Childrens Rights 2008

12-27-08 -- Thirty-seven foster children in Southwest Florida have no prospects for permanent, loving families. . . . Should gay and lesbian parents be allowed to adopt them? . . . Under current law, gay people are not allowed to adopt children, but a recent court ruling making its way to the state's Supreme Court may change that. Florida upholds the only outright ban in the nation. . . . Those who answer no to the gay adoption question argue that same-sex parents are atypical models and a Christian home is one hemmed by a man and a woman. . . . "From my point of view, you're putting a child in what I would view as an abnormal setting," said the Rev. David Soden, a pastor at Richmond Avenue Baptist Church in Lehigh Acres.

OREGON

Don't bail out this dad

by The Oregonian Editorial Board

12-22-08 -- There are no happy options in the case of a 13-year-old Oregon boy with a drug-addicted mother, an imprisoned brother and a father who is jailed on accusations of raping teenage girls. . . . Still, the Oregon Department of Human Services made the right call in resisting a Clackamas County judge's ill-considered wish to reunite the boy with his father before the January trial. DHS should not be in the business of bailing suspects out of jail, and it is preposterous for Circuit Judge Deanne Darling to suggest so. . . . Russell Paul Hamblen, 50, was arrested in April on dozens of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse charges involving teenage girls. His 19-year-old son also was arrested in connection with the crimes. The son plead guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. But now, Judge Darling wants DHS to help the father bail himself out of jail so that he can be reunited with his other son, 13. As Darling said, the charges against Hamblen "make no nevermind ... because his rights are still the same." . . . Say what?

OREGON

Judge reaffirms state must bail accused child rapist out of jail

by Steve Mayes, The Oregonian

Circuit Judge Deanne Darling

12-18-08 -- A Clackamas County judge has refused to rescind her demand that state welfare officials bail an accused child-rapist out of jail. . . . Circuit Judge Deanne Darling said Thursday that the Department of Human Services had not explained why Russell Paul Hamblen should not be reunited with his 13-year-old son. . . . Hamblen, 50, was arrested in April on dozens of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse charges involving teenage girls and providing alcohol to minors. His 19-year-old son also was arrested in connection with the crimes and has been sentenced to prison. . . . Darling said that Human Services and prosecutors had alleged Hamblen's criminal involvement but had not provided credible evidence that he was an unfit parent.

OREGON

Judge orders Oregon DHS to bail out child-rape suspect

by Steve Mayes, The Oregonian

12-11-08 -- A Clackamas County judge stunned child-welfare officials by ordering the state to bail out a child-rape suspect so he can help plan care for his 13-year-old son. . . . Department of Human Services officials called the idea an unprecedented and inappropriate use of public money. "I don't think any of us have ever heard of anything like this," said Gene Evans, a spokesman for the agency. . . . State attorneys plan to file court papers next week asking Circuit Judge Deanne Darling to reverse her decision. . . . Darling, who handles juvenile court matters, told state officials she wants Russell Paul Hamblen out of jail so he can participate in planning for the care of his junior-high age son. . . . The son is in foster care. The father is in the Clackamas County Jail, with bail set at $500,000. . . . A copy of the order, obtained by The Oregonian, directs "DHS to post bail or otherwise assist father in being freed from jail." It is signed by Darling and dated Nov. 24.

WISCONSIN

Navigating kids’ court

by Tony Anderson

12-8-08 -- Attorneys and court officials working out at the Milwaukee Children’s Court Center are quick to note that in addition to being a separate physical location from the county’s main courthouse, the center has some very significant differences in the way that it operates. . . . Because the cases involve juveniles, only participants in a particular case are allowed in the courtroom at a given time. The bustling waiting area and hallways ring with the sound of courts calling cases or attorneys through the overhead speakers. . . . In terms of differences, Presiding Judge Mary Triggiano pointed to the heavy caseload handled by the Children’s Division and the tight timetables assigned by law for dealing with the unique issues related to juveniles. . . . According to the most recent figures available from the Milwaukee County Clerk of Court’s office, the Children’s Division disposed of 6,724 cases in 2007, including 2,609 delinquency cases, 1,342 child in need of protection and services (CHIPS) cases, 339 termination of parental rights (TPR) cases and 1,102 guardianship cases.

CALIFORNIA

Hospital videotapes may jeopardize child sex abuse convictions

By Tracey Kaplan, Mercury News

12-6-08 -- Santa Clara County prosecutors have learned of the existence of an estimated 3,000 videotapes of medical examinations in child sex-abuse cases dating to 1991 that never were provided to defense attorneys — evidence that in many of the cases could provide a basis to challenge convictions. . . . Prosecutors said the trove of tapes came to light after medical experts hired by two convicted defendants belatedly discovered videotapes in their cases and concluded they contradicted medical findings that sexual abuse had occurred. . . . In those cases the new evidence proved crucial — one conviction has been overturned, and the second is in jeopardy — but prosecutors say they do not expect the new videotapes to raise doubts in many cases. Still, the case files must be located and reviewed — a daunting task whose extent became clear only last week.

FLORIDA

Miami judge overturns Florida homosexual adoption ban

Ruling decries Baptist minister’s views

By James A. Smith SR., Executive Editor, FBW

12-4-08 -- A state judge declared unconstitutional a 31-year-old Florida law banning homosexuals from adopting children in a Nov. 25 ruling that the Attorney General’s office has given notice it will appeal. . . . Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled the law violates equal protection rights of homosexuals under Florida’s constitution. In the 53-page ruling, Lederman also found the law banning homosexual adoptions “defeats a child’s right to permanency as provided by federal and state law.” . . . The decision authorizes Martin Gill, a 47-year-old flight attendant from Miami, to adopt 4- and 8-year-old siblings for whom he has been offering foster care for almost four years. . . . Pro-family leaders discounted the significance of the case and predicted the ruling would be overturned on appeal. . . . “In the short term, this ruling by an activist judge is a tempest in a teapot. In the long-term it will be overturned on appeal,” said Mat Staver, founder of Orlando-based Liberty Counsel. . . . John Stemberger, an Orlando attorney who leads Florida Family Policy Counsel, said the ruling was an example of “classic judicial activism” and illustrates the importance of the approval earlier this month of the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment placing the traditional definition of marriage in the state constitution.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

Parents’ Suit Offers Test of Title IX for Justices

By Adam Liptak

12-2-08 -- The parents of a girl who said she had been molested on a school bus seemed poised to win what may turn out to be an empty victory, judging from the justices’ questions on Tuesday at the Supreme Court. . . . The case was filed in 2002 after the girl, a kindergarten student in Hyannis, Mass., told her parents she was being sexually harassed by an 8-year-old boy every time she wore a dress or skirt to school. Two or three times a week, the girl said, the boy would force her to lift her skirt and pull down her underwear, provoking mocking laughter from the other students on the bus. . . . Her parents were dissatisfied with the school’s response, which included an inconclusive investigation and the offer to transfer their daughter to another bus. The school took no action against the boy, who denied the girl’s account, and it refused to place an adult monitor on the bus. . . . The parents sued under two federal statutes, and the argument on Tuesday concerned how those statutes interact.

WISCONSIN

Judge allows charges in prayer death case

By Robert Imrie • Associated Press Writer

12-2-08 -- A judge Monday refused to dismiss reckless homicide charges against parents accused of praying instead of seeking a doctor’s care as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes. . . . Marathon County Circuit Judge Vincent Howard rejected arguments that prosecuting Dale and Leilani Neumann violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and due process. . . . "The free exercise clause of the First Amendment protects religious belief, but not necessarily conduct," Howard wrote in a 20-page decision. . . . Parents have a legal obligation in Wisconsin to project their children, care for them in sickness and do whatever may be necessary for their "care, maintenance and preservation, including medical attendance if necessary," the judge said. . . . The sole issue for a jury to decide is whether the parents reasonably knew that refusing to rush the girl to a doctor threatened her with death, Howard wrote.

November 2008

CONNECTICUT

Top Lawyer Broke Own Agency's Rules

Jon Lender | Government Watch

11-23-08 -- Officials at the state's Department of Children and Families call it their legal duty to protect the confidentiality of tens of thousands of their clients in cases of child abuse and neglect. . . . So it was a big problem when the agency's own chief lawyer gained access to those computerized records — twice — for unauthorized personal reasons. . . . Now, two months after the incidents were reported to the agency, DCF has handed a 10-day unpaid suspension to Barbara Claire, its $125,848-a-year legal director, who heads a staff of more than 20 lawyers, public records show.

FEDERAL COURTS

3rd Circuit: Parents Can't Sue Under No Child Left Behind Act

Shannon P. Duffy, The Legal Intelligencer

11-21-08 -- Parents have no right to sue under the federal No Child Left Behind Act because Congress designed the law only to regulate school districts and never included any "rights creating" language that would allow individuals to seek enforcement through lawsuits, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. . . . The decision Thursday in Newark Parents Association v. Newark Public Schools marks the first time that a federal appellate court has refused to recognize a private cause of action under the NCLB. . . . But U.S. Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry found that numerous federal district courts have addressed the issue and were unanimous in holding that the law "does not confer a right of action enforceable by individuals."

Obama Wants Unrestricted Abortion Rights

By Dr. Laurie Roth, NewsWithViews.com

11-14-08 -- Just when you think you have survived the capsized boat and are almost to shore, you find out there are more sharks nibbling at your ankles. We are getting used to the headline now that Obama won, higher taxes are coming, redistribution of our hard earned income will happen, the fairness doctrine will be pushed and talk radio threatened. . . . Freedom of speech has always been pushed in our country by the far left when it comes to freedom to push and promote Islamic fundamentalism in schools and work places, gay rights, illegal alien rights, terrorist rights and those who are atheists and hate God. There are plenty of lawsuits hurling around to help and promote all these rights and causes. When it comes to tax payers, gun owners, Christians, those who are married and not sleeping around, babies and the elderly we have almost zero rights. Our traditions, our God, our symbols and history are simply in the way. . . . Its not just President elect Obama’s views and voting record that I’m concerned about but the push over decades from the left, Hillary Clinton and most the Democrats to push abortion to the absurd, extreme. Just in April 2007, Obama and Hillary Clinton re-introduced the federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). Notice the manipulative wording….freedom, choice….we all want freedom and choice don’t we? When studying what this act will do if passed, it is exactly the opposite of freedom but rather tyranny and stark evil! Obama has promised to sign FOCA as soon as he gets into office. . . . Listen to the ingredients of this poison dish from hell. . . . Information below is provided by Americans United for Life (AUL). Denise Burk, V.P. of Legal Affairs offers the following, chilling information. . . . FOCA provides that “It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.”

