We don't know what our readers think but we believe that as badly as social workers, CPS and DHHS have proven that they can mess up children and children's lives, maybe it is better if they don't dabble in families as noted in this article.
We fear that this porgram is just one more addition to the many in a social workers' arsenal of weapons to interact with families and children to build more cases to remove children from their homes, thus destroying more families.
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Article Date: 06 Sep 2011 - 0:00 PDT
Child welfare professionals know that children are safer and healthier when the adults in their lives have healthy relationships, but most social workers are not trained to educate couples about strong relationships and marriages. Researchers at the University of Missouri are working to train child welfare professionals and future social workers to help individuals and families strengthen their relationships.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education Training (HRMET), is a five-year project facilitated by MU Extension and David Schramm, assistant professor of human development and family studies and state extension specialist in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences. The purpose of the project is to develop training programs that give child welfare workers basic tools to foster positive relationships. The ultimate goal is to improve the stability and well-being of children by helping their parents and caregivers form and maintain strong couple and marital relationships.
"Many parents face multiple stressors that can weaken their couple relationships and spill over into parent-child relationships," Schramm said. "If social workers can teach parents to be more kind, understanding and respectful in their couple relationships, the result will be safer, happier environments for children."
HRMET's curriculum is two-pronged: a graduate-level course for social work students at MU and online and one-day training sessions for child welfare professionals. Both courses give current and future social workers simple tools to help parents choose partners, manage conflict and remain committed in their relationships.
"Most social work graduate programs focus on helping children, so the subject of healthy relationships for parents tends to be left out," Schramm said. "This project is exciting because the fields of human development and family studies and social work are merging for the first time to create better tools for child welfare professionals."
The graduate course is being taught for the second time this fall; six workshops were offered in the summer for social work professionals. More than 200 social workers throughout the state have received training and the feedback indicates that it is meeting a need within the profession.
"I learned a great deal about communication within couples, different communication styles and how to teach partners to communicate positively," said a HRMET participant. "As a child welfare worker, I can now identify problems within clients' relationships, explain to couples how their relationships affect their children, and offer them tools to help open the lines of communication."
The project, which started in 2008, is wrapping up its third year of research and curricula development. Project leaders, including faculty from universities around the U.S., hope to expand the program nationally.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/233854.php
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.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Caught in the middle of Rice County child protection case
Posted at 3:34 PM on September 6, 2011 by Bob Collins
A heartbreaking case in Rice County is a compelling example of how a child can get caught in a tug-of-war in the child protection system in Minnesota.
Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that a juvenile court and the county coerced parents of a child apparently in need of mental health treatment to admit that the need for intervention "are (is) due to deficiencies in their parenting."
The story starts in November 2010 when the teenager ran away from home. Police brought him home but the police officer thought he'd be at risk there, so he was placed on a 72-hour emergency "hold." Rice County, through a social worker, petitioned the juvenile court to determine that he was a child in need of protection or services (CHIPS).
At a hearing last winter, a juvenile court judge told the parents, "If you want to admit that your son has special care needs and you're unable to provide those, that is not saying that you're not a good parent. That's saying (the child) has special care need and you're not ... the Mayo Clinic and you're not a psychiatrist ..."
"I am a damn good mother," the woman insisted.
The parents admitted to the petition for services, believing their son would be placed at Gerard Academy, a residential treatment facility, at county expense. Instead, their child was put in foster care. The county, according to the Appeals Court, then claimed the placement "was necessary to keep him safe from his parents."
The parents tried to withdraw their petition, but a court refused.
In a decision today, Appeals Court Judge Terri J. Stoneburner suggested the county was threatening to withhold any services unless the parents admitted to the petition, writing that "a threat to act in a manner that is not in a child's best interests constitutes a manifest injustice" in ordering the decision overturned.
In a dissent, however, Appeals Court Judge Heidi S. Schellhas said the father of the child had been charged with physical abuse and that the parents had previously told Rice County "they did not want him back in their home." And that the teen didn't want to return home after running away because he was afraid of punishment.
She said the juvenile court was clear that the parents would not be able to dictate the services their child would get once they signed the paperwork, and that the parents were free to place their child in a treatment program of their choice at their own expense instead.
