NJ Teen Sues Parents for college fund

Parent Cafe
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<p>This case bothers me on so many different levels. As a teenager, I cannot understand any other reasons then abuse that what would bring a teenager to bring their parents to court. My parents and I have problems, but, I’ve never once thought about suing them over anything. They have a right to parent me, which I recognize, until I’m 18. As a son of two people in law enforcement, I also understand the sometimes higher standards that we have to meet compared to others are age but that is just life. She was so close to turning 18, so close to going to college. If I had been her, I’d have just bit my tongue until I go to college and then I could live my life differently than at home. However, what type of parents would cut the tuition to their kids high school in the middle of it as a punishment? If you thought that private school was important when you had your child enter high school, you shouldn’t pull them out mid-school year, you’re playing games with their education. That’s plain wrong to me. If that’s the way the father works, I’d like to see the circumstance of leaving his position as Chief of Police and maybe that would shine light on his character. </p>

<p>Another thing that bothers me about this case is the double standards constitutionally. If the child was a divorced child, the court could order the father or mother to pay for the college considering the court enters into the child’s life as a ‘‘third’’ parent but because her parents are not divorced, that’s not the case. That means that children are not treated equally in the eyes of the law, at-least that is how I see it. I’m not a lawyer or anything, but, could there possibly be an appeal on whatever the judge decides considering that the court isn’t treating all children equally which to me is prohibited by the Equal Protection Clause in our constitution? </p>

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<p>I don’t think anyone is “jumping to conclusions”. There is adequate information in the court records that have been made public for reasonable people to draw individual conclusions based on that data. Whether our own particular conclusions are correct is something we will never know. </p>

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<p>True. And yet some people write long posts trying to justify her behavior and speculate on things the parents may have done wrong.</p>

<p>It doesn’t matter if she is a spoiled brat or the best teenager ever in the history of teenagers.</p>

<p>She is not entitled to money that the parents set side for college. Period.</p>

<p>I heard, but it could be wrong, that she didn’t want the parents to pay for college, she wanted the money they had set aside. </p>

<p>Heck, I know parents who have set aside money to pay for a daughter’s wedding. But if the relationship sours (for whatever reason) the daughter isn’t entitled to that money.</p>

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<p>Yeah, fluffy! The fact that she is suing her parents for anything at age 18 screams spoiled brat. And, there is a long list of evidence as mentioned upthread. She is entitled to nothing. Sorry.</p>

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<p>Keep in mind that while the boyfriend’s father may be truthful, he has a strong interest in denying allegations he and his son are “bad influences” regarding alcohol. Not only to protect the reputations and social standing of his family and his son, but also avoid possible legal penalties…including possible jail time from hosting, encouraging, or being neglectful of his son’s and other minors’ consumption of alcohol. </p>

<p>The fact the court record states this boyfriend was suspended with her by the Catholic School isn’t going help in trying to deny he may be a bad influence. </p>

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<p>The boyfriend was a student at the school, and the parents evidently felt he was a bad influence. The school objected to the impropriety of the girl staying at the boyfriend’s house. And evidently the school suspended them both together as well. Am I the only one who thinks when the parents tried to withdraw their daughter from the school, that it wasn’t appropriate for the school to allow this girl to continue attending, and facilitating daily contact with the boyfriend who the parents disapproved of and the school also found to be behaving inappropriately? </p>

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<p>This is so sad. The fact that this girl is getting help from her friend’s family is ridiculous. She is going to end up regretting this so much. She should transfer to a public high school and get a job if she chose to leave her parent’s house</p>

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<p>The judge is not going to set a precedent he knows will be overturned. A parent can choose to pay for college but can’t be forced to pay. Think it through and imagine every kid that wants to go to their dream school suing to force the parents to pay. The fact that they can pay or have a college fund is not relevant. The judge said no to everything and will re look at the college on April 22. He picked that date before the May 1 commitment. He will urge settlement or mediation but he won’t set a precedent a higher court would overturn. His speech on Xbox and 60 inch tv lawsuits should be a clue. </p>

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<p>Also, while skimming through the court record, I find it interesting that Rachel Canning’s parents actually provided an 11:30 pm curfew while she was a HS student. </p>

<p>That’s far later than some HS classmates I’ve known, including one older classmate whose parents continued to hold her to a 10 pm curfew well into her college years as a commuter. It was a factor in her moving out as soon as she could save up enough to get her own place at 23. If you asked me, now THAT was a ridiculously early curfew to impose on someone. </p>

