Omake: Compromise
(Part II)
"Now, regarding your legal guardianship I believe that you're right about the fact that there is a serious conflict of interest with the PRT and Protectorate that needs to be addressed so let's begin examining the viability of the current arrangement."
"The contract to introduce Taylor Hebert into the Wards program was presented in the PRT offices of Brockton Bay and signed by both the representant of the Legal Office of the ENE Protectorate and by Taylor Anne Hebert's sole living parent Daniel Hebert who at the time was the legal guardian with full parenting rights and obligations. Videos and Audio recordings show that at no point Daniel Hebert requested the aid of a lawyer, which the state is under no obligation to remind the need or lack thereof nor they showed that he wasn't unable to take rational decisions concerning his and his dependent, that there was no undue pressure applied by the government representative by threat or use of physical harm, application of legal or administrative punishments or the illegal and/or immoral use of authority, no illegal conditions under either federal laws or those of the State of Massachusetts, that the terms offered were within the line guides of the Rules and Regulations for the Wards of the Protectorate of the United States of America and the terms of the contract were not misrepresented as understood in contract law."
Personally, he thought that a middle manager tasked with hiring people for an union should have known better than signing a three years' long commitment in his daughter's name without either consulting with a lawyer or the interested party but frankly the video showed a man still trying to process something in the middle of shock, and only the few questions related to Taylor's safety and some of the conditions of the trust fund convinced him that he actually was aware enough to not consider him 'non compos mentis' during the signing.
"The offer to move the minor Taylor Hebert to the Boston Protectorate Wards Program is neither illegal nor atypical for Ward contracts negotiated by the Legal Office of the ENE Protectorate and the oral and written explanation given about the rights and obligations of ceding legal guardianship 'In Loco Parentis' for educational and living purposes, to authorize medical procedures in emergency situations, the management of parahuman training and law enforcement deployment, as well as other purposes related to the welfare of the minor were neither false nor incomplete to the point an informed decision couldn't be taken."
For the second time in the day the girl looked as if she was barely containing quite an impressive temper, he didn't need a degree in psychology nor his many years of experience in court to understand that she wasn't happy of how fast her father had moved her out of their house and into the Wards.
"Furthermore, there was no specific attempt to make benefits of the program contingent in the signature of an agreement to not press criminal charges against PRT or Protectorate law enforcement officers or administrative personnel or to wave the right to fill a civil lawsuit against either or both organizations. That the Non-Disclosure Agreements signed as part of the induction to the program are standard for the protection of the identity of members of the Ward program and it doesn't include any clause aimed specifically to conceal misdemeanors or felonies of those protected."
The problem was that even without clauses specifically concealing the crimes perpetrated by the two miscreants in question the standard NDAs Taylor's father had signed had few workable loopholes about who was allowed to know about the identities of Protectorate and Wards members which made even explaining things to a lawyer not under federal contract a complicate issue.
"That on itself the offer to move the minor Taylor Hebert outside the jurisdiction of the ENE Protectorate Wards Program and into the Boston Protectorate Wards Program is not part of a recognizable pattern of witness tampering or obstruction of justice on the grounds that the Protectorate makes available legal mechanisms to denounce felonies performed by or against parahumans including across state lines."
"So I consider that the contract between Taylor Hebert and the Protectorate is valid and legally binding, that said I will be following the DoJ inquiry and the BB investigation as well and if there are any ground to substantiate charges of witness tampering, obstruction of justice or even negotiations in bad faith and I will move to invalidate the contract."
"Currently the legal guardianship of the minor Taylor Hebert is in the hands of the Boston Office of the New England region of the Protectorate and administered by the Parahuman Response Team Agent Jane Watkins according with the regulations of the Ward Program. The legal guardianship provided by the Wards for in-base inhabitation normally allow 'Pater Familias' rights to be asserted when they do not directly conflict with law enforcement procedures, when the situation allows the time and opportunity to ask for parental authorization or in matters where the Protectorate might find itself in a conflict of interests, additionally the parents are allowed to rescind this right at any moment as long as the established procedure is followed."
"However due to the activation of the protocols for child endangerment by Taylor Hebert, all custody rights and obligations of Daniel Hebert were immediately and unilaterally suspended, with those not already contemplated by the previous agreement given temporally to Agent Watkins."
