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In Illinois, acceptance
Monday, September 24, 2001
Juvenile court has been open to the press for 102 years in Illinois, and if influential figures in child welfare in Chicago had their way, it would be open to the public as well.
Catherine Ryan, chief of the Cook County office that presses cases against abusive parents, says, "The public wants to know if there is justice in the public's court system. ... When things go on behind closed doors, people get the impression we are hiding something or else we would let them in."
To arguments that the children deserve privacy, Ryan says neighbors and relatives know what's going on anyway. "They hear the shouting, see the bruises on the child. They see their neighbor with glazed eyes," she says, "I am not sure neighbors would learn that much more than they already know if we let them in the courtroom."
Jess McDonald, director of Chicago's Department of Children and Family Services, and Patrick T. Murphy, Cook County public guardian, also support openness. McDonald says, "We will only make mistakes if we are hidden in the back room."
Murphy, who included support of open court in his book, "Wasted: The Plight of America's Unwanted Children," says, "Child welfare will never be reformed until the curtain of confidentiality shrouding the industry from public scrutiny is torn down."
-- Barbara White Stack
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