The Calizaire sisters lived with countless families, and say they were abused by some of their foster care parents
By Nathalie Pozo
Sophia and Princess Calizaire were introduced to foster care when they were seen wandering the streets looking for their mother, who had left them alone in a South Florida motel.
"We heard this big bang at the door," said Sophia Calizaire. "We were trying to figure out who it was."
It was the Florida Department of Children and Families coming to take them away, and they became foster care files that night, when they were just four and seven years old.
The Calizaire sisters lived with countless families and were moved from one school to another. They say they were abused while staying with some of those foster care parents.
"She took a belt, she started beating me with the belt, picked up a hanger, she started beating me with the hanger, picked up a heel and started beating me with the heel,” said Sophia.
Her sister, Princess, was outside the room and could hear everything. “I couldn’t do anything about it," Princess said, with tears coming down her face.
The Calizaire sisters remember one foster care parent making them sleep in a dog house and eat dog food. They say some foster care parents wouldn’t feed them, would keep locks on the refrigerator and would sometimes starve them as a form of punishment.
"She told me to eat in front of my sister while she watched and my sister is hungry. I took out the chewed up piece of chicken from my mouth and gave it to her," said Sophia, who said she was caught by her foster care mother. "She filled up the bathroom sink and she took my head and started drowning me. She kept drowning me until she felt she was ready to stop."
Princess says the abuse not only came from the parents. “I stayed in a foster home down south where this boy used to try to rape me every night before I would go to sleep," she said. "I used to be scared to go to sleep at night. I ran away from there."
Mez Pierre, now 24, had a similar experience in foster care when he was a little boy. He says he was sexually abused by one of the teen foster kids staying in the same home.
“I was a little kid, they knew they could take advantage of me and I couldn’t fight back,” said Pierre. "But I did tell, I did tell someone and she didn’t do anything, she didn’t do anything."
In 2005, DCF completed privatizing foster care. They contracted with 20 lead agencies throughout the state to oversee the care and needs of children in foster care.
Our Kids manages Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, while Child Net handles Broward County. The abuse endured by Pierre and the Calizaire sisters happened before the agencies took over, but they still say the system is far from perfect.
Some child advocate attorneys say the current privatized system does not work because lead agencies like Our Kids sub-contracted other organizations to monitor foster care children.
"So you have multiple corporations and agencies who supposedly are in charge and responsible for the lives of the children but tragically these children, real human beings, fall through the cracks in the system,” said attorney Howard Talenfeld.
DCF disagrees and says when it was a statewide agency it became quite unmanageable.
"Out of the one or two cases that you hear which are horrible cases and we need to learn from, there are thousands of children and families that DCF and Our Kids helps on a yearly and daily basis," said DCF’s southern regional director, Esther Jacobo, who added that DCF is taking steps to improve the system.
Jacobo said case managers have to see a child in care every 30 days and must have private conversations with that child so they feel comfortable opening up. She says there is an electronic monitoring system in place for case workers, which snaps a picture of the child with a time, date and location.
"It’s kind of like a GPS and statewide Tallahassee monitors that so you know what is happening in terms of the child visit," Jacobo said.
Currently, there are just fewer than 20,000 children in foster care statewide, according to DCF. During a two-month span between August and October, there were 127 verified abuse cases across the state, 17 of them in the South Florida area.
Source http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Foster-Care-System-Through-The-Eyes-of-The-Ones-Who-Lived-It-140874593.html
CPS corruption hurts and destroys families worldwide. Please use caution posting about CPS here or anyplace on the internet. For your protection, using your full, real name and precise location is not advised. CPS has eyes everywhere and CPS is notorious for taking what people say, twisting it, embellishing on it and then using it against them in CPS "investigations" and at court proceedings.
Showing posts with label abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abuse. Show all posts
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Colorado Court Rules Social Workers Potentially Liable in Foster Home Abuse
Written by: James Swift
Earlier this month, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that social workers in Adams County may be held legally responsible for failures to protect children in foster care from abuse.
The ruling stems from a case involving a lawsuit filed by three siblings, who claim that social workers failed to safeguard them from abuse in their mother’s home, and later deceived their adoptive parents about the severity of their abuse history.
Prior to the ruling, the adoptive parents of the children unsuccessfully filed a separate suit against the Adams County Department of Social Services, claiming that social workers did not disclose the full records of abuse prior to their adoption. Last December, a federal judge ruled that Denver’s social workers could be sued, following the case of a 7-year-old who starved to death under the watch of his foster parents.
The ruling allows the siblings to proceed with their lawsuit against the Adams County Department of Social Services, on the grounds that their rights to safety were violated by county social workers.
The appellate court determined that the state’s division director of Child Welfare Angela Lytle, who supervised social workers Joan Forsmark and Cathy O’Donnell, acted “recklessly in conscious disregard” of the plaintiffs’ safety.
“The conduct put the children at substantial risk of serious, immediate, and proximate harm that was known to or suspected by Lytle at the time of the adoption,” the court opinion reads. “And such conduct, when viewed in total, is conscience shocking.”
Plaintiff attorney Jordan Factor said that the ruling could pave the way for major changes to the state’s foster home system.
“Each circumstance is a little different, and this adds to the mix of circumstances in which the courts consistently say that children in the custody of the state of Colorado have a right to be kept safe from harm,” Factor said. “It is a case that has an opportunity to do real justice.”
Source http://jjie.org/colorado-court-rules-social-workers-potentially-liable-foster-home-abuse/69345
Earlier this month, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that social workers in Adams County may be held legally responsible for failures to protect children in foster care from abuse.
The ruling stems from a case involving a lawsuit filed by three siblings, who claim that social workers failed to safeguard them from abuse in their mother’s home, and later deceived their adoptive parents about the severity of their abuse history.
Prior to the ruling, the adoptive parents of the children unsuccessfully filed a separate suit against the Adams County Department of Social Services, claiming that social workers did not disclose the full records of abuse prior to their adoption. Last December, a federal judge ruled that Denver’s social workers could be sued, following the case of a 7-year-old who starved to death under the watch of his foster parents.
The ruling allows the siblings to proceed with their lawsuit against the Adams County Department of Social Services, on the grounds that their rights to safety were violated by county social workers.
The appellate court determined that the state’s division director of Child Welfare Angela Lytle, who supervised social workers Joan Forsmark and Cathy O’Donnell, acted “recklessly in conscious disregard” of the plaintiffs’ safety.
“The conduct put the children at substantial risk of serious, immediate, and proximate harm that was known to or suspected by Lytle at the time of the adoption,” the court opinion reads. “And such conduct, when viewed in total, is conscience shocking.”
Plaintiff attorney Jordan Factor said that the ruling could pave the way for major changes to the state’s foster home system.
“Each circumstance is a little different, and this adds to the mix of circumstances in which the courts consistently say that children in the custody of the state of Colorado have a right to be kept safe from harm,” Factor said. “It is a case that has an opportunity to do real justice.”
Source http://jjie.org/colorado-court-rules-social-workers-potentially-liable-foster-home-abuse/69345
Docs more likely to suspect abuse in poor kids
By Amy Norton - Reuters
(Reuters Health) - When a toddler has a broken bone, pediatricians may be more likely to suspect abuse if the family is lower-income, a new study finds.
Researchers found that pediatricians who read a fictional case report of a toddler with a leg fracture were more likely to suspect abuse if the child was described as coming from a lower-income family.
The hypothetical child's race, on the other hand, did not appear to influence doctors' opinions.
The second finding is somewhat surprising, according to the researchers. Studies looking at real-world cases have found that minority children are more likely to be evaluated for abuse than white children are.
And it's well known that the child welfare system in the U.S. has a disproportionate number of minority kids.
"There's very strong evidence of a racial difference in how patients are handled," said lead researcher Dr. Antoinette L. Laskey, a pediatrician at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
But, she told Reuters Health, the reasons for that have not been clear -- including whether doctors may act based on unconscious racial stereotypes.
The current results suggest "there's more than race involved," Laskey said.
She was also quick to say, however, that the study doesn't mean pediatricians are consciously "classist" or otherwise biased when evaluating children's injuries.
The study, reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, included 2,100 U.S. pediatricians who responded to a survey that described one of four hypothetical cases.
All cases included an 18-month-old with an "ambiguous" leg fracture -- a type that can be caused by abuse or an accident.
But the cases varied by the child's race (black or white) and the family's economic situation; parents were described as having either professional jobs (accountant and bank manager) or working-class jobs (grocery clerk and factory worker).
Race had little effect on the doctors' responses. The study found that when the child was black, 45 percent of doctors believed there had "possibly" or "almost certainly" been abuse; another 32 percent were "unsure." If the child was white, 46 percent of pediatricians suspected abuse, with 28 percent saying they were unsure.
In contrast, there was evidence that parents' job descriptions swayed doctors' opinions.
When the child's family was lower-income, 48 percent of pediatricians thought there'd been abuse, versus 43 percent when the family was higher-income.
It's hard to know whether doctors' responses to a fictional case would be the same in real life.
And it's not clear, according to Laskey, whether attitudes about socioeconomic status might explain some of the racial differences in child abuse reporting seen in earlier studies.
She also stressed that she does not think pediatricians are consciously basing their diagnoses on parents' job titles. But in general, unconscious stereotypes can influence anyone's thinking.
"People tend to think that child abuse, or domestic violence, doesn't happen in upper-middle-class families, but of course it does," Laskey said.
It's important, she said, for doctors to be aware that unconscious generalizations could get in the way of diagnosing child abuse -- either missing it in kids from affluent families, or over-diagnosing it in children from poorer or minority families.
"My big take-home message for doctors is that we need to rely on the objective data," Laskey said.
It is true that studies have found children in poorer families to be at greater risk of abuse. But the poverty, itself, is not a "causative factor," Laskey said.
"Race and socioeconomic status shouldn't be things used in a diagnosis of abuse," she said.
SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics, online January 5, 2012.
Source http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-docs-abuse-idUSTRE80J1WK20120120
(Reuters Health) - When a toddler has a broken bone, pediatricians may be more likely to suspect abuse if the family is lower-income, a new study finds.
Researchers found that pediatricians who read a fictional case report of a toddler with a leg fracture were more likely to suspect abuse if the child was described as coming from a lower-income family.
The hypothetical child's race, on the other hand, did not appear to influence doctors' opinions.
The second finding is somewhat surprising, according to the researchers. Studies looking at real-world cases have found that minority children are more likely to be evaluated for abuse than white children are.
And it's well known that the child welfare system in the U.S. has a disproportionate number of minority kids.
"There's very strong evidence of a racial difference in how patients are handled," said lead researcher Dr. Antoinette L. Laskey, a pediatrician at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
But, she told Reuters Health, the reasons for that have not been clear -- including whether doctors may act based on unconscious racial stereotypes.
The current results suggest "there's more than race involved," Laskey said.
She was also quick to say, however, that the study doesn't mean pediatricians are consciously "classist" or otherwise biased when evaluating children's injuries.
The study, reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, included 2,100 U.S. pediatricians who responded to a survey that described one of four hypothetical cases.
All cases included an 18-month-old with an "ambiguous" leg fracture -- a type that can be caused by abuse or an accident.
But the cases varied by the child's race (black or white) and the family's economic situation; parents were described as having either professional jobs (accountant and bank manager) or working-class jobs (grocery clerk and factory worker).
Race had little effect on the doctors' responses. The study found that when the child was black, 45 percent of doctors believed there had "possibly" or "almost certainly" been abuse; another 32 percent were "unsure." If the child was white, 46 percent of pediatricians suspected abuse, with 28 percent saying they were unsure.
In contrast, there was evidence that parents' job descriptions swayed doctors' opinions.
When the child's family was lower-income, 48 percent of pediatricians thought there'd been abuse, versus 43 percent when the family was higher-income.
It's hard to know whether doctors' responses to a fictional case would be the same in real life.
And it's not clear, according to Laskey, whether attitudes about socioeconomic status might explain some of the racial differences in child abuse reporting seen in earlier studies.
She also stressed that she does not think pediatricians are consciously basing their diagnoses on parents' job titles. But in general, unconscious stereotypes can influence anyone's thinking.
"People tend to think that child abuse, or domestic violence, doesn't happen in upper-middle-class families, but of course it does," Laskey said.
It's important, she said, for doctors to be aware that unconscious generalizations could get in the way of diagnosing child abuse -- either missing it in kids from affluent families, or over-diagnosing it in children from poorer or minority families.
"My big take-home message for doctors is that we need to rely on the objective data," Laskey said.
It is true that studies have found children in poorer families to be at greater risk of abuse. But the poverty, itself, is not a "causative factor," Laskey said.
"Race and socioeconomic status shouldn't be things used in a diagnosis of abuse," she said.
SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics, online January 5, 2012.
Source http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-docs-abuse-idUSTRE80J1WK20120120
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Teacher Sentenced to Three Years' Probation for Child Abuse and Battery - Wisconsin
By Sara Kronenberg
Calumet County - A former teacher accused of abusing students was sentenced to probation Wednesday -- with the threat of a year in jail if she violates the requirements.
Calumet County prosecutors charged Mary Berglund this past March with ten counts, including five felonies, for allegedly abusing six disabled students at Janet Berry Elementary School back in 2009.
At Wednesday's court hearing, Berglund pleaded no contest in a plea agreement that amends the child abuse charges to five counts of misdemeanor battery and one felony count of child abuse.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Berglund to probation and counseling.
The judge decided to put Berglund on probation for three years with anger management courses, counseling, and 100 hours of community service. She'll spend a year in jail if she doesn't follow through.
Source http://www.wbay.com/story/16373467/2011/12/21/judge-sentences-former-teacher-to-probation-for-child-abuse-and-battery
Calumet County - A former teacher accused of abusing students was sentenced to probation Wednesday -- with the threat of a year in jail if she violates the requirements.
Calumet County prosecutors charged Mary Berglund this past March with ten counts, including five felonies, for allegedly abusing six disabled students at Janet Berry Elementary School back in 2009.
At Wednesday's court hearing, Berglund pleaded no contest in a plea agreement that amends the child abuse charges to five counts of misdemeanor battery and one felony count of child abuse.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Berglund to probation and counseling.
The judge decided to put Berglund on probation for three years with anger management courses, counseling, and 100 hours of community service. She'll spend a year in jail if she doesn't follow through.
Source http://www.wbay.com/story/16373467/2011/12/21/judge-sentences-former-teacher-to-probation-for-child-abuse-and-battery
Thursday, December 15, 2011
A Letter For Your Neighbors – If They Are Calling CPS (from fightcps.com)
Blogger note:
Thank you Linda from fightcps.com, for all that you do and for helping those trying to keep their families intact while CPS is trying to rip them apart. Thank you for writing this letter to help those who are devastated by the thought of losing their children. You are awesome!
---
Today I heard from a parent who is terrified because her neighbors are calling CPS to make reports about her. I was inspired to write this letter on her behalf. You can download this letter in a printable PDF format to print and give to neighbors in your area, to post on bulletin boards at stores and laundromats, or to send to a specific reporting party if you know who it is. I will modify the letter for other situations if you can give me some ideas on who needs a letter like this. Is it the teachers at the school, the doctor’s office? Who? Let’s educate the public on the dangers of CPS. You can help do that by distributing this letter in your area.
Dear Neighbors – PDF printable format
Dear neighbors,
Someone called CPS. Was it you? Please read this letter before calling CPS again.
I am honestly terrified of losing my children and implore you, if you are the one who made the call, to let me know if I do something you think is wrong regarding my children, and do not call CPS again.
My terror is nothing compared to the trauma my children suffer at the thought of losing me, their home, their friends, their school, their pets, their toys, their grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and everything else that is part of their world. In the foster care system siblings often even lose each other.
You might think foster care is a better place for children but according to federal statistics children are much more likely to be abused in state custody foster homes. In foster homes many thousands of children have been abused emotionally, physically, and sexually. Many children have died in foster homes – many of whom were beaten to death by foster “parents”.
A professor at MIT did a study on foster children and learned that their long-range outcomes are not good, and that they’re better off left in marginal homes if there’s no extreme abuse going on. Most prison inmates were foster children.
So I ask that even if you don’t like me, please have mercy on my children and do not call CPS. It is a very dangerous government agency and not good for children. You are welcome to come to my house to advise me if you think I’m doing something wrong.
The government is very intrusive these days, and interferes with people for many reasons. We the taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for all these intrusions. The cost of child protective services intrusions, the foster home placements, the “services” forced on parents – are all running up our tax bills. State custody for children is very expensive.
I would prefer a life where we as neighbors can help one another without having to call in government workers for every little thing. Please do not be afraid to contact me if you feel I’m doing something wrong. Do not be afraid to offer to help me. If you’re afraid, show me this letter… let me know that something has to change if that’s how you feel. But please, do not terrorize my children – they are traumatized at the thought of being taken away.
Thank you… from a neighbor.
Written by Linda at http://www.fightcps.com for someone in your neighborhood.
(If you use this but change the wording please do not use my name on your revised letter. I’d prefer that you use the printable PDF version.)
Thank you Linda from fightcps.com, for all that you do and for helping those trying to keep their families intact while CPS is trying to rip them apart. Thank you for writing this letter to help those who are devastated by the thought of losing their children. You are awesome!
---
Today I heard from a parent who is terrified because her neighbors are calling CPS to make reports about her. I was inspired to write this letter on her behalf. You can download this letter in a printable PDF format to print and give to neighbors in your area, to post on bulletin boards at stores and laundromats, or to send to a specific reporting party if you know who it is. I will modify the letter for other situations if you can give me some ideas on who needs a letter like this. Is it the teachers at the school, the doctor’s office? Who? Let’s educate the public on the dangers of CPS. You can help do that by distributing this letter in your area.
Dear Neighbors – PDF printable format
Dear neighbors,
Someone called CPS. Was it you? Please read this letter before calling CPS again.
I am honestly terrified of losing my children and implore you, if you are the one who made the call, to let me know if I do something you think is wrong regarding my children, and do not call CPS again.
My terror is nothing compared to the trauma my children suffer at the thought of losing me, their home, their friends, their school, their pets, their toys, their grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and everything else that is part of their world. In the foster care system siblings often even lose each other.
You might think foster care is a better place for children but according to federal statistics children are much more likely to be abused in state custody foster homes. In foster homes many thousands of children have been abused emotionally, physically, and sexually. Many children have died in foster homes – many of whom were beaten to death by foster “parents”.
A professor at MIT did a study on foster children and learned that their long-range outcomes are not good, and that they’re better off left in marginal homes if there’s no extreme abuse going on. Most prison inmates were foster children.
So I ask that even if you don’t like me, please have mercy on my children and do not call CPS. It is a very dangerous government agency and not good for children. You are welcome to come to my house to advise me if you think I’m doing something wrong.
The government is very intrusive these days, and interferes with people for many reasons. We the taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for all these intrusions. The cost of child protective services intrusions, the foster home placements, the “services” forced on parents – are all running up our tax bills. State custody for children is very expensive.
I would prefer a life where we as neighbors can help one another without having to call in government workers for every little thing. Please do not be afraid to contact me if you feel I’m doing something wrong. Do not be afraid to offer to help me. If you’re afraid, show me this letter… let me know that something has to change if that’s how you feel. But please, do not terrorize my children – they are traumatized at the thought of being taken away.
Thank you… from a neighbor.
Written by Linda at http://www.fightcps.com for someone in your neighborhood.
(If you use this but change the wording please do not use my name on your revised letter. I’d prefer that you use the printable PDF version.)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Father sues CSB in death of child - Ohio
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Thomas Cross, the biological father of a child who died while in foster care April 2, 2009, has sued the Trumbull County Children Services Board and others.
The suit says officials failed to protect the child despite warning signs.
It says the autopsy conducted after the child’s death showed evidence of abuse pre-dating the abuse that killed her, though the Trumbull County coroner refutes that allegation.
Cross, of Garrettsville, filed the suit in federal court last week, seeking $1.2 million in damages.
Tiffany Banks Cross was 20 months old when her foster mother, Bonnie Pattinson, 30, carried her to a neighbor’s house April 2, 2009, because the girl was not breathing. The girl later was pronounced dead.
Pattinson and her family were living in a duplex on Center Street West in Champion Township at the time of the death. Pattinson later was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death and sentenced to nine years in prison.
In the lawsuit filed by Boardman lawyer David Engler, Cross said he warned children services that the girl might be in danger, telling children services he saw bruising on her and dog hair in her baby formula.
Children services “never responded to the father’s concern,” the suit said.
Cross’ parental rights regarding the girl were terminated, at children services’ request, Nov. 4, 2008, “despite his not being represented at final hearing of that matter, nor was there a record of his knowing and voluntary waiving of such right to representation,” the suit said.
The suit said children services also was “informed of other harmful acts perpetrated against children in the care of Bonnie Pattinson.”
Nick Kerosky, executive director of Trumbull County Children Services, said he has no comment on the lawsuit.
Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Trumbull County coroner, said Monday he saw nothing on the girl’s body indicating bruising or any other type of abuse other than the abuse that caused her death.
The coroner ruled that the girl died of asphyxiation, and a county prosecutor said there were marks on the child’s neck consistent with the rings Pattinson was wearing.
In the lawsuit, Cross said the coroner saw “multiple abrasions and contusions upon the infant that were consistent with a pattern of abuse dating before the actual horrific beating that resulted in the child’s death.”
The suit says children services showed “deliberate indifference to [Pattinson’s] abusive nature.”
The suit also names as defendants the Trumbull County commissioners, who appoint members of the children services board of trustees, and Pattinson.
Source http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/nov/08/father-sues-csb-in-death-of-child/
WARREN
Thomas Cross, the biological father of a child who died while in foster care April 2, 2009, has sued the Trumbull County Children Services Board and others.
The suit says officials failed to protect the child despite warning signs.
It says the autopsy conducted after the child’s death showed evidence of abuse pre-dating the abuse that killed her, though the Trumbull County coroner refutes that allegation.
Cross, of Garrettsville, filed the suit in federal court last week, seeking $1.2 million in damages.
Tiffany Banks Cross was 20 months old when her foster mother, Bonnie Pattinson, 30, carried her to a neighbor’s house April 2, 2009, because the girl was not breathing. The girl later was pronounced dead.
Pattinson and her family were living in a duplex on Center Street West in Champion Township at the time of the death. Pattinson later was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death and sentenced to nine years in prison.
In the lawsuit filed by Boardman lawyer David Engler, Cross said he warned children services that the girl might be in danger, telling children services he saw bruising on her and dog hair in her baby formula.
Children services “never responded to the father’s concern,” the suit said.
Cross’ parental rights regarding the girl were terminated, at children services’ request, Nov. 4, 2008, “despite his not being represented at final hearing of that matter, nor was there a record of his knowing and voluntary waiving of such right to representation,” the suit said.
The suit said children services also was “informed of other harmful acts perpetrated against children in the care of Bonnie Pattinson.”
Nick Kerosky, executive director of Trumbull County Children Services, said he has no comment on the lawsuit.
Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Trumbull County coroner, said Monday he saw nothing on the girl’s body indicating bruising or any other type of abuse other than the abuse that caused her death.
The coroner ruled that the girl died of asphyxiation, and a county prosecutor said there were marks on the child’s neck consistent with the rings Pattinson was wearing.
In the lawsuit, Cross said the coroner saw “multiple abrasions and contusions upon the infant that were consistent with a pattern of abuse dating before the actual horrific beating that resulted in the child’s death.”
The suit says children services showed “deliberate indifference to [Pattinson’s] abusive nature.”
The suit also names as defendants the Trumbull County commissioners, who appoint members of the children services board of trustees, and Pattinson.
