My custody case, Summit County Domestic Relations Court, DR-2022-03-0667, passed through many professional hands. Each page in this series documents what I believe went wrong with one of them: what they did or failed to do, the dated records behind it, and the rules I believe apply. Each one is written as my belief and my experience, tied to the evidence. None of it is a finding by any court or disciplinary body.
What Ohio must change so this never happens to another child
Every page in this series ends in the same place: a child who was not heard and a parent who was not protected. These are the changes I am asking for.
- Lawyers: signed fee and engagement agreements in every family case; written disclosure of any personal relationship with the judge, a recusal ruling and the client's written consent before any hearing; no appeal dismissed and no closing argument waived without the client; the complete file returned within a set deadline.
- Notice: a minimum notice period before any hearing that can change where a child lives, with a continuance when a parent's lawyer is new to the case.
- The child's voice: both parents told in writing that the court must interview a child on request (R.C. 3109.04(B)(1)), before any custody order.
- Guardians ad litem: deadlines for first contact, interviewing each child alone and reporting before temporary hearings; returned calls; monthly fee statements; a statewide complaint and discipline process.
- Counselors: equal records access for both parents without a fight; both parents notified before a child starts counseling during a custody case; a duty to report to the court and the guardian ad litem, with copies to both parents.
- Protection orders: obeying a protection order, or a lawyer's safety advice under one, never counted against the protective parent.
Senate Bill 174
Senate Bill 174 of the 136th General Assembly, sponsored by Senators Theresa Gavarone and Paula Hicks-Hudson, rewrites Ohio custody law. It replaces "residential parent," shared parenting and sole custody with court-approved parenting plans. It passed the Senate on November 12, 2025, and it is now in the House Judiciary Committee, which last heard it on June 10, 2026. It is not law yet. Section numbers below are the bill's new numbers, taken from the Legislative Service Commission analysis of the version as passed by the Senate.
The bill already keeps the mandatory interview on request, requires interviews to be recorded, bars presumptions from temporary orders, and gives guardians ad litem a duty of candor. I am asking the House to add deadlines and fee terms for guardians ad litem, notice of the interview right, protection for parents who obey protection orders, conflict disclosure, client consent before a custody appeal is dropped, and penalties for denying a parent the child's records.
What it cost me: money, time and resources →
In the order they entered my case.
Sagamore Hills Police Department
The first people I went to for help, in 2019. In September 2019, after my husband took my phone so I couldn't call anyone, officers gave me "advice," and no report was written. In May 2022, with an order protecting my sons and me, police phone records confirmed his call to my Younger Son's school two days after he was served, and the report ends with no finding. My reports of tracking and phone tapping were logged as "information noted," and the morning the order was file-stamped, an officer wrote "not a criminal matter."
What protection looked like: Stow Municipal Court and Magistrate Collins
Before Summit County, there was Stow. The day after my ex-husband got violent with me, the Stow Municipal Court issued a protection order for me, and on March 17, 2022, Judge Kim R. Hoover looked him in the eye and made him admit what he did. On May 6, 2022, Magistrate Collins heard me the same afternoon I filed, found my sons and me in "immediate and present danger," gave me our home and sole custody of my sons, suspended my ex-husband's parenting time, and told me how to get copies to the sheriff and my son's school. His written order matched his ruling from the bench.
Summit County Victim Assistance Program
The program that took me as a client after my ex-husband was arrested for domestic violence against me. No one prepared me for the pretrial or was with me, and he took a reduced charge while I was not there. When I wrote that I had lost my children, no one answered.
Lisa Carey Dean
My ex-husband's lawyer since he filed for divorce on March 21, 2022, and now a candidate for Domestic Relations Judge. She swore I had "counsel on the docket the entire time" after writing to me, "Because you have been contacting me directly, I assume you no longer have legal counsel." Her letter told him not to send my sons for my court-ordered time, with no order allowing it.
Kimberly Valenti
My lawyer the week I lost my sons overnight, the daughter of the man I was in business with, and the lawyer who withdrew five weeks before trial.
The Goddard School - Macedonia
My Younger Son's pre-K. I enrolled him, I signed his enrollment packet, and both of the school's administrators testified that I was the one who usually brought him in each morning. On May 4, 2022, two days before I filed for a protection order, I told the school that only I could take him. The next morning the owner emailed my ex-husband and me about it.