NEW YORK

Finally, there's a safe harbor

Exploited Youth

Cynthia Godsoe / Special to The National Law Journal

11-10-08 -- New york state recently enacted groundbreaking legislation, allowing youth younger than 18 arrested for prostitution to receive services and treatment programs instead of being criminally prosecuted. The Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Youth Act finally treats the teenaged boys and girls who are driven to prostitution as the victims they are. . . . The act will grant juveniles the services they deserve, bring state criminal laws in line with federal anti-trafficking laws, and punish the true offenders — those who patronize and pimp out juveniles. Other states should follow suit. . . . Police across the country have noted a growing number of juvenile prostitutes in the past decade. A recent study estimates that there could be several hundred thousand youth being paid for sex nationwide, and that girls most frequently enter prostitution when they are between 12 and 14 years old. There is overwhelming evidence that many of the young people prostituting themselves are driven there by abuse, threats and psychological coercion. And treating them as criminals re-traumatizes these already wounded youth. . . . Moreover, experts and even law enforcement agree that locking these kids up does not help them get off the streets, but rather leads to a "revolving door" of commercially sexually exploited juveniles. . . . These youth need services to address the underlying causes of their behavior, such as poverty, homelessness and family violence. They need medical and psychological care and safe housing in order to make a fresh start. And those who work with them agree that threatening them with criminal prosecution to secure services is not an effective way to reach this vulnerable population. Moreover, this "punish the victim" attitude is morally wrong and inconsistent with other state and federal laws.

INDIANA

DCS removes too many kids from homes, report says

Advocate says many could be safe in homes with more monitoring

By Tim Evans

11-8-08 -- The Department of Child Services is removing too many Indiana children who could be safely left with their families, potentially endangering some of the very youths the agency is trying to protect, according to a report by a national child welfare reform advocate. . . . The influx is clogging already congested juvenile courts, leaving thousands of children without the required oversight of independent advocates and overwhelming the supply of foster and adoptive parents, the report says. . . . It also is costing Indiana taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year for the care of these children. . . . Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, cited the April death of Indianapolis foster child Destiny Linden as an example of what can happen when DCS removes children who he believes could have safely remained in their homes with monitoring by caseworkers. Although no evidence of neglect was found in Destiny's case, she died after being placed for a nap on her stomach rather than on her back, as experts advise.

TEXAS

Houston attorney charged with sex abuse, sex assault of 2 teenage girls

11-6-08 -- A Houston attorney has been accused of having sexual contact with two teenage girls. . . . Anastacio Mindiola, 30, has been charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a child and one count of sexual assault, said Donna Hawkins, spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office. . . . He is free on a total of $120,000 bond, Hawkins said. He was ordered to have no contact with the girls. . . . If convicted, Mindiola faces sentences of between two and 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine on each count.

October 2008

ILLINOIS

Former Aurora attorney admits charges

By Kate Thayer

10-29-08 -- A former Aurora lawyer admitted to reproducing child pornography Monday and could serve prison time. . . . Kenneth E. Mateas, 59, of Aurora, pleaded guilty to nine counts of reproduction of child pornography – a Class 1 felony. . . . Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon, who accepted the plea, could sentence Mateas on Jan. 7, 2009, at his next court appearance. Mateas faces between four and 15 years in prison, but also could receive probation.

FLORIDA

Biohazard bag baby's death blamed on unlicensed staff
Civil case launched for girl born alive during abortion

10-13-08 -- A civil lawsuit is being launched in the Florida case of a baby girl who survived an abortion procedure but promptly was shoved into a chemical-laden biohazard bag where police found the body nine days later. . . . Officials with the Thomas More Society of Chicago say they have begun work with Florida lawyer Tom Pennekamp Jr. on the case stemming from the 2006 death of Shanice Denise Osbourne. . . . A funeral is scheduled tomorrow for the infant, 27 months after she survived an abortion at the A Gyn Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, Fla. . . . In front of her shocked mother and a stunned clinic worker, "Shanice was stuffed into a medical waste bag filled with chlorine bleach just after she was delivered alive by abortion clinic owner Belkis Gonzalez," the non-profit legal group said. "This all took place without any licensed medical personnel (doctors or even nurses) in attendance." . . . Although investigators previously have told WND they were pursuing criminal counts for Shanice's death, no charges have yet been filed. The charges apparently have been delayed or prevented because of the abortion procedure.

MASSACHUSETTS

Decision to teach kids to be 'gay' allowed to stand
'This despicable ruling not of the people, nor for the people, but against the people'

10-8-08 -- A federal court decision approving mandatory public school instruction for children as young as kindergarten in how to be homosexual is being allowed to stand, drawing a description of "despicable" from the parent who unsuccessfully challenged his school district's "gay" advocacy agenda. . . . The U.S. Supreme Court without comment has refused to intervene in a case prompted by the actions of officials at Estabrook Elementary school in Lexington, Mass., who not only were teaching homosexuality to young children, but specifically refused to allow Christian parents to opt their children out of the indoctrination. . . . The case on which WND has reported previously involves Massachusetts father David Parker, who with his wife now have withdrawn their children from public schools, for which they continue to pay taxes, and are homeschooling. . . . The decision by the Supreme Court leaves standing the ruling from the appeals court for Massachusetts, where Judge Sandra Lynch said those who are concerned over such civil rights violations "may seek recourse to the normal political processes for change in the town and state." . . . Earlier District Judge Mark Wolf had ordered that school officials' work to undermine Christian beliefs and teach homosexuality is needed to prepare children for citizenship, and if parents don't like it they can elect a different school committee or homeschool their children.

ARKANSAS

Arkansas Judges Oppose Measure To Ban Gay Adoption, Foster Care

Associated Press

10-6-08 -- Three former chief justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court say they're opposing a ballot measure aimed at banning gay and lesbian couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents. . . . Former Chief Justices W.H. "Dub" Arnold, Jack Holt Jr. and Bradley D. Jesson were among 13 retired judges who issued a statement Monday opposing a proposed initiated act that would ban unmarried couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents. . . . The judges said the proposal would limit their ability to choose the best home environment for children and said that child placement should be decided on a case-by-case basis.

CALIFORNIA

Nanny accused of dumping children at unlicensed day care

L.A. officials say she told multiple parents in Hancock Park and Larchmont that she was taking their children to outside activities. Instead, she left them at a Hollywood apartment.

By Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

10-4-08 -- Kim Lewis remembers feeling lucky when Patricia Villamarin agreed to become the nanny for her 3-month-old twins six years ago. . . . The attorney was impressed by Villamarin's resume touting her experience watching over twins and was pleased when the nanny recounted their many "enriching" trips to the aquarium, farmers markets, parks and libraries. . . . Then she found out that she was a victim of what authorities now describe as an elaborate fraud. . . . The Los Angeles city attorney's office this week accused Villamarin of running a five-year scheme in which she agreed to care for children in the Hancock Park and Larchmont areas, but dumped them off at an unlicensed day-care center in a Hollywood apartment so she could work selling produce. . . . The misdemeanor grand theft charges against her name five families, each with two children placed in her care, including Lewis' twins. But authorities said they believe up to 30 children could be involved, and the investigation is continuing. . . . Villamarin, 38, allegedly told parents she wanted to expose their children to various cultural activities as an excuse to get them out of the house. Once she received permission to take the children out, she allegedly dropped them off at the apartment and went to work selling fruit at a farmers market in Chinatown.

NEW JERSEY

New Jersey Assembly tries to make homeschooling laws
worst in the country

By Andy Min, All American Blogger

10-1-08 -- The United States of America is pretty friendly towards homeschoolers. Many early presidents were homeschooled. Every homeschooling case brought up has been defended by the courts, federally and locally, and Congress (Wisconsin v. Yoder, California’s In re Rachel L., etc). Now, though, it looks like opponents of homeschooling are trying a new method: the state legislatures. New Jersey’s pending A3123 is a perfect example.

The laws today / Right now, New Jersey has the most lenient laws in the country. The state ignores us, we ignore them. It’s simple, and it works. There’s a booming homeschooling movement (hundreds of families), and HSDLA almost never has to work a case. Even the schools, like Little Egg Harbor Township, don’t really care. Up until today, the legislature didn’t either. But now that A3123 has passed the Education Committee, this may all change.

What it does / HSDLA has a good summary here. Basically, parents will need to submit a curriculum, immunization evidence, and give 180 days a year instruction in all the areas the schools determine (remember, these are the schools that often do worse than homeschoolers). Not so bad, so far. . . . Then, the crafty authors go off and talk about all the numerous benefits parents get (free schoolbooks and athletes can play for the high school). Nice. Then, they whack us. The bill would require a portfolio to be kept, including samples of all the work, achievement test results for certain grades (obviously, paid for by the parent), and evaluation, and anything else the superintendent decides. Failure to comply results in being sent to a school.

September 2008

NEW JERSEY

N.J. and feds tangle in court over kids' health care rules

By Robert Schwaneberg, Star-Ledger Staff

9-30-08 -- A U.S. District Court judge heard arguments yesterday on whether a federal agency acted unlawfully when it told New Jersey to restrict its program for providing health insurance to children in lower-income families. . . . If enforced, the so-called "August 17 directive" -- outlined in a letter by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services -- could drive some 10,000 New Jersey children out of FamilyCare, the state's program to insure lower-in come families, said Suzanne Ester man, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services. . . . That letter was at the center of yesterday's arguments before U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano. U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is sponsoring legislation to block its implementation, and seven other states have sued to overturn it. . . . Jean Lin, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, argued that the letter simply offered "policy guidance" to states getting federal funding through the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP.

KENTUCKY

Court slams lesbian 'adoption'

'Judicial activism is a cancer that eats away at the rule of law'

9-23-08 -- A pro-family law organization is praising an appeals court decision in Kentucky that blasted a lower court for literally ignoring state law and creating an "adoption" for two lesbian women in violation of expressed state law. . . . "Judicial activism is a cancer that eats away at the rule of law and undermines the confidence of the people in the legal system," said Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law. "There is a clear distinction between the role of a judge and the role of a legislator. One interprets law and one makes law. The psychological dysfunction known as 'judicioactivism' is easily cured by a good dose of the Constitution, bed rest and removal from the bench to prevent relapse." . . . The ruling from the Kentucky Court of Appeals came in the case of two lesbians, identified only as T and S, who decided that T, the half of the pair unrelated to a child, Z, born from artificial insemination, should "adopt" the child, even though state law in Kentucky forbids that. . . . The lesbians, even though they were separated and moving on to other "life partners," convinced an activist judge that the case should be handled as a "stepparent" adoption, a set of circumstances that normally arise when a single parent gets married, and the newcomer to the family adopts the spouse's children.

Ultimate taboo hits big screen: Sex with children

Family advocate calls for boycott of promotions for 'pedophilia'

9-18-08 -- The founder of Movieguide, a top film-rating organization in Hollywood, is joining a growing call for a boycott of two new movies that feature pedophilia, warning of the dangers that come with themes involving sex with children. . . . "These despicable movies promote pedophilia, whether intentionally or unintentionally," said Ted Baehr, who's well known for his Christian Film & Television Commission work. "There should be a massive public outcry against them. The inclusion of children in sexually explicit films is inappropriate. There also is no excuse for the authorities to allow such material to be shown publicly." . . . Baehr cited "Hounddog," a movie featuring a scene portraying the rape of actress Dakota Fanning, filmed when she was 12, and "Towelhead," which features 18-year-old actress Summer Bishil playing a 13-year-old Arab-American girl who portrays a "sexual obsession," experiences "grooming" and other scenes. . . . "We've got to have communities rescue these children. Where's the sense of shame, outrage, the sense of saying, 'We're not going to let this happen," Baehr told WND. "We cannot do this anymore."

MASSACHUSETTS

Child rapist to roam GPS-monitor-free for month

By Laurel J. Sweet

9-18-08 -- A convicted child rapist whose brother tortured and murdered Jeffrey Curley will be released from prison Tuesday to roam the streets for 30 days until a court-ordered electronic-monitoring anklet is cuffed on him. . . . Robert Sicari, 28, who has been behind bars for the past decade for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old male pal of Jeffrey, has no family or friends willing to house him, no car, no job and no phone - an essential component of a Global Positioning System tracking device. . . . “His reputation precedes him,” defense attorney Stephen Weymouth today told Cambridge Juvenile Court Judge Gwendolyn R. Tyre at a hearing to hammer out the conditions of Sicari’s probation for the next five years.

MASSACHUSETTS

New Bedford cops blast judge over $1G bail for child rapist

By Jessica Fargen, General Assignment Reporter

9-12-08 -- Police in New Bedford say they are disappointed that a judge set $1,000 bail for a homeless child rapist who has repeatedly failed to register as a Level 3 sex offender and has a rap sheet that is “10 feet long.” . . . Thurston Allen, 36, who was convicted in 1996 of rape of a child with force and in 1994 of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, was arraigned in New Bedford yesterday after he was arrested following a foot chase and struggle, according to New Bedford police. . . . It was the third time Allen was arrested for failure to register as a sex offender in the past four years, according to New Bedford police. . . . New Bedford Police Lt. Jeffrey Silva called the actions of Judge Bernadette Sabra “disappointing.” . . . “Why she opted to set bail at $1,000 on a violent career criminal and a Level 3 child rapist is a mystery to all of us,” he said. . . . Reached by the Herald at her Somerset home this morning, Sabra defended her decision to set bail at $1,000.

VERMONT

Convicted molester sentenced to six months in jail

By Patrick McArdle Herald Staff

9-8-08 -- A Pownal man will serve six months in prison after pleading guilty to lewd and lascivious conduct with a child after a judge rejected an earlier plea agreement on Wednesday because it included no jail time. . . . Richard J. Beayon II, 43, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and a misdemeanor charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor in Bennington District Court on Wednesday. A second charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child was dismissed by the state. . . . Under a plea agreement Beayon reached with the state, he would have received a sentence of two to four years, but it would all have been suspended. Beayon would have been placed on probation indefinitely and would have been supervised by the Department of Corrections as a sex offender. . . . At a hearing on Wednesday, Bennington County Chief Deputy State's Attorney Christina Rainville said the state had reached an agreement with Beayon's attorney, Christopher Montgomery, based on the case being heard by a different judge. . . . While the charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child carries a minimum penalty of two years in prison, Judge Katherine Hayes had modified that downward on at least one occasion, Rainville said.

Special: Judges who are lenient on childrens' sexual abusers

Coming: Judges & Lawyers who are alleged sexual abusers

How Children Are Sexually Corrupted In Public Schools

By Joel Turtel, NewsWithViews.com

9-7-08 -- One of parents’ most important duties is to protect their children from harmful sexual values and behaviors. Yet many public schools force potentially harmful, sometimes shockingly explicit sex education on their students. Most of the time, parents have no control over the content of these classes. Occasionally, a group of parents finds out about a particularly obnoxious sex education class and protests to the principal or local school board. The class may be dropped, only to be replaced by another class that teaches equally objectionable material, again without parent’s consent. School authorities’ attitude towards parents on this issue shows their anti-parent bias, and their contempt for parent’s rights to control the values their children are taught. . . . Many school authorities insist that children need comprehensive sex education from kindergarten through high school. They believe parents can't be trusted because they have shameful feelings about sex or have “outdated” moral or sexual values. School authorities, claiming that they know best regarding sex education, usurp parents’ role, allegedly for the “good of the children.” In doing so, they show contempt for parents’ rights, values, and common sense. . . . Many sex education classes indoctrinate children with sexual values that can cause them irreparable harm. According to Christopher J. Klicka, author of “The Right Choice, Home Schooling,” sex education textbooks used in public schools throughout the country teach that any kind of sex is acceptable, including adultery, homosexuality, masturbation, and premarital sex. In effect, the textbooks preach that it’s OK for kids to engage in any kind of sex that they feel “comfortable” with. .

FEDERAL COURTS

Judge Tentatively Refuses to Dismiss Internet Suicide Case

Thomas Watkins, The Associated Press

9-5-08 -- A federal judge tentatively rejected two motions on Thursday to dismiss charges against a woman in a MySpace hoax that allegedly led to a 13-year-old girl's suicide. . . . U.S. District Judge George H. Wu said during a hearing that he intends to take more time to consider a third motion to dismiss the case against Lori Drew of O'Fallon, Mo. . . . She is accused of helping create a false-identity account on the social networking site then posing as a teenage boy and befriending her young neighbor, Megan Meier. . . . Drew, her teenage daughter and another teen took part in the hoax and allegedly sent cruel messages shortly before Meier hanged herself in 2006, authorities said. . . . The government wants to prosecute Drew under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which has never before been used in connection with a Web site's terms of service prohibiting misrepresentation by users setting up new accounts.

August 2008

CALIFORNIA

Taking action for our foster children

Carlos R. Moreno

8-15-08 -- Our state has been understandably preoccupied with the heat of wildfires and budget disputes this summer, but there's another crisis on the horizon - one that we can manage if we commit to taking decisive and bold action. This crisis concerns the well-being of children in foster care. . . . More specifically, it concerns the state of our juvenile dependency courts. Every one of the nearly 80,000 children in foster care in California comes before our dependency courts multiple times. Yet a two-year investigation by the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care found an overstressed and under-resourced court system, in which our most vulnerable children and families do not routinely get the attention and services we know they deserve.

CALIFORNIA

Homeschooling OK, appeals court says

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

8-9-08 -- A state appeals court lifted the cloud it had cast on the homeschooling of 166,000 California children and ruled Friday that parents have a right to educate their children at home even if they lack a teaching credential. . . . After an outpouring of protest from homeschooling advocates and politicians, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles reversed its Feb. 28 ruling that could have reclassified most homeschooled children as truants. . . . In its earlier ruling, the court said California's compulsory education law requires parents to send their children ages 6 to 18 to a full-time public or private school or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home. After agreeing to reconsider the case in March, the same three-judge panel ruled Friday that parents - with or without teaching credentials - can comply with the law by declaring their home to be a private school. . . . Schwarzenegger, who had pledged to get the law changed if the earlier ruling prevailed, issued a statement saying the new decision "confirms the right every California child has to a quality education and the right parents have to decide what is best for their children." . . . Homeschooling advocates - primarily, though not exclusively, conservative critics of public education - celebrated the ruling.

You can access Friday's ruling at this link.

July 2008

CONNECTICUT

State Supreme Court Rules Against DCF in 5-0 Ruling

Staff Writers, Connecticut DCF Watch

7-23-08 -- The Connecticut State Supreme Court ruled against DCF in a 5-0 ruling who willfully denied Earl B. a hearing in regards the Connecticut Juvenile Training School. Earl B. was just a notch in DCF's belt so they can trigger their Federal funding. Earl B. meant nothing to DCF or the Assistant Attorney Generals involved in this case. . . . It's not a surprise that DCF knowingly wants to deny both child and parent their due process of rights. The Supreme Court got this right. . . . Below is the link to the ruling.

Case Name: Earl B. v. Commissioner of Children and Families / Case No: SC18063

http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR288/288CR123.pdf

CALIFORNIA

LA lawyer charged with sending child porn

The Associated Press

7-22-08 -- A Los Angeles lawyer has been arrested for allegedly sending child porn to an FBI agent posing as a 13-year-old girl. . . . Prosecutors say David Cohn was arrested Tuesday at his home in Woodland Hills. He was booked and released after posting $190,000 bail. . . . Cohn is accused of sending sexually explicit Internet messages over the last year to the posing agent.

Governor signs bill to improve rights for foster children in court

By Karen de Sá, Mercury News

7-22-08 -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger strengthened the rights of California's 80,000 children in foster care on Monday, signing a law that ensures greater opportunities for youths to be present in court hearings deciding the course of their lives - from where they will live to how often, if ever, they will see their families. . . . The measure was introduced by Assemblyman Dave Jones, a Democrat from Sacramento, to address a major flaw in California's juvenile dependency courts throughout the state: Hearings routinely occur without the children whose lives are at stake. Their absence was one key problem highlighted in the February series in the Mercury News, "Broken Families, Broken Courts," that revealed deep dysfunction in the state dependency system, the largest in the nation. . . . A commission appointed by Chief Justice Ronald George later reiterated the problem.

NEW YORK

Judge Surprises Molester

By Ginger Geoffery

7-22-08 -- An admitted child molester got a surprise from the judge when he went to court for sentencing Tuesday. Sixty-two-year-old Thomas Henry pleaded guilty in April to attempted sexual abuse involving two girls he knew -- ages 5 and 8 -- at his Akron home. Henry's understanding was he'd get probation in exchange for the plea, but on Tuesday State Supreme Court Justice John Michalski said the extent and type of abuse warranted a harsher sentence for Henry than probation. . . . "There's some material that he read (in the pre-sentence report) that he reviewed that had him reconsider the commitment," explains Henry's attorney Gary Wojtan, "I don't know exactly what that was or exactly when it came to the judge's attention but I know he's studied the case thoroughly and he indicated he was withdrawing his sentence commitment."

OHIO

Ohio Judge Grants Teens Abortions

Citizen Link

7-22-08 -- Parental-involvement laws are supposed to protect teen girls, but an Ohio judge freely sidesteps those laws and allows every teen she sees to have an abortion. . . . Ohio is one of 36 states that requires parental notification or consent before a girl younger than 18 can abort her preborn baby. Most of those states allow judges to bypass parents if they feel the girl could face abuse. . . . Kim Browne, a judge in Franklin County, said she has never denied a request. . . . "I don't think I'm playing God at all," Browne told The Columbus Dispatch. "That is their choice. That's the decision they are going to have to live with.” . . . Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said Browne may or may not be playing God, but she is certainly playing parent.

NEW YORK

ACS Worker, Two Non-Profit Workers Arraigned In Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme

NY1 News

7-16-08 -- One children's services worker and two non-profit workers were arraigned Wednesday afternoon for alleged embezzlement of more than $1 million intended for needy children. . . . According to papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court Wednesday, the alleged embezzlement involved Lethem Duncan and Nigel Osarenkhoe, two high-ranking financial employees in the Administration for Children's Services. The other alleged schemers are Stay Thompson and Philbert Gorrick, who worked with Concord Family Services, a non-profit foster care organization in Brooklyn. . . . Osarenkhoe, Thompson and Gorrick were released Wednesday on $250,000 bail. Duncan had previously cooperated with the investigators and was not in court. . . . The D.A.'s office says the group stole money by using two separate schemes. . . . One was to fraudulently obtain tens of thousands of dollars of government adoption subsidy payments. Those payments are meant for parents of adoptive children. . . . Osarenkhoe allegedly told Duncan that he could use the agency's computer systems to mail adoption subsidy payments to anyone he wanted.

COLORADO

Colorado Voters Will Be Asked When 'Personhood' Begins

By Ashley Surdin, Washington Post Staff Writer

7-13-08 -- A proposal to define a fertilized human egg as a person will land on Colorado's ballot this November, marking the first time that the question of when life begins will go before voters anywhere in the nation. . . . The Human Life Amendment, also known as the personhood amendment, says the words "person" or "persons" in the state constitution should "include any human being from the moment of fertilization." If voters agreed, legal experts say, it would give fertilized eggs the same legal rights and protections to which people are entitled. . . . The ballot initiative is funded by Colorado for Equal Rights, a grass-roots antiabortion organization. Its purpose, initiative sponsor Kristi Burton said, is to lay a legal and legislative basis for protecting the unborn. Its passage would also open the door to modifying other laws for the same purpose, she said.

