19 Year Old Impregnates 12 Year Old Special Needs Sister

What was going on here?
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Houston, TX (KTRK/CNN) - A Houston woman is accused of going to extreme measures to protect her son from sexual assault charges.

We should warn you, the details of this case may be disturbing to some.

Cynthia Greenwood was in court Monday to answer to charges that she took her 12-year-old special needs adoptive daughter to get an abortion because the father was her song.

Isaac Greenwood, who is now 19, is charged with three counts of aggravated assault of a child.

Child Protective Services launched its investigation after someone locally called in an anonymous tip stating the 12-year-old became hysterical when Greenwood took her in for an abortion and refused to give details about how her daughter got pregnant.

A week later, on October 22, 2010, Greenwood allegedly took her daughter to a women's clinic in Cleveland, Ohio to have the abortion.

She was 22 weeks pregnant.

Two months later, in a videotaped interview, the young special needs girl claimed she got pregnant because her brother had sex with her.

"These forensics interviewers are trained to interview children of all ages and children with special needs also to try to get from them the truth and what happened," said Estella Olguin with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Greenwood used to live in North Harris. A former neighbor didn't know Greenwood well, but described her as polite, and family oriented.

"The alleged victim is now 13 and in foster care.

Source http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/274115/28/Isaac-Greenwood-impregnates-12-year-old-sister

Detroit mom cleared of charges that stemmed from standoff at home

11:14 PM, Aug. 29, 2011

In a case that sparked debate about parental rights versus state involvement in the medical care of children, a Detroit woman won a major victory Monday when all the charges against her were dropped.

Maryanne Godboldo, 57, was accused of firing a gun at Detroit police officers who were assisting a state Child Protective Services worker when they came to her Blaine Street home on March 24 to get her daughter.

The charges against Godboldo were dismissed at her preliminary examination in 36th District Court in Detroit. Judge Ronald Giles agreed with her lawyers that the court order to remove Godboldo's 13-year-old daughter was not valid.

"I am very, very happy and blessed that Judge Giles did the right thing," Godboldo said at a news conference at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit.

Giles also agreed that there was no evidence supporting the charge that Godboldo fired a gun at police during the standoff.

When asked about Giles' ruling, Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said: "Ms. Godboldo was afforded her due process under the law. We abide by and respect the decision."

Maria Miller, spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, said the prosecutor will appeal the dismissal of charges.

Godboldo legal team confident that case will survive an appeal

Maryanne Godboldo's legal team is confident that a Wayne County District Court judge's dismissal of all charges against her on Monday will survive an appeal.

"The standard is abuse of discretion," said Byron Pitts, one of Godboldo's lawyers. "The court today did not abuse his discretion."

Godboldo, 57, of Detroit was charged with discharge of a weapon, three counts of felonious assault, resisting and obstructing an officer and felony firearm.

She was accused of firing a gun at police who had accompanied a state Child Protective Services employee to Godboldo's home on Blaine on March 24.

The employee had a Juvenile Court order to take Godboldo's 13-year-old daughter after Godboldo had been accused of neglecting her by discontinuing a psychotropic drug. Godboldo has maintained she has the right to decide her daughter's medical treatment.

Police said Godboldo barricaded herself in her home with her daughter and shot at them.

After hearing testimony at Godboldo's preliminary examination in 36th District Court on Monday in Detroit, Judge Ronald Giles ruled that the court order was not valid and that there was insufficient evidence that Godboldo fired at police officers.

Maria Miller, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor's Office, said the dismissed charges will be appealed. Miller said that Wayne County Circuit Judge Lynne Pierce earlier determined at a Juvenile Court hearing that the order to remove the child was valid.

The appeal will be heard in Wayne County Circuit Court.

At a news conference Monday at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, Pitts and Godboldo's other attorney, Allison Folmar, explained why they prevailed.

Folmar said Godboldo "never shot at an officer -- period. It never happened."

They said the court order was not valid because a court clerk stamped the judge's name to the order without consulting the judge.

"A judge never looked at this, never saw it," Pitts said. "It has to be an elected authority. This lady took the judge's stamp, stamped the judge's name and off she goes."

