How not to help families, Schoharie style

*NOTE* From Jessica

The reporter had our story partial mixed with someone else's. There were never allegations that my husband caused a bruise on our daughter's face. The allegations were that we got in a physical altercation in front of our daughter which was why the neglect petition was filed

How not to help families, Schoharie style
Thursday, July 22, 2010
By Carl Strock (Contact)
Gazette Reporter


I bring you an update from Schoharie County and its singular Department of Social Services, whose mission seems to be to make life as difficult as possible for the people it gets in its clutches.

Example: the couple I wrote about last year using the pseudonyms Greg and Nicole to protect their privacy.

Greg is a construction worker in his late 20s; Nicole, his wife, is a licensed practical nurse in her early 20s.

I won't review their entire history for you — that would be too depressing. Suffice it that after three years of their being jerked around, during which their children were removed from their home and they were allowed to see them only once a week under supervision, the court order against Greg was about to expire.

This order, among other things, forbade him to drink any alcohol under any circumstances and also gave the Department of Social Services the authority to require alcohol testing of him at any time, besides the usual authority to monitor and supervise his life.

The circumstances that led to this situation were not grave enough to warrant such action as the Department of Social Services took and that Schoharie County Family Court for a long time authorized, in my view.

But what happened on March 18 of this year was that Greg took another urine test as required, and it came back positive for alcohol. On that basis the Department of Social Services asked Family Court to declare him in violation of the court's order and also to extend the order against him for another year, thus keeping him under the department's thumb, subject to all its intrusions.

Very good, you say, except for two things: Greg swore up and down he had not been drinking, and by now, having been able to live together again, the couple had managed to save some money and they were prepared to fight.

They hired their own lawyer, Russell Langwig of Schoharie, and they set about researching the chemical tests that Greg had been administered. And what do you suppose they came up with?

They came up with perhaps the country's leading expert on these particular tests, Dr. Gregory E. Skipper of Alabama, who introduced them to the United States, and he provided a letter saying the tests had been wrongly used in Greg's case, that the results "by themselves do not prove drinking," and "should not be utilized as proof of drinking."

Greg's lawyer submitted this letter to the court along with a motion to dismiss the action against Greg, and of course a copy also went to the Department of Social Services.

Now, wouldn't you suppose there would be some red faces around Family Court and around the Social Services office next door? Wouldn't you suppose some caseworker would apologize and let Greg resume the normal life he has been trying to lead with his wife and children these past couple of years?

Well, if you did you would be mistaken.

The parties were back in court the other day — I was there too, listening — and there were no apologies and there was no backtracking.

Greg's lawyer had earlier demanded that the urine sample be retested, and not even that was possible, since it turned out the lab in Michigan that did the testing threw out the sample two weeks later.

Judge George R. Bartlett III agreed it was a "reasonable request" that the lab retain samples for the two years required by federal regulations, and the county's lawyer agreed to take that up with the lab, but as for the results being unreliable, nothing was said, nothing was decided.

Greg and Nicole are determined to fight. "We're going to take all our savings and pay for this," Greg told me. "I know for a fact I didn't drink. That test is bogus. I'm not going to let them steamroll me."

Good for him, I say.

But here is something to contemplate:

A few years ago, Greg and Nicole did have some trouble, during which he was he was twice accused of domestic violence, though in one instance no criminal charges were filed and in the second instance the charges were dismissed.

He was also accused of causing a bruise on the face of their first child, which he denied.

Since then they have lived together, or attempted to live together, without problems and have had another child together.

During that time, they say, caseworkers from the Department of Social Services have not been their friends and supporters but rather their adversaries, looking for every little reason to break them up and take their children away from them.

Even now, when they finally have their children back and are able to live together in the home that they own in Cobleskill, the Department of Social Services seems bent on harassing them.

The department could take credit, if it chose to, for a success. It could say, well, those people had problems, but after we intervened they got straightened out, so good for us. Or it could just take pleasure in two people making a decent life for themselves with their children.

But no. They look for any little reason to bust on them, even now insisting on the consequences of that discredited alcohol test.

I have a couple of theories to account for this sort of behavior. One is the bread-and-butter theory, which is that people like Greg and Nicole, who have had some minor difficulties and who can be sent jumping through multiple hoops, are simply the bread and butter of the Department of Social Services. It's how the people there make their living. If they gave all such couples a pat on the back and sent them on their way, there would be a diminished need for their services, and some of them would find themselves out of work. Mildly troubled families that can be strung along indefinitely are a source of employment.

My other theory is the bully-boy theory, according to which some people simply like to exercise power over others. There is hardly anyone easier to exercise power over than the poor and uneducated, and there is hardly anyone in a better position to do it than those invested with governmental authority.

Put the two together and you have a perfect picture: Low-class families vs. a county agency that is backed up by Family Court and ultimately by the police, if need be.

Alas, Greg and Nicole do not fit the profile quite well enough. Yes, Greg recently got laid off from his construction job, which he says was because he was missing too much time in order to keep court appointments, but basically they are both working people, and they are able to hire their own lawyer, pay an expert witness (Dr. Skipper) and also pay an independent professional to evaluate Greg for alcohol dependence (negative).

They are not just rolling over, and they are not just flailing in desperation, as many people in similar situations do.

So I'm waiting to see how this one turns out, but I am not hopeful there will be any fundamental change in how the Schoharie County Department of Social Services operates. Not based on what I've seen so far.