Department of Social & Health Services v. Parvin

¶45 (dissenting) — King County Superior Court secretly orders the expenditure of public funds to pay for expert witnesses requested by indigent parents in termination and dependency cases. The majority’s endorsement of this practice gives short shrift to the interests of the children and taxpayers affected by it. It insulates judges from the constitutional presumption that courts do business in the open. And the majority unwisely expands the court’s authority to create its own procedures outside the rule-making process. I respectfully dissent.

1. The children

¶46 Thanks to decades of committed…