GENERAL

A Rare DOJ Mea Culpa in High Court Child Rape Case

Tony Mauro, Legal Times

7-7-08 -- The Justice Department has made an extraordinary statement of regret for its handling of the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the Supreme Court last month ruled that the death penalty for non-homicide child rape was unconstitutional. As reported in the New York Times, no one told the Court in briefing the case that under a law passed by Congress in 2006, child rape was made eligible for the death penalty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Since Justice Anthony Kennedy based the 5-4 ruling in part on the consensus of jurisdictions that do and don't call for the death penalty for child rape, the omission was significant. Following is the text of the statement issued Wednesday: . . . "We regret that the Department didn't catch the 2006 law when the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana was briefed. It's true that the parties to the case missed it, but it's our responsibility. Yesterday, shortly after learning of the law, we advised the Clerk's office at the Supreme Court. Only parties to a case may petition for rehearing. If a petition for rehearing is filed, the Department will review the petition and consider what steps are appropriate, including possibly seeking leave of the Court to provide our views on the petition for rehearing.

FLORIDA

Court: Homelessness no excuse to remove child

A Miami appeals court ruled that the state's child-welfare agency cannot take a child away from a parent simply because the parent is homeless.

By Carol Marbin Miller

Document | Read the opinion

7-3-08 -- A Miami appeals court rebuked the state child-welfare agency Wednesday for removing a 12-year-old boy from his mother because she was homeless, ruling that not having a home for a child does not by itself constitute abuse. . . . A three-judge panel of the Third District Court of Appeal, in an opinion reversing a ruling by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie R. Manno Schurr, said being homeless is not sufficient cause to take children from their parents. Under Florida law, children can be taken from parents by the Department of Children & Families if there's evidence of abuse, neglect, or abandonment. . . . ''Homelessness, derived solely from a custodian's financial inability, does not constitute the kind or level of abuse, neglect or abandonment necessary to justify removal of a child, unless [the state] offers services to the homeless custodian and those services are rejected,'' the court wrote. . . . Alan Abramowitz, who took over as head of DCF's Miami operations last year with a reputation for preserving troubled families and reducing foster-care caseloads, hailed the ruling. . . . ''If we removed a child because of homelessness we should be reversed,'' Abramowitz said. ``We are obligated to offer services to keep families together.'' . . . Abramowitz said he intends to use the appeals-court opinion as a teaching aid as the agency refines the way it trains child-abuse investigators. ''The opinion is basically what I've been preaching,'' he said. ``This is an important case for us in training.'' . . . Under the ruling, DCF will have to return the boy to his mother unless a new investigation turns up any evidence that would justify keeping him in state care.

FLORIDA

Foster Care, Court Funding Top the Docket for Fla. High Court's New Chief

Jordana Mishory, Daily Business Review

7-1-08 -- New Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince became the first black woman to head a branch of state government Friday when she took over from Justice R. Fred Lewis. . . . Quince, 60, said that during her two-year term she plans to advocate full funding of courts and examine ways to improve the prospects for children aging out of the foster care system. . . . Quince, who grew up in Norfolk, Va., as the daughter of a longshoreman, takes over the justice system in a time of turmoil. In less than a year, four of her six colleagues will be leaving, and state agencies began the new fiscal year Friday with holdbacks that may be a prelude to more budget cuts.

June 2008

FEDERAL COURTS

Court affirms law calling unborn 'living human beings'

Ruling lifts Planned Parenthood injunction against state's abortion statute

6-30-08 -- A federal court ruled against Planned Parenthood and rejected an injunction against a state law requiring doctors to tell women seeking abortions that they may face serious medical conditions and will "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." . . . The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit issued a 7-4 ruling Friday to lift an injunction against the South Dakota informed consent abortion law. Attorneys representing the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the Family Research Council in defense of the law. . . . "A woman's life is worth more than Planned Parenthood's bottom line," said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence in a press release. "Anyone truly concerned about the interests of women supports making sure they have access to all the information necessary to make a fully informed decision. Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, has argued adamantly to restrict the information women have about the lives of their pre-born babies. We're pleased the court's decision today will make sure women have access to the information they need and deserve."

KANSAS

Judge: Prison tantamount to life sentence

By Barbara Hollingsworth, The Capital-Journal

6-30-08 -- Looking down at the 75-year-old defendant, Judge Matthew Dowd noted that following sentencing guidelines would amount to a life sentence, according to a trial transcript. . . . So, he sentenced Harold Dean Spencer, who had pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, to probation. He could have been sentenced to two life sentences under the state’s “Jessica’s Law,” prosecutors have said. A partial transcript from the sentencing in the case (07-CR-2444) has been posted on the Shawnee County Court Web site, www.shawneecourt.org . . . A protest over the sentencing as well as another downward sentencing last week in a child rape case have prompted a protest for noon today at the Shawnee County Courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th St. . . . The transcript reads in part: . . . “I think the age of the defendant, his prior record, and his support from his family and friends would lead the court to believe that this might have been an aberration or a momentary lapse in an otherwise good life, so I am going to depart,” Dowd said.

MICHIGAN

Jury reaches verdict in child custody case

Daily Globe

6-28-08 -- It took a six-person jury just over an hour to award jurisdiction of the two daughters of former Ironwood residents Robert and Janet Coleman to the courts. . . . Now that jurisdiction has unanimously been given to the courts, a hearing to decide what will happen next will be scheduled, said Gogebic County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Tracie Wittla. . . . The Colemans' daughters, ages 6 and 2, were placed in protective custody by the Gogebic County Department of Human Services on March 15 and remain there today. . . . Ironwood attorney Rudy Perhalla represented the children. . . . Evidence presented during the trial indicated that on several occasions Robert Coleman struck his 6-year-old daughter with a belt. It was those allegations that led to the investigation by child protective services, followed by the girls' placement into protective custody. ************* "We will appeal the decision," both Robert, 39, and Janet, 30, said. "I have lost faith in the judicial system," Robert said. "This is a waste of taxpayers dollars. The prosecutors failed to prove their claim on the original offense." . . . The issue of the police removing the two children from the Colemans' custody at 3 a.m. on March 15 from a motel room in Houghton came under scrutiny as petitioner Elizabeth Fyle from the DHS testified. . . . Fyle said after a couple of days of searching for the Colemans, she filed the petition seeking jurisdiction over the kids, and also obtained a court order to have the children picked up.

MASSACHUSETTS

Dem pledges: I'll 'rip apart' child-rape victims on stand
'I'm going to make sure rest of their life is ruined'

Rep. James Fagan, D-Taunton, Mass. (courtesy Boston Herald)

6-25-08 -- Massachusetts politician and defense attorney Rep. James Fagan is under intense public scrutiny after he promised to "rip apart" child victims of rape who testify if the state imposes strict sentences for sex offenders. . . . . Fagan, a Democrat, made his controversial remarks on the state House floor, Fox News reported. . . . . "I'm gonna rip them apart," Fagan said of child victims. "I'm going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they're 8 years old, they throw up; when they're 12 years old, they won't sleep; when they're 19 years old, they'll have nightmares and they'll never have a relationship with anybody." . . . . As a defense attorney, Fagan said he would prevent accused child sex offenders from experiencing a "mandatory sentence of those draconian proportions." . . . . According to the report, his statements angered both colleagues and activists. . . . . "I thought his comments were over the top and unnecessary," said Bradley Jones, Massachusetts House minority leader. "I appreciate that he's a defense attorney, and felt he had a point to make, but I think it was unnecessary. It was excessive."

Justice Department OKs Benefits for Lesbian Couple's Child

Sue Reisinger, The American Lawyer

6-18-08 -- The federal government won't recognize same-sex couples, but it can pay benefits to their children. That's the result of a U.S. Department of Justice opinion released June 9. According to the opinion, federal law does not prohibit the Social Security Administration from paying insurance benefits to the nonbiological child of a partner in a Vermont civil union. The decision is notable because the Defense of Marriage Act bars the government from extending federal benefits to gay and lesbian couples. . . . The opinion was written by Steven Engel, deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. OLC, which provides legal guidance to the executive branch, was responding to a request from Thomas Crawley, the acting general counsel of the Social Security Administration. Crawley asked whether the Defense of Marriage Act would bar the payment of Social Security child insurance benefits to the son of the Vermont couple.

FLORIDA

Judge orders teens to post apology on YouTube

By Keyonna Summers, Florida Today

6-9-08 -- A judge here is using YouTube to punish two boys who used the video-sharing website for a prank that ended with battery and criminal mischief charges against them. . . . The prank, known as "fire in the hole," has become common in the past year. It happened July 25 to fast-food worker Jessica Ceponis at the drive-through of the Taco Bell in Merritt Island, about 50 miles east of Orlando. . . . Ceponis handed a carload of teens their soft drinks. When she returned to the drive-through window to give them their change, they yelled, "Fire in the hole!" hurled a 32-oz. cup of soda and ice at Ceponis and sped off. . . . The teens posted a video of the incident on YouTube.com, alongside a number of other videos showing similar pranks. Today, the teens are scheduled to post another video on YouTube: an apology that shows them face down and handcuffed on the hood of a car.

TEXAS

Judge Sued for Offering Paddling in Courtroom

Christopher Sherman, The Associated Press

6-6-08 -- A South Texas justice of the peace will find himself in another judge's courtroom this morning, likely grateful that one -- unlike his own -- contains no wooden paddles. . . . Cameron County Justice of the Peace Gustavo Garza is being sued by the parents of a 15-year-old girl whose stepfather was given the choice of paying a $500 fine or paddling the girl in open court for skipping school. . . . Daniel Zurita reluctantly used one of the two paddles in Garza's courtroom on his stepdaughter, who was 14 at the time, in April. It's the option that 98 percent of parents choose in his courtroom, Garza said. . . . "It is lawful," said Garza, who said he has practiced law for 26 years, including work as a prosecutor in Willacy and Cameron counties. Garza stressed that he never ordered a parent to paddle a child, he simply offered it as an option in place of a fine and a misdemeanor mark on their records. . . . Mark Sossi, who is representing Josie Vasquez and her parents Mary Vasquez and Zurita, said it is not much of an option.

