"Child's Welfare" | ||
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← | SVU, Episode 13.16 | → |
Production number: 13016 First aired (US): 29 February 2012 First aired (UK): 24 June 2012 First aired (CAN): 29 February 2012 First aired (AUS): 24 May 2012 | ||
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Teleplay By Peter Blauner & Julie Martin Story By Warren Leight Directed By Holly Dale |
Detective Benson calls on Bayard Ellis for legal help when her estranged brother gets caught in a child custody battle.
Summary[]
Detective Benson's half-brother Simon Marsden turns up in New York after a five year absence, and asks for help – Child Services is threatening to take his children away from him. She asks defense attorney Bayard Ellis to represent her brother, but the seemingly simple case turns into a disaster for Ellis and his client. Meanwhile, a homeless couple finds a newborn baby abandoned near a hospital, and Detectives Tutuola and Rollins follow the evidence to a shocking discovery.
Plot[]
A baby boy is abandoned on the steps of a church not far away from a hospital. The DNA testing shows that the baby's mother is a young girl named Celia, who had been missing for three years.
The Detectives interview Celia's mother who reveals that her ex-husband said their daughter was snatched up in a van before breaking down at previously doubting his story and blaming him for years on something that wasn't his fault.
SVU then speaks with Celia's father Leo who says he has been waiting for this day. He tells them how his daughter was snatched up and how he was not believed. He reveals that he hired a private investigator to locate his daughter. He was also told that Celia may have been pregnant three years ago, meaning she has two children with the person who took her. Leo soon gets a call from his remorseful ex.
They find a similar case years ago in New Jersey. After interviewing the mother of the first abandoned child, Laurie, it is discovered that she was abducted and kept by a husband and wife. When Laurie gave birth to a son, the husband wouldn't allow her to keep it. In the end, the detectives discover that a husband and wife have been holding Celia and her 2-year-old daughter captive. The Detectives discover that Magda Plasky worked as a nurse at the hospital that Laurie's son was taken to. Subsequently, Amaro and Rollins question Magda and after a while she confesses.
Amaro, Rollins, Olivia Benson and Odafin Tutuola make Magda take them to the dungeon that Barber was imprisoned in and they rescue her and her daughter. The detectives then make Magda call her husband John to lure him to them but she, while speaking a different language, warns John that the police are there and warns him to run but Amaro is able to capture and arrest him.
After processing John, the detectives discuss how Celia has been reunited with her family and her father is petitioning for custody of her children. It is also said Laurie and her son's adoptive parents have reached an understanding and allow visitation rights to Laurie.
Meanwhile, Olivia's brother Simon asks for her help when his stepson Ty and his daughter Olivia are taken away from him and his fiancee, Tracy. Olivia gets Bayard Ellis to help defend Simon against the drug charges that led to him losing his children. Ellis successfully gets a possession of marijuana charge against Simon dropped, but the kids remain in foster care and Simon loses all faith in the system and doesn't believe that he'll get his kids back.
Simon and Tracy abduct their kids from foster care and are arrested. Ellis is able to get Simon's charges reduced and Tracy's dropped, as well as her gaining custody of their children. However, this is only on the conditions that the two have to separate, and Simon can only see his children in a supervised setting for three years, with the chance to regain custody afterwards.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro
- Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
- Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- Andre Braugher as Defense Attorney Bayard Ellis
- Michael Weston as Simon Marsden
- Ami Brabson as Judge Karyn Blake
- Tabitha Holbert as A.D.A. Rose Callier
- Priscilla Lopez as Family Court Judge Shira Suarez
- Roy Milton Davis as Charlie
Guest cast[]
- Nicole Beharie as Tracy Harrison
- Veanne Cox as ACS Case Worker
- Halley Wegryn Gross as Laurie
- Peter Van Wagner as Judge C. Himes
- Kevin Kane as Officer Greg Wilcox
- Julie Lauren as Jenna Fleming
- Glenn Kalison as Will Fleming
- Danielle Skraastad as Magda Plasky
- Leslie Kalarchian as Melissa Anders
- George Sheffey as Leo Barber
- Graham Anderson as John Plasky
- Emma Holzer as Celia Barber
- Ann McDonough as Terri Malone
- Angela Logan as Nancy Roland
- Sonnie Brown as Helena Rich
- Jeremy Rishe as Dr. Shea
- Vincetta Easley as Lucinda
- Andre Ware as Sergeant Wodley
- Colin Douglas as Ty Harrison
- Jonathan Cohn as Dr. Anthony Castellano
- Renee Fishman as Mercy Hospital Neonatal Nurse (uncredited)
References[]
- David Haden
- Michael Wedmore
- Laurie mentions the song "Be OK" by Ingrid Michaelson, though she calls it "I Just Want To Be OK".
