Court Opinion

ID: 9570817
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:26:42.735471+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:18:27.157277
License: Public Domain

Finley, J.
(dissenting) — Murder can never-be countenanced lightly. This is not a case of murder.
We face here the ordered separation of a father and his two children. The only real evidence in support of permanent deprivation of child custody is an earlier crime which the trial court and now this court have decided should *745haunt a reportedly rehabilitated man beyond the walls of prison, for the remainder of his life. Two key figures — the juvenile probation officer and the casework supervisor — appear to have played a critical role in the trial court’s decision by their recommendations for permanent deprivation. Concerning the basis for the report and recommendation of the juvenile probation officer, the Court of Appeals stated:
There was no showing that she had ever seen or interviewed Sego. Notwithstanding her general educational background, her qualifications to express the opinions she expressed, without interviewing Sego and the children, were at best debatable.
In re Sego, 7 Wn. App. 457, 465-66, 499 P.2d 881 (1972). Regarding reports of both the juvenile probation officer and the casework supervisor, the Court of Appeals stated:
It is to be noted, however, that notwithstanding each witness had general educational qualifications, neither testified on the basis of any personal interview had with Sego, and the casework supervisor had never even seen, much less interviewed, the children.
In re Sego, supra at 471. It was upon the basis of these recommendations that the trial court reached its decision, in spite of its own conclusions as follows:
Mr. Sego has the strongest of all rights known to the law in his claim for his blood children. He presents a very sympathetic and appealing picture as one who has attempted with all his strength to rehabilitate himself, cure his unfortunate habits, and overcome his past rash behavior. He indicates a deep love and concern for his children, and a real desire to reunite with them.
In re Sego, supra at 461-62.
To mildly state the matter, it is unthinkable that an order forever separating a father from his children should be based — even in part — upon the unsupported, arbitrary recommendations of supposed “experts” who have never bothered to meet or talk with the man whom they so readily condemn. As suggested by the Court of Appeals, alternatives to the “drastic irreversible remedy of deprivation” *746should have been considered by the trial court, including continued temporary custody of the children by the maternal aunt and uncle. In re Sego, supra at 470. To order permanent deprivation upon a foundation fraught with painfully inadequate reports constitutes not simple but savage injustice.
For the reasons indicated, I would affirm the ruling of the Court of Appeals reversing the judgment of the trial court with directions for further evidentiary proceedings.