Submitted by Victor on
[8 July 2015] - Three Bloomfield Hills children who refused an order by a judge to go to lunch with their father have been ordered to a juvenile detention facility.
"I felt like I was watching them be executed," said Maya Tsimhoni.
The Tsimhoni family was in Oakland County's family court for a hearing on supervised parenting time when Judge Lisa Gorcyca took matters into her own hands.
Read the court transcript as the judge sent the three children to Children's Village.
June 24 court transcripts showed how upset the judge was. She ordered the Tsimhoni children ages 14,10 and 9 to have a "healthy relationship" with their father.
She criticized them for avoiding him and even compared them to Charles Manson and his cult. Gorcyca then ordered the children to apologise and have a nice lunch with their dad.
When they refused, Gorcyca held them in contempt and had each child hauled off to Children's Village's juvenile hall - until they are 18 years old.
"No matter how bad the divorce gets, I think the court should not punish the kids for that," Tsimhoni said.
Tsimhoni admits the last five years have not been easy in and out of court through a messy divorce and allegations of parental kidnapping and alienation.
Her son at one point even tried to explain to the judge why he didn't want to spend time with his dad.
"Because he is violent and I saw him hit my mom," he said in court documents.
But Judge Gorcyca claimed he had been brainwashed.
"Since that day I cannot eat, I cannot sleep," Tsimhoni said. "I cannot understand something like that can even happen in this country."
Lisa Stern is now representing Maya, fighting to get her children back and out of Children's Village where they have been for over two weeks.
"I have been doing family law for 20 years and I must say this shocks the conscience," Stern said. "I think we have a court with the best interest of children in mind. I think the judge was very concerned about reunification of this family, but went about it the wrong way.
"I know laws were violated and I know that the children were punished for crimes they did not commit."
The Tsimhoni children are separated from both parents and now each other. Their mother isn't even allowed to visit.
Instead they are forced to live with troubled or neglected children and some who have committed crimes. But ironically, the Tsimhoni children did not.
FOX 2: "Even if the judge felt (their mother) was endangering these children, would this be the proper place to put these kids?"
"No," Stern said. "There are so many steps you can take before you can ... they would never get to a Children's Village."
"I want them back home," Tsimhoni said. "Help them heal, give them the love they need and deserve."
FOX 2 called Judge Gorcyca who did not respond, although judges can't comment on pending cases.
According to documents, they do plan to be in court again to review this case in September. She wants the children to change but many feel this isn't the way.
FOX 2 called the father's attorney Kerri Middleditch and is waiting to hear back.
The father is the only one that has the power to change it. If he feels the children learned their lesson, he could have them released. But the day after the hearing, he left for Israel for work and is not expected back for two weeks.
Their mother appealed for an emergency hearing to the same judge, who has denied it.
Stern says she is asking the chief judge in Oakland County Family Court to review the case Tuesday.