Court intervenes, Millvale children get safe haven

One day after The Enquirer published a story that showed three children were living in deplorable conditions, a Hamilton County magistrate on Monday ordered the kids into emergency county custody and suggested caseworkers had made "an error in judgment" in not removing them from their home sooner.

Over the past few months, Enquirer reporters writing about poor children in Cincinnati's Millvale neighborhood met the Murray children – Arthur, 8; Cody, 11; and Kathy, 13. They were living in a home where Arthur slept on a dirty mattress with no sheets or blankets, Kathy did not attend school, and Cody and Arthur's personal care was neglected. Their story was detailed on Sunday.

In her ruling Monday, Juvenile Court Magistrate Kathy Boller-Koch said Hamilton County Job and Family Services should have acted sooner.

"If what I just heard here today was present then (in February) when JFS first got involved, there was an error in judgment," Boller-Koch said. "Is this a case of imminent risk of harm? Based on the testimony it is."

JFS spokesman Brian Gregg said the agency is legally required to work with families to keep them together.

"During this process, we are required to document behavioral changes," Gregg said. "In many cases, there are starts and stops along the way. If a family cannot maintain consistent change over an extended period of time, that's a pattern of neglect and we have to take further court action."

Roaches, garbage and dirty mattresses

The Enquirer spent the school year visiting Ethel M. Taylor Academy, the elementary school in the city's poorest neighborhood.

The Murray children go to school there. Their parents, Mona Murray and Robert Klein, allowed reporters to chronicle their lives outside of school as well, inviting reporters inside their home.

Murray and Klein were not present at the hearing, which came about quickly on Monday. Attorneys speaking on their behalf argued the children should not be taken away.

Evidence presented in court Monday showed:

• There were roaches and gnats in the kitchen.

• Garbage is strewn throughout the home.

• An 11-year-old is responsible for getting himself and his 8-year-old brother to school.

• The children sleep on dirty mattresses on the floor without sheets.

"Parents are not ensuring that the children have a safe, secure and clean environment and as a result, the children are at imminent risk of physical and emotional harm," Boller-Koch wrote in her decision.

Two previous investigations

In February, the child welfare agency opened a case on the family, the second time it investigated neglect and unsanitary conditions. Previously, JFS had taken the children into custody temporarily.

In that second investigation, JFS caseworker Lauren Turley, who has handled cases at the agency for two years, requested the children be put in JFS custody and then backed off the idea.

She testified during Monday's emergency custody hearing that the condition of the home had deteriorated in the two months since and the level of neglect was worse.

The agency initially asked Monday for temporary custody of the children, but then backed off the claim before the court hearing. Turley instead asked the court for emergency custody of the children.

She testified that she visited the family at least once a week, sometimes twice.

Turley told Boller-Koch, who had not read The Enquirer story, that the story had nothing to do with her decision to seek custody. She said a Friday visit to the home and a service provider report she reviewed Monday morning alerted her to issues that concerned her.

Among details in Turley's testimony, she reported seeing roaches and other bugs in the kitchen, that there was barely enough food for a family of five and the children did not have bedding.

Murray and Klein were not properly caring for their children, she testified.

'They need a safe, healthy environment'

The family was recently evicted, according to Monday's testimony, although the adults had told The Enquirer and Turley they were moving to Price Hill. And 13-year-old Kathy now has a truancy case pending; she wasn't going to school at all in February.

"Many kids live in dirty homes, many children have dirty clothes, but when it becomes chronic, it's a problem," said Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor David Cook, JFS's attorney, during the hearing. "They need a safe, healthy environment."

Cook helped make the decision not to seek custody in February, court records show.

Boller-Koch granted the Murrays supervised weekly visits.

An attorney advocate for the children, Nicholas Varney, who was appointed by the court to represent their best interest, said, "There was imminent risk in February and there continues to be imminent risk. I say this not without sympathy, but the home is in deplorable condition."

A follow-up hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Two older children, a 17-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy, still live outside the home. The 17-year-old is with a relative, the 15-year-old in foster care.