Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS. : CITIES : Girl Who Turned In Parents Is Returned to Their Custody

The 13-year-old Tustin girl who gained national attention after she reported her parents to the police for allegedly using drugs was returned to them last week. The parents’ attorney said court officials permitted it because she “wanted to go home real bad.”

Deanna Young, who said she had been trying to get her parents to stay away from drugs, walked into the Tustin police station 11 days ago carrying a trash bag containing $2,800 worth of cocaine, a small amount of marijuana and some pills. The girl said the drugs belonged to her parents.

The parents, Bobby Young, 49, a bartender, and Judith Young, 37, a bankruptcy court clerk, were arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale the same day. But the charge filed with the court was only possession of cocaine, a lesser charge, which prosecutors said would make it possible for the Youngs to enter a drug diversion program.

Both Youngs were released on their own recognizance, but their daughter had been kept at Orangewood, the county’s shelter for children, since the time she reported her parents.

Commissioner Betty J. Farrell permitted the girl to return home Friday after both the attorney appointed to represent her and her parents’ attorney told the court it was what the girl and her parents wanted.

“The parents’ whole position right now is to resolve their difficulties and get their lives put back together,” said their attorney, Gary L. Proctor.

Susan O’Brien, the court-appointed attorney who has represented the daughter, said she knew that Deanna wanted to return home and “after speaking with her parents, I knew they could protect the child and would, and that she would be in no danger.”