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Saturday, October 11, 2008

Ind. Decisions - "Appeals court says Kalab's siblings' records should not have been released"

Yesterday's Court of Appeals opinion in the case titled In the Matter of K.B. and B.L.; A.B.L. (mother) v. Department of Child Services (see ILB entry here) is the subject of a lengthy story today in the Evansville Courier & Press, reported by Bryan Corbin. Some quotes:

INDIANAPOLIS — In the latest legal development in the Kalab Lay child-fatality case, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that a Vanderburgh County judge should not have released child-welfare records of two of Kalab's siblings to the news media.

In a 9-page decision, the appeals court ruled that Vanderburgh Juvenile Court Judge Brett Niemeier ruled incorrectly when he released records involving one brother and one sister of Kalab to the media. Those children are referred to in the decision by their initials, K.B. and B.L.

"We cannot overemphasize the extent of the tragedy these children have suffered. Such tragedy, however, is not a basis for putting their lives and the details of their misfortune under a public microscope," appeals court Judge Michael P. Barnes wrote for the three-judge panel in reversing the trial court's decision. * * *

At issue is a decision by Niemeier to release the Child In Need of Services - or CHINS - records on the two younger siblings to the news media.

On April 14, Niemeier opened the normally-closed Juvenile Court proceedings to the media in order to educate the public about the Department of Child Services system and address the community's interest in the welfare of children. Names of the siblings were not to be used.

Two days after the hearing, an attorney for Amanda Brooks Lay, Erin Berger, filed a "motion to correct errors," essentially asking the Juvenile Court judge to reconsider and reverse his own decision granting media access, a request he denied May 27. Brooks Lay's attorney then appealed Niemeier's ruling up to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

While the appeal was pending, the court of appeals granted a temporary stay, meaning that two reporters who showed up for a scheduled June 9 hearing in Juvenile Court on the Lay siblings' cases were asked to leave the courtroom.

The appeal argued that the siblings' records did not fit within the categories in state law for releasing otherwise-confidential child-welfare records. Moreover, they should not have been released because the parents' criminal charges and the siblings' CHINS cases have not yet been resolved.

In a decision handed down Friday, the three-judge appeals court panel agreed. State law allowed the public release of the investigatory report on Kalab because it involved a child fatality from abuse, abandonment or neglect; but that law did not apply to investigatory reports of the two younger siblings because their cases do not involve a death or near-fatality, Barnes wrote in the decision.

While Niemeier's efforts to educate the public about the inner workings of the child-protection system were "laudable goals," Barnes wrote, Kalab's two siblings "are entitled to the same privacy and confidentiality that are offered to other children involved in less notorious CHINS proceedings."

In the decision, the appeals court judges suggested the Indiana Legislature - which in recent years has passed laws to further open the child-welfare system to public scrutiny - revise the laws again. "We agree it is unclear under what circumstances the Legislature intended any interested persons to be able to access juvenile court records. We invite the Legislature to clarify this ambiguity so as to ensure the confidentiality of legal records involving children," Barnes wrote. Appeals court judges Ezra Friedlander and Carr Darden joined in the decision.

The story also notes:
Although the appeals court reversed Niemeier's decision, its ruling does not state what the legal remedy is for Amanda Brooks Lay, nor does it state what should happen to any records already released involving the siblings, nor whether any disclosed records must now be returned.

Earlier this year, the Evansville Courier & Press received nearly 3,000 pages of documents on the Kalab Lay case from the Juvenile Court , but the names of the siblings were "redacted" or marked out. Information gleaned from the Kalab file already has been published in a number of articles by the newspaper.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 11, 2008 02:15 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions