State upheld in custody case

Judge backs plan to end Christines' parental rights

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press

A Josephine County judge on Wednesday approved the state's plan to terminate the parental rights of a Grants Pass couple accused of kidnapping their children from welfare workers, according to the children's lawyer.

Brian and Ruth Christine have been held in different Montana jails since allegedly kidnapping their three oldest children from Oregon social workers at gunpoint nearly two months ago.

The decision removes an important hurdle for Oregon state welfare workers in a custody dispute that has dragged on for more than a year.

The girls were initially taken into state custody after state officials found them emaciated and dehydrated while living with their parents in a converted city bus in Grants Pass. One child had a 3-inch skull fracture, officials said.

The children - Bethany, 6, Lydia, 4, and Miriam, 3 - are living with their maternal grandparents in an undisclosed location "somewhere in the United States," said their lawyer, Pat Wolke.

A fourth child, 1-year-old Olivia, is living with her paternal grandmother in Indiana. A fifth child, born Monday in a Missoula hospital, is being cared for by Montana child welfare officials.

Josephine County Judge Allan Coon issued a statement Wednesday to all parties supporting the state's proposal.

"He said it is appropriate for the state to proceed to file a petition to terminate parental rights," Wolke said. "It is within his power to say the state is moving too quickly and they need to work with the parents more to reunite them - but he did not say that."

The Christines' attorney, Edgar Steele of Idaho, did not return phone messages left Wednesday at his office. Patricia Feeny, spokeswoman for the Oregon Services to Children and Families, also did not return requests for comment Wednesday.

Wolke said the judge's decision is in the children's best interest. He said he expected the judge to rule as he did.

"It's absolutely correct, and I don't see how he could have decided otherwise," he said.

Wolke said the state must still file the petition and prove their case in a termination trial. That could take place within four months, he said.

Once parental rights are terminated, he said, Ruth Christine's parents can apply to adopt the three oldest girls - and possibly the younger ones. The grandparents live in England, but have come to the United States to be with the children.

Wolke, who is also the attorney for 1-year-old Olivia, said he will likely ask Judge Coon to press for the child's return to Oregon from Indiana. Wolke said he did not know what custody plans were for the newborn girl.

The kidnapping came as authorities were moving to permanently terminate the Christines' parental rights and prosecute them for their treatment of the girls.

On Aug. 1, following a supervised visit with the children, the couple and a friend followed the van carrying the three girls and state welfare workers as the children were being returned to a foster home.

When the welfare workers stopped to use a restroom near Roseburg, Brian Christine allegedly put a gun to one caseworker's head, then drove away in the state van with the girls.

Police arrested them in Montana several days later, and the children were returned to their foster family in Oregon. They were later transferred to their grandparents' care.

Anti-government critics have embraced the Christines and their cause, at times rallying outside the Josephine County Courthouse with signs and T-shirts bearing supportive slogans.

The Christines are both being held in Montana on $500,000 bail pending extradition to Oregon. Ruth Christine, 28, appeared at an extradition hearing Tuesday, just one day after giving birth to the couple's fifth daughter.

Her lawyer asked for additional time to review the documents.