Open juvenile court hearings to help abused kids

By Alice McQuade, Julie Bolen
We may wince at terrible brutality visited on children by their parents, especially those returned to abusive situations by Georgia’s juvenile courts, but the public is largely unaware of the plight of Georgia’s foster children until one of them makes the news. Closed juvenile court hearings for abused and neglected children ensure that we remain in the dark.
At least 59 Georgia children died of child abuse in 2007. An unknown number were seriously injured. Recent tragic examples were Nateyonna Banks (age 2 at death), Aiden Richards (age 10 months at time of near-fatal injury) and Adrianna Swain (age 3 at time of near-fatal injury). Each was injured or alleged to have been injured by his or her parents after being returned to those parents from foster care. In theory, Georgia’s abused and neglected children have several layers of protection. Caseworkers from the Department of Family and Children Services investigate reports of abuse and decide if there is sufficient evidence to bring a child into foster care. A court-appointed attorney is supposedly named to represent the best interests of the child. In many counties, citizens’ review panels examine cases of children in DFACS custody every three to six months and make recommendations to the judge. A judge may also appoint a court-appointed special advocate, a trained volunteer, to investigate the child and the family and offer an independent assessment.
But even if one or more of these responsible parties raises a warning flag about the safety of sending a child back home, the judge decides whether to heed those warnings. In each of the abuse cases above, a juvenile judge decided to send the child home —- decisions seemingly based more on wishful thinking than good judgment. In the case of Adrianna Swain, the judge ignored the warnings of the court-appointed special advocate and the citizen review panel when she sent Adrianna home.
Parties concerned in a case —- such as extended family, teachers, neighbors, and friends of the family —- are excluded from juvenile court, even though they might offer additional information to the judge and support for the child. Foster parents may even be excluded. Opening juvenile court deprivation hearings would help hold judges, caseworkers and attorneys accountable and make it more difficult for judges to ignore red flags about sending a child back to a potentially unsafe environment.
Opening deprivation hearings could also help the public have confidence in the process, support early intervention efforts and potentially bring in community resources to help children in foster care. Delinquency hearings will still be closed to protect the child.
Twenty-one states have open or partially open deprivation hearings. Some have had open courts for close to 20 years. None of the states that have opened deprivation proceedings have reversed that decision. None have reported significant harm to the children due to open deprivation hearings.
Senate Bill 207 is awaiting action in the House and reserves the right of a juvenile judge to close the courtroom if in the best interest of the child and if a written reason is given. This bill is an attempt to bring transparency to juvenile courts —- the only Georgia courts in which closed doors are the rule, not the exception.
Alice McQuade and Julie Bolen, both of Marietta, are members of Better Courts for Kids, advocating juvenile court reform. www.bettercourtsforkids.org

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