Children taken from home after sibling froze to death. Why the court made its ruling

The case of the 2-year-old Erie girl who froze to death in late February has triggered repercussions in court, where a judge has removed two other children from the custody of the girl's parents and put the two on a swift course for adoption.

Erie County Judge John J. Trucilla took the actions after finding that the mother and father engaged in "aggravated physical neglect" and abuse due to their failure to properly supervise their 2-year-old daughter, Zemina Smith, according to information disclosed at a juvenile dependency hearing.

Other information presented at the hearing showed that the Erie County Office of Children and Youth was not involved with Zemina's family before she died.

Zemina died of hypothermia after she left her family's apartment in the 200 block of East 17th Street and wandered outside shortly before 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, as the temperature dipped to 25 degrees and the wind chill dropped to 8 or 9 degrees. She was found dead early the next morning in the parking lot of a nearby playground, wearing only shorts and a T-shirt.

Zemina's mother told Erie police that she and the girl's father were using methamphetamine the evening Zemina left the apartment, according to a coroner's report, filed April 2. The report listed the cause of death as hypothermia and also said that the father told police he noticed the front door of the apartment was "open a crack" but that he did not see whether any of the three children who had been in the apartment, including Zemina, had gone outside.

The Erie County District Attorney's Office is reviewing Zemina's case to determine whether to file criminal charges. As that investigation continues, the authorities are focusing on the care of the other two children in their separate dependency case, which is in the Family Division of the Erie County Court of Common Pleas.

Trucilla opens dependency hearing at request of Erie Times-News

Trucilla outlined the actions he and OCY have taken in response to Zemina's death at the dependency hearing for the other two children, on Wednesday.

Dependent children are those the courts find are without proper parental care or control. Dependency hearings are typically closed to the public under the Pennsylvania Juvenile Act.

Trucilla let the Erie Times-News into the hearing after reviewing a petition from the newspaper's lawyer, Craig Markham. The Erie Times-News cited precedent that allows for public access to dependency hearings if the matters are in the public interest.

"The media plays an important role in shining a light on the circumstances of abused and neglected children and the response of the juvenile system that is charged with their care," the Times-News said in its motion for access to the hearing.

Lawyers for OCY and the children objected to Erie Times-News' request for access, citing concerns about the privacy of the children and other factors. Trucilla met with all the lawyers in the case before deciding to let an Erie Times-News reporter attend the hearing.

In what Trucilla described as "a balance test" between public access and the need for privacy, the judge disclosed only basic information at Wednesday's hearing, which lasted 10 minutes. The parents and children did not attend and their names and their ages were not disclosed in court.

The Erie Times-News is not naming the parents because they have not been charged. The newspaper is not naming the other two children because they are minors and to protect their privacy.

Judge finds an 'egregious failure to supervise a child'

Trucilla referred to a list of "findings of fact" as he went over the case in court on Wednesday. According to the findings of fact and other public court filings in the case:

● A "shelter care hearing" for the two other minor children was held shortly after Zemina's death, indicating that the children had been removed from the home on an emergency basis at the request of OCY.

● At the request of OCY, Trucilla held what is known as an adjudication hearing for the two children on March 14. He adjudicated the children as dependent and set the goal as adoption rather that reunification with the parents. The children were placed in kinship care in the meantime.

● Trucilla adjudicated the two children as dependent after finding "by clear and convincing evidence that aggravated circumstances existed because of parent's aggravated physical neglect." Trucilla cited a section of Pennsylvania law that defines "aggravated physical neglect" as "any omission of care of a child that results in a life-threatening condition or seriously impairs the child's functioning."

● Trucilla on March 14 also found by "clear and convincing evidence" — the standard of proof in dependency cases — that the parents were "perpetrators of abuse based on a finding of serious physical neglect." He cited a section of Pennsylvania law that defines "serious physical neglect" as "a repeated, prolonged or egregious failure to supervise a child in a manner that is appropriate considering the child's developmental age and abilities."

● Trucilla on March 14 set the goal as adoption, he said on Wednesday. He said the children are in kinship care, or in the custody of relatives or close friends.

● Trucilla said he would hold another hearing to review the case in 45 days.

Immediate move to adoption illustrates extreme nature of case

Moving the goal from reunification with parents to adoption so quickly is a rare occurrence in most dependency cases in Erie County. The fast-moving path to adoption that Trucilla ordered indicates the severity of the issues with Zemina's parents — issues so extreme that he found the existence of "aggravated circumstances."

According to OCY policy in dependency cases, "adoption is considered the second most desirable permanency goal, after safe reunification."

"If a family does become involved with the Office of Children and Youth, we make every effort to keep the family together through intensive in-home and community-based services," according to OCY policy. "If the child is removed because his or her safety cannot be assured otherwise, the family continues to receive intensive, individually tailored services to facilitate a reunification."

In another sign of how quickly adoption has become a goal, Trucilla said that no services have been offered to the parents. He said the parents were voluntarily undergoing treatment.

OCY says it was not involved with family before girl's death

None of the lawyers at Wednesday's hearing objected to Trucilla's findings in court. In response to a question from Trucilla, a lawyer for OCY, Melanie Hoover, said Zemina's family was "not previously" involved with the agency.

The statement represented the clearest indication that OCY had not provided services to Zemina's family before she died.

After Zemina's death, the administration of Erie County Executive Brenton Davis, which oversees OCY, refused to disclose information to the Erie Times-News about whether Zemina's family had received child welfare services before her death. The refusal came despite a state law that allows county governments to make such disclosures in case of child fatalities and near fatalities.

Davis' director of administration, Joe Sinnott, said in an email that the Davis administration was not releasing information because, in part, "we don’t believe it is appropriate in light of the on-going investigation."

The state law that allows counties to release certain information in cases of child deaths also allows the state Department of Human Services to make the same disclosures.

DHS earlier this month provided information to the Erie Times-News that showed Zemina's family did not receive child welfare services before her death. OCY confirmed that information with the lawyer's statement in court on Wednesday.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie OCY takes custody of two children after sibling's death