He called it "a huge constitutional error."

As a result of this case, Pitts said, there has been a policy change. Court employees are no longer allowed to stamp judges' names on court orders.

Godboldo's supporters say Giles' ruling was justice.

Sandra Hines, a member of the Godboldo Action Committee, said: "This case is rooted on the grounds of parental rights. It's the right of every parent to be the custodial caregiver over their child."

Ron Scott of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, said, "It's a victory for parental rights."

He also said that "Citizens have the right not to adhere to questionable reasons for entering their home. A person does not have to allow an unreasonable search and seizure to their home."

Neema Yacen of Detroit and a member of the Godboldo Action Committee, said it was a case of state overreach. "This is a mother who said her child had a problem, took her to the people who she thought could help her, and they crucified her."

Godboldo, whose daughter is now in the custody of her sister Penny Godboldo, is working to get her child back.

Judge Pierce has said she needs to evaluate the girl's current treatment and is seeking a report from her doctor.

Source http://www.freep.com/article/20110830/NEWS02/108300383/Detroit-mom-cleared-charges-stemmed-from-standoff-home

Boy Dies After No Water Punishment By Parents

Once again, where was CPS? It is hard to believe that this was the first abuse dished out to the James children due to the evil and torturous nature of the abuse in this report. How was this kind of thing allowed to happen?

Safety of group homes hard to check

Why wasn't CPS called in on this situation? Why are these "homes" allowed to take children if they are abusing them? Why aren't they more closely monitored (even for the adults) when many of these patients can not defend themselves? Why....? Why..? Why???
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By JULIE MURPHY, Staff writer
August 28, 2011 12:30 AM

GLENWOOD -- Chris Nicoles sits and draws at the kitchen table while Louise Harwin watches television in the family room.

It's a familiar scenario in homes everywhere, except that Nicoles and Harwin live in a group home for adults with disabilities.

"These houses are supposed to look like any other house in the neighborhood," said Ed DeBardeleben, area administrator for the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities. "These (group homes) are their homes."

Outside of making frequent personal visits, there's little parents or guardians can do to ensure the safety and well-being of loved ones who live in such group homes. Most are left to trust that the system and its safeguards are working.

But are they?

Reviews and violations found on a state website for 57 licensed group homes in Volusia and Flagler counties, as well as for other group homes statewide, are often outdated, with the most recent reports in many cases being more than 3 years old. State inspection reports are often vague, providing few, if any, details about a particular home's overall condition or employees' qualifications.

A recent case of criminal abuse of a disabled Palm Coast teen living in a Palatka group home run by O'Carroll Homes illustrates that sometimes problems slip through cracks.

O'Carroll Homes, which runs several facilities in Palatka and one in Hastings, had its Medicaid waiver agreements pulled by the state after four workers and a former employee accused of burning the 17-year-old girl with a clothes iron were arrested and charged in January.

One of the workers was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this month for his role in the abuse case. Four others have September court dates, according to the State Attorney's Office.

NO EASY FIXES

Many group home providers are paid through Medicaid waiver agreements, according to Agency for Persons with Disabilities spokeswoman Melanie Etters. The waivers pay for care and supplies for adults diagnosed with certain disabilities before the age of 18.

While pulling Medicaid waivers doesn't technically close a home, its residents or their families would have to pay for their care privately. Costs vary widely based on behavioral issues, daily living and medical needs, but can run between $35,000 and $150,000 per year, Etters said.

"In general, APD typically closes about two group homes a month statewide," Etters said. "Generally, there are two main reasons why this occurs. First would be some major incident occurs at the group home endangering the health and safety of one or more individuals. Second would be when a home is continually cited for issues during monthly monitoring and has not corrected any of the issues within a reasonable amount of time, and the agency is concerned for the health and safety of the people living in the home."

After her daughter was burned in January, Jeanette Roscoe moved her to another group home in North Florida and thought she had found an ideal site -- just as she had when she took her daughter to the O'Carroll Homes facility in Palatka 11 years ago.

