BABY T, MOM TO REUNITE

Calling the relationship between the 3-year-old boy known as Baby T and his
8-year-old brother a "sweet note in an otherwise discordant symphony," a
Circuit Court judge ruled Monday in favor of Tina Olison in her efforts to
regain custody from one of Cook County's most politically prominent couples.

As Judge Judith Brawka delivered the verdict that Baby T should return home
within 12 months and make a gradual transition from the home of Chicago Ald.
Edward Burke (14th) and Illinois Appellate Judge Anne Burke, Olison, 37, a
former cocaine addict, showed little emotion, except a sigh of relief.

However, when the judge addressed her directly and admonished that a child
is not "a prize you have won, not the spoils after battle," and that the
ruling was cause for "somber reflection" for the pain inflicted by her drug
habit, Olison wiped away a tear.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has 30 days to
appeal the case, which by some estimates has cost Illinois taxpayers close
to $4 million, a figure the agency has disputed. The expense and manpower
devoted by the state lent credence to allegations of political clout, which
have swirled around the case since the beginning, according to Olison's
lawyers.

However, regarding Brawka's recommendations that unsupervised visitation
start immediately, "I will tell you that DCFS will comply," said spokeswoman
Maudlyne Iherjirka.

While visibly annoyed with the agency for not handling the case more
expeditiously, Brawka praised the Burkes, who took the infant into foster
care when he was 8 days old. Few actions, she said, spoke more to the issue
of character "than opening your home to a child."

Still, Brawka indicated she had little confidence that the two families
could succeed at private guardianship, the custody arrangement recommended
by a team of University of Chicago mental health professionals and endorsed
by the state and DCFS. The arrangement called for the Burkes to have custody
and Olison to have liberal visitation, but the case was "replete with too
much insensitivity and polarization" for such a plan to work, the judge
said.

The Burkes have not commented publicly on the case, and calls on Monday to
their offices and to their attorney, Patricia Bobb, were not returned.

Specifically citing the Burkes' decision to baptize the baby as a Roman
Catholic without Olison's consent, Brawka said that leaving the two parties
"to their own devices would only spell disaster."

Outside of court, Olison said, "I always respected the Burkes, but I don't
think that they ever respected me."

During the two-week permanency placement hearing--which touched on themes of
personal responsibility, diagnosis of an unnamed "disorder" that made it
difficult for Baby T to form attachments and the importance of
African-American identity--differing portraits of Olison emerged: a woman
too egocentric and vulnerable to drug relapse to handle the demands of small
children; or a woman who kicked a 20-year drug habit but was foiled by the
Burkes' clout in deservedly being reunited with her family.

Though attorneys for Olison were prepared to subpoena the Burkes, they
ultimately decided they could make their case without them, as they did last
fall, when Olison was not found to be an unfit parent.

This most recent phase dealt with the best interests of Baby T and his older
brother, who has been in the care of his maternal grandmother and will be
reunited with Olison within five months.

In the end, it was the fledgling relationship between the two boys that
appeared to carry the most weight with Brawka, who was called in from Kane
County to ensure a fair trial.

She refused to rely on the interpretations of that relationship by mental
health professionals and opted to leave the bench and observe the brothers'
interaction herself. The sibling bond, she said in her verdict, "is a source
of refuge and a resource . . . after parents and grandparents pass on," and
must be nurtured.

For all the detail of a 69-page report submitted by U. of C. psychiatrist
Bennett Leventhal and two colleagues, Brawka said it also minimized racial
identity, noting that "(Baby T) will not be a 3-year-old boy forever. . . .
Unless it is the position of the department that there is no such thing as
African-American culture," this area deserved more attention.

Under questioning by Anita Rivkin-Carothers, one of Olison's attorneys,
Leventhal was asked during the trial if he considered Baby T's
African-American heritage in making his recommendations. He replied that,
with the coming of the new millennium, he expected that society would
exercise a more enlightened attitude toward race, a claim Brawka dismissed
as insufficient in her ruling on Monday.

Race was an issue outside of the courtroom as well. Olison, who was dressed
in African-American attire, received hearty slaps on the back from
spectators as she walked through the halls of Juvenile Court. "I never saw
it as a racial thing," said one black woman, who refused to give her name.
"I only saw it as a power thing."

Cook County Public Guardian Patrick Murphy cautioned against Olison seeing
herself as a victim. "She is not a celebrity and has to go about the hard
business of being a mother."

>From the beginning, Murphy has said the case was handled differently
because of the prominence of the foster parents and has criticized DCFS for
sticking Illinois taxpayers with a bill that "certainly approached $4
million," he said.

DCFS dismissed Murphy's charges as "absurd."

"We can't imagine how the public guardian arrived at his numbers," said DCFS
spokeswoman Iherjirka. "But the life of any child is more precious than the
tallying of court costs when that child is perceived to be at risk."

If DCFS should appeal, the agency would have to argue that the judge's
ruling was against the manifest weight of the evidence. said Bruce Boyer,
supervising attorney for the Children and Family Justice Center at
Northwestern University Law School

Boyer added that this case is "aberrational for a number of reasons,"
including the involvement of the Burkes. "The typical parent who struggles
with the same problems that Tina Olison struggled with will encounter
nothing like the kind of support that she's been given," said Boyer. "In a
sense, she's fortunate that her child was placed with the Burkes because
that's given her the means to take advantage of some public pressures that
normally aren't there."

Even after living apart from his birth mother--whom Baby T alternately calls
"Mommy" and "Mommy Tina"--experts said the toddler can still grow up to be
safe and secure, provided that the adults in his life cooperate.

"Caregivers on both sides should . . . focus now on what this child needs in
making this transition and to set aside whatever animosity has developed in
the custody battle," said Donna Petras, a visiting assistant professor of
social work at University of Illinois Chicago.

And if they continue to be combative?

"I've seen it be very painful for the children because everyone is unhappy
and they feel it's their fault," Petras said.