Dunbar Pubdate: 9 Mar 1999
Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Santa Barbara News-Press
Website: http://www.sbcoast.com/news-server/sbnphome.html
Contact:  805.966.6258
Author: Bonnie Miller Rubin and Robert Becker, Chicago Tribune

COURT RULES EX-DRUG ADDICT IS FIT MOTHER FOR BOY, 3

Politically Prominent Couple Loses Custody Of Child Born With Cocaine In
His System.

CHICAGO - Calling the relationship between a 3-year-old boy known as Baby T
and his 8-year-old brother a "sweet note in an otherwise dis- cordant
symphony," a judge ruled Monday in favor of a former cocaine addict's
efforts to regain custody from one of Cook County's most politically
prominent couples.

Circuit Court Judge Judith Brawka said Baby T should return home within 12
months and make a gradual transition from the home of Alderman Edward Burke
and his wife, state Appellate Judge Anne Burke. As Brawka read her verdict,
the child's mothers, Tina Olison, 37, showed little emotion, except a sigh
of relief.

However, when Brawka 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 state 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.

While visibly annoyed with the agency for not handling the case more
expenditiously, 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 the two families could
succeed at private guardianship, the custody arrangement rec- ommended 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, Brawka said.

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

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

Olison is a single mother who lost custody of her boys three years ago
because of her cocaine use. Baby T had the drug in his system when he was
born. She has said she now now drug-free and has found religion.

"When God is for you, he's greater than the weight of the world against
you," she said.

During the two-week permanency placement hearing - which touched on themes
of personal responsibility, diagnosis for an unnamed "disorder" that made
it difficult for Baby T to form attachments and the importance of black
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.

While 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. The 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. 
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