Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/03/2001 03:03 PM House HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 164-GRANDPARENTS' RIGHTS REGARDING CINA CHAIR DYSON announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 164, "An Act prescribing the rights of grandparents related to child-in-need-of-aid hearings; and amending Rules 3, 7, 10, 15, and 19, Alaska Child in Need of Aid Rules." Number 2215 WESLEY KELLER, Staff to Representative Fred Dyson, Alaska State Legislature, came forth on behalf of Representative Dyson, the sponsor of HB 164. He explained that the bill inserts the word "grandparents" to the list of people who should be notified when there is a child-in-need-of-aid (CINA) or custody hearing. He stated that the new Section 5 inserts Court Rule 17 into the bill because the court rules use a different term - disposition hearing - that has to do with child custody. By adding this in, the bill can be amended. MR. KELLER informed members that there was a proposed committee substitute,(CS), Version C [22-LS0693\C, Lauterbach, 3/30/01]. Although the aforementioned change is in Section 5, the essence of the change is from Section 6, on the last page, which has a list of court rules that are amended. Number 2310 REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS stated that with blended families and divorces there could be six or more grandparents. He asked if all of those people have the same rights, whether or not they are biologically [related]. MR. KELLER responded that the [the Department of Health & Social Services] brought that up last year. To qualify that, Section 2 in the bill puts the burden on the grandparents; therefore, the bill assumes that grandparents who are concerned about their grandkids will take the initiative to contact the department. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked what discretion judges may have when working with grandparents. TAPE 01-40, SIDE B MR. KELLER answered that that already exists in law; therefore, it is not a change in [the bill]. He stated that the court can make restrictions that are in the best interest of the child. CHAIR DYSON noted that this is referenced on page 2, line 25. REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA stated that she is a foster grandmother and asked if she would have standing. MR. KELLER answered no, a foster parent would have rights, but not a foster grandparent. Number 2282 SHARON LEE SHIELDS, Grandparents Rights Organization, testified via teleconference. She stated: My grandchild is a daughter in need. The mother of my granddaughter is my younger child. My daughter was put on a pedestal all her life and she was supported as a child, young adult, and now-grown adult. I supported her so much that I'm satisfied that there was nothing more I could have given her or done to make her life happy and provide her with a direction for great opportunities in her life. Then, in 1993, my daughter became pregnant and had my first granddaughter in January of '94. My daughter was and still [is] a single mother, and the father of my granddaughter is [in the] military. The father was transferred out of Alaska when my granddaughter was just over a year old, and has recently been transferred back to Alaska ... after being absent for six years. In the beginning of my granddaughter's life, my daughter and the military-father moved in together and for a short time stumbled through making an effort at being parents. They depended on [me to support] them, along with my granddaughter, physically, financially, and emotionally. Up to that point my daughter had only babysat one time in her entire life before having my granddaughter. In her teenage years and as a young adult she didn't have time for children and was impatient around them. So, I knew what her child was up against - the mother with a day's training and [who was] self-absorbed. Currently, my granddaughter has lived through six live-in-boyfriend relationships with my daughter. I had no plans of raising another child, but as time went on I knew she was a child in need. So I just assumed the position of the absent parents, and became a psychological, emotional, physical, and financial parent to my granddaughter. And I had my granddaughter 80 percent of her life, up to November 5, 2000. That time is well documented, as I am a writer. The documentation started out as a diary of fun days and events with my granddaughter. And then last May 2000 the diary turned into documentation of horrible physical and mental abuses reported to me by my granddaughter. Number 2201 MS. SHIELDS continued, stating: My granddaughter reported on May 23, 2000, that my daughter slapped her across the face so hard it knocked her off her feet. And because she cried too loud my daughter ordered her to go to the bathroom until she quit crying. My granddaughter reported that she lay on the bathroom rug until it quit hurting so badly and she quit crying. The next morning when my daughter dropped her off to me again, the big red mark/handprint on her face was still visible. The [next] reported incident was that my granddaughter then was slugged in the back, over her kidneys, by my daughter's sixth live-in boyfriend. And the red mark across her kidneys was still on her back the next day after school when she came to my house. Food has been withheld from my granddaughter and warm clothing not sent to school when the weather was cold. During the past seven years my heart has ached each time my granddaughter, as a small child, was