A Mother and Child Reunion

The Nightmare may finally be over

By David Jaques

AJ Pichette with daughter Nakota, and son Liam - Beacon Staff PhotoRoseburg, OR-The new year promises to be the best ever for Roseburg mother, AJ Pichette, who for over four years has been battling with the state of Oregon and Douglas County to get her daughter back.

Sunday afternoon, January 15, at about 2:00 p.m., four year old Nakota, was finally returned to her mother after four years of court battles and hearings that would ultimately determine her fate. Bright eyed, precocious, “Kota”, as her mother calls her, couldn’t possibly know how fierce the battle was, nor how many state agency case workers and lawyers were involved, nor could she possibly grasp the amount spent on legal costs, estimated to be in excess of $100,000, in an effort to keep the child from her from her mother.

AJ told the Beacon that, although she never gave up hope of being permanently reunited with Kota, she became skeptical that this day would ever actually arrive. The cause of her pessimism, she said, was “because they never had a good reason” to take her daughter in the first place, let alone keep her all these years.

The Oregon Court of Appeals agreed, and on October 19, 2011, issued a decision which terminated the state’s jurisdiction in the matter of Nakota Eckel. That didn’t faze the local DHS officials, who had been managing the case for over four years. Within hours they made plans to file another petition to strip AJ Pichette of her custodial right to her daughter.

On November 15, 2011, AJ once again found herself in court, this time with Judge Randy Garrison presiding, once again facing a formidable host of DHS case workers and attorneys for the state, her four year old daughter’s state appointed lawyer, and for the first time, lawyers hired by the foster parents, Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies Kimberly and Mike Root, who plead for intervention in the case.

The proceedings lasted several days and ultimately concluded with Judge Garrison ordering that Kota be returned to her natural mother. The Court order, signed by Garrison, read “custody remains with DHS; transfer to mother’s home shall be made through a plan developed by the parties, gradually over a period of time.”

Kareen LaValley, AJ’s court appointed attorney, said even then the transition did not occur smoothly as ordered by the court. She was forced to file another motion with Judge Garrison to “Compel DHS to comply with [the] Court Order”.

After LaValley’s filing with the court, things began to improve, and the court ordered “return to mother” plan finally began to take shape with extended and more frequent visits, culminating in the happy reuniting of AJ and her daughter Nakota on January 15, 2011, over four years since they originally separated.

Not only did AJ suffer the endless process of complying with state ordered requirements over the past four years to continue seeing her daughter, she was also required to pay monthly child support to the foster parents, who were also paid by the state to care for Kota.

According to AJ, the turning point, leading to the termination of the state’s claim to jurisdiction over her daughter, was their second trip to the Oregon Court of Appeals. She also credited State Representative Tim Freeman with being instrumental in getting the state level DHS agency involved in reviewing the case and their assigning a new case worker. Pichette believes that DHS case worker Corey McGovern, who had been battling to keep Kota from going home to her mother, was removed from the case, due to errors pointed out by the Court of Appeals.

Representative Freeman, when notified of Kota’s return to her mother said, “I am very happy with this outcome. I was disappointed, after getting involved, to learn about all the mistakes that had occurred in this case. Hopefully the Agency has learned from this process.” Rep. Freeman added “I am glad this family is finally reunited.”

Freeman said that the foster family also suffered through the ordeal due to the state’s mishandling of the case.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, Kota was playing with her two year old brother Liam, as their mother AJ looked on, obviously overjoyed to finally have her family re-united, hopefully for good.

Editor’s note: As this article goes to press, there is yet another custody hearing set for Wednesday, January 18, 2012, in Judge Garrison’s courtroom. Although the Douglas County Deputy. D.A. informed LaValley, late Tuesday, that they intend to file a motion for dismissal of the state’s latest petition, and Attorney Thomas Bernier, representing Kota, indicated he will not object, LaValley said she is still prepared to put on her case, and has witnesses scheduled to appear.

According to LaValley, the only possibility that the case isn’t concluded on January 18, would be if the legal counsel hired by the Roots, who were made parties to the case by Judge Garrison, object to the dismissal.

Reprinted with permission from the Roseburg Beacon News, Vol.5- Issue 3 January 18, 2012