#StandWithSophie: Texas girl's mom Kelly Long begins 'reunification' with daughter as parents settle out of court
Weeks after 9-year-old Texas girl Sophie Long's father won full custody of his daughter, the girl's parents agreed to a negotiated settlement out of court, without a judge or a trial involved. The update comes a month after the girl's allegations of sexual abuse against her mother's boyfriend sparked an online campaign. A video shared by the child's stepmother launched the campaign called #StandWithSophie to help the little girl find justice. The campaign, which was branded a fraud by Routzon Law Firm, was criticized by Kelly.
In the latest development in the case, both her divorced father, Michael, and mother negotiated a settlement out of court on Saturday, October 3. "Today both parties agreed to a negotiated settlement out of court, with no Judge or trial/hearing involvement. This mediation did not involve any testimony or evidence from either party," sources familiar to the case told MEA WorldWide (MEAWW).
Kelly will also initiate a "reunification" process with her 9-year-old, which will primarily focus on healing the relationship that had been damaged between the two. "Kelly will begin a reunification process with Sophie that will focus on healing the relationship that has been damaged through parental alienation, public exploitation and lies," sources revealed. "As agreed upon, the process begins by helping Kelly and her children heal and rebuild their relationships that have been devastated by false allegations, public exploitation, and parental alienation. Kelly will immediately receive multiple unsupervised, extended visitations with Jack and Lucas."
Meanwhile, Kelly said that she was happy about the legal agreement she had reached with her former husband. "I am so happy to have reached a legal agreement today with Michael that allows for the healing process to begin between us and our children," the mother said. "I am beyond excited to begin reunifying with my precious babies who I miss desperately and as any mother can understand, I can't wait to hold my children in my arms again."
The agreement reached between the parties will continue to evolve and transition as they reach the final case hearing in the future. The emailed statement also mentioned that all the children involved will begin counseling to help them navigate through this difficult time. "Kelly will receive frequent, ongoing communication with her children while they are with Michael," the statement added.
Sophie is the child of divorced parents. The girl's father, 41-year-old Michael of Seguin, Texas, and her mother Kelly Marie Mitton, 34, of Frisco, divorced in July 2015. However, a long and bitter custody battle for their three children, Sophie, and two boys, ensued since then. The custody of the three children was initially evenly split between the parents, however, as the relationship between Michael and Kelly worsened, a judge gave Kelly sole custody of the children. Recently, a video shared by Sophie's stepmother Kourtney Chalmers showed the child pleading for help as she told her grandmother she had been sexually abused by Kelly's boyfriend.
Routzon Law Firm, last month, had announced a fraud alert for the viral “Stand with Sophie” GoFundMe Page after extensive evidence and documents provided by medical professionals, Child Protective Services (CPS), and the Frisco Police Department of Texas show that these claims against Kelly were entirely unfounded.