"The district court considered all of the parents' argument in connection with their motions to withdraw their admission, and, in my opinion, properly rejected their arguments and denied their motions," she said.
The case settles who won the right to withdraw the petition for services. What it doesn't clear up is what happens to the teenager caught in the middle. I've placed calls to his public defender for clarification.
Click Here To Read The Opinion
Source http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2011/09/caught_in_the_middle_of_rice_c.shtml
A heartbreaking case in Rice County is a compelling example of how a child can get caught in a tug-of-war in the child protection system in Minnesota.
Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that a juvenile court and the county coerced parents of a child apparently in need of mental health treatment to admit that the need for intervention "are (is) due to deficiencies in their parenting."
The story starts in November 2010 when the teenager ran away from home. Police brought him home but the police officer thought he'd be at risk there, so he was placed on a 72-hour emergency "hold." Rice County, through a social worker, petitioned the juvenile court to determine that he was a child in need of protection or services (CHIPS).
At a hearing last winter, a juvenile court judge told the parents, "If you want to admit that your son has special care needs and you're unable to provide those, that is not saying that you're not a good parent. That's saying (the child) has special care need and you're not ... the Mayo Clinic and you're not a psychiatrist ..."
"I am a damn good mother," the woman insisted.
The parents admitted to the petition for services, believing their son would be placed at Gerard Academy, a residential treatment facility, at county expense. Instead, their child was put in foster care. The county, according to the Appeals Court, then claimed the placement "was necessary to keep him safe from his parents."
The parents tried to withdraw their petition, but a court refused.
In a decision today, Appeals Court Judge Terri J. Stoneburner suggested the county was threatening to withhold any services unless the parents admitted to the petition, writing that "a threat to act in a manner that is not in a child's best interests constitutes a manifest injustice" in ordering the decision overturned.
In a dissent, however, Appeals Court Judge Heidi S. Schellhas said the father of the child had been charged with physical abuse and that the parents had previously told Rice County "they did not want him back in their home." And that the teen didn't want to return home after running away because he was afraid of punishment.
She said the juvenile court was clear that the parents would not be able to dictate the services their child would get once they signed the paperwork, and that the parents were free to place their child in a treatment program of their choice at their own expense instead.
"The district court considered all of the parents' argument in connection with their motions to withdraw their admission, and, in my opinion, properly rejected their arguments and denied their motions," she said.
The case settles who won the right to withdraw the petition for services. What it doesn't clear up is what happens to the teenager caught in the middle. I've placed calls to his public defender for clarification.
Click Here To Read The Opinion
Source http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2011/09/caught_in_the_middle_of_rice_c.shtml
Forensic pathologist: Nathaniel Craver's injuries could not be self-inflicted
"Traumatic brain injury" and "failure to thrive" caused Russian boy's death
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Posted: 09/07/2011 09:29:04 AM EDT
A close-up photograph of 7-year-old Nathaniel Craver's face as he lay on an autopsy table showed his swollen head.
How extensive that swelling was became apparent when his head was compared to the frailness of his neck.
Dr. Wayne Ross, a forensic pathologist who has performed more than 9,000 autopsies and post-mortem exams, could not keep the astonishment out of his voice as he described the dead boy to the jury.
"His head, virtually his entire head, was swollen up like a balloon," he said. "And I don't mean just a little bit of swelling. The entire skull and head looked like a watermelon. Like an alien."
Ross, who conducts many York County autopsies for suspicious deaths, was testifying on the second day of trial for Michael and Nanette Craver, the Carroll Township couple accused of killing Nathaniel, their adopted Russian son.
Nathaniel died on Aug. 25, 2009 at Hershey Medical Center, five days after Michael Craver, 46, rushed him to the hospital.
Ross was on the witness stand for more than four hours, testifying about the boy's injuries and giving his expert opinion how they occurred. He said Nathaniel died from "complications of a traumatic brain injury" and "severe failure to thrive."
He said he was told before autopsy that Nathaniel's parents said he had a history of injuring himself.
Michael and Nanette Craver, 55, have maintained the boy struck his head on a wood stove in their home. They told police, doctors and child abuse investigators Nathaniel seemed all right except for a mark on his head. They put an ice pack on the mark and put him to bed about 45 minutes later. In they morning, they said, they could not rouse him.
Ross told the jury he began his examination from that aspect.
He said, during his examination, he turned to the police officer observing the autopsy and told him the boy's death "needed to be pursued from the aspect of abuse caused by another person."
Ross said he found evidence of injury to the right side of the boy's brain, a subdural hematoma, from an impact "of hundreds of Gs of force," inflicted about two weeks before he was brought to the hospital in a coma.
Ross said the swelling of the boy's head was the result of "multiple impacts."
Relying on photographs taken of Nathaniel during the summer of 2009, including one of a healthy, well-toned shirtless boy, Ross concluded that six weeks before his death the boy suffered repeated impacts to his head, pulled legs and arms, blunt force trauma to the chest, possibly was bound and was starved.
The doctor also found evidence of a skull fracture on the right side of the head, a healing broken rib, compression spinal injuries, and high enzyme levels confirming liver and heart damage.
The child otherwise was covered with small bruises and abrasions on his chest and back. In a picture of the dead child laying on his back, every rib could easily be counted.
Ross said Nathaniel's swollen brain at autopsy "was a mess."
"It was soft as anything," he said. "It was purple and it was dead. Flat and mushy and just horrible."
On cross-examination, defense attorneys pushed Ross with alternative theories for the injuries, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, self-abuse, genetic disorders and diseases. Ross conceded such theories could account for injuries in some cases but "not in this case."
He said he specifically looked for and did not find evidence of alcohol fetal syndrome in Nathaniel's brain.
When York County Office of Children, Youth and Families placed Nathaniel and his twin sister, Elizabeth, in her foster care at age 5, "They asked me to watch them to see if they injured themselves in any way," foster mother Lori Ferree said.
She testified neither child did while in her care for about two weeks.
Ferree said Nathaniel was an active boy who loved to play but seemed confused about being allowed to play in the dirt and get dirty. She said when she would take the children for supervised visits with the parents, the children would return in more "formal" clothes.
She said Nanette Craver chided her one time for dressing Elizabeth in the wrong shoes for her outfit."
Catholic Charities parent educator Lisa Blake testified that Michael Craver railed against Children, Youth and Families' "interference" in the family's lives.
She said during one meeting with him, he was so verbally abusive, she was happy to cut the session short.
Andrew Blochichak, a family physician and Nanette Craver's brother-in-law, testified he did not see Michael and Nathaniel Craver at any family gatherings the summer of 2009. He said he did see Nanette and Elizabeth. His testimony implied Nathaniel was being kept from sight.
He said he asked Nanette why Nathaniel was not at a July 4th party and a later wedding.
"Nanette said, 'Nathaniel is a handful,' and she didn't want to bring him," he said.
Source http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18841999?source=most_viewed
Jury hears details of adopted Russian boy's serious injuries
The Carroll Township couple, which adopted twins, have remained in prison.
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Posted: 09/06/2011 08:56:57 AM EDT
After Michael Craver rushed his unresponsive 7-year-old son to Holy Spirit Hospital, the first doctor to examine him noticed an unstitched, healing wound on the back of the boy's head.
Beside the boy's frighteningly swollen face, mottled bluish skin, fixed pupils, raspy respiration and deep coma, the doctor wondered about the untreated head wound.
Dr. Nicholas J.T. Baran said Craver told him, "These injuries kind of happen all of the time."
Craver later said, "... it's amazing what you get used to," a York County Child abuse investigator said.
Nathaniel Craver, Michael and Nanette Craver's adopted Russian son, died at Hershey Medical Center on Aug, 25, 2009, five days after he was first taken to the hospital.
Tuesday
(SUBMITTED)in opening statements in the York County Judicial Center, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker said the Cravers were charged with the boy's murder for both inflicting the injuries and denying him their parental duty to care for and protect him. Both parents are charged with criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of a child and conspiracy.
Barker told the jury of Nathaniel's uncountable injuries spread "head to toe" over his body. He said there was evidence of repeated physical abuse, "pattern" injuries and binding.
He focused specifically on the boy's swollen face and his underlying head injuries. Barker said he was told people cried when they saw Nathaniel in the hospital and that some described his appearance as "a little monster."
He said the Cravers' contention that the boy's physical and emotional disorders - fetal alcohol syndrome and reactive detachment disorder - and allegations of injuring himself resulted in his death.
"The defendants have used Nathaniel's background .... to cover what was really going on," he said. "There is only one conclusion. he did not self-abuse himself to death."
First Assistant Public Defender Clasina Mahoney argued that is exactly what happened. She said the Cravers "did not sit back and watch it happen, as the commonwealth would have you believe. They desperately searched for help."
They sought answers from doctors and hospitals throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, including Hershey Medical Center and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, she said.
She said therapy at a Lancaster facility, where Michael Craver batted balloons with his son and acted like a princess with his daughter, Nathaniel's twin sister, helped the girl who had similar problems, but not Nathaniel.
The first day of testimony focused on Nathaniel's appearance when he entered the hospital. His parents said he had hit his head on a wood stove in their Carroll Township home.
An emergency room nurse at Holy Spirit Hospital said the boy's head, "to me, felt like a wet sponge."
Baran testified Nathaniel registered the lowest possible score on a medical coma test. He also told the jury that a scan of the grotesquely swollen left side of the boy's face showed no subdural fresh bleeding and was the result of an older injury.
Dr. Mark Iantosca, a Hershey Medical Center neurosurgeon who removed part of Nathaniel's skull to relieve the swelling, said he found older blood under the boy's scalp and fresh blood pushing on his brain.
Iantosca also said the injury could have happened the way the Cravers' said it did.
"I think a 7-year-old child, throwing himself with a running start headfirst into a metal object would be sufficient to cause that injury," he said.
He added that the head injury could have been caused by "a closed fist, a blunt object or a car accident ...."
He also agreed with the defense that the child could have appeared uninjured and then suffered bleeding and swelling of the brain during the night.
The trial continues today and is expected to last through next week.
Parents' defense
On trial for murder, Michael and Nanette Craver maintain they never harmed their 7-year-old son, Nathaniel, but that the boy they adopted at 18 months old in Russia had physical and emotional problems that caused him to injure himself.
From the time Nathaniel was rushed to Holy Spirit Hospital on Aug. 20, 2009, to their arrests in February 2010 to the first day of their trial in the York County Judicial Center, they have consistently said the boy struck his head on a wood stove in the couple's Carroll Township home.
According to testimony, evidence and statements presented in court Tuesday during the first day of trial, the jury learned:
Nathaniel and his twin sister were born prematurely in a Russian prison to a mother with substance abuse problems;
Both children were diagnosed in the United States with fetal alcohol syndrome and reactive detachment disorder;
Nathaniel was hyperactive, mentally delayed and had a short attention span;
He pinched and bit himself, pulled his hair and eyebrows out and pulled the skin under his nose until it bled;
He had a high pain tolerance and appeared fearless;
He would bang his head and rock himself to sleep;
The Cravers were reported twice to York County Children, Youth and Families for apparent injuries on the children. The children were placed in foster care but no findings of abuse were substantiated;
After returning from foster care, Nathaniel was distant with his parents;
Nathaniel was distant with children but "touchy-feely" with adults, offering them hugs and kisses;
He would pull the family dog's fur;
He was abusive to his sister;
He frequently wet the bed.
Nathaniel's injuries
The jury also learned Nathaniel's injuries included:
A fresh hematoma, massive bleeding between the skull and the brain;
Older evidence of bleeding between the scalp and the skull;
A boxer's cauliflower ear on the left side of his head;
A ruptured right eardrum;
Evidence of binding;
Pattern bruising to the back and buttocks;
Emaciation and less than one millimeter of subcutaneous fat;
And "head-to-toe" marks, bruising, contusions and abrasions, according to at least two medical witnesses.
http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18834019
Click Here To Read More About This Case
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Posted: 09/07/2011 09:29:04 AM EDT
A close-up photograph of 7-year-old Nathaniel Craver's face as he lay on an autopsy table showed his swollen head.
How extensive that swelling was became apparent when his head was compared to the frailness of his neck.
Dr. Wayne Ross, a forensic pathologist who has performed more than 9,000 autopsies and post-mortem exams, could not keep the astonishment out of his voice as he described the dead boy to the jury.
"His head, virtually his entire head, was swollen up like a balloon," he said. "And I don't mean just a little bit of swelling. The entire skull and head looked like a watermelon. Like an alien."
Ross, who conducts many York County autopsies for suspicious deaths, was testifying on the second day of trial for Michael and Nanette Craver, the Carroll Township couple accused of killing Nathaniel, their adopted Russian son.
Nathaniel died on Aug. 25, 2009 at Hershey Medical Center, five days after Michael Craver, 46, rushed him to the hospital.
Ross was on the witness stand for more than four hours, testifying about the boy's injuries and giving his expert opinion how they occurred. He said Nathaniel died from "complications of a traumatic brain injury" and "severe failure to thrive."
He said he was told before autopsy that Nathaniel's parents said he had a history of injuring himself.
Michael and Nanette Craver, 55, have maintained the boy struck his head on a wood stove in their home. They told police, doctors and child abuse investigators Nathaniel seemed all right except for a mark on his head. They put an ice pack on the mark and put him to bed about 45 minutes later. In they morning, they said, they could not rouse him.
Ross told the jury he began his examination from that aspect.
He said, during his examination, he turned to the police officer observing the autopsy and told him the boy's death "needed to be pursued from the aspect of abuse caused by another person."
Ross said he found evidence of injury to the right side of the boy's brain, a subdural hematoma, from an impact "of hundreds of Gs of force," inflicted about two weeks before he was brought to the hospital in a coma.
Ross said the swelling of the boy's head was the result of "multiple impacts."
Relying on photographs taken of Nathaniel during the summer of 2009, including one of a healthy, well-toned shirtless boy, Ross concluded that six weeks before his death the boy suffered repeated impacts to his head, pulled legs and arms, blunt force trauma to the chest, possibly was bound and was starved.
The doctor also found evidence of a skull fracture on the right side of the head, a healing broken rib, compression spinal injuries, and high enzyme levels confirming liver and heart damage.
The child otherwise was covered with small bruises and abrasions on his chest and back. In a picture of the dead child laying on his back, every rib could easily be counted.
Ross said Nathaniel's swollen brain at autopsy "was a mess."
"It was soft as anything," he said. "It was purple and it was dead. Flat and mushy and just horrible."
On cross-examination, defense attorneys pushed Ross with alternative theories for the injuries, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, self-abuse, genetic disorders and diseases. Ross conceded such theories could account for injuries in some cases but "not in this case."
He said he specifically looked for and did not find evidence of alcohol fetal syndrome in Nathaniel's brain.
When York County Office of Children, Youth and Families placed Nathaniel and his twin sister, Elizabeth, in her foster care at age 5, "They asked me to watch them to see if they injured themselves in any way," foster mother Lori Ferree said.
She testified neither child did while in her care for about two weeks.
Ferree said Nathaniel was an active boy who loved to play but seemed confused about being allowed to play in the dirt and get dirty. She said when she would take the children for supervised visits with the parents, the children would return in more "formal" clothes.
She said Nanette Craver chided her one time for dressing Elizabeth in the wrong shoes for her outfit."
Catholic Charities parent educator Lisa Blake testified that Michael Craver railed against Children, Youth and Families' "interference" in the family's lives.
She said during one meeting with him, he was so verbally abusive, she was happy to cut the session short.
Andrew Blochichak, a family physician and Nanette Craver's brother-in-law, testified he did not see Michael and Nathaniel Craver at any family gatherings the summer of 2009. He said he did see Nanette and Elizabeth. His testimony implied Nathaniel was being kept from sight.
He said he asked Nanette why Nathaniel was not at a July 4th party and a later wedding.
"Nanette said, 'Nathaniel is a handful,' and she didn't want to bring him," he said.
Source http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18841999?source=most_viewed
Jury hears details of adopted Russian boy's serious injuries
The Carroll Township couple, which adopted twins, have remained in prison.
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Posted: 09/06/2011 08:56:57 AM EDT
After Michael Craver rushed his unresponsive 7-year-old son to Holy Spirit Hospital, the first doctor to examine him noticed an unstitched, healing wound on the back of the boy's head.
Beside the boy's frighteningly swollen face, mottled bluish skin, fixed pupils, raspy respiration and deep coma, the doctor wondered about the untreated head wound.
Dr. Nicholas J.T. Baran said Craver told him, "These injuries kind of happen all of the time."
Craver later said, "... it's amazing what you get used to," a York County Child abuse investigator said.
Nathaniel Craver, Michael and Nanette Craver's adopted Russian son, died at Hershey Medical Center on Aug, 25, 2009, five days after he was first taken to the hospital.
Tuesday
(SUBMITTED)in opening statements in the York County Judicial Center, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker said the Cravers were charged with the boy's murder for both inflicting the injuries and denying him their parental duty to care for and protect him. Both parents are charged with criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of a child and conspiracy.
Barker told the jury of Nathaniel's uncountable injuries spread "head to toe" over his body. He said there was evidence of repeated physical abuse, "pattern" injuries and binding.
He focused specifically on the boy's swollen face and his underlying head injuries. Barker said he was told people cried when they saw Nathaniel in the hospital and that some described his appearance as "a little monster."
He said the Cravers' contention that the boy's physical and emotional disorders - fetal alcohol syndrome and reactive detachment disorder - and allegations of injuring himself resulted in his death.
"The defendants have used Nathaniel's background .... to cover what was really going on," he said. "There is only one conclusion. he did not self-abuse himself to death."
First Assistant Public Defender Clasina Mahoney argued that is exactly what happened. She said the Cravers "did not sit back and watch it happen, as the commonwealth would have you believe. They desperately searched for help."
They sought answers from doctors and hospitals throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, including Hershey Medical Center and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, she said.
She said therapy at a Lancaster facility, where Michael Craver batted balloons with his son and acted like a princess with his daughter, Nathaniel's twin sister, helped the girl who had similar problems, but not Nathaniel.
The first day of testimony focused on Nathaniel's appearance when he entered the hospital. His parents said he had hit his head on a wood stove in their Carroll Township home.
An emergency room nurse at Holy Spirit Hospital said the boy's head, "to me, felt like a wet sponge."
Baran testified Nathaniel registered the lowest possible score on a medical coma test. He also told the jury that a scan of the grotesquely swollen left side of the boy's face showed no subdural fresh bleeding and was the result of an older injury.
Dr. Mark Iantosca, a Hershey Medical Center neurosurgeon who removed part of Nathaniel's skull to relieve the swelling, said he found older blood under the boy's scalp and fresh blood pushing on his brain.
Iantosca also said the injury could have happened the way the Cravers' said it did.
"I think a 7-year-old child, throwing himself with a running start headfirst into a metal object would be sufficient to cause that injury," he said.
He added that the head injury could have been caused by "a closed fist, a blunt object or a car accident ...."
He also agreed with the defense that the child could have appeared uninjured and then suffered bleeding and swelling of the brain during the night.
The trial continues today and is expected to last through next week.
Parents' defense
On trial for murder, Michael and Nanette Craver maintain they never harmed their 7-year-old son, Nathaniel, but that the boy they adopted at 18 months old in Russia had physical and emotional problems that caused him to injure himself.
From the time Nathaniel was rushed to Holy Spirit Hospital on Aug. 20, 2009, to their arrests in February 2010 to the first day of their trial in the York County Judicial Center, they have consistently said the boy struck his head on a wood stove in the couple's Carroll Township home.
According to testimony, evidence and statements presented in court Tuesday during the first day of trial, the jury learned:
Nathaniel and his twin sister were born prematurely in a Russian prison to a mother with substance abuse problems;
Both children were diagnosed in the United States with fetal alcohol syndrome and reactive detachment disorder;
Nathaniel was hyperactive, mentally delayed and had a short attention span;
He pinched and bit himself, pulled his hair and eyebrows out and pulled the skin under his nose until it bled;
He had a high pain tolerance and appeared fearless;
He would bang his head and rock himself to sleep;
The Cravers were reported twice to York County Children, Youth and Families for apparent injuries on the children. The children were placed in foster care but no findings of abuse were substantiated;
After returning from foster care, Nathaniel was distant with his parents;
Nathaniel was distant with children but "touchy-feely" with adults, offering them hugs and kisses;
He would pull the family dog's fur;
He was abusive to his sister;
He frequently wet the bed.
