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Randy Burton: Founder and President, Justice for Children, Houston, TX [by Charisse Dengler] A Southern boy with a heart of gold, Randy Burton has devoted his career to advocating on behalf of those too young to fight their own battles. As Founder and President of Justice for Children (JFC), Burton is striving to make the world a safer place for children.
Burton founded JFC, a national nonprofit
“This poor child was learning disabled—
“overcoming bias and ineptitude concerning
organization headquartered in Houston, TX,
something that’s not all that uncommon
child abuse.”
in 1987 in order to open people’s eyes to the
in these situations, because this is her
problems with the way the government was
stepfather and people tend to take advantage
“A lot of lawyers, prosecutors, people
dealing with abused and neglected children.
of children that it’s more difficult for them to
in the family court, and judges really do
Since then, the organization has expanded
outcry—and there was a beautifully written
not understand the dynamics that are
to include offices in Arizona, Michigan, and
letter in the D.A.’s file using terms of legal
involved with child abuse,” he said. “They
Washington, DC.
art and so forth, where she had recanted her
don’t understand the problems with child
testimony,” he said.
witnesses. They don’t understand why children recant. They don’t understand how
“My first job as a lawyer was with the D.A.’s office here in Houston, and I worked my
“I believe that it was something that her
all the dynamics work, and they don’t want to
way up to the Chief Prosecutor of Family
stepfather’s lawyer put her up to and helped
believe—I think a lot of people in the general
Offenses,” he said. “It was during that
her write, and I didn’t believe it. It not only
public don’t, a lot of lay people—that a parent
experience that I saw something that really
flew in the face of all the evidence, but
or someone in a position of trust with a child
disturbed me, and that is that the system
there’s a very well accepted theory called
would take advantage of that for their own
that’s designed to protect children is failing
the child abuse accommodation syndrome,
selfish interests.”
that task horribly.”
where children recant because of all the tremendous pressure they’re under from
Burton’s very first case for the D.A.’s office
family and others to not go through with this
involved a little girl who had been raped by
for lots of bad reasons like, in this case, the
her stepfather for four years; and when she
mother didn’t want to lose the income string
reported the abuse to her school nurse, the
from her husband, who was not the father of
nurse contacted Child Protective Services
the child.”
(CPS). However, CPS told the nurse to go ahead and send the child home with her
As soon as Burton realized what had
stepfather and said it would conduct an
happened, JFC issued a warrant and had her
interview the following week. The nurse, not
picked up.
supporting this course of action, took it upon herself to bring in officials, who removed
“She broke down on the stand the next day
the girl from the home and put her into
and tearfully disclosed what had happened
protective custody.
to her, and her stepfather went to prison for a lengthy term; but that experience was so
Burton, who began working on the case
outrageous,” he said. “I asked the nurses if
after it had been in the system for a couple
they’d ever had any other experiences like
years, was dismayed one day upon arriving to
that, and they said this is the rule, not the
question his client to discover that the little
exception.”
girl had recanted her testimony and been released to her stepfather.
Burton said one of the major challenges he faces is “overcoming bureaucratic inertia with the various governmental agencies” and
PAGE
It was after the death of Jesse Wheeler in 1987 that Burton vowed to create an organization that would do all it could to protect the nation’s children. Wheeler, who was two years old at the time of his death, was murdered shortly after being taken out of protective custody and put back into his mother’s home. “CPS had a lengthy history on the family, and he was kind of the poster child for how the system was failing to protect children,” Burton said. “So, I called the community together and wrote an op-ed and said, ‘Let’s formulate some kind of grassroots response.’ When the system fails children, there’s got to be a safety net or some sort of organization that advocates for their protection. And that’s how Justice for Children got started.” JFC currently handles around 10,000 calls a year and goes to court or does other intensive work on about 500 cases a year.
continued on back
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Burton and his team of lawyers and social
sense; and it’s certainly [at] the child’s
Burton knows these guidelines sound
workers start out by building an evidence file
expense if they decide to engage in that
ridiculous, but said most people would be
to locate where the problem lies. They then
experiment,” he said.
surprised by the number of cases in which a
begin working behind the scenes to bring
murder by a parent is not enough to remove
about the result they want; and if that doesn’t
Burton said it is still difficult to remove
the other children from the home, a reality
work, they go to court and advocate on behalf
some of the entrenched attitudes at the
that JFC is fighting to change.
of the child or children.
state level about preserving families, but he believes JFC is making progress. In 1997,
Burton, who splits his time between The
After noticing a pattern with CPS of putting
the organization helped pass a law called
Burton Law Firm, P.C., and JFC, donates
children back into unsafe environments,
the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997
between 500 and 600 hours a year to JFC,
JFC decided to do some research on the
in which certain guidelines were established
working as a pro bono attorney while raising
subject, and it found that a 1980 law known
that helped shift the pro-family focus of the
money and awareness.
as the Child Welfare and Adoption Assistance
1980s to a child-protection focus. “I would encourage every law student who’s
Act of 1980 actually withheld federal funds from CPS organizations if they did not make
“What we said was, in this new law, family
interested in protecting children to at least
reasonable efforts to keep families together.
preservation in and of itself is no longer the
consider donating some time to this cause,
Since it became aware of this, one of JFC’s
overarching goal of matching federal funds.
whether it’s as an ad litem attorney, or
main missions has been to make CPS and
The overarching goal now is protection of
donating some time to Justice for Children or
the public understand that not all situations
the child,” Burton said. “Family preservation
another similar worthy cause,” he said. “They
merit these efforts.
is an element that should be considered
can work for any kind of law firm and still
because we all want to preserve families that
donate time to protecting children; and if this
“It’s the so-called ‘reasonable efforts’
can be preserved without risking the child’s
is something they decide is their life’s work,
legislation, and our position is that no effort
welfare; but when it can’t be, protection
they can go to work as a lawyer for CPS or
is required when a child’s bones are being
of the child should be the most important
the D.A.’s office, or they can go to work for
broken or they’re being raped in their home,
concern.”
us.”
patently unreasonable to leave them in that
“In order to reduce this to almost idiot-proof
“Because I will say there’s no work that’s
environment—but that’s not the way that it
levels, we established some basic threshold
more gratifying,” he said. “You’ll never feel
was interpreted by CPS, who already had
requirements for when children had to be
better about yourself and about using your
sort of a predisposition to see if they could
removed; and they included things like if
skills than you do in trying to protect a child
perform a social miracle with the family,”
one child in the home has been murdered
whose life is at risk if you’re not there for
Burton said.
by a parent, you should remove the other
them.”
to preserve that family—that it’s already
children,” he said. “We also said that when “And, of course, that might happen in cases
one child is sexually abused, that child must
On the Net
of neglect or isolated physical abuse, but
be removed from the home, as well as the
Justice for Children
chronic or horrible physical abuse or any
other children; and in cases where there’s
Firm, P.C. Texas Department of Family and
kind of sexual abuse are not situations where
been serious bodily injury, you have to
Protective Services
that experiment with the family makes any
remove that child from the home.”
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The Burton Law