Report: Anonymous Ind. hotline caller pleaded 20 minutes for abuse check before boy’s death

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — An anonymous caller to Indiana’s child abuse hotline pleaded for 20 minutes for someone to check on conditions in a South Bend home six months before a boy living there was tortured to death, a newspaper reports.

The South Bend Tribune posted the story online (http://bit.ly/wEQaqe ) Monday, after the Court of Appeals dismissed an attempt by the Department of Child Services to block the story’s publication. The caller last May told the person answering the phone at the hotline about another child’s injuries that day. The caller said the injuries left the boy limping and bleeding in his abdomen.

“Please go tonight. Please go,” the caller says. “I’m not saying this just to be saying this. Please go. Something got to be done. ... If they go there right now, they’ll see how them kids is beat, if they go there right now, because I don’t want it to get on the news and the boy died and then everybody come forward and they gonna say, ‘Well, why did nobody come forward from before?’”

Ten-year-old Tramelle Sturgis was found beaten to death in the house on Nov. 4, months after the May 27 hotline call.

His father, Terry Sturgis, is charged with murder, eight felony counts of battery and one misdemeanor count of battery, two counts of neglect, and two counts of confinement. He contends he was insane.

The Tribune reported a DCS spokeswoman did not respond to the newspaper’s requests to clarify policies on when the agency decides to investigate a call immediately and how urgent hotline calls are communicated to local offices. John Ryan, the agency’s chief of staff, declined comment to The Associated Press on Monday, saying he didn’t know enough about the policies or the case.

The Tribune reported that DCS documents it obtained under the state’s public records law indicate the call center contacted a family case manager the night of the call. The records do not indicate whether any action was taken then.

According to South Bend Police spokesman Capt. Phil Trent, police took a report from an anonymous caller just after midnight. Police records show two officers went to the house, having been told only that 10 children were possibly being abused. Trent said officers went to the home and everything appeared fine. He said unless police have more details to provide probable cause, they cannot enter a house after midnight, pull children aside and ask to look under their shirts for injuries. If an officer saw an injury or blood on a shirt, he would have probable cause.

“If you suspect that (abuse), you can seize the child, but you’d better be able to articulate why you did that,” he said.

The caller to the DCS hotline told the DCS worker the children would likely have marks.

“All you got to do is just raise them shirts up,” the caller replies with concern. “And I think them kids would tell it because them kids so scared.”

The caller said that the week before, some of the children were beaten so badly that their visible injuries kept them from being sent to school.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he asked the state Court of Appeals to dismiss DCS’ attempt to block the South Bend Tribune from publishing a story because prior restraint of the news media is inconsistent with the First Amendment. Ryan, who is with the DCS, said the agency was concerned the media would publish information that would identify the caller.

Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/report-anonymous-ind-hotline-caller-pleaded-20-minutes-for-abuse-check-before-boys-death/2012/03/12/gIQAtf847R_story.html

Story on DCS hotline call is blocked - Indiana

Newspaper had posted information based on report that children were abused

The Indiana Court of Appeals approved an emergency request Friday from the Department of Child Services that prevents the South Bend Tribune from publishing a story based on the recording of a call made last year to the state's child abuse hotline.

On Tuesday, a St. Joseph County judge ordered DCS to release a copy of the May call to the hotline alleging 10 children were being abused in a South Bend home.

The Tribune briefly posted a story on its website based on the tape, along with audio clips from the 20-minute call. Both were removed after the appeals court ordered a stay of the local court order late Friday afternoon.

The Court of Appeals also set a hearing on the matter for Monday.

"We were very, very disappointed," said Tribune Executive Editor Tim Harmon. "The material that we received after the juvenile court judge's order is clearly something the public needs to know about. It is something we have reported about in the past and will continue to report about."

Harmon said the newspaper planned to use material from the call "very responsibly," and the story that was briefly posted did not include the caller's name or gender. It also did not use the names of the children involved.

One of those children was 10-year-old Tramelle Sturgis, who was fatally beaten about six months later. His father, Terry Sturgis, is charged with murder in the boy's death.

DCS already has released paper copies of the Sturgis family's files. Those records included information detailing allegations made in the May call to the hotline. They also reveal that a DCS worker did not make contact with the family until four days after that call.

A few weeks later, the worker ruled the allegation of abuse was unfounded.

However, the circumstances of Tramelle's killing -- he was beaten to death with a wooden club -- closely matched details of the abuse allegation in the hotline call.

Ann Houseworth, DCS spokeswoman, said she was unable to discuss details of pending litigation but did issue a brief written statement.

"The child protection process by statute begins with the call to the hotline -- 1-800-800-5556," Houseworth said.

"The statute requires and callers expect confidentiality when those calls are made. Disclosure of the identification of a caller will have a chilling effect on the willingness of people to call in and report abuse and neglect. Children will be in harm's way if the identity of the caller is disclosed. We will aggressively defend the statute and the confidentiality of those who care about children by calling in to report abuse and neglect."

The fight comes just one day after lawmakers gave final approval to Senate Bill 286. Included in the legislation addressing a number of DCS policy issues is a provision making recordings of calls to the hotline confidential unless a judge orders the information to be released.

Gov. Mitch Daniels could sign or veto the bill. The governor's spokeswoman, Jane Jankowski, said Daniels had no comment on the legal dispute.

DCS Director James Payne repeatedly has pledged that the agency would be open and transparent.

But one critic of the agency, Dawn Robertson of the family-rights group HonkForKids.com, says that has not been her experience.

"I've heard Director Payne say over and over how DCS would be open and transparent," she said. "In the years since, families we have worked with have repeatedly run into hurdles just getting their own records.

"So why would you think DCS was going to allow more access to information that would help the public determine whether or not the agency's actions are correct or appropriate?"

Source http://www.indystar.com/article/20120310/LOCAL/203100318/Story-DCS-hotline-call-blocked?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews

Child welfare confidentiality draws scrutiny - Indiana

Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind.— An Indiana law that keeps all child-protection records confidential except in cases of fatality or near fatality is out of date and prevents accountability when a child dies, some judges and lawmakers say.

"I have to make decisions based on the evidence before me," said St. Joseph Probate Judge Peter Nemeth, "and I'm not always sure that DCS is telling me everything."

The Indiana House has voted to create a legislative committee to review changes in how the state investigates reports of child abuse and neglect. Democratic legislators have questioned the Department of Child Services' spending and a new child abuse hotline that routes all reports to a centralized call center in Indianapolis

Republican legislators have defended the agency's performance, saying DCS has doubled the number of caseworkers and helped reduce the number of child abuse deaths since 2005.

But critics say there is a cloak of secrecy surrounding the agency and worry that failing to provide some information could have tragic consequences.

An Indiana child fatality review team studies and reports on deaths of Indiana children. Its public reports provide a general overview and broad recommendations but don't delve into specifics of what happened or did not happen, the South Bend Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/AirHoB).

Reports from a DCS ombudsman office established in 2010 to investigate complaints involving the department also contain only general trends and non-identifying information about specific cases.

DCS Director James Payne said he supports more openness.

"I'm not opposed to loosening up the confidentiality. I've said for years that `confidential' is really `secret,"' said Payne, a former juvenile court judge who opened his Marion County courtroom to cameras for a "Dateline" television special about the juvenile justice system. "The issue really is the degree of that."

Child protection officials say they worry that more openness could expose parents to unfounded tips and stigmatize children.

But others note that unsubstantiated reports of abuse or neglect are only kept for three months and say that has prevented child welfare workers from having all the information they need in some cases, including the beating death of Tramelle Sturgis, a 10-year-old South Bend boy, in November.

In that case, prosecutors learned that earlier reports to DCS about the boy and his family had been destroyed.

State Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend, introduced an amendment this session to change DCS record-keeping rules to store records of unsubstantiated reports for at least three years.

Broden, a former DCS attorney, advocates easing the system's confidentiality requirements so long as names of children and parents remain confidential.

"If the press wants to come and look at various cases and orders, I'd have no problem with that," he said.

Source http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-childservices-con,0,1108594.story

Indiana governor attacks Democrats, media, over criticism of child protection on his watch

TOM LoBIANCO
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Mitch Daniels on Friday rebuffed criticism of Indiana's child protection services during his watch, saying recent news reports that detailed cases of fatal child beatings obscured the great strides the state had made in protecting at-risk children and accusing rival Democrats of "grandstanding."

Daniels addressed hundreds of child protection workers in an attempt to boost morale following investigative reports by The Indianapolis Star and the South Bend Tribune. The papers detailed multiple cases where Hoosier children were beaten to death while reports to the state went unchecked, possibly because of high turnover at Indiana's new centralized abuse reporting hotline.

Daniels, a Republican, cited statistics and national awards showing that the state had improved drastically since 2005, including a 50 percent drop in reported deaths between 2005 and 2010. He accused the media of misrepresenting the issue.

"A lot of the people making those attacks have never walked up to the door of a house harboring those adults," Daniels told the audience.

House Democratic Leader Patrick Bauer, of South Bend, and Democratic members of the House's family committee called a news conference last week and criticized child protection services based on the newspaper reports.

The House agreed Thursday to establish a legislative study committee to investigate the reports. Indiana senators, meanwhile, reached a separate agreement with DCS to have it submit a report to the Legislature's Health Finance Commission.

Daniels used the issue against Democrats in his first run for office much the same way they are using it against him now.

"I just think the protection of children ought to be singled out as a life-and-death matter where failure is not an option," Daniels told the Star in 2004 when he was running for governor against Democrat Joe Kernan.

Since then, Daniels has separated the child protection office from the massive state Family and Social Services Administration, establishing its own cabinet-level department. He also increased the number of caseworkers handling child abuse and neglect cases by 750 workers.

Source http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-in--childprotection,0,724750.story

Star Watch: Could deaths of Indiana children have been prevented?

Bogger note:

Sometimes parents are at fault in child abuse and neglect cases. In many of those cases, CPS fails the children for a number of reasons, none of which are reasonable or make any kind of sense - simply - CPS failed. It's a shame that children who are in truly abusive homes are suffering which sometimes leads to their death whild children who are not in abusive homes are kidnapped by CPS and sold to the highest bidder. Seems that CPS should stop the baby selling business and focus on the job that they were originally intended to do - protecting children. We question if CPS has any idea how to do their jobs and how they deem homes safe and etc. Seems that they fail miserably at their job.
---

Investigation raises questions about whether Department of Child Services could have done more to protect kids

Written by Tim Evans

Taylor Creech, 5 months old.

Nygell Easter, 6 months old.

Julian Hurley, 4 years old.

Devin Parsons, 12 years old.

Tramelle Sturgis, 10 years old.

Irdessa Vazquez, 6 months old.

Six Hoosier children -- white, black and Hispanic, from small towns and big cities. All dead.

Their short, disparate lives are connected by one common thread: the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Before each of these children died last year, concerns about their care and treatment were reported -- repeatedly, in some cases -- to the state agency responsible for investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect.

In some cases, DCS determined the allegations did not merit an investigation. In others, the agency opened investigations but was unable to make contact with the family or found no problems -- case closed. And in two of the deaths, DCS had open cases at the time the children were killed.

But in each case -- and despite evidence of mounting trouble -- DCS ultimately left the children with their parents.

The 2011 fatalities uncovered by The Indianapolis Star raise questions about the quality of the agency's investigations and safety assessments, as well as with the services provided to struggling families.

It is not child deaths alone, however, that suggest lingering problems. There are other troubling indicators that the system is still failing too many Hoosier children:

The rate at which children suffer repeat abuse or neglect within six months of a DCS intervention -- a telling and nationally recognized measure -- remains basically unchanged from 2004 at about 8 percent. The federal government has a target standard of 5.4 percent, which 27 states met in 2010. Twelve states had a higher re-abuse rate than Indiana.

Despite a significant increase in the number of reports made to DCS, the agency is investigating a smaller percentage of the reports it receives -- and it is substantiating a smaller percentage of the cases that are investigated.

Altogether, the issues raise serious questions about the ambitious and costly reform project initiated in 2005 by Gov. Mitch Daniels to fix Indiana's long-troubled child welfare system and protect vulnerable children.

Despite hiring nearly 800 new field workers, setting caseload limits and expanding training, it is not clear that children involved with DCS are any safer now than they were before the overhaul.

"Clearly," said state Sen. Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis, "the system is still broken."

In a written response to questions submitted by The Star, DCS spokeswoman Ann Houseworth disagreed.

"We are providing better outcomes for kids," she said.

Houseworth cited the added caseworkers, a centralized call center that provides uniformity in response to reports of abuse and neglect, a reduction in the number of children placed outside of their homes, and a decrease in the number of children who languish in the system for years with no permanent homes.

The agency's work was honored last week by Casey Family Programs for excellence in leadership, in part because of its efforts to decrease the number of children in institutional and foster care.

The approach DCS calls "Safely Home-Families First" is a concept that is gaining acceptance in child welfare circles across the country. It is based on research that shows the trauma of being torn from family can be as devastating to a child as some forms of neglect and abuse.

The key to success in the "family preservation" approach, according to experts, is making sure that there is a thorough and accurate assessment of a family's challenges and strengths -- and that adequate services are available to ensure that the problems of parents are addressed so their children can safely remain at home.

Houseworth acknowledged "DCS is concerned" about its inability to reduce the re-abuse rate but said the agency has no control over the behavior of parents once a case is closed.

Others have an idea why the rate hasn't budged.

Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, is an outspoken proponent of keeping families together while working through their problems. He said the state's inability to reduce re-abuse indicates DCS is not providing adequate or appropriate services to families.

"The question is: What is DCS doing before a case is closed?" he said. "It sounds to me like DCS lacked the competence to build the programs that are needed."

Intensive services that are proven to keep children safe don't come cheap, Wexler said.

That said, DCS officials have given back $320 million since 2009 to the state treasury -- including $103 million in 2011.

That was money lawmakers earmarked to help abused and neglected children but instead was used, at the governor's urging, to help bolster the state's balance sheet during the economic downturn. And it happened as reports of abuse and neglect increased in the state.

"The money DCS 'threw away' may well have helped children and families," Wexler said, "if it had been spent for the right kinds of programs."

Houseworth said returning the money has not caused children to suffer.

"Our goal is not just to spend money on services," she said. "We're charged with providing appropriate services children need and at the same time use our dollars wisely."

How that money is spent to help families is determined by a team -- which includes DCS staff, family members and local service providers -- that works to identify the kinds of help a troubled family needs.

The bulk of the money that was returned by DCS was not the result of skimping on those types of services, Houseworth said. Rather, it was not needed because of the significant savings provided by slashing the number of children placed in residential facilities. The cost for such services can run as high as $100,000 a year per child.

But state Rep. William Crawford, D-Indianapolis, said common sense makes him think some of the cases in which children died -- and many others across the state where children suffered repeat abuse and neglect -- might have turned out differently if DCS had used more of the money to better monitor and help those families.

"Their mantra is that they are doing more with less," he said, "but that doesn't appear to be working for the children."

Crawford has filed legislation to create a Commission on Improving the Status of Children, which would monitor and review state services and programs -- including those of DCS -- and produce an annual report detailing the state's successes and shortcomings.

"You have to wonder," said Crawford, "if (DCS) didn't put vulnerable children in jeopardy just so the governor could say 'look at what the state has in the bank' when he leaves office."

Breaux also questioned whether the agency's budget decisions have been in the best interest of children and families.

"It just breaks my heart when I hear those stories about children dying," she said. "It seems to me that DCS would want to keep as many dollars as it could to protect and help children."

How were concerns handled?
Each of the six deaths investigated by The Star highlights one or more continuing concerns about the agency's work.

There are likely many other victims. The Star's investigation has found at least 17 other deaths over the past five years -- DCS says that's not something the agency tracks -- including many that revealed the same problems that showed up in the 2011 cases.

Clearly, DCS is not solely responsible for the deaths; it was the abuse and neglect that killed the children. But there had been desperate cries for help calling these very children and adults to the attention of DCS.

The death of Devin Parsons, a Greensburg boy who had just completed the fourth grade, raises questions about the agency's increasing push to leave children with troubled parents and the quality of services DCS provides to those families.

Devin's mother had been investigated for allegations of abuse or neglect at least 18 times since Devin was born in 1999, including nine reports in the last year of his life. The agency repeatedly ordered Tasha Parsons to participate in counseling and other services but never removed Devin or his siblings -- even after the Greensburg boy told a caseworker in April that he was afraid to go back home.

A little more than one month later, police say, Devin was savagely beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend.

The death of Nygell Easter in Indianapolis raises questions about the sufficiency of DCS investigations at a time when the agency is citing parents in a smaller percentage of the reports it investigates.

Nygell was 3 months old when he ended up at an Indianapolis hospital in December 2010. Medical personnel suspected abuse and called DCS. The agency opened an investigation. But it was closed with an "unsubstantiated" finding in January 2011 after the family blamed Nygell's older brother for the injury.

Less than two months later, Nygell was dead. Once again, his family tried to blame Nygell's fatal head injury on his 1-year-old brother. An investigation by police and the coroner, however, determined the injury could not have happened the way the family described, and his father -- who was convicted one year earlier for sexual misconduct with a minor -- faces murder charges.

The death of Taylor Creech in Columbia City raises questions about the urgency and tenacity with which DCS investigates reports, and also the agency's collaboration with law enforcement.

Before Taylor was born, family members said DCS had removed two of Janele Creech's other children because of her drug use. In November 2010, Janele's sisters turned to Janele's probation officer and DCS, reporting Taylor was in danger because their sister was making and using methamphetamine around her new baby.

They said the report prompted DCS to send a caseworker to Creech's home. But when no one answered the door, the worker left a card with a note asking Creech to call the agency. She didn't. Instead, Creech basically went into hiding, avoiding contact with her family.

Creech subsequently failed a mandatory probation department drug test on Dec. 23, 2010, but a warrant for her arrest was not issued for an additional week -- and probation officials apparently did not notify DCS.

Three days after a judge issued the warrant for Creech's arrest, she still had not been picked up for the probation violation or contacted by DCS -- and Taylor was dead.

The coroner told her aunts the baby died after a case of bronchitis. Creech had allowed it to go untreated while trying to avoid authorities, and it developed into sepsis. That condition pushed poisons into Taylor's bloodstream, contributing to her suffocation as she slept on a sofa with Creech's boyfriend.

"You hear all the time that if you suspect abuse or neglect, you need to report it," said Taylor's aunt, Michele Freewalt, who went to the Whitley County DCS office to report her fears for the baby.

"But it didn't do us any good. That's what makes me the most angry: We did exactly what we were supposed to do, and they dropped the ball."

The death of Tramelle Sturgis in South Bend also raises questions about the quality of DCS assessments.

A caseworker investigated a report in May that Tramelle's father and grandmother were beating children in the home with a wooden club -- a very specific allegation. But the DCS investigator reported on June 20 that there was no evidence of abuse.

Five months later, Tramelle, 10, was dead. A police investigation revealed the boy "suffered from numerous injuries, both old and new," according to court documents.

The final, fatal beating, investigators allege, was administered by his father. Tramelle was beaten to death with a wooden club.

Source http://www.indystar.com/article/20120122/LOCAL/201220337/Star-Watch-Could-deaths-Indiana-children-been-prevented-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com

Report - More Indiana Children Die From Abuse, Neglect, Report Says

Child Advocates Chide Backslide In Children's Services

INDIANAPOLIS -- Federal statistics show that Indiana has one of the highest rates of child abuse and neglect in the nation, though Department of Child Services officials claim their statistics show progress.

Recent cases of child abuse deaths are indicative of how some Indiana children fall through the cracks, and federal reports obtained by Call 6 Investigator Joanna Massee are counter to DCS claims that the child welfare system is improving.

Some child advocates said they've seen some progress recently, but others said they are gravely concerned about recent abuse and neglect deaths and what they consider backsliding services.

Deaths Of Children Spur Concern

The cases of Devin Parsons and Christian Choate highlight what many consider to be the failings of DCS.

Greensburg police found Parsons, 12, fatally beaten in June. His mother, Tasha Parsons, and her boyfriend, Waldo Jones, were subsequently charged with murder.

