SCOTT YIELDS ON RETURN OF CHILDREN

Author: GORDON OLIVER - of the Oregonian Staff

Cornelius resident Sherry Scott now wants the Children's Services Division to continue its temporary custody of her 27 children, but she also wants the state to not prosecute her on criminal charges.

Scott had previously requested the immediate return of her children. But her attorney said Wednesday she realizes that she is not able to care for them right now.

Charles Porter, a Eugene attorney representing Scott, said that Scott has moved out of her home. She is considering a move either to Condon or to the Santa Clara area near Eugene. He said utilities in her home have been shut off, and she still has no adequate sewage system. She has no money. Porter says she has slept in her car a couple of times recently.

CSD removed the children Feb. 15 and placed them in protective custody. CSD alleged that the home was unsanitary and that the children were poorly supervised and had been exposed to sexual abuse. The police are continuing their investigation.

Porter made his proposal Wednesday at a Washington County Juvenile Court hearing. He wants the court to accept jurisdiction over the children on the basis of Scott's request for help, and end its efforts to find fault with Scott in her care for the children.

Attorneys for the state opposed his request. Juvenile court judge Gayle Nachtigal made no immediate ruling.

Porter said Wednesday that Scott would not fight requests by eight children not to be returned to her home. Some of those children are almost 18 years old and on the verge of becoming legally emancipated anyway, he said.

Scott will fight to have her other children eventually returned to her custody, he said. The children, many of them mentally or physically handicapped, are now in foster care.