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JUDGE ALLOWS PICTURES OF FOSTER KIDS

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JUDGE ALLOWS PICTURES OF FOSTER KIDS

2 HANDICAPPED CHILDREN FOCUS OF CUSTODY DISPUTE

July 30, 1994

Janice Haidet

Dayton Daily News

       

A visiting judge is refusing to stop Kathleen and Timothy Carroll from allowing news media crews to photograph their adopted, handicapped youngsters.

In a decision filed Friday in Greene County Juvenile Court, Richard T. Cole said, "It was not established that any such activity has been detrimental to the children (so far)." Nor has it violated a policy of the Children Services Board, which prohibits children in foster care from participating in "publicity activities" without written consent of the parent or guardian, Cole said. Two of the Carrolls' five surviving adopted children - Samuel, 6, and Isaiah, 11 - have been in foster care for nearly a year, after Cole said the parents were unable to properly care for their special needs.

Prosecutors and agency officials had said they felt the Carrolls were "exploiting the children" by allowing the news media to photograph the scheduled visits of Isaiah and Samuel at the family's home. The Carrolls said the children were eager to be on TV, and they believed prosecutors simply wanted to prevent them from telling their side of the story in the highly publicized case.

The family, which at one point included 10 adopted children with physical or mental disabilities, has been the subject of much publicity and complicated legal battles since four of the children died in 1992-93.

The Carrolls pleaded guilty to neglect charges in the death of Hannah, 6, a Down syndrome child who died of bleach burns; their eldest son, James, now 18, who remains in the home, was acquitted of charges in that death.

1994 Jul 30