Nathaniel's injuries
The jury also learned Nathaniel's injuries included:
A fresh hematoma, massive bleeding between the skull and the brain;
Older evidence of bleeding between the scalp and the skull;
A boxer's cauliflower ear on the left side of his head;
A ruptured right eardrum;
Evidence of binding;
Pattern bruising to the back and buttocks;
Emaciation and less than one millimeter of subcutaneous fat;
And "head-to-toe" marks, bruising, contusions and abrasions, according to at least two medical witnesses.
http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18834019
Click Here To Read More About This Case
FTC Testifies on Children's Identity Theft
The Federal Trade Commission today told the House Committee on Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security that, "Protecting consumers th especially vulnerable consumers such as children th against identity theft and its consequences is a critical component of the Commission's consumer protection mission."
The Federal Trade Commission today told the House Committee on Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security that, “Protecting consumers – especially vulnerable consumers such as children – against identity theft and its consequences is a critical component of the Commission’s consumer protection mission.”
Delivering the Commission’s testimony at a field hearing in Plano, Texas, Deanya Kueckelhan, Director of the FTC’s Southwest Regional Office, told the committee that millions of consumers are victimized by identity thieves each year. She said that the cost and prevalence of identity theft have caused the FTC to devote significant resources to combating the problem, acting aggressively on three fronts: law enforcement, nationwide complaint management, and education.
The testimony details some of the FTC’s initiatives to combat identity theft. For example, since 2001, the Commission has brought 34 law enforcement actions against businesses that failed to take reasonable steps to protect sensitive consumer information that they maintained. In one such case, the FTC alleged that ChoicePoint, Inc., sold sensitive information, including Social Security numbers in some cases, about 160,000 consumers to data thieves posing as ChoicePoint clients. In many cases, the thieves used the information to commit identity theft.
In addition to law enforcement, the FTC collects, manages, and analyzes identity theft complaints in order to target its education efforts and assist criminal law enforcement authorities. The FTC manages the Identity Theft Clearinghouse, a secure online database of identity theft-related complaints, the testimony states. The Commission makes the Clearinghouse data available to over 2,000 American and Canadian federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who have signed confidentiality and data security agreements.
According to the testimony, the FTC and its partners have provided identity theft training to over 5,400 state and local law enforcement officers from over 1,770 agencies, and the agency also makes available a wide variety of consumer educational materials - including many in Spanish - to help consumers deter, detect and defend against identity theft.
The testimony noted that in conjunction with the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime, the Commission recently hosted Stolen Futures, a forum where educators, child advocates, legal services providers, and government and private sector participants explored issues associated with children’s identity theft.
The forum panelists noted that while identity thieves can access SSNs from children’s records in schools, doctors offices and other sources, sometimes family members who have fallen on hard economic times use the identities of their children. In addition, several panelists noted that sensitive health and other personal information of children in foster care is often circulated widely within the schools and social services networks, leaving foster children particularly vulnerable to identity theft, the testimony states.
The testimony cites one recent survey of children enrolled in an identity protection service that found that more than 10 percent had loans, property, utility and other accounts associated with their Social Security numbers. Another study estimated that more than 140,000 instances of identity fraud per year are perpetrated on children in the United States..
According to the testimony, children’s SSNs are uniquely valuable because they lack a credit history and can be paired with any name and birth date. “In effect, a child’s identity is a blank slate that can be used to obtain goods and services over a long time period because parents typically do not monitor their children’s credit, often having no reason to suspect any problem.”
Therefore, “child identity theft is especially pernicious because the theft may not be detected until the child becomes an adult and seeks employment, or applies for student and car loans,” the testimony notes.
The testimony identifies steps parents can take to minimize their children’s risk of being targeted by identity thieves, including challenging requests for SSNs and other personal information, and understanding how and by whom the information being collected is going to be used.
The testimony notes that based in part on the information gained through the Stolen Futures forum, the FTC is developing, with the assistance of the Department of Education, a “back to school” alert to educate parents about the importance of safeguarding their children’s sensitive information, which will be distributed widely through local and community organizations.
The Commission vote to approve the testimony was 5-0. Copies of the testimony can be found on the FTC’s Website and as a link to this release.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP ( 1-877-382-4357 ). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Claudia Bourne Farrell
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2181
STAFF CONTACT:
Steven Toporoff
Bureau of Consumer Protection
202-326-3135
The Federal Trade Commission today told the House Committee on Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security that, “Protecting consumers – especially vulnerable consumers such as children – against identity theft and its consequences is a critical component of the Commission’s consumer protection mission.”
Delivering the Commission’s testimony at a field hearing in Plano, Texas, Deanya Kueckelhan, Director of the FTC’s Southwest Regional Office, told the committee that millions of consumers are victimized by identity thieves each year. She said that the cost and prevalence of identity theft have caused the FTC to devote significant resources to combating the problem, acting aggressively on three fronts: law enforcement, nationwide complaint management, and education.
The testimony details some of the FTC’s initiatives to combat identity theft. For example, since 2001, the Commission has brought 34 law enforcement actions against businesses that failed to take reasonable steps to protect sensitive consumer information that they maintained. In one such case, the FTC alleged that ChoicePoint, Inc., sold sensitive information, including Social Security numbers in some cases, about 160,000 consumers to data thieves posing as ChoicePoint clients. In many cases, the thieves used the information to commit identity theft.
In addition to law enforcement, the FTC collects, manages, and analyzes identity theft complaints in order to target its education efforts and assist criminal law enforcement authorities. The FTC manages the Identity Theft Clearinghouse, a secure online database of identity theft-related complaints, the testimony states. The Commission makes the Clearinghouse data available to over 2,000 American and Canadian federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who have signed confidentiality and data security agreements.
According to the testimony, the FTC and its partners have provided identity theft training to over 5,400 state and local law enforcement officers from over 1,770 agencies, and the agency also makes available a wide variety of consumer educational materials - including many in Spanish - to help consumers deter, detect and defend against identity theft.
The testimony noted that in conjunction with the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime, the Commission recently hosted Stolen Futures, a forum where educators, child advocates, legal services providers, and government and private sector participants explored issues associated with children’s identity theft.
The forum panelists noted that while identity thieves can access SSNs from children’s records in schools, doctors offices and other sources, sometimes family members who have fallen on hard economic times use the identities of their children. In addition, several panelists noted that sensitive health and other personal information of children in foster care is often circulated widely within the schools and social services networks, leaving foster children particularly vulnerable to identity theft, the testimony states.
The testimony cites one recent survey of children enrolled in an identity protection service that found that more than 10 percent had loans, property, utility and other accounts associated with their Social Security numbers. Another study estimated that more than 140,000 instances of identity fraud per year are perpetrated on children in the United States..
According to the testimony, children’s SSNs are uniquely valuable because they lack a credit history and can be paired with any name and birth date. “In effect, a child’s identity is a blank slate that can be used to obtain goods and services over a long time period because parents typically do not monitor their children’s credit, often having no reason to suspect any problem.”
Therefore, “child identity theft is especially pernicious because the theft may not be detected until the child becomes an adult and seeks employment, or applies for student and car loans,” the testimony notes.
The testimony identifies steps parents can take to minimize their children’s risk of being targeted by identity thieves, including challenging requests for SSNs and other personal information, and understanding how and by whom the information being collected is going to be used.
The testimony notes that based in part on the information gained through the Stolen Futures forum, the FTC is developing, with the assistance of the Department of Education, a “back to school” alert to educate parents about the importance of safeguarding their children’s sensitive information, which will be distributed widely through local and community organizations.
The Commission vote to approve the testimony was 5-0. Copies of the testimony can be found on the FTC’s Website and as a link to this release.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP ( 1-877-382-4357 ). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Claudia Bourne Farrell
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2181
STAFF CONTACT:
Steven Toporoff
Bureau of Consumer Protection
202-326-3135
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