THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, March 3, 1995                  TAG: 9503030382
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

STARVED BABY'S GUARDIAN CALLS OFF BATTLE HE TRIED TO KEEP THE BOY FROM HIS PARENTS' HOME. BUT SOCIAL SERVICES, HE SAYS, WINS.

The guardian of a boy starved by his parents called off on Thursday a court fight to have the child permanently removed from the home for his own safety.

The guardian learned that 15-month-old Christopher N. Herrera and his two sisters are living with their maternal grandmother in San Antonio while their parents serve 106-day jail terms for felony child-neglect convictions. The parents - Martin Herrera Jr., 21, and Karen E. Herrera, 20 - will get their children back, including Christopher, when they are freed sometime next month.

The guardian, Paul H. Ray, had objected to Social Services returning Christopher to his parents before their January trial. Once a Circuit Court jury convicted the parents of neglect, Ray asked the court not to allow them to retrieve the boy when they were released from jail.

Ray said the issue now is moot.

``I think I've been effectively checkmated by Social Services,'' Ray said.

``There's a suggestion that they wanted to avoid the exposure of a public hearing on whether the parents were fit to keep custody.''

Not so, said the lawyer for Virginia Beach Social Services, Richard G. Brydges. Social Services completed a suitability study of the grandmother's home before the Herreras were sentenced last week, and the law gives the agency the right to place the children where it thinks best.

``Those children belong to the Social Services bureau, to make decisions regarding what's in their best interest,'' Brydges said.

Virginia Beach Social Services retains legal custody of Christopher, and has arranged with its Texas counterpart to monitor the children's well-being. ``It's just like they had a hands-on situation down there,'' Brydges said.

An emaciated 5-month-old Christopher was hospitalized in May and placed in foster care when his parents were charged with not adequately feeding him. Prosecutors and the guardian protested when Social Services returned the boy to his parents three months before their trial, and his foster parents quit the city program in disgust.

Social Services at first had objected to an order by a judge in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court to return Christopher to his parents. Then the agency relented when it was allowed to retain legal custody. That gave the agency the right to continue monitoring the child's care.

KEYWORDS: CHILD NEGLECT CHILD ABUSE STARVATION by CNB