Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
11/14/2011 6:29:26 AM
The purpose of this blog is to provide updates on some of the cases I reported in my book (Fighting CPS: Guilty Until Proven Innocent of Child Protective Services Charges ISBN 9-780-9800061-6-2) that had not been resolved when the book went to press, and to report other cases where CPS is not working up to par. I’d also like to hear about cases in which Child Protective Services did the right thing so those cases can serve as examples of what should be done. Occasionally, I will report helpful tips and web sites with advice on fighting CPS.
Another of Lisa Falkenberg’s columns in the Houston Chronicle caught my eye recently. (“Shelton Won’t Go Away,” Oct. 20, 2011, B1 and 7) Especially since there was a follow up editorial on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 by another Chronicle staff writer. (To see an archive of Lisa Falkenberg’s material, go to www.chron.com and then to “index” and click “columnists” and then click her name and photo.)
Lisa has done several columns on a certain juvenile judge, Pat Shelton, in Harris County, TX (City of Houston and surrounding area). I remember sitting in his court room on more than one occasion thinking things seemed a bit too cozy, but I had no documentation to back up my gut feeling. Ms. Falkenberg certainly got the documentation!
According to the Oct. 20 column, Pat Shelton has had a reputation for running an “adoption express” and trampling parental rights for quite some time. He spent sixteen years on the bench before deciding not to go for re-election last year. (His decision may have been based on repeated criticism of some of his rulings.) However, he didn’t really leave. His successor, Glen Devlin, reportedly raked in $110,000 in fees from appointments from his buddy Shelton. Now, apparently as a way of saying “thanks,” Devlin regularly asks Shelton to “substitute” for him as a “visiting judge” even though Shelton is not on the list of approved substitutes. He has also appointed Shelton twenty-three times as “lawyer ad litem” to represent children in CPS cases and Shelton has gotten a tidy sum in those cases. (Note the reference on page 166 of my book as to what James’s attorney ad litem was paid for just one case.)
One of Shelton’s recent “substitute” judge assignments involved, again, a parental termination case. Attorneys for the mother and grandmother of the child involved asked for a mistrial because of Shelton’s repeated previous biases toward placing children for adoption outside the family (something CPS doesn’t even prefer unless there is no eligible family member). It seems someone else had some political connections, too, and the case caught the attention of Houston State Senator John Whitmire, a lawyer familiar with Shelton’s history. Whitmire’s interest resulted in the rules for substitutes being thoroughly checked. It seems even with “local rule,” a sitting judge is not allowed to ask one of his buddies to sit in for him but must go to the approved list.
When a judge is ill, or for other legitimate reasons can’t come to court on a particular day, there are procedures to follow. The judge contacts Administrative Judge Olen Underwood, and he contacts a “visiting judge” from an approved list to come in, or he redistributes the absent judge’s cases to other courts. According to Falkenberg, “the ‘local rule’ appears to be nothing more than a good-old-boy understanding that lets judges line their friends’ pockets on the tax payers’ dime.”
The Chronicle’s staff writer editorial on Oct. 23, 2011, (B-11) further stated, “This is exactly the sort of courtroom buddy system that the Chronicle hoped to prevent when it endorsed Devlin’s opponent last year.”
This coziness of lawyers and judges that I noticed during our case, and that Mr. Z (Case IV, pg. 195-196) saw in his daughter’s case in a completely different year and location, points out that the problem of injustice is, sadly, not limited to Child Protective Services agencies alone. CPS supervisor, Ms. 246, in a rural area (page 234-237 of Fighting CPS) also reported that local judges were a problem for her in serving the needs of the children in her area.
Many thanks go to Lisa Falkenberg and the Houston Chronicle for keeping this issue in the public’s eye. Keep on fighting the good fight, Lisa.
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