St. Barnabas School
My sons' Catholic school. The principal left me a voicemail about my request for my son's homework, then swore she was given "no explanation." The school took my ex-husband's word for my rights, held meetings about my Younger Son without me, and told me there were no behavior records while sending his behavior plans to my ex-husband.
John Chapman
The lawyer who tried the hearing where I lost my sons, filed the emergency motion nobody ruled on, and was fired, at my first lawyer's direction, six days after the custody order.
Judge Susan K. Steinhauer
She heard my protection order and my ex-husband's emergency custody motion together on May 20, 2022, in a hearing noticed for one hour before a magistrate. She said she was not hearing temporary orders; nineteen days later her order made my ex-husband my sons' temporary custodian. Ten weeks after that she recused for a "personal conflict," and in 2023 she went to work at his lawyers' firm.
Brendon Kohrs
The first guardian ad litem for my sons: 13.3 hours in seven months, never alone with either boy, no report, and then a new job as a magistrate.
Lori Long
The counselor my ex-husband chose for my sons. She took his account of me at intake, testified "I don't know mom," wrote to the court about me a year later, and would not release my sons' records without redactions. She never answered the 22 witness letters I sent her or 8 of my written requests.
Scott Stutler
The supervisor of my visits with my sons. He was briefed by my ex-husband's lawyer before he had the court order, swore my parenting was "child focused," and quit by text, which stopped my visits.
Dr. Aimee Thomas
The psychologist who did my court-ordered evaluation. She wrote that the evidence I sent her had "expired," sent her report to the court without opening my evidence of the domestic violence, and told me anything I sent that day "will not be included." She refused to fix her errors. Her incomplete report is still being used to keep my sons from me.
Young Explorers Montessori of Twinsburg
The preschool that knew who his parent was. It sent every daily report, bill and notice to me, and none to my ex-husband. In 2023 it would not say who dropped him off and picked him up, and it never gave me the records I asked for. No one ever subpoenaed his teachers.
James B. Phillips, Jr., Guardian ad Litem
The court let him get any record about my sons without anyone's consent. He told me in writing that he would follow up with the school ("I will confirm with school about this issue and get back to you"), and I have no message where he did. His time log has no entry for reviewing any record I sent. I sent him 65 letters from people who knew me and my sons, and I found no reply to any of them. When I listed the records he had not requested, he answered, "I will not debate my investigation or my recommendations with you outside of the courtroom." In February 2024 he recommended unsupervised time with overnights; in June he filed for supervised time two days before the hearing.
Judge Joseph Giulitto, Visiting Judge
He said my then-fiancé "appears to be a very nice person," then kept my sons away from him "until the divorce is over." The written order eight days later had no end date and reached "any other time." Finding a place to spend my weekends with my sons cost me about $29,498.
Rushwood Elementary (Nordonia Hills City Schools)
My sons' public school. Its file held my 2024 decree giving me equal access to school records and student activities. In September 2025 the principal argued with me about my decree on my ex-husband's word ("on his end, he said nothing has changed"), the district's security officer, Officer Nickel, would not let me stay for lunch, and the district wrote that its "understanding" was that I was supervised. In 2026 I had to ask who my son's teacher was.
David S. Anthony, My Attorney
His engagement letter promised "every effort" to move my case "as diligently and expeditiously as is possible." He told me in writing a motion to reconsider would be worked on "next week." It was never filed. He withdrew after two and a half months, with trial set for April, and never sent the file letter he promised. I sent him 206 texts and 57 emails; he sent 70 texts and 9 emails.
Joseph Pfundstein, My Divorce Attorney
The day before we settled, my ex-husband's lawyer offered in writing to waive back child support. The decree that was filed made my support start on March 21, 2022. When I asked him in writing to file an amendment, he answered "Ok." Nothing was filed. The docket shows no filing by him after his notice of appearance. I sent him 88 emails and 654 texts; he sent 18 emails and 161 texts.
Summit County Prosecutor's Office
The same morning, the police sent me to the prosecutor's office and the prosecutor's office sent me back: "We don't have anything to do with filing charges." I was told a senior staff member was "handling it" and would call. On my third visit I was told "it is time for you to go." Eleven emails later, I have found no call, no appointment and no written reply, and its Facebook account told me to go back to the police.
Akron Police Department
The prosecutor's office sent me next door to file a criminal complaint for perjury. The report the police wrote says I came about "the outcome from Domestic Relations court," and it was marked "Complete" the same day. I was told a detective would be assigned, and I have found no contact from one. My complaint to the department, its oversight board and its police auditor, and nine emails to the mayor's office, got no written reply I can find.