Speech given to VA legislators re. Judge Esther Wiggins Lyle

Judge Wiggins-Lyle signed an Emergency Removal Order, presented to her by Arlington Child Protective Services without allowing my husband, myself or any legal counsel to be present to challenge the removal order.

Speech given to VA legislators re. Judge Esther Wiggins Lyle

by Nancy Hey on Friday, December 10, 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Virginia General Assembly, Judge Esther Wiggins-Lyle is a danger to innocent families in Northern Virginia.
Why? Judge Lyle has put the well-being of children second to the interests of people like lawyers with money and political influence. 

Because of Judge Wiggins-Lyle, my daughter Sabrina and I will never be able to see each other until after she turns 18. She is five years old now, and my husband and I have not been allowed to see her for the last two and a half years.

 My baby girl Sabrina lost about 10 ounces after birth, within the 6 to 10 per cent weight loss that is NORMAL for a newborn.  As a first time mother, I expressed concerned to my doctor, who admitted me with my baby to Arlington Hospital.  In 5 days at the hospital, my baby gained 11 ounces, then at home with me, gained 12 ounces in 4 days, before Judge Lyle accepted the false statement of Arlington CPS that I was "starving the baby".

Judge Wiggins-Lyle signed an Emergency Removal Order, presented to her by Arlington Child Protective Services without allowing my husband, myself or any legal counsel to be present to challenge the removal order.

 Judge Lyle then placed Sabrina in the custody of an assistant federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice and his wife.  

Arlington CPS leveled a charge of the highest level of child neglect against us. This charge, however, was later overturned upon appeal to a hearings officer in Richmond, who stated that CPS lacked evidence for this charge. 

Nevertheless, the series of court trials we went through with Wiggins-Lyle to try to regain custody of our child were always rigged against us. She showed favoritism toward Sabrina's foster parents, allowing them to show her photos they had taken of Sabrina, but not allowing Kit and I to do the same. She had no objection to the fact that early on, the foster parents were referring to themselves as “Mommy” and “Daddy” to Sabrina, or to the fact that they presented her with a videotape they made of Sabrina, in which they bragged that they would show the video to Sabrina on her wedding day. 

When Arlington CPS alleged that I suffered from a learning disability and a form of autism that presented me with challenges in interpreting non-verbal cues from an infant, Judge Wiggins-Lyle did nothing to compel the agency to comply with the American with Disabilities Act by providing me with services to help parents with disabilities. 

Throughout our year-long series of hearings before Judge Wiggins-Lyle, she acted in an unprofessional manner. For example, she would always allow witnesses for Arlington County to go on the stand first, whereas our own witnesses would be put on last, thus causing them to have to charge us more money for their time in court. In some cases, she would swear one of our witnesses in, then leave her on the stand for a long time before being interviewed while she casually discussed procedural issues with County prosecutor Mary Craig. 

Judge Wiggins-Lyle was continually rude to myself throughout the hearings as well. On one instance, she accused me of “lacking maternal instinct”. At another hearing, she asked my to respond to charges made against me by CPS. I stated that I loved my daughter, and wanted her returned to me. In response to this, Judge Wiggins-Lyle rudely said to me “Well, this isn't about what you want, it's about what's best for Sabrina”. On another occasion, she asked my lawyer “what makes you think that Sabrina should be returned to Kit and Nancy’.

Should a judge like Esther Wiggins-Lyle, who has shown a clear bias against the birth parents of children be allowed to continue to make rulings from the bench that will tear apart yet more loving families? I say no, she should not be reappointed.