Tennessee Adoptive Couple Loses Custody of 9-year-old Girl UPDATED

First read this: In the Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Nashville, October 9,2009.

So, Sonya was supposed to be returned to her grandmother at Age 5…but it didn’t happen that way.

“The girl, Sonya, has returned with her father, Josh McCaul, to Nebraska where she has not lived since she was an infant.

Kim and David Hodgin, who were allowed by the Dickson County Chancery Court to adopt Sonya when she was 3, say they were only given two hours’ notice, and that Sonya does not know her biological father.

The father maintains his rights were illegally terminated when he was in prison, and the foster parents say they did what they were told to do while adopting her.

A “Bring Sonya Home” Facebook page, which was created Feb. 4, asks for support and visitors to sign an online petition demanding Sonya be returned. The petition has more than 2,000 signatures and the Facebook page has 4,600 “Likes.”

Sonya had been living with the Hodgins since 2006 after a series of events moved the child from Nebraska to Dickson County in 2005.

Timeline

McCaul was awarded custody of Sonya in 2004 in Douglas County, Nebraska after the mother gave up her rights, according to Tennessee Court of Appeals documents.

In July 2005, due to a “busy work schedule,” he then hired “Jennifer G” to watch his daughter.

She asked McCaul if she could take the girl with her to Tennessee in September of 2005 because of a family illness. McCaul agreed.

In September of 2005, the documents state, Jennifer G.’s parents called the Dickson County Sheriff’s Office asking what they should do for medical services because they were not her parents.

By the end of that month, McCaul went to Tennessee to retrieve Sonya. Jennifer G’s parents expressed at the time concerns because they believed the father “had a violent history” and was coming to Tennessee to take the child back.

Dickson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Amy Longtin prevented McCaul from taking Sonya back. Longtin then called DCS.

In October of 2005, the Dickson County Juvenile Court placed Sonya in Jennifer G’s parents’ home.

That same month, McCaul was arrested for possession of firearms.

Jennifer G’s mother was then working for a relative of Kimberly Hodgin. Sonya then began spending “five or six days a week” with the Hodgins, according to court documents.

In April 2006, McCaul was indicted of federal charges and remained in custody.

That same year, the Hodgins petitioned Dickson County Chancery Court to have the rights of both Sonya’s biological parents terminated and to grant them an adoption citing abandonment since McCaul was in prison.

The court terminated McCaul’s parental rights based on his sentence of 15 years and granted the Hodgins the adoption.

In 2009, McCaul won an appeal claiming he did not voluntarily give up his rights and the court did not follow due process in the adoption proceedings.

Wednesday hearing

On Wednesday, the Hodgins lost a bid to have Sonya returned to them by Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Jackson.

“This is not a best interest determination,” said Jackson at the hearing. “If the child has not been neglected, I have to return the child to the parent.”

Rob Johnson, spokesperson for DCS, said his agency was continuing to work on the case but would not comment specifically.

“So many times, foster parents come to love the children who stay in their homes,” Johnson said. “We see that every day in Tennessee. But we have to remember that the law is clear: Birth parents have the right to raise their children, and that the court system, where the final decision rests, is there to take all sides into account.”

Friends of the Hodgins are asking that supporters contact local legislators to make them aware of the situation

On the Facebook page Kim Hodgin posted, “This is not close to being over.”

Dickson couple loses custody of girl after apparent adoption overturned[ The Tennessean 2/7/14 by Colleen Creamer of The Dickson Herald]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: The adoptive family is “fighting” back.

“A Dickson County family is fighting to be reunited with their adopted daughter. They say she was taken from them, without warning, 63 days ago.

Nine-year-old Sonya was legally adopted by David and Kim Hodgin in 2008. Supporters with the Bring Sonya Home group say in 2009 her birth father used a legal loophole to overturn the adoption while in prison. Since January, she has lived with him in Nebraska.

“She’s in schools and on teams and within a split second she’s ripped away from her family,” said supporter Brandi Croff.

Cameras weren’t allowed in the Dickson County Juvenile Courtroom where the Hodgin family and their friends hoped the ongoing legal battle brings Sonya home.

Sonya’s adopted father and mother declined interviews because of the pending case, but family members say they are still in pain after having Sonya since she was 13-months-old.

“We were the only family Sonya knew,” said her adopted uncle Tim McElhiney.

