Note from blog author:
It blows us away that every time that CPS fails a child, they cry it's because they lack funding... another reason for the money game to continue and grow larger. Why? It is our belief that if CPS wasn't so busy looking at false allegations and trying to create cases against those who are not abusing their children, CPS would have enough time, staff and money to look after real abuse cases appropriately. They need to stop the witch hunts and focus on those that are truly abusing children.
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UNIONTOWN (KDKA) — Two fatal child abuse cases in Fayette County have people outraged and looking for answers.
Trenton St. Clair, 4, died this week after he was allegedly beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend.
Earlier this year, 15-month-old Madison Dodson was found dead on the floor of a filthy Point Marion home. Her feeding tube was improperly installed.
Fayette County Commissioner Vince Zapotosky told KDKA-TV’s Trina Orlando by phone: “We are fighting a battle. Two deaths in less than a year is a crisis and we are reaching out to the state as well as the federal government for help.”
Video Link: http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6261269
The help is needed because decreased allocations from the state and federal government have resulted in a nearly $800,000 cut in funding this year for the department of Children and Youth Services.
That is despite an increase in the number of cases CYS is dealing with. In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, the agency was asked to investigate 1,021 households.
In 2010-2011, that number jumped to 1,204 households.
The number of households needing CYS services went from 361 in 2006-2007 to 392 in 2010-11.
“Right now, we’re holding our own and we’re doing what we need to do,” Gina D’Auria, a casework manager for Fayette County CYS, said.
“But what you will see down the road is we will be requesting additional funding from the county level in the hopes that they’ll be able to fill in what we’re losing from the state and federal.”
Video Link: http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6260546
D’Auria said she can’t talk about specific cases, but says right now she has 20 caseworkers dealing with more than 900 open cases in the county.
“They’re all here for the right reasons, they believe in what they’re doing and they’re here because they want to work with families and keep children safe,” she said. “I can’t praise my staff enough.”
CYS says the biggest misconception about their department is that they’re not doing anything. Confidentiality laws keep them from telling the public about the many things that are happening.
Source http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/09/16/fatal-child-abuse-cases-spark-outrage-in-fayette-county/
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.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
DHS pays $3.4 million in child death, neglect cases
Kelsey Smith-Briggs, 2, died in Meeker in October 2005 from broken bones and other injuries. DHS settled the case for $525,000, with insurance paying $375,000 and the agency paying the rest. Courtesy
By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer
Published: 9/17/2011 3:08 PM
Last Modified: 9/17/2011 3:08 PM
More than $3.4 million in civil lawsuits settlements for child deaths and neglect have been made since 2005 with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, according to records obtained by the Tulsa World.
The 24 payouts range from $15,000 to settle civil rights violations of parents after DHS placed their children into emergency custody to a $700,000 payout in the death of a toddler at a Tulsa child-care home, records show.
Of the settlements, DHS paid about $1.4 million from its budget while insurance entities paid about $2 million. The agency has a self-insured liability fund with AIG/Chartis and the Department of Central Services Risk Management Division.
“The fiscal cost of failures in the child welfare system pales in comparison to the cost Oklahoma’s most vulnerable children paid as a result of those failures,” stated House Speaker Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, in an e-mail to the World.
“Facts and figures like these clearly indicate a need to pursue serious policy changes at DHS. The status quo at DHS must improve and the Legislature is committed to seeing that it does.”
Oklahoma ranks fifth in the nation in the rate of child abuse and neglect deaths, with 3.4 deaths of children per 100,000, according to the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Death. This is a slight improvement from 2001, when the state ranked third in the country with a rate of 3.7.
DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell said lawsuit settlements are approved based on the type of case. She said the litigation is used to change policy and practices.
“They work closely with the relevant agency divisions to propose statutory or policy changes or training requirements as necessary,” Powell stated in an e-mail.
Source http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20110917_298_0_Moreth863560
By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer
Published: 9/17/2011 3:08 PM
Last Modified: 9/17/2011 3:08 PM
More than $3.4 million in civil lawsuits settlements for child deaths and neglect have been made since 2005 with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, according to records obtained by the Tulsa World.
The 24 payouts range from $15,000 to settle civil rights violations of parents after DHS placed their children into emergency custody to a $700,000 payout in the death of a toddler at a Tulsa child-care home, records show.
Of the settlements, DHS paid about $1.4 million from its budget while insurance entities paid about $2 million. The agency has a self-insured liability fund with AIG/Chartis and the Department of Central Services Risk Management Division.
“The fiscal cost of failures in the child welfare system pales in comparison to the cost Oklahoma’s most vulnerable children paid as a result of those failures,” stated House Speaker Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, in an e-mail to the World.
“Facts and figures like these clearly indicate a need to pursue serious policy changes at DHS. The status quo at DHS must improve and the Legislature is committed to seeing that it does.”
Oklahoma ranks fifth in the nation in the rate of child abuse and neglect deaths, with 3.4 deaths of children per 100,000, according to the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Death. This is a slight improvement from 2001, when the state ranked third in the country with a rate of 3.7.
DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell said lawsuit settlements are approved based on the type of case. She said the litigation is used to change policy and practices.
“They work closely with the relevant agency divisions to propose statutory or policy changes or training requirements as necessary,” Powell stated in an e-mail.
Source http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20110917_298_0_Moreth863560
Fla. court says 1 spank isn't domestic violence
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A single spank doesn't qualify as domestic violence, an appellate court ruled Friday.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal unanimously reversed an injunction for protection against domestic violence.
