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March 2012

CALIFORNIA  

Justices OK Negligent Hiring Suit Against School District

Cheryl Miller, The Recorder  

03-08-12 -- A Southern California school district and its administrators can be sued for negligently hiring and supervising a counselor who molested a teen student, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. . . . The unanimous high court said a "special relationship" between public school employees and students imposes "the duty to use reasonable measures to protect students from foreseeable injury at the hands of third parties acting negligently or intentionally." . . . "C.A.," a former Golden Valley High School student in Santa Clarita, sued the William S. Hart Union High School District, alleging that his guidance counselor, Roselyn Hubbell, molested him on and off campus over a nine-month period in 2007. C.A. said district administrators knew or should have known Hubbell had a past history of abusing children. C.A. also accused the district of failing to properly supervise Hubbell during the time he attended Golden Valley.

WASHINGTON   

Court: Children's right to attorney not universal

By Shannon Dininny, Associated Press | The Seattle Times  

03-01-12 -- The Washington Supreme Court upheld a state law Thursday that authorizes trial judges - but doesn't require them - to appoint lawyers to foster children in cases where a court is considering removal from families. . . . The court ruled that children have due process rights that must be protected, in some cases by appointment of counsel. But the justices ruled 9-0 that the right to an attorney isn't universal, saying trial judges have "the discretion to decide whether to appoint counsel to children who are subjects of dependency or termination proceedings." . . . The case stemmed from a King County trial court judge's decision to terminate Nyakat Luak's parental rights following a 13-day trial in 2008.

February 2012

ALABAMA  

Savannah Hardin, 9, Dies After Being Forced to Run for 3 Hours

By Brian Orloff, www.people.com   

02-24-12 -- A 9-year-old Alabama girl died on Monday after allegedly being forced to run for three hours as a punishment for lying about eating a candy bar. . . . The girl, Savannah Hardin, was reportedly forced to run on the afternoon of Friday Feb. 17 by her grandmother and stepmother. According to the Birmingham News, her stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, called 911 at 6:45 p.m. and reported that Savannah was having a seizure and was unresponsive. . . . She was taken to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, Ala., where she died after being taken off life support on Monday. . . . A state pathologist ruled the third grader's death a homicide, and her body has been sent to Huntsville, Ala., for an autopsy, reports the Birmingham News. Preliminary reports indicated that Savannah was extremely dehydrated and had very low sodium levels.

NEW YORK  

Oswego County legislators concerned about Family Court rulings

By Debra J. Groom / The Post-Standard   

02-24-12 -- Oswego County lawmakers are asking an administrative judge to review Family Court Judge Kimberly Seager’s record for returning foster children to their parents. . . . They’re concerned Seager sometimes sends children back to parents or guardians who are not fit to receive them. . . . Two such decisions by Seager recently were overturned by an appellate court, and a third is being appealed. . . . Oswego County Legislature Chairman Fred Beardsley said he will send a letter to Chief Administrative Judge James Tormey in Syracuse Monday to discuss concerns about Seager. . . . Beardsley said legislators received “concerns from a number of (county) departments” about such decisions. . . . “We want to make sure we’re being proactive to be sure another disaster doesn’t happen,” he said. . . . Beardsley was referring to the case of Erin Maxwell, an 11-year-old girl found to be living in squalor, often with too little food to eat.

TEXAS  

Child at center of high court fight over custody gets closure

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer 

02-14-12 -- He was known only as A.J.A.-- a little boy at the center of a international custody fight that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The near decade-long dispute has now come to an end, not because of any judicial action, but simply because of time. . . . Alex Abbott turned 16 recently and has officially "aged out" of coverage under The Hague Convention dealing with child abduction across borders. A U.S. federal judge this week signed an order dismissing the case between the boy's parents. . . . Mother and son now live in Texas. She says the youngster seeks no further contact with his father. . . . Jacquelyn Vaye Abbott said she was shocked when she heard the news Monday, never quite sure her case would ever be resolved. . . . "Alex is safe and his own country, that's the most important thing," she told CNN from her office in Austin. "We're whole, we're here, we're safe. Everything else is inconsequential."

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January 2012

FEDERAL COURTS

Court to weigh restitution for child porn victim

By Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press | Statesman  

01-30-12 -- A federal appeals court in New Orleans has agreed to rehear two cases in which a victim of child pornography sought restitution from men who viewed sexually explicit photographs of her on the Internet. . . . The victim in both cases, who is identified only as a woman named "Amy," was a young child when her uncle sexually abused her and widely circulated images of the abuse, according to court records. . . . Last March, a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Amy is entitled to receive restitution from Doyle Randall Paroline, an east Texas man who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. . . . A month later, a different 5th Circuit panel overturned a judge's ruling that New Orleans resident Michael Wright owed Amy more than $500,000 in restitution for viewing photos of her. Wright pleaded guilty to child pornography possession in June 2009.

FLORIDA  

Judge: Abused boy looks like concentration camp victim

Abused, starved and naked, a 9-year-old boy was rescued by neighbors when he was found on the streets. A Miami judge Monday demanded to know how it happened.

By Carol Marbin Miller & David Ovalle, The Miami Herald

01-30-12 -- Joseph Lee studied a color snapshot of his 9-year-old nephew Monday as a Miami child-welfare judge glanced at Lee. . . . The judge was looking for signs that Lee was as disturbed by the photo as she was. But Lee simply stared at the picture. . . . “I’m looking for words,” Lee said. “I was not aware of any of this.” . . . The photo, which was not released publicly, depicted a little boy who had become so emaciated that his bones protruded from his skin, and his eyes bulged from their sockets, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said. She likened him to a concentration camp survivor. . . . The boy was discovered by police wandering his North Miami Beach neighborhood Saturday — beaten, naked and starving. His parents, 34-year-old Marsee Strong and 40-year-old Edward Bailey, remain at the Miami-Dade County Jail on charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect. On Monday afternoon, they were still jailed and had yet to post $65,000 bail. . . . The boy and four of his siblings were placed in the custody of Lee, a maternal uncle who was ordered by the judge not to allow the boy’s parents any contact with him. Lee also agreed to adopt the children if their parents are unable to regain custody. The boy also has an 18-year-old sister who is pregnant.

ALABAMA  

Judge no more: Warner banned from Alabama bench

Written by Brian Lyman, Montgomery Advertiser

01-27-12 -- Former Montgomery County family court Judge Patricia Warner and the Judicial Inquiry Commission filed an agreement Friday that forbids Warner from ever serving as a judge in Alabama again. . . . Warner has lived in North Dakota since abruptly retiring from the bench last June, days before an ethics complaint containing 74 separate charges was filed against her. . . . Under the terms of the agreement, the Alabama Court of Judiciary found that Warner created "the appearance of impropriety" in a child custody case, in violation of Canon 2 of the state Canons of Judicial Ethics. . . . The remaining 73 charges against Warner -- including accusations of mishandled cases and entering orders without hearings or evidence to support them -- were dismissed.

CALIFORNIA

Dad Gets Protection Order Against 4th-Grader, Calls Child’s Alleged Threats a Serious School Issue

By Martha Neil, ABA Journal

01-26-11 -- When the father of a California elementary school student wasn't satisfied with the school administration's response to another child's alleged threats, he took the matter outside. . . . In what may be a first for the school district, a local court in Riverside County has issued a restraining order to require the unidentified fellow fourth-grader to stay at least 20 feet away from Robert Casteel's son Christopher prior to a February court hearing, reports the Press-Enterprise.

"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." --Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788