The family says on January 29th of this year, the Department of Children Services took Sonya and gave her to her birth father, and the pair flew to Nebraska.

“They refused to let any of us talk to Sonya. They took her in a matter of a couple of hours,” McElhiney said.

After only a couple of phone calls begging to come home, communication was cut-off with any friends or family she’s known.

“She’s not a puppy. She’s not something that you have for a couple of months and it’s ok when they’re gone. This is her parents, (they) have been there for her when she had a nightmare, when she’s been sick, when she’s got a boo-boo. That’s family,” said Croff.

Wednesday, the Hodgins petitioned the court to give them a say-so in the custody proceedings, and the court granted it.

Now, during a May 15th hearing, they will ask the judge to vacate his order, or reverse his decision. That could include suing the state.

“We want Sonya back. We’ll do whatever it takes and we won’t stop until we can undo what they did,” McElhiney said.

Attorneys for DCS and Sonya herself said in court she appears to be adjusting to life in Nebraska. Reports indicate Sonya did live with her biological father for a short time when she was an infant.

You can find out more about this battle to bring Sonya home by going to this website:
http://bringsonyahome.com/”

Family Fights To Get Back Adopted Daughter[News Channel 5 4/2/14]

Update 2:“A judge has blocked an attempt by Middle Tennessee foster parents to get back physical custody of the child they raised for eight years.

 

In court on Friday, Dickson County Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Jackson said 9-year-old Sonya McCaul will remain with her father in Omaha, Nebraska, for now.

 

Foster parents denied custody of 9-year-old girl[The Independent 5/16/14 by Associated Press]

Update 3: “The father of the young girl at the center of an interstate custody battle has filed a lawsuit against the child’s former foster parents and 15 other people seeking unspecified damages for defamation of character. John E. McCaul Jr. of Nebraska filed the suit in Dickson County Circuit Court asking a judge to ban David and Kim Hodgin and others from posting pictures of 9-year-old Sonya McCaul or comments about the custody dispute on Facebook, other social media sites or the Internet and from commenting on the case in the news media.

The Hodgins have appealed a Dickson County Juvenile Court order giving McCaul physical custody of his daughter, who remains in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

McCaul’s lawsuit lists not only the Hodgins as defendants, but also a South Carolina psychologist, a Dickson gymnastics school and several other people across the country for having made defamatory comments in the media or on the Internet.

A hearing on McCaul’s request for a temporary restraining order is scheduled for July 7 in Charlotte. The lawsuit states that following McCaul’s release from federal prison, custody of Sonya was returned to him “to the great dismay of defendants David Hodgin and Kim Hodgin,” who had been foster parents to the girl for eight years and had their adoption overturned by the court of appeals.

The lawsuit claims the Hodgins and their supporters “launched a full-on defamatory attack on the character” of McCaul through many social media outlets. He claims he cannot leave his Nebraska home because of the reporters camped outside and he has been referred to as a “pedophile” and Sonya’s return termed a “kidnapping.”

The lawsuit filed by Clarksville attorney Carrie Gasaway seeks compensatory and punitive damages to be determined by the court as well as reasonable attorney fees from the defendants. Several defendants who live in other states have filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed because the Tennessee courts have no jurisdiction over out-of-state-defendants and that defamation claims must be made in the county where the alleged defamatory action originated or in the defendants’ home counties.

Jennifer Roberts, the Dickson attorney representing the Hodgins, has subpoenaed McCaul for a June 16 deposition for which he is to bring all the documents relating to his termination from his job. Other than the Hodgins, the only other local defendant named in the lawsuit is Flips Gym in Pomona, owned by Terri Jarman, while Goodlettsville resident Katico Cadwallader, who identifies herself on Facebook as an employee of David Hodgin, also is a defendant. The remaining defendants include Dr. Bonnie Cleavelend, a South Carolina psychologist who authored a letter to Gov. Bill Haslam, a healthcare marketing company in South Carolina, an attorney for the Hodgins and individuals in Maryland, Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Father of girl at center of adoption controversy sues former foster parents, 15 others for defamation[WDKN 6/3/14 by Chris Norman]

Update 4:“A Middle Tennessee couple who raised a foster child for eight years before she was returned to her birth father has filed a petition seeking to terminate the parental rights of the father and adopt the girl. 

The custody dispute that pits the rights of the birth father against the foster parents who raised his child has hit a nerve with supporters on both sides who have been vocal on social media sites. The case also has drawn national attention in part because of the circumstances that have allowed 9-year-old Sonya McCaul to remain in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services for close to nine years.

David and Kim Hodgin filed the petition to officially adopt Sonya on June 6.

Foster parents in custody dispute seek adoption[Grand Island Independent 6/18/14 by Associated Press]

Update 5: “An emotional high-profile custody battle that has made national headline was back in court Wednesday afternoon.

During the status hearing, two attorneys for Sonya McCaul said the 9-year-old is not only doing well in the Nebraska home she now shares with her birth father but that she is an A student and has no desire to return to Tennessee.

In January, a judge ordered Sonya placed into the custody of her biological father, John McCaul, of Omaha, Nebraska.

The state terminated McCaul’s rights because he was sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison. A federal judge later reduced his sentence to seven years making McCaul eligible to regain his parental rights.

McCaul petitioned the court for custody of Sonya and, after a five year legal battle, a Dickson County judge ordered the little girl be turned over to him.

Sonya remains in the custody of the Department of Children Services while in Nebraska, but is currently completing a temporary trial home visit with McCaul.

Last month, the court blocked an attempt by Sonya’s foster parents, David and Kimberly Hodgin of Dickson County, to get back physical custody of the girl they raised for eight years.

“They won’t let us talk to her,” David Hodgin told News 2 Wednesday. “We’re continuing to fight for our daughter and won’t stop until the wrong is righted. Period.”

Another hearing will be held on July 30 so the judge can get another update on how Sonya is doing.”

Tenn. foster child during well with dad in Nebraska, attorneys say[WKRN 6/18/14 by Nadia Ramdass]

“A local custody case now in the national spotlight was back in a Dickson County courtroom Monday.

A chancery judge heard a motion to dismiss a petition filed by David and Kim Hodgin, the former foster parents of nine-year-old Sonya McCaul, to terminate her biological father’s parental rights to officially adopt her.

“They’re trying to get it dismissed on a technicality instead of listening to the merits of the case, and we know that this court finally will listen to Sonya, what’s best for Sonya and in her best interest,” said David Hodgin.

The judge made no decision on the motion, but has decided to take it under advisement, which means the judge will issue a memorandum opinion with his decision. It could take several weeks.

The judge also heard two motions filed by the Hodgins as well.

The first motion is for a new guardian ad litem and the other for visitation so the family can see Sonya.

The Hodgins have not seen Sonya since January when a judge ordered the girl be placed into custody of her biological father, John McCaul of Nebraska.

“She hasn’t heard from us. Nothing. We feel like she probably feels like we’ve given up on her,” said Kim Hodgin.

Back in May, a judge denied the request to have the state bring Sonya back to Dickson County.

McCaul initially had his parental rights terminated by the state after he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for felony weapons convictions. The sentence was later reduced reversing the state’s decision and after a five year court battle McCaul got temporary custody of Sonya.

John McCaul was in court Monday, but did not take any questions from reporters. In a recent hearing, Sonya’s court-appointed guardian said the girl is doing well in the Nebraska home she shares with her father and has no desire to return to Tennessee. The Hodgins’ have publicly disputed those claims.

Also in court Monday, the judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by McCaul against the Hodgins and several other people.”

Sonya McCaul custody case back in Dickson County courtroom[WKRN 7/7/14 by Nadia Ramdass]

Update 6:”Five years of legal wrangling and blistering social media spats and this is what anyone has to show for it: Sonya McCaul, who celebrated her 10th birthday on Friday, is still technically in state custody.

The years-long battle for Sonya, a girl raised by foster parents in Dickson until a court earlier this year ordered her returned to her biological father in Omaha, Neb., has still not been fully settled. The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services has legal custody of her while she stays with her biological father, John McCaul, in Omaha on a trial basis. The foster parents who raised her while McCaul was in federal prison, David and Kim Hodgin, continue to try to terminate his parental rights.

Despite all the attention paid to the case — which has tapped into the kind of raw emotions that often accompany custody cases, amplified by the uniqueness of the dilemma — they are running out of options.

Two independent observers versed in family law issues say that under the law, Sonya is where she should be: With her father. And both say the chances of her going back to her foster parents in Tennessee are slim because the rights of biological parents, absent actual abuse or neglect, are nearly impossible to take away.

