OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A fired Oklahoma Department of Human Services child welfare worker has been charged with stealing nearly $3,700 from three disabled foster children.
Michelle Fausett, of Oklahoma City, has been charged with three counts of financial exploitation of a minor.
A working telephone number for Fausett could not be found Saturday. Online court records show a warrant has been issued for her arrest, but do not list an attorney for her and county jail records did not list her as an inmate.
The charges filed Monday by Oklahoma County prosecutors allege that Fausett used federal disability payments to the children in order to by video game systems, laptop computers and televisions, but never delivered the items to the foster homes where the children were living.
One child lost $972, another lost $1,446, and the third lost $1,247, according to prosecutors.
Fausett, who was fired Jan. 20 for dereliction of duty because she stopped coming to work, was charged after DHS completed an internal investigation and sent the findings to prosecutors.
DHS "holds its employees to a very high standard because of the vulnerable people we serve," department spokeswoman Sheree Powell told The Oklahoman for a story published Saturday.
"The financial exploitation of a foster child is particularly disgraceful, and we will not tolerate any employee committing such an act," Powell said.
Fausett, who had worked at the agency more than three years, turned in her DHS identification badge, cellphone and computer Dec. 7 after a co-worker confronted her Dec. 5 about why a foster child never got items purchased for him in August, DHS records show.
Source http://www.necn.com/03/10/12/Ex-Okla-child-welfare-worker-charged-wit/landing_nation.html?&apID=91c6c2b24d034f64b74ac2346c8b5498
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 foster children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foster children. Show all posts
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
One-Time Religious Publisher, Foster Parent Charged With Sex Abuse Of Two Girls - Illinois
RIVER FOREST, Ill. (STMW) – A River Forest man who took in dozens of foster children since 1996 and volunteered with local youth groups was charged Friday with the sexual abuse of two girls.
Robert L. Gaskill, 63, of the 600 block of Ashland Ave., was ordered held Saturday in lieu of $50 million full cash bond by Judge Gregory P. Vasquez.
In bond court Saturday, prosecutors said Gaskill sexually abused two adolescent girls over a period from 1996 to 2009.
He is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood. Sources said the case is expected to go to a grand jury for possible formal indictment.
A River Forest detective assisted by members of the WEDGE task force arrested Gaskill at his home Thursday. On Friday the Cook County State’s Attorney approved two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, which is a Class X felony.
Gaskill and his wife have operated a foster care service in their large three-story frame home on Ashland Avenue, and a foster care support system called Tapestry Chicago. He also served on the board of the River Forest Youth Soccer program and was a program coordinator in the late 1990s.
Gaskill currently works as the marketing director at Lydia Home in Chicago, a residential facility for abused children. He previously worked for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago.
Gaskill is also a former publisher of the Oak Leaves/Pioneer Press West Group, where he worked for 16 years until the mid 1980s. Following that, he was the president and publisher of Chicago Catholic Publications, which publishes the Chicago Archdiocese’s official newspaper, the New World.
Gaskill was not currently an employee of the Catholic New World or New World Publications, Archdiocese of Chicago spokeswoman Susan Burritt said Saturday. She did not immediately have any information on when he had served as publisher for Chicago Catholic Publications.
In a 2009 interview with the Forest Leaves, Gaskill said he and his wife had “been opening their home to foster children for about 15 years.” Many of them had disabilities of some kind.
He said he had fostered “about 75 different children over that time.”
In 2009, the Gaskills had 12 children, four biological, six adopted and two in foster care.
“Long before we got married, while we were dating, we both agreed we wanted to have large families,” Rob Gaskill said in 2009. “We thought it would be fun to have a lot of children.”
Source http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/04/one-time-religious-publisher-foster-parent-charged-with-sex-abuse-of-two-girls/
Robert L. Gaskill, 63, of the 600 block of Ashland Ave., was ordered held Saturday in lieu of $50 million full cash bond by Judge Gregory P. Vasquez.
In bond court Saturday, prosecutors said Gaskill sexually abused two adolescent girls over a period from 1996 to 2009.
He is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood. Sources said the case is expected to go to a grand jury for possible formal indictment.
A River Forest detective assisted by members of the WEDGE task force arrested Gaskill at his home Thursday. On Friday the Cook County State’s Attorney approved two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, which is a Class X felony.
Gaskill and his wife have operated a foster care service in their large three-story frame home on Ashland Avenue, and a foster care support system called Tapestry Chicago. He also served on the board of the River Forest Youth Soccer program and was a program coordinator in the late 1990s.
Gaskill currently works as the marketing director at Lydia Home in Chicago, a residential facility for abused children. He previously worked for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago.
Gaskill is also a former publisher of the Oak Leaves/Pioneer Press West Group, where he worked for 16 years until the mid 1980s. Following that, he was the president and publisher of Chicago Catholic Publications, which publishes the Chicago Archdiocese’s official newspaper, the New World.
Gaskill was not currently an employee of the Catholic New World or New World Publications, Archdiocese of Chicago spokeswoman Susan Burritt said Saturday. She did not immediately have any information on when he had served as publisher for Chicago Catholic Publications.
In a 2009 interview with the Forest Leaves, Gaskill said he and his wife had “been opening their home to foster children for about 15 years.” Many of them had disabilities of some kind.
He said he had fostered “about 75 different children over that time.”
In 2009, the Gaskills had 12 children, four biological, six adopted and two in foster care.
“Long before we got married, while we were dating, we both agreed we wanted to have large families,” Rob Gaskill said in 2009. “We thought it would be fun to have a lot of children.”
Source http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/04/one-time-religious-publisher-foster-parent-charged-with-sex-abuse-of-two-girls/
Friday, January 20, 2012
State Settles With Johnson & Johnson Over Risperdal: $158 Million - Texas
By Craig Malisow
A drug company accused of fraudulently promoting the antipsychotic Risperdal for use in Texas's Medicaid system has settled a state Attorney General's lawsuit for $158 million.
The AG's office, one of several across the country to sue Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) for fraudulent marketing, had sought $1 billion. Although the suit was filed in 2006, the trial only began January 9th.
As we reported in December, the marketing leading to Risperdal's inclusion in the Texas Medication Algorith Project was fraught with conflicts of interest among state officials and academic researchers, some of whom were involved in the carving out the latest prescription medication parameters for children in the state foster care system. Although TMAP was officially jettisoned in 2010, the state still pays for foster kids as young as two to take psychotropic drugs, sometimes without a diagnosis.
According to a statement by Janssen, the settlement covers "alleged Medicaid overpayment" from 1994-2004, and will "circumvent potentially lengthy and costly appellate activities....Janssen is committed to ethical business practices and has policies in place to ensure its products are only promoted for their FDA-approved indications."
We're not disagreeing with that last statement. They probably do have policies in place. It just doesn't look like they were followed....
Source http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/01/risperdal_settlement_janssen.php
A drug company accused of fraudulently promoting the antipsychotic Risperdal for use in Texas's Medicaid system has settled a state Attorney General's lawsuit for $158 million.
The AG's office, one of several across the country to sue Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) for fraudulent marketing, had sought $1 billion. Although the suit was filed in 2006, the trial only began January 9th.
As we reported in December, the marketing leading to Risperdal's inclusion in the Texas Medication Algorith Project was fraught with conflicts of interest among state officials and academic researchers, some of whom were involved in the carving out the latest prescription medication parameters for children in the state foster care system. Although TMAP was officially jettisoned in 2010, the state still pays for foster kids as young as two to take psychotropic drugs, sometimes without a diagnosis.
According to a statement by Janssen, the settlement covers "alleged Medicaid overpayment" from 1994-2004, and will "circumvent potentially lengthy and costly appellate activities....Janssen is committed to ethical business practices and has policies in place to ensure its products are only promoted for their FDA-approved indications."
We're not disagreeing with that last statement. They probably do have policies in place. It just doesn't look like they were followed....
Source http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/01/risperdal_settlement_janssen.php
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Gov.: No useful data in NPR report on Indian children
By: Tom Lawrence
Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he didn’t gain any useful information from a controversial 2011 public radio series on American Indian foster children in South Dakota.
“I can’t identify any legitimate criticisms that identified an area where we could take action,” Daugaard said. “It raised my level of knowledge, but I think that’s a poor way to cause me to raise my level of knowledge, through a sensational story that was unfounded.”
Laura Sullivan, a National Public Radio investigative correspondent, produced a three-part series titled “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families” that was heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” in October.
The series said South Dakota was one of 32 states that did not comply with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act and other laws. It said state social workers had entered Indian reservations with which the state has no agreement and removed tribal children from their homes.
Daugaard, who has said little publicly about the issue since the reports aired, said Monday the series was based on “unfounded” information.
“I think it’s very unfortunate that NPR decided that they were going to create a very sensationalistic story,” he said. “And it’s also unfortunate because it’s such a complex area.”
Daugaard made his comments during a discussion with The Daily Republic’s editorial board Monday morning at the newspaper’s office in Mitchell, following a public appearance the governor made earlier Monday morning in the city.
Sullivan had her mind made up when she arrived in South Dakota, the governor said, and didn’t want to hear anything that differed from what she believed. He said numerous state employees who spoke with her felt that way.
“It’s really a lot of misinformation and poorly researched information,” Daugaard said. “I think we did our best to refute much of it.”
According to a discussion of the series on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” the series raised valid points.
“An average of 700 Native American children in South Dakota are removed from their homes and placed in foster care each year, often in violation of federal law, an NPR investigation found,” the “Talk of the Nation” report states. “Native American children make up less than 15 percent of the state’s child population, but represent more than half of the kids in foster care.”
“Some Native Americans believe the problem is that Native children who are placed in foster care with non-Native families, as most are in South Dakota, lose connection to their culture, traditions and tribes,” the NPR report stated.
The series also spotlighted Daugaard’s role as CEO of the Children’s Home Society, which deals with many foster children and received several contracts with the state that totaled more than $50 million. He was the state’s part-time lieutenant governor for eight years while also leading CHS.
Daugaard “pre-responded” to the NPR stories before they aired, sending e-mails to South Dakota media outlets that claimed Sullivan, whom he declined to speak with, was biased and unwilling to listen to all sides of the story.
He repeated those assertions Monday.
Daugaard pointed out that the South Dakota Department of Social Services had contracts with the Children’s Home Society since 1978, long before he worked for it.
Daugaard and his director of policy and communications and chief spokesman, Tony Venhuizen, said they have been in contact with NPR’s ombudsman for six weeks and have expressed their unhappiness with the series.
An ombudsman is an intermediary between parties with a differing point of view. Many large media organizations have employed ombudsmen since the 1970s.
Edward Schumacher-Matos is NPR’s ombudsman.
He is a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism and a former reporter, editor and columnist for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
In his final online post of 2011, Schumacher-Matos said he would look into the story.
