Court blocks access to foster parents' IDs

By Ryan McNeill

Published: June 22, 2007

The state Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked media access to the identities of foster parents after the Department of Human Services argued it would deter felons from seeking to care for foster children.

The court issued an emergency order and will decide later whether to make the ban permanent.

A judge in Tulsa had ordered DHS to turn over information on foster parents to a Tulsa television station by Monday. The station claims it has evidence DHS placed two children in the home of a two-time felon. The children later were removed from the home because of deprivation, the station claims.

The agency has faced recent scrutiny because of deaths and injuries to children under its supervision.

DHS lawyers fear a "breathless television reporter” or "2-inch banner headlines” reporting children in the hands of convicted criminals would harm the agency if the emergency delay wasn't granted, according to court papers.

Agency attorneys said people with criminal backgrounds would be discouraged from seeking to become foster parents if they knew their past might become public.

"Not all felons are prohibited from becoming a foster parent,” DHS attorney Joseph Strealy told a Supreme Court referee on Thursday.

KOKI Fox 23 News sued the agency in 2006 after the agency refused to provide the information under the state Open Records Act.

The station sued DHS under a provision of state law allowing release of confidential records if "disclosure is necessary for the protection of a legitimate public or private interest.”

"This is to determine whether DHS is doing its job, which is the highest public interest possible,” said James Weger, attorney for the station.

In a June 4 ruling, Tulsa County District Judge Gordon McAllister Jr. had given only KOKI access to the names, addresses and dates of birth for foster parents.

The case could also have free speech and press implications after the trial court gave instructions on how the TV station could use the information it gets, experts said.

"I think that's a slippery slope when you start having courts dictate how you can use the information,” said Joey Senat, an Oklahoma State University professor who studies media law. "It's either public or it's not.”

The nation's courts have ruled judges or government officials can rarely prohibit the news media from publishing or broadcasting legally obtained information. Such government restriction on speech is known as prior restraint.

"Just looking at the order, I have some problems with it,” said Doug Dodd, a Tulsa First Amendment lawyer and former congressional candidate. "I just don't see how you can order information given to the press, but you can't use it except to investigate.”

The station didn't have a problem with the trial judge's instructions, Weger said.

"It was a condition of giving it to us in the first place,” he said. "It was something my client agreed to because they needed the information.”

The appeal by DHS could raise issues in the Legislature. House Human Services Committee Chairman Rep. Ron Peters, R-Tulsa, said his committee may study felons as foster parents during this summer's interim session.

Peters called the DHS argument about fears of losing felons as foster parents "crazy.”

"If they're (current or potential foster parents) afraid of their criminal history becoming public, maybe they shouldn't become foster parents,” said Peters, whose committee has oversight of DHS.

The agency has complained about an overloaded foster system, which has about 5,000 parents.

About 11,500 children are in the foster care system during a typical year, the agency said..

House Bill 1576, authored by Peters and passed this past legislative session, allows courts to look into the criminal background of every adult in the house with a foster child.

It also tells the courts to consider the criminal background — not just felonies — before placing a child in a home.

Contributing: Nolan Clay, Staff Writer