California Family Law Blog

The rapidly proliferating use of methamphetamines in Santa Cruz County is having a devastating impact on families in the county, according to a new report entitled “the Methamphetamine Snapshot.” The study, released on September 21, seems to indicate to Bill Manov, administrator of the Santa Cruz County Alcohol and Drug Program, that things are not headed in a positive direction. In Manov’s eyes, “we haven’t seen it peak yet,” a statement that is based on the fact that meth gained popularity in Santa Cruz County later than in the rest of the country, is cheap, and is in fairly high supply. In terms of methamphetamine’s effect on families, the sample sets used in the study provide grim indications of what will happen if meth use does, in fact, continue to rise. Approximately one-third of individuals currently enrolled in a Domestic Violence Batterers’ Program reported that they previously used meth, over 50 % of children enrolled in the Youth Services treatment program are admitted users, and close to half of the 362 minors involved in Family and Children Services with Santa Cruz County had parents with a history of proven or alleged methamphetamine use. Nearly 60 percent of the children in the latter study were under the age of 5.

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An Iowa woman whose 5-year-old daughter was kidnapped and killed in 2005 has been ordered to give up her parental rights to her two sons, who have been in foster care since their sister’s murder. Miller has been granted one more visit with her sons, ages 2 and 3, who will become eligible for adoption.

The boys’ sister, Evelyn, then 5, disappeared from their apartment in July 2005. Miller says that she came home after her overnight job to discover the front door partially open and her boyfriend and their two sons asleep. A massive search ensued, and Evelyn’s body was eventually found in the Cedar River. Her death was declared a homicide. No charges have been filed in connection to her murder and the investigation continues to this day.

Casey Frederiksen, the father of the boys, voluntarily signed away his parental rights, but Miller, who has been hospitalized for mental health problems, opposed the juvenile judge’s decision that she give up her children. According to the judge, the two boys had spent more than six months removed from their parents’ physical custody and that neither parent had kept up a significant amount of meaningful contact or tried to resume caring for them.

Frederiksen is serving time in prison for a child pornography conviction. His friend Danny Slick, who was one of the last people to see Evelyn alive the night she disappeared, has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the police investigating her death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 21, 2007.

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A California mother and her four underage children are suing Lassen County, a number of people affiliated with Children’s Protective Services, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors, the director of the California State Department of Social Services, a foster mother, and Environmental Services—a regional agency that handles placements for CPS. Amy McConnell and her children are asking for at least $11 million.

The suit accuses the defendants of violating the plantiffs’ rights under the First, Fourth, and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit is also alleging that the defendants intentionally inflicted emotional distress and were negligent in fulfilling their mandatory duties under state law.

According to the complaint that was filed in United States District Court, Eastern District of California in 2003, McConnell left three of her children with her husband to pay a gas bill. While she was away, her husband went to the neighbor’s house to use the phone. The oldest child was in school. While both parents were away, Amy McConnell’s father found the three children alone and took them to CPS without telling the parents. When both parents returned home, they couldn’t find their children and went into the neighborhood to look for them. The oldest child was picked up by CPS at school. Lassen County filed a juvenile dependency petition in Lassen Superior Court, but the plaintiff was not informed of the hearing, and the hearing ended up not taking place.

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