"When I first started practicing family law, I was given a case regarding a young father who was trying very hard to provide a stable environment for his child. The mother had unfortunately been on drugs, as well as in and out of jail periodically, and so it was important to this man to protect his child from that sort of lifestyle. At the same time, he also exhibited feelings of reluctance that often times I see clients possess. Either they are gun shy, anxious, don’t want to upset the other side, etc. Whatever the reason, he needed someone to help fight for him, which is what I did. I expressed to him that when it comes to children cases, the focus should be on the children. What is in their best interest is the primary focus. So, he followed my lead and as always, we proceeded in a stern, but good faith manner. After a long, hard fought trial with multiple witnesses, drug test results, and the like, we were able to make sure that the child remained with him, and that the mother needed to do some things to rehabilitate herself before coming back into the picture. As always, the idea is not to totally oust one parent from being in a child’s life; that’s not the idea at all. The idea is more to make sure that other parent is in a position where he/she can facilitate time with the child, while maintaining their health, safety, and welfare. In this case, the child remained happily with the father, and the mother was ordered to follow a plan that would allow her the ability to come back into the child’s life.
In a similar case, I also recall a very moving situation, whereby at the end of the trial, when the judge was making her pronouncements in favor of my client, my client’s family began crying tears of joy. My client’s parents (Grandma and Grandpa) huddled around my client in the back of the courtroom afterwards, and as they were all expressing their joy, and patting me on the back (literally), I realized what sort of impact this profession has on each individual family."
—Terry DeSalvo Jr., Esq.
Jr. Partner at Family First Legal Group