Guardianship court win highlights 'Justice in the Schools' work in Hickman Mills, Center
Vaolele Satele holds a picture of her four grandchildren — including the three youngest who she successfully took under legal guardianship with the help of the Justice in the Schools program.
Vaolele Satele’s three grandchildren had been through too much already.
She needed help.
She’d come all the way from California when she learned that her daughter and son-in-law were overwhelmed by substance abuse addiction, living out of a van and neglecting to get the children to school.
Satele and her husband moved to Kansas City, acquired a home and took her daughter’s family in. But then her daughter suffered fatal injuries in a car crash, and her son-in-law — who was driving the car and allegedly admitted to police he’d been drinking — was blocking Satele’s effort to take guardianship of the children.
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She needed a lawyer.
For her relief, the Hickman Mills School District in South Kansas City — where her grandchildren went to school — offers the LINC-funded Justice in the Schools program through Legal Aid of Western Missouri.
It gave Satele hope.
“We didn’t know — who was going to take care of the kids?” Satele said. “That’s why we came (to Justice in the Schools) and asked for help.”
Attorney Garrett Christensen took on Satele’s guardianship petition as one of the 279 civil court cases that Justice in the Schools has pursued since January 2020 for families and staff in the Hickman Mills and Center school districts.
In all, 140 of the cases have addressed housing crises including defense against evictions, 60 involved divorce, child support and other family law issues, 14 handled consumer issues, 15 involved public financial benefits or other miscellaneous matters — and 48 tackled guardianships.
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Satele’s case was complicated because the father of her grandchildren contested giving up guardianship.
The mission of Justice in the Schools is to help families get stabilized — providing children comfort, reliable home environments and safety that keeps them in school and gives them the chance to thrive. Christensen, the Legal Aid attorney, believed Satele was right that her grandchildren’s best opportunities going forward would be in their grandmother’s legal care.
First, Justice in the Schools raised concerns with the father’s background that prompted the court to appoint a Guardian ad Litem for the children. Next, the Guardian ad Litem recommended Satele should be granted guardianship, but the father opposed it and got a court date.
So Justice in the Schools prepared for trial. It also worked with Satele and her family to keep pressure on the local police and prosecutor’s office to bring criminal charges against the father for his role in the fatal car crash.
The family’s advocacy was successful in seeing the criminal case referred for charges. And the police officer who made the referral was one of several witnesses Justice in the Schools lined up to testify in the guardianship case.
The father did not appear in court, and the judge granted guardianship of all three grandchildren to Satele. The judge commended her and her husband for their dedication and the extreme efforts they took to help and protect their grandchildren.
By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer