A Butler County judge refused yesterday to reconsider immediately the order he issued Monday in a child dependency case involving allegations of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Judge Thomas Doerr said he would not consider a request by attorneys for Ron and Mannie Taimuty-Loomis that they be given immediate physical custody of their three children: Ezra, 7, Adia, 6, and Symia, 2.

The children have been in foster care since September because Children and Youth Services contends the mother fabricated medical symptoms in Ezra and Symia, causing unnecessary and dangerous medical treatments. It contends Mannie Taimuty-Loomis is compelled to lie because she is afflicted with Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

But, an order drafted by juvenile court master Joseph Brydon and signed Monday by Doerr finds that the parents did not abuse their children.

Despite the finding of no abuse, the order also finds the children dependent, meaning they will remain under the legal control of the county judicial system for at least nine months.

The order specifically notes that the children should remain in foster care for at least the next 20 days and that, after that, CYS will continue to supervise and provide services for at least nine more months. Brydon wrote that reunification of the family should be the goal but that it should be gradual, supervised and aided by a professional skilled in psychology.

In the meantime, the parents will be allowed to see their children for eight hours a week, four hours of which will be supervised and four hours unsupervised.

Attorneys Jennifer Gilliland-Vanasdale and Mildred Sweeney, representing the parents, argued that the order is a compromise without legal merit.

"No abuse was found. ... We want the children back now," Gilliland-Vanasdale said.

CYS Solicitor Dan Houlihan argued that a reversal by the judge is not correct procedure.