• 20
  • July
    2011

Any Denver parent who has gone through child custody proceedings knows that they can be fairly mundane affairs, but now a case in Pennsylvania has added a little excitement to the field. There, parents who live in Mexico were allowed to testify via webcam in their successful bid to regain custody of their children.

The case is a new benchmark for the integration of technology in child custody cases. People involved with the case think it is the first time a U.S. court has allowed testimony in a custody case to be taken over the Internet.

In this case, the parents had their children when they were undocumented workers in the U.S. They were eventually deported back to Mexico, but the children remained in the U.S. The parents were not wealthy and did not have the means to come back to the U.S. and testify. Their U.S. lawyer convinced the court that using a Skype-like service would be an acceptable substitute for their physical presence.

Ultimately, the parents were able to use videoconferencing to tell the judge they had undergone therapy and followed other court requirements, so the family was reunited after being apart for more than two years.

The parents' attorney said she hopes this low-cost alternative is made available to others who do not have much money. She said this instance should serve as a model for future cases.

For now, providing testimony via the web is not the norm. Parents are still required to be present in person at hearings. This does suggest an interesting new development may be afoot, however. Watch this blog for any future updates.

Source: Associated Press, "Mexican parents recoup kids via Internet testimony," Mark Stevenson, 19 July 2011.