FEBRUARY 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 7
IN THE NEWS
COURT OVERSIGHT
AGENCY EFFECTIVENESS QUESTIONED
BY MICHAEL VOLPE
One year ago, in February 2020, ex-
New York City police officer Michael
Valva and his fiancée pleaded not
guilty to killing his 8-year-old son
Thomas by forcing him to sleep in
an unheated garage in their Center
Moriches home, triggering Child
Protective Service reforms aimed at
not repeating such a tragedy.
But critics say additional reforms are
needed to provide better oversight of
court-appointed psychologists who
play a key role in granting deciding
where young children should live
when parents are in custody disputes.
Complaints regarding such appointees
are filed with the New York State
Office of Professional Responsibility
(OPR), but OPR requires all court
records to do an investigation and if
the court refuses, the investigation is
closed.
“A problem underlying the OPR's
refusal to investigate complaints
against custody evaluators is the fact
that most judges in New York State
do not allow the litigants (parents,
usually) to have copies of the custody
evaluations,” says Nancy Erickson, an
attorney who has represented several
parents who’ve filed complaints about
such appointees in Suffolk County
court cases she’s handled. “In fact,
some don't allow the attorneys to
have copies — a total violation of due
process.”
A number of complaints have been
filed against Dr. Barbara Burkhard,
one such court-appointed family
evaluator used in a number of cases
in Suffolk. Those who complained
include Anna Frank, who blames the
doctor for losing custody of her son;
Kathy LaPietra, who lost custody of
her daughter in a Burkhard-assigned
case; and Allison Vernick-Chaikin,
who lost custody of two kids after
meeting with Burkhard.
Frank told the Press that she filed a
complaint against Burkhard, but it
went nowhere. As with Frank, LaPietra
too said the court and Burkhard
ignored a mountain of evidence to
deem her a parent alienator and keep
her away from her daughter.
“Because of the evaluation by Burkhard,
I am not permitted to see my
children, speak to them, nothing,”
LaPietra said.
Critics say the New York State Office of Professional Responsibility needs to do more to investigate complaints
against court-ordered psychologists. (Getty Images)
LaPietra also filed a complaint against
Burkhard, but she said she did not
even get a response. She has not seen
her daughter, now 15, since 2017.
Allison Vernick-Chaikin said she
was kept away from her two daughters
for years due to Burkhard. Vernick
Chaikin said both were returned
to her upon turning 18. She also filed
a complaint with OPR and received a
form letter in reply.
Jack Reilly, who lost custody of his
teenaged son and daughter to his
ex-wife after Burkhard was tapped to
do an evaluation of the family in the
case, believes he was falsely accused
of trying to alienate his kids from
their mother.
“Dr. Burkhard concluded that the
plaintiff/father was alienating the
children from their mother and not
fostering a relationship between the
children and their mother,” the court
found, records show.
Reilly, who stopped short of filing a
complaint with OPR against Burkhard,
also took issue with Laura Golightly,
a court-appointed attorney tapped to
represent the children on the case.
“The first time my kids met with Laura,
I tried to get rid of her because both
kids came out crying, and I thought,
‘All right, guys, is it because you’re
telling this woman you don’t want to
live with Mom?’” he said. “They said,
‘No, she’s making excuses for Mom
and we’re getting frustrated because
she won’t listen to what we’re saying.’”
Neither Burkhard, Golightly nor
OPR, the oversight agency, responded
to a request for comment. A clerk in
the chamber of Judge Andrew Crecca,
who presided over each of these
cases, said he was forbidden from
commenting. Crecca was promoted
last year to chief administrative
judge in Suffolk.
“Because of the evaluation, I am not permitted to
see my children, speak to them, nothing,”
Kathy LaPietra said.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