“Coming soon is a look back at an investigation of Native American foster care in South Dakota,” Schumacher-Matos wrote on Dec. 23.
He did not respond to an e-mail Monday from The Daily Republic asking for additional comment.
Daugaard said he’s glad NPR has someone who is “portrayed as being independent” taking a look at how Sullivan dealt with the story.
Source http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/61208/
Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he didn’t gain any useful information from a controversial 2011 public radio series on American Indian foster children in South Dakota.
“I can’t identify any legitimate criticisms that identified an area where we could take action,” Daugaard said. “It raised my level of knowledge, but I think that’s a poor way to cause me to raise my level of knowledge, through a sensational story that was unfounded.”
Laura Sullivan, a National Public Radio investigative correspondent, produced a three-part series titled “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families” that was heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” in October.
The series said South Dakota was one of 32 states that did not comply with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act and other laws. It said state social workers had entered Indian reservations with which the state has no agreement and removed tribal children from their homes.
Daugaard, who has said little publicly about the issue since the reports aired, said Monday the series was based on “unfounded” information.
“I think it’s very unfortunate that NPR decided that they were going to create a very sensationalistic story,” he said. “And it’s also unfortunate because it’s such a complex area.”
Daugaard made his comments during a discussion with The Daily Republic’s editorial board Monday morning at the newspaper’s office in Mitchell, following a public appearance the governor made earlier Monday morning in the city.
Sullivan had her mind made up when she arrived in South Dakota, the governor said, and didn’t want to hear anything that differed from what she believed. He said numerous state employees who spoke with her felt that way.
“It’s really a lot of misinformation and poorly researched information,” Daugaard said. “I think we did our best to refute much of it.”
According to a discussion of the series on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” the series raised valid points.
“An average of 700 Native American children in South Dakota are removed from their homes and placed in foster care each year, often in violation of federal law, an NPR investigation found,” the “Talk of the Nation” report states. “Native American children make up less than 15 percent of the state’s child population, but represent more than half of the kids in foster care.”
“Some Native Americans believe the problem is that Native children who are placed in foster care with non-Native families, as most are in South Dakota, lose connection to their culture, traditions and tribes,” the NPR report stated.
The series also spotlighted Daugaard’s role as CEO of the Children’s Home Society, which deals with many foster children and received several contracts with the state that totaled more than $50 million. He was the state’s part-time lieutenant governor for eight years while also leading CHS.
Daugaard “pre-responded” to the NPR stories before they aired, sending e-mails to South Dakota media outlets that claimed Sullivan, whom he declined to speak with, was biased and unwilling to listen to all sides of the story.
He repeated those assertions Monday.
Daugaard pointed out that the South Dakota Department of Social Services had contracts with the Children’s Home Society since 1978, long before he worked for it.
Daugaard and his director of policy and communications and chief spokesman, Tony Venhuizen, said they have been in contact with NPR’s ombudsman for six weeks and have expressed their unhappiness with the series.
An ombudsman is an intermediary between parties with a differing point of view. Many large media organizations have employed ombudsmen since the 1970s.
Edward Schumacher-Matos is NPR’s ombudsman.
He is a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism and a former reporter, editor and columnist for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
In his final online post of 2011, Schumacher-Matos said he would look into the story.
“Coming soon is a look back at an investigation of Native American foster care in South Dakota,” Schumacher-Matos wrote on Dec. 23.
He did not respond to an e-mail Monday from The Daily Republic asking for additional comment.
Daugaard said he’s glad NPR has someone who is “portrayed as being independent” taking a look at how Sullivan dealt with the story.
Source http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/61208/
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Foster mother gets life for torture, murder - California
MARTINEZ, Calif. -- A judge Friday morning sentenced Antioch woman Shemeeka Davis to life in prison for torturing and abusing her two foster children and for murdering one of them.
Shemeeka Davis, 41, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the torture and murder of 15-year-old Jazzmin Davis and to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the torture of her twin brother, who survived years of abuse.
Davis, the aunt of Jazzmin and her brother, wept loudly throughout today's hearing and as the sentence was handed down.
"I'd like to say that I'm very sorry," she said between sobs. "This was never my intention ... and I wish I could change everything."
On Sept. 2, 2008, Jazzmin's naked, gaunt and scarred body was found on the floor inside the Antioch home where for years, the only mother she had known abused her and her brother.
Police said that when she died, the teen was 5 foot 7 feet tall and weighed about 78 pounds.
A coroner's report found that she died from a combination of repeated physical abuse and malnutrition, Deputy District Attorney Satish Jallepalli said.
Jazzmin's twin brother was also found to be scarred and severely malnourished, but survived and testified during Davis' trial last summer.
At the end of the trial last June, a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder, torture and felony child abuse charges and found her legally sane at the time she committed the crimes, despite her dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
Defense attorney Betty Barker argued throughout the trial that Davis suffers from severe mental illnesses, including psychotic delusions, which prevented her from forming the intent to torture the twins.
Jallepalli agreed that Davis is mentally ill, but argued that she chose to keep hurting the children and covered up the abuse because she knew it was wrong -- skipping the twins' doctor's appointments and keeping them home from school.
She had taken custody of the twins - who were born to a crack-addicted mother - shortly after they were born, raising them in addition to her three biological children.
A week before Jazzmin died, Davis was granted legal guardianship of the twins.
But Jallepalli said during Davis' trial that there was a clear difference in how she treated her niece and nephew.
The twins were not allowed to eat with her biological children and were not given the same food, if any at all, he said.
Davis would also lock the pair in a closet for long periods of time, forcing them to urinate and defecate on the floor.
When the twins were about 9 years old, Davis began beating them with belts.
Jallepalli said during the trial that over the years, Davis used electrical cords, a wooden rod and a belt with an attached padlock to beat the children and sometimes burned them with an iron.
As the beatings escalated, Davis stopped taking her nephew to doctor appointments to be treated for sickle cell anemia. In the year before Jazzmin's death, she also kept the teen home from school and even kept her from leaving the house, Jallepalli said.
Social workers who monitored the twins' care throughout their lives never noticed or reported the abuse, attorneys said.
The San Francisco Human Services Agency, which was in charge of overseeing the twins' care, agreed last year to a $4 million settlement with Jazzmin's brother.
The Antioch Unified School District agreed to settle with the teen for $750,000 and has implemented changes to its attendance policy.
Before handing down the sentence in Contra Costa County Superior Court today, Judge Susanne Fenstermache heard emotional statements from several of Davis' family members, who requested leniency.
"I've known her all my life, and I know that she's not a monster ... we will continue to pray for her and support her," said one man, Davis' cousin.
Jallepalli read two letters from other family members of the twins addressed to the court, including an aunt who wrote, "I can't begin to imagine how my niece felt during that last attack ... please have no mercy for sentencing."
The prosecutor also read entries from Jazzmin's journal in the months leading up to her death in which she wrote how much she loved her foster mother and wanted to make her happy.
In a later entry, Jazzmin described being "in big trouble" for failing to clean the bathroom.
"I'm going to lose all my privileges and end up in the same position I started in ... I'm so confused ... someone help," she wrote. Before handing down the sentence, the judge told Davis that she didn't consider her a monster.
"This is a sad day for everyone," Fenstermache said. "I know you wish you could undo this ... but it's been done."
Davis will be 69 years old when she becomes eligible for parole, attorneys said.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8493857
Shemeeka Davis, 41, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the torture and murder of 15-year-old Jazzmin Davis and to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the torture of her twin brother, who survived years of abuse.
Davis, the aunt of Jazzmin and her brother, wept loudly throughout today's hearing and as the sentence was handed down.
"I'd like to say that I'm very sorry," she said between sobs. "This was never my intention ... and I wish I could change everything."
On Sept. 2, 2008, Jazzmin's naked, gaunt and scarred body was found on the floor inside the Antioch home where for years, the only mother she had known abused her and her brother.
Police said that when she died, the teen was 5 foot 7 feet tall and weighed about 78 pounds.
A coroner's report found that she died from a combination of repeated physical abuse and malnutrition, Deputy District Attorney Satish Jallepalli said.
Jazzmin's twin brother was also found to be scarred and severely malnourished, but survived and testified during Davis' trial last summer.
At the end of the trial last June, a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder, torture and felony child abuse charges and found her legally sane at the time she committed the crimes, despite her dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
Defense attorney Betty Barker argued throughout the trial that Davis suffers from severe mental illnesses, including psychotic delusions, which prevented her from forming the intent to torture the twins.
Jallepalli agreed that Davis is mentally ill, but argued that she chose to keep hurting the children and covered up the abuse because she knew it was wrong -- skipping the twins' doctor's appointments and keeping them home from school.
She had taken custody of the twins - who were born to a crack-addicted mother - shortly after they were born, raising them in addition to her three biological children.
A week before Jazzmin died, Davis was granted legal guardianship of the twins.
But Jallepalli said during Davis' trial that there was a clear difference in how she treated her niece and nephew.
The twins were not allowed to eat with her biological children and were not given the same food, if any at all, he said.
Davis would also lock the pair in a closet for long periods of time, forcing them to urinate and defecate on the floor.
When the twins were about 9 years old, Davis began beating them with belts.
Jallepalli said during the trial that over the years, Davis used electrical cords, a wooden rod and a belt with an attached padlock to beat the children and sometimes burned them with an iron.
As the beatings escalated, Davis stopped taking her nephew to doctor appointments to be treated for sickle cell anemia. In the year before Jazzmin's death, she also kept the teen home from school and even kept her from leaving the house, Jallepalli said.
Social workers who monitored the twins' care throughout their lives never noticed or reported the abuse, attorneys said.
The San Francisco Human Services Agency, which was in charge of overseeing the twins' care, agreed last year to a $4 million settlement with Jazzmin's brother.
The Antioch Unified School District agreed to settle with the teen for $750,000 and has implemented changes to its attendance policy.
Before handing down the sentence in Contra Costa County Superior Court today, Judge Susanne Fenstermache heard emotional statements from several of Davis' family members, who requested leniency.
"I've known her all my life, and I know that she's not a monster ... we will continue to pray for her and support her," said one man, Davis' cousin.
Jallepalli read two letters from other family members of the twins addressed to the court, including an aunt who wrote, "I can't begin to imagine how my niece felt during that last attack ... please have no mercy for sentencing."
The prosecutor also read entries from Jazzmin's journal in the months leading up to her death in which she wrote how much she loved her foster mother and wanted to make her happy.
In a later entry, Jazzmin described being "in big trouble" for failing to clean the bathroom.
"I'm going to lose all my privileges and end up in the same position I started in ... I'm so confused ... someone help," she wrote. Before handing down the sentence, the judge told Davis that she didn't consider her a monster.
"This is a sad day for everyone," Fenstermache said. "I know you wish you could undo this ... but it's been done."
Davis will be 69 years old when she becomes eligible for parole, attorneys said.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8493857
Monday, December 26, 2011
Several DHS workers have been prosecuted - Oklahoma
Some of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services workers caught in wrongdoing at work ended up being prosecuted, too.
BY NOLAN CLAY, RANDY ELLIS AND ROBBY TRAMMELL
Some of the DHS workers caught in wrongdoing at work ended up being prosecuted, too.
The DHS worker who stole Christmas gift cards was charged with a misdemeanor, petit larceny.
Deborah Jean “Kasey” Parrish, 55, of Cherokee, was fired in August 2009 after pleading guilty.
A bank had donated nine Visa gift cards to be Christmas presents for foster children. They had been placed in gift bags to be handed out along with other presents, records show. A worker discovered four were missing three days before Christmas in 2008.
Parrish claimed she found four $50 cards on Dec. 17, 2008, in the DHS employee parking lot in Alva. She admitted using the cards to make personal purchases at J.C. Penney, Hobby Lobby, Cato and Walmart.
Parrish pleaded guilty in June 2009 to four counts of petit larceny and was put on probation for 30 months. She had to pay $1,649 in fines, fees and court costs and $200 in restitution. She was a social services specialist who had worked at DHS for 14 years.
In a discharge notice, she was told: “Your actions in using the Visa gift cards that belonged to someone else demonstrate you cannot be trusted to complete your job duties in the ethical and honorable manner required.”
Stole from elderly
A DHS worker who stole from elderly DHS clients was fired on Nov. 25, 2008. She eventually pleaded guilty to three felony charges of exploiting a vulnerable adult.
Debra Maxine Roberts, 53, of Chelsea, is on three years' probation. She also was required to serve a 30-day term in the Rogers County jail last year and to make restitution.
“I regret any harm which I have caused these individuals,” she wrote in a statement for a presentence report.
Prosecutors allege she stole $4,497 from an 84-year-old man, $5,905 from a 74-year-old mentally disabled man and $900 from an incapacitated 73-year-old man.
Roberts, an adult protective services specialist, had been appointed a temporary guardian for the men. She had access to their financial accounts so she could pay expenses such as nursing home bills.
Fictitious accounts
Two former DHS social services specialists are serving 10 years on probation for creating fictitious food stamp accounts.
Tsa E. King, 41, of Midwest City, and Douglas Ray Howard, 59, of Oklahoma City, pleaded guilty this year to two counts of conspiracy and two counts of computer fraud. They were fired last year.
Howard acknowledged they obtained more than $20,000 worth of food stamps through their fraud. Each was required to pay $10,346 in restitution.
In one instance, they used the identity of a California man who has never been to Oklahoma, a DHS investigator reported. The man was described on a DHS computer as needing food stamps because he was homeless and later because he had two newborn twin girls. He actually did not have any infant daughters. Howard had once known the man.
In the second instance, they used the identity of Howard's cousin, who had died at age 15 in California in 1967. They created fictitious children for the cousin, too.
Medicaid fraud
A fired child-welfare specialist, Eileen Filer-Whitson, is serving five years on probation for Medicaid fraud.
While at DHS, she held a second job as a private social worker. Prosecutors allege that at her second job she submitted false claims for Medicaid payments. Prosecutors said she lied in the claims about counseling children who actually received no services.
Filer-Whitson, 47, of Luther, pleaded guilty to the felony charge and was ordered to make $35,000 restitution.
A DHS investigation also found she had claimed to be working simultaneously at DHS and her second job 165 days. She was fired in March 2008.
CONTRIBUTING:
Sheila Stogsdill
Source http://newsok.com/article/3634918
BY NOLAN CLAY, RANDY ELLIS AND ROBBY TRAMMELL
Some of the DHS workers caught in wrongdoing at work ended up being prosecuted, too.
The DHS worker who stole Christmas gift cards was charged with a misdemeanor, petit larceny.
Deborah Jean “Kasey” Parrish, 55, of Cherokee, was fired in August 2009 after pleading guilty.
A bank had donated nine Visa gift cards to be Christmas presents for foster children. They had been placed in gift bags to be handed out along with other presents, records show. A worker discovered four were missing three days before Christmas in 2008.
Parrish claimed she found four $50 cards on Dec. 17, 2008, in the DHS employee parking lot in Alva. She admitted using the cards to make personal purchases at J.C. Penney, Hobby Lobby, Cato and Walmart.
Parrish pleaded guilty in June 2009 to four counts of petit larceny and was put on probation for 30 months. She had to pay $1,649 in fines, fees and court costs and $200 in restitution. She was a social services specialist who had worked at DHS for 14 years.
In a discharge notice, she was told: “Your actions in using the Visa gift cards that belonged to someone else demonstrate you cannot be trusted to complete your job duties in the ethical and honorable manner required.”
Stole from elderly
A DHS worker who stole from elderly DHS clients was fired on Nov. 25, 2008. She eventually pleaded guilty to three felony charges of exploiting a vulnerable adult.
Debra Maxine Roberts, 53, of Chelsea, is on three years' probation. She also was required to serve a 30-day term in the Rogers County jail last year and to make restitution.
“I regret any harm which I have caused these individuals,” she wrote in a statement for a presentence report.
Prosecutors allege she stole $4,497 from an 84-year-old man, $5,905 from a 74-year-old mentally disabled man and $900 from an incapacitated 73-year-old man.
Roberts, an adult protective services specialist, had been appointed a temporary guardian for the men. She had access to their financial accounts so she could pay expenses such as nursing home bills.
Fictitious accounts
Two former DHS social services specialists are serving 10 years on probation for creating fictitious food stamp accounts.
Tsa E. King, 41, of Midwest City, and Douglas Ray Howard, 59, of Oklahoma City, pleaded guilty this year to two counts of conspiracy and two counts of computer fraud. They were fired last year.
Howard acknowledged they obtained more than $20,000 worth of food stamps through their fraud. Each was required to pay $10,346 in restitution.
In one instance, they used the identity of a California man who has never been to Oklahoma, a DHS investigator reported. The man was described on a DHS computer as needing food stamps because he was homeless and later because he had two newborn twin girls. He actually did not have any infant daughters. Howard had once known the man.
In the second instance, they used the identity of Howard's cousin, who had died at age 15 in California in 1967. They created fictitious children for the cousin, too.
Medicaid fraud
A fired child-welfare specialist, Eileen Filer-Whitson, is serving five years on probation for Medicaid fraud.
While at DHS, she held a second job as a private social worker. Prosecutors allege that at her second job she submitted false claims for Medicaid payments. Prosecutors said she lied in the claims about counseling children who actually received no services.
Filer-Whitson, 47, of Luther, pleaded guilty to the felony charge and was ordered to make $35,000 restitution.
A DHS investigation also found she had claimed to be working simultaneously at DHS and her second job 165 days. She was fired in March 2008.
CONTRIBUTING:
Sheila Stogsdill
Source http://newsok.com/article/3634918
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Foster Kids Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs - ABC's 20/20 - Aired 12-01-2011
Blogger note:
This is a very good report but for the fact that it doesn't address anything to do with some children have no reason to be in foster care and that they have willing and able parents or relatives to take care of them but CPS forces the children to stay in foster care. Even so, the basic message of the expose is quite informative about the misuse of psychotropic drugs on foster children.
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
This is a very good report but for the fact that it doesn't address anything to do with some children have no reason to be in foster care and that they have willing and able parents or relatives to take care of them but CPS forces the children to stay in foster care. Even so, the basic message of the expose is quite informative about the misuse of psychotropic drugs on foster children.
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Friday, December 2, 2011
Judge rules two of three civil rights claims lacking in foster care case - Oklahoma
By DAVID HARPER
A Tulsa federal judge threw out two of three civil rights claims on Thursday in a class-action lawsuit that seeks changes in Oklahoma's foster-care system.
The plaintiffs, however, claimed to be happy with the decision because their "core claim" is still alive.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell allowed a cause of action dealing with foster children's due process rights to be free from harm - and risk of harm - to survive, but he granted the defense's motions for summary judgment on two other constitutional claims.
The lawsuit was filed against various Oklahoma Department of Human Services officials in February 2008 by Children's Rights, a national child-advocacy group based in New York, and five law firms.
The original plaintiffs were nine children who allegedly had suffered in DHS placements. The case has since become a class-action lawsuit, with thousands of children in DHS custody as plaintiffs.
"This decision is a huge victory for Children's Rights as well as the abused and neglected children in Oklahoma's DHS," Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children's Rights, said Thursday evening. "The federal court in Oklahoma has sustained our core claim in today's decision, that children are either being subject to harm or at risk of harm while in state custody."
However, Donald Bingham, an attorney for the defense, said it is important to note that Frizzell did not rule on the merits of the case, finding only that the plaintiffs' side had introduced enough evidence that will "entitle it to its day in court" in February.
Frizzell wrote: "The court concludes plaintiffs have presented proof sufficient to create a genuine dispute of material fact whether defendants' policies, practices and procedures violate plaintiffs' substantive due process right to be reasonably safe from harm."
Frizzell found that the "plaintiffs have presented evidence - albeit disputed - that defendants' oversight of the DHS foster program is so inadequate as to give rise to a question of material fact whether defendants have abdicated their professional judgment."
Also, the judge wrote that experts on both sides of the case, as well as senior DHS managers, "all agree that excessive caseloads, missed visits between case workers and children and inadequate investigations of abuse and neglect pose a threat to the safety of foster children and that inadequate placement options, excessive use of shelters and frequent placement moves threaten the psychological and emotional health of children."
Frizzell wrote that plaintiffs had presented evidence that from 2002 through 2008, the reported rate of abuse or neglect of Oklahoma foster children has been 1.54 to 3.97 times greater than the national rate.
Oklahoma had one of the five highest reported rates in the country during that time, Frizzell wrote.
The judge threw out the plaintiffs' claim that the defendants' policies, practices and procedures interfere with the children's First, Ninth and 14th Amendment liberty and privacy rights.
The plaintiffs asserted that, while DHS policy requires visits between parents and children as well as placement of siblings together whenever possible, the agency's records from 2008 to 2010 reflected that less than 15 percent of visits due between foster children and their biological parents were completed. The plaintiffs also alleged that DHS has a routine practice of separating siblings in custody.
Frizzell wrote that granting the defense's motion for summary judgment on the claim was appropriate because, while individual children can establish acts by DHS workers that have violated their right of familial association, a class-wide deprivation cannot be proven.
The judge noted that the DHS officials sued in the case do not deal with foster children directly. He wrote that, at most, the evidence might support a conclusion that the defendants failed to adequately supervise workers who were charged with the responsibility of ensuring that parent-child visitation occurred.
