Schuyikill takes WolfHawk baby boy

Son of man who committed sex crimes is put in foster home

By Chris Parker

The Morning Call

A newborn boy whose father is a convicted sex offender was placed in a foster home Friday, and a Schuylkill County judge ruled that the county's child welfare agency can continue to have custody at least until the end of the month.

Judge Charles Miller said a hearing Oct. 31 will decide long-term custody of Melissa and DaiShin WolfHawk's baby.

Until then, Melissa can visit her son for two hours at a time under the watch of county Children & Youth Services workers. How often she can visit has not been decided, agency Executive Director Gerard J. Campbell said.

DaiShin WolfHawk, who lives in Pine Grove, does not have visitation rights, Campbell said.

''There is no happy ending,'' Campbell said after two hours of testimony behind closed doors in Pottsville. ''It's just what we think is in the best interests of the child.''

The custody hearing will determine whether the county can keep the child indefinitely, with reviews of the case every six months. Pottsville lawyer Edward M. Brennan was appointed temporary guardian of the baby for legal purposes.

''I think they are sending the message that if you or any member of your family screws up, you can kiss your parental rights goodbye, forever, apparently,'' said Melissa WolfHawk's American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, Mary Catherine Roper.

Roper said she was disappointed by Miller's ruling, but ''frankly, not surprised, given the history we have seen in the treatment of this family by Schuylkill County.''

Children & Youth Services wants the baby in protective care because of concerns about his father's record of sexual crimes. Those concerns earlier led authorities to take custody of Melissa's now 8-year-old son and the couple's 21-month-old daughter.

The WolfHawks have been married for three years, but are living apart. Both said they will continue to live apart if it means Melissa could keep her children.

Leaving the courtroom with reddened eyes, Melissa WolfHawk, 31, said nothing and walked slowly. She wore a black sweatshirt that read, ''Transport for Christ — Jesus is Lord,'' and was accompanied by a man named Red Deer clad in American Indian jewelry and knee-high fringed leather boots.

DaiShin WolfHawk, 53, who says he is the chief of an American Indian tribe called the Unole e Quoni, did not attend the hearing.

Melissa, who gave birth via Caesarian section, left a southern Chester County hospital Thursday night against medical advice in order to attend Friday's hearing, Roper said.

''She's doing very poorly physically, and needs to go back to see her doctor,'' Roper said. ''Obviously, she's very upset.''

Roper said the child, whose name has not been disclosed, will suffer from her absence. ''It's devastating to an infant to be separated from his mother in the very first days of his life,'' she said.

She said WolfHawk plans to freeze breast milk and send it to Children & Youth Services to pass on to the foster parents.

County Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin on Wednesday issued an emergency order allowing the agency to take the boy, but Jennersville Regional Hospital near West Grove, where he was born, refused to immediately release him.

Agency workers on Friday morning got the baby from the hospital, Campbell said. He declined to identify the foster parents who have the boy or say where they live.

In 1983, DaiShin WolfHawk, then known as John Joseph Lentini, pleaded guilty in New York state to sexually assaulting two teenage girls.

At a federal court hearing Monday in Scranton, agency lawyer Karen Rismiller presented a parole report that listed a third assault victim. Both WolfHawks vigorously denied that assault occurred.

The agency also presented testimony by a doctor that Melissa WolfHawk admitted using methamphetamine and cocaine and engaging in prostitution. She denies those allegations.

''There's a whole pile of issues,'' Campbell said.

Melissa WolfHawk had previously sued in federal court because Children & Youth Services was asking about her pregnancy. She sought a restraining order preventing the agency from doing that.

U.S. District Judge Robert Vanaskie issued the order on Sept. 30, and on Monday extended it for 10 days. He was to rule on a permanent injunction by Thursday.

Campbell said that matter is moot now that WolfHawk has given birth.

Roper said the injunction ruling would answer ''our request that he say that the county's action in taking this child away is an unreasonable exercise of government power.''

She argued that removing the baby from WolfHawk's custody when there is no clear evidence of immediate danger is unconstitutional.

Roper said WolfHawk early this month moved from Pottsville to Maryland, where the couple's toddler daughter lives in protective care with relatives.