Source http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/nov/08/father-sues-csb-in-death-of-child/
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Records shows Boy Scout officials failed to report leader who molested children in California
By Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Boy Scout officials in the U.S. and Canada not only failed to stop an admitted child molester in their ranks, but sometimes helped cover his tracks, according to confidential records, court files and interviews with victims and their families.
A Los Angeles Times and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. investigation (http://lat.ms/tYtWBX ) published Saturday finds scout leader Rick Turley molested at least 15 children over nearly two decades, most of whom he met through American and Canadian Scouting beginning in the 1970s.
Boy Scouts of America officials didn’t call police in 1979 after Turley acknowledged molesting three Orange County boys, records show.
“You do not want to broadcast to the entire population that these things happen,” A. Buford Hill Jr., a former Orange County Scouting executive, said of officials’ decision not to contact authorities. “You take care of it quietly and make sure it never happens again.”
It happened again. Turley returned to his native Canada, where he signed on with Scouts Canada, and continued his abuses for at least a decade.
Now 58 and working at an Alberta truck-stop motel, Turley says he is surprised by how often he got away with it.
“It was easy,” he said in an interview with the CBC, adding that he has learned to control his impulses.
Turley was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted in 1996 of five counts of molesting children. Paroled in 2000, he was later caught trying to draw two pre-teen boys into a relationship and sent back to prison. He was released two years later.
Turley is one of more than 5,000 suspected child molesters named in confidential documents kept by the Boy Scouts of America. The records — called the “perversion files” by the Scouts — include admissions of guilt as well as unproven allegations.
Those files have come to light in recent years in lawsuits by former Scouts, accusing the group of failing to detect abuses, exclude known pedophiles, or turn in offenders to authorities.
The Oregon Supreme Court is now weighing a request by newspapers, a wire service and broadcasters to open about 1,200 more files in the wake of a nearly $20-million judgment in a Portland sex abuse case last year.
The Scouts’ handling of sex-abuse allegations is similar to that of the Catholic Church in the face of accusations against its priests, some attorneys told the Times and the CBC.
“It’s the same institutional reaction: scandal prevention,” said Seattle attorney Timothy Kosnoff, who has filed seven suits in the last year by former Scouts.
Current Boy Scouts of America officials declined to be interviewed and would not say how many files exist or what is in them. Their lawyers have said the records are confidential, to protect victims and because some of the files are based on unsubstantiated tips.
“The BSA has continued to enhance its youth protection efforts as society has increased its understanding of the dangers children face,” the Scouts said in a statement.
Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/records-boy-scout-officials-failed-to-report-leader-who-molested-children-in-california/2011/10/29/gIQA7bNtSM_story.html
LOS ANGELES — Boy Scout officials in the U.S. and Canada not only failed to stop an admitted child molester in their ranks, but sometimes helped cover his tracks, according to confidential records, court files and interviews with victims and their families.
A Los Angeles Times and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. investigation (http://lat.ms/tYtWBX ) published Saturday finds scout leader Rick Turley molested at least 15 children over nearly two decades, most of whom he met through American and Canadian Scouting beginning in the 1970s.
Boy Scouts of America officials didn’t call police in 1979 after Turley acknowledged molesting three Orange County boys, records show.
“You do not want to broadcast to the entire population that these things happen,” A. Buford Hill Jr., a former Orange County Scouting executive, said of officials’ decision not to contact authorities. “You take care of it quietly and make sure it never happens again.”
It happened again. Turley returned to his native Canada, where he signed on with Scouts Canada, and continued his abuses for at least a decade.
Now 58 and working at an Alberta truck-stop motel, Turley says he is surprised by how often he got away with it.
“It was easy,” he said in an interview with the CBC, adding that he has learned to control his impulses.
Turley was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted in 1996 of five counts of molesting children. Paroled in 2000, he was later caught trying to draw two pre-teen boys into a relationship and sent back to prison. He was released two years later.
Turley is one of more than 5,000 suspected child molesters named in confidential documents kept by the Boy Scouts of America. The records — called the “perversion files” by the Scouts — include admissions of guilt as well as unproven allegations.
Those files have come to light in recent years in lawsuits by former Scouts, accusing the group of failing to detect abuses, exclude known pedophiles, or turn in offenders to authorities.
The Oregon Supreme Court is now weighing a request by newspapers, a wire service and broadcasters to open about 1,200 more files in the wake of a nearly $20-million judgment in a Portland sex abuse case last year.
The Scouts’ handling of sex-abuse allegations is similar to that of the Catholic Church in the face of accusations against its priests, some attorneys told the Times and the CBC.
“It’s the same institutional reaction: scandal prevention,” said Seattle attorney Timothy Kosnoff, who has filed seven suits in the last year by former Scouts.
Current Boy Scouts of America officials declined to be interviewed and would not say how many files exist or what is in them. Their lawyers have said the records are confidential, to protect victims and because some of the files are based on unsubstantiated tips.
“The BSA has continued to enhance its youth protection efforts as society has increased its understanding of the dangers children face,” the Scouts said in a statement.
Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/records-boy-scout-officials-failed-to-report-leader-who-molested-children-in-california/2011/10/29/gIQA7bNtSM_story.html
Sunday, October 16, 2011
DHS misled level of child abuse in federal report
by: RANDY ELLIS, NOLAN CLAY & ROBBY TRAMMELL
Sunday, October 16, 2011
10/16/2011 7:17:13 AM
DHS officials greatly misrepresented to the public and their governing commission the number of children abused and neglected in out-of-home state custody, documents reveal.
Last December, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services issued a news release stating "99.8 percent of children in out-of-home care did not experience maltreatment while in care" during 2009.
The agency proclaimed Oklahoma was one of 24 states that met a national standard of having at least 99.68 percent of children in custody not experience confirmed abuse or neglect in out-of-home care.
The claims were false.
Source http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=20111016_12_A1_DHSoff80925
More on this subject http://newsok.com/dhs-misrepresents-number-of-children-abused-and-neglected-in-state-custody/article/3613772?custom_click=pod_headline_usnational-news
Sunday, October 16, 2011
10/16/2011 7:17:13 AM
DHS officials greatly misrepresented to the public and their governing commission the number of children abused and neglected in out-of-home state custody, documents reveal.
Last December, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services issued a news release stating "99.8 percent of children in out-of-home care did not experience maltreatment while in care" during 2009.
The agency proclaimed Oklahoma was one of 24 states that met a national standard of having at least 99.68 percent of children in custody not experience confirmed abuse or neglect in out-of-home care.
The claims were false.
Source http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=20111016_12_A1_DHSoff80925
More on this subject http://newsok.com/dhs-misrepresents-number-of-children-abused-and-neglected-in-state-custody/article/3613772?custom_click=pod_headline_usnational-news
Thursday, October 6, 2011
D.C. child welfare agency often acts too quickly to remove children, study says
By Teresa Tomassoni, Published: October 5
The number of children removed from their homes by child abuse investigators in the District has fallen in the past year, but a recent review of some cases concluded that children are still regularly separated from their parents without adequate justification.
The study, conducted by a federally mandated panel of volunteer monitors, examined 27 cases involving 41 children over several years. In many of the instances examined by the panel, children who were placed briefly in foster care should have stayed with their families, the report concluded.
The Citizens Review Panel said the District’s Child and Family Services Agency has not done enough to keep families together and urged the agency to do better.
“CFSA’s child removal decisions must balance the need to protect children from serious abuse or neglect with the need to protect children from the significant emotional trauma that comes from the government separating them from their families,” the report, released last week, stated.
The review, released last week, is the latest examination of the challenges that CFSA, like other child welfare agencies, faces in balancing the inclination to remove children when neglect or abuse is suspected and the imperative to leave them in the home unless they are in imminent danger.
In more than half of the reviews conducted, panel members found that the case record did not justify removal.
In one case cited in the report, a social worker removed a child upon discovering suspicious marks on the child’s body, most likely from being whipped with a cord. The social worker placed him and his three siblings, who did not show signs of abuse, into foster care without obtaining a family court order.
After the removal, the social worker met with the mother to work out a strategy, known as a safety plan, for addressing the problems in the home. Less than a week later, the children were back at home. The report said that if this conversation had taken place before the children were taken, foster care would not have been necessary.
CFSA’s statistics show that even as the number of removals are on pace to be their lowest in years, the percentage of children who are being returned home within four months is at 35 percent, roughly the same rate as last year and a higher rate than in any of the previous three years.
Debra Porchia-Usher, the child welfare agency’s interim director, said how quickly children are removed from their families and how quickly they are returned is an issue the CFSA continues to monitor. “We all agree fewer removals are better,” she said. But she does not agree that the problem is as prevalent as the report suggests.
In an effort to make better decisions about removals, the agency recently launched a pilot program of a strategy known as differential response, which acknowledges that not every abuse or neglect report is an indicator of imminent danger.
Earlier this year, the agency also completed a policy manual on conducting investigations. All social workers, supervisors and program managers have been trained using this new resource, Porchia-Usher said.
Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-child-welfare-agency-often-acts-too-quickly-to-remove-children-study-says/2011/09/29/gIQAIGweOL_story.html
The number of children removed from their homes by child abuse investigators in the District has fallen in the past year, but a recent review of some cases concluded that children are still regularly separated from their parents without adequate justification.
The study, conducted by a federally mandated panel of volunteer monitors, examined 27 cases involving 41 children over several years. In many of the instances examined by the panel, children who were placed briefly in foster care should have stayed with their families, the report concluded.
The Citizens Review Panel said the District’s Child and Family Services Agency has not done enough to keep families together and urged the agency to do better.
“CFSA’s child removal decisions must balance the need to protect children from serious abuse or neglect with the need to protect children from the significant emotional trauma that comes from the government separating them from their families,” the report, released last week, stated.
The review, released last week, is the latest examination of the challenges that CFSA, like other child welfare agencies, faces in balancing the inclination to remove children when neglect or abuse is suspected and the imperative to leave them in the home unless they are in imminent danger.
In more than half of the reviews conducted, panel members found that the case record did not justify removal.
In one case cited in the report, a social worker removed a child upon discovering suspicious marks on the child’s body, most likely from being whipped with a cord. The social worker placed him and his three siblings, who did not show signs of abuse, into foster care without obtaining a family court order.
After the removal, the social worker met with the mother to work out a strategy, known as a safety plan, for addressing the problems in the home. Less than a week later, the children were back at home. The report said that if this conversation had taken place before the children were taken, foster care would not have been necessary.
CFSA’s statistics show that even as the number of removals are on pace to be their lowest in years, the percentage of children who are being returned home within four months is at 35 percent, roughly the same rate as last year and a higher rate than in any of the previous three years.
Debra Porchia-Usher, the child welfare agency’s interim director, said how quickly children are removed from their families and how quickly they are returned is an issue the CFSA continues to monitor. “We all agree fewer removals are better,” she said. But she does not agree that the problem is as prevalent as the report suggests.
In an effort to make better decisions about removals, the agency recently launched a pilot program of a strategy known as differential response, which acknowledges that not every abuse or neglect report is an indicator of imminent danger.
Earlier this year, the agency also completed a policy manual on conducting investigations. All social workers, supervisors and program managers have been trained using this new resource, Porchia-Usher said.
Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-child-welfare-agency-often-acts-too-quickly-to-remove-children-study-says/2011/09/29/gIQAIGweOL_story.html
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Texas Child Wins Protection From State Child Welfare Agency
Texas court is sending an urgent message to child protective services agencies across the country: Stop harming children in the name of "protecting" them, according to a national child advocacy organization.
The National Coalition for Child Protection Reform responded Thursday to a decision by a court in Texas ordering the Texas Child Protective Services agency to stay away from a 14-year-old girl.
Such "orders of protection" are common in domestic violence cases. "But we've never heard of such an order protecting a child from a child welfare agency – until now," said NCCPR Executive Director Richard Wexler.
In the Texas case, according to KHOU-TV, a 14-year-old was taken after allegations of neglect, apparently as a result of a misunderstanding. After 18 months during which she was repeatedly abused in a group home, she couldn't take it anymore and ran away. According to the family's lawyer, the caseworker then said something that speaks volumes about whether the child ever needed to be taken:
"The case worker called [her] mom and said she ran away, but you find her, you can keep her," attorney Julie Ketterman told KHOU.
