Chasity Monschein

Chasity Monschein, Indianapolis sophomore, is currently working on a novel narrating her experience as a young, adopted child with a court case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court of three states.

Monschein has lived in seven states including: Texas, Indiana, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Louisiana and Ohio. Of the states she has lived in, her case made it to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, Colorado and Indiana.

“I’m writing in hopes that it can help someone who can’t afford lawyers,” Monschein said.

She explained that after the case, her parents were in a debt of $500,000 in lawyer fees. Court cases that go on for years may be costly.

“I testified from the ages of five to nine,” Monschein stated.

Monschein aspires to help those whom have been in similar situations and have questions.

“They want to know what happened in the past?” she said. “What can I learn from someone else’s case?”

Monschein’s case was centered on parents’ ad grandparents’ parental rights. In the instance in which a parent is denied visitation rights, the grandparents are given unlimited visitation pending a court decision overruling the original decision.

As in most states, grandparents have to prove that visitation is in the best interest of the child. The child undergoes a series of interviews in order to determine what in fact is best for the child. Ultimately, the courts reserve the right to either grant or deny grandparents’ visitation rights.

Last February Monschein traveled to Indiana to speak to the Senate on Bill SB155. The bill was passed regarding the rights and privileges of grandparents in custody battles. Her lawyer insisted that she come speak out against the bill because her case too applied to grandparent visitation.

Monscheins were made to be in court. Chasity’s father and grandfather were both involved in politics in the state of Indiana.

Chasity is a journalism student at SFA seeking teacher certification. She also studies sociology.

“I’m going to get my teacher’s certification while I’m here in case I want to teach high school,” she said.

Aside from working on the novel, Chasity is a weekend report for Lufkin Daily News.