- Joseph Hollister
Quotes[]
- Simon Marsden: This is crazy. They dropped the pot charge. How can they keep my kids?
- Bayard Ellis: The smoking gun theory. Possession is considered evidence that other abuse and neglect could be going on.
- Tracy Harrison: What's going to happen with Ty and Olivia? They're in a foster home, they're scared...
- Benson: We're gonna fight this, Tracy.
- Simon Marsden: Yeah, right. They will not let us keep our kids no matter what.
- Benson: Simon, nobody's talking about quitting here, okay? You got to trust me on this.
- Simon Marsden: Liv, you know what I've been through. What, now you're telling me I should trust the system?
- Benson: Captain, what's going on?
- Cragen: When's the last time you talked to your brother?
- Benson: About an hour ago - he's been calling me, but I didn't pick up.
- Cragen: Do you know where he is?
- Benson: I have no idea. What's going on?
- Cragen: Simon and his fiancee just kidnapped the children from foster care. There's an Amber Alert out for them. He's been calling you? I'm gonna need your phone. You don't have a choice here, Liv.
- Benson: I'm so sorry that Simon got...
- Bayard Ellis: No, I don't blame him. The city of New York stripping children from their parents' arms is a clear abuse of government power.
- Benson: So what can we do?
- Bayard Ellis: I've been reviewing Judge Suarez's decisions. In cases involving one or two minority parents, she's upheld the removal of the children. She's ruled the other way in cases involving two white parents. I'm trying to set up a hearing, get her ruling overturned.
- Benson: Do you want Simon there?
- Bayard Ellis: Only if you can keep him calm. Blowing up in court is not going to help.
- Benson: You want to be a good father, Simon. Grow up.
Background information and notes[]
- Simon Marsden, Olivia's half-brother returns and is revealed to have a family now. She mentions they haven't seen each other in five years, as his last appearance was in the season 8 episode "Screwed".
- Simon having a daughter, means Benson now has two living relatives.
- Bayard Ellis recaps the events of "Florida" when Simon was found to be framed for rape.
- Simon would not make another appearance until the season 21 "Murdered at a Bad Address".
- Fin stares at Rollins after she makes a gambling reference which she says is just an expression she is using, referring to her gambling addiction that was revealed in the episode "Home Invasions".
- Andre Braugher and Ami Brabson were married in real life until Braugher's death due to lung cancer on December 11, 2023. They also both guest-star in the next episode "Justice Denied".
- Ellis says that Simon and Tracy are being charged with kidnapping in the second degree, and are facing serious time because it is a class B felony. However a parent cannot be charged with kidnapping for taking their own children for the sole purpose of regaining control. New York Penal Code, Article 135, Section 30 states: "In any prosecution for kidnapping, it is an affirmative defense that (a) the defendant was a relative of the person abducted, and (b) his sole purpose was to assume control of such person."
Episode scene cards[]
1 | 2 | 3 |
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Mercy Hospital |
Office of |
Pre-Trial Hearing |
4 | 5 | 6 |
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Family Court |
Social Services Agency |
Home of |
7 | 8 | 9 |
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Women's Shelter |
Arraignment Court |
Mercy Hospital |
Previous episode: "Hunting Ground" |
"Child's Welfare" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 13 |
Next episode: "Justice Denied" |