Newton Falls boy takes up a cause with kids in mind

By Jordan Cohen

NEWTON FALLS — Ask most 13-year-old boys about their top interests and they’re likely to say video games, sports and perhaps girls.

Ask Brock DeAngelo, an eighth-grader at St. Mary and St. Joseph School in Newton Falls, about his biggest passion, and the answer is likely to be “none of the above.” Instead, he has focused on a far more serious topic: abused children and those involved in custody cases who, he believes, do not get the respect they deserve.

“I don’t think the courts take [children’s] views into full consideration as they would with an adult,” he said.

Brock, a straight-A pupil with “a mind like a sponge,” according to his mother, Jennifer Hornyak, has decided to do something about it. He wants the Ohio Legislature to approve a children’s bill of rights.

“Who better than a kid who went through it himself,” Brock said.

The youth alleges he was struck in the face by his father in 2005 and required hospital treatment.

“I can’t have surgery till I’m 18 because they say it will disrupt the growth plate in my chin, and I have pain quite often,” Brock said.

Warren lawyer J.P. Morgan, who represented Brock’s father, said his client “categorically denies” the son’s allegation. He said the father raised his son’s head to discipline him and did not strike him.

The case was later resolved between the father and Hornyak to include visitation rights, but Brock, who lives with his mother and 6-year-old brother, Bronson, has refused all contact. His father also has visitation time with Bronson.

Instead, Brock focuses on the children’s bill of rights and has gotten some support for his efforts. The endorsements came in the form of a letter from Bishop George Murry of the Youngstown Catholic Diocese, a resolution of support from Newton Falls City Council and placement of the proposed bill in the U.S. Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th.

Brock said he discovered the bill on the Angels in Blue Internet site, which was created by police officers in Little Rock, Ark., after they witnessed the horrific death of a victim of child abuse.

He copied the material and presented it in a brochure “Unless U Have Walked in Our Shoes,” which he has circulated.

The bill contains 10 “declarations,” some of which include requirements for the state to let the child “have a voice in determining the need for restraining orders” against parents or guardians, and elevating medical reports from doctors and other professionals to “the highest priority when determining parents’ rights” and visitations.

Those declarations do not meet with the approval of Trumbull Juvenile Court Judge Pamela Rintala, who said they limit the court’s ability to render the right decision.

“It’s up to the court to decide the best interests of the child,” Judge Rintala said. “Sometimes those are not what the child wants.” She noted that the law provides for private meetings between child and judge that exclude parents and attorneys.

“What I’d recommend is that the law provide parental resources to help cover payments for court-ordered representation and a guardian ad litem [person appointed to represent the child],” Rintala said. “Someone should look at that.”

Brock is not deterred and says becoming a child advocate and pushing for the bill’s adoption have become his twin passions. He is aware that the legal community is not supportive of some of the declarations.

“Rep. [Sandra] Harwood told me this will not be easy,” Brock said. “She said it would be like ‘pushing a boulder up a mountain.’”

Especially when you’re only 13.