Opinion ID: 1795717
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Guardian ad litem's report:

Text: ¶ 28. The chancellor's order then discussed the thoroughness of the guardian ad litem's report, which recommended that the children stay with Helen, but that Charles be given liberal visitation. The chancellor briefly discussed the contents of the report, which was an exhibit to his order, noting Charles's unstable past history and his drastic turn for the better after marrying Karlene. The chancellor stated that the report commends Helen for providing a good home, but he also stated that as a foster mother being compensated by DHS, she was under a duty to provide this. The chancellor found that despite the thoroughness of the report, the guardian ad litem had failed to give sufficient weight to the changes that Charles had made in his life and had failed to consider Helen's negative actions toward Charles and the adverse effect these actions have on the children. The chancellor then enumerated the positive aspects of Charles and Karlene's environment and adverse aspects of Helen's conduct. The latter included Helen's obvious strong negative feelings toward Charles, her placing a block on her phone, her prohibiting visitation, her failure to inform Charles of the children's medical and school progress, and her continued allegations of abuse, none of which has caused any agency to take action against Charles. He then discussed that Helen's own witnesses admitted that Helen's conduct had a negative effect on the children and that the guardian ad litem's report stated that Helen's cooperation and encouragement had been greatly lacking with regard to Charles' relationship with his children. The chancellor found that if Helen were awarded continued custody, there was nothing to suggest she would be any more cooperative and that allowing her to continue to attempt to diminish the relationship between the boys and their father is certainly not in the boys' best interest.