Senator Murphy’s fight with CPS heads to court

Sen. Rick Murphy’s battle with Child Protective Services to have his four adoptive daughters returned to his home is headed to Maricopa County Superior Court next month.

A dependency mediation hearing for Murphy, R-Peoria, has been scheduled for Sept. 16 at Maricopa County’s Juvenile Court in Phoenix, the Arizona Capitol Times has learned.

The hearing is Murphy’s opportunity to convince a judge that Child Protective Services’ accusations against him are without merit and to have his children returned to him immediately. CPS officials removed Murphy’s four daughters from his home on July 17 after Peoria police could not find sufficient evidence or witnesses to support allegations that the senator had sexually abused two boys in his care in the past three years.

Essentially a settlement opportunity, mediation is a standard part of the dependency hearing process, but parents’ efforts to have their kids returned and avoid trial are rarely successful, according to Chris Phillis, director of the Maricopa County Office of the Public Advocate.

If Murphy’s attorneys can’t convince a judge to force CPS to return his daughters, the case will move forward with a pretrial conference, also scheduled for Sept. 16.

If the case proceeds to trial, it could be five months before Murphy has a chance to have his daughters returned. The trial is set to take place over three days, Dec. 19, Jan. 3, 2014, and Jan. 6, 2014. Court dates are subject to change.

Visitation with the children may already have been arranged during a preliminary protection hearing, which occurs shortly after the dependency process began.

Peoria police spent a month investigating accusations by Murphy’s 18-year-old adopted son that the senator molested the boy for the past six years. But the son later retracted his statement, and police decided not to pursue charges.

The recent accusations prompted CPS to remove all of Murphy’s children from his and his wife, Penny’s, home, including two young foster children in his care in June. And police reopened an investigation from 2011, when a foster child at the Murphy’s home claimed the senator sexually abused him for more than a month.

When interviewed again by police in 2013, the boy stood by his accusations. But police again said there wasn’t evidence to support his claim.

Murphy, a frequent critic of CPS in the Legislature who considers himself a champion of adoptive and foster care, blasted the agency after he was cleared in the police investigation. The senator suggested that CPS was retaliating against him for his legislative work to hold the agency accountable.

“CPS may be trying to coerce [my daughters] into saying what CPS wants them to say,” Murphy said in a statement. “It is also possible that they simply are retaliating as much as they believe circumstances allow for Sen. Murphy’s past criticism of CPS and its lack of public accountability.”

Murphy has refused to take questions about the case. CPS officials have declined to comment as well.

The process of a dependency case

Law requires cases be heard in a timely fashion.

Removal — Child Protective Services first separates children from their parents and issues a note explaining who is being removed and why.

Petition — The Attorney General’s Office has 72 hours after removal to file a dependency petition with the court detailing the CPS accusations against a parent.

Preliminary protection hearing — Parents meet with CPS and their attorneys to discuss issues concerning where the children will stay, the parents’ visitation rights and any counseling or services CPS wants the parent or children to undergo. Services are suggested even if the parent is fighting the CPS accusations.

Settlement conference — A parent’s opportunity to argue that the CPS accusations are unfounded and request the immediate return of their child. Conferences rarely end as the parents hope.

Trial — If a parent is challenging the accusations, a trial must occur within 90 days after a petition is filed.

If a parent wins, children are immediately returned home. If CPS prevails, the case continues as parents try to prove that they’ve made enough progress in the eyes of the court to be reunited with their child.