First of all, I don't "hate" anyone involved in this case. Not Crystal or Ron, or their families, or even the sad, misguided Misty. Reading this letter brings no pleasure; it just explains why Crystal lost custody in the first place. She didn't show up for a hearing. She got a second hearing, but custody remained with the father, based on the evidence and testimony submitted by both sides. I've seen any number of claims that Ron "set up" Crystal to lose custody by some sleight of hand with her address. We can see with our own eyes that accusation against Ron wasn't true. The person who missed the court hearing: Crystal. The biggest significance of this document is that we now have some facts about how she lost custody.
The failure to show up for the hearing reinforces Ron's claims that Crystal missed doctor's appointments for the kids. We know that one major factor for awarding custody was Ron's employment. The letter states:
Ms. Picazio also contends that your current living situation, health concerns, inability to work, and drug addiction/seizures prevented her from filing a petition for a change in custody.
"Inability to work." "Drug addiction." "Health concerns" and "seizures." We have no details about "living situation," but there must have been some issue raised that is represented by that phrase. So there is more that we don't know, based on this response. The letter supports what I have said is observable from Crystal's television appearances: that she is not in good physical condition.
She may have sufficient support at home to raise her other children and the state would not move to take the children unless their other parent was non-custodial and filed for custody or someone filed a complaint. That is to say: the custody of Haleigh and Junior has nothing to do with the custody of any other children Crystal might have. I hope internet posters and others leave these families alone. However well-intentioned people might be, we are not living in these households, nor are we empowered to investigate how these children (any of them) are being parented. The last thing any of these kids need is to have parents who are even more stressed because perfect strangers who don't know them are calling in complaints based on blogs published for profit (and I mean Art Harris here).
As to the issue of whether Crystal should have petitioned for reduced support because Haleigh is missing--it strikes me a little like Scott Peterson selling Lacy's car. Very premature. But it may well not have been Crystal's idea to do that; we don't know what kind of financial pressure that her family is under.
As to accusations that Ron knows what happened to Haleigh, there is no evidence of that, just as there is no evidence that Crystal knows, either. I hope we find out very soon, one way or the other, if either parent has guilty knowledge. In the meanwhile, it might be wise if those of us who care about Haleigh stop "hating" either of her bio parents. If she is found alive and well, as we hope, those are the two people who are most important in her life, one way or the other. If we care about Haleigh, we should hope that both of them become wiser people and better parents.
