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Chapter Fifty-One
Court Begins
The month flew by and before anyone knew it the court date was upon them. No-one spoke as Julie drove to the court, all to nervous to say anything, even Prue was quiet sensing her family was upset. The journey was long and boring but eventually they arrived outside the court and after lifting Prudence from her car sear they entered the court.
As it was not a major trial they were led in straight away and Ethel paused as she walked through the door with Prue and saw her parents talking to a woman who must be their lawyer. The woman had shorter brown hair which sharply touched her shoulder blades and was dressed in expensive looking blue robes, Ethel held Prue tighter to her stroking her head before she went to take a seat trying not to look at them. Normally children were not allowed in court but Ethel refused to leave her with a babysitter she didn't know so her social worker had granted special permission. Ethel's sisters, Julie, and Mildred soon were sat next to her, all looking nervous.
"Hopefully it starts soon" Julie said as she smiled and waved at their social worker who would be the one fighting for them. The judge arrived and everything was soon getting underway.
"My name is Myrtle Goldstone and today we are here for a custody hearing of Esmerelda, Ethel, and Sybil Hallow, the three girls have been fostered for the last eight months by Julie Hubble who has submitted papers wishing to adopt them, however their biological parents, Triton and Ursula Hallow, have refused to given up their parental rights and want their daughters returned to them" the woman sat with Mr and Mrs Hallow and gave her opening speech talking to the judge.
"Thank you for that run down, let us get started" he told everyone and the Hubble and extended Hallow family nervously sat together wondering what was going to happen. Myrtle spoke again, getting ready with her defence.
"The middle daughter, Ethel recently became a mother and my clients know that they didn't handle that very well but they want to make up for that, they have a stable home for the girls and want them to be a family again" she told everyone.
Esmie scoffed loud enough for her family to hear as she could not believe what she was hearing.
"May I interrupt? My name is Gladys Nightstone and I am the girls social worker and this reunion we are talking about is just not possible, Ursula and Triton abandoned their daughter when she was pregnant and gave up their parental rights to her" the woman said angrily, not willing to let them win the case so easily.
"At the time they were in shock, I mean who wouldn't be when they find out their barely teenage daughter is pregnant?" Myrtle argued back and Gladys rolled her eyes.
"When Ethel Hallow first gave birth to her daughter, her parents paid her a visit at the hospital and did tell her they wanted to have them back but they wanted her to give up her newborn daughter in order for that to happen, has anything changed?" Gladys asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Yes they have agreed to let her keep the child" Myrtle said and the Hallow and Hubble family all looked at each other confused as they had not being told the situation on that had changed, but when they looked over and saw Mr and Mrs Hallow looked confused as well they realised their lawyer had just made that up and was going to force them to take the baby too. It was after all the only way they could get their daughters back, or so everyone thought, Myrtle had not finished speaking yet.
"Actually I think we have a misunderstanding" the woman told everyone smirking as if she had planned this and this was part of her game.
"How so? Gladys asked nervously.
"This case was never about Ethel or her child, My clients have come to the conclusion their daughter is not going to give up her child, they only want their elder and younger daughter back" she smirked and Ethel looked at her sisters horrified. If the woman won they would be separated.
"Well I don't think separating them will benefit anyone, Ethel and her sisters are very close" Gladys replied trying to hide her shock.
"Ethel and her sisters will still be able to see each other, they just won't be living together" Myrtle replied as if that was a great solution.
Gladys took a deep breath clearly annoyed but she carried on with her attack "Esmerelda removed herself and Sybil through a section four" Gladys explained knowing no-one could overturn that because the Great Wizard who was in charge had approved it.
"Yes but she abusesd that rule didn't she?" Myrtle replied unable to hide her smirk.
"What are you talking about?" Gladys asked annoyed.
"Tell me what a section four entails, what is that section for?"Myrtle asked and Gladys knew she was up to something but she was not through with her attack yet.
"It states if an elder sibling is worried about their safety at home they can remove themselves and their siblings from their care once they turn sixteen" Gladys replied not seeing how Esmerelda had broken that rule.
"Well that is my point, Esmerelda was not worried about her and Sybil's safety was she? She removed herself from her parents care as she was angry at them for neglecting Ethel and didn't want to be separated from her" Myrtle replied.
Gladys only stared at her. Yes the rule did say they had to be worried about their safety to remove themselves but everyone knew there was more than one reason they could do this, the Great Wizard had approved it so he obviously felt her reasons were good enough.
"My clients have never done anything to harm their girls, therefore no-one can be worried about their safety" Myrtle went on looking at the judge before she sat down, leaving Gladys stood there who didn't show her fear. She had evidence too, and unlike her rival she was not playing dirty or clutching at straws. Everyone knew they didn't have to have a specific reason to enforce section four, they hadn't for years.
"Actually you are wrong, Mr and Mrs Hallow have harmed their children, Esmerelda was hit by her mother and father which she revealed to her foster mother" Gladys told the court as she had the reports of that in front of her and remembered when Julie had told her that. Mr and Mrs Hallow had abused their daughter for years.
"It was a discipline method, we all know we are not allowed to interfere with other families parenting methods" Myrtle replied clearly having an answer for everything.
"No we aren't, but everyone knows there is a line where we can interfere if the child is being physically hurt and it was not just the hitting, these two mentally abused their daughters expecting things which are physically impossible for them to achieve, putting them against each other in everything and treating them like trophies, they have done plenty of damage to them" Gladys told everyone before she paused and carried on.
"When I placed the girl's in their foster home all three had bad mental issues, Esmerelda was self-harming, which by the way her parents never noticed even though it had been going on for sometime, she couldn't express emotions and was untrustworthy and clearly had some sort of depression, Ethel had anger issues brought on by her parents ill treatment of her and also seemed to be depressed, she was untrustworthy of everyone, even her two sisters and pushed people away. Sybil, the youngest, had very bad anxiety, she was terrified of everything and everyone because she knew what would happen if she messed up, you don't have to leave a visual mark to damage someone" Gladys explained, not wanting the court to see Mr and Mrs Hallow in a good light.
"That is not abusive, that is the morals the Hallow family lives by!" Myrtle argued not giving up the fight so easily.
"Even so, I don't believe placing the girls back with their parents will help matters, the girls are settled now and their mental state is better than ever, you place them back with their parents they will go back downhill" Gladys told everyone knowing it would not take long for the girls to be back to their old ways once they were in that bad atmosphere again.
"I think you have both made your points" the judge said lifting his hand to stop them talking as he didn't want them to argue anymore. "I will like to hear from the girls themselves and what they want" he told the woman who nodded and Gladys grinned, this was the moment that Esmerelda, Ethel, and Sybil would tell the judge they want to live with their new family.
"Of course your honour, Esmerelda will you come up here please" Gladys said calling the eldest girl first. Esmie looked at her family before she slowly stood up to make herself to the front, feeling all eyes on her.
"Just tell us the truth and everything will be alright" the judge told her as he could see the girl was nervous. She nodded as she arrived at the stand and looked at everyone nervous but happy she finally got to say her piece and her opinion and no-one would be able to discredit her view on what she wanted to happen.
Gladys looked at Esmerelda knowing the true battle was about to begin, she knew as she looked at Myrtle she was planning on being harsh on her but she couldn't let Esmie break, she had to make sure the girl spoke the truth.