MAJORITY
Grievance Founded with Recommendations.
Committee Majority Findings:
The Redress of Grievances Committee heard testimony and reviewed documents supporting allegations of abuse by the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) toward the adoptive (foster care licensed) mother of a troubled child who (along with DCYF) understood might need expensive help in the future. The adoption was accompanied by DCYF assurances with the mother that such support would be forthcoming, if needed, from the agency. What the Committee finds is that when the child did indeed begin to show serious and expensive mental problems for which the normal sources of funding proved inadequate, and the only likely source of funding would be the federal government, a series of wrongful actions by DCYF took place including: 1. Repeatedly pressuring the Petitioner to surrender the child into the custody of the state by threats that if she did not do so she would be accused of abuse and neglect; 2. Misrepresenting to a probate court judge the legal definition of child neglect for the purpose of gaining state custody of the child; 3. Withholding even to this day hearings officer ordered documents to which the mother had a right in making her case; 4. Initiating contact with Petitioner’s place of employment to effectively terminate her employment; 5. Holding email conversations between employees looking for grounds to deny Petitioner her foster care license admitting they had none, and; 6. Withholding her license without cause, without notification, and by devious means and otherwise discriminatory treatment of a qualified foster care provider. The Committee also finds that the Petitioner’s written requests for review to the ombudsman and later to the Commissioner of HHS from months ago and longer remain unanswered.
Recommendations:
The Committee agrees that because of the injuries sustained by the mother to her reputation, her financial well being and her family relationship; and because the laws of the state on various levels have been abrogated, and may be so systemically as supported by previous petitions, an investigation into this case would be wise. The inability of the Redress of Grievances Committee to gain even the most general information from DCYF without resorting to the use of subpoena powers, coupled with the problems associated with the statutorily required provision of information in this case, unfortunately invites the question of the possibility that the Division is involved in activities it does not want to have reviewed. As in previous reports this Committee believes the time has come for a government oversight committee of the House so that questions like this can be quickly and effectively reviewed and that public trust in our agencies be maintained. Aside from that approach to oversight the Committee recommends legislation making any ombudsman’s office operate out of the Legislature and not the agencies themselves. Vote 9-2.
Rep. Robert Willette for the Majority of the Committee.
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