"At the same time the Boston PRT and Protectorate, by virtue of having federal jurisdiction regarding cases of abuse and endangerment of a minor parahuman, particularly when the investigation needs to cross state lines; the responsibility to conduct the investigation without exposing Taylor Hebert parahuman status to third parties and the specific laws regarding the crimes committed against Wards opened an investigation of child abuse to determinate if penal charges were required."
"As part of the investigation the medical and psychological records of Taylor Hebert were disclosed to the assigned investigators. It was determined that he origin of injuries previous to her arrival to the Wards Program was for causes not related to actions of her father. Her assigned therapist also determined that while there were concerns of negligent behavior in the preceding months there was no indication of active psychological or physical abuse."
As he said those words he looked at the girl, there was a certain amount of indignation on her face, but thankfully the deeply rooted shame that he saw far too often on persistent abuse victims was missing. "As a reminder Miss Hebert, there is no doctor-patient confidentiality in cases of child abuse, however while this is not the correct forum to show you the exact content of the released information I can assure you that both the documents and the interviews gave the authorities only case relevant information and did not delve too deeply in unrelated private matters."
"The investigators then performed a review of Taylor Hebert residence in Brockton Bay, as well as an interview with Daniel Hebert. Due to the local recertification of the Wards Program these actions were done by Boston agents in a secondary Protectorate administrative office."
"This investigation determined that Daniel Hebert did show concern regarding the basic needs of the minor Taylor Hebert such as proper feeding and clothing as well as ensuring her an education within his means. Furthermore, he showed distress at even the suggestion of turning his anger and frustration against her. However, by his own reckoning he has been taking double turns in his current job for the last two years; he was incapable of noticing and properly addressing the drop of her academic grades, the deteriorating assistance and discipline record accrued during school hours, and the toll and toil of her mental status during the last two years." In his own defense the moment he was made aware of the issues plaguing his daughter he took measures to address them immediately."
"During the interview the investigators noticed symptoms of chronical fatigue and possible depression which are not conductive to the unassisted care of a minor. They also noted that the incidents regarding his daughter all started happening the same year Anette Hebert died in a vehicular accident."
The next document in the case file filled by the PRT intrigued him, it was rare that the infamous Watchdog would offer an official deposition for anything less than Birdcage cases and he wondered if the Protectorate feared the Hebert's case terrible optics enough to waste such a favor on an otherwise routine investigation.
"As an additional note to the case file, upon consult with the WEDGDG office of the Protectorate the parahuman Thinker with the designation Appraiser concluded that Daniel Hebert would not intentionally harm his daughter nor himself."
This time there was a not particular loud noise when Taylor's pen, which she had firmly hold on her hand rolled to the floor, if he hadn't been directly looking at her, he might not have noticed how it went through her hand. He noted how she schooled once more her expression as the rest of the Protectorate and PRT handlers slightly tensed as if they had to restrict themselves from intervening.
"As such the recommendation filled by the Protectorate to the state attorney and family court is to not press for charges, likewise they are agreeable to allow supervised visitation rights, however the PRT/Protectorate will oppose any motion to return full custody to Daniel Hebert until he gets evaluated by a mental health expert and attends therapy for at least three months."
"To that I should add that to prevent further use of the child protection mechanisms I would strongly recommend for Taylor to be asked if he wants to meet his father with a reasonable lead time so in case she got a previous commitment during the time frame or for personal reasons refuses to have the meeting he doesn't have to waste more than an hour in the road."
"And on a personal note, Miss Hebert I can see why you don't want to meet him, you got reasons to be angry at him, but I would still recommend you to see him once in a while and at least put some effort on it, as someone much older than you I can tell you that in ten, twenty years untangling the What If's and the I Should Have's is harder. Also that part of being an adult is to sometimes tackle hard relationships and the problems they come with head on."
"With that your current legal status is clear, so do you have any complains with the PRT agent detached to the Protectorate and the Wards Program and your current guardian, Jane Watkins?"
For the first time during this hearing the young girl stand up to directly talk to him. During the previous interviews they had she had shown to be on the shy side once she decided not to throw her surprisingly controlled spite in his general direction. And thankfully she wasn't directing that spite at Miss Watkins.
"Your honor, before the start of these proceedings I didn't have many meetings with Agent Watkins, mostly to fill some paperwork and a monthly interview she takes with me, with Flechette and with Weld. Other than that, she mostly stood silent during my meeting with the lawyer, mostly correcting which topics and names I could and couldn't mention."
