometown of Calgary because she thought
it would  have better services for Noah.

The boy has been diagnosed with attention deficit  hyperactivity
disorder, or ADHD, a neuro -behavioral  disorder, and oppositional
defiant disorder, or ODD.  After visiting Oakridge with her son and
daughter, she  and her daughter returned to Calgary while Noah stayed
behind.

Lisa Kirkman has only been allowed to speak to her son  during weekly
supervised phone conversations since the  DHS took custody of Noah.

Leonard said Friday that her leaving Noah in Oregon was  not "for the
right reasons. It was an example of  extremely poor judgment on the
part of Ms. Kirkman," he  said.

Parents are entrusted to do everything they can for  their children,
to make sure they are safe, Leonard  said. "There is a bond that is
created -- a societal  bond. Whether we are here or in Canada or New
Zealand,  it doesn't matter. The bond has been broken several  times
by (Lisa) Kirkman."

The state, however, led by assistant attorney general  Kamala Shugar,
argued Friday that Noah should be  returned to Calgary to live with
his grandparents.

"It was a grueling day," Michael Heltay said after  Leonard's
decision. "But the results are phenomenal. We  just want to get him
back home to Calgary -- bottom  line."

A social worker with Calgary and Area Child and Family  Services
testified by phone Friday that it will take  over Noah's case from
Oregon and immediately do an  assessment upon his return with the goal
of eventually  returning him to his mother, who initially will only be
  allowed to see her son every two weeks during  supervised visits.

During testimony, Phyllis Heltay was asked by Lisa  Kirkman's 
court-appointed attorney, Ilisa Rooke-Ley:  "You now understand you would, 
in a sense, be Noah's  legal guardian? And you're willing to protect 
him,  possibly at the cost of your relationship with your  daughter?"

Heltay said yes.

Lisa Kirkman, who also participated in the hearing by  phone because
she is no longer allowed to travel to the  United States because of
her criminal record, was less  than thrilled with the result, despite
Leonard's  granting the state's wish.

"Basically, what the judge said was, ‘I don't  want to send him
back but legally I have to,'aE " Lisa  Kirkman said by telephone from
Calgary. "Who knows when  he'll come back?"

A DHS transition team will plan for Noah to return to  Canada in two
to four weeks, Phyllis Heltay said.

Marc Spence, a Eugene attorney appointed by the court  to represent
Noah, argued that the boy has had the most  success in his young life
since joining his foster  family on 6 acres in Springfield last year.
He is a  straight-A student and is on fewer medications, Spence  said.

"I do think we should be paying attention to what Noah  says," Spence
said in closing arguments. "He's 12 years  old ... but I think he has
earned a say in what happens  to him. He does not want to live in
Canada. He does not  want to be with his mother."

Michael Heltay ex --pressed frustration that it took  two years to get
his grandson back to Canada.

"We were told from the beginning that it would be a  short-term thing
and then it just dragged on," he said.

"The same international laws that got Elian Gonzalez to  Cuba and Sean
Golden back to Brazil are precisely the  laws that should have gotten
Noah back to Canada,"  Michael Heltay said of two other well-known
international child custody disputes in recent years. 
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