Frizzell also ruled for the defense on a claim alleging violations of Oklahoma statutes pertaining to the procedural rights of foster children.
The judge wrote that it is impossible for the class as a whole to establish a key element of such a claim because most children's procedural due process rights have not been violated.
Frizzell noted that while the plaintiffs argue that all members are "at risk," they cited no legal authority that such a status meets the requirements for establishing a violation of relevant Fifth and 14th Amendment rights.
The trial, which won't involve a jury, is set for Feb. 21 and is expected to last about four weeks.
Neither side plans to appeal Thursday's mixed ruling.
Source http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20111202_14_A1_CUTLIN528313
A Tulsa federal judge threw out two of three civil rights claims on Thursday in a class-action lawsuit that seeks changes in Oklahoma's foster-care system.
The plaintiffs, however, claimed to be happy with the decision because their "core claim" is still alive.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell allowed a cause of action dealing with foster children's due process rights to be free from harm - and risk of harm - to survive, but he granted the defense's motions for summary judgment on two other constitutional claims.
The lawsuit was filed against various Oklahoma Department of Human Services officials in February 2008 by Children's Rights, a national child-advocacy group based in New York, and five law firms.
The original plaintiffs were nine children who allegedly had suffered in DHS placements. The case has since become a class-action lawsuit, with thousands of children in DHS custody as plaintiffs.
"This decision is a huge victory for Children's Rights as well as the abused and neglected children in Oklahoma's DHS," Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children's Rights, said Thursday evening. "The federal court in Oklahoma has sustained our core claim in today's decision, that children are either being subject to harm or at risk of harm while in state custody."
However, Donald Bingham, an attorney for the defense, said it is important to note that Frizzell did not rule on the merits of the case, finding only that the plaintiffs' side had introduced enough evidence that will "entitle it to its day in court" in February.
Frizzell wrote: "The court concludes plaintiffs have presented proof sufficient to create a genuine dispute of material fact whether defendants' policies, practices and procedures violate plaintiffs' substantive due process right to be reasonably safe from harm."
Frizzell found that the "plaintiffs have presented evidence - albeit disputed - that defendants' oversight of the DHS foster program is so inadequate as to give rise to a question of material fact whether defendants have abdicated their professional judgment."
Also, the judge wrote that experts on both sides of the case, as well as senior DHS managers, "all agree that excessive caseloads, missed visits between case workers and children and inadequate investigations of abuse and neglect pose a threat to the safety of foster children and that inadequate placement options, excessive use of shelters and frequent placement moves threaten the psychological and emotional health of children."
Frizzell wrote that plaintiffs had presented evidence that from 2002 through 2008, the reported rate of abuse or neglect of Oklahoma foster children has been 1.54 to 3.97 times greater than the national rate.
Oklahoma had one of the five highest reported rates in the country during that time, Frizzell wrote.
The judge threw out the plaintiffs' claim that the defendants' policies, practices and procedures interfere with the children's First, Ninth and 14th Amendment liberty and privacy rights.
The plaintiffs asserted that, while DHS policy requires visits between parents and children as well as placement of siblings together whenever possible, the agency's records from 2008 to 2010 reflected that less than 15 percent of visits due between foster children and their biological parents were completed. The plaintiffs also alleged that DHS has a routine practice of separating siblings in custody.
Frizzell wrote that granting the defense's motion for summary judgment on the claim was appropriate because, while individual children can establish acts by DHS workers that have violated their right of familial association, a class-wide deprivation cannot be proven.
The judge noted that the DHS officials sued in the case do not deal with foster children directly. He wrote that, at most, the evidence might support a conclusion that the defendants failed to adequately supervise workers who were charged with the responsibility of ensuring that parent-child visitation occurred.
Frizzell also ruled for the defense on a claim alleging violations of Oklahoma statutes pertaining to the procedural rights of foster children.
The judge wrote that it is impossible for the class as a whole to establish a key element of such a claim because most children's procedural due process rights have not been violated.
Frizzell noted that while the plaintiffs argue that all members are "at risk," they cited no legal authority that such a status meets the requirements for establishing a violation of relevant Fifth and 14th Amendment rights.
The trial, which won't involve a jury, is set for Feb. 21 and is expected to last about four weeks.
Neither side plans to appeal Thursday's mixed ruling.
Source http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20111202_14_A1_CUTLIN528313
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
ABC News Investigation: Diane Sawyer and Sharyn Alfonsi to Report on the Overmedication of Children in the U.S. Foster Care System
Reports to Air Beginning Wednesday, November 30 on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and Concluding with In Depth Reporting on “20/20″ Friday, December 2
“ABC World News” anchor Diane Sawyer continues her reporting on the United States foster care system with a new series of reports – “Generation Meds.” Following a year-long investigation, Sawyer and Sharyn Alfonsi uncover a startling reality: many foster children, even as young as one-year olds, are being prescribed powerful mind-altering drugs at alarming rates — up to 13 times higher than that of other children. As part of its investigation ABC News was given a first look at a groundbreaking two-year study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) which finds that the federal government has not done enough to protect America’s foster children from being over medicated with these powerful drugs. Reports will air on “World News with Diane Sawyer” beginning on Wednesday, November 30 and will conclude with a special report on “20/20″ Friday, December 2 at 10:00 PM on the ABC Television Network.
Viewers will hear from a number of foster children across the country – like 11-year-old Ke’onte from Texas, who after suffering a childhood filled with neglect was bounced between six foster homes and hospitals over just four years. Ke’onte was put on at least 12 psychiatric medications while in foster care, up to four at the same time. While experts acknowledge children in foster care may have more emotional and behavioral issues, they do not believe this alone justifies the magnitude of the overuse of psychiatric medications. “I was on a whole lot of medicines that I should have not been on,” Ke’onte told Sawyer. Diane Sawyer goes looking for answers – starting in the nation’s capitol asking federal agencies in charge: What is being done to protect these children?
Plus, Sharyn Alfonsi confronts the doctors and asks are they too quick to pick up the prescription pad when dealing with damaged kids in the foster system, including a Florida doctor who prescribed a cocktail of psychiatric medication to a troubled little boy who then took his own life.
And, Sawyer revisits Maryhurst, a unique residential treatment program for kids with the toughest childhoods and deepest traumas; 75 percent enter the facility on these powerful drugs – when they leave, nearly three quarters are on a reduced number of medications or none at all.
This is the third series of reports from Sawyer on the foster care system. Sawyer’s first report, “For the Sake of the Children,” aired on “Primetime” in 2002. “Calling All Angels,” a special “Primetime” report which aired in 2006, cast a light on many of the young, fractured lives in foster care across the country and the ways those children can be saved. The report was recognized with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
Viewers who want to share their thoughts on the reports should use the twitter hash tag #FosterChange to join in the conversation.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/11/abc-news-investigation-diane-sawyer-and-sharyn-alfonsi-to-report-on-the-overmedication-of-children-in-the-u-s-foster-care-system/
“ABC World News” anchor Diane Sawyer continues her reporting on the United States foster care system with a new series of reports – “Generation Meds.” Following a year-long investigation, Sawyer and Sharyn Alfonsi uncover a startling reality: many foster children, even as young as one-year olds, are being prescribed powerful mind-altering drugs at alarming rates — up to 13 times higher than that of other children. As part of its investigation ABC News was given a first look at a groundbreaking two-year study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) which finds that the federal government has not done enough to protect America’s foster children from being over medicated with these powerful drugs. Reports will air on “World News with Diane Sawyer” beginning on Wednesday, November 30 and will conclude with a special report on “20/20″ Friday, December 2 at 10:00 PM on the ABC Television Network.
Viewers will hear from a number of foster children across the country – like 11-year-old Ke’onte from Texas, who after suffering a childhood filled with neglect was bounced between six foster homes and hospitals over just four years. Ke’onte was put on at least 12 psychiatric medications while in foster care, up to four at the same time. While experts acknowledge children in foster care may have more emotional and behavioral issues, they do not believe this alone justifies the magnitude of the overuse of psychiatric medications. “I was on a whole lot of medicines that I should have not been on,” Ke’onte told Sawyer. Diane Sawyer goes looking for answers – starting in the nation’s capitol asking federal agencies in charge: What is being done to protect these children?
Plus, Sharyn Alfonsi confronts the doctors and asks are they too quick to pick up the prescription pad when dealing with damaged kids in the foster system, including a Florida doctor who prescribed a cocktail of psychiatric medication to a troubled little boy who then took his own life.
And, Sawyer revisits Maryhurst, a unique residential treatment program for kids with the toughest childhoods and deepest traumas; 75 percent enter the facility on these powerful drugs – when they leave, nearly three quarters are on a reduced number of medications or none at all.
This is the third series of reports from Sawyer on the foster care system. Sawyer’s first report, “For the Sake of the Children,” aired on “Primetime” in 2002. “Calling All Angels,” a special “Primetime” report which aired in 2006, cast a light on many of the young, fractured lives in foster care across the country and the ways those children can be saved. The report was recognized with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
Viewers who want to share their thoughts on the reports should use the twitter hash tag #FosterChange to join in the conversation.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/11/abc-news-investigation-diane-sawyer-and-sharyn-alfonsi-to-report-on-the-overmedication-of-children-in-the-u-s-foster-care-system/
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Petition To Stop Drugging Of Children In Foster Care
Stop Over-prescription of Psychotropic Drugs for Foster Children
Target: U.S. Congress
Goal: Investigate and stop over-prescription of antipsychotic drugs to foster children.
Recent studies show a disturbing over-prescription of antipsychotic drugs for children in foster care. Foster children often receive more than one prescription of powerful psychotropic drugs like Seroquel and Zyprexa, drugs used to treat severe bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in adults. Tell Congress to investigate these dangerous and irresponsible medical practices and illegal use of Medicaid funds to pay for them.
Studies exposing the disturbing trends of over-prescription of psychotropic drugs began in the early 2000s. For example, a 2003 study in Florida found that 55% of foster children in the state had been prescribed psychotropic drugs, 40% of them without even receiving a psychiatric evaluation. A 2004 study in Texas found that 34.7% of foster children in the state were receiving one or more anti-psychotic drug.
The problem is that drugs like Zyprexa or Seroquel which were designed for serious psychiatric conditions in adults are being prescribed for foster children with behavioral problems. Combining one or more of these medications is even more dangerous, as these medications can be known to cause depression in young children. That’s what happened in the case of Gabriel Meyers, a nine year old foster child taking Symbyax, an anti-depressant not meant for children, who killed himself in 2009 after an altercation with his foster brother. Gabriel’s doctor was cited by the FDA for over-prescribing the drug.
Medicaid pays for the medical treatment of foster children but there are supposed to be guidelines in place that prevent Medicaid from paying for these prescriptions that are not meant for children. What is occurring is a costly abuse of government money with fatal consequences.
