ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606100035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MILWAUKEE
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE CHILDREN CITED their life on welfare, their father's repeated drug use and their mother's bouts with panic disorder and depression.
A judge granted a ``divorce'' Friday for three children who pleaded for a life free of their jailed father's alleged mental abuse, drug use and joblessness.
The 34-year-old father, however, still will be required to support the children financially, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Dominic Amato ruled.
The decision allows the children of Mark Jocius - Bryan, 7, Jennifer, 14, and Matthew, 16 - to sever all their legal ties and change their surname.
``It's clear from the evidence the dad, ever since the birth of the first child, has been a non-parent,'' the judge said.
The ruling followed a four-day hearing that opened Tuesday with the children's court-appointed attorney reading a letter they wrote in January to Judge Clarence Parrish, who granted their parents' divorce in 1990.
The children cited their life on welfare, their father's repeated drug use and their mother's bouts with panic disorder, agoraphobia and depression.
Jocius ``was abusive toward all of us during the marriage,'' the letter said. ``We don't mean to sound whiny, but we don't want him around anymore.''
Amato said the divorce from their father was permanent for the two older children, but he left it up to Bryan, the youngest, to change his mind. If he does, Jocius would have to prove he was a fit parent before Bryan could resume a relationship with him.
The judge also agreed to allow the children to change their surname from Jocius to Fleming, the surname recently taken by their mother.
``You are a detriment to your children,'' the judge told Jocius, who this year began serving a four-year term in a state prison on charges of writing bad checks.
Amato said the children had suffered emotional scars.
``These children are entitled to have some closure, finality, to get on with their lives,'' he said.
Jocius was ordered to pay all costs of the court proceedings, including legal fees and those for psychologists, and provide half of the pay he receives in jail toward the support of his children.
Amato said Jocius also would be required to make a good-faith effort to find and hold a job when he is freed, and then to continue providing financial support for the children.
Jocius had no comment as he left court through a side door.
The children's mother, Victoria Fleming, said she was glad her children had taken action. ``I'm really proud of them,'' she said, ``because I didn't have the courage.''
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB