PDF: Emergency custody order
Tonya Craft and her lawyers will be in Hamilton County Circuit Court on June 7 to ask that a firm visitation plan be put in place until they can argue for full custody of her two children.
The hearing marks the beginning of the fight to get back her children in the wake of Ms. Craft's recent acquittal in a Georgia state court on 22 counts of child molestation, aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery.
The story made national headlines and spurred Ms. Craft to file a $25 million federal lawsuit against her accusers, including ex-husband Joal Henke who claimed she molested their daughter.
Ms. Craft, 37, aggressively fought to prove her innocence in the charges, which authorities brought against her in 2008 when she was a kindergarten teacher in Chickamauga, Ga.
Mr. Henke has had custody of their children ever since. Because Ms. Craft's daughter was one of several alleged victims in the child molestation case, Ms. Craft never has been allowed to see her. She has been allowed to have only limited supervised visits with her son.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Ms. Craft, who now lives in Soddy-Daisy, claims "it has been harmful to the children that she has not had contact with her daughter and has only had limited contact with her son over the past two years."
She is asking Circuit Court Judge Marie Williams to lift all visitation restrictions concerning her son and to expand visitation with both children to include holidays, birthdays and summer breaks. She also is asking for daily telephone contact with both children.
"She has nothing but time to spend with her children this summer," Ms. Craft's attorneys wrote in the motion. "Due to the ongoing issues between the parties, (Ms. Craft) anticipates that a minimum set plan with escalating time over the course of the summer needs to be put in place at present."
Attorney Scott King, who represents Ms. Craft in the custody case, said Friday they are declining to make any comments on the record. He said the documents they file in court should speak for themselves.
Mr. Henke's attorney, Charles Dupree, on Friday said they already have agreed that restrictions should be lifted with regard to Ms. Craft's son. But the circumstances surrounding the daughter are an entirely different matter, he said.
"We need to see what the child's counselor's recommendations will be," Mr. Dupree said in regard to any visitation plan. "This isn't about mommy or daddy anymore. This is about the child."