44-year old William Dunn was put in a position many fathers are too often put in – being accused of sexually molesting his own child. In what appears to be yet another case of either an overzealous child welfare agency or mother coaching (parental alienation), perhaps both, a father has been exonerated after being ripped from his daughter’s life for an extended period of time. He was also run through the legal meat-grinder in the process.
Now, William Dunn is fighting back. He is suing the Florida Department of Children and Families citing their failure to properly investigate the case. At the time of the filing, he was backed by the group Fathers Supporting Fathers, an advocacy group for father’s rights in the family court system.
At a June 2007 hearing, Florida DCF was moving to revoked William Dunn’s parental rights permanently when his daughter recanted her accusation, stating that she was never abused by her father. Judge Harvey Kornstein rejected their request and sent the child to live with her father.
The mother denies having coached her daughter to make the false allegations.
Both the child and William Dunn have suffered physically and mentally from the ordeal as well as suffering serious financial losses as a result of the litigation.
