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Thursday, November 21, 2002

By Barbara White Stack, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A state advisory committee assigned to recommend reform of the child welfare system has endorsed giving the public access to hearings for abused and neglected children.

The proposal to reverse a 30-year-old law that closed the hearings is aimed at improving the quality of services and legal proceedings in the system.

"The overriding consideration for favoring open hearings is to assure that the hearings are handled competently by the court, the attorneys for all parties and the county agency," wrote the Joint State Government Commission's Task Force on Services to Children and Youth in its report.

Task force members agreed yesterday to send the 270-page report recommending dozens of changes to the Legislature for consideration.

The report cites a recent study that found the level of legal practice in these hearings currently is inadequate and quotes New York Chief Justice Judith S. Kaye, who ordered juvenile court hearings opened in that state in 1997. Kaye said opening the hearings to public scrutiny might raise the level of practice.

In addition, the report refers to a 1993 Pennsylvania Superior Court decision which describes the importance of public access to the judicial system.

The advisory committee says in the report that the issue arose because of a series of articles in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published in 2001, that described the nationwide trend toward providing the public access to hearings concerning abused and neglected children.

Twelve states now routinely admit the press or public to such hearings, including Minnesota, which opened hearings statewide this past summer as a result of an order from its state supreme court. Several others, including Utah and Kansas, are considering opening the hearings.

The report also notes that the 1972 legislation that closed state hearings may be improper because the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees: "All courts shall be open."

Its recommendation also is based on a similar provision in the Oregon Constitution that resulted when the supreme court there ordered juvenile court hearings opened in 1980.

The Post-Gazette has asked the Pennsylvania Superior Court to open hearings because of the constitutional guarantee. The case was argued Oct. 23, and the court has not yet ruled.

The committee is recommending new legislative language that would open the hearings generally but permit judges to close parts or an entire proceeding under exceptional circumstances that are clearly stated on the record. In every state with open hearings, the judge has authority to exclude the public in the interest of justice.

The report also notes that the Juvenile Court Judges Commission arrived at a consensus earlier this year to support open hearings if judges retained discretion to close them.