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Parents don’t get OK to visit two children
By John W. GOODWIN JR.
YOUNGSTOWN
A city couple charged with child endangering will have to wait a little longer before they are allowed to see their children.
David and Jenny Whalen of Cherry Hill Avenue appeared for a pretrial hearing Wednesday before Judge Robert Douglas of Youngstown Municipal Court. The couple, both wearing dark-colored suits, addressed the court through their attorney, Frank Fagnano.
The Whalens were arrested earlier this month after passers-by saw their children alone on Cherry Hill on the city’s West Side and called 911. The 1-year-old girl was wearing a sagging diaper and carrying a gasoline can, while the 3-year-old girl walked naked beside her, according to police.
The children were dirty and had bug bites when they were found. Police went to the girls’ home and found the 31-year-old father asleep. Jenny Whalen was not at home at the time.
Officers said in the report the house was filled with trash, urine-soaked carpet and beds, stacks of unwashed dishes, sharp knives in the children’s reach and old food dripping from the kitchen surfaces. Alcohol and medication also were accessible to the children, police said.
Fagnano told the court the matter likely would not be resolved without an actual trial. A trial date was set for Aug. 31 before Judge Douglas, but the couple wanted permission to see their children before that time.
Judge Elizabeth Kobly of municipal court issued a no-contact order on the couple in regard to the children. Fagnano told Judge Douglas the children, in the custody of Mahoning County Children Services, likely will be placed with a relative, and the couple would like the opportunity to see them.
Judge Douglas, however, refused to lift the no-contact order, saying he first would like to hear from children services or whoever will be in charge of the children.
The judge did say the couple could ask the court for permission to see the children at a later date.
Jenny Whalen was crying and being comforted by her husband in the hallway outside the courtroom after the decision was made.