Parents Against Injustice
Parents Against Injustice
Mother loses custody of her children – because she has breast cancer
Mother loses custody of her children – because she has breast cancer
Last updated at 7:05 PM on 9th May 20th
A woman with terminal breast cancer says she has lost custody of her children because doctors do not know how long she will live.
A judge ruled that 37-year-old Alaina Giordano, from Durham, North Carolina, must give up both her children to her estranged husband after she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.
The decision comes after a bitter legal battle that has included allegations of cheating and other domestic problems.
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Bitter dispute: Alaina Giordano said she has lost custody of children Sofia, 11, and Bud, 5, because of concerns about her healthMrs Giordano said she is ‘devastated’ and that her children are what gives her strength.
The mother-of-two was first diagnosed with cancer in 2007, but her condition has worsened as it has spread on her bones.
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After their marriage fell apart, her husband Kane Snyder, 37, sought to gain full custody of their children Sofia, 11, and Bud, 5.
He asked the judge that the children be moved to live with him in Chicago, where he is working as a leadership associate at Sears.
Durham County Family Court judge Nancy Gordon ruled that Mr Snyder should get the children after a psychiatrist recommended that they should live with him because of the ‘deteriorating condition of the mother’s health’.
‘Devastated’: A judge ruled that children should live with their father because of the ‘deteriorating condition of the mother’s health’
Torn apart: Mrs Giordano said that her children have given her strength during cancer battleThe ruling also noted that Mrs Giordano is not currently employed. She had been working as a freelance writer and editor.
‘On April 25, we went in to get the ruling, it was pretty shocking,’ said Mrs Giordano.
‘Anybody who knows me knows my children are my life,’ she told ABC News.
‘They are what give me strength and part of the reason I’m doing so well.’
On her campaign blog, she claimed: ‘Because I have a cancer diagnosis, I have spent the last sixteen months in court defending myself from the attacks of my abusive husband who filed a lawsuit against me in Durham County, NC asking for full, permanent custody of our two children using the argument that I have a cancer diagnosis.
‘He then chose to move to the Chicago area to take a job at Sears Holdings, Inc. leaving our children in my sole physical custody since August 2010.’
Ruling: The Durham County Family Court judge gave custody of the children to Mrs Giordano’s estranged husband Kane Snyder who works for Sears in Chicago
Moving: The two young children will go to their father in Chicago on June 17Mrs Giordano has questioned the way that the decision was made by the female family court judge.
‘How does a woman with no kids and who has never been married become a judge in family court?’ she wrote on her blog.
‘From some of the things that she wrote in the order, it is clear that she has no insight into motherhood, marriage or an intimate partner relationship.
‘This judge is trying to use theory to make decisions upon which she has no practical experience. This is very dangerous.
‘A mother would know better than to rip happy, well-adjusted children from their mother who has been their primary caregiver since conception and send them to a father who was a weekend dad at best.
Every child deserves better than a judge with no parenting experience.’
Battle: Mrs Giordano has been fighting to keep custody of her children after she and her husband separated in January 2010Mrs Giordano, who is receiving treatment at the Duke Cancer Institute in North Carolina, said her cancer is currently stable and not progressing.
Over 2,000 people have ‘liked’ a Facebook petition calling for the governor of North Carolina to review the case.
Mrs Giordano said: ‘The Facebook campaign has been really important because I need help and I don’t know what I am doing legally.’
The ruling states that Mrs Giordano must hand over her children to her estranged husband on June 17.
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