In re Aaliyah H. CA4/1

BACKGROUND

Aaliyah was born in March 2006. The parents divorced in Hawaii in December

2009. The Hawaii court ordered joint legal custody and awarded Amanda sole physical

custody of Aaliyah. Christopher was allowed supervised visits until Aaliyah was six

years old, then unsupervised visits "[s]ubject to [Aaliyah]'s comfort level."

Amanda alleged domestic violence by Christopher, and the Hawaii family court

granted her a temporary restraining order. One of Amanda's allegations was that

Christopher had thrown a cup against a wall, and the cup had ricocheted and accidentally

hit Aaliyah, injuring her. Christopher admitted the incident had occurred, but "stated that

they were actually playing during that time and that Aaliyah was laughing about it."

Christopher was arrested for violating the restraining order by contacting Amanda soon

after the order issued. There were no documented incidents of violence by Christopher in

2 other relationships, and aside from the arrest, he had no criminal history. He had no child

welfare history.

During the divorce proceedings, Christopher was concerned about Amanda's

mental state and ability to care for Aaliyah, but did…