Does Foster Care Protect Children?

by Law Journal for Social Justice at Arizona State University

November 16, 2011

by Fatima Badreddine

On Jenna’s eighteenth birthday, she arrived at her home only to discover that her foster parents had taken all of her belongings and placed them in the driveway. She stayed at a friend’s house for a few days, but she soon became homeless. Jenna had been in foster care since she was six years old and was passed around from foster home to foster home. The lack of stability in her life left her traumatized, feeling alone and unwanted. Jenna’s eighteenth birthday should have been a happy day. Instead, it was one of her most hurtful experiences, invoking a renewed sense of anguish and rejection.

Unfortunately, Jenna’s experience illustrates one of many examples of the problems associated with foster care in America. Foster care has been a traumatic experience for children, many of whom are shuffled between different foster homes. Sanda Chipungu and Tricia Bent-Goodley reported in 2004 that after about three months of being placed in a foster home, many children exhibited symptoms of “depression, aggression, or withdrawal.” In severe cases, children exhibited symptoms of “sleep disturbance, hoarding food, excessive eating, self-stimulation, rocking, or failure to thrive.”[1] Like Jenna, more than half of the former-foster children that were surveyed reported that they were not prepared to support themselves after leaving foster care.[2]

However, foster care was created as a temporary injunction to find safe havens for abused and neglected children. Foster care was not designed to be a permanent remedy for abused and neglected children. Rather, the goal was to either return the foster children to their parents, or to place the children for adoption when returning them to their families is inappropriate. However, some children have remained in foster care permanently, being shuffled among different foster homes until they reached the age of majority. This unstable and continuously evolving environment contributes to the psychological problems described by Sandra Chipungu and Tricia Bent-Goodly. Furthermore, some children have been placed in abusive foster homes, meaning that they were shuffled from one abusive or neglectful environment to another. Considering that many children have been negatively impacted by foster care, is it an appropriate method for protecting abused and neglected children?

In Arizona, the statistics for children who have been removed from their home, both temporarily and permanently, are staggering. The number of children in out-of-home care[3] increased monthly from January to June 2011. In January 2011, 10,512 children were in out-of-home care, and by June 2011, 11,082 children were in out-of-home care.[4] These statistics become more significant when compared to the length of time that children remain in out-of-home care. About 22.6% of children remain in out-of-home care for over a year, while 20.7% of children remain in the state’s care for over two years.[5] This means that over twenty percent of foster children in Arizona have not been in a permanent living arrangement for more than two years. Furthermore, the report fails to clarify how long children are in state custody beyond two years, leaving the impression that the Department is attempting to bury this important information.

Likewise, the Arizona Department of Economic Services does not include statistics regarding the mental health and emotional well-being of children under state care. As mentioned above, the longer a child is separated from his/her family and support system, the more likely he/she is to experience emotional distress. Yet, the Department excludes this information from its statistical reports, which prevents the public from reviewing whether the Department adequately meets the needs of foster children.

Unfortunately, some children in Arizona have suffered from abuse while in foster care. Arizona Child Protective Services (“CPS”) does not consistently visit all children in out-of-home care, which is an important element in preventing and reporting foster care abuse. In March 2011, CPS case managers failed to visit 17.5% of children, and licensing case managers failed to visit 11.5% of foster homes.[6] This is a significant amount of children who have not received the minimal monitoring required by the state, thereby increasing the potential for unreported abuse in foster homes and families. In fact, during a mere six month time period, from October 2010 to March 2011, two children in Arizona died while in CPS custody due to “alleged abuse.”[7] The report did not include statistics concerning the number of reported abuses that resulted in harm other than death. Furthermore, the majority of children in out-of-home care are under the age of six[8] and unlikely to have the mental and emotional capacity to understand, let alone report, abuse. Thus, the actual amount abuse inflicted on foster children in Arizona is likely higher than disclosed in the Semi-Annual Child Welfare Report.

Victims of abuse while in state custody may seek restitution through the courts, but this process is complicated by state statutes that grant sovereign immunity to government officials and employees. Although 42 U.S.C. § 1983 permits victims of foster care abuse to overcome sovereign immunity, the burden to overcome it is heavy. As a result, there is minimal litigation in the United States and Arizona involving foster care abuse.

In Weatherford ex rel. Michael v. State (2003), the Supreme Court of Arizona ruled that foster children could establish liability against state employees for abuse under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court concluded that a foster child “has a right to reasonable safety while in foster care” and that this right required more than protection just from “known or obvious dangers.”[9] So, the Court expanded the previous Grubbs II test to include a negligence liability for social workers.[10]

However, a foster child still has a difficult burden to overcome. He/she must prove that: 1) the social worker was unjustified in acting “with deliberate indifference” by putting or keeping a child in foster care, when the social worker knew or should have known that the child would be exposed to danger; or, 2) the state worker deliberately ignored or refused to obtain information that placing the child in foster care would expose that child to danger, and the worker had “time to consider the placement for a foster child . . . .”[11] Furthermore, the court must consider “the totality of the circumstances” because the social worker is not liable if he/she cannot find placement for the child or is bound by “financial constraints.”[12] The totality of circumstances rule grants wide deference to social workers because the Court does not clarify what constitutes adequate time to consider or find placement. The Court also fails to specify the extent of reasonable “financial constraints.” So, although the Court expanded the state’s liability under § 1983 to include negligence, it simultaneously granted wide deference to social workers, making the plaintiff’s burden difficult to overcome.

Foster care in the United States and Arizona is in a state of chaos and confusion. Although foster care was created as a temporary tool to protect abused and neglected children, a significant amount of children in Arizona remain in foster care for over a year. A year or longer in an unstable and impermanent home environment is a considerable amount of time for a child, making it more likely that the child will develop psychological or physical harm. Until foster care is reformed to account for these issues, it should be reserved as an emergency solution for extreme cases of abuse and neglect that seriously threaten the safety and/or health of the child.

[1] Douglas Abrams & Sarah Ramsey, Children and the Law: Doctrine, Policy and Practice 439 (West, 4th ed. 2010).
[2] Id. at 440.
[3] Defined by the Arizona Department of Economic Security as the number of children in CPS custody “who require placement in a foster care setting.” Clarence H. Carter, Dep’t of Econ. Sec., Child Protective Service Bi-Annual Financial and Accountability Report, at 3 (Ariz. 2011), http://www.azdes.gov/InternetFiles/Reports/pdf/dcyf_ financial_and_program_accountability_2024_report.pdf.
[4] Id. at 3a, 3f.
[5] Clarence H. Carter, Dep’t of Econ. Sec., Child Welfare Reporting Requirements: Semi-Annual Report, at 44 (Ariz. 2011), http:// www.azdes.gov/InternetFiles/Reports/pdf/semi_annual_child_welfare_report_oct_2010_ mar_2011.pdf.
[6] Id. at 46.
[7] Id. at 58.
[8] Id. at 39.
[9] Weatherford ex rel. Michael v. State, 206 Ariz. 529, 537 (2003).
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id. at 538.

Source http://ljsj.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/does-foster-care-protect-children/

Child's mother saw signs - Idaho

Blogger note:
Many families caught up with CPS find that their children are being hurt or neglected in foster homes and in almost every case, when they report the situations to CPS, they are ignored or CPS downplays their concerns. This kind of problem can lead and has led to child deaths while in foster care. Many families will even bring this information up in court and sometimes to their state lawmakers and guess what? Those same people say they have complete faith in CPS. How can a family proctect their children in foster care when no one will hear them?
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Daughter in foster care had bumps, scratches

By DAVID COLE

COEUR d'ALENE - Samantha Richardson said she had three visits with her children in the two months they lived with foster parents in Post Falls in late 2008 and early 2009.

At each of those one-hour meetings, she said she saw changes, both physical and in behavior, in one of her three children, 2-year-old Karina J. Moore.

By early January 2009, Karina was in a coma in a Spokane hospital. Days after that, she was dead.

Now the foster parents, Amber M. Clark, 28, and Jeremy M. Clark, 36, have been indicted by a grand jury in Kootenai County, accused of felony injury to children, conspiracy to conceal evidence, and perjury. They were arrested and jailed, but then released on $25,000 bond.

"After three years, you're thinking these people might get off the hook," Richardson, 25, of Coeur d'Alene, said Monday.

She's eager to see the Clarks in front of a judge and jury, she said, and for an opportunity to take the witness stand and tell her side of the story.

Richardson had her three children taken from her in mid-November 2008 because she allegedly harmed her son, Shawn, who is 8 years old today. She said the alleged mistreatment turned out, upon investigation, to have been nothing more than an accident. She has had a fourth child, Saniyah, who is now 8 months old. She has custody of her children now.

In the first supervised visit at the end of November 2008, her daughter, Karina, had a big knot on her head, Richardson recalled.

The foster parents told state child protection employees that Karina had slipped and fallen on some ice. State employees then passed that story on to Richardson. She was concerned, but such a fall didn't sound unlikely.

But that wasn't all.

Karina's older brother Shawn told Richardson he didn't like it when the foster parents spanked Karina when she didn't put her clothes on herself.

"That was the very first thing he said to me in that visit," Richardson said.

State workers told Richardson that her son was exaggerating. "'Shawn is a liar,'" she said she was told.

Along with Karina and Shawn, Richardson had a third child, a daughter Aaliyah, who was a baby at the time, and also was living with the Clarks.

In the second visit, in early December, Karina had another knot on the side of her head, Richardson said.

This time the foster parents told child protection employees that Karina had run into another child and bumped her head. That message was forwarded on to Richardson.

"I didn't buy it," Richardson said. "I didn't buy it at all."

Karina's speech also had become "slurred" at this point.

"Her speech was gone," she said.

By the third visit, on Christmas Eve in 2008, Karina had black eyes and scratches on her face, Richardson said.

This time, she was told Karina hadn't gotten enough sleep lately, and had "raccoon eyes," and a dog had scratched her face, Richardson said.

She was concerned because Karina had been a healthy child and developing normally while in Richardson's care. That didn't seem to be the case while in foster care, she said.

"She never had anything wrong with her," she said.

Richardson, who got married in July 2009, but was a single mother at the time of Karina's death, said she complained about the changes she had seen in Karina. Karina's father lives in South Carolina.

Richardson went to both the state child protection employees and Karina's court appointed special advocate to voice her concerns.

However, the next time she saw Karina, the child was in a coma.

At 1 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2009, Richardson received a phone call from a restricted number.

A Post Falls police detective was on the line.

He told her, "'There has been a horrible accident, and Karina is being flown to Sacred Heart (Medical Center, in Spokane),'" she recalled the detective saying. "'We think you should get over there.'"

Richardson said, "My heart sank."

Too distraught to drive herself, Richardson got a ride to Spokane with her mother.

When Richardson reached the hospital, she was told by police that Karina had fallen down some carpeted stairs. Richardson couldn't be told anything else, as that was all police knew at that point, she said.

"Where were the baby gates?" she said.

Karina was lying on the hospital bed in a diaper and neck brace, she recalled.

"Her body was cold," Richardson said. "Her lips were purple."

Richardson was told by doctors that Karina had a very high sodium level and low body temperature.

"I still to this day have no idea why her sodium level was so high," Richardson said.

She has her theories about why the girl's body temperature was so low.

Indictment documents filed in Kootenai County court said the Clarks were responsible for "causing the child's body temperature to drop under 96 degrees or permitting the same to occur; or by withholding medical care" for her.

Richardson has had a tough three years.

She starts a new job on Wednesday.

She hasn't been able to work since Karina's death, because she doesn't want to let her children out of her sight, she said.

She has regular counseling for anxiety, she said.

"I have the worst anxiety when it comes to the kids," she said. Karina's death "has messed with me a lot."

She said both she and her family and the Post Falls police are "relieved" that a grand jury has indicted somebody for Karina's death.

She was told of the indictment by the Kootenai County prosecutor's office and Post Falls Police Chief Scot Haug.

"They worked so hard on this in the last three years," she said.

Source http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_80a14f3b-d324-57ec-8100-b1f4eca9f1ca.html

Proof that the Courts don't always know best: Couple charged in child’s death

BENNETTSVILLE, S.C. — A former Robeson County resident and her boyfriend have been charged with homicide by child abuse in the death of the woman’s 3-year-old daughter.

Atelia Hunt, 25, of Bennettsville, was charged on Thursday with unlawful neglect of a child, but a preliminary autopsy on 3-year-old Edna Trinity Mozzel Hunt led investigators to upgrade the charges, Bennettsville police said. Hunt, who used to live in Maxton, is being held at the Marlboro County detention center.

Police said Hunt took Edna to the Marlboro Park Hospital on Thursday after the child’s heart had stopped beating. Officers were sent to the hospital after an examination of the toddler’s body revealed that the child had been abused for some time.

Bennettsville police Lt. Larry Turner said the child had significant bruising around her body, and burns to the vaginal area and buttocks. The girl’s body was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina for an autopsy to determine what killed her.

Hunt’s boyfriend, 29-year-old Alexander “Mike” Huckabee Jr., has also been arrested, and was being held at the Marlboro County detention center. He faces the same charges.

The case remains under investigation by Bennettsville police and the State Law Enforcement Division.

Edna Hunt’s great-aunt, Betty Jane Hunt, of Lumberton, said she learned of the girl’s death Friday morning when a relative called her about relaying the news to Edna’s father, Willie Keith Hunt Jr.

“Another family member was asking me to get up with our nephew, ‘Little Keith’ … and let him know his daughter was dead,” Hunt said. “They said that she had stopped breathing, that she was having a hard time breathing and the mother took her to the bedroom to lay her down, went back to check on her and she had stopped breathing.”

Hunt said Atelia and Willie grew up in Maxton, went to high school together and are married. Atelia recently moved to Bennettsville with Edna and the couple’s other daughter, 6-year-old Shania, she said.

“I think somewhere there had been a report of child abuse. When they did an investigation on the mother, they dismissed the charges against her,” Hunt said. “They found no neglect, no abuse charges against the mother. It went to court for visitation and custody for the father, and the court system failed him and gave the mother custody of the children.”


Hunt said the court system in Robeson County “failed” Edna as well as her father.

“Sometimes what one person might think is best for a child … turns out to be the worst thing possible,” she said. “My nephew pleaded. He pleaded with the court system, he pleaded with the people that had power over giving out custody. All he wanted was his children, and to protect his children. That’s all he wanted.”

Hunt said she’s seen her nephew every day since Edna died, and described him as “standing in mid-air, lost in space.”

“This is his child,” she said. “This is his baby.”

Source http://www.thecherawchronicle.com/view/full_story/16022513/article-Area-couple-charged-in-child%E2%80%99s-death?instance=home_news_lead

CPS Juvenile Family Court Criminal Racket - Lawyers Judges Activists Speak

Original info: This is a brief preview of an incomplete documentary about the abuses of America's Justice system, particularly in the family courts.
All credit goes to: Paul Ciccotelli, who originally uploaded parts 1 and 2 of Deconstructing America. http://www.youtube.com/user/paulciccotelli

Part 1



Part 2