Recent studies still show that foster children are receiving dangerous cocktails of psychotropic drugs at alarming rates. Senator Tom Carper has asked the General Accountability to look into this shocking disregard for children’s health and abuse of government funds. Sign the petition and demand that Congress addresses this problem now.
Sign the Petition by clicking HERE
Target: U.S. Congress
Goal: Investigate and stop over-prescription of antipsychotic drugs to foster children.
Recent studies show a disturbing over-prescription of antipsychotic drugs for children in foster care. Foster children often receive more than one prescription of powerful psychotropic drugs like Seroquel and Zyprexa, drugs used to treat severe bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in adults. Tell Congress to investigate these dangerous and irresponsible medical practices and illegal use of Medicaid funds to pay for them.
Studies exposing the disturbing trends of over-prescription of psychotropic drugs began in the early 2000s. For example, a 2003 study in Florida found that 55% of foster children in the state had been prescribed psychotropic drugs, 40% of them without even receiving a psychiatric evaluation. A 2004 study in Texas found that 34.7% of foster children in the state were receiving one or more anti-psychotic drug.
The problem is that drugs like Zyprexa or Seroquel which were designed for serious psychiatric conditions in adults are being prescribed for foster children with behavioral problems. Combining one or more of these medications is even more dangerous, as these medications can be known to cause depression in young children. That’s what happened in the case of Gabriel Meyers, a nine year old foster child taking Symbyax, an anti-depressant not meant for children, who killed himself in 2009 after an altercation with his foster brother. Gabriel’s doctor was cited by the FDA for over-prescribing the drug.
Medicaid pays for the medical treatment of foster children but there are supposed to be guidelines in place that prevent Medicaid from paying for these prescriptions that are not meant for children. What is occurring is a costly abuse of government money with fatal consequences.
Recent studies still show that foster children are receiving dangerous cocktails of psychotropic drugs at alarming rates. Senator Tom Carper has asked the General Accountability to look into this shocking disregard for children’s health and abuse of government funds. Sign the petition and demand that Congress addresses this problem now.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Police: Fugitive who sexually abused foster children arrested
Blog authros note:
What is with these fosters who are so vile? Why didn't someone at CPS or whoever licensed them do a thorough check on these people? They couldn't have really checked into these people because this seems like something too weird to have just started when this man was 40. It makes us sick to think that CPS's failures are why so many children suffer such horrendous abuse simply due to CPS negligence.
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by Naxiely Lopez
McALLEN — A combined effort by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies led to the arrest of a man wanted in connection with the sexual assault of three children who were under his care for more than a year.
Investigators believe Jose Luis Cazares, 40, abused three foster children — all under the age of 10 — while they lived with him and his wife, Belinda, from January 2008 to April 2009, court documents showed. The children were placed in foster care because their mother was deported to Honduras.
Police learned about the alleged abuse only after a second foster family took the children in.
A woman who claimed to be the victims’ half-sister went to police in May and told them the children had made an outcry, records showed. Police did not reveal the woman’s identity.
Investigators took the victims to the Children’s Advocacy Center in Edinburg in June, where they were interviewed separately by professionals. There, the children detailed their lives with the Cazares.
One girl told staff at the center Cazares would take her to his room, where he would sexually assault her or use sex toys to do so, records showed.
The girl told police she pleaded with Cazares to stop, but he wouldn’t.
If she told, he would slap her in the mouth, the child said.
The abuse happened “every day in a while after school,” a probable cause affidavit quotes her saying.
A second girl told staff Cazares would buy something for them if they engaged in sex with him and his wife.
That child detailed an incident during Halloween in which he took her costume off and assaulted her.
A third victim, a boy, did not make an outcry, police said. But his sisters told staff they saw Cazares sexually abusing him.
The children began showing signs of abuse shortly after the second foster family began caring for them in April 2009, the half-sister told police.
The family reached out to Child Protective Services at the time to alert them about the assault, but the family was never contacted by anyone, records showed. They reached out again in 2010 to the children’s physician, but again no one followed up.
By the time police were involved, Cazares and his wife had already relocated.
That’s when the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force got involved. The team comprises officers from various law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Hidalgo and Starr County sheriff’s offices; and police departments in McAllen, Mission, San Juan and Weslaco.
Officers tracked Cazares down in Prairie Gillette, Wyo., using documentation from Child Protective Services, police said. Investigators contacted the Gillette police and they assisted in questioning the pair.
Both denied the allegations, investigators said.
Gillette police also assisted in interviewing a fourth female minor who was living with them in Wyoming, police said.
The girl apparently had a child at a young age, which sparked investigators’ interest.
The fourth victim initially told police her baby’s father was a boy at school, but she eventually admitted Cazares raped her when she was living with him in McAllen, police said.
That girl told police she was at home taking care of the three foster children when Cazares ordered them to their rooms and raped her on the couch by holding her down.
On Tuesday, investigators received information that Cazares was once again in the area and was working at Hayashi Hibachi, records showed. Police arrested him there about 4:45 p.m.
Investigators continued working on filing charges against Cazares’ wife, Belinda.
A McAllen Municipal judge charged Jose Luis Cazares with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child — a first-degree felony — sexual assault and prohibited sexual conduct, both second-degree felonies. His bond was set at $550,000.
If convicted, he could face up to life imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.
Source http://www.themonitor.com/news/fugitive-56493-mcallen-abused.html
What is with these fosters who are so vile? Why didn't someone at CPS or whoever licensed them do a thorough check on these people? They couldn't have really checked into these people because this seems like something too weird to have just started when this man was 40. It makes us sick to think that CPS's failures are why so many children suffer such horrendous abuse simply due to CPS negligence.
-----
by Naxiely Lopez
McALLEN — A combined effort by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies led to the arrest of a man wanted in connection with the sexual assault of three children who were under his care for more than a year.
Investigators believe Jose Luis Cazares, 40, abused three foster children — all under the age of 10 — while they lived with him and his wife, Belinda, from January 2008 to April 2009, court documents showed. The children were placed in foster care because their mother was deported to Honduras.
Police learned about the alleged abuse only after a second foster family took the children in.
A woman who claimed to be the victims’ half-sister went to police in May and told them the children had made an outcry, records showed. Police did not reveal the woman’s identity.
Investigators took the victims to the Children’s Advocacy Center in Edinburg in June, where they were interviewed separately by professionals. There, the children detailed their lives with the Cazares.
One girl told staff at the center Cazares would take her to his room, where he would sexually assault her or use sex toys to do so, records showed.
The girl told police she pleaded with Cazares to stop, but he wouldn’t.
If she told, he would slap her in the mouth, the child said.
The abuse happened “every day in a while after school,” a probable cause affidavit quotes her saying.
A second girl told staff Cazares would buy something for them if they engaged in sex with him and his wife.
That child detailed an incident during Halloween in which he took her costume off and assaulted her.
A third victim, a boy, did not make an outcry, police said. But his sisters told staff they saw Cazares sexually abusing him.
The children began showing signs of abuse shortly after the second foster family began caring for them in April 2009, the half-sister told police.
The family reached out to Child Protective Services at the time to alert them about the assault, but the family was never contacted by anyone, records showed. They reached out again in 2010 to the children’s physician, but again no one followed up.
By the time police were involved, Cazares and his wife had already relocated.
That’s when the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force got involved. The team comprises officers from various law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Hidalgo and Starr County sheriff’s offices; and police departments in McAllen, Mission, San Juan and Weslaco.
Officers tracked Cazares down in Prairie Gillette, Wyo., using documentation from Child Protective Services, police said. Investigators contacted the Gillette police and they assisted in questioning the pair.
Both denied the allegations, investigators said.
Gillette police also assisted in interviewing a fourth female minor who was living with them in Wyoming, police said.
The girl apparently had a child at a young age, which sparked investigators’ interest.
The fourth victim initially told police her baby’s father was a boy at school, but she eventually admitted Cazares raped her when she was living with him in McAllen, police said.
That girl told police she was at home taking care of the three foster children when Cazares ordered them to their rooms and raped her on the couch by holding her down.
On Tuesday, investigators received information that Cazares was once again in the area and was working at Hayashi Hibachi, records showed. Police arrested him there about 4:45 p.m.
Investigators continued working on filing charges against Cazares’ wife, Belinda.
A McAllen Municipal judge charged Jose Luis Cazares with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child — a first-degree felony — sexual assault and prohibited sexual conduct, both second-degree felonies. His bond was set at $550,000.
If convicted, he could face up to life imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.
Source http://www.themonitor.com/news/fugitive-56493-mcallen-abused.html
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Nevada auditors fault Vegas foster home
By Geoff Dornan
Auditors reviewing Nevada's facilities for children in state care were so concerned about the mess they found in a Las Vegas foster home in March that they called Clark County Child Protective Services.
Deputy Legislative Auditor Sandra McGuirk wrote that, when they entered the home, they saw an empty insulin syringe on the floor, an empty prescription medicine bottle, unsecured flammable liquids, a hammer and sharp knives, pans full of grease on the stove, overflowing garbage cans and filthy bathroom sinks, as well as food remnants and soda cans on the carpet.
She said this is the first time conditions have been so bad in an inspection that they felt it necessary to call Child Protective Services.
“These conditions are unacceptable in any foster home,” said Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno.
The foster home was one of more than 30 operated by Eagle Quest, which has homes in Las Vegas and Pahrump. Director of Operations Dave Doyle said the mess happened after the foster parent running the home suffered a medical issue and was taken to the hospital. He said the woman's husband was overwhelmed and he was not informed that she wasn't there.
Doyle apologized to the legislative audit subcommittee but added that the home was under a corrective action plan from Child Protective Services in Clark County and he was never told about that. He admitted that conditions in the house were “atrocious” when the audit team showed up and, and he said that's why he immediately moved the six foster children there to another home.
He said numerous changes have been made by the company since then to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again in one of its homes.
Foster home operators in his system must tell him immediately if they are being investigated by a government agency. He said that if a foster parent has a medical issue or another problem requiring their absence, his staff is to be informed within 24 hours so they can put someone in there. He said other changes have been made as well, including tightening controls over medications given to children in foster care — a perennial complaint by legislators.
“We now have multiple people signing off on the medication logs,” Doyle said.
Leslie, who chairs the audit subcommittee, said the medications issue is still showing up in every six-month audit of the child care system, yet she was unable to get a bill through this past session requiring training for foster care and group home workers so they keep accurate records.
Doyle said that standardized training is needed and that operators like himself need to hold their employees accountable.
The practice of investigating a sample of both governmental and private child-care facilities every six months was started about four years ago after serious charges were raised about conditions and treatment of those confined to the state's juvenile prison, the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko.