"The first time I did research, (O'Carroll Homes) were long-standing and had all the credentials," Roscoe said. "I looked at the cleanliness, that she'd have her own room and the ratio of staff to patients."

Roscoe also closely inspected the North Florida facility where she decided to move her daughter, who she said has the mind of a 2- or 3-year-old. Again, Roscoe studied employee folders and resumes, scrutinizing who administered medications and where they were kept.

But again, her daughter suffered serious injuries. This time, she jumped through a window at 5:30 a.m. Aug. 10 and wound up needing more than 100 stitches and staples to close her wounds, Roscoe said.

"It was a 5- to 6-foot drop out the window," Roscoe wrote in an email to The News-Journal that included images of her daughter's injuries. "I thought she had one-on-one supervision, but she didn't. At least she didn't then."

LONG WAIT FOR CARE

The group homes overseen by DeBardeleben's office, which covers Volusia and Flagler counties, include small family-run operations as well as homes owned by large businesses such as Duvall Home, LifeShare, Sunrise Community and National Mentor.

Group home workers are expected to undergo criminal background checks through the FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and local agencies. They must also sign an affidavit that they are of good moral character, DeBardeleben said. "Zero tolerance" training is also required and employees are instructed to treat residents with dignity and respect, as well as to look for signs of abuse or neglect and to report it to law enforcement.

But researching group homes is complicated, said Jim King, executive director for The Arc of Volusia, which provides programs to increase independence and quality of life for adults with developmental disabilities.

"It's not an easy situation," King said. "There (is) a waiting list of people not getting any services. Funding has always been limited and it keeps getting cut. These are all independent businesses -- some big, some small."

DeBardeleben said more than 20,000 people are on the waiting list for Medicaid waivers statewide.

Martin Favis, president of the Duvall Home -- among the largest care providers for the developmentally disabled in the country -- said the challenge is to provide a homey setting for its 160 residents who live in 10 group homes and one larger congregate-living facility. Some pay privately while others have Medicaid waivers.

"Not every individual has a vested parent or guardian," Favis said as he walked through the home where Nicoles and Harwin live. "We want to have compatible homes where people have things in common. This is their home and it should feel that way."

Favis admits things weren't picture-perfect at Duvall before his arrival three years ago.

"We've come a long way in three years," he said. "APD (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) wasn't happy with us. There were funding cuts and financial problems. We had to really mend our relationship."

Group homes are monitored monthly, typically by a two-person team from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. The exception is "respite homes," those that only take people who need temporary care -- for instance, if a family goes on vacation. They are not inspected if they have no residents during a given month.

"Group homes have their own niche," DeBardeleben said. "We want clients to have a choice so they integrate into the community, and different clients have different needs."

FINDING A NICHE

Some homes have nurses on staff. Others are "intensive behavioral residential habitation group homes," which handle patients who may be a danger to themselves or others.

One Duvall Home niche is that it is an adult-only facility.

"I'm hoping to get (my daughter) placed in Duvall," Roscoe said. "She turns 18 on Sept. 9 and hopefully we'll be able to transfer her that day."

Roscoe, her daughter, her daughter's case manager -- officially referred to as a waiver support coordinator -- and other officials from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, as well as Favis, are working together to help Roscoe's daughter make the transition.

"I'm waiting for this to all settle down," Roscoe said before breaking into tears.

Roscoe believes her daughter should have been reassessed in January after she was burned. A reassessment is usually done once every three years, with exceptions made for crises.

"That was a crisis," Roscoe said. "I think she was in shock immediately afterward, but I can only guess that because of her limited verbal communication. She wets the bed now and has been self-mutilating. It's post-traumatic stress. And I'm tired. I'm trying to protect her. I'm trying to protect her from other people. I'm trying to protect other people."

Source

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/flagler/2011/08/28/safety-of-group-homes-hard-to-check.html

County says child-protection rifts are mending

By Courtney Vaughn
Hi-Desert Star
Published: Saturday, August 27, 2011 2:14 AM CDT

SAN BERNARDINO — A representative from the county’s Children’s Assessment Center says it is working with partner agencies to resolve many of the shortcomings identified in a grand jury report.