<p>Especially one who never caused anywhere near the drama Canning has created in her wake with the abetting of the boyfriend’s family and the family bankrolling this lawsuit. </p>

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<p>I blame the family that is harboring her.
If her family is so horrible, why did CHPP not come to that conclusion and why did they allow the two younger children (& the two dogs) to remain?</p>

<p>I wonder what her behavior had to be, to be removed from the campus ministry program?
It sounds like she isnt getting ( or would take) good advice that would help her transition to adulthood and reunite with her parents and siblings.</p>

<p><a href=“http://newjersey.news12.com/news/morris-catholic-high-school-student-rachel-canning-sues-parents-for-tuition-financial-support-1.7263810?firstfree=yes”>http://newjersey.news12.com/news/morris-catholic-high-school-student-rachel-canning-sues-parents-for-tuition-financial-support-1.7263810?firstfree=yes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Some schools are remarkably tolerant as long as they get tuition, or expect that tuition will be paid.
( in this case, since the parent unenrolled her, but she is still attending, are they still liable?
If her host family refuses to pay, can the school go after the parents?)
When I was in high school, 40 years ago, it was well known that if you were expelled from public school, one of the Catholic schools would take you.
I was suspended for 3 days because I was in the girls bathroom when someone was smoking a cigarette.
Same amount of time a friend was suspended 10 yrs earlier from a Catholic girls school in Ca. for painting the stature in the chapel ( of the Virgin Mary ), red.
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time & my friend had paint on her skirt.
Perhaps Catholics are better at forgiving?</p>

<p>I dont have a problem with the schools attempting to educate miscreants, but they need to have supports in place to do so.</p>

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<p>That was the complete opposite of the situation in my old NYC neighborhood and area during the '80s and early '90s. </p>

<p>IME and from what I’ve seen, it was Catholic and other religious/private schools who were most inclined to expel students for repeated drug/alcohol abuse* or even lesser issues** while most regular NYC public schools had to take everyone…including the most violent and as it turned out…Rikers-bound delinquents. Only exceptions were the public magnet schools which did reserve the right to expel students for violent disruptive behaviors or other serious offenses. </p>

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<li>A large part of this was to maintain their reputation as academically good safe schools where there was no tolerance for violent bullying, drug/alcohol abuse, or students who weren’t able to conform to school expectations including not being disruptive while the teacher is conducting class. Back then, parents would pick religious/private schools on the basis of which schools had the best reputation for maintaining such environments and were inclined to support the school’s stricter discipline/rules compared with the prevailing situation in many neighborhood NYC public schools.<br></li>
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<p>** I was expelled from my first Catholic School as a 5 year old first grader for “being too rambunctious” in the words of its principal. Several classmates at my second more lenient Catholic school were expelled for far lesser offenses than getting caught repeatedly using drugs/alcohol…such as getting caught stealing school supplies from classmates/school and lying about it. </p>

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<p>Parents paid tuition through dec31 2013. They told HS they would not be paying spring semester. Their choice it’s semester to semester. She turned 18 in oct so HS actually would have to hold student liable now for tuition. There is no contract the report states so it’s semester to semester. O:-) </p>

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<p>Even if University of Vermont admitted this young lady knowing about her troubles at school (alcohol use, skipping school, removed from leadership position for behavior problems), it seems the University would be very foolish to accept her at this point. She’s brought national attention to a tragic situation which should/could have been dealt with in a more delicate manner. </p>

<p>Would you send your son/daughter to this place knowing they had such a troubled student there? And apparently no barrier for entry to those students who exhibited obvious behavior and social adjustment problems? </p>

<p>I think the school would be smart to rescind their offer of admission. This poor girl needs to work through some things before she is ready to go off to college on her own. </p>

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<p>Here are the court papers. They’ve been posted here before but I think they are interesting:</p>

<p><a href=“Court papers detail family history of N.J. teen suing parents - nj.com”>Court papers detail family history of N.J. teen suing parents - nj.com;

<p>A few people have commented that the school seemed to believe Rachel was the victim of abuse because they contacted Child Services. Remember they are mandatory reporters. When Rachel alleged abuse they HAD to contact Child Services. Her insinuations against her dad seemed contrived IMO. </p>

