Bergeron’s mother to keep rights

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 | 11 a.m.

A family court judge ruled this morning not to terminate the parental rights of the mother of 13-year-old stabbing victim Brittney Bergeron.

Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle ordered Tamara Schmidt's parental rights should remain intact, but under the law her daughter will continue living with her foster family while reunification efforts are increased between Brittney and Schmidt.

The judge ordered status checks every six months to see how family therapy and the mother-daughter relationship is progressing.

An emotionally exhausted Schmidt cried and leaned on her attorney Don Shreve as she said "I'm relieved, one day my daughter will be home."

The ruling does not guarantee that Schmidt will ever get custody of her daughter, but Schmidt's parental rights remain.

Nevertheless, Shreve, said "this is the right decision."

"This is a case where the state did everything in its power to destroy the most important constitutionally protected right a citizen has," Shreve said. "It makes me physically ill. What's next? Will the state try to take our cars and our homes?

"Hopefully we can work toward reunification with increased visitation and therapy and get these folks back together. Unfortunately years have been lost, and it will be difficult. The loser here is Brittney."

Bergeron's attorney, Steve Hiltz, directing attorney for the Children's Attorney Project, said when Brittney hears Hardcastle's ruling she "will be sad."

"I believe he's (Hardcastle) wrong," Hiltz said. "Brittney has a new life and wants to be adopted and wants to go home, to her new home."

Brittney and her sister were stabbed in a Mesquite trailer park while her mother and her then-boyfriend were gambling. Police believe the attack, which left Brittney paralyzed and her sister dead, came after Robert Schmidt, who is now married to Brittney's mother, allegedly sold the attackers salt, telling them it was methamphetamine.

Beau Maestas has pleaded guilty to the attack and a jury is being selected to sentence him. The other alleged attacker, Beau's sister, Monique, is waiting for a trial date.

Tamara and Robert Schmidt face criminal neglect charges for leaving the girls in the trailer alone.

In his 32-page ruling, Hardcastle noted that children "may be reluctant to go home because they remember past events."

"But society's commitment to the parent-child relationship is so great that the parent-child relationship overrules."

Hardcastle made it clear in his ruling that the reunification process is "generally done through family counseling and/or gradually increased contact between the parent and the child."

"Family counseling is one of those reasonable efforts required by federal and state law," Hardcastle wrote. "It is also good child welfare practice. The end result of the process is that the child learns that the parent has changed and accepts her parent. The parent-child relationship survives."

The judge said while reuniting can be challenging "there was was a lack of testimony demonstrating that reunification would result in a serious emotional impact on Brittney or that Brittney's resistance was such that there was an insurmountable obstacle."

In a court hearing last month Brittney told Hardcastle that she wanted to be adopted by her foster parents. The seventh grader said although she didn't want to live with her mother again, it "won't change the fact that I love her."

Deputy District Attorney Ron Cordes said Hardcastle's ruling would be appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Schmidt's attorney in the criminal case, Joseph Caramagno, said Hardcastle's ruling would have "a tremendous impact on the criminal case."

"The ruling is a validation of the fact that she (Schmidt) was a fit mother and not neglectful or abusive to her children," Caramagno said. "No mother could have foreseen what the Maestas siblings did to her children. This ruling only bolsters our case and I feel confident an acquittal will be the ultimate outcome."