An investigation into the Children and Family Services Department of San Bernardino County and its partner agencies found a dysfunctional relationship between CFS and the assessment center. The Children’s Assessment Center is a private-public partnership that provides medical and psychological evaluations to children of physical and sexual abuse. It partners with CFS, along with Loma Linda University Medical Center, law enforcement, the District Attorney and county Health Department to ensure child abuse cases are properly handled.

According to the report, the center sees between 80 and 100 children each month.

The investigation of CFS, formerly referred to as Child Protective Services, was done on behalf of the grand jury’s Human Services Committee, which reviews social services operations in the county.

Spokesmen from the county don’t deny tensions and communication barriers among CFS, the assessment center and other partner agencies, but they reject many allegations made in the grand jury report.

Assessment center affiliates alleged to grand jurors that some of the county’s social workers were unqualified and didn’t follow protocol.

“There is confusion as to how to work a case. Morale is low,” investigators wrote in their final report.

Despite their statements, jurors do not provide evidence to show CFS ever did anything wrong in its operations.

The grand jury listed lack of accountability and oversight as endemic problems in the CFS department. Jurors say Riverside County CFS uses an auditing system called Technical Assistance, Review and Consultation (TRAC). San Bernardino County CFS was offered training for the system but turned down the offer.

CFS has a heavy burden of responsibility. The county agency takes on numerous cases of potentially harmful home environments each month. In Yucca Valley alone, 60 cases have been referred to the CFS office this month. A local office worker, who did not want to be identified, said the number of cases usually increases during the beginning of the school season.

Department dissolves board of advisors

Jurors charged that CFS has eroded the leadership structure at the assessment center. They noted that CFS representatives discontinued the Child Assessment Center’s advisory board a few years ago and stopped attending other partner agency meetings.

Gregory Devereaux, CEO of San Bernardino County and chairman of the assessment center, said what occurred was a gradual lack of participation by key people from partner agencies.

“When it started, it was a high-level partnership with high-level involvement by all the players…. Over time, responsibilities would get passed down to the next level and the next level and the next. It wasn’t that the commitment waned, but the board got passed down to lower levels in those organizations,” Devereaux said via phone on Friday.

He said the advisory board needed people who had the capability to solve resource problems.

Devereaux says CFS and other agencies were aware of the communication issues and were working to resolve them during the time of the grand jury investigation. He and county spokesman David Wert acknowledged the discord between partnerships, but say none of the behind-the-scenes problems ever affected service to families or children.

Shrinking budgets, tightening tensions

A rift between CFS and Loma Linda University Medical Center, which provides forensic medical exams for children at the assessment center, can be traced to budget constraints.

In 2007, Loma Linda raised its rates of service. David Wert, public information officer for the county, says county administrators instructed CFS to see if the work could be done by another medical facility for a lower rate.

“Everybody’s budgets were already getting tight,” Wert said in a telephone interview Friday. “Some tension developed at that point.”

After CFS requested proposals from other hospitals, it was determined that Loma Linda was the only facility with qualified staff to perform the services needed.

The grand jury report noted CFS started asking the Sheriff’s Department to request and fund forensic medical exams, to offset some of the financial pressure.

‘Right people’ are working at it, CEO says

Aside from visible tensions, the report stated CFS was uncooperative with the grand jury when asked to release information. And the jury wasn’t the only one. CFS also requested a subpoena before releasing any information to the assessment center’s Child Death Review Team, which was investigating a child’s death.

“CFS hides behind a screen of confidentiality, and does not want to give out any information,” jurors wrote.

Devereaux said the “screen of confidentiality” isn’t a screen, but the law.

“The people that they interviewed don’t know the law,” he said.

Devereaux said by law, no agency can release information about its clients or patients unless subpoenaed by a judge.

Allegations aside, Devereaux and Wert said working relationships that once faltered are being restored. “We’ve gone to a new structure. We’ve got the right people at the table and relationships are being rebuilt,” Devereaux said.

Source http://www.hidesertstar.com/articles/2011/08/27/news/doc4e5895c6d6ec4617887769.txt