Child neglect case against New Mexico couple returns to Chautauqua family court

Child welfare officials in New Mexico last year took four daughters away from a doctor after police charged him with subjecting the girls to cruel and bizarre punishments.

Police said the doctor made the girls live in a garage for weeks at a time, with only bread, water, peanut butter and sleeping bags. They also accused him of waking three of the girls in the middle of the night and driving them to a dangerous neighborhood, where they were left alone in a run-down trailer for two months.

The children have been staying in recent months with a foster family in the Chautauqua County community of Sherman, where the girls' adoptive aunt and uncle also live.

But now the doctor wants the girls back.

And a hard-fought legal battle over the girls has landed in Buffalo's federal court.

In addition to the criminal child abuse charges filed in New Mexico, Dr. Kenneth Yaw, an orthopedic surgeon originally from Pittsburgh, and his wife, Rita Starceski, are fighting a child neglect action filed against them by Chautauqua County Social Services lawyers. The surgeon's attorneys want the girls to be taken out of New York State and placed with two friends of Yaw's in Cincinnati, while Yaw seeks to have them eventually returned to him.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara on Friday refused a request from Yaw's attorneys to hear the case in federal court. Arcara sent the case back to Chautauqua County Family Court, where it has been debated for the past year.

"That is very good news," said Robin Starceski, aunt of the four girls who lives in Sherman and wants to adopt the girls. "For now, I know the girls are safe. That's all we've wanted, all along." continue on cite below..

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in my opinion i can not see how a person can do this, especially a doctor. as a doctor arnt you suppose to take care of people not make them worse. the kind of neglect shown here is the worst i have read aout. its not right.