The fight for
Steven continues

By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer

Morris and Mildred Brasovankin had hoped their grandson would be starting kindergarten across the street from their Oxford Circle home when school opens in September.
Instead, 5-year-old Steven will still be in foster care. A Family Court hearing held last week to decide the boy’s future was continued — in large part because of the absence of his Department of Human Services social worker, James Hood, who was on vacation.
The Brasovankins, along with their attorney, Marc Collazzo, had hoped to prove to Common Pleas Judge Ann Butchart that despite their ages — Morris is 89, Mildred is 85 — they are fit to care for their young grandson.
The couple, married for 56 years, have been the most stable influence in the child’s life, according to Collazzo.
The youngster was born to a mother addicted to drugs and a father — the Brasovankins’ son — who recently was ordered by the court to undergo psychological counseling, so the Brasovankins have cared for the boy on and off throughout Steven’s life.
Most recently, they were called in February to care for the boy after his father had taken him to the hospital for a cold, requesting that the youngster be admitted for treatment and then acting erratically when his request was denied.
A March hearing had declared Steven a dependent of the commonwealth and ordered DHS to find placement for him in 90 days.
On June 6, one week before an emergency hearing had been scheduled, DHS took Steven from his school and placed him in foster care.
"We’re waiting outside for the bus to bring him home. Nobody called us. Nobody told us anything," Morris Brasovankin said.
Last week’s hearing — held on July 17 — had been set on June 13. DHS, however, did not ask for a continuance of the session until July 13, just four days before it was to have been held.
Collazzo, who said he objected to any delay, thought that the vacationing DHS social worker would be at the hearing.
Before last week’s hearing, the judge had requested a written list of the Brasovankins’ witnesses.
However, the list of names and contact information wasn’t provided until the eve of the hearing, according to Jeff Jubelirer, a spokesman for the First Judicial District, Philadelphia Courts.
Collazzo denied that claim, stating that the witness list and documents were physically presented in open court on June 13.
While the Brasovankins, attorneys and others vital to the case huddled in one corner of the waiting room, young Steven’s court-appointed child advocate, Kathleen Knese, ducked back into Courtroom E to avoid speaking to reporters.
Although a formal gag order was not issued, those involved with the case were advised not to discuss what went on during the 30-minute hearing, according to Collazzo.
Morris Brasovankin clutched a blue, lace-trimmed photo album filled with photos of the little boy, while his petite wife, buoyed by her cane, answered questions from a throng of reporters on the steps of the Family Court building.
Morris Brasovankin never got a chance to show Judge Butchart the pictures of their grandson in happier times. She continued the hearing until Sept. 11.
"We’ll be back again," Mildred Brasovankin told reporters.
Social worker Hood wasn’t the only one on vacation last week. The family that Steven was placed with also went on vacation, leaving the little boy in respite care.
The Brasovankins’ attorney believes that the foster family was acting properly so that the little boy would be available to go back with his grandparents, if the judge so ruled.
However, that was no comfort to the Brasovankins.
"He’s not a rag doll. You can’t just drop him anywhere. He deserves better than that," Mildred Brasovankin said.
Her husband is losing a lot of sleep over the situation. He isn’t eating right, either, he said.
"It burns you up, makes you miserable. It’s not fair and square," he said. "They’re just doing things their way, and I don’t know how to stop it. We miss that little boy. He wants to be with us."
It breaks his heart, he added, when Steven asks after each of the couple’s hour-long weekly visits if his pop-pop is going to take him home in his car.
"Soon," he tells him.
Mildred Brasovankin is just as frustrated and gets furious every time she thinks about it.
"No child should have to go into foster care, as long as someone in the family is there to step up and care for the child — regardless of how old," she said. ••
Reporter Diane Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dprokop@phillynews.com