THE FUTURE OF FAMILIES OFTEN RESTED IN HIS HANDS

After 22 Years, Butler County Juvenile Court Master Steps Down

Gwilym Price has had his heart broken more than once in his 22-plus years
as a Butler County Juvenile Court master. From physical and sexual abuse
of children, to neglect at the hands of their drug-addicted parents, he
has seen some of the worst that Butler County has to offer in his
courtroom in downtown Butler.

How has he dealt with the weight of the decision to split families and
reunify them, sever parental rights or monitor a situation with county
caseworkers?

He said it has been a heavy burden but one that he has shouldered both
with a sense of recognition of the importance of his job, and with
gratefulness for the faith instilled in him by those responsible for the
children's safety and successful upbringing.

It's a burden that is his no more.

Mr. Price has retired his black robes and will concentrate on his private
practice in civil law. His last day on the job was Dec. 31.

Although it was a difficult decision, he said he believed it was time to
close the book on that aspect of his professional life.

"There'is a cumulative exhaustion that comes from 22 years of these really
hard decisions. The cases have become so complex, the families so
dysfunctional. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start to help families
get back together.

"I'm old enough now to be disconnected from youth culture. It's just time
to move on," said Mr. Price, 57, of Penn. He and his wife, Kathy, have
three grown children.

As a juvenile court master, Mr. Price served essentially as the judge on
cases that dealt with child-dependency issues: Should a child be removed
from his home? What plan for reunification should be pursued? Should
parental rights be terminated and a child placed permanently in foster
care?

A master's rulings were technically recommendations that required the seal
of a court of common pleas judge.

But for the most part, Mr. Price's recommendations were the final say.

"Gwil served Butler County well,'' showing both wisdom and patience in the
job, said Butler County President Judge Thomas Doerr.

"His years of service are a reflection of his dedication to the families
of Butler County and its court system a€&. [His] smiling face will be
missed.''

As for his personal philosophy, Mr. Price said he viewed his mission as
one that centered on getting children in a safe situation, fixing their
problems, then getting them back home again. If the parents fail to fix
their problems, then termination of rights comes into play, he said.

Mr. Price graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School in 1969. He received a
bachelor's degree in political science and history in 1973 from the
University of Delaware and a law degree from Dickinson College in 1977.

He came to Butler right away. "I knew I wanted to live in a small town and
practice in a small town,"' he recalled. He has practiced independently,
specializing in civil law, since 1982.

During his tenure as a juvenile court master, he has handled both areas of
juvenile law, dependency and delinquency cases. He has worked almost
exclusively with dependency issues for more than a decade. Dependency
issues range from abused and neglected children to incorrigible and truant
children.

"The commonality is that,'for some reason, the home life isn't providing
what is needed to be a successful citizen or a safe child,'' he said.'

Since Mr. Price's retirement, the county's other juvenile court master,
Joseph Brydon, is handling both areas.

Judge Doerr said there is no plan to replace Mr. Price. He explained that
he and Common Pleas Judge Kelley Streib will shoulder some of Mr. Brydon's
workload by hearing more cases.

Mr. Price acknowledged he has been told by many that his job must have
been one of the hardest to do, but, "I tried not to think of it that way.
I tried to focus on the opportunity to do a lot of good."'

He said he respected the attorneys and Children and Youth Services
caseworkers who tried to spell out a case to the extent that he could
determine whether it was right to interfere with the parental bond of the
people in his courtroom.

"It's a fundamental human right, and if you get the decision wrong in
either direction, it's an awful thing. If you send a kid home who
shouldn't be, he can be killed or injured or forced to live a horrible
life. If you take a kid who shouldn't be taken away from his parents, it's
equally bad in the other direction."'

Mr. Price said he believes he "got it right most of the time."'

He said the most common kinds of cases he has seen in recent years -- when
the number of children coming before him totaled in the 800s -- involved
drug-addicted parents.

In Butler County, the general policy is to remove a child from a home in
which parents are addicted to hard, illegal drugs,' such as cocaine or
heroin. He said the children most often are placed with a relative and the
parents are allowed frequent visitation while they are monitored for
sobriety. "Usually, if they can go for six months, they get custody
back,"' he said.

He said the hardest kind of case involves the parent who barely met the
requirements of his reunification plan: "You know they're still not parent
of the year and never will be, but they've done what you've asked them to
do and [by law] the child should be returned. Meanwhile, you have that
child who has thrived in placement, is happy and functioning well. These
are tough cases and you just hope that it all works out."'