dropped off to me at my home after she had spent time with her mother. Because she acted out so dramatically - yelling and screaming at other children - it took a few days for her to calm down again. The stress and sadness in my granddaughter's eyes told me of the results of her stay with mommy. My daughter has a history of impatience and violence when she doesn't get her way, and I had suspicions that she wasn't capable of providing my granddaughter with a loving, nurturing environment, but I always kept hope. So there I was, a brand-new grandmother already with a child-in-need. I don't know where the seven years have gone, but during that time my granddaughter was provided a normal life because of my elder daughter, her family, and me. ... As the years passed it just became natural that my granddaughter was a part of my elder daughter's family and my life and included in our plans from the day, the week, the month, and then the years. Time has slipped away, and out of love and caring the end result of time was that we have given my granddaughter a normal, happy life. Number 2120 MS. SHIELDS continued, stating: At the time my granddaughter started reporting the abuses, I tried addressing those issues with my daughter because I had knowledge of the way the DFYS (Division of Family and Youth Services) operated and I didn't want my granddaughter dumped into an already non-functioning system. And, of course, my daughter threatened me with the system I feared, telling me that I'd better be careful because I had no rights. And from that time on, when I addressed the abuse issues with my daughter, she threatened withholding my granddaughter from me; and she threatened my granddaughter to keep secret what went on within her home or she wouldn't be able to see grandma again. My granddaughter became confused because I had always been the person whom she confided in and depended on; now I was getting her in trouble. Then, when my granddaughter was dropped off on Monday mornings for the week, she would scold me in her own young words, telling me how disappointed she was by me getting her in trouble with mommy, and that she couldn't talk to me anymore because I got her in trouble. Perhaps only an hour would lapse and she'd tell what was going on because it hurt her and she had to have someone to confide in. So there I was, my granddaughter's guardian angel, handcuffed by the system. I had all the responsibility of my granddaughter for seven years, but no authority, and a daughter very well versed in the fact that I had no rights. Last year I took my granddaughter to school almost every day and volunteered in the classroom at least three times a week. I even got a volunteer award. My elder daughter and I baked cookies for every child in all the kindergarten classes at Tanaina Elementary School. My granddaughter was one of the top students in her classroom, and she looked forward to me and depended on me participating in her learning and her life. On November 5, 2000, the reports of abuse from my granddaughter got so bad. And the father would do nothing after many pleas for his help from many outside people. He didn't want to get involved, he said. So, I was forced to address the issues with my daughter, knowing how risky it was and the consequences, but I couldn't ignore my granddaughter's pleas for help, seeing her desperation, and knowing helplessness. On November 5, I tried to do an intervention with my daughter. After many repeated attempts to sit down and talk with her, to no avail, I finally demanded that she meet with me. But the intervention blew up in my face. She brought the father and a friend of hers from the social services department on Sunday, in an elaborate scheme to squelch any of my efforts to resolve this with my daughter or to protect my granddaughter. I was threatened by the social service worker and the father and told to keep my mouth shut. I recorded the intervention and had it transcribed by a court reporter because it proved negligence by both parents and the social service worker. The consequences of my efforts were that my granddaughter was taken out of my life. Immediately, the parents went to the school and revoked all my volunteer privileges and access to any classroom. And I have not been allowed access to volunteering since that date. I have not been allowed to see or talk to my granddaughter since December 3, when I was allowed to see her for six hours. My granddaughter was frantic then, and I can't imagine how she is doing now. Back when my granddaughter started talking and my daughter would come to take her for the weekend or a day, my granddaughter always asked me ... when she was coming back to my house. Now, I can't talk to her on the phone, she can't come to my home, she can't spend the night with me, and I can't volunteer in her classroom. I'm allowed no contact with her because I tried to protect her. That's not even the beginning; my granddaughter cannot see anyone whom she depended on and loves - her aunt, uncle, or new cousin. We, her family, have not been allowed by the parents to have a Thanksgiving, Christmas, celebrate her birthday, or Valentine's day. This is not a normal life for my granddaughter. My granddaughter's life has been turned upside down by the parents, and they [couldn't] care less for my granddaughter's welfare or feelings as long as they have control over the family. Number 1947 MS. SHIELDS continued, stating: My daughter works for the system and lives in the Valley. Palmer/Wasilla is a small community, and my