Bill would open child abuse hearings

Court hearings involving children whose parents are accused of neglect or abuse would be open to the public under a bill headed for a hearing Tuesday.

Family Court cases in Hawaii, as in most states, are closed to protect the confidentiality of the children involved and to avoid stigmatizing them. But a growing number of states have opened them to the public while giving individual judges discretion to close hearings if it would be in the best interest of the child and the community.

Child abuse and neglect hearings are generally open in 22 states, including New York, Florida and Oregon, according to First Star, a nonprofit that advocates for mistreated children.

Advocates say that opening such cases to public review brings accountability to a largely hidden system, exposing or perhaps preventing possible missteps by child welfare workers, attorneys or judges. They also argue that access can help the community better understand the needs of its children and take action on their behalf.

But others involved in such cases fear that public scrutiny would further traumatize children who are already victims living in precarious situations. Publicizing cases might put them in harm’s way and haunt them later in their lives, they say.

Senate Bill 2002 would allow public access to child protective proceedings and court records in Hawaii unless a party to the case can prove that an open hearing or releasing the records "would cause severe emotional distress to the child."

The legislation was introduced by state Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland (D, Downtown-Nuu­anu- Li­liha), chairwoman of the Human Services Committee, and will be considered at a 1 p.m. hearing.

Rufus Robinson, a retired Navy submariner, is pushing for its passage, along with a bill (SB 2003) that would give parents accused of mistreating their children written notice of their rights at the start of a Child Welfare Services investigation. He said his daughter was taken from him in 2000 based on false information.

"I was under Child Protective Services, and I had to fight my case all the way up to the 9th Circuit in order to get them to say that what they had done was not right," Robinson said. "It took 10 years out of my life. My case would have stopped in Family Court if it had been in open court."

Robinson is public affairs officer for Parents for Righteousness, a Wai­anae-based advocacy group for families involved in Child Welfare Services. His grown daughter and her children now live with him and his wife.

Family Court intends to oppose the bill that would open child abuse hearings to the public, according to Senior Judge R. Mark Brow­ning. He said that families need privacy in order to heal, and "most importantly the children need to be left in peace."

"Children do not need the added trauma and pain of having to explain to their friends, their classmates, their teachers and their employers why they can’t live with their brothers and sisters, why their parents are addicts, why their parents hit them or sexually abused them, why they can’t wear their own clothes or why they have to keep changing schools," he said.

Noy Worachit, who was put in foster care at age 12, was horrified at the thought of child abuse cases being open to everyone.

"When I first read this bill, the first thing I thought was, how scary!" said Worachit, now 20 and a program assistant at Hawaii Youth Opportunities Initiative. "What bothered me most is that the adults are supposed to protect these vulnerable children."

"I really think it is hurting the person more," she said. "I know a lot of youth, and they don’t want anyone to know that they were in foster care, let alone the whole entire world. … If I was in the situation where my life story was out there, I’d be very upset. I don’t think my family would want our issues out there as well."

Kayle Perez, administrator of the Child Welfare Services branch of the Department of Human Services, believes that privacy is needed in winning trust from children in a court setting and in her agency’s efforts to strengthen families.

"Hawaii is such a small state that everybody knows each other," Perez said. "It’s just a very personal thing, and very embarrassing should it be made public. How do they regain their status in the community, and more importantly at school, for the kids? We want to get them back to feeling good. That’s our concern."

The child welfare system has come a long way in recent years, she said, and her department calibrates its response based on the risk.

"When I first started 30 years ago, the approach was to pull the child and put them in a safe place and then ask questions," she said in an interview. "We are not quick to remove anymore. We try to work with the family. There are some children who cannot remain in the home. We try to place them with relatives so the trauma is lessened for the child."

Parents in child abuse and neglect cases are entitled to a court-appointed attorney if they cannot afford their own, and may also bring an advocate to court with them, according to Kayla Rosenfeld, communications specialist for the Department of Human Services.

Robinson said his parents group has pushed for open court proceedings since 2005 and that this is the first time the issue has come to public hearing. Chun Oakland did not return phone calls seeking comment on the bills.

New York opened its Family Court hearings to the public in 1997 and reaffirmed that commitment in 2011, although case files remain closed, according to David Bookstaver, director of communications for the New York state court system.

"Family Court proceedings in New York state are presumptively open to the press and the public," Bookstaver said in a phone interview. "There has to be a real finding of harm to the children before a proceeding can be closed. It’s rare that proceedings are closed."

He said that the change was made with trepidation, but it has gone smoothly.

"Everybody here thought it was the end of the world," he said. "It’s not. Openness has led to much more accurate reporting of what takes place in our courtrooms. Generally, newspapers are responsible and don’t use the names of minors."