ROSA PARKS’ GODCHILD MAILAUNI WILLIAMS FOUND; JUDGE GEORGE, GUARDIAN ROWAN REMOVED FROM CASE

DETROIT — Saying, “True love never fails against the greatest obstacles,” Wayne County Probate Court Judge Terrance Keith removed attorney Mary Rowan as guardian for Mailauni Williams, 32, and appointed her sister Monique Williams as “interim” guardian. He said his ultimate intent is to send Mailauni back home with her mother Lennette Williams, with whom she has spent her entire life.

Grosse Pointe Farms police seized her from her home in May, after a cursory visit by Adult Protective Services, but no evident court order.

Mailauni was born with cerebral palsy and other injuries resulting from medical malpractice at her birth, which also caused permanent physical damage to her mother. Henry Ford Hospital agreed to a settlement that, spread over the years, would amount to $30 million.

“I love my daughter and have always taken care of her,” Williams tearfully told Judge Keith. “I need my daughter back and she needs me. I would die for my daughter. She is my hero. There are those who thought the hospital settlement was too much for people of color.”

Judge Keith said he had seen records indicating that doctors expected Mailauni to live only two and a half years at most, and that he was impressed both by Lennette Williams dedication in nurturing her daughter to adulthood, and by her professional pro see court filings in response to court-appointed attorneys and guardians attempts to take her away for 20 years.

“I used to take her to the doctor, and he told me I did not have an M.D.,” Williams said. “But I have something better called love. God was working through me. Mailauni walked at 5, and danced to the music of Michael Jackson.” Mailauni later graduated from Grosse Pointe High School. Her graduation portrait is proudly displayed on the mantel of her home in Grosse Pointe Farms.

Mailauni began visiting civil rights icon Rosa Parks at the age of five. Parks adopted her as her godchild.  Elaine Steele and Anita Peek of the Raymond and Rosa Parks Foundation have been active in advocating for her return to her mother. Arnetta Grable of the Original Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality and Cornell Squires of We the People for the People are also close friends supporting Mailauni’s return home.

For the last eight years, Macomb County Judge Kathryn George presided over the case, at the request of Wayne County Probate Court Chief Judge Milton Mack, Jr.

Subsequent to a bizarre hearing in June during which George appointed Rowan as guardian with for at least a year, jailed Lennette Williams, eliminated estate payments for hers and Mailauni’s needs, and had her own court clerk testify as a sworn-in witness, Attorney Allison Folmar got George removed from the case. George had previously been removed as Macomb County Chief Probate Judge after well-publicized allegations of financial malfeasance. She was barred then from dealing with cases involving estates and trusts.

George had also threatened to jail Folmar during the June hearing.

Keith asked Rowan Oct. 9 how she had come to be appointed as guardian. During the June hearing, Mailauni’s sister Monique Williams asked to be appointed as an alternative to foster care home placement. Her mother and a court-appointed attorney said guardianships should go to family members if possible, and the sister said she was confident that Mailauni would also do well with her mother.

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ROSA PARKS’ GODCHILD MAILAUNI WILLIAMS FOUND; JUDGE GEORGE, GUARDIAN ROWAN REMOVED FROM CASE