The mother did find her daughter. Then Ketterman went to court and won the family that order of protection. The court ruled that "[CPS] engaged in conduct constituting family violence and good cause exists for issuance of a protective order...in the best interest of the child."
"Sadly the only thing unusual about this case is the outcome," said Wexler. "Tens of thousands of times every year, all across America, children are needlessly taken from everyone they know and love. The emotional trauma is, in itself, devastating. But several studies have found abuse in one-quarter to one-third of foster homes and the record of group homes and institutions is even worse.
"All those cases of children wrongfully removed overload CPS agencies, so workers have less time to find children in real danger who really do need to be taken from their parents.
"We congratulate this family for its courage and we congratulate their lawyer, Ms. Ketterman, for finding an innovative way to protect her client – and send a message across the country," Wexler said.
SOURCE National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Abducted children found, claim city abuse
BY BOB DODA
The search for eight children taken from a foster care facility in Forest Hills on September 19 ended at around 10:30 p.m. Monday evening in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Police officials say that Shanel Nadal, 28, of Manhattan, and her husband Nephra Payne are awaiting extradition back to New York City after being found with their eight children – seven boys named Nephra and one 11-month-old girl – preparing to spend the night in a van with no license plates. The Daily News has reported that a joint police effort between NYPD, South Carolina State Police and the FBI were able to track the family through their cell phone and swipes on their welfare benefits card.
While the eight-child escape from a supervised visit with foster parents and Forestdale officials was dramatic enough, Norman Steiner – the parent’s attorney – claims that while in the city’s custody the children were abused. He states that the planned abduction was in the best interest of the children.
“The children were sexually molested while in the care of the city,” said Steiner to The Daily News. “You can’t blame the parents for acting in the children’s best interest. It’s a shame the city failed them.”
Steiner did not release any details regarding the alleged abuse but says he fully expects his clients to be exonerated from any crime.
An attempt to visit and interview Riverdale officials was refuted by workers at the agency who said the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) would speak on their behalf. They issued two statements regarding the apprehension of the family and the allegation of abuse on the city’s behalf:
“It is wonderful that the Payne children have been located and are now safe. Specially-trained staff from ACS will bring the children home to New York City. . . An investigation by ACS is already underway into how the children could have been abducted from the foster care agency during a supervised visit. ACS is reviewing with the foster care agency the protocols it has in place for supervised visits and its campus security system. We will share the results of that investigation once it is completed . . . We are aware of the allegations currently being made by the parents and we take all allegations of abuse seriously. Our immediate concerns are for the well being of the children. We have appropriate mental health professionals working with the children, including experts in trauma and a range of other disciplines.”
The parents will be charged with kidnapping, custodial interference and child endangerment, according to Associated Press reports. Nadal was arraigned and bail was set at $200,000.
Source http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2011/09/28/news/top_stories/doc4e836b977bd08255418581.txt
The search for eight children taken from a foster care facility in Forest Hills on September 19 ended at around 10:30 p.m. Monday evening in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Police officials say that Shanel Nadal, 28, of Manhattan, and her husband Nephra Payne are awaiting extradition back to New York City after being found with their eight children – seven boys named Nephra and one 11-month-old girl – preparing to spend the night in a van with no license plates. The Daily News has reported that a joint police effort between NYPD, South Carolina State Police and the FBI were able to track the family through their cell phone and swipes on their welfare benefits card.
While the eight-child escape from a supervised visit with foster parents and Forestdale officials was dramatic enough, Norman Steiner – the parent’s attorney – claims that while in the city’s custody the children were abused. He states that the planned abduction was in the best interest of the children.
“The children were sexually molested while in the care of the city,” said Steiner to The Daily News. “You can’t blame the parents for acting in the children’s best interest. It’s a shame the city failed them.”
Steiner did not release any details regarding the alleged abuse but says he fully expects his clients to be exonerated from any crime.
An attempt to visit and interview Riverdale officials was refuted by workers at the agency who said the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) would speak on their behalf. They issued two statements regarding the apprehension of the family and the allegation of abuse on the city’s behalf:
“It is wonderful that the Payne children have been located and are now safe. Specially-trained staff from ACS will bring the children home to New York City. . . An investigation by ACS is already underway into how the children could have been abducted from the foster care agency during a supervised visit. ACS is reviewing with the foster care agency the protocols it has in place for supervised visits and its campus security system. We will share the results of that investigation once it is completed . . . We are aware of the allegations currently being made by the parents and we take all allegations of abuse seriously. Our immediate concerns are for the well being of the children. We have appropriate mental health professionals working with the children, including experts in trauma and a range of other disciplines.”
The parents will be charged with kidnapping, custodial interference and child endangerment, according to Associated Press reports. Nadal was arraigned and bail was set at $200,000.
Source http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2011/09/28/news/top_stories/doc4e836b977bd08255418581.txt
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Foster care system: broken beyond repair?
By Darcy Spears
CREATED Sep. 22, 2011
Clark County, NV (KTNV) - Desperate parents. Children with no rights. Ruthless caseworkers, and a corrupt system. That's how Clark County's Department of Family Services has been described by child welfare experts who say our system is broken almost beyond repair.
"We are damaging children so much more within the system..." says Anita Stephens of the Clark County Caregiver Advisory Board.
"I think what you're seeing here is exactly what happens when children do not have a voice," says Janice Wolf of the Children's Attorneys Project.
"I believe if anybody should be charged with child abuse and neglect it should be the Department of Family Services," says Vicki Lambou, a foster mom.
Those concerns are echoed across the valley by judges, attorneys, child advocates and parents who are hoping against hope that change comes to Clark County.
"Nevada is woefully behind," says Wolf. She leads the Children's Attorneys Project through the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. She says they only have the resources to represent half of Nevada's 3200 foster children.
"We're catching up, but in so many states the law requires every child to have an attorney."
Matthew and Brandon did not have an attorney. The two brothers lived with UMC emergency room nurse Vicki Lambou for three years. She was supposed to adopt them and says they all dreamed of being a family.
"I told the children I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. I'm mommy forever. Forever. I had no idea that the DFS was capable of something like this."
Clark County's Department of Family Services took Matthew and Brandon out of Vicki's home based on a substance misuse charge that was later overturned in Family Court for "insufficient credible evidence." Despite that, Vicki never got the boys back.
"They've betrayed me and they've betrayed the children. They've used me. And now I'm being discarded like I'm trash."
Child welfare experts believe this case illustrates what's wrong with Nevada's foster care system, which they say is staffed with inexperienced, overloaded caseworkers who often fail to put children's best interests first.
"They're in a fragile little bubble and the slightest thing can pop that and destroy their world," says Anita Stephens, past president of the Foster Parent Association. She currently sits on the Caregiver Advisory Board made up of foster parents and DFS staff. She's been closely following Vicki's case.
"We have to use a little more compassion in my opinion in really looking at the situation and not just saying I'm the almighty authority."
Over seven and a half years, she and her husband have fostered 43 children, two of whom they've adopted.
"I've worked with DFS enough to know that blanket rigmarole that they put out there of the confidentiality."
She believes DFS often hides behind confidentiality laws in order to protect their decisions. That's exactly what they did when Contact 13 asked about Vicki's case.
"It's the nameless, faceless little people that the bureaucracy of DFS and CPS and the County Commission and all these other people make decisions around," Stephens says.
Vicki went to the County Commission for help, and accountability for DFS.
"And I'm asking for there to be an eye on what happens and who's looking out for the best interests of the children in our community. And why are we taking foster parents that are stepping up to the plate to adopt these children and crucifying them?" Vicki asked Commissioners.
She told then that over a three-month period, DFS filtered the boys through five different foster homes, at times separated from each other.
DFS is now trying to get their biological grandparents to adopt them.
"I know in Vicki's case that's kind of what the premise is--they should be able to be with biological family--but that's where they were removed from. No one's addressing that piece," Stephens says incredulously.
Also, there was no transition for the brothers out of the home where they'd lived for three years. DFS left most of their things behind too.
"I think it's a classic example to look at and say this is what goes horribly wrong within the system and it happens more often than not," Stephens says.
County Commissioners are working to at least get Vicki visitation with the boys.
The National Center for Youth Law in San Francisco is also reviewing the case.
And, just this week, the County Commission approved funding to expand the Children's Attorneys Project.
That means every foster child in the system will have an attorney within the next two years.
Vicki Lambou has started a petition to ask our elected officials for accountability and transparency from DFS.
She's gotten over 200 signatures so far. We've posted a link to that along with this story.
Source http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/130394563.html
CREATED Sep. 22, 2011
Clark County, NV (KTNV) - Desperate parents. Children with no rights. Ruthless caseworkers, and a corrupt system. That's how Clark County's Department of Family Services has been described by child welfare experts who say our system is broken almost beyond repair.
"We are damaging children so much more within the system..." says Anita Stephens of the Clark County Caregiver Advisory Board.
"I think what you're seeing here is exactly what happens when children do not have a voice," says Janice Wolf of the Children's Attorneys Project.
"I believe if anybody should be charged with child abuse and neglect it should be the Department of Family Services," says Vicki Lambou, a foster mom.
Those concerns are echoed across the valley by judges, attorneys, child advocates and parents who are hoping against hope that change comes to Clark County.
"Nevada is woefully behind," says Wolf. She leads the Children's Attorneys Project through the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. She says they only have the resources to represent half of Nevada's 3200 foster children.
"We're catching up, but in so many states the law requires every child to have an attorney."
Matthew and Brandon did not have an attorney. The two brothers lived with UMC emergency room nurse Vicki Lambou for three years. She was supposed to adopt them and says they all dreamed of being a family.
"I told the children I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. I'm mommy forever. Forever. I had no idea that the DFS was capable of something like this."
Clark County's Department of Family Services took Matthew and Brandon out of Vicki's home based on a substance misuse charge that was later overturned in Family Court for "insufficient credible evidence." Despite that, Vicki never got the boys back.
"They've betrayed me and they've betrayed the children. They've used me. And now I'm being discarded like I'm trash."
Child welfare experts believe this case illustrates what's wrong with Nevada's foster care system, which they say is staffed with inexperienced, overloaded caseworkers who often fail to put children's best interests first.
"They're in a fragile little bubble and the slightest thing can pop that and destroy their world," says Anita Stephens, past president of the Foster Parent Association. She currently sits on the Caregiver Advisory Board made up of foster parents and DFS staff. She's been closely following Vicki's case.
"We have to use a little more compassion in my opinion in really looking at the situation and not just saying I'm the almighty authority."
Over seven and a half years, she and her husband have fostered 43 children, two of whom they've adopted.
"I've worked with DFS enough to know that blanket rigmarole that they put out there of the confidentiality."
She believes DFS often hides behind confidentiality laws in order to protect their decisions. That's exactly what they did when Contact 13 asked about Vicki's case.
"It's the nameless, faceless little people that the bureaucracy of DFS and CPS and the County Commission and all these other people make decisions around," Stephens says.
Vicki went to the County Commission for help, and accountability for DFS.
"And I'm asking for there to be an eye on what happens and who's looking out for the best interests of the children in our community. And why are we taking foster parents that are stepping up to the plate to adopt these children and crucifying them?" Vicki asked Commissioners.
She told then that over a three-month period, DFS filtered the boys through five different foster homes, at times separated from each other.
DFS is now trying to get their biological grandparents to adopt them.
"I know in Vicki's case that's kind of what the premise is--they should be able to be with biological family--but that's where they were removed from. No one's addressing that piece," Stephens says incredulously.
Also, there was no transition for the brothers out of the home where they'd lived for three years. DFS left most of their things behind too.
"I think it's a classic example to look at and say this is what goes horribly wrong within the system and it happens more often than not," Stephens says.
County Commissioners are working to at least get Vicki visitation with the boys.