Usually, he was reluctant to allow a minor to talk so openly in open court, even in an affair as informal as this one but after their last meeting in which he had given her an overview of the topics they would touch on the courtroom and the reasons why, the girl had been properly prepped by her legal advisor on how to talk about the topics she could and couldn't touch yet, and just as important she knew how to choose her words for maximum effect.
"Do you know of someone within the local Protectorate or PRT assigned to the Wards that you think would be more appropriate and agreeable to hold your legal guardianship?" He already knew the answer to that would be a simple 'no', they had discussed about it and his take was that, just as every other teen, she was perfectly fine with a distant legal guardian that didn't take too close a look on her room and her complains were mostly to left in record she was not completely satisfied with the current arrangement, quite wise of her.
"Your honor if I may." Without waiting for his approval, the tall man currently standing at the first row of the public seats continued. "James Reed from the Young Guard, your honor."
…and for every wise girl there were ten foolish men.
"As her representative to the Young Guard I have been closely working with Taylor Hebert in a number of topics, particularly regarding the assault and cover-up she suffered in Brockton Bay and to assert her right to not be part of the law enforcement part of the wards and as a legal guardian I would be more readily available and far less biased than miss Watkins or any other employee of the Protectorate and PRT."
Taylor was looking at the man with some astonishment which soon changed to chagrin, the girl had resisted the temptation to interrupt the proceedings despite dealing with some extremely emotionally charged themes and here this man was doing just like in a Judge Judy episode, and to make things worse doing so without asking.
"Denied." The man was opening his mouth again, if he had to guess Mr. Reed was used to interrupt other people and the lack of his robes made him forget that he was a federal judge. "Before you ask why, I want to ask you a question Mr. Reed. What are mandatory reporters and what are their duties."
"You honor?"
"To answer my own question, mandatory reporters are individuals who hold a professional position that requires him or her to report to the appropriate state or federal agency cases of child abuse that he or she has reasonable cause to suspect. In Massachusetts the standard is to send to the hot line an oral emergency report immediately with a 51A written report ready and in the mail within 48 hours, federal standards for employees are laxer mostly using the regulations of the state they are current standing but Protectorate regulations do add the requirement for every adult member involved with wards to take specific classes to identify and classify abuse."
"You had plenty of sessions with Taylor Hebert in which she talked at length of her induction to the Wards and the actions and inactions of her father. What she told you the Saturday 29 of 2011 was not substantially different of what she told you before. So either you ignored previous instances in which you were trained and obligated by law to report a case of abuse or you decided that the ideal mechanism to prevent a meeting between a teenage girl and her father was by interposing a child abuse claim to a federal law enforcement agency."
"In fact the exact words you told Daniel Hebert that day were '…in those cases where there is acrimonious separation, there are regulations that can be invoked to protect the child from their parents. Unfortunately, those regulations are poorly worded; Taylor can claim ex post facto that your relationship was personally damaging and that she requires the PRT to keep the two of you separated for her own well-being.' And that 'the Youth Guard exists to protect her, not you.'"
He shredded the image of the reasonable old man and for the first time during the hearing he acted as the thirty years veteran of the federal legal system he was. "Advising a teenage girl, already hurt by the manipulation of other adults to use a poorly worded regulation that can and has in the pass had put people in jail, deserving or not, instead of the many less confrontational options available starting with simply telling Miss Hebert's legal guardians she didn't want to meet her father tells me many things about your moral fiber, none of them good."
"So yes, your motion is denied and I should point that you still have to fill the mandatory abuse report or the retractation from it, before the legal penalties start falling on your lap."
"So for the moment Taylor Hebert's In Loco Parentis guardianship will stay the same unless there is a more substantial reason not to. In addition, I'm granting her the option to get a guardian 'ad litem' for the purpose of reviewing the viability of civil lawsuits against Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, Brockton Bay Board of Education, the ENE PRT/Protectorate and other involved parties that are legally and morally responsible of this mess. Since any lawsuit will involve confidential and classified information regarding the Wards identities and procedures I am issuing a series of legal requisites that any lawyer willing to take the case need to fulfill before even hearing about it, also since I do know that miss Hebert lacks the expertise to look on her own for these characters in the Boston legal system I took the opportunity to collect a list of law firms that I know are permissible, including two who offer free legal aid clinics as part of their services. Once you have a prospective lawyer I will have a meeting between you, him and the government to see his viability and grand a limited security clearance."
"With that this hearing is adjourned."
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