(212) 388-2869
July 8, 1992
I wish to make a complaint with regard to the conduct of Judge Bruce Kaplan in the above referenced matter.
This case started as an add on in May, 1991, because of a grave emergency which had arisen as a result of the misbehavior of the mother, Dayawathie Rankoth, towards the children. Originally, a Dr. Joseph of the Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, to my relief, had called in a complaint to the Child Welfare Administration regarding the way in which the mother was treating her children. The mother and the children were then transferred to a city facility, and thereafter vanished into the shelter system.
Thereafter, I received a telegram in Virginia from Mr. Sebastian Ike of the CWA, asking me to contact him immediately. I called him. He indicated that the CWA was just about to commence removal proceedings to take the children away from the mother. I came up from Virginia and met with Mr. Ike and with his supervisor, Wanda Richardson.
What happened after that is a long story, but the end result is that I filed a child custody petition for the children in the New York Family Court.
On the hearing date, the mother defaulted and did not appear. I feel that Judge Kaplan should have awarded a default judgment in my favor at that time. However, he did not do so. Instead, he read the extremely negative reports about the mother provided by the shelter system and the CWA and appointed the New York Society for the Prevention to Cruelty Children as the law guardian for the children. He then adjourned the case for three months!!!
To make a long story a little bit shorter, since then Judge Kaplan has repeatedly adjourned the case, three months at a time. The mother still has not yet come to the court, but I cannot get a default judgment in my favor. Each time the case comes to court, I am told that I need a mental heath evaluation or a home study or something else like that.
You must understand that when the case started, I was living in Lynchburg, Virginia, 420 miles from New York City. Therefore, I had to make the long round trip for each court appearance, mental health evaluation, etc. Then, in November, 1991, I went to California. In January, 1992, had to fly in from California just for a one day court appearance, and again the case was adjourned for three months. I then went to Japan. I then had to fly in from Tokyo on April 24 to attend my mental health evaluation, and then wait around for two weeks for the court hearing. This time, the case was adjourned for only two months.
I had a ticket and a flight reservation to go back to Japan on June 24, 1992. I did not make that flight because the hearing had been set for July 7, 1992. My ticket has now expired. Of course, if I miss one hearing date in this case, the matter will be dismissed and I will be back to square one.
By now, I have completed all of the mental health examinations, home studies and so on ordered by Judge Kaplan. I really thought that there would finally be some resolution of this matter on July 7th.
Therefore, I came to court yesterday, only to be told that Judge Kaplan was at a judicial conference and had adjourned my case "administratively" until October 2, 1992.
By now, I have been kept away from my children and my children have been in a homeless shelter for one year and two months. It must be pointed out that this all started because of a complaint by Dr. Joseph, not against me, but against the mother.
The mother is mentally incompetent, if not mentally ill. She is from the country of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon. Even in her own village, in the hills above Kandy, she is known as "the crazy girl". She was in jail for three days in the United Arab Emirates for creating a public nuisance. She has been to about eleven countries of the world. Everywhere she goes, there is some sort of police or agency involvement with her. There were police problems with her in Virginia, before she came to New York. I can tell you that the mother is a real basket case. She will never in her life be capable of taking care of these children, without constant supervision. She has never in her life held a job.
The only two choices are: either the state will have the custody of these children or else I will have custody of these children. There is no third possibility.
Prior to the incident in question, Dayawathie was never the primary caretaker of the children. For example, the oldest son, Michael, was born on June 18, 1988. In February, 1989, when Michael was only seven months old, Dayawathie Rankoth, the mother, left Michael with me and went back to Sri Lanka. Ten months later, I went to Sri Lanka, found her, and brought her back.
However, she only stayed with my family for three months, and then went away again, leaving Michael with me a second time. During this time, we were not living in America. We were living in the United Arab Emirates, on the Persian Gulf.
In November, 1990, I brought Michael to America and took him to my home in Virginia. Within a few days, the mother, who was in Far Rockaway, Queens, got a Ms. Haberer to go to Virginia, kidnap my son from me, bring him to New York. and reintroduce him to his mother. At that time, Michael was two years and five months old, but he had only been with his mother for a total of ten months in his life and probably could not remember her. In January, 1991, less than two months later, Dayawathie ran away from the house of Ms. Haberer and rejoined me. That led to the events in question.
Michael was very strongly attached to me because he had been with me since birth, whereas his mother was absent most of the time. Now, the bond has been broken between me and my son, because Michael and his mother are now in the shelter system and I am not allowed to know where they are. Incidentally, Dayawathie gave birth to another child, Anusha, in November, 1991, while she was in the shelter system, so now there are three children involved.
I understand that this case has cost the city, state and federal taxpayers between fifty and one hundred thousand dollars to keep my children in the shelter system for more than one year. Yet, my children were always well taken care of as long as they were with me.
I contend that this is an illegal use of the federal taxpayer's money. This action is illegal under applicable federal law. In particular, the mother and the three children have been detained pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq. In particular, 42 U.S.C. 606(a) states: "The term 'dependent child' means a needy child (1) who has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the death, continued absence from the home ..... or physical or mental incapacity of a parent. ...".
In this case, I am not absent from the home. Rather, the children are absent from my home as a result of having been kidnapped. It must be understood that the federal taxpayer's money is being used to maintain my children in the shelter system. This is clearly illegal under federal law, because I am perfectly willing and able to take care of my children, provided that they are restored to my home.
There have been a number of recent United States Supreme Court decisions pertaining to this area of law. In particular, there is Wilder v. Virginia Hospital Association, 110 S. Ct. 2510 (1990) and Suter v. Artist M., 60 USLW 4251 (March 25, 1992). What these cases establish is that the states must follow the federal law in matters pertaining to the departments of social services, because the federal government is where the states get their money from to run these services. The federal law requires the states "to make reasonable efforts to prevent the removal of children from their homes and to facilitate the reunification of families where removal has occurred." In this case, Michael has been kidnapped from my home twice. Unless I can obtain a custody order, there is no way for me to stop the mother from repeatedly kidnapping the children, and yet she is incapable of taking care of the children herself.
No showing has ever been made that the children were not well taken care of as long as they were in my home. It is therefore illegal to keep them in the shelter system.
In view of his three month "administrative adjournment", I am now convinced that Judge Kaplan just intends to keep postponing this case again and again indefinitely. I already suspected that even before this latest development. There is no reason why my three children need to live in the shelter system, when I have a home I can provide them. I therefore request that this case be assigned to another judge.
By the way, Judge Kaplan was the judge in a highly publicized custody case in the Bronx back in 1982 involving another of my children, Shamema Honzagool. That case was reported on the front page of the New York Daily News, and on television as well. I tend to suspect that Judge Kaplan is biased against me because of that prior case. In that case, Judge Kaplan entered an order stating that I was not the father of that child, which was not true and was later overturned by an order of the Bronx Supreme Court.
There is no logical reason why, in the case here, where the mother has defaulted and has not yet come to court, there is any need for home study reports and mental health evaluations. I am clearly the more fit parent. Therefore, I should be awarded the custody of these children immediately, so that I can take them out of the shelter system.
Judge Kaplan is clearly either unable or unwilling to try this case and dispose of it promptly. This case should have been decided on an emergency basis back in May, 1991. For these reasons, I request that you transfer this case to another judge and add it on to the calendar for an emergency hearing within the next few days.
Very Truly Yours,
M. Ismail Sloan
Copy to: Marti Granizo
NYSPCC
161 William St.
New York, NY 10005