The National Center for Youth Law in San Francisco is also reviewing the case.
And, just this week, the County Commission approved funding to expand the Children's Attorneys Project.
That means every foster child in the system will have an attorney within the next two years.
Vicki Lambou has started a petition to ask our elected officials for accountability and transparency from DFS.
She's gotten over 200 signatures so far. We've posted a link to that along with this story.
Source http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/130394563.html
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Lawmakers express continued frustration with DCF response in Barahona case
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 6:16 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011
Posted: 6:12 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — Frustrated lawmakers grilled the head of Florida's Department of Children and Families Tuesday and expressed doubt about whether he's doing enough to make the state's children safer in the aftermath of the alleged Barahona child abuse case.
DCF Secretary David Wilkins' appearance Tuesday morning before the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee was his first since the July 25 release of a Miami-Dade County grand jury report that found that child welfare workers failed to properly monitor Nubia Barahona's adoptive parents as highlighted by her alleged torture and slaying this winter.
Wilkins was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott shortly before 10-year-old Nubia's body was discovered in a plastic bag in the back of her adopted father Jorge Barahona's truck alongside Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach on Valentine's Day. Her twin brother, Victor, was found drenched in chemicals and convulsing in the front seat.
Jorge Barahona and his wife Carmen, the children's foster parents for five years before adopting them, have been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in Nubia's death.
Since then, the agency hired 100 child protection investigators, conducted additional training session for caseworkers and increased the number of foster children who are getting regular medical and dental care, Wilkins said. The department has also stopped measuring how long hot line operators spend on the phone with tipsters, he said. The abuse hot line received at least two calls in the days preceding Nubia's death.
"But we've still got a long way to go," Wilkins told the committee, acknowledging there was a "big breakdown" in the Barahona case.
The non-binding grand jury report recommended that child welfare workers have full access to databases containing reports of allegations about at-risk children, something that Wilkins said he was still trying to put into effect.
But he drew fire from Committee Chairwoman Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, when he blamed the tragedy on Andrea Fleary, the DCF child abuse investigator fired in March who allegedly repeatedly signed off on the children's welfare without making contact with them.
"Our assessment is that the number one symptom of the problem was the case manager was not owning the case," he said.
To which Storm said, "I don't know what the heck that means. What the blankety-blank does that mean? The little girl was practically peeling paint off the wall to eat and they were afraid of these people and everybody at the school was saying it and the most we can come up with was the case manager was not owning the case?
"I think you should be more direct to say this was a human failure for humanity for this person. That's a human failure. I don't know how else to say it."
Wilkins also said that all foster children are now being seen by caseworkers every 30 days but that he wanted an extra $25 million for additional visits "any time a major event" occurs in the child's life.
Caseworkers should already have been visiting the children monthly, Sen. Nan Rich said, because lawmakers initiated that requirement after the disappearance a decade ago of Rilya Wilson, a 4-year-old foster child who has never been found.
"We're going right back to the same kind of situation," Rich, D-Weston, said.
The disconnection of the Barahonas' telephone, the children's problems at school, hot line reports and an inability to make physical contact with the twins apparently went ignored, Rich said.
"Normally I would say we don't need legislation. But to me something is dramatically and drastically wrong if all of these red flags are not seen. This to me is just crying out for us to do something," she said.
Wilkins suggested that the agency keep tabs on adopted children for up to one year, especially in the case of special needs children.
But Storms, a lawyer, said she believed that would be unconstitutional.
After Wilkins' hour-long testimony, lawmakers appeared uncertain what, if anything, they could do.
"It's a source of enormous frustration. It can be very discouraging to continue to hear some of the same things," Storms said after Wilkins testified. "All I can do is keep trying and keep hoping that we get a different result. But we can make all the laws that we want to make and pass all the statutes and if people will not do what they're supposed to do then I don't know how you fix that."
Source http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/lawmakers-express-continued-frustration-with-dcf-response-in-1869405.html
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 6:16 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011
Posted: 6:12 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — Frustrated lawmakers grilled the head of Florida's Department of Children and Families Tuesday and expressed doubt about whether he's doing enough to make the state's children safer in the aftermath of the alleged Barahona child abuse case.
DCF Secretary David Wilkins' appearance Tuesday morning before the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee was his first since the July 25 release of a Miami-Dade County grand jury report that found that child welfare workers failed to properly monitor Nubia Barahona's adoptive parents as highlighted by her alleged torture and slaying this winter.
Wilkins was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott shortly before 10-year-old Nubia's body was discovered in a plastic bag in the back of her adopted father Jorge Barahona's truck alongside Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach on Valentine's Day. Her twin brother, Victor, was found drenched in chemicals and convulsing in the front seat.
Jorge Barahona and his wife Carmen, the children's foster parents for five years before adopting them, have been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in Nubia's death.
Since then, the agency hired 100 child protection investigators, conducted additional training session for caseworkers and increased the number of foster children who are getting regular medical and dental care, Wilkins said. The department has also stopped measuring how long hot line operators spend on the phone with tipsters, he said. The abuse hot line received at least two calls in the days preceding Nubia's death.
"But we've still got a long way to go," Wilkins told the committee, acknowledging there was a "big breakdown" in the Barahona case.
The non-binding grand jury report recommended that child welfare workers have full access to databases containing reports of allegations about at-risk children, something that Wilkins said he was still trying to put into effect.
But he drew fire from Committee Chairwoman Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, when he blamed the tragedy on Andrea Fleary, the DCF child abuse investigator fired in March who allegedly repeatedly signed off on the children's welfare without making contact with them.
"Our assessment is that the number one symptom of the problem was the case manager was not owning the case," he said.
To which Storm said, "I don't know what the heck that means. What the blankety-blank does that mean? The little girl was practically peeling paint off the wall to eat and they were afraid of these people and everybody at the school was saying it and the most we can come up with was the case manager was not owning the case?
"I think you should be more direct to say this was a human failure for humanity for this person. That's a human failure. I don't know how else to say it."
Wilkins also said that all foster children are now being seen by caseworkers every 30 days but that he wanted an extra $25 million for additional visits "any time a major event" occurs in the child's life.
Caseworkers should already have been visiting the children monthly, Sen. Nan Rich said, because lawmakers initiated that requirement after the disappearance a decade ago of Rilya Wilson, a 4-year-old foster child who has never been found.
"We're going right back to the same kind of situation," Rich, D-Weston, said.
The disconnection of the Barahonas' telephone, the children's problems at school, hot line reports and an inability to make physical contact with the twins apparently went ignored, Rich said.
"Normally I would say we don't need legislation. But to me something is dramatically and drastically wrong if all of these red flags are not seen. This to me is just crying out for us to do something," she said.
Wilkins suggested that the agency keep tabs on adopted children for up to one year, especially in the case of special needs children.
But Storms, a lawyer, said she believed that would be unconstitutional.
After Wilkins' hour-long testimony, lawmakers appeared uncertain what, if anything, they could do.
"It's a source of enormous frustration. It can be very discouraging to continue to hear some of the same things," Storms said after Wilkins testified. "All I can do is keep trying and keep hoping that we get a different result. But we can make all the laws that we want to make and pass all the statutes and if people will not do what they're supposed to do then I don't know how you fix that."
Source http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/lawmakers-express-continued-frustration-with-dcf-response-in-1869405.html
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Oklahoma DHS governing board refuses special meeting on Serenity Deal death
Serenity Deal, 5, died in Oklahoma City after being placed with father by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
The governing board of the state's child-welfare agency has refused repeated requests to hold special meetings on the high-profile deaths of children in its care.
Steven Dow, of Tulsa, called for the special meetings. He is one of nine commissioners who oversee the state Department of Human Services.
He told The Oklahoman, “My calls for greater accountability and interest by the commission in even asking questions are met with a deafening silence. … I basically have gotten no response from most of the commissioners.”
Dow asked for special meetings after the 2010 death of Aja Johnson, 7, and the June death of Serenity Deal, 5.
He brought up five other children's deaths in one of his requests for a meeting about Serenity.
“Not once has the Commission discussed any of these horrific situations nor attempted to understand how our agency failed these children. Not once,” he wrote in an email to other commissioners.
“For a system to allow so many tragic deaths in such a short period of time is unconscionable. For us to not invite someone who has investigated the cases nor even ask our staff to explain what, from their perspective, happened is irresponsible and an utter dereliction of our duty to oversee the Department,” he wrote.
Dow said only one other commissioner, Anne Roberts, of Norman, agreed to a special meeting on Serenity.
Against a special meeting over Serenity was Commissioner Aneta Wilkinson, of Tulsa.
Wilkinson wrote in an email to Dow: “I firmly believe that DHS is handling this very unfortunate matter in the correct way. This terrible incident is not a system failure but involves the actions of individual people.
“Calling a special meeting at this time will only impede the investigation and disciplinary actions that are being implemented at this time. The proper role of the Commission is to determine policy. We are not and we should not be involved in personnel matters.”
Serenity died less than a month after she began living with her father full time in Oklahoma City at the recommendation of DHS workers.
The girl was placed with her father, Sean Devon Brooks, even though she was injured twice in January during overnight visits with him. DHS was involved because Serenity's mother had been accused of molesting a boy.
Brooks, who did not know he was the girl's father until she was 3, has been charged with first-degree murder.
DHS officials say child-welfare workers made mistakes in the girl's case. Four workers were put on administrative leave. One committed suicide. Another resigned. The other two are in the process of being fired.
Aja, 7, was killed in January 2010 by her stepfather, Lester Hobbs. Investigators said Hobbs killed the girl's mother in his motor home in Geronimo, left in her car with Aja, killed Aja and killed himself.
Aja was visiting her mother at the time of her death. Her father had temporary custody. DHS was criticized after her death because child-welfare workers earlier in her life had pushed for her to live with her mother and stepfather even though he was a felon and there were reports the stepfather abused her.
Source http://newsok.com/oklahoma-dhs-governing-board-refuses-special-meeting-on-serenity-deal-death/article/3602731?custom_click=pod_headline_crime
The governing board of the state's child-welfare agency has refused repeated requests to hold special meetings on the high-profile deaths of children in its care.
Steven Dow, of Tulsa, called for the special meetings. He is one of nine commissioners who oversee the state Department of Human Services.
He told The Oklahoman, “My calls for greater accountability and interest by the commission in even asking questions are met with a deafening silence. … I basically have gotten no response from most of the commissioners.”
Dow asked for special meetings after the 2010 death of Aja Johnson, 7, and the June death of Serenity Deal, 5.
He brought up five other children's deaths in one of his requests for a meeting about Serenity.
“Not once has the Commission discussed any of these horrific situations nor attempted to understand how our agency failed these children. Not once,” he wrote in an email to other commissioners.
“For a system to allow so many tragic deaths in such a short period of time is unconscionable. For us to not invite someone who has investigated the cases nor even ask our staff to explain what, from their perspective, happened is irresponsible and an utter dereliction of our duty to oversee the Department,” he wrote.
Dow said only one other commissioner, Anne Roberts, of Norman, agreed to a special meeting on Serenity.
Against a special meeting over Serenity was Commissioner Aneta Wilkinson, of Tulsa.
Wilkinson wrote in an email to Dow: “I firmly believe that DHS is handling this very unfortunate matter in the correct way. This terrible incident is not a system failure but involves the actions of individual people.
“Calling a special meeting at this time will only impede the investigation and disciplinary actions that are being implemented at this time. The proper role of the Commission is to determine policy. We are not and we should not be involved in personnel matters.”
Serenity died less than a month after she began living with her father full time in Oklahoma City at the recommendation of DHS workers.
The girl was placed with her father, Sean Devon Brooks, even though she was injured twice in January during overnight visits with him. DHS was involved because Serenity's mother had been accused of molesting a boy.
Brooks, who did not know he was the girl's father until she was 3, has been charged with first-degree murder.
DHS officials say child-welfare workers made mistakes in the girl's case. Four workers were put on administrative leave. One committed suicide. Another resigned. The other two are in the process of being fired.
