Justina Pelletier will remain where she is for now and not be moved to foster care.
This is the 15 year old caught in a turf war between the metabolic specialists at Tufts who had been treating her for a mitochondrial disorder, and the psychiatrists at Boston Children's, who laid claim to her after she arrived there suffering from effects of the flu. They decided she didn't have a mitochondrial disorder, but a psychosomatic illness instead, and -- against the wishes of her parents -- put her in a locked psychiatric ward for a year, where her physical condition has continued to deteriorate.
The state sided with Boston Children's. Their latest decision was to send her to foster care.
However, the proposed facility decided they didn't want the publicity associated with having her there. No doubt they were also concerned about the possibility that if she does have mitrochondrial disorder, like her sister, and she continues to not be treated for it, then she might die on them.
And that wouldn't be good publicity.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/02/26/child-year-long-custody-case-won-moved-foster-care-north-shore/9ThjQWCyrslQlJvSZyKxYK/story.html
A Connecticut teenager in the middle of a year-long custody fight between her parents and the Massachusetts child-protection agency is likely to remain for now at a Framingham residential facility where she’s been for the past month, and not move to a North Shore foster care placement that was discussed in juvenile court Monday, according to two sources briefed on the case.
At the closed-door hearing this week, Juvenile Court Judge Joseph Johnston spoke about a plan by the state Department of Children and Families to transfer 15-year-old Justina Pelletier to Shared Living Collaborative in Merrimac. But this facility has apparently backed away from the idea, largely because of the highly contentious nature of the case and the national media attention it has drawn, these sources said.
Meanwhile, one of the sources said the judge on Monday expressed openness to allowing Justina to return back to her West Hartford, Conn., home to live with her parents, as long as certain oversight conditions were met. Lawyers representing Justina’s parents are expected to help look into such a plan and report back to the court on March 17.
When the Globe contacted Shared Living Collaborative Wednesday morning and asked about its role in the Pelletier case, a staffer said “no comment” and hung up.
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Meanwhile, the girl's father is risking contempt charges because he has recently begun to speak out in defiance of a judge's broad gag order.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/02/25/conn-teen-long-custody-battle-move-again/P2e5jYYQHOwD4QnTPW09eN/story.html
Lou Pelletier spoke about Monday’s hearing despite a far-reaching gag order from Johnston preventing the family and other parties from speaking to the media about the case, and a complaint by the state child welfare agency last week that he had violated the gag order several times already.
Jeffrey Pyle, a lawyer who specializes in free-speech issues for law firm Prince Lobel in Boston, told the Globe that such “a blanket gag order is rare.” He said the order was “breathtaking” in scope because it goes far in silencing what the parents can say over a profound issue.
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Staver insisted the Pelletiers have a strong case. He said the gag order is not in writing, but part of an oral order issued late last year. He said, referring to a transcript, that it states that “no one is to talk about this case at all to any media, whether it is local here or local to the family in Connecticut.”
Meanwhile Jessie Rossman, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts, said Monday that it has been reviewing the First Amendment issues arising out of the gag order and that “we are deeply concerned about multiple aspects.”