Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Judge's surprise decision keeps eight siblings together

The Bello family (front, left to right): Pablo Bello, 5, Irma Muniz, Joanna Bello, 2, Miguel Bello Jr., 7, Miguel Bello Sr., Jose Bello, 1, and Jorge Mascorro, 12. In back are Diana Martinez, 13, and Raul Martinez, 16. BELLO FAMILY PHOTO

A case worker had proposed splitting up the eight siblings and placing them in three different foster homes, but the kids didn't want any part of that plan.

So, on Monday a Family Court judge ordered the state to place the siblings together.

"We knew they were going to take us away from our parents, but I hated to be separated from my brothers and little sister," said Diana Martinez, 13. "At one point, they were asking -- did I want to go with the older kids or stay with the little ones? I couldn't choose. I kept saying I want to be with both. We all just want to go home."

Diana said the thought of leaving her 2-year-old sister, "who hardly likes going with anybody else," was especially dreadful.

Judge Gerald Hardcastle's decision surprised and heartened local child welfare advocates, who say preserving sibling groups should be a priority when placing children in foster homes.

"It's a pretty rare decision," said Annette Appell, co-director of the Child Welfare Law Clinic at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "It's especially rare, given the variety of ages. Finding a place that has enough beds is a challenge. This is phenomenal."

Steve Hiltz, an attorney with Clark County Legal Services' Children's Attorneys Project, said the state long has struggled with trying to keep siblings together. There is limited foster home space available, and it's a challenge to find foster parents who can deal with wide age ranges and different levels of care.

"But once these kids are taken from their parents, very often, all they have is each other," Hiltz said. "There's a strong emotional bond between them, but if there's a big difference in the level of care they need and they get separated, once they're placed, there's little effort to reunite them again."

Two months ago, Clark County Child Protective Services workers took the children from their parents and placed them at Child Haven, the county's temporary home for abused and neglected children. Their mother, Irma Muniz, 40, is in a treatment program for her addiction to methamphetamine, and their father, Miguel Bello Sr., is struggling to get by on his day job.

Diana's siblings are Raul Martinez, 16, Eduardo Martinez, 15, Jorge Mascorro, 12, Miguel Bello, Jr., 7, Pablo Bello, 5, Joanna Bello, 2 and Jose Bello, 1. The judge approved a plan negotiated by the state and Matthew Schneider, the children's' attorney, to place them in a newly licensed group home, which is expected to be ready for them within a week.

Muniz will stay at an in-patient treatment center called West Care Nevada. The center's Healthy Families program treats pregnant women and mothers with small children.

Deputy Attorney General Brigit Duffy said the state "got lucky" in this case. The children probably would have been separated had the new group home not been available right away.

"Usually we can manage to place sibling groups of five or six, but eight is really a lot," she said.

Duffy said although keeping children together in this case was found to be in their best interest, not all children are better off staying together.

"Sometimes, for therapeutic reasons, they can't stay together, or they don't get along," she said.

Raul Martinez said he and his brothers and sisters love each other and want to stay together, no matter what. He said they were linked up with Schneider at the Children's Attorneys Project through their court-appointed special advocate, who with the family's social worker tries to plan placements in the best interest of the children. The two workers, however, don't necessarily represent the children's desires.

Appell and Hiltz said having someone to represent what the children might want often is crucial to preserving the bond between siblings. But few attorneys specialize in such cases.

Hiltz said his organization, with about six attorneys and other lawyers who sometimes work pro bono, represents only about one-third of the children currently in the county and state welfare systems.

"We don't really know what's happening with the other two-thirds of the children," he said. The state now has about 1,800 children in Southern Nevada foster homes.

Hardcastle commended the state for its efforts to find a place that would accommodate all eight children.

"I approve of what's being done so far," he said. "The children will be placed together."

Hardcastle allowed a provision for the state to separate the children in an emergency. He also said the state might at some point consider whether the youngest children, ages 1 and 2, might be placed with Muniz.

"I have some concerns about putting children back with the mother," Hardcastle said. "If she's serious about recovery, then fine. But she's been in the system one year now and has failed to maintain the children in the home."

Schneider said the children were initially taken from their mother and father because the mother's drug use was continuing, the home was unkempt and infested with rats, and the children had not been going to school.

Muniz, an immigrant from Mexico, said after the court proceedings she and her husband for about a year tried to get their family back on track with the help of a case worker from Child Protective Services. But she couldn't kick her meth addiction.

"I just couldn't do it alone," she said in Spanish. "I know I'm responsible for all these problems. CPS helped us a lot, but during one of my lapses, they saw a lot of our family problems, and they started with me."

Muniz and Miguel Bello Sr. said they want their family reunited and an end to the addiction that has plagued them.

He said he could not care for the children without his wife's help. And, he said, he knows she needs him, too.

"I know we've had problems, and we need to follow rulings of the courts and the system," he said in Spanish outside of court.