Aja, 7, was killed in January 2010 by her stepfather, Lester Hobbs. Investigators said Hobbs killed the girl's mother in his motor home in Geronimo, left in her car with Aja, killed Aja and killed himself.
Aja was visiting her mother at the time of her death. Her father had temporary custody. DHS was criticized after her death because child-welfare workers earlier in her life had pushed for her to live with her mother and stepfather even though he was a felon and there were reports the stepfather abused her.
Source http://newsok.com/oklahoma-dhs-governing-board-refuses-special-meeting-on-serenity-deal-death/article/3602731?custom_click=pod_headline_crime
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Safety of group homes hard to check
Why wasn't CPS called in on this situation? Why are these "homes" allowed to take children if they are abusing them? Why aren't they more closely monitored (even for the adults) when many of these patients can not defend themselves? Why....? Why..? Why???
---
By JULIE MURPHY, Staff writer
August 28, 2011 12:30 AM
GLENWOOD -- Chris Nicoles sits and draws at the kitchen table while Louise Harwin watches television in the family room.
It's a familiar scenario in homes everywhere, except that Nicoles and Harwin live in a group home for adults with disabilities.
"These houses are supposed to look like any other house in the neighborhood," said Ed DeBardeleben, area administrator for the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities. "These (group homes) are their homes."
Outside of making frequent personal visits, there's little parents or guardians can do to ensure the safety and well-being of loved ones who live in such group homes. Most are left to trust that the system and its safeguards are working.
But are they?
Reviews and violations found on a state website for 57 licensed group homes in Volusia and Flagler counties, as well as for other group homes statewide, are often outdated, with the most recent reports in many cases being more than 3 years old. State inspection reports are often vague, providing few, if any, details about a particular home's overall condition or employees' qualifications.
A recent case of criminal abuse of a disabled Palm Coast teen living in a Palatka group home run by O'Carroll Homes illustrates that sometimes problems slip through cracks.
O'Carroll Homes, which runs several facilities in Palatka and one in Hastings, had its Medicaid waiver agreements pulled by the state after four workers and a former employee accused of burning the 17-year-old girl with a clothes iron were arrested and charged in January.
One of the workers was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this month for his role in the abuse case. Four others have September court dates, according to the State Attorney's Office.
NO EASY FIXES
Many group home providers are paid through Medicaid waiver agreements, according to Agency for Persons with Disabilities spokeswoman Melanie Etters. The waivers pay for care and supplies for adults diagnosed with certain disabilities before the age of 18.
While pulling Medicaid waivers doesn't technically close a home, its residents or their families would have to pay for their care privately. Costs vary widely based on behavioral issues, daily living and medical needs, but can run between $35,000 and $150,000 per year, Etters said.
"In general, APD typically closes about two group homes a month statewide," Etters said. "Generally, there are two main reasons why this occurs. First would be some major incident occurs at the group home endangering the health and safety of one or more individuals. Second would be when a home is continually cited for issues during monthly monitoring and has not corrected any of the issues within a reasonable amount of time, and the agency is concerned for the health and safety of the people living in the home."
After her daughter was burned in January, Jeanette Roscoe moved her to another group home in North Florida and thought she had found an ideal site -- just as she had when she took her daughter to the O'Carroll Homes facility in Palatka 11 years ago.
"The first time I did research, (O'Carroll Homes) were long-standing and had all the credentials," Roscoe said. "I looked at the cleanliness, that she'd have her own room and the ratio of staff to patients."
Roscoe also closely inspected the North Florida facility where she decided to move her daughter, who she said has the mind of a 2- or 3-year-old. Again, Roscoe studied employee folders and resumes, scrutinizing who administered medications and where they were kept.
But again, her daughter suffered serious injuries. This time, she jumped through a window at 5:30 a.m. Aug. 10 and wound up needing more than 100 stitches and staples to close her wounds, Roscoe said.
"It was a 5- to 6-foot drop out the window," Roscoe wrote in an email to The News-Journal that included images of her daughter's injuries. "I thought she had one-on-one supervision, but she didn't. At least she didn't then."
LONG WAIT FOR CARE
The group homes overseen by DeBardeleben's office, which covers Volusia and Flagler counties, include small family-run operations as well as homes owned by large businesses such as Duvall Home, LifeShare, Sunrise Community and National Mentor.
Group home workers are expected to undergo criminal background checks through the FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and local agencies. They must also sign an affidavit that they are of good moral character, DeBardeleben said. "Zero tolerance" training is also required and employees are instructed to treat residents with dignity and respect, as well as to look for signs of abuse or neglect and to report it to law enforcement.
But researching group homes is complicated, said Jim King, executive director for The Arc of Volusia, which provides programs to increase independence and quality of life for adults with developmental disabilities.
"It's not an easy situation," King said. "There (is) a waiting list of people not getting any services. Funding has always been limited and it keeps getting cut. These are all independent businesses -- some big, some small."
DeBardeleben said more than 20,000 people are on the waiting list for Medicaid waivers statewide.
Martin Favis, president of the Duvall Home -- among the largest care providers for the developmentally disabled in the country -- said the challenge is to provide a homey setting for its 160 residents who live in 10 group homes and one larger congregate-living facility. Some pay privately while others have Medicaid waivers.
"Not every individual has a vested parent or guardian," Favis said as he walked through the home where Nicoles and Harwin live. "We want to have compatible homes where people have things in common. This is their home and it should feel that way."
Favis admits things weren't picture-perfect at Duvall before his arrival three years ago.
"We've come a long way in three years," he said. "APD (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) wasn't happy with us. There were funding cuts and financial problems. We had to really mend our relationship."
Group homes are monitored monthly, typically by a two-person team from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. The exception is "respite homes," those that only take people who need temporary care -- for instance, if a family goes on vacation. They are not inspected if they have no residents during a given month.
"Group homes have their own niche," DeBardeleben said. "We want clients to have a choice so they integrate into the community, and different clients have different needs."
FINDING A NICHE
Some homes have nurses on staff. Others are "intensive behavioral residential habitation group homes," which handle patients who may be a danger to themselves or others.
One Duvall Home niche is that it is an adult-only facility.
"I'm hoping to get (my daughter) placed in Duvall," Roscoe said. "She turns 18 on Sept. 9 and hopefully we'll be able to transfer her that day."
Roscoe, her daughter, her daughter's case manager -- officially referred to as a waiver support coordinator -- and other officials from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, as well as Favis, are working together to help Roscoe's daughter make the transition.
"I'm waiting for this to all settle down," Roscoe said before breaking into tears.
Roscoe believes her daughter should have been reassessed in January after she was burned. A reassessment is usually done once every three years, with exceptions made for crises.
"That was a crisis," Roscoe said. "I think she was in shock immediately afterward, but I can only guess that because of her limited verbal communication. She wets the bed now and has been self-mutilating. It's post-traumatic stress. And I'm tired. I'm trying to protect her. I'm trying to protect her from other people. I'm trying to protect other people."
Source
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/flagler/2011/08/28/safety-of-group-homes-hard-to-check.html
---
By JULIE MURPHY, Staff writer
August 28, 2011 12:30 AM
GLENWOOD -- Chris Nicoles sits and draws at the kitchen table while Louise Harwin watches television in the family room.
It's a familiar scenario in homes everywhere, except that Nicoles and Harwin live in a group home for adults with disabilities.
"These houses are supposed to look like any other house in the neighborhood," said Ed DeBardeleben, area administrator for the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities. "These (group homes) are their homes."
Outside of making frequent personal visits, there's little parents or guardians can do to ensure the safety and well-being of loved ones who live in such group homes. Most are left to trust that the system and its safeguards are working.
But are they?
Reviews and violations found on a state website for 57 licensed group homes in Volusia and Flagler counties, as well as for other group homes statewide, are often outdated, with the most recent reports in many cases being more than 3 years old. State inspection reports are often vague, providing few, if any, details about a particular home's overall condition or employees' qualifications.
A recent case of criminal abuse of a disabled Palm Coast teen living in a Palatka group home run by O'Carroll Homes illustrates that sometimes problems slip through cracks.
O'Carroll Homes, which runs several facilities in Palatka and one in Hastings, had its Medicaid waiver agreements pulled by the state after four workers and a former employee accused of burning the 17-year-old girl with a clothes iron were arrested and charged in January.
One of the workers was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this month for his role in the abuse case. Four others have September court dates, according to the State Attorney's Office.
NO EASY FIXES
Many group home providers are paid through Medicaid waiver agreements, according to Agency for Persons with Disabilities spokeswoman Melanie Etters. The waivers pay for care and supplies for adults diagnosed with certain disabilities before the age of 18.
While pulling Medicaid waivers doesn't technically close a home, its residents or their families would have to pay for their care privately. Costs vary widely based on behavioral issues, daily living and medical needs, but can run between $35,000 and $150,000 per year, Etters said.
"In general, APD typically closes about two group homes a month statewide," Etters said. "Generally, there are two main reasons why this occurs. First would be some major incident occurs at the group home endangering the health and safety of one or more individuals. Second would be when a home is continually cited for issues during monthly monitoring and has not corrected any of the issues within a reasonable amount of time, and the agency is concerned for the health and safety of the people living in the home."
After her daughter was burned in January, Jeanette Roscoe moved her to another group home in North Florida and thought she had found an ideal site -- just as she had when she took her daughter to the O'Carroll Homes facility in Palatka 11 years ago.
"The first time I did research, (O'Carroll Homes) were long-standing and had all the credentials," Roscoe said. "I looked at the cleanliness, that she'd have her own room and the ratio of staff to patients."
Roscoe also closely inspected the North Florida facility where she decided to move her daughter, who she said has the mind of a 2- or 3-year-old. Again, Roscoe studied employee folders and resumes, scrutinizing who administered medications and where they were kept.
But again, her daughter suffered serious injuries. This time, she jumped through a window at 5:30 a.m. Aug. 10 and wound up needing more than 100 stitches and staples to close her wounds, Roscoe said.
"It was a 5- to 6-foot drop out the window," Roscoe wrote in an email to The News-Journal that included images of her daughter's injuries. "I thought she had one-on-one supervision, but she didn't. At least she didn't then."
LONG WAIT FOR CARE
The group homes overseen by DeBardeleben's office, which covers Volusia and Flagler counties, include small family-run operations as well as homes owned by large businesses such as Duvall Home, LifeShare, Sunrise Community and National Mentor.
Group home workers are expected to undergo criminal background checks through the FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and local agencies. They must also sign an affidavit that they are of good moral character, DeBardeleben said. "Zero tolerance" training is also required and employees are instructed to treat residents with dignity and respect, as well as to look for signs of abuse or neglect and to report it to law enforcement.
But researching group homes is complicated, said Jim King, executive director for The Arc of Volusia, which provides programs to increase independence and quality of life for adults with developmental disabilities.
"It's not an easy situation," King said. "There (is) a waiting list of people not getting any services. Funding has always been limited and it keeps getting cut. These are all independent businesses -- some big, some small."
DeBardeleben said more than 20,000 people are on the waiting list for Medicaid waivers statewide.
Martin Favis, president of the Duvall Home -- among the largest care providers for the developmentally disabled in the country -- said the challenge is to provide a homey setting for its 160 residents who live in 10 group homes and one larger congregate-living facility. Some pay privately while others have Medicaid waivers.
"Not every individual has a vested parent or guardian," Favis said as he walked through the home where Nicoles and Harwin live. "We want to have compatible homes where people have things in common. This is their home and it should feel that way."
Favis admits things weren't picture-perfect at Duvall before his arrival three years ago.
"We've come a long way in three years," he said. "APD (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) wasn't happy with us. There were funding cuts and financial problems. We had to really mend our relationship."
Group homes are monitored monthly, typically by a two-person team from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. The exception is "respite homes," those that only take people who need temporary care -- for instance, if a family goes on vacation. They are not inspected if they have no residents during a given month.
"Group homes have their own niche," DeBardeleben said. "We want clients to have a choice so they integrate into the community, and different clients have different needs."
