Polovchak v. Meese
Encyclopedia
Polovchak v. Meese, 774 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1985) was an American
federal legal case involving a 12-year-old who did not want to leave the United States
and return with his parents to Ukraine
.
Walter Polovchak
was living in Chicago, Illinois when his parents decided to return to what was then part of the Soviet Union
. He objected, prompting the case. Polovchak turned 18 before a final decision was rendered, and he was allowed to remain in the United States.
The ruling holds that parents who are citizens of another country cannot remove their own child from the United States to their native land, over the child's objection, unless the child first is afforded a hearing to determine whether living in another nation is in the child's interests.
The case came back into the news during the Elián González
custody battle.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
federal legal case involving a 12-year-old who did not want to leave the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and return with his parents to Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
Walter Polovchak
Walter Polovchak
Walter Polovchak is a Ukrainian-American who, as a child, became the center of the legal case Polovchak v. Meese after refusing to leave Chicago, Illinois and return to Ukraine in the Soviet Union with his parents when he was 12....
was living in Chicago, Illinois when his parents decided to return to what was then part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He objected, prompting the case. Polovchak turned 18 before a final decision was rendered, and he was allowed to remain in the United States.
The ruling holds that parents who are citizens of another country cannot remove their own child from the United States to their native land, over the child's objection, unless the child first is afforded a hearing to determine whether living in another nation is in the child's interests.
The case came back into the news during the Elián González
Elián González
The custody and immigration status of a young Cuban boy, Elián González , was at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, González's father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, González's other relatives in Miami, Florida, and in Cuba, and Miami's...
custody battle.
External links
- 774 F.2d 731, Anna POLOVCHAK and Michael Polovchak, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Edwin MEESE, III, United States Attorney General, and Michael Landon, District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Defendants-Appellants, Walter Polovchak, Intervening-Appellant. Nos. 85-2297, 85-2305. United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. Argued Sept. 9, 1985. Decided Sept. 10, 1985. Opinion Oct. 9, 1985.