MASSACHUSETTS

Supremes asked to stop 'gay' indoctrination

Parents say stealth lessons undermine Christian faith
By Bob Unruh, © 2008 WorldNetDaily

6-5-08 -- The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked review a case in which parents are objecting to the actions of a school district where officials are trying "to systematically indoctrinate young children into disbelieving core ten[e]ts of their families' faith." . . . The case on which WND has reported previously involves Massachusetts father David Parker. His Boston law firm, Denner Pelligrino LLP, now has filed a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking for a review of January's ruling from a federal appeals court in Boston. . . . There, Judge Sandra Lynch said those who are concerned over civil rights violations "may seek recourse to the normal political processes for change in the town and state." Earlier District Judge Mark Wolf had ordered that school officials' work to undermine Christian beliefs is needed to prepare children for citizenship, and if parents don't like it they can elect a different school committee or homeschool their children. <more>

TEXAS

Impeachment demanded for polygamy case judge

Accused of 'one of the greatest violations of constitutional rights in Texas'

6-3-08 -- An Internet campaign has been launched calling for the impeachment of the Texas judge who ordered hundreds of children at the compound owned by the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church taken into state custody. . . . The online campaign, found at GoPetition.com, targets Texas District Judge Barbara Walther, whose rulings later were overturned. . . . The more than 400 children taken from the polygamist sect's ranch two months ago were being returned to their parents this week, after the state Supreme Court ruled the seizure was not justified. . . . Walther submitted to the Supreme Court ruling by issuing an order that cleared the children to be released from the state's foster care program, where they had been since the law enforcement raid on the compound. . . . The raid, April 3 at the Yearning for Zion Ranch, followed calls to a domestic abuse hot line that allegedly came from a 16-year-old mother claiming to be abused by her middle-aged husband.

May 2008

MINNESOTA

Court gets behind spanking, to a degree

In the case of a boy paddled 36 times, the state Supreme Court says the practice is legal unless punishment is excessive or cruel.

By Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune

5-31-08 -- Three years after Shawn Fraser landed in court for paddling his unruly son 36 times, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that spanking a child isn't necessarily abuse. . . . In a unanimous decision released Friday, the court declined to adopt a "bright-line rule that the infliction of any pain constitutes either physical injury or physical abuse, because to do so would effectively prohibit all corporal punishment of children by their parents." . . . And the state, wrote Justice Alan Page, "did not intend to ban corporal punishment." . . . Shawn Fraser found himself in the midst of controversy in 2005 when he tried to curb the behavior of his son Gerard, who was then 12 and weighed 195 pounds. When other discipline failed to work, he took a wooden paddle -- in 12-blow increments -- to his son's upper thighs. The spanking followed an incident in which Gerard ran away from home and lied about his whereabouts. . . . The boy called authorities after the paddling.

Opinion: In the Matter of the Welfare of the Children of N.F. and S.F., Parents

TEXAS

Texas Supreme Court Nixes Removal of Children From Polygamists' Ranch

John Council, Texas Lawyer

5-30-08 -- In a split decision Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court upheld a mandamus decision by Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals that orders the children removed from a polygamist compound in Eldorado to be returned to their parents. . . . Although it's not clear from the opinion in In Re: Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, a lawyer for three of the mothers who appealed 51st District Court Judge Barbara Walther's April decision to the 3rd Court says the Supreme Court's ruling will apply to all of the more than 450 children who are in state custody and will allow them to be reunited with their parents. Walther had granted the department temporary custody of some of the children who had been living at the West Texas Yearning for Zion ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). . . . "On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the high court wrote in a per curiam majority opinion. However, the court took pains to explain, among other things, that its decision does not interfere with Child Protective Services (CPS) continuing its investigation into the YFZ ranch. The district court can still remove a "perpetrator" from a child's home, the high court majority wrote.

In re Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Relator

TEXAS

Court-appointed advocate molests up to 20 kids

Texas entrepreneur filmed having sex with children as young as 3 years old
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

5-28-08 -- Police have seized video tapes of court-appointed advocate molesting as many as 20 children. He is being charged with aggravated sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl under his care earlier this month. . . . Billy Dan Carroll, a 53-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a court-reporting firm, filmed himself having sex with several kids between the ages of 3 and 15, the Austin American Statesman reported. . . . "We don't know where it is going to end up, how many victims we may end up with," Austin police Sgt. Brian Loyd said. "There could be six. There could be 20. There is no telling." . . . Carroll told the girl's parents he wanted the 8-year-old and her sisters to spend the night with his family, but he did not reveal that his wife and daughters were away for the weekend. According to the child, he asked if she wanted to play a game. Then he blindfolded her and sexually assaulted her. The little girl immediately told her sisters who were in another room following the incident. . . . "He was thought of as a family friend," Loyd said.

TEXAS

Texas Seeks State High Court's Help in Custody Dispute Over Polygamist Sect Children

Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Texas Lawyer

5-27-08 -- The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services filed a motion for emergency relief at the Texas Supreme Court on Friday, seeking a court order that would allow it temporarily to keep custody of children removed from the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas. . . . In the motion, TDFPS seeks a stay to prohibit the state's 3rd Court of Appeals from enforcing a conditional mandamus it issued on Thursday that orders 51st District Judge Barbara Walther to vacate her order giving the department temporary custody of some of the 450 children who had been living at the polygamist compound. . . . The TDFPS seeks the temporary stay to allow the Supreme Court to review a petition for mandamus it also filed on Friday. TDFPS wants the Supreme Court to determine that Walther did not abuse her discretion in giving Child Protective Services temporary custody of the children and to determine that the 3rd Court did abuse its discretion when ordering Walther to vacate her order.

TEXAS

Texas Lacked Authority to Remove Some Polygamist Sect Kids From Ranch

Brenda Sapino Jeffreys and Miriam Rozen, Texas Lawyer

5-22-08 -- The state of Texas did not have authority to remove some of the more than 450 children from the Yearning for Zion ranch located outside Eldorado, Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. . . . . In a per curiam opinion, the three-justice panel granted a writ of mandamus sought by 38 women who are mothers to some of the children. The 3rd Court ordered a trial judge to vacate temporary orders granting sole managing conservatorship of the children to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees Child Protective Services (CPS). In a footnote, the court wrote that "this proceeding does not involve parents of all of the children removed." The opinion does not indicate the number of children whose mothers brought the mandamus. . . . . The children were removed from the polygamist compound in early April and on April 21, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther signed temporary orders placing the children in CPS custody. Walther's district is comprised of Coke, Irion, Schleicher, Sterling and Tom Green counties.

GEORGIA

Ga. Supreme Court Hears Key Case on Vaccine Suits

Manufacturers ask justices to overturn lower court finding that vaccine suits aren't automatically pre-empted by federal law

Alyson M. Palmer, Fulton County Daily Report

5-21-08 -- An Atlanta lawyer is asking the Georgia appellate courts to put the brakes on a train of decisions nationwide that have stymied suits over alleged adverse effects of vaccines. . . . The case argued Tuesday at the Supreme Court of Georgia was brought by an Atlanta couple who say their 10-year-old son suffered neurological problems as a result of childhood vaccines. The vaccine manufacturer defendants argue that the couple's claims cannot succeed because of a federal law that set up a system of compensation outside of the regular court system for vaccine injuries. . . . The couple's lawyer, Lanny B. Bridgers of Atlanta, told the justices Tuesday that the manufacturers' strategy has been to obtain favorable rulings first in sympathetic jurisdictions, then ask other courts to follow those decisions. It appears that a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling in the case is the first to interpret the vaccine statute to allow plaintiffs to pursue claims that childhood vaccines are designed defectively.

WISCONSIN

Court blasts state's strip-search of children

Social worker enters Christian school without cause, tells kids to remove clothing

5-20-08 -- Two children who attended a private Christian school in Wisconsin were illegally strip-searched and had their constitutional rights violated by a state social worker, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled Monday. . . . In Michael C. v. Gresbach, the court said state worker Dana Gresbach violated the children's Fourth Amendment rights to freedom from unreasonable search when she entered Good Hope Christian Academy in Milwaukee, Wis., had the children pulled from the classrooms and told them to remove their clothing when she suspected the parents of spanking in February 2004. . . . Stephen Crampton, vice president of legal affairs and general counsel for Liberty Counsel, represented the parents of 8-year-old Ian and 9-year-old Alexis when they sued the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare and the caseworker. . . . "We are obviously pleased with the result, but candidly, we wish they had been more harsh on this renegade department that has ruined the lives of so many well-intentioned families already," he told WND. . . . Crampton said this type of overstep is common among social workers, and they often do not give it a second thought. . . . "The social worker performed these strip searches as a matter of routine, estimating that in perhaps one-half of the 300 or so cases she handled every year she subjected kids to a partial disrobing," he said. "In fact, she testified that she considered it so routine that she did not bother to discuss her intentions with her supervisor, even though she spoke to her on her way to the school."

NEW YORK

N.Y. Court Rejects Order for Foster Child's Sex-Change Surgery

Appellate court finds family court's authority over city children's services agency limited

Noeleen G. Walder, New York Law Journal

5-14-08 -- A family court does not have the authority to compel New York City's Administration for Children's Services to pay for a foster child's sex-change operation, an appellate court has ruled. . . . In an unsigned, unanimous opinion, the Appellate Division, 1st Department, held in In re Brian L., 1407, that while Social Services Law §398(6)(c) requires the agency to provide "necessary medical and surgical care" to all children under its aegis, regardless of whether or not they receive Medicaid, Family Court does not have the power to order that a child receive certain care. . . . "[S]ince such an order would denigrate from ACS' statutory authority," the panel reversed a 2007 Family Court order directing that Brian L. receive the sex reassignment surgery that two medical doctors, along with mental health professionals, had deemed medically necessary. . . . Brian L., also known as Mariah L., was born a biological male but was diagnosed with "gender identity disorder" as a teen. . . . According to the opinion, the America Psychiatric Association defines the disorder as "a disjunction between an individual's sexual organs and sexual identity."

April 2008

In The Best Interest Of The Child

By Betty Freauf, NewsWithViews.com

4-30-08 -- When we first began to hear the phrase “In the Best Interest of the Child” we thought it was a noble concept that protected the vulnerable children by removing them from abusive or negligent parents; yet it also has led to levels of intervention unimaginable a few decades ago and suddenly many people were being accused of child abuse. Child Protective Services (CPS), because of something a child may have said to a teacher or written in an essay, which may even have been misconstrued, was kidnapping children at schools. . . . Because of draconian actions by the child protectors, many felt they were overstepping their boundaries, so the Oregon legislature passed legislation creating a Citizen Review Board, which was to become watchdogs over social workers who were determining who were unsuitable parents. I volunteered in the mid-1980s to become an unpaid member. A number of boards were set up in each county. . . . Our Constitution gave government no jurisdiction over family life and I felt constitutionally it was the county sheriff’s duty to investigate the crime of abuse because he was the “elected” official and the public could hold him responsible. I contacted our local sheriff and he was more than happy to take responsibility but this never happened. Instead, the social workers would contact the sheriff, or the local city police, and they would accompany the social workers to a home to supervise arrests of often times innocent people and take traumatized, screaming children to be “interrogated” and then to some “licensed” foster care home where it was not unusual for the child to be abused again. Bleeding-heart liberals who believed everything the media printed about this so-called epidemic felt the children would be safe in foster care because they were “licensed.”

TEXAS

Attorneys Worry How Changes Will Affect Polygamist Children

Click2Houston.com

4-25-08 -- Some people have voiced their opposition to sending children taken from the polygamist sect in west Texas to foster homes, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday. . . . Three Houston-area facilities are expecting the children to arrive at any moment. . . . One attorney said some of the children are being ripped away from their families a second time by separating them from their siblings. . . . Betty Luke said her 7-year old client is being placed with her sister in Waco, far away from their brothers, who are being placed at a Brazoria County facility. . .. "It just seems to make better sense to me to place those two children, who are going to be placed together anyway, in the Houston area, closer to their brothers, closer to their attorney," she said.