FINDING A NICHE
Some homes have nurses on staff. Others are "intensive behavioral residential habitation group homes," which handle patients who may be a danger to themselves or others.
One Duvall Home niche is that it is an adult-only facility.
"I'm hoping to get (my daughter) placed in Duvall," Roscoe said. "She turns 18 on Sept. 9 and hopefully we'll be able to transfer her that day."
Roscoe, her daughter, her daughter's case manager -- officially referred to as a waiver support coordinator -- and other officials from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, as well as Favis, are working together to help Roscoe's daughter make the transition.
"I'm waiting for this to all settle down," Roscoe said before breaking into tears.
Roscoe believes her daughter should have been reassessed in January after she was burned. A reassessment is usually done once every three years, with exceptions made for crises.
"That was a crisis," Roscoe said. "I think she was in shock immediately afterward, but I can only guess that because of her limited verbal communication. She wets the bed now and has been self-mutilating. It's post-traumatic stress. And I'm tired. I'm trying to protect her. I'm trying to protect her from other people. I'm trying to protect other people."
Source
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/flagler/2011/08/28/safety-of-group-homes-hard-to-check.html
Monday, August 22, 2011
Can't Even Trust The Psych Docs
The below article goes to show that anyone involved with your child (through CPS or otherwise) might do something awful to them.
With so many foster children seeing these kinds of doctors, you have to wonder how many untold stories of psych doc molestation/rape may be going untold.
This doc sure is getting a short sentence!
Harford child psychologist pleads guilty to abusing 3 girls
By Mary Gail Hare, The Baltimore Sun
9:37 p.m. EDT, August 22, 2011
A Harford County child psychologist pleaded guilty Monday to child abuse and sexual assault of three young girls he had been treating at his Fallston office.
David Wayne Schrumpf, 55, of Whiteford will serve six years in prison, where he will undergo sex offender treatment, under terms of a plea agreement filed in Harford County Circuit Court. He is charged with one count of child sex abuse and two counts of second-degree assault.
Schrumpf will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He must also surrender his license to practice psychology and cannot seek another in any jurisdiction, according to the plea agreement.
The charges arose after one 7-year-old girl reported to her mother that Schrumpf had touched her inappropriately during a session at his office. Two other victims, who were 9 and 10 years old at the time of the abuse, came forward during the investigation, county State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly said. All the incidents occurred at Schrumpf's office in Fallston over a year beginning in October 2009, Cassilly said.
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 31 in Harford County Circuit Court before Judge Maurice Baldwin.
Source http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/bs-md-ha-abuse-plea-20110822,0,1506215.story
With so many foster children seeing these kinds of doctors, you have to wonder how many untold stories of psych doc molestation/rape may be going untold.
This doc sure is getting a short sentence!
Harford child psychologist pleads guilty to abusing 3 girls
By Mary Gail Hare, The Baltimore Sun
9:37 p.m. EDT, August 22, 2011
A Harford County child psychologist pleaded guilty Monday to child abuse and sexual assault of three young girls he had been treating at his Fallston office.
David Wayne Schrumpf, 55, of Whiteford will serve six years in prison, where he will undergo sex offender treatment, under terms of a plea agreement filed in Harford County Circuit Court. He is charged with one count of child sex abuse and two counts of second-degree assault.
Schrumpf will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He must also surrender his license to practice psychology and cannot seek another in any jurisdiction, according to the plea agreement.
The charges arose after one 7-year-old girl reported to her mother that Schrumpf had touched her inappropriately during a session at his office. Two other victims, who were 9 and 10 years old at the time of the abuse, came forward during the investigation, county State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly said. All the incidents occurred at Schrumpf's office in Fallston over a year beginning in October 2009, Cassilly said.
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 31 in Harford County Circuit Court before Judge Maurice Baldwin.
Source http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/bs-md-ha-abuse-plea-20110822,0,1506215.story
Friday, August 19, 2011
Young boy’s death at hands of foster parents led to change
Marcus Fiesel was killed five years ago, prompting overhaul of child welfare system.
By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer
2:20 AM Sunday, August 7, 2011
It’s been five years since the death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel at the hands of his foster parents that captured the attention of the region, state and nation, sent two people to prison for the rest of their lives and led to a child welfare system overhaul.
Marcus, the Middletown boy with an impish grin, would have turned 8 in June. Instead of marking another birthday, he will be remembered for his horrific death.
The developmentally disabled boy was bound in a blanket wrapped with duct tape and placed in a playpen inside an upstairs closet while Liz and David Carroll Jr., live-in girlfriend Amy Baker, their children and foster children, and even the family dog, traveled to an August family reunion in Kentucky during the hottest days of the year.
“I’d like to think the laws that have changed in his memory have been beneficial in the fact that we haven’t had any other child have the same fate that he did,” said Gary Cates, a former state senator from West Chester Twp. “If that’s his legacy, that no other child’s been harmed, then that’s a tremendous legacy that Marcus left other children.”
Both Liz and David Carroll declined interview requests from prison.
Marcus’ death during the weekend of Aug. 4-6, 2006, in the closet of the Carrolls’ Union Twp. home in Clermont County placed a giant spotlight on some gaping holes in the child welfare system and led private foster placement agency, the former Lifeway for Youth, from operating in the state.
While his death was the breaking point to prompt reform in Ohio’s foster care and children services system, other children died while under the charge of Butler County Children Services: Tiffany Hubbard, 3, of Hamilton in 1986; Randi Fuller, 2, of Hamilton, in 2000; Christopher Long, 2, of Middletown, in 2001; Courtney Centers, 3, of Middletown in 2002; Jesus Rodriquez, 7 months, of Hamilton in 2003; and Justin Johnson, 13 months, of Middletown in 2004.
Marcus’ hurdles
Born on June 24, 2003, Marcus had many obstacles from the start. He was born with a developmental disability — though not specifically diagnosed, he had “global delays” and needed 24-hour care and attention.
Marcus slept on a foam mat at the home of his biological mother, Donna Trevino, and he and his siblings were not closely watched or cared for. Butler County Children Services became involved with the family in Aug. 9, 2004.
When Marcus was found wandering the streets on April 22, 2006, almost being hit by a car — roughly four months after he accidentally fell out of a second-story window — caseworkers removed Trevino’s three children from her home, where reports showed there was feces on the carpet and wall of the flea-infested home. This was the third time her children had been taken from her care.
The day Marcus went ‘missing’
The public story of Marcus’ disappearance began on Aug. 15, 2006, after Liz Carroll collapsed from an apparent heart condition at an Anderson Twp. park in Hamilton County. When medics responded, she told them she brought four children to the park, but only three were present. This sparked a massive three-day search by hundreds of volunteers, law enforcement and search and rescue teams.
“I still have nightmares about that little guy,” said Jann Heffner, then director of Butler County Children Services. “You don’t get into this business unless you care about the care and physical well being of a child.”
She and some of her staff, including Marcus’ caseworker Joe Beumer went out immediately to search for the child.
Beumer was in “shock and disbelief” but said the story of his disappearance “wasn’t adding up.” He doubted Marcus would have run off — even though that would be something he would do, when his foster mother collapsed. “Any child that experiences something like that I think their natural instinct would be to stay with that person that’s hurt,” he said, “even if they couldn’t do anything they would just sit there.”
Worry quickly turned into horror at the end of August 2006 when the Carrolls were charged with murder.
The case
Not many things hang on the walls in Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters’ office, but a drawing of Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Jim Borgman of Marcus holding hands with God walking toward heaven has a special place.
“To this day it just chills me that someone could do that to a little baby. They are where they belong and they will have to answer to God,” Deters said.
Deters had prosecuted the case before it was moved over to Clermont County since Marcus died in the Carrolls’ home. He said he thinks about the 3-year-old boy “all the time.”
“The inhumanity of how they treated him, it boggles my mind when you’ve got children,” he said.
The story of Marcus’ disappearance unraveled at Liz Carroll’s televised news conference, which Deters watched from his office. “It was rehearsed and came off very untruthful,” he said.
He immediately brought in Liz Carroll and Amy Baker (who now goes by Amy Ramsey) before a county grand jury. He talked to Baker first, and with her attorney present, said “if she was not truthful, she’ll go to prison.” After consulting with her attorney — who Deters said was ghostly pale after the attorney-client conversation — Baker admitted what happened to Marcus.
“It was disgusting,” Deters said of her testimony.
She revealed Marcus had been dead for days before the disappearance hoax at the park, and that she helped David Carroll burn the boy’s body in rural Brown County and throw the rest of his remains in the Ohio River.
Following a jury trial in February 2007, Liz Carroll was convicted of charges including murder and sentenced to 54 years to life in prison; her husband later was sentenced to 16 years to life as part of a plea deal.
The aftermath
An Ohio Department of Job and Family Services investigation pointed blame at Lifeway for Youth, the New Carlisle, Ohio-based foster care provider that placed Marcus with the Carrolls.
For reasons that include and extend beyond Marcus’ case, ODJFS later pulled Lifeway’s operational certificate, a decision upheld by a Franklin County judge.
Although investigations determined that Butler County Children Services did nothing wrong, Heffner was moved into a consulting role and then fired by the county commissioners. The Butler County Children Services Board — initially formed in the wake of 3-year-old Tiffany Hubbard’s abuse and death in 1986 at the hands of her biological father — was disbanded.
The Rev. Johnny Wade Sloan, chairman of the 11-member board, didn’t agree or see the reason to disband the board.
“(The Carrolls) promised 24-hour adult supervision and there was no reason for us not to place (the kids) when (Lifeway was) telling us, as a licensed agency, they had an ideal place,” he said.
But Sloan and Heffner said the decisions to disband the board and fire Heffner were political moves and not a result of Marcus’ death. “Marcus Fiesel became the focal point for that happening because that would have happened regardless,” Sloan said. Former Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox resigned his elected seat and later was appointment Children Services director. He has since resigned and is headed to federal prison in an unrelated case.
System changes
The death of Marcus Fiesel prompted change the Ohio child welfare system, though the need for retooling the system had been evident for years, said Gary Cates, a former state senator from West Chester Twp.
In 2007, Cates introduced legislation in the Ohio Senate and Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, introduced legislation in the Statehouse.
“I hope and pray that it never happens again,” Combs said of Marcus’ death.
Implementing the legislation requirements cost about $15 million in both the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years, said ODJFS spokeswoman Angela Terez. That investment included about $5.2 million in federal funds in each of the years, she said. After Marcus’ death, the Criminal Justice Information System, formed in Montgomery County, expanded to now include 14 Ohio counties. Had CJIS been in effect in Butler County, Marcus could have been pulled from the Carroll home following a June 2006 domestic violence arrest of David Carroll Jr., though the charge was later dismissed.
“Any foster parent in our network — even foster parents where we don’t have children in their homes — if they are pulled over even for a speeding ticket we’re made aware of it instantly,” said Jeff Centers, current children services director. “Anything that might raise a red flag, we’ll know about it immediately.”
Centers said the county pays $46,000 a year for the CJIS licensing records checks and that the agency also has a $95,000 annual contract with the county sheriff’s office to have a deputy supervise the investigations unit and provide services such as security and finding runaways.
Source http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/young-boys-death-at-hands-of-foster-parents-led-to-change-1224553.html
By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer
2:20 AM Sunday, August 7, 2011
It’s been five years since the death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel at the hands of his foster parents that captured the attention of the region, state and nation, sent two people to prison for the rest of their lives and led to a child welfare system overhaul.
Marcus, the Middletown boy with an impish grin, would have turned 8 in June. Instead of marking another birthday, he will be remembered for his horrific death.
The developmentally disabled boy was bound in a blanket wrapped with duct tape and placed in a playpen inside an upstairs closet while Liz and David Carroll Jr., live-in girlfriend Amy Baker, their children and foster children, and even the family dog, traveled to an August family reunion in Kentucky during the hottest days of the year.
