This Week’s Pro Bono Success Story

An Army National Guard member, deployed to Iraq, was on leave at home in Oklahoma when he and his wife were involved in an altercation after which the wife was jailed for domestic violence. Because the soldier was required to return to Iraq, the couple’s children were placed with their grandparents by the Department of Human Services (DHS). Following this, DHS was to develop a plan under which the children would be returned to the parents. The soldier, in Iraq, needed representation in this process to protect his interests and to ensure that any obligations imposed upon him by the plan would be reasonable and appropriate. An Oklahoma pro bono volunteer through the Military Pro Bono Project worked with the DHS caseworker to finalize the plan that would ensure that he would regain custody of his children upon his return from Iraq.