Zairon Frazier, who landed in California's foster care system because of neglect and abuse, can claim a major victory.
Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, read Frazier's story in February in a San Jose Mercury News series, "Broken Families, Broken Courts," and was outraged. Forced to choose between attending a court hearing about his life and taking his high school final exams, Frazier missed the hearing. His future was decided without his presence.
"No kid should have to make that choice between a hearing and a test," Jones said, and he was obviously right. Unfortunately, Frazier's experience is common. Courts across California routinely make life-changing decisions about children without ever meeting them or hearing their views. Except in Los Angeles County, having kids at hearings just is not a priority.
So Jones drafted a measure (Assembly Bill 3051) that makes it a priority. If a kid who is 10 years or older doesn't attend a hearing, the court has to make an inquiry and reschedule the hearing. The bill also provides that the child can address the court.
That bill now is law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday. In signing the bill, the governor expressed concern that the real issue is "lack of resources and overburdened court schedules." Well, no, it's not. Judges already schedule hearings around the schedule of everyone (lawyers, social workers, witnesses) except the children whose welfare is at stake.
Los Angeles County, where they're already making kids part of hearings, has not put any new resource demands on the state. Making kids aware of hearings is part of the job of county social workers; getting kids to hearings is part of the duty of a child's caretaker, and is reimbursed by the federal government.
What's really needed here is a cultural change, says Jones. His bill serves as a prod to make it happen.
Yes, kids who have been removed from their families because of abuse or neglect should be seen and heard when courts are making decisions about their lives.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.