“I’d like to think the laws that have changed in his memory have been beneficial in the fact that we haven’t had any other child have the same fate that he did,” said Gary Cates, a former state senator from West Chester Twp. “If that’s his legacy, that no other child’s been harmed, then that’s a tremendous legacy that Marcus left other children.”
Both Liz and David Carroll declined interview requests from prison.
Marcus’ death during the weekend of Aug. 4-6, 2006, in the closet of the Carrolls’ Union Twp. home in Clermont County placed a giant spotlight on some gaping holes in the child welfare system and led private foster placement agency, the former Lifeway for Youth, from operating in the state.
While his death was the breaking point to prompt reform in Ohio’s foster care and children services system, other children died while under the charge of Butler County Children Services: Tiffany Hubbard, 3, of Hamilton in 1986; Randi Fuller, 2, of Hamilton, in 2000; Christopher Long, 2, of Middletown, in 2001; Courtney Centers, 3, of Middletown in 2002; Jesus Rodriquez, 7 months, of Hamilton in 2003; and Justin Johnson, 13 months, of Middletown in 2004.
Marcus’ hurdles
Born on June 24, 2003, Marcus had many obstacles from the start. He was born with a developmental disability — though not specifically diagnosed, he had “global delays” and needed 24-hour care and attention.
Marcus slept on a foam mat at the home of his biological mother, Donna Trevino, and he and his siblings were not closely watched or cared for. Butler County Children Services became involved with the family in Aug. 9, 2004.
When Marcus was found wandering the streets on April 22, 2006, almost being hit by a car — roughly four months after he accidentally fell out of a second-story window — caseworkers removed Trevino’s three children from her home, where reports showed there was feces on the carpet and wall of the flea-infested home. This was the third time her children had been taken from her care.
The day Marcus went ‘missing’
The public story of Marcus’ disappearance began on Aug. 15, 2006, after Liz Carroll collapsed from an apparent heart condition at an Anderson Twp. park in Hamilton County. When medics responded, she told them she brought four children to the park, but only three were present. This sparked a massive three-day search by hundreds of volunteers, law enforcement and search and rescue teams.
“I still have nightmares about that little guy,” said Jann Heffner, then director of Butler County Children Services. “You don’t get into this business unless you care about the care and physical well being of a child.”
She and some of her staff, including Marcus’ caseworker Joe Beumer went out immediately to search for the child.
Beumer was in “shock and disbelief” but said the story of his disappearance “wasn’t adding up.” He doubted Marcus would have run off — even though that would be something he would do, when his foster mother collapsed. “Any child that experiences something like that I think their natural instinct would be to stay with that person that’s hurt,” he said, “even if they couldn’t do anything they would just sit there.”
Worry quickly turned into horror at the end of August 2006 when the Carrolls were charged with murder.
The case
Not many things hang on the walls in Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters’ office, but a drawing of Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Jim Borgman of Marcus holding hands with God walking toward heaven has a special place.
“To this day it just chills me that someone could do that to a little baby. They are where they belong and they will have to answer to God,” Deters said.
Deters had prosecuted the case before it was moved over to Clermont County since Marcus died in the Carrolls’ home. He said he thinks about the 3-year-old boy “all the time.”
“The inhumanity of how they treated him, it boggles my mind when you’ve got children,” he said.
The story of Marcus’ disappearance unraveled at Liz Carroll’s televised news conference, which Deters watched from his office. “It was rehearsed and came off very untruthful,” he said.
He immediately brought in Liz Carroll and Amy Baker (who now goes by Amy Ramsey) before a county grand jury. He talked to Baker first, and with her attorney present, said “if she was not truthful, she’ll go to prison.” After consulting with her attorney — who Deters said was ghostly pale after the attorney-client conversation — Baker admitted what happened to Marcus.
“It was disgusting,” Deters said of her testimony.
She revealed Marcus had been dead for days before the disappearance hoax at the park, and that she helped David Carroll burn the boy’s body in rural Brown County and throw the rest of his remains in the Ohio River.
Following a jury trial in February 2007, Liz Carroll was convicted of charges including murder and sentenced to 54 years to life in prison; her husband later was sentenced to 16 years to life as part of a plea deal.
The aftermath
An Ohio Department of Job and Family Services investigation pointed blame at Lifeway for Youth, the New Carlisle, Ohio-based foster care provider that placed Marcus with the Carrolls.
For reasons that include and extend beyond Marcus’ case, ODJFS later pulled Lifeway’s operational certificate, a decision upheld by a Franklin County judge.
Although investigations determined that Butler County Children Services did nothing wrong, Heffner was moved into a consulting role and then fired by the county commissioners. The Butler County Children Services Board — initially formed in the wake of 3-year-old Tiffany Hubbard’s abuse and death in 1986 at the hands of her biological father — was disbanded.
The Rev. Johnny Wade Sloan, chairman of the 11-member board, didn’t agree or see the reason to disband the board.
“(The Carrolls) promised 24-hour adult supervision and there was no reason for us not to place (the kids) when (Lifeway was) telling us, as a licensed agency, they had an ideal place,” he said.
But Sloan and Heffner said the decisions to disband the board and fire Heffner were political moves and not a result of Marcus’ death. “Marcus Fiesel became the focal point for that happening because that would have happened regardless,” Sloan said. Former Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox resigned his elected seat and later was appointment Children Services director. He has since resigned and is headed to federal prison in an unrelated case.
System changes
The death of Marcus Fiesel prompted change the Ohio child welfare system, though the need for retooling the system had been evident for years, said Gary Cates, a former state senator from West Chester Twp.
In 2007, Cates introduced legislation in the Ohio Senate and Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, introduced legislation in the Statehouse.
“I hope and pray that it never happens again,” Combs said of Marcus’ death.
Implementing the legislation requirements cost about $15 million in both the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years, said ODJFS spokeswoman Angela Terez. That investment included about $5.2 million in federal funds in each of the years, she said. After Marcus’ death, the Criminal Justice Information System, formed in Montgomery County, expanded to now include 14 Ohio counties. Had CJIS been in effect in Butler County, Marcus could have been pulled from the Carroll home following a June 2006 domestic violence arrest of David Carroll Jr., though the charge was later dismissed.
“Any foster parent in our network — even foster parents where we don’t have children in their homes — if they are pulled over even for a speeding ticket we’re made aware of it instantly,” said Jeff Centers, current children services director. “Anything that might raise a red flag, we’ll know about it immediately.”
Centers said the county pays $46,000 a year for the CJIS licensing records checks and that the agency also has a $95,000 annual contract with the county sheriff’s office to have a deputy supervise the investigations unit and provide services such as security and finding runaways.
Source http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/young-boys-death-at-hands-of-foster-parents-led-to-change-1224553.html
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Where IS CPS Concerning The Cushing Boys?
The facts about the Cushing's are very disturbing. It is absolutely impossible to believe that CPS does not see a reason to step into this matter. If this is not poor judgement, abuse, neglect and failure to protect - then nothing is.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Facts About Foster Care Children Abused With Psychotropic Drugs
FACTS ABOUT FOSTER CARE CHILDREN ABUSED WITH PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS
Whether under the care of Child Protective Services, Departments of Family and Child Services, or Youth Welfare Offices, foster children—often removed from family homes because of abuse—are furthered abused when they are prescribed psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs. Some US states report that more than 60% of foster children are prescribed mood-altering drugs (at a rate 300% above the national average).
Already troubled over their circumstances, these children are drugged for emotional and behavioral issues, sometimes with tragic outcome.
Take, for example, 7-year-old Gabriel Meyers, who didn’t want soup for lunch one Thursday in April 2009. He was sent to his room after he threw away his soup, kicking his toys around and threatening to kill himself. Around 1 p.m., police responded to a frantic call and found Gabriel had hanged himself.
He’d been prescribed a cocktail of psychiatric drugs, including an antidepressant that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned could lead to children committing suicide.1
Psychiatrists prescribed 93% of the psychotropic medication dispensed to foster youths, according to a 2008 study.2
• In Australia, one in four foster children was taking psychotropic drugs, and in residential homes, where children live in small groups supervised by social workers, the rate of drug use is 50%. Foster children are being medicated with psychotropic drugs at 10 times the rate of other children. 3
• In Ontario, Canada, psychotropic drugs are prescribed to nearly half of the state wards accounting for drug prescriptions at a rate three times that of children in the general population.4
• In 2007, in Texas $37.9 million was spent on psychiatric drugs for foster children.5 Pharmaceutical companies have played a major role in encouraging their increased use on foster care clients. They participate in aggressive marketing, and conduct misleading research about efficacy and safety.6
• The United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971 requires governments to protect children, including those in foster care from excessive and unwarranted exposure to psychotropic drugs.
Psychotropic drugs can be prescribed only for medical purposes, yet foster care youth are routinely prescribed drugs for behavioral control.
1“Psychotropic Drug Abuse in Foster Care Costs Government Billions,” Politics Daily, 17 June 2010.
2 Julie Zito, “Psychotropic Medication Patterns Among Youth in Foster Care,” Pediatrics, Vol. 121, No. 1, Jan. 2008, pp. e157-e163.
3 Caroline Overington, “Foster kids medicated for ‘mental health,’” The Australian, 4 Nov. 2008.
4 “Nearly half of children in [Canadian] Crown care are medicated,” Globe and Mail, 9 June 2007.
5 Evelyn Pringle, “Psychiatric Drugging of Children Intolerable-Betrayal of Innocence,” Lawyers and Settlements.com, 8 Mar. 2009.
6 Op. cit. Politics Daily.
Speaking Out
• ”This is child abuse on a grand scale.” — Richard Wexler, head of the Virginia-based National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.
• “We call it the chemical straitjacket.” — Denise Crisp, President of the New South Wales, Australia, Foster Care Association.
• “Children in state foster care systems and juvenile prisons are
particularly at risk of overmedication with psychotropic drugs…and under conditions that constitute egregious [extremely bad] departures from sound medical practice.” — Angela Olivia Burton from CUNY School of Law.
• “All kids in foster care have some story of trauma, like abuse or neglect, so we need to ask the question, ‘How are we dealing with trauma?’” Further, “The fact is that medication does not treat a disorder, it treats the symptoms of the manifestation….” — Charles Manos, School psychologist.
• “We’re taking away their future…By blunting their emotion, we take away children’s ability to relate to people, to trust, love, to care for others or to put themselves in another person’s shoes to see how it feels.” — Neuropsychologist who examined Texas records of children under state care.
• “Child advocates should illuminate that no alternatives were first tried and/or that the treating physician has given the prescription(s) without knowing if less invasive interventions were attempted.”
Guardians must “ensure that psychotropic drugs are not administered improperly to children in foster care as a means of chemical restraint.” — Bob Jacobs from the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, Inc.
• In 2010, Florida’s Department of Children and Families prohibited foster care children being enrolled in clinical trials for psychotropic drugs. Foster care parents and guardians in any state or country should object to any child under their care being part of a clinical drug experiment.
Angela Olivia Burton, “They Use it Like Candy’ - How the Prescription of Psychotropic Drugs to State-Involved Children Violates International Law,” Social Science Research Network, 3 Apr. 2010,
Carol Marbin Miller, “Mind-altering drugs given to some babies in DCF’s care,” Miami Herald, 17 Sept. 2002.
Caroline Overington, “ONE in four children who have been removed from the care of their parents and placed in foster homes are being heavily medicated to control their emotions and
behaviour,” The Australian, 3 Nov. 2008.
Angela Olivia Burton, “They Use it Like Candy’ - How the Prescription of Psychotropic Drugs to State-Involved Children Violates International Law,” Social Science Research Network, 3
Apr. 2010,
Eileen FitzGerald, “”Growing numbers of children on medication,” NewsTimes, 7 June, 2010.
Vera Sherav, “America’s Over-Medicated Children,” AARP, June, 2005
Bob Jacobs, psychologist, Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, Inc, “Legal Strategies to Challenge Chemical Restraint of Children in Foster Care A Resource for Child Advocates in
Florida.”
“Florida to FDA: No Foster Care Kids in Psychotropic Trials,” Pharmalot, 19 July 2010.
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