Source http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20111018/NEWS/111019762/1070&ParentProfile=1058
Auditors reviewing Nevada's facilities for children in state care were so concerned about the mess they found in a Las Vegas foster home in March that they called Clark County Child Protective Services.
Deputy Legislative Auditor Sandra McGuirk wrote that, when they entered the home, they saw an empty insulin syringe on the floor, an empty prescription medicine bottle, unsecured flammable liquids, a hammer and sharp knives, pans full of grease on the stove, overflowing garbage cans and filthy bathroom sinks, as well as food remnants and soda cans on the carpet.
She said this is the first time conditions have been so bad in an inspection that they felt it necessary to call Child Protective Services.
“These conditions are unacceptable in any foster home,” said Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno.
The foster home was one of more than 30 operated by Eagle Quest, which has homes in Las Vegas and Pahrump. Director of Operations Dave Doyle said the mess happened after the foster parent running the home suffered a medical issue and was taken to the hospital. He said the woman's husband was overwhelmed and he was not informed that she wasn't there.
Doyle apologized to the legislative audit subcommittee but added that the home was under a corrective action plan from Child Protective Services in Clark County and he was never told about that. He admitted that conditions in the house were “atrocious” when the audit team showed up and, and he said that's why he immediately moved the six foster children there to another home.
He said numerous changes have been made by the company since then to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again in one of its homes.
Foster home operators in his system must tell him immediately if they are being investigated by a government agency. He said that if a foster parent has a medical issue or another problem requiring their absence, his staff is to be informed within 24 hours so they can put someone in there. He said other changes have been made as well, including tightening controls over medications given to children in foster care — a perennial complaint by legislators.
“We now have multiple people signing off on the medication logs,” Doyle said.
Leslie, who chairs the audit subcommittee, said the medications issue is still showing up in every six-month audit of the child care system, yet she was unable to get a bill through this past session requiring training for foster care and group home workers so they keep accurate records.
Doyle said that standardized training is needed and that operators like himself need to hold their employees accountable.
The practice of investigating a sample of both governmental and private child-care facilities every six months was started about four years ago after serious charges were raised about conditions and treatment of those confined to the state's juvenile prison, the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko.
Source http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20111018/NEWS/111019762/1070&ParentProfile=1058
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Spring Hill Tenn. woman pleads guilty to imprisoning foster kids
Blog authors note: Why, was this allowed to happen when this person was convited of 5 counts of abusing the same girl in 2003? Why would someone convicted of child abuse be allowed to be a foster person? What is wrong with CPS, DSS or whatever they want to be called?
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Written by Jill Cecil Wiersma
SPRING HILL — A woman accused of abusing two foster children in her care pleaded guilty today to some of the 15 original charges against her.
Shelley Blair faces sentencing Dec. 7 on four charges: two counts of aggravated assault, attempted especially aggravated kidnapping and kidnapping.
Blair faces 14-22 years in prison for those charges, said Spring Hill Police Detective Geoff Betts, the lead detective in the case.
On the morning of Oct. 20, 2008, Officer Jesus Lopez noticed the malnourished and poorly groomed children — a 12-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl — walking near Belshire Way on Main Street.
Lopez noticed one child was riding a bicycle without a helmet and wondered why they were not in school.
Both children were in Blair's care and had been imprisoned in her Spring Hill Estates home where she denied them food and drink and access to a bathroom.
The children were treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and turned over to the Department of Children's Services during the investigation.
Blair has been charged before for child abuse. In 2003, she was charged with five counts of abusing the same girl.
Betts said Tuesday’s court proceedings took only about 10 minutes, but that he expected there to be hours of details discussed at the sentencing hearing.
Source http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111011/WILLIAMSON01/111011022/Spring-Hill-woman-pleads-guilty-imprisoning-foster-kids
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Written by Jill Cecil Wiersma
SPRING HILL — A woman accused of abusing two foster children in her care pleaded guilty today to some of the 15 original charges against her.
Shelley Blair faces sentencing Dec. 7 on four charges: two counts of aggravated assault, attempted especially aggravated kidnapping and kidnapping.
Blair faces 14-22 years in prison for those charges, said Spring Hill Police Detective Geoff Betts, the lead detective in the case.
On the morning of Oct. 20, 2008, Officer Jesus Lopez noticed the malnourished and poorly groomed children — a 12-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl — walking near Belshire Way on Main Street.
Lopez noticed one child was riding a bicycle without a helmet and wondered why they were not in school.
Both children were in Blair's care and had been imprisoned in her Spring Hill Estates home where she denied them food and drink and access to a bathroom.
The children were treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and turned over to the Department of Children's Services during the investigation.
Blair has been charged before for child abuse. In 2003, she was charged with five counts of abusing the same girl.
Betts said Tuesday’s court proceedings took only about 10 minutes, but that he expected there to be hours of details discussed at the sentencing hearing.
Source http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111011/WILLIAMSON01/111011022/Spring-Hill-woman-pleads-guilty-imprisoning-foster-kids
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
Monday, September 5, 2011
Senate approves Foster Care Act
By HANNAH L. TORREGOZA
September 5, 2011, 5:08pm
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has approved on third and final reading the Foster Care Act of 2010, a measure giving tax breaks to foster parents and donor agencies that put a premium on homeless children.
Senate Bill no. 2486, authored by Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Sen. Pilar “Pia” Cayetano, aims to establish a system that would promote foster care for homeless children by giving foster parents and donor agencies tax incentives.
“Foster care” is defined by the bill as the provision of planned temporary substitute parental care to a child. The bill seeks to address the lack of institutions in the country that attend to the needs of abandoned and neglected Filipino children.
In order to qualify as a foster parent, a person must be of legal age and must meet a set of qualifications to prove that he or she is of good moral character, and capable of providing for the needs of the foster child.
During her sponsorship speech, Cayetano stressed the need for government to give attention and consideration to foster care as a preferred way of caring for homeless children as opposed to the current practice of placing them in institutions, such as orphanages and youth centers.
“Studies show that foster care creates a better living environment, and develops better individuals as opposed to institutional care,” Cayetano said.
“Through foster care, children are given more attention and care in a home setting, thus providing them with more opportunities for normal, mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical growth,” she added.
Once it is enacted into law, Estrada said, the government will provide assistance and tax incentives to foster parents, child-caring agencies and donor institutions.
The bill grants foster parents medical insurance through the Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) if they are non-members at the time of foster care. They will also be provided with counseling, training on child care and development, skills training, and livelihood assistance.
Foster parents are also entitled to personal tax exemption, and additional exemptions for dependents. The Department of Welfare and Development (DWSD) will also see to it that the foster child will receive monthly support.
Source http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/333281/senate-oks-foster-care-act-third-and-final-reading
September 5, 2011, 5:08pm
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has approved on third and final reading the Foster Care Act of 2010, a measure giving tax breaks to foster parents and donor agencies that put a premium on homeless children.
Senate Bill no. 2486, authored by Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Sen. Pilar “Pia” Cayetano, aims to establish a system that would promote foster care for homeless children by giving foster parents and donor agencies tax incentives.
“Foster care” is defined by the bill as the provision of planned temporary substitute parental care to a child. The bill seeks to address the lack of institutions in the country that attend to the needs of abandoned and neglected Filipino children.
In order to qualify as a foster parent, a person must be of legal age and must meet a set of qualifications to prove that he or she is of good moral character, and capable of providing for the needs of the foster child.
During her sponsorship speech, Cayetano stressed the need for government to give attention and consideration to foster care as a preferred way of caring for homeless children as opposed to the current practice of placing them in institutions, such as orphanages and youth centers.
“Studies show that foster care creates a better living environment, and develops better individuals as opposed to institutional care,” Cayetano said.
“Through foster care, children are given more attention and care in a home setting, thus providing them with more opportunities for normal, mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical growth,” she added.
Once it is enacted into law, Estrada said, the government will provide assistance and tax incentives to foster parents, child-caring agencies and donor institutions.
The bill grants foster parents medical insurance through the Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) if they are non-members at the time of foster care. They will also be provided with counseling, training on child care and development, skills training, and livelihood assistance.
Foster parents are also entitled to personal tax exemption, and additional exemptions for dependents. The Department of Welfare and Development (DWSD) will also see to it that the foster child will receive monthly support.
Source http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/333281/senate-oks-foster-care-act-third-and-final-reading
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The BS Behind Psychiatric DSM - Fraud Of Drugging People
While CPS is busy creating "special needs" children from normal children that they remove from the homes of loving families, the drug companies, doctors, the states, and even the foster homes or institutions are fattening their pockets. (Once a child is deemed "special needs", the federal government pays more money to all involved with that child.)
In drugging these innocent children, they are destroying their developing brains.
How, just how, do all involved in this fraud sleep at night knowing that they are lobotomizing the very children they claim to be protecting and caring for? How?!!
Psychiatry Exposed Part 1
Psychiatry Exposed Part 2
Psychiatry Exposed Part 3
Psychiatry Exposed Part 4
Psychiatry Exposed Part 5
Psychiatry Exposed Part 6
http://youtu.be/M6mDtNSVTpU
Psychiatry Exposed Part 7
http://youtu.be/QVpSE1UtxHs
Psychiatry Exposed Part 8
Psychiatry Exposed Part 9
Psychiatry Exposed Part 10
Psychiatry Exposed Part 11
Psychiatry Exposed Part 12
Psychiatry Exposed Part 13
Psychiatry Exposed Part 14
Psychiatry Exposed Part 15
In drugging these innocent children, they are destroying their developing brains.
How, just how, do all involved in this fraud sleep at night knowing that they are lobotomizing the very children they claim to be protecting and caring for? How?!!
Monday, August 22, 2011
If / When Children Return From Foster Care, Check Their Credit Reports
As if things aren't bad enough and like families don't have enough to worry about already! Identity thieves are taking children's Social Security numbers, many of these children are in foster care. Be sure to check your child's credit reports!
Child Identity Theft Takes Advantage Of Kids' Unused Social Security Numbers
Every few weeks, Stephanie McManis receives a phone call from a collection agency asking for someone she never met. She recently opened a letter from a bank threatening to sue her for defaulting on a loan she never took out. She checks her credit report monthly, disputing late payments on emergency room visits she never made.
McManis, 31, says she is a victim of identity theft, a well-documented problem these days. One detail elevates her case from the typical, however: her identity was stolen when she was 12 years old. Now, nearly two decades later, she still can't separate herself from a checkered financial past created before she was old enough to drive.
"It's frustrating because I'm constantly having to jump through hoops," McManis said. "I'm resigned to the fact that I will be dealing with this for the rest of my life."
Experts say children represent an emerging market for identity thieves who steal their Social Security numbers because they offer clean slates that can be used to commit fraud for years without detection. Many victims don't learn about the crime until they are young adults and find their credit in tatters as they are rejected for student loans, jobs and places to live.