While a defamation suit filed by McCaul was recently dismissed, the battle continues in court. Sonya’s case is scheduled to return to a Dickson County courtroom July 30 for a discussion of her progress in Nebraska. The Hodgins are still awaiting the outcome of their petition to terminate McCaul’s parental rights and to formally adopt Sonya. They’re also still trying to appeal an earlier ruling by a juvenile court judge keeping Sonya in Nebraska, and last week they asked Gov. Bill Haslam to step in on their behalf, which he has not done.

And the war wages on Twitter, Facebook and forums by various “rights” groups, whether it be foster parents’ rights, adoptive parents’ rights, biological parents’ rights or the “men’s-rights” movement. Supporters wielding hashtags like #BringSonyaHome and #SonyaIsHome trade accusations daily.

More: Anderson Cooper: 360 features fight for Sonya

Even DCS has waded in with a thinly-veiled criticism of the Hodgin family in a July 16 Facebook post.

“All foster parents are required to sign these agreements as a condition of being foster parents in good standing,” the post reads. “We also remind the public that attorneys representing SM have told the Dickson County Juvenile Court how humiliating it has been for SM to have her story made into national headlines. Children need their privacy protected.”

A national tug-of-war

How did a 10-year-old girl become the object of a national tug-of-war?

A 2009 Tennessee Court of Appeals case spells out the tangled timeline of Sonya’s life.

She was born in 2004 in Nebraska. Her mother wasn’t in the picture. Her father asked a family friend to act as a caregiver in 2005, before he was arrested and charged with unlawful transport of a weapon. That caregiver, Jennifer Gunn, asked McCaul if she could take Sonya with her to Dickson County in Tennessee because of an ailing relative.

Once there, Sonya was quickly put into DCS custody as questions were raised about McCaul’s background. She was largely cared for by the Hodgin family, who are friends with Gunn.

In 2006, McCaul was arrested and convicted by the feds. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the Hodgin family filed paperwork to terminate McCaul’s parental rights and adopt Sonya, citing abandonment. In 2008, a Dickson County judge terminated McCaul’s rights and allowed the Hodgins to adopt Sonya.

But a year later, the Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed the adoption and termination of McCaul’s parental rights, saying that the abandonment issue wasn’t properly argued at the time. Meanwhile, McCaul’s sentence was reduced from 15 years to 7.5 because of his cooperation in an unrelated homicide case.

McCaul was released from prison in 2012. Since then, he’s been in a pitched battle with the Hodgin family for custody of Sonya. A judge in January of this year ordered Sonya to be returned to her father in Nebraska, which is where she’s been ever since.

The fierce legal argument

Both sides paint the battle in the starkest terms. One side questions how the state could force a young girl to go back to a convicted felon she didn’t know. The other questions what right a foster family has to ask for custody, much less try to make its case in local and national media.

Melanie Lane, a Jamestown attorney who regularly handles custody issues and who has no connection to the Sonya case, said U.S. law puts biological parents’ rights first unless there’s some evidence of actual abuse or neglect. She said it’s unlikely the Hodgins will prevail.

“Parental rights are jealously guarded by the court. These foster parents have standing to be involved in the case, because they have a relationship with the girl, but they don’t really have any rights to her,” Lane said. “I don’t think there’s much likelihood unless the dad does something to put the child at risk.”

Gerald Papica, ombudsman with the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, is tasked with monitoring DCS and has been an outspoken critic when he’s seen mistakes. He agreed to review Sonya’s full, confidential case file and said that DCS had acted appropriately. And he said that, despite McCaul’s criminal history, he agrees with Lane.

“The thing is, as foster parents, they’re protecting the child, they’re nurturing the child, but at the same time the foster parents are expected to release the child when the time is right,” Papica said. “There was nothing against him that he mistreated this child. He has the ultimate right.”

‘The way the system works’

That hasn’t deterred the Hodgin family.

“The setbacks that we’ve had are the way the system works,” David Hodgin said by phone Tuesday, before taping a segment about Sonya on ABC’s “The View.” “I’m really optimistic right now and will continue to be. I really and truly believe that at some point, now that we’re in a higher court, that some grown adults will see the light.”

Kendall Sykes, attorney for the Hodgins, said their position is that McCaul did neglect Sonya.

