Louisville Courier Journal Editorial: Parsing An Absurdity. I AGREE!
'Parsing an absurdity'
It's almost impossible to justify the action taken by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to block a Louisville judge from ordering an investigation to protect the safety of a juvenile before his court.
Family Court Judge David Holton has been sued after he ordered an investigation by Child Protective Services of the living conditions of a 15-year-old defendant, “J.W.,” whose father and brother were believed to be in the Victory Park “Crips” gang. The father is “allegedly in possession of firearms.”
An attorney for the cabinet, Erika Saylor, told The Courier-Journal's Andrew Wolfson that the case was one of judicial vs. administrative power. It's up to the agency to determine which cases it will investigate, not up to a judge, she said.
Veteran child welfare advocates disagree, and they make good sense. David Richart, president of the National Institute on Children at Spalding University, termed the cabinet's objections “bewildering.” That the cabinet would object to being ordered to investigate a child's welfare, he said, “is beyond common sense.”
Mr. Richart noted that for at least a generation, juvenile court judges here have ordered abuse and neglect investigations and the cabinet has carried them out.
Retired Family Court Judge Richard FitzGerald, a nationally celebrated expert on juvenile justice, said that in bringing the suit against Judge Holton, the cabinet is “parsing an absurdity. You can be legally correct but still wasting time.”
What this case — and the one that prompted it — demonstrate is the ongoing damage that can result when proceedings involving juveniles are conducted in the dark and are not subject to public scrutiny.
A year ago, reporter Deborah Yetter's series “Children in Crisis” laid out shocking stories about the price of that secrecy. Kentucky leads the nation in the deaths of children from abuse and neglect. Claiming that the shroud of confidentiality protects the welfare of young people may have precisely the opposite effect.
And an effort in the last General Assembly, supported by Chief Justice John Minton, to open juvenile courts on a pilot basis passed the House, but failed even to get a hearing in the Senate.
We don't even know what the investigation Judge Holton ordered produced, if anything. But the main thing that we don't know whether he was justified in making the request. It's all secret.
This is an untenable situation. A basic tenet of our legal system is that the state must protect “the best interests of the child,” yet in Kentucky, nobody has any way of knowing if that is happening.
The cabinet should drop this case, and efforts should be made to revive the pilot program to bring sunshine to juvenile cases.
It's almost impossible to justify the action taken by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to block a Louisville judge from ordering an investigation to protect the safety of a juvenile before his court.
Family Court Judge David Holton has been sued after he ordered an investigation by Child Protective Services of the living conditions of a 15-year-old defendant, “J.W.,” whose father and brother were believed to be in the Victory Park “Crips” gang. The father is “allegedly in possession of firearms.”
An attorney for the cabinet, Erika Saylor, told The Courier-Journal's Andrew Wolfson that the case was one of judicial vs. administrative power. It's up to the agency to determine which cases it will investigate, not up to a judge, she said.
Veteran child welfare advocates disagree, and they make good sense. David Richart, president of the National Institute on Children at Spalding University, termed the cabinet's objections “bewildering.” That the cabinet would object to being ordered to investigate a child's welfare, he said, “is beyond common sense.”
Mr. Richart noted that for at least a generation, juvenile court judges here have ordered abuse and neglect investigations and the cabinet has carried them out.
Retired Family Court Judge Richard FitzGerald, a nationally celebrated expert on juvenile justice, said that in bringing the suit against Judge Holton, the cabinet is “parsing an absurdity. You can be legally correct but still wasting time.”
What this case — and the one that prompted it — demonstrate is the ongoing damage that can result when proceedings involving juveniles are conducted in the dark and are not subject to public scrutiny.
A year ago, reporter Deborah Yetter's series “Children in Crisis” laid out shocking stories about the price of that secrecy. Kentucky leads the nation in the deaths of children from abuse and neglect. Claiming that the shroud of confidentiality protects the welfare of young people may have precisely the opposite effect.
And an effort in the last General Assembly, supported by Chief Justice John Minton, to open juvenile courts on a pilot basis passed the House, but failed even to get a hearing in the Senate.
We don't even know what the investigation Judge Holton ordered produced, if anything. But the main thing that we don't know whether he was justified in making the request. It's all secret.
This is an untenable situation. A basic tenet of our legal system is that the state must protect “the best interests of the child,” yet in Kentucky, nobody has any way of knowing if that is happening.
The cabinet should drop this case, and efforts should be made to revive the pilot program to bring sunshine to juvenile cases.
Labels: Keeping them honest
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 1:31 PM
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