It cited common law and a 2002 Florida Supreme Court ruling that says reasonable or non-excessive corporal punishment can be used as a defense against child abuse charges.
Circuit Judge Karen Gievers of Tallahassee had issued the injunction against a father identified in the ruling only as "G.C."
He had been accused by his former wife of spanking their 14-year-old daughter once on the buttocks with his hand.
The father said the teen had been disrespectful and defiant. The girl said she was only being sarcastic.
"We hold that under established Florida law this single spank constituted reasonable and non-excessive parental corporal discipline and, as a matter of law, was not domestic violence," the appeal judges wrote in an unsigned opinion.
That's even though the domestic violence law doesn't explicitly say so.
The judges, though, wrote "neither does it exclude the common law defense" that parents can administer reasonable and non-excessive corporal punishment.
Source http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/16/2410229/fla-court-says-1-spank-isnt-domestic.html
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal unanimously reversed an injunction for protection against domestic violence.
It cited common law and a 2002 Florida Supreme Court ruling that says reasonable or non-excessive corporal punishment can be used as a defense against child abuse charges.
Circuit Judge Karen Gievers of Tallahassee had issued the injunction against a father identified in the ruling only as "G.C."
He had been accused by his former wife of spanking their 14-year-old daughter once on the buttocks with his hand.
The father said the teen had been disrespectful and defiant. The girl said she was only being sarcastic.
"We hold that under established Florida law this single spank constituted reasonable and non-excessive parental corporal discipline and, as a matter of law, was not domestic violence," the appeal judges wrote in an unsigned opinion.
That's even though the domestic violence law doesn't explicitly say so.
The judges, though, wrote "neither does it exclude the common law defense" that parents can administer reasonable and non-excessive corporal punishment.
Source http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/16/2410229/fla-court-says-1-spank-isnt-domestic.html
Suit Filed Over Wrongful Child Abuse Allegation
By John Sullivan
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 09/16/11
Goshen — A local couple wrongly accused of sexually abusing their child are taking the unusual step of drawing attention to themselves and their legal fight against the questioning of their daughter by Orange County Child Protective Service investigators.
Marie Condoluci and her husband, Steven Phillips, claim that CPS caseworkers had no good reason to question their daughter, then a student at Scotchtown Avenue Elementary School, without their permission in 2010. The investigation, which did not result in charges, stemmed from hearsay allegations that the child's father sexually abused her.
Condoluci and Phillips struggled with anxiety, isolation, and even physical revulsion after the investigation, Condoluci said.
Condoluci, who is a lawyer, filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. Southern District Court in White Plains. Parties named include the county and the Goshen School District. She says that CPS and the school district failed to vet the allegations against the couple before taking their child aside and asking her questions such as "whether Mommy or Daddy ever fight," whether they ever "touched her down there," and who sleeps with her.
Condoluci initially declined to identify herself, her husband or their daughter for fear of the impact on their child. The couple have since removed their daughter, now 7, from the school and taken their fight public. "I thought it's the only way to clear our names," she said.
The lawsuit raises a rare challenge to the practice of hastily conducting child abuse investigations, often on the basis of an anonymous tip to the state's child-abuse hotline.
In Condoluci's case, officials failed to question the fact that the call to the state hot line came from a pastor reporting hearsay about her family from a third-party source, Condoluci said. Condoluci allowed that reasonable cause, such as visible bruises or telling statements by a child, might justify an unfettered CPS investigation. But "that's different from somebody calling and saying I heard from someone else that there were concerns of abuse," she said. Defense lawyers in the case argue that their clients were just following state law. "The law was not violated," said Lewis Silverman, the Manhattan lawyer representing the school district.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110916/NEWS/109160361
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 09/16/11
Goshen — A local couple wrongly accused of sexually abusing their child are taking the unusual step of drawing attention to themselves and their legal fight against the questioning of their daughter by Orange County Child Protective Service investigators.
Marie Condoluci and her husband, Steven Phillips, claim that CPS caseworkers had no good reason to question their daughter, then a student at Scotchtown Avenue Elementary School, without their permission in 2010. The investigation, which did not result in charges, stemmed from hearsay allegations that the child's father sexually abused her.
Condoluci and Phillips struggled with anxiety, isolation, and even physical revulsion after the investigation, Condoluci said.
Condoluci, who is a lawyer, filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. Southern District Court in White Plains. Parties named include the county and the Goshen School District. She says that CPS and the school district failed to vet the allegations against the couple before taking their child aside and asking her questions such as "whether Mommy or Daddy ever fight," whether they ever "touched her down there," and who sleeps with her.
Condoluci initially declined to identify herself, her husband or their daughter for fear of the impact on their child. The couple have since removed their daughter, now 7, from the school and taken their fight public. "I thought it's the only way to clear our names," she said.
The lawsuit raises a rare challenge to the practice of hastily conducting child abuse investigations, often on the basis of an anonymous tip to the state's child-abuse hotline.
In Condoluci's case, officials failed to question the fact that the call to the state hot line came from a pastor reporting hearsay about her family from a third-party source, Condoluci said. Condoluci allowed that reasonable cause, such as visible bruises or telling statements by a child, might justify an unfettered CPS investigation. But "that's different from somebody calling and saying I heard from someone else that there were concerns of abuse," she said. Defense lawyers in the case argue that their clients were just following state law. "The law was not violated," said Lewis Silverman, the Manhattan lawyer representing the school district.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110916/NEWS/109160361
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