Trading Nude Photos Via Mobile Phone Now Part Of Teen Dating, Experts Say

Associated Press

4-14-08 -- Forget about passing notes in study hall; some teens are now using their cell phones to flirt and send nude pictures of themselves. . . . The instant text, picture and video messages have become part of some teens' courtship behavior, police and school officials said. . . . The messages often spread quickly and sometimes find their way to public Web sites. . . . "I've seen everything from your basic striptease to sexual acts being performed," said Reynoldsburg police Detective Brian Marvin, a member of the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force of Central Ohio. "You name it, they will do it at their home under this perceived anonymity." . . . Westerville Central High School senior Jerome Ray said he's received such unsolicited messages, including one from a classmate while he was sitting with his girlfriend. . . . "A lot more girls are aggressive," said Ray, 18. "Some girls are crazy and they are putting themselves out there."

MISSOURI

House endorses bill barring lawyers from yelling at kids in court

By Chris Blank, The Associated Press

04-06-08 -- Lawyers couldn't yell at child witnesses under legislation endorsed by the House on Wednesday. . . . Supporters say the bill is designed to help make child witnesses more comfortable by giving them additional protections and regulating attorneys' behavior. It would apply to anyone younger than 18. . . . It was approved 100-48 and now goes to the Senate. House leaders had to end debate and force a vote even though the bill was placed on a list of "consent bills" that cannot be amended and are unlikely to generate significant debate. . . . Rep. Bob Dixon said that court can be intimidating even for adults, and that there needed to be special considerations for children. . . . "We want to make sure the courtroom is a fair place so that the child can tell what happened to them," said Dixon, R-Springfield.

ARKANSAS

Toddlers Can No Longer Marry in Ark.

By Andrew DeMillo, Associated Press Writer

04-03-08 -- Arkansas' marriage-age crisis is over. A law that mistakenly allowed anyone — even toddlers — to marry with parental permission was repealed by a measure signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Mike Beebe, ending months of embarrassment for the state and confusion for county clerks. . . . Lawmakers didn't realize until after the end of last year's regular session that a law they approved, intended to establish 18 as the minimum age for marriage, instead removed the minimum age to marry entirely. An extraneous "not" in the bill allowed anyone who was not pregnant to marry at any age with permission. . . . The bill read: "In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage."

Government stakes claim to every newborn's DNA
'We now are considered guinea pigs, instead of human beings with rights'

04-03-08 -- An Orwellian plan that has state and federal governments staking claim to the ownership of every newborn's DNA in perpetuity is advancing under the radar of most privacy rights activists, but would turn the United States' citizenry into a huge pool of subjects for involuntary scientific experimentation, according to one organization alarmed over the issue. . . . "We now are considered guinea pigs, as opposed to human beings with rights," Twila Brase, president of the the Citizens' Council on Health Care, a Minnesota-based organization familiar with the progress in that state. . . . She warned ultimately, such DNA databases could spark the next wave of demands for eugenics, the concept of improving the human race through the control of various inherited traits. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, advocated eugenics to cull people she considered unfit from the population. . . . In 1921, she said eugenics is "the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems," and she later lamented "the ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all." . . . Lawmakers in Minnesota recently endorsed a proposal that would exempt stockpiles of DNA information already collected from every newborn from any sort of consent requirements. That means researchers could utilize the DNA of more than 780,000 Minnesota children for any sort of research project whatsover, Brase said. . . . "The Senate just voted to strip citizens of parental rights, privacy rights, patient rights and DNA property rights. They voted to make every citizen a research subject of the state government, starting at birth," she said. "They voted to let the government create genetic profiles of every citizen without their consent." . . . The result will be that every newborn's DNA will be collected at birth, "warehoused in a state genomic biobank, and given away to genetic researchers without parent consent – or in adulthood, without the individual's consent. Already, the health department reports that 42, 210 children have been subjected to genetic research without their consent," Brase told WND. . . . She said although her organization works with Minnesota issues, similar laws or rules and regulations already are in use across the nation. . . . The National Conference of State Legislatures, in fact, lists for all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia the various statutes or regulatory provisions under which newborns' DNA is being collected.

MARYLAND

Judicial system failed slain children, friends say

by Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner

04-02-08 -- Friends blame the judicial system for failing to keep a suicidal father away, but lawyers and activists fault Maryland’s domestic violence law as stacked against children and abused wives. . . . “The threat of murder, how can you overlook that?” asked Dan Sander, a friend of Mark Castillo, who was charged with killing his three children. . . . “It is the responsibility of the courts to protect the children — and they failed.” . . . In January 2007, Montgomery Circuit Judge Joseph Dugan denied wife Amy Castillo’s request for a protective order, because psychological analyses by court-appointed therapists showed that Mark Castillo posed no threat to his children, despite his threat to kill his children, his bipolar and narcissistic personality disorders and suicide attempts. . . . The investigation of Mark Castillo, charged Monday with drowning his sons, Anthony, 6, and Austin, 4, and daughter Athena, 2, prevents judges from commenting, Dugan’s spokesman said. . . . Another Montgomery judge, Michael Mason, denied Amy Castillo’s request to halt her husband’s visitations. . . . But lawyers and activists said the law’s at fault, not judges. . . . Maryland requires a higher standard of evidence in custody battles and abuse hearings than most states, said Patrick Dragga, a family lawyer who supports lowering the standard to help victims. . . . “A protective order gives women a false sense of security,” said Prince George’s Circuit Judge Vincent Femia, who favors abolishing them.

OHIO

Kids' Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Child-Sex Case

New York Lawyer, By The Associated Press

04-02-08 -- A former children's services lawyer accused in an Internet child-sex sting pleaded guilty Tuesday to two charges. . . . Barry Mentser, 48, of New Albany, pleaded to importuning and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, his attorney and a prosecutor said. Authorities dropped a charge related to spreading material harmful to juveniles. . . . Mentser was arrested Oct. 31 in the Ohio Statehouse basement in a sting set up by a Hamilton Township police detective who had posed online as a 15-year-old girl. . . . Mentser's attorney, Charles Rittgers, said he could face a sentence ranging up to 18 months in prison. . . . "He's taken responsibility for what he did, and he's ready to try to move on and deal with this the best he can," Rittgers said, adding that Mentser, who has been free on bond, had no prior criminal record.

March 2008

MICHIGAN

Part one: How to wreck a boy's life

Experts say an Oakland County detective ran roughshod over a 13-year-old in a sexual abuse case against his parents

By Brian Dickerson • Free Press Columnist

03-17-08 -- In the fading twilight of a Tuesday in early December, a 13-year-old boy sat alone in a West Bloomfield police interrogation room, sobbing as he cradled his head in his hands and rocked from side to side. . . . For nearly an hour, Detective Joseph Brousseau had grilled the boy about accusations that he and his autistic sister had been sexually molested by their father. . . . No, the boy insisted, he'd seen nothing to support the detective's lurid suspicions. Three times, he offered to take a lie detector test. . . . But Brousseau hammered away, challenging the boy's honesty, his manliness, his loyalty to his disabled sister. . . . Again and again, the detective told the boy his body language betrayed the burden of a terrible secret. . . . "What if I told you that one of those videotapes confiscated from your parents' house had you in it?" the detective asked suddenly. . . . The 13-year-old straightened. "Was it me doing something sexually?" . . . "I don't think I'd be bringing it up if it wasn't," Brousseau answered. "That's what I'm trying to tell you -- it's going to come out." . . . If it were merely what it purported to be -- the disclosure of a deviant father's treachery -- the videotaped exchange would be excruciating enough to watch. . . . But the truth is a good deal uglier than that. . . . Charges have been dropped. In fact, prosecutors now concede, much of what Brousseau told the boy during his Dec. 4 interrogation was a fabrication. . . . There were no videotapes depicting the boy in sexual situations with his father or sister. There was no new crime lab evidence confirming his sister's allegations, despite Brousseau's repeated assertions to the contrary.

NEW YORK

N.Y. High Court Finds Adopted-Out Child Has No Claim to Jell-O Fortune

Mark Fass, New York Law Journal

03-14-08 -- The daughter of an heir to the Jell-O fortune, who spent 14 years looking for her birth mother, is not entitled to a multimillion-dollar share of two disputed trusts, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. . . . In a separate ruling Thursday involving two joined cases, Matter of Adult Home at Erie Station, 21, and Regional Economic Community Action Program v. Bernaski, 22, the state's highest court ruled that an Orange County city improperly denied tax exemptions to a home for the elderly and a social work organization devoted to the poor. . . . In the disputed trusts decision, Matter of the Accounting by Fleet Bank, 27, the court reversed the Appellate Division, 4th Department, finding that the law in effect at the time of the execution of the trusts, in 1926 and 1963, does not imply the right for an adopted-out child to share in a class gift. . . . The unanimous court also found that public policy precludes office manager Elizabeth McNabb, 52, from receiving shares of two trusts created to benefit her birth mother's "descendants" and "living children." . . . Citing the court's own 1985 decision Matter of Best, 66 NY2d 151, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye wrote, "As the Court noted, the finality of judicial decrees would be compromised if adopted-out children were included in such class gifts 'because there would always lurk the possibility, no matter how remote, that a secret out-of-wedlock child had been adopted out of the family by a biological parent or ancestor of a class of beneficiaries.'"

GEORGIA

Government Concedes Vaccines May Have Injured Ga. Girl; Impact on Autism Claims Unclear

Marilynn Marchione, The Associated Press

03-07-08 -- Government health officials have conceded that childhood vaccines worsened a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms in a Georgia girl, and that she should be paid from a federal vaccine injury fund. . . . Medical and legal experts say the narrow wording and circumstances probably make the case an exception -- not a precedent for thousands of other pending claims. . . . The government "has not conceded that vaccines cause autism," said Linda Renzi, the lawyer representing federal officials, who have consistently maintained that childhood shots are safe. . . . However, parents and advocates for autistic children see the case as a victory that may help certain others. Although the science on this is very limited, the girl's disorder may be more common in autistic children than in healthy ones. . . . "It's a beginning," said Kevin Conway, a Boston lawyer representing more than 1,200 families with vaccine injury claims. "Each case is going to have to be proved on its individual merits. But it shows to me that the government has conceded that it's biologically plausible for a vaccine to cause these injuries. They've never done it before."

IDAHO

Ammon Elementary Student Invents 'Diabetic Dress'

Reporter: Kristi Henderson

03-07-08 -- An 11-year-old Ammon Elementary student turned a school project into a mission to help her little sister live a more normal life. . . . Kailey Caldwell designed a diabetic dress and recently placed third in the Invention Convention in Boise. . . . Whitlee Caldwell is just like any other 5-year-old, enjoying reading a story with her mom and big sister. . . . But a year ago, Whitlee was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She now uses an insulin pump, and for a little girl, the device came with a major drawback. . . . Kailey Caldwell, Diabetic Dress Inventor: "They have a little belt with a pack on them that you can wear with skirts and pants, but when you try and wear them with a dress it makes a bulge and it doesn't feel very comfortable and you still have to lift your dress up to give yourself insulin."

