After getting the news yesterday, Justina Pelletier’s family is elated and cannot wait for her to get back to her West Hartford home.
She spent the last 16 months in the custody of the state of Massachusetts and yesterday afternoon the Massachusetts Juvenile Judge, Joseph Johnston, said that she can go home and her parents will regain full custody.
The dispute began in February 2013 when her parents disputed a medical diagnosis at Boston Children’s Hospital. They were accused of medical child abuse and a judge took away their custody.
In March of 2013, a judge ruled that Justina was to remain in the custody of Massachusetts. She hasn’t been home since. She celebrated her 16th birthday in May – in a youth facility she was transferred to in Thompson, Connecticut.
She’s been there for about a month, and later this morning that’s where she’ll be released from. It’s a moment the family says will be the best in over a year.
“It was such a shock, such a surprise, but obviously, the best surprise we could have had,” Lou Pelletier said. “She’s finally coming home and we can being the healing process.”
Justina’s mother plans to pick her up from the Thompson facility and drive her back to West Hartford. Justina is confined to a wheelchair and has a long medical recover ahead of her, but for the family, all that matters is that she can do it at home.
Read more at courant.com.