Even as recent data breaches at large corporations have raised awareness about safeguarding consumer information, children's Social Security numbers are lying around little-guarded places not accustomed to fearing cyber-attacks -- like schools and pediatric centers -- constituting a goldmine for criminals seeking untainted identities.
If left unchecked, child identity theft poses risks not only to young adults, but also to the financial system by eroding confidence that loans will be repaid, experts say.
"There's a systemic financial impact, as well as what we should be doing morally, ethically and legally to help our children have a future that they design on their own," Michelle Dennedy, a privacy consultant and founder of TheIdentityProject.com, said at a July conference on child identity theft sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission.
With increasing frequency, cyberthieves are hijacking those futures, tapping the pristine Social Security numbers of children for adult purposes, enabling undocumented immigrants to gain employment and people with tainted credit to secure credit cards, mortgages and car loans, experts say.
Utah officials have started checking a state employment database with a list of Utah children on public aid, finding "thousands" of workers using children's identities to acquire jobs, according to Utah Assistant Attorney General Richard Hamp. In one recent case, nine people were using a 9-year-old's Social Security number to gain employment, Hamp said.
"I have prosecuted a number of those cases at this stage and can tell you -- I've got kids that are brick masons. I've got kids that are waitresses. I've got kids that are carpenters," Hamp said at the FTC forum.
A THEFT GOES UNDETECTED
Last year, about 8 percent of identity theft complaints came from victims 19 and younger, slightly more than the year before, according to the Federal Trade Commission. More than 140,000 children are victims of identity theft each year, according to ID Analytics, which sells identity fraud protection and based its estimate on a one-year review of children enrolled in its services.
Both figures are probably much higher, experts say, because parents typically don't monitor their child's credit report, assuming one should not exist. And even if they did, the fraud may go undetected by credit bureaus because identity thieves pair children's Social Security numbers with new names and birthdays.
Debix, which sells identity protection services, says it recently ran credit reports on 381 cases of confirmed child identity theft and found credit reports only turned up fraudulent activity in four cases, or 1 percent.
Child identity theft is driven largely by organized crime, but undocumented immigrants and family members are also using children's Social Security numbers to start new lives or pay bills, experts say. Foster children are particularly vulnerable to identity theft because their personal information is floating through the foster-care system, experts say.
Jaleesa Suell entered foster care when she was 8 years old and was placed in six different foster families. At some point, someone used her identity to apply for a credit card, she said.
When Jaleesa turned 21 last year, she said she was denied her first credit card. Then she noticed on her credit report an account opened when she was 17 with payments in default. Despite six months of corresponding with credit bureaus and the bank, she has been unable to have the fraudulent payments removed.
She fears the issue won't be resolved in time for graduation when she will need credit to rent an apartment -- a cruel irony for someone who grew up in foster care.
"I've spent my life wondering if I'll have a place to stay," she said. "And now that my identity is stolen I find myself in the same circumstance."
To combat identity theft among foster children, Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) has introduced legislation that would require states to annually obtain their credit reports and prohibit states from using their Social Security numbers to identify them.
"These youth already face so many unique challenges and it is unconscionable that we are seeing more and more evidence of identity theft that further hinders their ability to become self-sufficient young adults," Langevin said in a statement.
17 YEARS OLD AND $725,000 IN DEBT
In the largest study on child identity theft to date, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that 10 percent of children were victims of identity theft, compared with less than 1 percent of adults.
Though not scientific, the study, which was published this spring, analyzed more than 800,000 records, including 40,000 belonging to minors, that were compromised by data breaches in 2009 and 2010. The information was provided by Debix, which sells identity theft services and offers free scans for parents who want to find out if a credit file exists on their child.
The stolen identities were used to purchase homes and cars, open credit card accounts, gain employment and obtain driver's licenses, the report found. The youngest victim was five months old. In one case, eight people are suspected of opening 42 accounts and incurring more than $725,000 in debt using a 17-year-old's Social Security number.
Many child identity thefts begin with a cyber attack, according to Bo Holland, chief executive of Debix. Hackers are now using computer viruses and botnets, or networks of infected computers, to search for specific documents on computers such as tax records and health records, which contain children's Social Security numbers, Holland said.
Once stolen, children's Social Security numbers are sold to human traffickers or thieves looking to open fraudulent credit accounts, authorities say. Last fall, two men in Newark, Del., were convicted of stealing the identities of more than 93 victims, including 44 children, and using them to open 343 credit cards, 54 bank accounts and two shell businesses over six years, resulting in about $1 million in losses.
For $40 to $80, websites illegally sell 9-digit "credit privacy numbers," which are clean Social Security numbers mostly belonging to children, according to Jennifer Walker, who works in the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration.
And if thieves are unable to buy or steal a child's Social Security number, they may be able to guess it. In fact, children's numbers are easier to predict than adults' numbers thanks to a government program created in 1987, according to Alessandro Acquisti, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
The Social Security Administration's program encouraged parents to apply for their newborn's Social Security numbers at birth to prevent identity thieves from hijacking their child's Social Security numbers before they could apply for them.
But the program had the opposite effect because Social Security numbers have been issued in a predictable sequence based on when and where a child was born. So when nearly all children began receiving Social Security numbers at birth, thieves could infer all nine digits based on publicly available information, Acquisti said.
In June, the Social Security Administration hoped to fix this by assigning a randomized series of numbers, but the more predictable Social Security numbers will remain in effect for people born before this summer.
"We're talking about hundreds of millions of Social Security numbers that are still potentially predicable," Acquisti said. "We've made the job of identity theft way too easy."
LEAKY SOURCES OF IDENTITIES
While they have long focused on financial institutions, online thieves have also begun targeting organizations that store vast amounts of children's Social Security numbers, such as health care providers and schools. But those agencies often fail to properly safeguard the information or promptly disclose data breaches when they occur.
Last July, a Bronx man was charged with filing false tax returns by using Social Security numbers of children who were patients of pediatric cancer and other hospitals in New York City.
In January, health care insurer Health Net learned that computer servers containing data on nearly two million members, employees and health care providers went missing. But the company waited nearly two months to report the breach, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Then it began offering free credit-monitoring services to enrollees whose information may have been compromised.
That was when Simon Umscheid learned his 6-year-old son Ian was apparently the victim of identity theft. After the data breach at Health Net, an identity thief set up several bank accounts and bought jewelry and cable television service under his son's name, racking up about $14,000. Umscheid said the fraud is being resolved, but he remains angry with Health Net, which also suffered a major data breach in 2009.
"It's incredibly frustrating," he said. "My son obviously doesn't understand what's going on and we haven’t talked to him about it. You feel victimized."
Meanwhile, at least 26 states now collect Social Security numbers from students to track their future performance in the workplace, according to the Data Quality Campaign.
But schools have struggled to secure children's identities. The education sector represented 12 percent of all data breaches last year, according to the security firm Symantec. And this year, data breaches at schools have continued.
In one example, officials at Lancaster County School District in Lancaster, S.C., sent letters in April notifying parents that hackers had broken into a system housing the Social Security numbers of about 25,000 students. In June, two laptops containing Social Security numbers of 10,000 students and staff from northern Illinois were stolen from a car, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
"There are likely many schools that have exposed data that don’t understand how exposed it is," said Robert Hamilton, senior manager of product marketing at Symantec.
Some parents have fought efforts to collect sensitive information on their children. After strong opposition from parents and school boards, the Maine legislature this year removed language in a state law that required schools to collect student's Social Security numbers.
Such groundswells of protest should happen more often, privacy advocates say. Parents should be skeptical when giving out their child's Social Security numbers, particularly when there is no apparent need for it, Dennedy said.
"There's not enough education in the marketplace to tell parents to push back when someone asks you for their Social Security number to join a church canoe trip," she said at a forum last month. "They probably won't be trying to get a credit card in the canoe. I'm not sure why they're even asking for that kind of information."
A STRUGGLE TO REGAIN HER NAME
For victims of child identity theft, the damage can take years to unwind. After graduating college in 2001, Stephanie McManis applied for her first credit card, but was rejected.
Only after she requested her credit report did she learn that someone else had used her identity since she was 12 years old, she said. Her credit report was "inches thick," she said, filled with unpaid mortgages, car loans, cell phone contracts and credit card debt.
McManis filed a report with her local police department and authorities tracked down the woman who was using her identity and living just a few hours away in Avon, Ohio, just west of Cleveland.
Avon Police Officer Kevin Krugman, who investigated the case, said the Social Security numbers of the two women are one digit off and he believed the confusion was caused by "nothing more than a clerical error" by someone at a credit agency, not identity theft.
"Their identities are tied together for good until they take care of it," Krugman said.
But privacy advocates familiar with McManis' case still believe she is a victim of identity theft. Dennedy said local police departments often do not want to conduct thorough investigations of identity theft because they do not have the time or resources. And if it was an honest mistake, Dennedy said, why is this woman still using McManis' Social Security number today?
"Cops don’t want to believe it's identity theft because they have to close their cases," Dennedy said. "They don't understand the harm. Even if it was an honest mistake, and you still can't get a house or a loan, the impact is the same. You're still stuck with someone else's bad credit."
A few years ago, McManis was denied a mortgage on a house because the other woman had filed for foreclosure. The issue was eventually straightened out, but the calls from collection agencies asking for hospital bill payments continue.
To this day, McManis does not know how her identity was stolen. She knows the woman's name and has found her Facebook page, but has never contacted her directly because she does not want to appear to threaten her. The woman did not return calls for comment.
"I'm angry at her but also frustrated with the system," McManis said. "I shouldn’t have to prove myself when I've had good credit my whole life."
5 tips for parents to protect their children from identity theft:
1. Don’t carry around a child’s Social Security card. This increases the risk of losing the card, which is the most common way identity thieves obtain a child’s information.
2. Be discriminating when asked for a child’s personal information. If it has to be provided, ask how it will be stored. If the information will not be retained, inquire how any record of it will be destroyed or returned.
3. Cross-shred documents with personal identifying information before disposing of them.
4. Don’t post children’s pictures online. Most digital cameras have geocoding features that embed within images the location where pictures were taken. This gives identity thieves information they can use to steal children’s identities.
5. Don’t give children their Social Security numbers until they understand how and why to protect the numbers.
Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/21/child-identity-theft_n_931485.html?page=1
Child Identity Theft Takes Advantage Of Kids' Unused Social Security Numbers
Every few weeks, Stephanie McManis receives a phone call from a collection agency asking for someone she never met. She recently opened a letter from a bank threatening to sue her for defaulting on a loan she never took out. She checks her credit report monthly, disputing late payments on emergency room visits she never made.
McManis, 31, says she is a victim of identity theft, a well-documented problem these days. One detail elevates her case from the typical, however: her identity was stolen when she was 12 years old. Now, nearly two decades later, she still can't separate herself from a checkered financial past created before she was old enough to drive.