CALIFORNIA

Court's homeschool ban creating 'panic'

Ruling, if unchanged, could be used against tens of thousands

03-05-08 -- A ruling from an appeals court in California that a homeschooling family must enroll their children in a public school or "legally qualified" private school is alarming because of the way the court opted to order those results, according to a team of legislative analysts who have worked on homeschooling issues in California for decades. . . . The ruling, when it was released several days ago, sent ripples of shock through the homeschooling community. . . . WND has reported on the order handed down to Phillip and Mary Long over the education being provided to two of their eight children. . . . The decision from the 2nd Appellate Court in Los Angeles granted a special petition brought by lawyers appointed to represent the two youngest children after the family's homeschooling was brought to the attention of child advocates. The lawyers appointed by the state were unhappy with a lower court's ruling that allowed the family to continue homeschooling, and specifically challenged that on appeal. . . . Roy Hanson, chief of the Private and Home Educators of California, said the circumstances of the Long family left the court with the option of handling such a ruling for their particular circumstances in a juvenile court setting.

RHODE ISLAND

Lawyers spar over class-action DCYF case

By Edward Fitzpatrick, Journal Staff Writer

03-05-08 -- In sharply worded legal briefs, opposing lawyers are arguing about whether a federal judge should dismiss a sweeping class-action lawsuit that alleges widespread abuse of children in state foster care. . . . Among other issues, lawyers from the attorney general’s office and the Department of Children, Youth & Families are challenging whether three adults should be allowed to pursue the lawsuit on behalf of seven foster children. . . . “It is clear from the testimony of the self-proclaimed ‘next friends’ that they have no personal knowledge regarding the named children’s current placement, treatment and services and, therefore, they cannot speak to whether or not their decision to involuntarily subject those children to the jurisdiction of this court is in the child’s best interest,” defense lawyers say in a memo of law filed Feb. 15 in U.S. District Court. . . . Child Advocate Jametta O. Alston filed the suit with backing from Children’s Rights, a nonprofit New York City organization with experience in child-welfare class actions, and they are seeking class-action status on behalf of the 3,000 children in state custody, aiming for an overhaul of Rhode Island’s child-welfare system.

NEW YORK

Appeals Court Faults Removal of Obese Child From Parents

Joel Stashenko, New York Law Journal

03-03-08 -- Though not "ideal," a couple's efforts to control the weight of their obese daughter were made in good faith and did not justify a county agency's repeated removal of the girl from her parents' custody, an upstate New York appeals court ruled Thursday. . . . The custody case, Matter of Brittany T., 502131, concerned attempts by the Chemung County Department of Social Services to intervene in the upbringing of an obese girl. The matter began in 2003, when the agency filed petitions alleging the parents were neglecting their then-9-year-old daughter. . . . According to Thursday's ruling, Brittany T.'s weight eventually exceeded 250 pounds, and she had several health problems associated with obesity, such as gallstones, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and insulin resistance. The girl "undoubtedly has an eating disorder," the court noted Thursday. . . . The county petitions argued that the parents, identified in court papers as Shawna T. and Robert T., were failing to take steps to control their daughter's weight and also to ensure she was attending school. A finding of neglect and order of supervision in August 2003 established a series of conditions the parents were to follow to reduce Brittany T.'s weight.

Judge won't make ACS return girl to woman accused of suffering mental woe

By Jess Wisloski, Daily News Staff Writer

03-03-08 -- A judge rejected a desperate bid last week by a Queens mom to get back from city custody the 6-year-old daughter she lost after being accused of suffering from a rare mental disorder. . . . Some six months after the Administration for Children's Services took custody of Amber James, her family members finally got their day in Queens Supreme Court last Thursday - an uncommon venue for a custody case. . . . But the ruling by Justice Peter O'Donoghue to keep Amber in foster care for now was heartbreaking for the girl's mother, Vanessa James, 41. . . . "Judge! If you leave my daughter in the care of ACS, she will die!" the distraught mom wailed in the courtroom. "They will kill her!" . . . Amber was taken from her family because a doctor feared Vanessa James suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy - a rare disorder in which a person believes a child is sick, or actually makes the child sick, to get attention. . . . Since the city took custody in August, Amber has been hospitalized for evaluation twice at mental health clinics. She has also been hospitalized three times for pneumonia, according to court records. And, she has been diagnosed with asthma.

February 2008

Planned Parenthood Web Site Promotes Porn, Misleads Teens

Family News in Focus

02-29-08 -- Nation's largest abortion provider is misleading young people. . . . Planned Parenthood's Teenwire.com Web site fields sex-related questions from teens. Unfortunately, the teens aren't getting straight answers — they're even being told viewing pornography is OK. . . . Planned Parenthood knows it’s illegal — the Web site states, “Federal law makes it illegal for anyone under 18 to view pornography.” But then it proceeds to tell teens that “many people enjoy using pornography.” . . . “It just kind of promoted this normalization of explicit content, of viewing pornography, and that’s … not a good message to be sending to teens," said Cris Clapp, spokeswoman for Enough is Enough. . . . She said pornography damages boys and girls alike. . . . “A lot of teen girls have been deeply impacted by pornography use," Clapp said. "A lot of them feel they can’t measure up.”

PENNSYLVANIA

Student suspended 10 days for taking vitamins
'It was Alice in Wonderland does The Twilight Zone,' father says

02-29-08 -- The parents of a student in Pennsylvania's South Middleton School District are warning other parents after their workout-oriented son was suspended for 10 days and half the soccer season for taking vitamins at school. . .. Calling it a zero tolerance policy run amok, Joseph Figueiredo told WND it was like, "'Alice in Wonderland' does the 'Twilight Zone.'" . .. The controversy began when his son, Andrew, put himself on a physical training regimen that included taking several vitamins and supplements. . . . Andrew was aware of school rules regarding prescription medications, so before he launched the program he checked the student handbook. . . . "He took it upon himself to look in the student manual and read the drug policy and medication policy," he said. "But he did not see vitamins or dietary supplements and in his mind thought it was okay."

CALIFORNIA

BigLaw Firm Fights for Child Prostitute in Suit Against
Her Pimps

New York Lawyer, By Evan Hill, The Recorder

02-27-08 -- Two attorneys from Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton used a novel approach to win a settlement for a client who probably wouldn't have put an Am Law 100 firm high on her list of likely knights in shining armor — a former child prostitute. . . . Robert Gerber, a partner and chair of the firm's pro bono committee, and Nathaniel Bruno, an associate, sued the girl's former pimps under §52.5 of the California Civil Code, established in 2005 with the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. . .. To their knowledge, the statute had never before been used to win a monetary settlement for a child prostitute. . . . The bill created the crime of trafficking a person for forced labor or services and enabled victims of trafficking to bring civil actions. . .. The plaintiff, an 18-year-old woman, ran away from home three years ago and into the arms of a husband-wife pair of pimps whom she had met through her mother, also a prostitute, the complaint says. . . . The suit, brought in San Francisco Superior Court, accused the two of persuading the girl to have sex with them and teaching her the work of a prostitute: how to manipulate "johns," how much money to charge, and how to avoid being arrested. Her pimps charged $1,000 a night for her, according to the complaint.

CALIFORNIA

Is Ricky Really a Sex Offender?

California’s registry for life may soon include promiscuous kids

By Hanna Ingber Win

02-25-08 -- When Ricky was 16, he went to a teen club and met a girl named Amanda, who said she was the same age. They hit it off and were eventually having sex. At the time Ricky thought it was a pretty normal high school romance. . . . Two years later, Ricky is a registered sex offender, and his life is destroyed. . . . Amanda turned out to be 13. Ricky was arrested, tried as an adult, and pleaded guilty to the charge of lascivious acts with a child, which is a class D felony in Iowa. It is not disputed that the sex was consensual, but intercourse with a 13-year-old is illegal in Iowa. . . . Ricky was sentenced to two years probation and 10 years on the Iowa online sex offender registry. Ricky and his family have since moved to Oklahoma, where he will remain on the state’s public registry for life. . .. Being labeled a sex offender has completely changed Ricky’s life, leading him to be kicked out of high school, thrown out of parks, taunted by neighbors, harassed by strangers, and unable to live within 2,000 feet of a school, day-care center or park. He is prohibited from going to the movies or mall with friends because it would require crossing state borders, which he cannot do without permission from his probation officer. One of Ricky’s neighbors called the cops on him, yelled and cursed at him, and videotaped him every time he stepped outside, Ricky said.

NEW JERSEY

Children of Sperm Donors Have Rights, Too

By Maggie Gallagher, Townhall.com

02-20-08 -- In New Jersey, the state Senate has twice voted to give adopted children access to their original birth certificates, that is, to the names of their biological mothers. Birth mothers would have one year to notify the state that they wish to remain anonymous. Even so, such birth mothers would be compelled by government to provide social, cultural and health information, or else their identities would be released regardless of their consent. . . . Recently, one southern New Jersey newspaper weighed in forcefully in the bill's favor: "This is not too much to ask from a birth mother ... The adoptee's right to this information is as important as protecting the privacy of the birth mother," the editors of the Courier-Post opine. . . . But why pick exclusively on birth mothers? If children have a right to know their own biological parents -- a claim recognized in international human rights law and one to which I am deeply sympathetic -- there is no good reason to limit this claim to the small number of women who accept the agonizing burden of giving life to children they cannot raise. . . . Far more children these days are deprived of knowledge of their origins by a totally difference process: artificial insemination. How can we possibly countenance placing burdens exclusively on women who give life and excuse totally the men whose sole contribution to their child was to "donate" into a little cup, usually for money? . . . And our laws are almost totally to blame for keeping children created by reproductive technologies in the dark about their origins. The common law remains the rule for children created by sexual acts: I cannot bargain away at the bar my child's right to the support and care of both his mother and father. The child retains the right to the support of both parents, no matter to what those parents have agreed. But if I go to a doctor or clinic for sperm, adult bargains are suddenly allowed by law to trump the child's natural right to know both his biological parents, wherever possible.

CALIFORNIA

Broken families, broken courts Day 3:
Big stakes, but little voice for kids

By Karen de Sá

02-13-08 -- The day an Alameda County Superior Court judge became his stand-in parent, 14-year-old Zairon Frazier felt more like a criminal than a survivor of child abuse. . . . His mother had whacked him with a belt. But inside Juvenile Dependency Court, it seemed like a different sort of punishment. A bank of attorneys argued his fate at a rapid clip. . . . "Obviously, whatever they were saying wasn't for my benefit," Zairon said. "I knew they were talking about me, but I didn't think anything I said or cared about mattered. If it was about me, why didn't they ask me?" . . . Youth advocates seeking to reform the long-overlooked dependency courts want answers to the same question. Too often, children removed from home following allegations of abuse and neglect are poorly served by lawyers paid to represent them. . . . Throughout California, attorneys do not include their clients in critical court proceedings foreshadowing their futures. The youths have little direct contact with their court-appointed lawyers before and after the hearings. And with the exception of dependency court in Los Angeles County, children rarely appear in court to express their views. When they do attend, like Zairon, they often leave discouraged.

FLORIDA

Second person fired in DCF scandal

A technician who cleaned out the ex-spokesman's computer admits a sexual relationship.

By Kevin Graham, Times Staff Writer

02-13-08 -- The Department of Children and Families has fired a second employee connected to an unfolding investigation into the agency's former spokesman, who was arrested Feb. 1 on child pornography charges. . . . Michael Hernandez, who worked for the DCF as a computer technician, told investigators that he tossed former DCF spokesman Al Zimmerman's home computer in a trash bin because Zimmerman, 40, told him he was afraid of what police would find on them. . . . Hernandez, who told authorities he had a sexual relationship with Zimmerman, also admitted to wiping clean and reformatting a DCF-issued laptop that Zimmerman used for work, at Zimmerman's request, authorities said. . . . DCF spokeswoman Erin Geraghty said Tuesday that Hernandez was fired Feb. 1, the same day authorities brought state charges of child pornography against Zimmerman.

