Kentucky chief justice supports attempt to open family courts

Kentucky chief justice supports attempt to open family courts
By Deborah Yetter • dyetter@courier-journal.com • December 18, 2009

Chief justice of Kentucky’s Supreme Court, John D. Minton, said he supports a pilot project to allow access to Kentucky’s now-secret family courts.




The project would require a change in state law and a similar effort failed two years ago. But some supporters of the measure, including Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, believe it’s time to try again in the 2010 legislative session.
“I think there’s a lot of interest in that,’’ said Burch, a sponsor of House Bill 421 that failed in 2008. “It’s still on my plate to do something about it.”
Citing the 2008 bill, Minton, in a statement released Wednesday by his office, said “I would support similar legislation if introduced again.”
Minton said the courts have a number of judges “who have openly expressed their support for allowing the public to see what is going on in certain types of juvenile proceedings” and “I support the work of these judges and encourage their efforts to provide greater accessibility.”
Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, a co-sponsor of the 2008 bill, said she’s willing to try again given the extent of problems that appear to beset the state’s child-protection system. Opening the courts might be a step toward shedding some light on the state’s overall system of protecting children from neglect and abuse, she said.
“Something is not working,” Westrom said. “If it were our child, we would want it to work.”
The Courier-Journal reported this week that the Kentucky, with the nation’s highest rates of child deaths from abuse and neglect, has repeatedly cut money from programs meant to protect vulnerable children.
It found that social workers are overloaded with cases to the point they lack time to adequately investigate problems. Some judges believe that opening the family courts, which handle abuse and neglect cases, might help the public understand the extent of the problem.
Patricia Walker FitzGerald, chief Family Court judge in Jefferson County, supported the 2008 bill and still believes family court should be open in most cases while allowing judges discretion to close some sensitive proceedings – such as a child sexual abuse case or a hearing involving medical or mental health information.
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"I would love to see that happen,’’ she said. “Any time people are permitted to operate in secrecy, it does create the potential for abuse of authority. It’s always good for people who have power over other people to be subject to public scrutiny.”

She said it also could make parties who appear in court more accountable. In some cases, FitzGerald said, parents have appeared before her and admitted they abused or neglected their children, then complained in public the state had taken their children away for no reason.
The system is meant to protect parents and children but “I think we are at times protecting the wrong people,” she said.
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, of which FitzGerald is a member, in 2005 endorsed opening family and juvenile courts as long as judges retained discretion to close hearings in sensitive cases.
Half the 50 states — including Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio — permit some access to juvenile and family courts, according to a 2008 joint report by the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego Law School and First Star, a Washington child advocacy group.
FitzGerald said that had the 2008 bill passed, Jefferson Family Court judges had agreed to serve as a pilot project for allowing access to the courtroom.
But the measure ran into questions from lawmakers, some of whom feared it might stigmatize families and children involved in neglect or abuse cases. It was voted down in the House Judiciary Committee.
FitzGerald said she hopes lawmakers reconsider and approve a pilot project to open family courts.
“I think people would have a much better understanding of what goes on,’’ she said.
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.
“I would love to see that happen,’’ she said. “Any time people are permitted to operate in secrecy, it does create the potential for abuse of authority. It’s always good for people who have power over other people to be subject to public scrutiny.”

She said it also could make parties who appear in court more accountable. In some cases, FitzGerald said, parents have appeared before her and admitted they abused or neglected their children, then complained in public the state had taken their children away for no reason.
The system is meant to protect parents and children but “I think we are at times protecting the wrong people,” she said.
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, of which FitzGerald is a member, in 2005 endorsed opening family and juvenile courts as long as judges retained discretion to close hearings in sensitive cases.
Half the 50 states — including Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio — permit some access to juvenile and family courts, according to a 2008 joint report by the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego Law School and First Star, a Washington child advocacy group.
FitzGerald said that had the 2008 bill passed, Jefferson Family Court judges had agreed to serve as a pilot project for allowing access to the courtroom.
But the measure ran into questions from lawmakers, some of whom feared it might stigmatize families and children involved in neglect or abuse cases. It was voted down in the House Judiciary Committee.
FitzGerald said she hopes lawmakers reconsider and approve a pilot project to open family courts.
“I think people would have a much better understanding of what goes on,’’ she said.
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.
“I would love to see that happen,’’ she said. “Any time people are permitted to operate in secrecy, it does create the potential for abuse of authority. It’s always good for people who have power over other people to be subject to public scrutiny.”




She said it also could make parties who appear in court more accountable. In some cases, FitzGerald said, parents have appeared before her and admitted they abused or neglected their children, then complained in public the state had taken their children away for no reason.
The system is meant to protect parents and children but “I think we are at times protecting the wrong people,” she said.
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, of which FitzGerald is a member, in 2005 endorsed opening family and juvenile courts as long as judges retained discretion to close hearings in sensitive cases.
Half the 50 states — including Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio — permit some access to juvenile and family courts, according to a 2008 joint report by the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego Law School and First Star, a Washington child advocacy group.
FitzGerald said that had the 2008 bill passed, Jefferson Family Court judges had agreed to serve as a pilot project for allowing access to the courtroom.
But the measure ran into questions from lawmakers, some of whom feared it might stigmatize families and children involved in neglect or abuse cases. It was voted down in the House Judiciary Committee.
FitzGerald said she hopes lawmakers reconsider and approve a pilot project to open family courts.
“I think people would have a much better understanding of what goes on,’’ she said.
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091218/NEWS01/912180360/