Fayette dad seeking reunion with children loses round in court

A Fayette County garbage collector who has been barred from seeing his children for more than a year for having a sexual tryst with their 16-year-old babysitter will have to wait at least another week for any reunion.

U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose on Tuesday refused to issue a temporary restraining order against Fayette County Children and Youth Services, which has threatened to place the children in foster care if the Smithfield man, identified only as "John Doe" in his lawsuit, has any contact with them -- even by telephone.

Ambrose scheduled a full hearing for June 25, when the man is expected to testify and the judge said she might agree to allow him to see his children, ages 8, 6 and 5. He was not present yesterday in federal court, Downtown.

CYS and its administrator, David Madison, have refused to allow the children to live with their father since 2006, when he admitted to having a sexual relationship with the girl, identified as "K.K." in the lawsuit.

The father, 27 at the time, first called the Crime Victims Center in Uniontown to ask whether the relationship would be criminal, the lawsuit states. Someone at the center told him the age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, so they waited until her 16th birthday to have sex, the lawsuit states.

CYS, however, deemed the man to have sexually abused the teen and forced him in September 2006 to allow the children to live with his parents. After being allowed to have supervised visits with the children for nearly a year, the agency halted visits in August 2007 until he completes sexual offender rehabilitation training.

Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union argue their client has never been charged or convicted of a crime and is not a sexual offender, therefore the agency's actions are unconstitutional.

A CYS lawyer said it might be possible for supervised visitations to resume after an interview with the man and his parents.