“The law of Tennessee is clear his superior parental rights are no longer presumed at that point,” she said in a statement. “The law is also quite clear that Sonya is entitled to a best interest hearing.”

McCaul didn’t respond to a message left on his cell phone. He’s generally shied away from media attention.

But his attorney, Lynn Coffinberry, said the Hodgins don’t have a case.

“I’m not sure what they’re trying to get to. I think they want us to have some kind of comparison between the foster parents and the father and I’ve never seen that,” she said. “That’s not what happens.”

Besides, she said, Sonya has told a court-appointed attorney and guardian that she is happy with her father in Nebraska.

Papica, the DCS watchdog, said he hopes the focus stays right there, on how the battle has affected Sonya.

“It’s just unfortunate that this case got into the national limelight and now society seems to be making the situation worse with all the attention,” he said.

Reach Brian Haas at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @brianhaas.

Timeline of events:

July 18, 2004: Sonya is born to John McCaul in Omaha, Neb.

2005: McCaul enlists Jennifer Gunn to be Sonya’s caregiver. With McCaul’s permission, she takes her to visit an ailing relative in Dickson County, Tenn. Once there, Gunn refuses to return Sonya to McCaul.

Oct. 5, 2005: The Dickson County Juvenile Court puts Sonya under DCS custody. She is placed in the home of Gunn’s mother, but stays with David and Kimberly Hodgin most of the time.

April 20, 2006: McCaul is indicted on two federal counts of unlawful transport of a weapon by a felon.

July 3, 2006: The Hodgins petition to terminate the rights of McCaul and to legally adopt Sonya, alleging she had been abandoned.

Jan. 31, 2007: McCaul is sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for a weapons charge.

Nov. 6, 2008: The Dickson County Chancery Court terminates McCaul’s parental rights and grants the Hodgin family’s adoption of Sonya.

Nov. 20, 2009: The Tennessee Court of Appeals reverses the termination of McCaul’s rights and the adoption.

Oct. 26, 2012: McCaul is released from federal prison.

Jan. 21, 2014: McCaul sues to regain full custody of Sonya.

Jan. 29, 2014: The Dickson County Juvenile Court rules that Sonya should be returned to McCaul. DCS removes her from the Hodgin family.

May 16, 2014: The Dickson County Juvenile Court rules Sonya should stay with McCaul. The Hodgin family appeals.”

Sonya custody case drags on as another birthday passes[The Tennessean 7/20/14 by Brian Haas]

Update 7: Another 

“The former foster parents of Sonya McCaul changed lawyers and won a delay in Dickson County Juvenile Court on Wednesday, giving the Hodgin family’s new legal team 45 days to review eight years of court proceedings.

The fate of the 10-year-old girl, caught in a wrenching tug-of-war between her birth father and her former foster parents, has garnered national attention and spurred a bitter back-and-forth between supporters on both sides. But the question of whether she will stay with her birth father, John McCaul, in Nebraska after being raised for years by the Hodgin family in Dickson while he was in prison isn’t likely to be decided anytime soon.

The case reached the six-month mark under which the trial home placement with McCaul could come to an end, keeping Sonya in Nebraska for good.

Lucas Davidson, an attorney for Hall Booth Smith, a Nashville-based firm, told Juvenile Court Judge Andy Jackson that his team needed time for “search and discovery.”

“That is going to give us time to get our case ready,” Davidson said. “We are all about a best-interest hearing, and we are hoping to work with everybody to get that for Sonya.”

 

Sonya ended up in the Hodgins’ care years ago when McCaul let a caretaker take her from Nebraska to Tennessee. There, the caretaker refused to return Sonya, saying she feared for the girl’s safety. Eventually, the Hodgins became Sonya’s foster parents. They successfully terminated McCaul’s parental rights after he was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison and then adopted her. But both actions were later overturned by an appeals court.

In January, Jackson ordered Sonya returned to McCaul, which is where she’s been since.

But the case drags on.

The Hodgins have a request to terminate McCaul’s parental rights and adopt Sonya in front of Judge Robert Burch in Dickson County Chancery Court. They’re also still trying to appeal an earlier ruling by Jackson keeping Sonya in Nebraska, and they have asked Gov. Bill Haslam to step in on their behalf, which he has not done.

Lawyers for the Hodgins have been trying to get a “best interest” hearing since she was abruptly taken from her home in Dickson in January to live with her father in Omaha.

