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Appeal filed in Amish custody case
By JOSH NELSON Courier Staff Writer
OELWEIN --- The stepfather of a 3-year-old Amish girl wants the Iowa Supreme Court to throw out a settlement granting visitation rights to her biological father.
Samuel Schrock, who is also Amish, sued the parents of Rachel Schrock, including his wife Edna, in May 2006, claiming he wasn't allowed an opportunity to voice his opinions on the settlement. A Fayette County judge dismissed the suit. Schrock filed his appeal to the state supreme court last month asking again to have the visitation-rights settlement set aside and the matter remanded back to state court.
Rachel Schrock was born at Allen Hospital in Waterloo in March 2004 to Dieter Erdelt, a businessman in Oelwein, and Edna Schrock, a member of the Amish community in Buchanan County. She was conceived during an affair the two had before Edna married Samuel Schrock.
"How can he (Schrock) say he wasn't involved?" Erdelt said. "He was on the witness stand twice. And what right does he have to my daughter? He knew before he married his wife that I was going to be involved in this child's growing up."
The parents became entangled in an unusual custody battle, which ended in March 2006 when they entered arbitration. Edna Schrock received legal custody of the girl. Erdelt is allowed to see his daughter three consecutive days every other week and alternating holidays.
Tim Luce, Erdelt's attorney, said he and Erdelt weren't happy about some of the conditions of the visitation and initially filed an appeal. That was withdrawn after Edna Schrock and Erdelt reached their settlement.
"He still continues to see his child and still has a great relationship with her," Luce said. "We're happy about that, but it's just that we keep having to go through these legal hoops. It gets frustrating."
Erdelt said his relationship with Rachel has grown significantly since last year when he was allowed greater access to his daughter. He said she is more open to strangers, often waving at them or talking to them. Erdelt, a German immigrant, said she also understands both German and English.
But, he said, the Schrocks haven't made the arrangement easy on him. Samuel Schrock testified in court that he and Edna moved to an Amish community in Lavelle, Wis., in July 2004 to get away from Erdelt.
Erdelt said when he goes to Wisconsin to pick up his daughter, Rachel is usually not ready. And at least once, Erdelt said, Samuel Schrock wouldn't let him take the girl. Erdelt said the Schrocks have also interfered with his visitation rights.
The Schrocks previously argued in court that they wanted Rachel to grow up in the Amish community and the differences in their environment and customs and the non-Amish world would make the dual lifestyle difficult for the girl.
Erdelt said he may seek modification of the arbitration settlement with Edna to give him partial custody of Rachel so he would have greater visitation rights.
No court dates for the Schrock's appeal of the arbitration settlement have been set yet. The Schrocks' attorney, Mark Roeder, declined to discuss the case.
"We just felt that it's not in the child's best interest to be the subject of the media spotlight, so we're not going to be offering any comment," Roeder said.
Contact Josh Nelson at (319) 291-1565 or josh.nelson@wcfcourier.com.
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Mary Byler
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e-mail me at mary@marybyler.com
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