GL News

July 29, 2010

Children and Youth settles suit over boy’s adoption

Man claimed agency allowed adoption without notifying him of proceeding.

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
Terrie Morgan-Besecker on Facebook   |   @TLTerrieMorgan on Twitter

SCRANTON – Luzerne County Children and Youth Services has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit filed by an Edwardsville man who claims the agency allowed his son to be adopted without notifying him of the proceeding.

The settlement reached Wednesday with George Bartleson comes less than a week after a jury awarded $219,000 to another parent who alleged the agency violated her constitutional rights.

John Dean, an attorney for Children and Youth, said that case, which involved Odetta Todd of Wilkes-Barre, had no impact on the agency’s decision to settle the Bartleson lawsuit.

The terms of the Bartleson settlement were not immediately available Wednesday, but Dean said it involved a modest monetary award.

Dean said there was no admission of wrongdoing. He believes Children and Youth had a strong legal argument to dismiss the case, but opted to settle because it would have cost as much, or more, to continue to fight the suit.

The suit, filed last year, alleged a caseworker with Children and Youth misled a county judge into believing Bartleson had consented to giving up his parental rights to his son.

Bartleson’s son was one month old when he was taken into protective custody in July 1999. The agency’s goal was initially to reunite him with the boy, but it later changed that goal to adoption.

A termination hearing was held in March 2005, but Bartleson claims he was never notified of the proceeding. The suit alleged his caseworker, LeDonne Kelly, lied to the judge on the day of the hearing, telling him Bartleson was outside in a hallway and did not wish to be heard. The judge then granted the agency’s request.

Bartleson claimed he was never notified of that decision and did not learn of it until May 2007, when the agency sent him a letter advising him to stop trying to contact the boy as he had been adopted.

Elizabeth Bartolai, Bartleson’s attorney, said the settlement compensates Bartleson financially, but it does nothing to restore his rights to his son.

“All the money in the world could not undo what George has endured, but we are pleased the matter did settle,” Bartolai said. “I think the result sends a message to the agency that their own rules must be followed.”

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