"It's frustrating because I'm constantly having to jump through hoops," McManis said. "I'm resigned to the fact that I will be dealing with this for the rest of my life."
Experts say children represent an emerging market for identity thieves who steal their Social Security numbers because they offer clean slates that can be used to commit fraud for years without detection. Many victims don't learn about the crime until they are young adults and find their credit in tatters as they are rejected for student loans, jobs and places to live.
Even as recent data breaches at large corporations have raised awareness about safeguarding consumer information, children's Social Security numbers are lying around little-guarded places not accustomed to fearing cyber-attacks -- like schools and pediatric centers -- constituting a goldmine for criminals seeking untainted identities.
If left unchecked, child identity theft poses risks not only to young adults, but also to the financial system by eroding confidence that loans will be repaid, experts say.
"There's a systemic financial impact, as well as what we should be doing morally, ethically and legally to help our children have a future that they design on their own," Michelle Dennedy, a privacy consultant and founder of TheIdentityProject.com, said at a July conference on child identity theft sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission.
With increasing frequency, cyberthieves are hijacking those futures, tapping the pristine Social Security numbers of children for adult purposes, enabling undocumented immigrants to gain employment and people with tainted credit to secure credit cards, mortgages and car loans, experts say.
Utah officials have started checking a state employment database with a list of Utah children on public aid, finding "thousands" of workers using children's identities to acquire jobs, according to Utah Assistant Attorney General Richard Hamp. In one recent case, nine people were using a 9-year-old's Social Security number to gain employment, Hamp said.
"I have prosecuted a number of those cases at this stage and can tell you -- I've got kids that are brick masons. I've got kids that are waitresses. I've got kids that are carpenters," Hamp said at the FTC forum.
A THEFT GOES UNDETECTED
Last year, about 8 percent of identity theft complaints came from victims 19 and younger, slightly more than the year before, according to the Federal Trade Commission. More than 140,000 children are victims of identity theft each year, according to ID Analytics, which sells identity fraud protection and based its estimate on a one-year review of children enrolled in its services.
Both figures are probably much higher, experts say, because parents typically don't monitor their child's credit report, assuming one should not exist. And even if they did, the fraud may go undetected by credit bureaus because identity thieves pair children's Social Security numbers with new names and birthdays.
Debix, which sells identity protection services, says it recently ran credit reports on 381 cases of confirmed child identity theft and found credit reports only turned up fraudulent activity in four cases, or 1 percent.
Child identity theft is driven largely by organized crime, but undocumented immigrants and family members are also using children's Social Security numbers to start new lives or pay bills, experts say. Foster children are particularly vulnerable to identity theft because their personal information is floating through the foster-care system, experts say.
Jaleesa Suell entered foster care when she was 8 years old and was placed in six different foster families. At some point, someone used her identity to apply for a credit card, she said.
When Jaleesa turned 21 last year, she said she was denied her first credit card. Then she noticed on her credit report an account opened when she was 17 with payments in default. Despite six months of corresponding with credit bureaus and the bank, she has been unable to have the fraudulent payments removed.
She fears the issue won't be resolved in time for graduation when she will need credit to rent an apartment -- a cruel irony for someone who grew up in foster care.
"I've spent my life wondering if I'll have a place to stay," she said. "And now that my identity is stolen I find myself in the same circumstance."
To combat identity theft among foster children, Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) has introduced legislation that would require states to annually obtain their credit reports and prohibit states from using their Social Security numbers to identify them.
"These youth already face so many unique challenges and it is unconscionable that we are seeing more and more evidence of identity theft that further hinders their ability to become self-sufficient young adults," Langevin said in a statement.
17 YEARS OLD AND $725,000 IN DEBT
In the largest study on child identity theft to date, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that 10 percent of children were victims of identity theft, compared with less than 1 percent of adults.
Though not scientific, the study, which was published this spring, analyzed more than 800,000 records, including 40,000 belonging to minors, that were compromised by data breaches in 2009 and 2010. The information was provided by Debix, which sells identity theft services and offers free scans for parents who want to find out if a credit file exists on their child.
The stolen identities were used to purchase homes and cars, open credit card accounts, gain employment and obtain driver's licenses, the report found. The youngest victim was five months old. In one case, eight people are suspected of opening 42 accounts and incurring more than $725,000 in debt using a 17-year-old's Social Security number.
Many child identity thefts begin with a cyber attack, according to Bo Holland, chief executive of Debix. Hackers are now using computer viruses and botnets, or networks of infected computers, to search for specific documents on computers such as tax records and health records, which contain children's Social Security numbers, Holland said.
Once stolen, children's Social Security numbers are sold to human traffickers or thieves looking to open fraudulent credit accounts, authorities say. Last fall, two men in Newark, Del., were convicted of stealing the identities of more than 93 victims, including 44 children, and using them to open 343 credit cards, 54 bank accounts and two shell businesses over six years, resulting in about $1 million in losses.
For $40 to $80, websites illegally sell 9-digit "credit privacy numbers," which are clean Social Security numbers mostly belonging to children, according to Jennifer Walker, who works in the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration.
And if thieves are unable to buy or steal a child's Social Security number, they may be able to guess it. In fact, children's numbers are easier to predict than adults' numbers thanks to a government program created in 1987, according to Alessandro Acquisti, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
The Social Security Administration's program encouraged parents to apply for their newborn's Social Security numbers at birth to prevent identity thieves from hijacking their child's Social Security numbers before they could apply for them.
But the program had the opposite effect because Social Security numbers have been issued in a predictable sequence based on when and where a child was born. So when nearly all children began receiving Social Security numbers at birth, thieves could infer all nine digits based on publicly available information, Acquisti said.
In June, the Social Security Administration hoped to fix this by assigning a randomized series of numbers, but the more predictable Social Security numbers will remain in effect for people born before this summer.
"We're talking about hundreds of millions of Social Security numbers that are still potentially predicable," Acquisti said. "We've made the job of identity theft way too easy."
LEAKY SOURCES OF IDENTITIES
While they have long focused on financial institutions, online thieves have also begun targeting organizations that store vast amounts of children's Social Security numbers, such as health care providers and schools. But those agencies often fail to properly safeguard the information or promptly disclose data breaches when they occur.
Last July, a Bronx man was charged with filing false tax returns by using Social Security numbers of children who were patients of pediatric cancer and other hospitals in New York City.
In January, health care insurer Health Net learned that computer servers containing data on nearly two million members, employees and health care providers went missing. But the company waited nearly two months to report the breach, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Then it began offering free credit-monitoring services to enrollees whose information may have been compromised.
That was when Simon Umscheid learned his 6-year-old son Ian was apparently the victim of identity theft. After the data breach at Health Net, an identity thief set up several bank accounts and bought jewelry and cable television service under his son's name, racking up about $14,000. Umscheid said the fraud is being resolved, but he remains angry with Health Net, which also suffered a major data breach in 2009.
"It's incredibly frustrating," he said. "My son obviously doesn't understand what's going on and we haven’t talked to him about it. You feel victimized."
Meanwhile, at least 26 states now collect Social Security numbers from students to track their future performance in the workplace, according to the Data Quality Campaign.
But schools have struggled to secure children's identities. The education sector represented 12 percent of all data breaches last year, according to the security firm Symantec. And this year, data breaches at schools have continued.
In one example, officials at Lancaster County School District in Lancaster, S.C., sent letters in April notifying parents that hackers had broken into a system housing the Social Security numbers of about 25,000 students. In June, two laptops containing Social Security numbers of 10,000 students and staff from northern Illinois were stolen from a car, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
"There are likely many schools that have exposed data that don’t understand how exposed it is," said Robert Hamilton, senior manager of product marketing at Symantec.
Some parents have fought efforts to collect sensitive information on their children. After strong opposition from parents and school boards, the Maine legislature this year removed language in a state law that required schools to collect student's Social Security numbers.
Such groundswells of protest should happen more often, privacy advocates say. Parents should be skeptical when giving out their child's Social Security numbers, particularly when there is no apparent need for it, Dennedy said.
"There's not enough education in the marketplace to tell parents to push back when someone asks you for their Social Security number to join a church canoe trip," she said at a forum last month. "They probably won't be trying to get a credit card in the canoe. I'm not sure why they're even asking for that kind of information."
A STRUGGLE TO REGAIN HER NAME
For victims of child identity theft, the damage can take years to unwind. After graduating college in 2001, Stephanie McManis applied for her first credit card, but was rejected.
Only after she requested her credit report did she learn that someone else had used her identity since she was 12 years old, she said. Her credit report was "inches thick," she said, filled with unpaid mortgages, car loans, cell phone contracts and credit card debt.
McManis filed a report with her local police department and authorities tracked down the woman who was using her identity and living just a few hours away in Avon, Ohio, just west of Cleveland.
Avon Police Officer Kevin Krugman, who investigated the case, said the Social Security numbers of the two women are one digit off and he believed the confusion was caused by "nothing more than a clerical error" by someone at a credit agency, not identity theft.
"Their identities are tied together for good until they take care of it," Krugman said.
But privacy advocates familiar with McManis' case still believe she is a victim of identity theft. Dennedy said local police departments often do not want to conduct thorough investigations of identity theft because they do not have the time or resources. And if it was an honest mistake, Dennedy said, why is this woman still using McManis' Social Security number today?
"Cops don’t want to believe it's identity theft because they have to close their cases," Dennedy said. "They don't understand the harm. Even if it was an honest mistake, and you still can't get a house or a loan, the impact is the same. You're still stuck with someone else's bad credit."
A few years ago, McManis was denied a mortgage on a house because the other woman had filed for foreclosure. The issue was eventually straightened out, but the calls from collection agencies asking for hospital bill payments continue.
To this day, McManis does not know how her identity was stolen. She knows the woman's name and has found her Facebook page, but has never contacted her directly because she does not want to appear to threaten her. The woman did not return calls for comment.
"I'm angry at her but also frustrated with the system," McManis said. "I shouldn’t have to prove myself when I've had good credit my whole life."
5 tips for parents to protect their children from identity theft:
1. Don’t carry around a child’s Social Security card. This increases the risk of losing the card, which is the most common way identity thieves obtain a child’s information.
2. Be discriminating when asked for a child’s personal information. If it has to be provided, ask how it will be stored. If the information will not be retained, inquire how any record of it will be destroyed or returned.
3. Cross-shred documents with personal identifying information before disposing of them.
4. Don’t post children’s pictures online. Most digital cameras have geocoding features that embed within images the location where pictures were taken. This gives identity thieves information they can use to steal children’s identities.
5. Don’t give children their Social Security numbers until they understand how and why to protect the numbers.
Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/21/child-identity-theft_n_931485.html?page=1
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Too many kids on psych drugs - Videos
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
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