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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Ind. Courts - "If the public is to not only understand the procedures in place for protecting children from abuse and neglect, but also to influence change in those procedures when necessary, it must have information"

Near the end of 2007 the ILB had a number of entries, including this one from Dec. 24, 2007, involving Marion County juvenile court Judge Marilyn Moores' order to release of the juvenile court file and the much larger DCS case file in TaJanay Bailey case.

Last Tuesday, April 15th, Kate Braser of the Evansville Courier & Press reported:

Seven of Amanda Brooks' and Terry Lay's children are scattered among relatives and foster homes in Indiana and Illinois.

That is according to records released Monday by Vanderburgh Juvenile Court Judge Brett J. Neimeier regarding the children's ongoing custody.

Prosecutors last week charged Brooks and Lay with murder in connection with the alleged beating death of 3-year-old Kalab Lay. The couple are also accused of abusing Kalab's twin sister. * * *

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services officials previously said Kalab and the three siblings were placed in foster care in Illinois in July 2004 after their parents were arrested on methamphetamine charges. On Dec. 18, 2007, Saline County Circuit Court Judge Todd Lambert ordered Kalab and his twin be sent for an extended visit with their parents.

The order was granted against the recommendation of the Lutheran Social Services and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

And, in records submitted to Vanderburgh County Juvenile Court, a local Department of Child Services caseworker wrote that the placement was also against the recommendations of the Indiana Interstate Compact Unit. Indiana Department of Child Services officials previously have explained that when a child removed from a home is scheduled to come to Indiana from another state to visit with a parent for more than 30 days, the child's state of origin should request an Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children.

According to paperwork explaining the family's history, when Brooks and Lay were arrested in the Saline County case, the four children found living with them in the alleged methamphetamine lab were "in poor physical condition and undernourished."

The Vanderburgh Juvenile Court case was not opened until after rescue crews were called to the family's mobile home at 2417 Long Point Drive on March 31 for a report of a 3-year-old not breathing. When they arrived, they learned that besides Kalab, a newborn boy, Kalab's twin sister and a 1-year-old lived in the home.

A side-bar to Tuesday's story reports:
In an order issued Monday, Vanderburgh County Juvenile Court Judge Brett J. Niemeier wrote "due to our community's interest in the ongoing welfare of the Lay children, this Court is granting access to the media so the public will gain new insight into the workings of the Court and Department of Child Services."

The judge added that "due to the graphic nature or identifying features in photographs, the Court will not release the photographic evidence which was presented to the Court."

Niemeier cited specific Indiana Code stating "the juvenile court may grant any person having a legitimate interest in the work of the court or in a particular case access to the court's legal records. In exercising its discretion, the court shall consider that the best interests of the safety and welfare of the community are generally served by the public's ability to obtain information about the alleged commission of an act that would be murder or a felony if committed by an adult or the alleged commission of an act that would be part of a pattern of less serious offenses."

Niemeier said such access has been granted to media representatives before, in September 2000 and in May 2007.

He said media representatives will be allowed to attend future hearings in his courtroom regarding the custody of the youngest children of Amanda Brooks and Terry Lay, but the names of the children will not be made public.

From an editorial today in the C&P:
If the public is to not only understand the procedures in place for protecting children from abuse and neglect, but also to influence change in those procedures when necessary, it must have information.

But that information is not always easy to come by, given the confidentiality built into the system for the protection of children. In addition, some believe that same built-in secrecy can protect child protection systems in Indiana and other states from public scrutiny.

These issues have come to the forefront of public attention in recent weeks because of the tragic case of 3-year-old Kalab Lay. Emergency workers found him on March 31 not breathing, the victim of a beating at the Evansville home of his parents where he was on an extended visit from foster care in Illinois.

One of the key unanswered questions in this case is what information led a judge in Saline County, Ill., to order Kalab and his twin sister returned to their parents, Terry Lay and Amanda Brooks — each with criminal records — for the extended visit, and against the recommendations of two agencies, Lutheran Social Services and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Unfortunately, that Illinois judge, Todd Lambert, has declined to discuss the case, citing an open juvenile case. However, another judge, Brett Niemeier, who presides over Vanderburgh County Juvenile Court, on Monday granted the news media access to Vanderburgh records regarding Kalab Lay and his twin sister.

We believe Niemeier has it right in his statement on the release of the records, and we applaud him for not only assisting, but also trusting the public.

He wrote in his order that "due to our community's interest in the welfare of the Lay children, this court is granting access to the media so the public will gain new insight into the workings of the court and Department of Child Service."

Precisely.

He said that in exercising the court's discretion to release records, "the court shall consider that the best interests of the safety and welfare of the community are generally served by the public's ability to obtain information about the alleged commission of an act that would be murder or a felony if committed by an adult or the alleged commission of an act that would be part of a pattern of less serious offenses."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 20, 2008 12:31 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts