D&D’s Matt Rooney Discusses Morris County’s Rachel Canning Case

Teenager’s Controversial New Jersey Support Case Continues to Make International Headlines

In order to get a better understanding of the legal procedures taking place in this case, Attorney Matt Rooney chimed in to discuss what is going on. “I definitely think that part of this is that we have an attorney who is seizing an opportunity to get headlines. Everybody loves free press, and this case now that it has, unfortunately, international attention which is extremely sad for the family; it’s a great opportunity to market your practice. I also can’t help but wonder if there’s a little bit of emotion going on here too. John Ingelsino who is the attorney who initially helped Rachel Canning pay for her representation, his daughter and Rachel were friends. I don’t know if he thinks he’s doing a favor for this young girl, if he’s maybe looking more like a hero to his own daughter for helping her friend, I have no idea, but there’s certainly no reason why this should continue to be in the courts,” he said. In an email that has been made public, Rachel asks her parents, “So can I come home?” and her father responded by saying that there were still issues that they needed to deal with. The email cites things like: Rachel being disrespectful to her mother, that she had to heel her relationship with her sisters, and also about the whole dyfs situation. This email gives you some insight into the issues that the family has been dealing with. Another underlying question is that at 18 years-old, Rachel is technically an adult. So why is she tying up the court system with this battle over legal guardianship? Rooney discussed how it’s not that simple in New Jersey courts. “The way that New Jersey looks at a child in the context of the family law system is a little bit different than your average person on the street does. Even though she’s technically at the age of majority, children in New Jersey aren’t considered emancipated in the eyes of the court until they’re financially independent,” he explained.