Legal teams from both sides spoke briefly.

Guardian ad litem Hillary Duke offered that Sonya was “doing fine” in Nebraska.

Until the Hodgins hear back from Judge Burch on whether they can move forward with the adoption, the lower juvenile court cannot make any changes in the case.

“We’ve got a legal strategy, and I think we are going to let it play out in the courtroom,” Davidson said.”

Hodgin family changes lawyers, wins delay in Sonya case[The tennessean 7/30/14 by Colleen Creamer]

Update 8: Another

“A year ago Thursday, a young girl was taken from her foster parents. They haven’t seen her since.

What happened that day has led to a custody battle and international attention.

Now, the case of 10-year-old Sonya is coming back to Dickson.

On Feb. 19, a new judge will decide whether to leave the girl in Nebraska with her biological father, John McCaul, or return her to the foster parents she’s known all her life.

This could lead to a best interest hearing or it could lead to Sonya being removed from Department of Children Services custody.

“For the Department of Children Services to be continuing to oppose a best interest for this child when it’s there job to determine the best interest of the child, to me, is inexcusable,” said Bob Tuke, an adoption and family law attorney.

Tuke helped write Tennessee adoption laws. He believes that retired Circuit Court Judge Robert Burch was right when he ruled Juvenile Judge Andy Jackson broke the law in sending Sonya to Nebraska without a hearing.

“There is a new set of eyes on this case and it sees it very differently than the old set of eyes,” Tuke said.

The last time Sonya’s foster parents, David and Kim Hodgin, spoke to her was on a phone call to Nebraska. The Hodgins tried to encourage her as she adjusted to her new home.[Oh please! She has adjusted just fine!]

DCS maintained that Sonya should no longer be in its custody. That is one of the items the juvenile court judge will consider on Feb. 19.”

 

Controversial custody case returns to TN next month

[WSMV 1/29/15 by Dennis Ferrer]

Update 9:“A Tennessee foster family fighting to recover the little girl they raised from infancy could be out of options after a judge ruled that Sonya McCaul no longer needs to be looked after by the state.

Tennessee Department of Children’s Services took custody of Sonya in 2005, when she was just 1 year old. That happened after a baby-sitter brought the child to Tennessee from Nebraska and then failed to take her back.

While in DCS custody, Sonya was raised for eight years by foster parents David and Kim Hodgins. But after a protracted legal battle, a Dickson County juvenile court judge sent the girl to live with her birth father in Omaha, Neb., for what was essentially a trial home visit in January 2013. Since then, the Hodginses say, they have had no contact with Sonya, although they have continued to fight for her in court.

On Thursday, Juvenile Court Judge Tony Sanders agreed to a DCS request to remove Sonya from state custody. The move gives father John McCaul custody by default once the judge’s order is signed and filed.

David Hodgins said in a phone interview that the family will continue to seek Sonya’s return through the courts.

“We made her a promise on the night she was taken from us that we would never give up on her, and we won’t,” he said.

But John McCaul’s attorney, Lynn Coffinberry, said she does not expect the Thursday ruling to be overturned. As former foster parents, the Hodginses do not have any legal right to custody of Sonya, she said.

The high-profile custody battle hit a nerve among supporters of both sides who have been vocal on social media sites.

John McCaul’s supporters accuse the Hodginses of essentially kidnapping Sonya. Coffinberry said Sonya could have been back with her birth family years ago if the Hodginses had not tried to adopt her — a procedure that legally put on hold the efforts of DCS to place Sonya with her paternal grandmother.

Supporters of the Hodginses say Sonya was put into the family’s care by chance, but they loved and cared for her as their own. They point out that John McCaul was in prison for most of the time Sonya lived with the Hodginses and say the couple only want what is best for the child.

“All we did was try to raise our daughter in a safe, happy home environment,” David Hodgins said. “We are extremely concerned about Sonya’s welfare.”

Coffinberry said the girl is doing well, an assessment that her court-appointed guardian has testified to in court.

But David Hodgins said he does not believe it.”

In fight for Sonya, foster family could be out of options[The Tennessean 2/23/15 by Travis Loller/Associated Press]

Update 10:“While a Dickson County judge says things could have been handled differently in the custody battle over Sonya Jean McCaul, he has ruled there is no reason for the legal system to continue to be involved. In his first memorandum opinion since taking the bench Sept. 1, Judge David Wolfe granted a request by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services to dismiss a motion by former foster parents Kim and David Hodgin to continue the case  to allow further review of the actions over the last 18 months or send the case back to juvenile court.