daughter has many friends within the social services departments in the Valley. She has been given confidential information about my contacts with the DFYS in the Valley. That fact alone has been the most damaging factor in my efforts to see and protect my granddaughter. As so many grandparents have discussed in our Grandparents Rights Organization, the most helpless and hopeless feeling we have in the world, after loving, caring, and nurturing our grandchildren, is when we are forced by our abusive children to go to the system for help and the response is always: "If the child is not in immediate danger at the very moment, they say the child is safe," meaning that the child is not in an emergency room with internal damages, or broken limbs, or in a morgue waiting to be identified at the time of reporting the abuse, because the child is not in immediate danger. As I appear before you, I still struggle with the system and the parents to see my granddaughter whom I have not seen in five months now. I can't even think about what she's gone and [is] going through. But, according to the law, I have no rights to know that either. House Bill 164 is the beginning effort that should be made in securing rights for grandparents who have been active in raising their grandchildren and would like to have the opportunity to know what is happening to their grandchildren. Since when does the family unit not include grandparents? We are sick of being looked upon as the reason our children - the parents - are the way they are, because that is just not the truth. The majority of grandparents in our group are educated, loving, ... and caring people who have loved their children and now their grandchildren. I think it's time to move DFYS's rules and its budget out of the way and gather our morals and our scruples and our common sense, and put grandparents back in the family picture. Number 1854 CHAIR DYSON stated that Ms. Shields is probably in Representative Ogan's area and that a law passed about three years ago that allows legislators to see the files as a kind of appeal for parties in a case who feel they are not being treated fairly. He asked if she has reported [her granddaughter's] physical abuse to DFYS. MS. SHIELDS responded yes. She stated that DFYS got involved in this because she had taped the intervention. She said she sent them a copy of the tape because [DFYS] was concerned about their employee being involved in something that he or she shouldn't have been. However, the women running the agencies [where she lives] are friends with her daughter. Number 1757 ED STREMAN, Vice President, Grandparents Rights Organization, testified via teleconference. He stated: Although I haven't had any dealings with DFYS personally, I have met with quite a few people in our group [who] have had problems. ... I find it personally appalling that the DFYS is allowed to get away with some of the ways that they treat different people in the families. An organization that was formed to maintain the welfare of our families and our youth needs to rethink what they stand for and remember what their real job is. In their own bylaws, DFYS is supposed to place the children [who] are taken out of a dysfunctional family with a direct family member as soon as possible. And 48 hours is that rule. That being the case, then, why does it take weeks, even months, to get the DFYS to even consider investigating family members for appropriate placement. Placing children in ... foster care is a very traumatic thing for a young child who does not understand what is happening to [him or her]. First, they are taken out of the only home that they know and placed in a home where they don't know anyone. Next, the grandparents and other family members are denied any visitation with these children. ... The children of a dysfunctional family need all the support that is available to them, and getting them into a familiar setting as soon as possible should be utmost on the minds of all lawmakers in this country. Not all children can be placed with family members, but all children deserve the right to have that opportunity. CHAIR DYSON asked Mr. Streman, if this bill becomes law, to pass out information to the grandparents group [explaining] that if there is a report of harm or neglect regarding the child, the grandparents need to immediately notify DFYS formally so they can be contacted when there's a court hearing on the disposition of the child. MR. STREMAN stated that the Grandparents Rights Organization had a meeting last night and received information. If a parent is reported to DFYS, he said, a lot of times the first report is not acted on; sometimes the second report is not acted on either. CHAIR DYSON asked what [DFYS's] position is on the bill as it is now modified. JOANNE GIBBENS, Program Administrator, Division of Family & Youth Services, Department of Health & Social Services, came forth and stated that [DFYS] supports Version C of the bill. Number 1592 CHAIR DYSON asked if there was any objection to adopting [the proposed CS for HB 164, 22-LS0693\C, Lauterbach, 3/30/01, as a work draft]. There being no objection, Version C was before the committee. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL made a motion to move CSHB 164, 22- LS0693\C, Lauterbach, 3/30/01, out of committee with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal note. There being no objection, CSHB 164(HES) moved from the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee.
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