<p>It is reported that Rachel is an honor student. She says in her statement that she has a 3.44 GPA. Not an honor student at our school. Is it different elsewhere?</p>

<p>The girl has been coming home drunk since 9th grade. During the summer of 2012 her mother found Rachel was collecting bags of vomit in her bedroom. Her parents had her in therapy and she was receiving medication. She refuses to go back to the therapist. She has chosen her own therapist whom the parents have never met but is billing them.</p>

<p>Her parents recount that she has been stopped for speeding several times and that in her one accident she did not pay to repair the car. The parents took the car and her cell phone.</p>

<p>Rachel was kicked off the cheerleading squad because she did a disappearing act during an away game. Her coach reported that she was inside the school with her boyfriend. Later Rachel was suspended for two days with her boyfriend because they had a bottle of grain alcohol at a homecoming dance. Her dad took her to work with him instead of leaving her home alone and that’s when she “ran away” from her family, three days before she turned eighteen.</p>

<p>It seems to me that Rachel’s family might have a custodial interference complaint against the “foster” family for taking her in before she was eighteen.</p>

<p>The parents she is staying with (foster family) allegedly gave their own daughter a fifteenth birthday party that included a ride in a limo and wine coolers for all the attendees. They allegedly regularly host alcohol fueled parties for high schoolers.</p>

<p>This is an interesting case. Apparently yesterday was some kind of emergency hearing and there will be a different hearing in April. </p>

<p>If parents are required to support eighteen year olds what impact will it have on the public foster care system? Foster children are turned out on their own at eighteen as a rule. </p>

<p>I’m pretty sure I’m not the only cynic who believes Lifetime Television will swoop in and pay Rachel for her story. She’ll have enough for college and we’ll have another high drama schlocky made for TV movie on cable. </p>

<p>My heart goes out to this family. She has two younger teen age sisters whose lives must be painful right now.</p>

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<p>Plain and simple the girl is 18, a legal adult. She is on her own now just like foster kids once they turn 18. She has no legal rights to anything from her parents. Welcome to adulthood girlie!</p>

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<p>The best friend’s parents and lawyer may steer a course to influence the inexperienced young adult to get back to her family. Society as a whole may offer the family empathy and maybe more to prevent from further harm and help heal. </p>

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<p>The best friend’s parents and lawyer may steer a course to influence the inexperienced young adult to get back to her family. Society as a whole may offer the family empathy and maybe more to prevent from further harm and help heal. </p>

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<p>She has a job (unless recently fired for certain info becoming public) hostessing at TGIFridays. Of course before she also worked at the underwear spin off of American Eagle, aerie. I am also one who thinks someone must be in a pitch meeting at Bravo right now. Replacing the RHONJ Guidice couple with the Real Teens of NNJ. At least you guys can be happy this isn’t in your neighborhood!! </p>

<p>How exactly is the 3.4 cumulative, multiple suspensions, disciplinary actioned student, termed an “honor student” in this case? </p>

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<p>Was the cut from the cheerleading team, or just removal as captain? And what about lacrosse? I see that Morris Catholic has girls lacrosse as a varsity and jv sport. </p>

<p>Policemen’s kids might have higher behavioral standards…or they might not. Being a policeman’s child could also mean that there is a lot of looking the other way by law enforcement.</p>

<p>The Catholic high school here takes behavioral issues (drinking, drugs) that the public high school won’t tolerate. When parents here are given the option by the school system of alternative high school or expulsion, more than a few run to the Catholic school to enroll their kids. </p>

<p>I believe the parents’ side more than Rachel’s. </p>

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<p>@osprey CV22 - defining honor student is tough. My kids all went to Catholic school until HS. The Catholic schools (in our experience) have a higher threshold for grades (94-A, 86-B, 75 C) than the public schools (90, 80, 70). So when you calculate GPA a 3.44 at a private school may be more akin to a 3.6 or 3.7 at a public school. Even in the public HS I attended, a 3.2 would get you on the ‘B’ honor role…technically an ‘honor’ student.</p>

<p>Maybe this will get us some impetus to stop requiring parents of 18+ year old adults to fill our FAFSA at all. It seems insane to me that my financial records are being used to determine if my adult children can afford to pay for college. They cannot. I don’t know that they can be compelled to fill out the FAFSA, but then the schools can decide if she is worth receiving aid.</p>