TROY–A Rensselaer County Family Court judge is set to strip an Orthodox Jewish woman of her parental rights for the second time, due to neglect. The woman signed a document agreeing to the termination of parental rights for her daughter, according to court papers.
While this might not have the familiar ring of the typical Orthodox Jewish family situation, the mother, Tara Silver, of South Lake Ave., Troy, is a known heroin addict who lives in a home that has been condemned by the city Bureau of Code Enforcement since July of last year. A recent visit found the house is still being occupied.
Born Addicted
Silver, 39, has two children in Troy and three children who live elsewhere. Both of the Troy children were born addicted to heroin. James Smith, was born January 23, 2009 and the second child, Chana Silver, was born June 25, 2010.
Silver has declared in court papers that she wants the children to be brought up in an Orthodox Jewish home. Despite the mother’s wishes, the two Jewish children have been kept in the foster care of two non-Jewish families in Rensselaer County since they were born and are waiting to be adopted. “Foster children who are siblings or half siblings must not be unnecessarily separated,” according to state law. The situation has caused a tremendous amount of consternation for the mother. “This is in violation of two sections of state Domestic Relations Law,” says Silver’s attorney, F. Stanton Ackerman.
Ackerman, an Albany attorney, contends that repeated requests over the past year by Tara Silver to see her children were allegedly ignored by opposing counsel, Theresa Beaudoin, and the Rensselaer County Department of Social Services in an attempt to build a case for abandonment. Attorney Doug Broda, was brought into the case by county officials and is being paid with taxpayer dollars. Broda and Beaudoin did not return repeated calls requesting comment on this case.
Signed Judicial Surrender
Much of Silver’s problems began in 2010 when she signed a judicial surrender in front Rensselaer County Family Court Judge Catherine Cholakis. Silver contends at that time she “was under duress, had inadequate counsel, was under the influence of drugs and was threatened with arrest.” It was under these conditions, Silver says in court documents that Cholakis accepted Silver’s surrender of her son, James Smith, who was then put in the custody of a Troy couple. Silver says after the fact she wanted the surrender set aside but the process for the termination of parental rights was too far along. At the time the baby was taken away, he was in the temporary custody of his grandmother, Carolyn Reed, while the elder James Smith was in prison. The elder Smith has been in and out of prison several times.
Grandmother Wants Custody Of Boy
Meanwhile, an appeal is currently underway, by Smith senior, and his mother, Reed, to retain custody of the younger Smith. “I’m upset about it,” Reed told The Jewish World exclusively. “I’m upset because I was treated terribly. I was lied to. I was told by the social worker that no Orthodox Jew would want a biracial baby. She said it a couple of times. I want the baby to be brought up in the Jewish faith.”
Court documents reveal that on May 18, 2009, a DSS caseworker paid a visit to Reed’s First Street apartment. According to the report, “The apartment reeked of marijuana smoke, although the baby was not present. There was no crib in the apartment, no diapers, baby food, clothing, toys or anything else to indicate that the child had ever resided there. Reed told the caseworker the baby was visiting relatives down the street.”
Tara Silver’s parental rights to James Smith were terminated effective Friday, April 15, 2011. Smith had a bris, which was provided by Rabbi Eliyahu Shain, a mohel in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who traveled to Troy for the ceremonial cutting at Beth Tephilah synagogue in Troy at the urging of Leible Morrison, the spiritual leader of the synagogue.
Daughter Goes To Brooklyn Couple
Documents signed May 1, 2011, show that Tara Silver will voluntarily surrender guardianship of her daughter to a Brooklyn couple in June.
A New York City-based child care advocacy agency, OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services, trained and certified the Brooklyn couple to be considered for adopting Chana Silver. The couple, Ayela Nir, 26, and Meir Krispine, 33, operate a gift, novelty, and souvenir store in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. They have been married for six years and are observant Jews through the Chabad-Lubavitch sect.
While not directly commenting about this case, David Mandel, the chief executive officer of OHEL said, “the training is a multi-session comprehensive training of many hours. It provides information on formal protocols involved in being a foster care provider in NYS with all the regulatory requirements. It provides you with information about how to deal with routine and emergency situations involving unusual circumstances with a child’s behavior. It provides you with protocols about how to deal with visitations by the biological parents, including the court-ordered visitations or any type of visitations. Some of the children come into care with special needs and physical or emotional but the general rule of thumb is that you respect the child for whoever he or she is, including their culture or heritage or religion.”
Relationship With Mother
It appears the couple knows what is ahead for them if the adoption is approved by Cholakis. The couple reveals in court papers that they are “eager and willing to adopt children of all needs, including children born with drug dependency and children with a multi-racial background.” The couple is also “willing to engage in whatever therapy is necessary for the healthy development of any child placed in their home.” They live three blocks from two medical facilities and four blocks from Kings County Hospital, which offers a pediatric outpatient health care clinic.
The Brooklyn couple maintains they will keep an ongoing relationship between Chana, her mother and brother as well as pay for all costs associated with maintaining the contact.
On March 16, 2010, Nir and Krispine completed the necessary training course for adoption and on December 8, 2010, Judge Harold Lynch of the Kings County Family Court in Brooklyn certified the pair as qualified adoptive parents. This certification clears the way for the couple to receive physical custody of any child.
In court documents submitted by Ackerman, Nir is a former preschool teacher and has experience with children with special needs. Her “experience includes caring for children with severe learning disabilities, developmental issues, autism, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, severe reflux issues and potty training delays,” according to the documents before the judge.
Nir and Krispine are also committing themselves to maintain regular sibling visits between Chana and James as well as maintain the travel necessary to ensure the children develop and maintain a relationship.
But Ackerman, Silver’s attorney, contends “it is unlikely that a long term, consistent and close relationship will be developed between the children.”
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