Dad, stepdad battle for custody

BRIDGEPORT - A Newtown father is fighting to get his children back from their stepfather.

In a rare case, a Superior Court judge Monday will decide whether a father has more right to his children than the stepfather after their mother died.

“It took me a bit of research because in my 25 years of practice this is my first case like this,” said Derby lawyer Gayle Carr, who represents the father. “But a parent has the constitutional right to raise their children and we are trying to affirm that right.”

The names in the case are not being disclosed because of the age of the two children, a 17-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy.

Both now live with their stepfather in Fairfield and want to stay with him.

In 2005 the Newtown parents divorced, with the mother getting primary custody of the two children, according to court records. The mother subsequently remarried and she and her husband began raising the children in Fairfield.

Then on Oct. 21, the mother died from breast cancer.

“The plaintiff has repeatedly made efforts to see his children, to spend time with his children and to speak with his children,” states the father’s lawsuit. “In response to the plaintiff’s efforts the defendant has blocked his telephone in order to prevent telephone calls from the plaintiff; has contacted the Fairfield police to assist him in denying the plaintiff access to his children and has refused the plaintiff access to his children.”

Carr said they are now at the point where they are asking a judge to order the stepfather to turn over the children to the father.

“This is a father who loves his children, who hasn’t seen them in a while because there was alienation because of the mother after the divorce,” said Carr. “There is no history of abuse, neglect or bad behavior by the father. This is a situation where the stepfather is doing the same estrangement that the mother did.”

The stepfather, who is representing himself in the court action, did not return calls for comment.

“It’s very hard for a parent who has not been an involved parent to just step in and say, ‘Now you have to come with me,’” Carr acknowledged. “But he is their father and has rights.”