Randy Parsons, Devin's great-uncle, said he wasn't aware of the extent of abuse that police said went on in the boy's home.

"You just never expect anything like that," Parsons said, adding that he didn't realize a DCS employee visited the boy's home days before his death. "I think the job wasn't finished."

Christian Choate, 13, also had a long history with DCS before his death earlier this year. According to the agency's records, Christian lived in a cage and received regular beatings during the last months of his life.

In May, investigators pulled Christian's body from a shallow grave in Gary. His father, Riley Choate, and his stepmother, Kimberly Kubina, were charged with murder.

Records obtained by the Call 6 Investigators showed that the families of both children had a long history with DCS.

DCS Director James Payne said he thinks his agency is better at protecting children than ever before, and he cautioned against using child fatalities as a measuring stick.

" First of all, nobody in the system looks at fatalities as a measure of whether or not the system itself is doing a good job in helping protect children," Payne said. "Often the fatalities occur without any contact before. Often they happen in circumstances that were unpredictable."

Child Welfare Tracking Systems Inconsistent

Nationwide, child safety workers criticized an inconsistent tracking system for child deaths.

Because federal and state reports cover different time periods, the numbers don't match, and that means the number of deaths can look like it's going up in one report and down in another.

For example, the most recent Child Maltreatment Report released by the Department of Health and Human Services showed an increase in the number of child deaths from 2008 to 2009. The federal government counted 34 deaths in 2008 and 50 deaths in 2009. The federal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

The state's most recent Child Abuse and Neglect Report of Child Fatalities showed a decrease in the number of child deaths from 2008 to 2009. The state government counted 46 deaths in 2008 and 38 deaths in 2009. The state year runs from July 1 through June 30.

Payne said a better way to evaluate the system is to look at statistics, such as fewer children being placed in residential treatment.

"The system is much better now," Payne said.

DCS is focused on helping children thrive in the home because taking them out is very traumatic, Payne said.

But the cases that involved Devin and Christian indicate that leaving abused and neglected children in a home can also be devastating.

Child Advocates' Opinion Mixed

Privately, leading child advocates and service providers told Massee they disagree with Payne’s claims that the system is improving. Publicly, they choose their words carefully if they say anything at all, fearing retaliation.

Massee asked Payne if the culture at DCS discourages criticism within the agency.

"I suspect there is at some level," but not at the executive level, Payne responded.

David Sklar, who leads the Children’s Coalition of Indiana, an organization that works to support and lobby for children and families, said child advocates and service providers fear retaliation for voicing concerns about DCS.

"They're afraid to advocate for those clients because they're afraid that the state might look somewhere else to provide those contracts," Sklar said.

Sklar added that advocates are also concerned that the state is spending fewer dollars on therapeutic services that help address and prevent child abuse and neglect.

"We are starting to see a backslide," he said.

Last year, DCS gave back nearly $104 million to the state general fund, money that could have been used for children. Payne said the agency did not need the cash.

When Massee asked Payne about these spending decisions, he granted RTV6 unprecedented access to the agency, adamant that his system is working.

During a roundtable discussion with DCS employees, Massee asked case workers about the difficulties they face on the job.

Supervisor Melissa Clark said she has seen positive changes during her 17 years with DCS, but she also said the work comes with challenges.

"It can be a life and death decision that we're making," Clark said. "We do see some turnover. It is a stressful job. It's emotional. We deal with the crying child that's being removed from their parent."

Denise Brightman said she has spent 21 years working with families and worries about making a mistake "every day."

While workers such as Brightman and Clark can only control the cases assigned to them, State Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, said he is concerned with decisions being made at the top.

Crawford criticized the state’s decision to spend less on services for abused and neglected children in need.

"There are too many child advocates from around the state of Indiana who are crying foul," Crawford said.

Child advocates said the unspent funds could be used for services such as counseling for young abuse victims, clothing and food for foster kids and toward other services for families, such as those in which Christian and Devin once belonged.

Speaking privately, one leading child advocate told Massee, "This needs to be a call to action. The system will succeed when the private sector and public sector work together."

Source http://www.theindychannel.com/news/29636918/detail.html