Court Official Defends Transfers of Petitions for Undocumented Minors

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Davidson court official says a state law requires that guardianship petitions for undocumented alien minors claiming neglect or abuse be handled by the juvenile courts and not probate court.
Tim Townsend, trial court administrator, said in a statement issued Tuesday that the recent transfer of several cases of undocumented juveniles seeking guardianship was legal and proper.
He was reacting to statements by Nashville attorney Thomas J. Brown, who questioned the transfer of two cases filed in behalf of two minors who fled Honduras and came to live with a relative in Nashville.
Citing a recent advisory opinion by then Attorney General Robert Cooper, Brown said that he believed the probate court did have the authority to handle the cases.
Citing a state law, Townsend wrote in an email that "Juvenile Court has exclusive jurisdiction over
proceedings in which a child is alleged to be 'dependent or neglected.'"
He said that was the case regardless of the citizenship status of the child.
Townsend added that other types of guardianship cases are routinely handled by Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy.
"To the extent any guardianship case filed on behalf of any child has been transferred to the Juvenile Court; the transfer has been in compliance with statutory law and with the permission of Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway, and without burdening the litigants with an unnecessary hearing," Townsend concluded.
The issue arose in cases filed by Brown in behalf of two cousins who fled from Honduras in May only to be quickly apprehended by agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Brown filed the petitions as a first step in an attempt to get federal approval for the two 17-year-olds to remain in the United States.
In contrast to the situation in Davidson County, Shelby County Probate officials say they have acted on such petitions filed in that jurisdiction. The advisory opinion was issued by Cooper in response to a request filed at the behest of Shelby Probate Clerk Paul Boyd.
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