Time to Shift Attention to Family

After three months in jail, Lesia Smith-Pappas is home with her family. A jury convicted the Canyon Country mother of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for the death of her infant son in a car accident: She rolled the family van on a winding stretch of Bouquet Canyon Road driving her children to school. Prosecutors contended she was speeding, driving on a suspended license and that none of the children’s seat belts were fastened--despite two prior convictions for failing to secure her kids properly. At Smith-Pappas’ sentencing last September, the judge gave her six months more behind bars than even prosecutors wanted.

Despite all that, home is where Smith-Pappas belongs right now. Maybe there--under house arrest with her family around her--she can start to put her life back together and direct her energy toward something more productive than her current, bitter campaign against child-welfare authorities. So far, though, she is as defiant as ever--vowing to get a driver’s license at the first opportunity and repeating her claims that she should never have served time in jail.

Since the August 1995 accident, Smith-Pappas has blamed everyone and everything for her son’s death. Gravel on the road. Another driver, even though she crossed over the center line. Passersby who attempted to revive the infant. Even emergency room doctors. The judge saw straight through Smith-Pappas’ scattershot assignment of blame. “You are a bad driver,” she scolded. “You detest authority.” We hope that Smith-Pappas in the coming months will gain such clarity of vision and surrender her fight against the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

Her campaign began shortly after the accident, when her children were placed temporarily in foster homes. Her group, PATCH UP (Parents Alliance to Challenge Harassment of Unwarranted Petitions), serves as a support group for parents who claim zealous social workers can do more harm than good in the name of protecting children. In very rare cases that may be true. But more often, social workers are criticized for not acting fast enough to get children out of dangerous situations.

For Smith-Pappas--for any of us--it is easy to point fingers. Since her arrest, Smith-Pappas has had plenty of accusing fingers pointed at her. Despite that, she is not a monster. She is a mother who made a dreadful mistake that she will not soon forget. She is angry. But directing that anger at an agency set up to help children like hers is counterproductive. She is home now with her children. That’s where her attention deserves to be focused.