Skirting the system is risky with children

Skirting the system is risky with children
Staff Writer
Posted: 05/09/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

Children are a precious resource, and how we teach and cultivate them has a direct influence on the adults they become. Love and respect a child, and that child will grow to love and respect others.
State regulations telling us how to raise a child is not something most parents care to hear about. State regulations ensuring the safety of children placed in the homes of strangers for foster care is another matter.
The issue came to light when a Daily Times special report published May 3 revealed problems with lack of accountability surrounding a confessed child abuser and foster parent accused of nearly 100 sexual assault counts against children over the past decade.
Foster parents screened by state and local agencies tasked with such a mission undergo close reviews and constant checks before being allowed to help care for foster children placed in their care. Most of these foster parents are true heroes genuinely concerned and interested in the wellbeing of children.
Others, as we know, become predators despite all caution taken to prevent it.
The ongoing case involving Todd Mortensen and the charges against him in Farmington serves as an example of the risks involved when private adoptions or foster care occur outside of any established or respected regulatory entity. While citizens often balk at the thought of regulation, zero accountability can be worse.
Mortensen, facing charges of criminal sexual penetration against a foster daughter, continued his
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foster role after having more than 80 counts of sex-crime charges dropped in 2005 and despite not being licensed as a foster care worker with the state Children, Youth and Families Department since the early 1990s. He confessed April 1 to six counts of criminal sexual contact against a
12-year-old girl living in his home as a foster daughter. Two counts of criminal sexual penetration against the same girl were added to the list of charges April 5.
Sources claim that as many as 50 children were fostered in the Mortensen home over the years since the time Mortensen last was licensed and cleared to do so by the state. It is admirable to see families and private homes ready to help families who need it. It is deplorable when such a situation turns to abuse.
Whether with the church, with the state, with a local nonprofit agency specializing in children's care or with some type of credible sponsor; somehow, accountability must be assured when it comes to child care and foster homes.
Going without such oversight, guidance or assurance simply is too risky to allow for the sake of the children.

http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-opinion/ci_15048532