“This Court will not compound the mistakes made in this case by prolonging the matter where there is no legal basis,” Wolfe writes in the opinion filed in Dickson County Circuit Court on Tuesday. “The court therefore holds that the Hodgins have no standing to contest the voluntary non-suit filed by DCS in the Juvenile Court, and upon DCS’ notice of non-suit this matter is HEREBY DSIMISSED.” Wolfe heard arguments last week as the Hodgins asked for a review of the entire case from the beginning. In his opinion, Wolfe includes a summary of what he calls “the long and tragic history of this case,” from when infant Sonya was brought to Tennessee and abandoned by a babysitter in 2005 through a failed adoption to eventual reunification with her biological father in Nebraska in January 2014, with numerous motions, petitions and hearings in juvenile, chancery, circuit and appeals courts along the way.

“Counsel for DCS perhaps summed up this situation best when she observed during argument that many mistakes were made in this case,” Wolfe writes in his conclusion. “While the Court fully appreciates the love and affection the Hodgins have for Sonya and believes that the transfer of the child could have and should have been handled differently, there is no legal basis for this matter to continue on appeal to this Court, or to remand the case back to Juvenile Court for hearings as they request. There is no further need for DCS’ involvement with this child who has lived in Nebraska for 18 months…”

In addition to affirming the juvenile court’s eventual finding that Sonya should have been returned to John McCaul in 2005 under an existing Nebraska court order giving him custody, Wolfe also found the Hodgins violated a contract signed with DCS when they became her foster parents. According to that contract, the Hodgins agreed “that we will not attempt to adopt, file a petition to adopt, or take any steps whatsoever to adopt this child unless, after consultation with department staff, the decision is made that adoption by us is in the child’s best interest.”

Wolfe said just three months after signing that agreement the Hodgins filed a petition to terminate John McCaul’s parental rights and adopt Sonya, without the knowledge or consent of DCS. Those petitions were granted in Dickson County Chancery Court but later vacated by the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Last week, that same appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss the Hodgins’ latest termination and adoption petition because they no longer have standing as “prospective adoptive parents” since Sonya was removed from their home.

“The Hodgins’ failed adoption granted them no legal right to the child…,” Wolfe writes. After reviewing the entire case file, Wolfe ruled the Hodgins’ request to send the case back to juvenile court for a best-interest hearing is “inappropriate.” The judge says the Hodgins do not have standing to object to DCS’ placement of the child and decision to close its involvement. “While it is undisputed that the Hodgins formed a strong bond and emotional attachment to Sonya, their legal status has always been as foster parents. That status does not confer upon them standing to contest the placement decisions, or actions of DCS taken in the exercise of their legal custody of the child.

These rules may seem harsh, and do often result in heartbreak, but they exist for a reason. If placement of a child with foster parents conferred upon the foster parents the legal right to contest and litigate the actions of DCS in regards to the child, the result would be catastrophic to the juvenile court system, and make the job of DCS impossibly difficult,” Wolfe writes. While both last week’s Court of Appeals and Wolfe’s rulings can be appealed, the Hodgins currently have no other petitions pending in Tennessee courts. Sonya McCaul turned 11 on Friday.”

Judge Concedes Mistakes were made but grants DCS request to end involvement in Sonya case[WDKN 7/22/15]

Update 11: Finally! 

“A Middle Tennessee couple who fostered a girl for 8 ½ years until her biological father was released from prison and won custody of her say they are giving up their fight to have her returned to them.

WSMV-TV (http://bit.ly/1Eg2yl0 ) reports Dave and Kim Hodgin released a statement Monday announcing “with broken hearts” they are ending their legal battle.

The child was 9 years old when she was returned to John McCaul in Omaha, Nebraska, in January 2014. The Hodgin family of Dickson said earlier this year they have had no contact with her since.

Tennessee Department of Children’s Services took custody of Sonya in 2005, when she was 1 year old, after a baby sitter brought her to Tennessee from Nebraska and failed to take her back.”

Tennessee foster parents give up fight for Nebraska girl [WRCBtv  8/24/15 by Associated Press]