Editorial: Guardianship bill approval a major step

Friday, June 27, 1997 | 11:17 a.m.

WORD from Carson City is that the guardianship bill is headed for a final vote in the Assembly today or Saturday. Then it's on to Gov. Bob Miller for his signature.

The bill closes a loophole in the law that allows someone to gain immediate temporary guardianship of a youth age 14 and older without the knowledge of the teenager's parents.

Despite the obvious need for this change, there was a bit of wrangling in the Legislature over the bill -- not because it was bad legislation or would cost the taxpayers. The dispute boiled down to pure politics.

According to Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, the bill -- which he proposed and nurtured -- was to languish in the Assembly Judiciary Committee to force his Transportation Committee to hear "Lemon Law" legislation proposed by Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas.

Buckley denied that was the reason and we believe her.

After some name-calling and foot-stomping, someone had the sense to realize the importance of the guardianship bill. We strongly support Buckley's "Lemon Law" as important consumer legislation. However, the bill, in our mind, is not in the same league with importance of protecting children and families.

By now, the case that prompted the legislation is well-known. Kyle and Sandy Ambrose, whose story first appeared in the Las Vegas SUN, had not known their then 16-year-old daughter had been made a temporary guardian of her boyfriend's parents. The latter couple had used the loophole in the law to gain control of the teenager.

Not only had the law failed, the system failed.

Family Court Judge Terrance Marren granted the boyfriend's parents permanent custody despite the fact that no thorough investigation had been conducted in why they wanted custody of the teenager.

The only person who vouched for the guardians was the head of the Division of Youth and Family Services who later admitted that he didn't know the couple well.

He also admitted that all allegations of abuse are, according to policy, supposed to be investigated. In this case, they were not. And the claims turned out to be false.

After the guardians disappeared with their daughter, the Ambroses contacted O'Donnell and the SUN. Three days after the story appeared in the SUN, their daughter was put on a bus back to Las Vegas and Marren reversed his guardianship order.

Today the Ambroses are a family again and trying to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Although we don't always agree with O'Donnell's positions, he deserves praise for proposing and steadfastly fighting for this legislation.

Passage of this law is major step -- but only a beginning one.

Safeguards must be built into the guardianship procedure. There must be an immediate and thorough investigation of all guardianship requests.

Children who are truly in a dangerous situation must get the protection they require. Conversely, the questionable cases -- such as the Ambroses' -- should never go as far as the awarding of permanent guardianship.

Now it's time to pass Buckley's consumer protection law.