Kennedy v. State Department of Pensions and Security

Mr. Kennedy (defendant) earned a bachelor’s degree and owned a successful insurance business despite having a serious physical disability. He married Anne Elizabeth Stower (Mrs. Kennedy) (defendant), who had the same disability. The Kennedys managed the birth and care of their first child without difficulty, but the birth of their second child triggered the collapse of the family. Because of the stress of raising two small children while living with a disability, Mrs. Kennedy began acting irrationally, requiring several stays for inpatient psychiatric treatment. During one of those stays, she discovered that she was pregnant with a third child. Because of Mrs. Kennedy’s psychiatric illness, Mr. Kennedy started spending less time at work and more time at home, causing his income to decrease. The community provided financial and emotional support, but the Kennedys were still unable to successfully care for their family, leading the Kennedys to have violent arguments in the presence of the children. The state (plaintiff) filed a complaint, seeking custody of the three children. Based on the evidence of the Kennedys’ struggles, the juvenile court found that the Kennedys were morally unfit to be parents and awarded custody to the state, with the discretion to place the children for adoption. The Kennedys appealed, arguing that there was insufficient evidence of their moral unfitness to remove custody. The circuit court affirmed the trial court. The Kennedys appealed again.