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It was almost two years ago that a simple schoolyard fight triggered events that led the whole weight of state government to come down on an average suburban family living in Cape May County - the Halls.
The story of Debbie and Jerry Hall’s struggle with the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) was told in parts 1 and 2 of this newspaper’s series, “Families in Crisis with DYFS.” The series ignited the underlying frustration and fear that the actions of this particular state agency has engendered in the child-rearing population of the county.
The torrent has not subsided in the intervening weeks. This newspaper continues to receive dozens of pleas for help and access to a forum from parents, grandparents, step-parents, foster-parents and adoptive parents, who have had their child-rearing task entangled in the bureaucratic web that is DYFS, making the most challenging job anyone can do an impossible nightmare.
On Nov. 15, the ongoing nightmare was over for the Halls. On that day, Superior Court Judge Kyran Connor ordered that “the litigation (of DYFS vs. the Halls) is hereby terminated.” Those five words freed the Halls of the almost daily intrusions of DYFS into their lives and that of their children. But those lives are not the same as before February 2000 when school counselor Gail Smitchen first contacted DYFS.
“When we went to court last Thursday we had no idea that it would be over that afternoon,” offered Jerry.
He then described how they were met in the courthouse hallway by Jean Palmer, the DYFS worker and Communication Workers Union shop steward, the union that represents DYFS employees. Palmer told Jerry Hall that she had replaced caseworker Anika Freeman in the Hall’s case. According to Jerry, Palmer said that she wanted to set an appointment to visit the Hall’s home to meet with the children again. Jerry said he “had nothing to say to her” at the time because he was readying for court and indicated that she should speak to him after court. Palmer went into the courtroom, according to Jerry, leaving the Halls in the corridor for the next two hours.
During that time, the Halls watched their own attorneys move in and out of courtrooms and along the corridor, but they never got the chance to speak with them before they were summoned into the courtroom.
Since the previous hearing, the Halls had undergone a variety of tests that the court had ordered.
The reports were in.
Nobody, however, had yet read them. Neither defense attorneys nor Deputy Attorney General Tara Catanese, whom law guardian Malcolm Goddard has assigned to protect the children’s interests.
To rectify the situation, the judge ordered everyone to take “a time out to read the reports,” said Debbie.
“I don’t think the DYFS people were expecting what they read,” Debbie said.
The professional reports found no evidence of alcohol or substance abuse or any basis to believe there were violence or domestic abuse issues in the home, as DYFS had alleged.
“Just like we had been telling them and the people who knew us had been telling them for two years,” Debbie said.
When Goddard addressed the court, he informed them that his investigator had been to the girls’ school several times, but the girls refused to speak to the investigator. He also said that his investigator went to the Hall’s house frequently, observing people in the house and leaving her card, but again the girls would not speak to her. According to Jerry, “Goddard said he was concerned about drinking and violence but during the 17 months he investigated, ‘there has not been any signs of either.’ He also said that the children seemed fine when they do see them, ‘They are dressed o.k. and have no bruises. But he was upset that the children would not speak to him, which was their own choice.”
Hearing nothing else from the lawyers representing the State of New Jersey the Judge ended the Hall’s 20- month ordeal with two sentences. He thanked everyone for their cooperation and then, according to the Halls, “asked DYFS if there is anything they wished to express.” The Halls said that they hoped someone would at least acknowledge their blamelessness and perhaps even “we might get an apology,” added Debbie.
They were disappointed. Tara Catanese, speaking on behalf of DYFS said, “ Well that’s all the Division was asking in the first place. Now we know. No services are needed. I guess that’s it.”
The Halls said they were relieved but also shocked.
“The only one who acted decent to us was the Judge. Our lawyers didn’t even talk to us. The Judge wished us good luck and at least treated us with some courtesy and respect. The DYFS people just glared at us and then with Tara Catanese saying ‘I guess that it’ two years of our life ended. Can you believe it?” exclaimed Jerry still disbelieving.
“This should be over. This should be a happy time. I admit relief is felt, especially by my wife who is still fighting cancer, and now I can spend more time with my Mom, Helen, (Hall) who is also undergoing chemo and that’s good but this will never be over for my family,” said Jerry.
The Halls want to know who is going to make them whole financially. They were forced to sell both of their rental properties, dissolve their daughter’s college funds and take loans out to pay the legal and counseling expenses which DYFS orders but do not pay for unless you go on welfare.
“Is Mrs. Smitchen or Vice Principal Goodman or Ms. Rodolfo going to put our girls through college or is the Smitchen Rodolfo connection going to continue to devastate families’ lives,” expressed an emotional Debbie.
She said she still feels nervous every time her children go to school.
“I remember that day I sent them to school believing they would be safe. You send your kids to school thinking it is a safe place but the reality is it is not a safe place and parents have no rights once your child walks through the doors,” Debbie added.
Continuing in a like vein her husband said, “The financial loss is devastating,” adding there are still legal bills coming in even from the attorneys who would not speak to them as well as bills for the evaluations and now they may seek counseling to help deal with the stress all of this has caused. “You have to pay for the rope they use to try to hang you with in addition to your taxes which funds their half billion dollar budget,” quipped Jerry.
But there is another cost. “My dad was a policeman and my children always thought the policeman is your friend but not after this. They do not trust authority at all anymore and have had to grow up very fast thanks to DYFS,” said Debbie. She said that the “image of the absolute terror and pure devastation on my precious children’s faces will be etched in my mind until the day I die.”“I was very naïve,” admitted her husband. “I thought because you lived in America you had rights. I learned that when you became a parent you lost them. The legislature lets schools and DYFS disregard the Constitution,” said Jerry who vows to fight to reform the system, “if it takes the rest of my life.”
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