County offers haven for kids during custody fights

Kim Smith

Friday, Nov. 23, 2001 | 9:31 a.m.

Donna's House, 2595 S. Torrey Pines Drive near West Sahara Avenue, will be used for supervised visits and for parents in custody disputes to drop off and pick up children for visitation. It is within one block of a CAT bus stop.

Wednesdays, Thursday, Fridays and Sundays: 4 to 7 p.m. Saturdays: 9 to 10 a.m and 4 to 5 p.m.

Saturdays: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Most holidays: 9 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.

If Family Court Judge Cynthia Dianne Steel has her way, no child will ever again witness what Kaitlan Payne did on Father's Day 1995.

The 19-month-old toddler was playing with her father at the Discovery Zone in Henderson when her mother shot him to death during a supervised visit. Greg Payne, 32, had expected the next day to receive the right in the fierce custody battle to visit the child without supervision.

Barbara Pinkston is serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life, and Kaitlan now lives with relatives.

Steel and other county officials are getting ready to open the doors to a haven in which they hope such bloodshed will be averted in the future.

Donna's House is a 30-year-old ranch-style house where a select number of custodial and non-custodial parents will soon be ordered to drop off and pick up their children for visitations.

It will also be the place where parents accused of neglect or abuse will be allowed to participate in supervised visits with their children for up to three hours at a time.

Once it opens, parents like Greg Payne will no longer have to resort to seeing their children in public places such as the Discovery Zone, police stations or fast food restaurants.

Instead, they can spend time in one of the converted bedrooms at Donna's House under the watchful eyes of marriage and family therapists, trained volunteers and a roving armed security guard.

It is named after Donna Hernandez, a Family Court clerk who was beaten, choked and stabbed to death by her former husband in front of their 3-year-old daughter.

Fernando Hernandez, who is on death row, killed his ex-wife, despite a multitude of protective orders she had taken out against him.

Although Donna wasn't killed during a child exchange, her case is an example of just how emotionally charged and dangerous divorce and child-custody cases can become, Steel said.

The house, at 2595 S. Torrey Pines Drive, will open once a special use permit is approved. Steel said she hopes the approval comes within the next two months.

"The idea is to make it child and family-friendly," assistant court administrator Christina Chandler said. "We want to make it look like a home instead of a clinic."

The home will be filled with bright colors, toys, play areas and separate entrances and exits for custodial and non-custodial parents. Outside, children will be able to romp around playground equipment on the house's half-acre lot.

No third parties or process servers will be allowed at the house, Chandler said. That will avoid conflicts such as a mother getting upset when a father shows up with a new girlfriend or a father being served with child support papers during a visit.

"We want it to be a harmonious place," Chandler said. "It will take a lot of the game-playing out of the equation."

Palo Verde Child and Family Services Inc., a nonprofit corporation, has signed a $180,000 annual contract with the county to operate the program, Chandler said. The funds to run the program come from county court fees and a federal Violence Against Women Act grant.

Palo Verde has run the county's divorce education program for couples who have children, giving it an edge in understanding the dynamics in such relationships, Steel said.

Laura Birholtz, a clinical psychologist, is the executive director of Palo Verde and will oversee Donna's House.

Birholtz said she visited similar facilities in San Diego and Reno to see what they had to offer.

"We wanted to take the best from each program because we want to set up a model program here," Birholtz said. "I'm really excited about it. I think it's a needed program."

Donna's House will not only deter violence, but is designed to prevent people from lashing out verbally, Birholtz said.

"People get so hurt when relationships end," Birholtz said. "Hurt and fear are their primary motivators. They may not be violent, but just mad at each other. They'll say hurtful things to each other, and the poor children end up in the middle."

Steel said the staff at Donna's House will submit regular reports to the various judges on the parents' behavior. Because parents can have up to three-hour supervised visits with their children, the staff will have plenty of time to watch them interact.

Judges will learn if the parents are placing undue pressure on the children, if they behave appropriately around them and if they show up on time for the exchanges and visits.

Because of the limited number of hours the house will be open, those who participate in the program will be selected by the Family Court judges who oversee their cases, Steel said.

She said each parent will be required to pay a $5 fee for each exchange or visit.

"That's a drop in the bucket compared to being in a situation where someone could die," Steel said.