Stage set for return youths
Parents must meet DSS guidelines before they'll be allowed to get kids back
By Diane Norman
Middle Tyger Bureau Editor
GREENVILLE — Bill and Debbie Renew agreed Monday to a court order that finds they physically and educationally neglected their 15 children.
The order also finds that Bill Rettew exerted excessive corporal punishment, constituting a threat of physical abuse.
The Renews have agreed to participate in a course of treatment to be determined by an in-home therapy team.
Monday's consent order sets the stage for the return of some of the children removed from the Rettew home on Nov. 8.
After a hearing in which Family Court Judge Amy Sutherland approved the consent order. attorney David Collins spoke for his clients.
"The Rettews would just like to tell everybody that there are some things in the home they should have and would like to have done differently." Collins said.
They will be pleased to work with a therapy team that understands their Christian values. Collins said. “It's an agreement and compromise to get the children back home," Collins said of the consent order.
When reporters asked whether the Rettews agreed to the neglect findings to expedite their chiidren's return, Collins smiled and said he would stand by his previous statements.
Collins‘ partner and co-counsel, Doug Brannon, said the news media have published statements that give the wrong impression of the Rettews.
Over the past 25 years, the Rettews have cared for as many as 24 children at one time, many of them with special needs. In 1999, Attorney General Charlie Condon named Bill Renew the state's Father of the Year. “I stand in awe of the Rettews," Brannon said. "What you've read in the paper and what you've seen on TV is not true."
Brannon called on the Legislature to take a hard look at the state Department of Social Services. It is not the protective agency the Legislature envisioned. Brannon said.
The Rettews‘ supporters have said repeatedly that DSS overstepped its authority in taking the children into emergency protective custody in November. They believe the couple have provided a loving home with appropriate care for the children.
Brannon said he hoped the first child would return to the Rettew home this week.
The Rettews are the adoptive parents of four of the children, and all of the children were privately placed with the Rettews by their biological parents.
The consent order states that some children will return to the Rettews after a hearing set for mid-March, if there are no objections from the in-home therapy team.
The order calls for quarterly hearings following the March court date.
The therapy team is to recommend the proper time for the return of each child at those hearings.
How many children may ultimately return is not clear. At least three of the 15 children are now in the care of their biological parents.
The Rettews have agreed not to bring new children into the home for the next 12 months.
The in-home therapy team must conduct initial assessments of the Rettews and the children by March 15 and provide reports every three months thereafter.
The Renews are to select five nominees for the therapy team, with DSS and the children's guardian ad lltem narrowing that field to the final three-member panel.
The team is to be in place no later than Friday. The team is to consider concerns raised in a November assessment. including the children's medical care, mental health treatment and education, the use of corporal punishment and denial of food as a form of discipline.
The team is to develop any necessary written recommendations for a particular child or parent, including further testing or treatment. Those recommendations may address educational, emotional, psychiatric, medical or other needs.
The team also is to develop educational plans for special needs children returned to the home.
Each child is to have a state-sanctloned educational assessment, and the Rettews are ordered to cooperate with the recommendations of the assessments.
All school-age children are to attend public or private school, unless the therapy team makes other recommendations.
Only children who are in legal custody or who have been adopted by the Rettews may be home-schooled. And the Rettews must comply with state laws for any child who is home-schooled.
The Rettews must provide therapy or counseling as DSS or counselors recommend, and they will be responsible for those costs, as well as medical expenses.
They are ordered to followthrough with recommendations from medical professionals and cooperate with any needed professional services for the children.
The order also states "that each child shall have ample opportunity. as defined by the team, to socialize with other children and to participate in
school extra-curricular activities, community and church events."
The Rettews are ordered to pay child support for their adopted children who remain in state care.
In March 2003, the therapy team is to make its final recommendations to the court. If the team is satisfied and the court finds the objectives of the consent order have been met, the judge may close the case.