rockin'robin

The last time Christopher Culver saw his daughter was when she was 18 months old, around that time Culver was charged with committing multiple sex crimes against young boys who were his students at Okte Elementary School in Clifton Park. In 2008 Culver was convicted. He now wants the right to see his daughter who is five.

"A youngster at the age of 5 is clearly not in the position to make an informed decision of that nature and will rely on a responsible adult around her to help with structuring that." said Dr. Rudy Nydegger, Clinical Psychologist.

It's a judge that will make that final decision. Saratoga County Family Court and the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court ruled that the visits should be allowed. Culver's ex-wife is appealing that decision to the Court of Appeals.

"You have a judge applying a principal which he is bound to do, which is that a non-custodial parent is entitled to visitation even when he or she is in jail, unless there's substantial proof that it's going to be harmful to the child." explained Albany Defense Attorney, Paul Derohannesian.

DerOhanessian prosecuted sex crimes for 21 and a half years when he worked in the Albany County DA's office. He says, "For me it was one of the most frustrating parts of my jobs, seeing convicted sex offenders convicted of abusing their own children be entitled to have visitation."

The courts in the Culver case have so far ruled that visitation is in the child's best interest. Dr. Nydegger says what's best is not that easy to determine right now.

"I've personally has clients who had been prevented from seeing a parent under various different kinds of different circumstances, who then as they got to be an adolescent or a young adult resented the fact that they never had the opportunity to make the decision about the relationship themselves." said Nydegger.

Should a pedophile be granted parental visits? - WRGB Channel 6 News

Deafness

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rolling7

How can they have a visit when they are DEAD? Which is exactually the way a convicted child sex offender should be.

jillio

I feel the same way about intolerant, judgemental people who spew hate at every turn.

Glenn

Maybe he can have supervised visits. I have heard of this happening.

Beowulf

Yep. It should be on a case by case basis. I pay no attention to anyone's rap sheet since I know from personal experience how one can get slapped with the wrong record.

Beach girl

I would hope they would be supervised. No way would I want a 5 year old to be alone with this guy. Supervised, especially if they can figure out a way so that the supervision is somewhat discreet, might work out all right.

jillio

Yes. It is done all the time. I have a friend who runs an agency that treats sexually abused children. They also do all of the supervised visitation ordered by the courts. The visitation is very discreet. There is a room dedicated to just that purpose,furinished in a very child friendly manner, with toys and games, etc. A therapist observes the visit through a one way window that also has speakers connected. At the first sign of innappropriate behavior, contact, or word, the parent is removed from the room.


For those that follow the supervised visitation rules, the sessions are then used as content to teach apprpriate parenting to the offender. It is an excellent program. It is also used for the parent that was non-offending, but allowed the abuse to continue. They are often restricted to supervised visitation as well until they have completed legal mandates necessary for unsupervised visitation.

LuciaDisturbed

No!

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Dixie

I think a parent who is a sexual offender may not have visitation with the child. I have a friend who is in this very predicament right now. Her husband has been charged with sexually abusing and raping her oldest daughter. He is very likely to go to jail upon conviction. He is want visitation to their 5 year old son. I have told her that personally I would not allow it, but it is really up to her to decide what is best for her son. From what I gather - he will be gone for 15+ years looks like. By the time he is released, his son will be a grown man practically and will finally know the truth about his father.

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Miss-Delectable

I would be very queasy with the idea of allowing this sort of visitation.

After all it's good parent's instinct to protect the child from that.

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Glenn

This will be decided in the courts and not by the mother or the father.

Aleser

I do not believe in second chances when it comes to such situations, and am strongly against the current legal encouragement of "always reuniting children with parents whenever possible."

You teach a child nothing good by allowing them to be around a person who abused children. That person has lost their right to parent, even in a supervised and structured visitation scheme.

As far as I'm concerned, "one strike and you're out" should be the policy against serious sex offenders being allowed near their (or anyone else's) children ever again.

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rockin'robin

I'm against it, totally. It happened within my own family, and the victim(s) suffered horribly.
However, on his death bed, he was visited, but did not bother to say he was "sorry"....he died a horrible death!
He was not allowed to see his grandchildren, either.

It is...what it is....once someone molests/rapes/abuses an innocent child, most likely he will do it over and over....

I would not put my child "at risk"...even with those so-called "supervised visitations"...even if the Court ordered me to. I would take my child and run, if necessary!...As some people have done this in order to protect their child.

For those of us who are parents, it's our job to protect our children and not put them at risk or in a position where they could be abused.

jillio

Actually, if he chooses to press the matter, children's services and a judge will make the decision.

jillio

Exactly. If it were left to the parents, statistics show us that the vast majority of these cases would never even be reported, and the family unit would remain intact and continue with the dysfunctional patterns.

Glenn

Yep, as we both said earlier in this thread.

rolling7

Which means you care more about the criminal and less about the child. Is your hear screwed on backwards?

Banjo

Try to not make assumptions.

jillio

At least you are consistent in your intolerance and judgement. That hate will kill you one day.

jillio

The intolerant and judgemental live off of assumptions. It is the only thing that can fuel their hate.

Dixie

True - from experience.

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This Delicate Thing God Has Made
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Irish

My opinion? Should be done on a case by case basis. And it needs to be supervised.

I also would wait until the child is a bit older and allow him or her to make decisions about whether he or she would want to even communicate with that parent in the first place.

Steinhauer

Who is punished in a situation like this? A child that grows up never knowing their parent, or the parent that wants to see their child but isn't allowed to?

In my opinion, they both are. The child did nothing to "deserve" their punishment.

In the situation described in the OP, I would think supervised visits would suffice. Discreet supervised visits. However, I can't help but think that these visits would benefit the child more than the parent, since the parent can't really "parent".

In that situation, the child is no longer being punished even though the sex offender is. I also can't help but notice that the situation as described in the OP is far better than a sex offender wanting nothing to do with their child.

There are a lot of parents that do not want the responsibility of being a parent, and their children grow up into hurt adults.

qawaearata

I think jumping to conclusions makes mistakes and is immature without getting the real story, ppl are falsely convicted all the time.
I feel everyone deserves a second chance as long as they are sane, a daughter deserves a father.
I unrelentingly, completely, substantially, and tenaciously believe ANY hard proof of a sexual molester should result in death. people like that, PROVEN molesters of a child, (i can not stress the amount of conviction in which i believe this)SHOULD be tortured, that is possibly the ONLY thing i feel like this abt. (statutory rape,rape of drunk teen, ect. are not inclusive necessarily.)

rolling7

In this case, it is not an assumption. Any and all mercy and/or attention paid to a convicted child sex offender is just pure crazy. Not only I but all of us must be intolerant and hate these people, they have been judged, not by me but by society. So if anyone has a problem with my hate and intolerance, I say look inside your own heart and mind. I'm speaking from experience.

Banjo

No, you made an assumption.

jillio

The child's feelings are always a variable used in the judge's decision. If a child of any age expresses fear of seeing that parent, visitation is denied.

jillio

It not only was an assumption, it was a WRONG assumption. And, yes, I do have a problem with your hate and intolerance. Experience, if that is your excuse, has made you a very bitter individual, and that bitterness harms no one but yourself.

sheila022

The child's feelings can be manipulated to a certain degree. Who knows?

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jillio

And your point is?