A bill that would make two judges instead of one determine if the parents of an abused or neglected child should have their parental rights terminated has been sent with conditions and by split vote to the House floor.
HB226 is designed to eliminate prejudice in parental-rights cases by having a judge, who was not involved at the first ofthe case, ultimately determine if parents' rights should be terminated. The judge who was assigned when abused and neglected children are first removed from the home would essentially be recused from the case if the state ultimately recommends against reunifying the family.
Having a second judge review what "amounts to a death sentence" for parents will ensure that the right, objective decision was made and that any bias by the first judge that could effect the outcome will not figure in, sponsor Rep. Matt Throckmorton, R-Springville, told the House Judiciary Standing Committee on Tuesday.
Throckmorton assured the committee that if they approved the measure he would take their concerns into amendments before it reaches the floor.
Adam Trupp, administrator for juvenile courts in the state, said he could support the bill as long as whatever reunification plan imposed by the state isn't somehow found lacking 12 months later and the second judge finds the parents weren't given every fair chance to get their kids back.
"That way the family, the child and the state are stuck," he said, adding that some kind of judicial review early in the process ought to be included in the bill.
Rep. Scott Daniels, D-Salt Lake, who is also a 3rd District Court judge, said the two-judge notion is counter to the legal profession's goal of one judge, one family.
Sometimes a judge can hear things about a case along the way and may be uncomfortable about them, Daniels said. "But that can be placed in the back of his mind. You eventually get a sense of who is telling the truth and who is lying, and ordinarily the person to decide a case is the one who knows most about it."
Other court representatives said having a second review is the definitive case of duplication of effort, plus it will add significant cost to ruling on the cases.
Throckmorton said termination rulings take between 60 to 90 days and both sides of the case are presented at that time, anyway. He said so far no fiscal note has been attached to the bill.
Patricia Worthington, who oversees the volunteer committee that oversees children in state foster care, said the bill would add the amount of time children spend in state custody. She said foster children in states that have a split system spend, on average, twice the amount of time (27 months) in foster care than children in Utah (13 months).
Rep. Greg Curtis, R-Sandy and an attorney, said he opposes the bill because it inherently creates a justice inequity for rural areas that only have one judge.
"If this needs to be addressed, then it needs to be addressed across the state," Curtis said. "I don't think my rights should diminish because I don't happen to live along the Wasatch Front or enhanced because I do."
E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com