Chapter 11: The Longer Hearing
At the subsequent hearing the evaluator’s findings were entered alongside the original medical photographs and the record of Dustin’s authorization and later defense of the act as discipline. Francine kept the presentation factual and brief. Dustin’s counsel argued for broader contact and described Judith’s action as an isolated error in judgment. The judge reviewed the timeline again: the pre-authorization, the use of clippers until the skin was broken, the physical blocking of the door, the child’s prolonged silence and hat dependence, and the father’s decision to sit beside the person who had held the clippers rather than the child who had been shaved.
The court extended the no-contact order against Judith indefinitely and maintained supervised-only parenting time for Dustin, with the explicit condition that any future request for modification would require demonstrated understanding of the harm and a sustained period without minimization. Primary custody remained with me. The judge stated on the record that an eight-year-old’s body was not an appropriate site for lessons in humility, and that “hair grows back” was not a defense recognized by the court when the method involved force, injury, and restraint.
