By Breann Bierman
CHANDLER, AZ (CBS5) - A caregiver for Child Protective Services has been sentenced to 10 years probation for child abuse.
A judge sentenced Angelica Jimenez Thursday morning, according to the Maricopa County Superior Court.
In January, Jimenez plead guilty to one count of Child Abuse and Hindering Prosecution.
Chandler Police arrested Jimenez in August after a baby girl she was caring for was rushed to the hospital. Jimenez initially told police she was alone when the infant stopped breathing.
Doctors found multiple bruises, abrasions and a cigarette burn on the baby's body. It was also discovered that the baby had 14 broken bones, some believed to have been caused by severe shaking.
Detectives learned later that Jimenez was with her boyfriend, Steven Saldana, when the baby was found not breathing and that he'd been staying at her home.
After a number of interviews, Jimenez admitted that she knew Saldana had been abusing the baby since the end of July, but that she never called police or CPS.
Police said Saldana is a convicted felon with a long criminal history. He faces three counts of child abuse in the case.
Source http://www.wave3.com/story/16547172/cps-caregiver-pleads-guilty-to-child-abuse
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 caregivers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caregivers. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
State failing to spur kinship custody - Virginia
4.6% of foster kids stay with relatives in 2010 - lowest in the nation
Virginia ranks last in the nation when it comes to asking relatives to become foster parents, even though promoting such so-called "kinship care" is official state policy.
Only 4.6 percent of kids in foster care were with relatives in 2010, well below the national average of 24 percent, the Virginia Commission on Youth reported to the General Assembly this week.
For one Staunton family, the Simms, who have been trying to win custody of a cousin's infant, the finding is no surprise.
"I really don't know what to say," added Sylvia Simms. Licensed as a day care provider and as a treatment foster parent, she and her husband, Army veteran William Simms, say they've been rebuffed and misled by local social workers in their efforts to care for the infant.
The infant's foster care plan, prepared by the social workers, contradicts findings by the infant's court-appointed guardian ad litem, who had recommended placing the infant with the Simms. The social services department has declined to comment, beyond saying there are two sides to every story and saying the state's policy is to encourage kinship care.
The commission reported "the negative perception held by child welfare workers 'that the apple does not fall far from the tree,'" was one reason why kinship care lagged in Virginia.
In addition, it said, many Virginians object to the idea that people be paid to care for relatives who need foster care.
But the commission also reported caregivers looking after relatives find it is tough to get help with health care, child care, housing and mental health services that children in foster care are supposed to get.
In many cases, such caregivers don't know, or aren't told, they are entitled to welfare, help with health care coverage or for a wide range of other support services intended for children in foster care, the commission said.
It recommended the state Department of Social Services move forward with its previously announced plans to create an assistance program to help people providing foster care to relatives.
It also asked the state Department of Education to ensure school systems understood they could not assume children in foster care with relatives were not local residents and therefore not entitled to free schooling.
The commission also suggested Virginia re-examine its list of crimes that permanently bars people from taking relatives into foster care, noting these can include single instances of misdemeanor drug possession.
Source http://www.newsleader.com/article/20120114/NEWS01/201140323
Virginia ranks last in the nation when it comes to asking relatives to become foster parents, even though promoting such so-called "kinship care" is official state policy.
Only 4.6 percent of kids in foster care were with relatives in 2010, well below the national average of 24 percent, the Virginia Commission on Youth reported to the General Assembly this week.
For one Staunton family, the Simms, who have been trying to win custody of a cousin's infant, the finding is no surprise.
"I really don't know what to say," added Sylvia Simms. Licensed as a day care provider and as a treatment foster parent, she and her husband, Army veteran William Simms, say they've been rebuffed and misled by local social workers in their efforts to care for the infant.
The infant's foster care plan, prepared by the social workers, contradicts findings by the infant's court-appointed guardian ad litem, who had recommended placing the infant with the Simms. The social services department has declined to comment, beyond saying there are two sides to every story and saying the state's policy is to encourage kinship care.
The commission reported "the negative perception held by child welfare workers 'that the apple does not fall far from the tree,'" was one reason why kinship care lagged in Virginia.
In addition, it said, many Virginians object to the idea that people be paid to care for relatives who need foster care.
But the commission also reported caregivers looking after relatives find it is tough to get help with health care, child care, housing and mental health services that children in foster care are supposed to get.
