Chesapeake Hampton Newport News Norfolk N. Carolina Peninsula Portsmouth Suffolk Va. The effort was sparked by the death of Imani Mone' Rodgers, who was molested and killed a month after the courts granted custody of the child to her stepfather, a convicted drug trafficker. He was never charged in that killing. Organizers want an array of professional child-services groups and the adoption and foster care communities to comment and endorse the initial eight goals being sought in the petition. The petition is then expected to be circulated throughout South Hampton Roads for residents' signatures, said Daulton, who is serving as a spokesman for the effort.
Organizers expect to release the names of sites in upcoming days where the petition can be signed.
It's expected to reach Virginia lawmakers during the 2002 legislative session and possibly national legislators sooner. Imani died June 2. She had been molested and beaten to death in the Fairwood Homes section of Portsmouth, less than a month after the Portsmouth Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court granted Young custody. The courts took custody away from the child's mother because she could not explain how Imani broke her arm. Young did not undergo a background check last year before he gained custody of Imani, a court-appointed special advocate has said.