TENNESSEE

Anna Mae Goes to China

Caught in a Lengthy Custody Struggle, She Starts New Life With Biological Family

By Jim Avila, Teri Whitcraft, Samantha Wender & Chris Francescani, ABC News Law & Justice Unit

02-13-08 -- A wrenching custody battle, over a Chinese child raised in suburban Tennessee, that has drawn international attention and has nearly torn two families apart, took another twist over the weekend when the child arrived in China with her new family. . . . Anna Mae He, 9, raised by an American couple almost since birth — but recently returned to her Chinese birth parents, following a stunning Tennessee Supreme Court decision — arrived in Beijing, Sunday morning, and almost immediately began to talk about returning to the U.S. . . . When an ABC News crew, that greeted the family in the Beijing airport, asked Anna Mae's birth father, Jack He, how long he planned to remain there, Anna Mae blurted out, "two days!" before her father could respond. . . . When he said he has a new job as a college professor in Hunan province in China, where they had returned to live with their daughter, Anna Mae piped up and shouted, "It's in Tennessee!" "No, it's in Hunan,'' He replied patiently. "Hunan is my hometown."

CALIFORNIA

Overworked defenders:
Sacramento attorneys struggle to keep up

By Karen de Sá, Mercury News

02-11-08 -- Many of the problems of dependency courts throughout California were evident when a reporter visited Sacramento County last year. . . . Lawyers rushed in and out of court, struggling to meet with their parent clients in brief interviews before hearings. . . . Many were recent law school graduates, called "baby lawyers" by the referees hearing dependency cases. . . . The representation is provided under a contract awarded a private firm headed by attorney Dale Wilson. In 2006, the firm had suffered a series of departures from attorneys who left either because of the low pay or frustrations with the job. . . . One former supervisor, Stephen Nelson, said in an interview that he left because the firm was turning into an "attorney mill" providing substandard representation. A second former supervisor, John Passalacqua, said separately of his own departure: "I felt that conditions made it impossible to sustain the level of quality which our clients needed."

COLORADO

Another Republican Busted For Sex Crimes With Minor

By Jim Kouri, NewsWithViews.com

02-06-08 -- Police officials in Oregon announced that they had arrested high-profile attorney Jerald Keene after receiving a request from police in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to have Keene arrested and booked. . . . Colorado police detectives strongly suspect that Keene is the alleged attacker in a case involving sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy around Christmas of 2006. A KPTV news story claims Keene knew the boy prior to the alleged sex attack. . . . Police sources say that Keene is now likely to face extradition to Colorado to answer to the charges leveled at him by the victim and the sex crimes detectives handling the case.. . . . Keene is an appellate lawyer with Reinisch-Mackenzie, which is based in Tigard. Most of his cases focus on workers' compensation and he has spent much of his time in the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court.

PENNSYLVANIA

How Social Services Are Paid Bonuses To Snatch Babies For Adoption

Sue Reid

02-06-08 -- For a mother, there can be no greater horror than having a baby snatched away by the State at birth. . . . The women to whom it has happened say their lives are ruined for ever - and goodness knows what longterm effect it has on the child. . . . Most never recover from this trauma. . .. National disgrace: The number of babies taken from their mothers and put up for adoption is rising sharply . . . . Imagine a baby growing in your body for nine months, imagine going through the emotion of bringing it into the world, only to have social workers seize the newborn, sometimes within minutes of its first cry and often on the flimsiest of excuses. . . . Yet this disturbing scenario is played out every day. . . . The number of babies under one month old being taken into care for adoption is now running at almost four a day (a 300 per cent increase over a decade). . . . In total, 75 children of all ages are being removed from their parents every week before being handed over to new families. . . . Some of these may have been willingly given up for adoption, but critics of the Government's policy are convinced that the vast majority are taken by force. . . . Time and again, the mothers say they are innocent of any wrongdoing. . . . Of course, there are people who are not fit to be parents and it is the duty of any responsible State to protect their children.

Beat Boredom With Kids.Gov

The kids are home and cooped up in the house. Think you’re going to lose it? Don’t let the “I’m bored!” whine get the best of you and your family. Kids.gov provides a fun and educational outlet for hours of indoor amusement.

With trustworthy links to over 1,300 web pages, Kids.gov is the official kids’ site from the U.S. government—so you know it’s safe. Children from kindergarten through eighth grade can play games, go back in history, sail the seven seas, get homework help, and much more.

Do your kids dream of being astronauts? Let them explore space with Kids.gov’s NASA links. Do you have a budding Picasso on your hands? Kids.gov links to educational coloring books and Smithsonian art pages. Need information on your home state for a report? Kids.gov will get your child to the appropriate page for all information he or she needs.

Separated into two sections, Grades K-5 and 6-8, Kids.gov is easy to navigate. Kids can quickly find the information and activities geared to their grade level. Are you an educator? Kids.gov has a section specifically for you. Find lesson plans, group activities, and official resources for all your classroom needs. Check out the “What’s New?” column on the homepage for all the latest additions and improvements to Kids.gov.

Let Ben Franklin guide your child through the different branches of government. Read the diary of a day in the life of a Park Ranger. Get ideas for a science fair project. All this and more is just a click away, at Kids.gov.

Loaded with great tips, facts, projects, games, and exercises, there is always something new and exciting on Kids.gov. Consider it your escape route when the kids are inside and restless. Be warned: it may be hard to pry them away once it’s bedtime.

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Please check with Colleen Bayus if you plan to use this release after April 15, 2008.

If you would like to receive these releases by e-mail send a request to rebecca.ewing@gsa.gov or call (202) 501-1794.

GSA #2865

January 2008

MASSACHUSETTS

Suspect in rape at library was freed sex offender

By Maria Cramer and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

01-31-08 -- A convicted sex offender arrested this week on charges of raping a 6-year-old boy in the public library had been released from prison a year ago, despite the strenuous objections of the district attorney and three psychologists who argued that he posed a serious threat to children. . . . Superior Court Judge Richard Moses denied the prosecutor's motion to keep Corey Saunders in custody indefinitely, arguing that he had a low IQ and had suffered physical and sexual abuse as a child. . . . The judge said Saunders, who was sentenced to four years for the attempted rape of a 7-year-old boy in 1999, had not committed any major sexual offense while he was in prison. Moses released Saunders, ruling that he was not dangerous. . . . Later, Saunders was classified as a Level 3 sex offender, the most dangerous category considered likely to reoffend. Level 3 offenders are required to register with local police, and their photos are posted on a state website. . . . Police say that on Wednesday, Saunders, 26, raped the boy between the downtown library's tall book shelves on the second floor, just a few feet from the child's mother, who was working on a computer and was unaware of what was happening. At a press conference at police headquarters yesterday, police officials expressed outrage at Moses' decision to release Saunders.

Court backs school on gay topics in class

If you don't want your children in kindergarten, first, or second grades to be exposed to books that favorably portray same-sex couples, then don't send your children to public school: So holds the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in this ruling that a unanimous three-judge panel issued. – Comment by Howard Bashman

The penal system imprisons children for life

Party for Socialism and Liberation

01-29-08 – (PSL) -- Forty- two states currently have laws allowing minors to receive life sentences without parole. . . . There are at least 2,225 people serving life without parole in U.S. prisons for crimes committed before they were 18- . . . years-old. Some were as young as 13 when convicted of a crime. An estimated 59 percent of these child offenders received life without parole for their first criminal conviction. These offenders are 97 percent male, and 60 percent are African American. . . . In 26 states, life without parole is a mandatory sentence for committing first-degree murder. Ninety-three percent of youth offenders sentenced to life without parole are convicted of murder, but 26 percent are convicted of "felony murder." This law makes any participant in a felony criminally responsible for deaths that occur during the crime. In other words, 26 percent of the young people who receive life without parole did not pull the trigger.

OREGON

Ore. Court: Boy Has Say in Circumcision

By Sarah Skidmore, Associated Press Writer

01-28-08 – (AP) -- The wishes of a 12-year-old boy should be considered in a dispute between his divorced parents about whether he should be circumcised, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Friday. . . . The father, James Boldt, converted to Judaism in 2004 and wants the boy to be circumcised as part of the faith. The mother, Lia Boldt, appealed to the high court, saying the operation could harm her son physically and psychologically. . . . The state Supreme Court ruled that earlier court decisions failed to determine whether the boy wanted the circumcision, as his father contended, or opposed it, as his mother alleged.

You can access the ruling of the Supreme Court of Oregon at this link.

BIG WIN

U.S. 9th Circuit: DCF Workers Have NO Absolute Immunity For Lying in Sworn Statements.

Reported by: Connecticut DCF Watch

01-25-08 – A good quote in this published case. We must thank the Law Offices of Robert Powell for this remand. Has your social worker ever lied and fabricated evidence? Well we all know the truth. Let justice prevail. . . . "Furthermore, as prosecutors and others investigating criminal matters have no absolute immunity for their investigatory conduct, a fortiori, social workers conducting investigations have no such immunity. "

Published Opinion in pdf

COLORADO

SWAT officers invade home, take 11-year-old at gunpoint
Police demand boy go to doctor because of fall during horseplay

01-07-08 -- Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team in western Colorado punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family's home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy who had had an accidental fall accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak. . . . The boy's parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed in the weekend assault, and the boy's father told WND it was all because a paramedic was upset the family preferred to care for their son themselves. . . . Someone, apparently the unidentified paramedic, called police, the sheriff's office and social services, eventually providing Leoniak with a report that generated the magistrate's court order to the sheriff's office for the SWAT team assault on the family's home in a mobile home development outside of Glenwood Springs, the father, Tom Shiflett, told WND.

United Civil Rights Councils of America

"Gender neutral. Child positive. Constitution mandatory."

Click for
10 Main Focus Areas

Judges lenient on sexual abusers of children

Connecticut
Hartford Superior Court Judge Lois B. Tanzer

Florida
Circuit Judge Ric Howard

Kansas
Shawnee County District Court Judge Matthew Dowd

Massachusetts
Brockton Superior Court Judge Suzanne V. Delvecchio &
Worcester Superior Court Judge John McCann &

Bristol Superior Court Judge Richard Moses

New Bedford District Court
Judge Bernadette Sabra

Missouri
39th Circuit Court in Lawrence County, MO, Judge Larry W. Meyer

Ohio
Common Pleas Judge
John A. Connor

Nebraska
Cheyenne County District Judge Kristine Cecava

New York
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department -- Before: Stephen G. Crane, J.P., Gabriel M. Krausman, Reinaldo E. Rivera & Mark C. Dillon, JJ.

North Carolina
Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis

South Carolina
Kershaw County Magistrate Rick Todd

Vermont
Judge Edward Cashman & Vermont's Judicial Conduct Board for Condoning Cashman's lenient sentence -- Thank God, Cashman is retiring from the bench in March 2007

Judge David Howard

Wisconsin
Rock County Judge Alan Bates & Sheboygan County Judge Timothy Van Akkeren

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