Pennsylvania Parents: Custody official usurps authority

By Michael Rubinkam Associated Press SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) -- Michael Stefanov's 9-year-old son just wanted to play hockey. Though he'd been diagnosed with strep throat a day earlier, Stefanov contends the boy was feeling better and wanted to play, and that his pediatrician cleared him to skate in a pair of weekend games. Then Danielle Ross swooped in and stole the puck, Stefanov says. "Playing hockey, he will be hot, sweating and in an ice cold ice rink," she declared. "I do not agree he should play and am recommending accordingly." And that was that. The guardian had spoken, and there was nothing Stefanov says he could do about it. As a court-appointed "guardian ad litem," Ross is supposed to be a children's advocate in custody disputes. In reality, critics say, she wields enormous power over the daily lives of hundreds of northeastern Pennsylvania parents. Some beleaguered moms and dads complain she billed them hundreds or thousands of dollars for services they didn't want -- and hauled them into court if they paid late -- while bragging she had the final word on decisions involving their children. And she allegedly issued threats, including the loss of visitation rights, if they didn't follow her instructions. Now parents are fighting back. Four years after getting the job, Ross faces a civil lawsuit, a state inquiry and a federal criminal probe that some parents hope will expose a system they say is broken and beyond repair. Ross' lawyer says she is doing exactly what the courts ask of her and attributes the sniping to disgruntled parents fighting over their children. She has not been charged with any crime, nor been subject to discipline, and continues to work as a guardian ad litem. But Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin, a family law attorney in the Philadelphia area, said Lackawanna County judges have given Ross free rein to impose her will, abdicating their responsibility to children and parents. "As soon as you file a custody case, you lose control of your child to someone who's never met your kid?" she said. "I would be scared to live in that county as a parent." Karen Kaminski has firsthand knowledge of the Scranton-based guardian program. She said Ross turned on her after her 11-year-old daughter began losing weight and was admitted to the hospital, where doctors could find nothing wrong. Kaminski said Ross told the judge in her custody case that Kaminski was making her kids sick because she couldn't get over the fact that her husband had moved on, even though it was Kaminski who left what she called an abusive relationship. Kaminski wound up losing custody for six weeks -- and spent $1,000 on a psychological evaluation ordered by Ross that she says turned up nothing. Bruce Levine tells a similar tale. Ross was appointed to be the guardian of Levine's two sons after a judge denied his request for a protection order against his ex-wife. Ross accused Levine of alienating the boys from their mother and recommended that he be limited to one hour per week of supervised visitation, a situation that lasted 14 months. Levine said Ross told him that, as guardian, she was "driving the bus" and would make life uncomfortable unless he did exactly as she said. At one meeting, Levine recalled, "Ross leaned into my face and said: 'You need help. Unless you wrap your head around this, nothing is going to happen. I will take care of your boys. You take care of yourself.'" The boys' mother later died of a suspected drug overdose. Levine, who said Lackawanna County ignored his complaints about Ross, has since organized other parents who say they have been hurt by Ross and the guardian system. The parents have made their case to state and federal authorities. The FBI launched an investigation several months ago -- Ross' billing records were subpoenaed -- while the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, at the request of the Lackawanna County court system, is conducting its own review of the guardian office. Stefanov, meanwhile, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to dismantle the program, arguing that Ross has trampled on parents' rights to raise their children. He previously lost a state court bid to get Ross booted from his custody case, and his ex-wife, Anne Stefanov, vigorously disputes his account about the hockey game, saying she had custody of the boy that weekend and "I knew he wasn't well enough to play hockey. And that is why the GAL got involved ..." Ross, an attorney, argues she's entitled to judicial immunity and wants a judge to dismiss the federal suit. Another defendant, Lackawanna County, argues the federal court lacks jurisdiction and has also asked that Stefanov's lawsuit be tossed. The remaining defendants -- a trio of Lackawanna County judges -- have yet to respond. Nicholas Mattise, Ross's lawyer, said that while he cannot comment on specific complaints, it's the nature of a custody dispute that one or both parents will be unhappy with the process. Parents "would certainly have the opportunity to make those complaints to the court, and if the court thought that a correction needed to be made, they would have issued an order," he said. Mattise also said there's legal precedent that guardians are permitted to make day-to-day decisions in custody matters if a judge orders it. Under the law, a guardian may be appointed to represent the "best interests" of a child in family court. The guardian may meet with the child, review documents, interview witnesses and make recommendations about custody to a judge. In practice, Pennsylvania family law experts say, guardians are used rarely and only in the most difficult custody cases, such as those involving allegations of abuse. Not so in Lackawanna County, where a guardian is automatic in any custody case that meets any one of 13 criteria, including "lack of communication" between parents and "domestic instability." And that means parents who land in family court are likely to have to deal with Ross. Judge Chester Harhut, who created the program in 2008 and hired Ross, said he presided over many nasty custody disputes in which parents lost sight of what was best for their children. The guardian, he said, offers a "lifeline" to those kids. "When I first started, I said, 'My God, who the hell is helping these kids?' The parents were naming and blaming and vindicating their self-righteousness at the expense of their kids," Harhut, a defendant in Stefanov's lawsuit, said in an interview. Ross got the job, he said, because "she was interested in the subject and she was the only one willing to work full time." The judge declined to address specific complaints about Ross, citing Stefanov's lawsuit and the ongoing federal probe, but said, "I certainly do think she does a good job, a fine job." Parents who have cooperated with federal authorities say investigators seemed more interested in Ross' billing practices than in her conduct as guardian. Lackawanna County has paid $272,000 to Ross since 2008, including a $38,000 yearly retainer and tens of thousands of dollars for cases in which parents were financially unable to pay, according to data supplied to The Associated Press in response to an open-records request. It's not known how much she has billed "private pay" clients like Stefanov, but invoices submitted as evidence in his lawsuit show he shelled out more than $9,000 between 2008 and 2011. Lackawanna County family law attorney Melanie Naro, who used to represent Stefanov, believes the guardian program should be scrapped. "The judge takes a back seat to what (Ross) recommends. You're the judge, you're supposed to hear the evidence, you're supposed to make the decision," Naro said. "The judges shamefully have given her power." Published: Tue, May 15, 2012