Identifying child abuse more difficult than meets the eye,

Identifying child abuse more difficult than meets the eye, officials say
By KRISTEN CATES • Tribune Staff Writer • December 6, 2009

Bernardi believes her daughter Seraphina fell through the cracks of the legal system, which was set up to protect children such as her.

"I feel it was pure neglect," she said.
But determining child abuse and neglect is much more difficult than it appears, officials say.
"It's so case by case," said Cory Costello, regional administrator of the Child and Family Services Division of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, known as DCFS. "The state of Montana recognizes the privacy of the parents and the right to parent their child. When we intervene in a family's life, it should be the least restrictive intervention."
The stated objective of the department is "keeping children safe and families strong."
In the case of Seraphina Bernardi, court documents indicate DCFS workers received five reports regarding Seraphina and Alicia Jo Hocter's newborn daughter, and the conditions in which they were living, prior to the Feb. 18 incident when Hocter slammed Seraphina against a crib two or three times..
On Dec. 28, 2008, Seraphina's father and Hocter filed a report against Bernardi after Seraphina was taken to the emergency room with bruises on her belly and blood in her stool, a few days after Bernardi had a supervised visit with the child. Police investigated and doctors couldn't determine the cause of Seraphina's injury. No charges were filed against Bernardi, and Seraphina's father was reminded by DCFS that it was his primary duty to keep his daughter safe.
Seraphina's father and Hocter were informed at that time that they needed to clean up their home, which was described as being up to "minimal standards," by DCFS staff.
It is DCFS policy not to comment about specific cases, but Costello told the Tribune that removing a child from the home and terminating parental rights is one of the last resorts for caseworkers.
"If we intervene, we work with the families," Costello said. "It's traumatic to children (to remove them from their home)."
She explained the process as follows:
(2 of 3)
When an allegation is made, it goes through a centralized call center — the child abuse hotline — and the call is reviewed. Those calls are categorized into three areas: child protective services (CPS), child protection information only (CPI) and request for child and family services (CFS).

A CPS call is the most serious report and is immediately given to a field agent. The priority level determines how quick a caseworker must respond. Priority three gives workers 10 days to respond. Priority two calls give caseworkers 72 hours to respond and a priority one call means caseworkers must respond within 24 hours.
An investigation is then initiated.
"It involves contacting the person who made the referral, collateral contacts, interviewing children, if possible, and interviewing parents," Costello said. "(Caseworkers) must determine: Are there facts to support there is abuse or neglect?"
Costello said caseworkers have a checklist of 15 safety factors, including the child's vulnerability and a parent's ability to properly protect their child.
"The caseworker then determines if the child can remain safely in the home," she said.
If not, the caseworker tries to contact a family member to care for the child in the hopes of returning the child to the home. The caseworker also starts working with the parents, which might mean giving simple reminders or having them attend parenting classes.
Costello said it's often neglect, not abuse, that causes the agency to remove a child from the home. Things such as dog feces in the home or unsafe items that are health hazards can be factors in such decisions.
If there are signs of what could be physical abuse, law enforcement is contacted, she said.
"Now it's criminal, not just civil," Costello said.
Even when law enforcement is contacted, there's not always an easy answer, said Great Falls Police Detective Doug Otto.
"We want to see what the injury is and the extent of the injury," he said. "We take photographs and talk to doctors. We take as much physical evidence as we can."
(3 of 3)
Sometimes, the police receive reports of abuse that supposedly happened some time ago, which makes things more difficult, Otto said. In those circumstances, police try to interview the child, depending on the child's age.

"We want to gather the information," he said. "If nothing else, it's documented."
Very rarely has Otto been involved in a child abuse case where a parent or guardian wasn't the person committing the offense.
"Most of them are from the home setting," he said.
Once a parent has completed some of the steps toward recovery and DCFS believes it is possible to return a child to the home, the agency does so. An individualized family plan — such as the one Bernardi completed with Quality Life Concepts — is made so that goals are established.
Costello said being a DCFS caseworker is tough. For every angry call she receives about why a child was removed from a home, she receives an equally angry phone call about why a child wasn't.
Caseworkers have laws and policies they must obey for a reason, she said.
"Every person's personal beliefs could become a deciding factor," she said. "And that's not fair to the families of Montana. We have to act within the confines of the law."
And just like some families, caseworkers can become frustrated with the results of their efforts.
"There are times that the outcome in a case is disappointing to us," Costello said. "And that can be for a lot of different reasons."
Next Page1| 2| 3Previous PageReach Tribune Staff Writer Kristen Cates at 791-1463 or kcates@greatfallstribune.com.
To read the rest of this article, please go to the link below.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20091206/NEWS01/912060305/1002