Editorial: Is mother a ‘parent’ in this case?

Friday, June 3, 2005 | 4:38 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

June 4-5, 2005

On Jan. 22, 2003, a mother left her two children alone in a recreational vehicle parked in the lot of a Mesquite casino. In the middle of the night, while the mother and her boyfriend were still inside the casino, the children were stabbed. Three-year-old Kristyanna Cowan was killed. Brittney Bergeron, now 13, received injuries that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Beau Maestas, who was 19 in 2003, pleaded guilty to the attack on May 27 and is awaiting sentencing on charges of murder, attempted murder and burglary. His sister, Monique, who was 17 at the time, was also charged in the attack and is awaiting trial on the same charges, plus an additional charge of conspiracy to commit murder. On Thursday, during opening arguments of Beau Maestas' penalty hearing, prosecutors said the attack occurred after the Maestas siblings discovered that the mother and her boyfriend had sold them fake methamphetamine for $125.

The mother is Tamara Ann Schmidt and the boyfriend is now her husband, Robert John Schmidt II. Earlier this year the two were indicted on 14 counts of child abuse and neglect relating to the tragedy in the casino parking lot. Their cases have not yet gone to trial.

After the stabbings, Brittney Bergeron was placed in foster care. The decision about whether to return Brittney to her mother, or her father, Kevin Bergeron of California, was left up to Family Court. At a January 2004 hearing, Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle put off any decision after hearing from state officials, who said Kevin Bergeron had failed two drug tests and refused to take a third. They also said Robert Schmidt had a history of drug abuse and had several arrest warrants pending against him in California on charges that included robbery and bouncing checks. Also at the hearing, Hardcastle noted that Tamara Schmidt had obtained employment and had remained drug free since the tragedy, but has "failed to accept her responsibility for her role" in the attacks on her children.

Last month Hardcastle presided over a trial to determine whether to restore Tamara Schmidt's parental rights. State authorities testified that Tamara has a history of drug abuse and of leaving her children home alone. They expressed concern about her ability to stay drug free if the state was not regularly testing her. They described her as "chronically unfit" to be a mother. A child-care worker testified that Tamara appeared uninterested in her daughter's life during supervised visits. Brittney herself testified, saying she still loved her mother but didn't want to live with her. She said she wanted to remain with her foster parents, who want to adopt her. "If mom couldn't take care of me before, she can't take care of me now," the wheelchair-bound Brittney said.

Nevertheless, noting that Tamara had followed a state-ordered rehabilitation plan with no relapses, Hardcastle decided not to terminate Tamara's parental rights. He did not reunite the two, however. He ordered that Brittney remain with her foster parents. But his ruling leaves open the possibility that, after lengthy family counseling and gradually increased contact between mother and daughter, the two can be reunited someday.

We are very dubious about the wisdom of leaving open that possibility -- as is the District Attorney's Office, which is planning to appeal Hardcastle's decision to the Nevada Supreme Court. But the decision stands for now, and with no guarantee that the appeal will be upheld, the important question today is what kind of future awaits Brittney. Hardcastle ordered status checks every six months on Tamara's aptitude for responsible motherhood. This could, conceivably, lead to an overburdened court ordering reunification by early next year. A hasty decision could mean pulling the girl from a safe home and placing her in danger again. Tamara Schmidt is a woman with a long, documented history of child neglect whose abandonment of her children left them defenseless against a vicious attack. There is a vast difference, sometimes, between being a birth mother and b eing a fit parent and Tamara Schmidt should be made to prove her fitness over many, many six-month periods before there is even the barest possibility of reunification.