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Cracking Open The Door To Juvenile Court

Pilot program will allow public, other lawyers to view abuse cases

By DOUGLAS S. MALAN

Several attorneys who represent juveniles in court questioned a new Judicial Branch pilot program that will open up certain court proceedings to the public.

“I don’t understand the reasoning for this,” said Daniel Weiner, a juvenile law attorney in Stamford. “I’m a little surprised. Potentially this could taint a kid.”

The juvenile docket historically has been shielded from public view due to the age of its participants. But starting Feb. 16, cases in one courthouse involving allegations of child neglect and abuse, as well as petitions for termination of parental rights, can be heard by anyone who is interested.

The pilot program is limited to the Middlesex Judicial District Courthouse in Middletown. It does not provide public access to proceedings where lawbreaking is alleged. Still, said attorney Walter A. Shalvoy Jr., of Maher & Murtha in Bridgeport: “I don’t see what the possible benefit is, especially to the child. They’re already filled with a lot of anxiety just going into court and having an open court just adds to the stress.”

But balanced with those concerns is the other side of the argument—the need to shed light on how the system works and how families interact with the oft-criticized Department of Children and Families.

The Judicial Branch committee responsible for shaping the pilot program “spent a lot of time discussing how to have the proceedings open while also protecting the children,” said Anne Louise Blanchard, a committee member and litigation director for Connecticut Legal Services Inc. “An open court heightens the public awareness of how these issues of neglect and abuse are addressed.”

Connecticut certainly is not alone in opening up juvenile courtrooms. While creating the pilot program, the Connecticut committee reviewed information from more than 15 other states that have some form of public access to juvenile court proceedings.

There are several provisions in Connecticut’s standing order that dictate how the pilot program will operate. While actual courtroom activities will be open to the public, all of the court records will remain sealed, including those referenced during the proceedings. Also, no audio or video recording devices will be allowed in the courtroom.

A motion to deny or limit access can be filed by “any party, guardian ad litem, witness or other interested person,” according to the standing order.

One of the results of such a request, Blanchard said, is that the judge could get both attorneys to agree to use non-identifying names, such as “the child” or “the father” to keep names from being publicized.

But the proceedings are presumed to be open, so a person filing a motion to restrict access must show good cause for doing so. “I don’t know what ‘good cause’ will mean,” Shalvoy said. “But I’ve got to convince a judge that I have good enough cause to close the courtroom. What attorney would benefit from open proceedings?”

Melissa Simonik, who handles juvenile law cases for Michalik, Bauer, Silvia & Ciccarillo in New Britain, said she can’t think of any benefits.

“The purpose of the juvenile court is to protect children,” Simonik said. To reveal personal information about abuse and neglect “is damaging to the child. You just don’t want that stuff out in public.”

'Much-Needed Light’

A request for the pilot program came out of legislation passed last summer by the General Assembly that placed new reporting requirements on the Department of Children and Families while also changing that agency’s policies, practices and procedures.

The pilot program is scheduled to run through the rest of the year, with a written report due to the Rules Committee of the Superior Court by Dec. 31. Part of that evaluation will rely on survey feedback from attorneys and parties who participate in the proceedings. After that, state officials will decide whether to make abuse and neglect proceedings open to the public in other courthouses.

Sarah Eagan, director of the Child Abuse Project at the Center for Children’s Advocacy in Hartford, co-chaired the pilot program committee with Chief Court Administrator Barbara Quinn. Eagan said that the pilot program “seeks to shed much-needed light on our child protection system.”

Hartford attorney James C. Wing Jr., who represents parents in neglect cases, is among those who has no objections to the pilot program. He said the juvenile law bar is a small one and could benefit from other lawyers getting a glimpse at how it works.

“The closed courtroom acts as disincentive to other practitioners who might undertake a [neglect or abuse] case, because she or he cannot observe proceedings in other cases,” Wing said. And he doesn’t believe the juveniles will be damaged by the public exposure.

“The sensory overload of appearing in court is compounded by not knowing what will happen and not knowing who all the players are,” Wing said. “Observing earlier cases before proceeding with your own” might make everyone more comfortable. •