In many cases, such caregivers don't know, or aren't told, they are entitled to welfare, help with health care coverage or for a wide range of other support services intended for children in foster care, the commission said.
It recommended the state Department of Social Services move forward with its previously announced plans to create an assistance program to help people providing foster care to relatives.
It also asked the state Department of Education to ensure school systems understood they could not assume children in foster care with relatives were not local residents and therefore not entitled to free schooling.
The commission also suggested Virginia re-examine its list of crimes that permanently bars people from taking relatives into foster care, noting these can include single instances of misdemeanor drug possession.
Source http://www.newsleader.com/article/20120114/NEWS01/201140323
Monday, December 5, 2011
Georgia Keeps Kids Languishing in Foster Care Because Their Parents Are Undocumented
By Marie Diamond
A custody fight in Georgia is illustrating the biases of a foster care system that some say routinely subverts the parental rights of undocumented and non-English speaking mothers and fathers:
Ovidio and Domitina Mendez’s lost their five children to foster care when the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services arrived at their home claimed the kids were malnourished. The couple, who are both undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, says they did everything the child welfare agency asked them to do to get their kids back. But three years later, the children are still in foster care with strangers. Why? Because they are undocumented immigrants who speak Spanish, according to advocates.
A recent study by the Applied Research Center revealed that at least 5,100 children are languishing in America’s foster care system because their immigrant parents were detained or deported. But the report also found that even when undocumented parents are not detained or deported, they face bias in the child welfare system as a result of cultural and language discrimination.
For instance, at the June hearing that terminated the Mendez’s parental rights, they were peppered with seemingly irrelevant questions about their English-speaking ability and immigration status. “Describe for the court why even three years after [the children went into the state’s custody] you cannot speak English without an interpreter,” asked Bruce Kling, special assistant attorney general for Whitfield County Department of Family and Children’s Service.
The state also argued that the Mendezes’ should not regain custody because, as undocumented immigrants, they could not attain driver’s licenses and therefore couldn’t transport their children. ARC found that many county child welfare departments give this justification for why undocumented parents can’t be trusted as caregivers.
The suggestion that undocumented immigrants are unfit parents (usually for reasons related to their poverty) is often used to separate them from their children. But children then remain in foster care because of the barriers that undocumented mothers and fathers face in trying to regain custody. Parents’ undocumented status also works against them by preventing them from accessing state services that would enable them to better provide for their children.
Source http://www.alternet.org/immigration/153309/georgia_keeps_kids_languishing_in_foster_care_because_their_parents_are_undocumented
A custody fight in Georgia is illustrating the biases of a foster care system that some say routinely subverts the parental rights of undocumented and non-English speaking mothers and fathers:
Ovidio and Domitina Mendez’s lost their five children to foster care when the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services arrived at their home claimed the kids were malnourished. The couple, who are both undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, says they did everything the child welfare agency asked them to do to get their kids back. But three years later, the children are still in foster care with strangers. Why? Because they are undocumented immigrants who speak Spanish, according to advocates.
A recent study by the Applied Research Center revealed that at least 5,100 children are languishing in America’s foster care system because their immigrant parents were detained or deported. But the report also found that even when undocumented parents are not detained or deported, they face bias in the child welfare system as a result of cultural and language discrimination.
For instance, at the June hearing that terminated the Mendez’s parental rights, they were peppered with seemingly irrelevant questions about their English-speaking ability and immigration status. “Describe for the court why even three years after [the children went into the state’s custody] you cannot speak English without an interpreter,” asked Bruce Kling, special assistant attorney general for Whitfield County Department of Family and Children’s Service.
The state also argued that the Mendezes’ should not regain custody because, as undocumented immigrants, they could not attain driver’s licenses and therefore couldn’t transport their children. ARC found that many county child welfare departments give this justification for why undocumented parents can’t be trusted as caregivers.
The suggestion that undocumented immigrants are unfit parents (usually for reasons related to their poverty) is often used to separate them from their children. But children then remain in foster care because of the barriers that undocumented mothers and fathers face in trying to regain custody. Parents’ undocumented status also works against them by preventing them from accessing state services that would enable them to better provide for their children.
Source http://www.alternet.org/immigration/153309/georgia_keeps_kids_languishing_in_foster_care_because_their_parents_are_undocumented
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