Child-protection hearings now open to public in Minnesota
By The Associated Press
07.01.02
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Most hearings and records in child-protection matters in Minnesota are now open to the public after a court order went into effect today.
For the first time, court officials throughout Minnesota will throw aside the curtains on stories of disintegrating families and children in crisis. A December order by the Minnesota Supreme Court made child-protection hearings and many of the court files involving those cases public in all 87 counties.
The intent, say officials who advocate making the cases of abused and neglected children public, is to shine a light on those parents who shouldn't parent and the system that is supposed to protect the kids.
What most officials expect, however, is that the public will hardly notice.
"It's kind of been my experience, except for one case a year, that nobody really has a tremendous interest in what goes on in here," said Dakota County Chief Judge Richard Spicer. Dakota County will open its hearings for the first time.
The decision followed a pilot project that began in 1998 where the public was given access to juvenile-protection hearings and records in 12 counties. Some feared that public and news media attention would cause irreparable harm to the most vulnerable youngsters.
But officials say that with the exception of a few highly publicized cases, the everyday workings of the court continued much as before.
An evaluation of the pilot project found that while opening child-protection hearings and case files showed no evidence that the system was improved, it also stated there was no evidence that children or their families were harmed.
Adoption cases and most juvenile delinquency cases remain closed to the public.
Esther Wattenberg, a professor of social work at the University of Minnesota and an expert in child-protection issues, said her fears remain the same as when the pilot was launched four years ago: That it is the children — and not the system — that the public will scrutinize.
"The origin to keeping these closed was the belief that many of these kids are innocent victims of situations. The original intent (of a closed system) was to protect children and to give the families a chance for some rehabilitation, away from having the shame and humiliation of public disclosure."
The new rule allows the court to close a hearing in an extraordinary case where the judge believes the child could be harmed by keeping it open.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who opposed the idea of opening the hearings, said he is prepared to make such a request "if we feel there's an absolute necessity." Still, he said his office is ready to comply with the rule change.
The rule affects all cases now before the court, but only those portions of the case introduced after today will be public. Other parts of the file, such as medical and psychological records and details regarding victims of alleged sexual abuse, also will remain closed to the public.
Officials said that for the most part, they are greeting this new openness with a "wait and see" attitude.