DCYF goal: permanent homes for foster children (As long as the homes aren't with relatives) There's more money to be made in non-relative placements!
By NANCY WEST
New Hampshire Sunday News
Sunday, Jun. 15, 2008
CONCORD – Gabriel and Luke and Christin and Nick and Gaston and Heather and Michael all have something in common this Father's Day: the kind of aching heart that most children who live with their parents and brothers and sisters never know.
They are seven of the youngsters known as New Hampshire's "waiting children," foster children who are eligible for adoption through the state Division of Children, Youth and Families. What they're waiting for are families to give them permanent, adoptive homes.
Most waiting children are older. Many have special needs.
The seven children mentioned are the current stars of the Heart Gallery Project, an exhibit of portraits of children in the New Hampshire foster care system, and some are in "Everyone Needs a Home," a slide show created by DCYF in hopes of finding adoptive families.
The number and identities of children featured in the Heart Gallery -- and on display at Jordan's Furniture in Nashua -- change as adoptions take place and new children become eligible for adoption.
Importance of family
Maggie Bishop, director of the Division for Children, Youth and Families, said the state becomes involved in families when a child-abuse or neglect complaint is filed. DCYF investigates about 7,000 complaints a year and between 9 and 11 percent warrant opening a case, Bishop said.
Even when abuse or neglect complaints are founded, Bishop said, keeping families together is a priority, with DCYF providing services aimed at keeping the child in the home. When it's determined children can't be safe at home, they enter the foster care system. But even then, Bishop said, the goal remains to correct the behavior that led to the abuse or neglect complaint and reunify the family.
For children who can never go home safely, state law requires the division to work quickly to reach agreements with parents or work through the courts to terminate parental rights and find the children permanent homes, Bishop said.
"We don't want children growing up in the child welfare system," she said. "They deserve to have families and commitment."
Finding parents
About 1,000 New Hampshire children are in foster placement at any given time. Most will go home, but about a quarter of them will be adopted, Bishop said. The average foster care stay is 2.4 years, but that is decreasing all the time, she added.
Currently there are 35 to 40 children at some stage of recruitment for adopted homes; some will appear in the Heart Gallery, Bishop said.
Bishop said the division has shifted staff and resources to help locate adoptive parents, create more partnerships in the community, and make adoptions easier.
DCYF now actively looks for family members,(Who is she trying to kid?) foster parents or other caregivers who might be interested in becoming adoptive parents. The state provides post-adoption services to help parents after the adoption is finalized and also provides subsidies for adopted children who need special services, as many do.
The efforts are paying off, Bishop said. Finalized adoptions from foster care have increased dramatically in a decade, from 45 in 1998 to 143 last year.
Raymond attorney Jorel Booker, a former DCYF social worker and longtime division watchdog, said he has noticed a dramatic shift under Bishop's leadership.
"It's a breath of fresh air. Members of the old guard are phasing out by attrition and more new people are coming in," Booker said.
Booker, who often represents parents who are fighting DCYF in court to retain their parental rights, said permanency planning when he was a social worker was often just an afterthought.
"Some workers feathered their own nests and left kids in-system for years and years and years, and let them age out," he said. "They are doing a better job now." But, he said, more reform is needed to cut down on state bureaucracy.
Types of adoptions
Bishop said there are different types of adoptions: the more common model in which birth parents have no contact with the child; and voluntary mediated adoptions in which birth parents meet with adoptive parents and a court-appointed mediator to work out a plan for contact with the child after the adoption.
Some of the latter may involve visits, while others may be limited to a letter and photo every year, based on what the mediator determines to be in the best interest of the child.
Bishop said DCYF is changing and she hopes its image changes, as well, so that someday people having trouble parenting will call the division to help prevent child abuse and neglect. While the division's job is to protect children, she said, the process of providing family services could be less adversarial.(Considerind services are NEVER provided before a child is stolen.)
"The key is to be open to better ways of doing things," she said. "The real experts are the parents and families themselves. They know what they need. We need to be open to what families need."
Past and future
The division has been criticized in the past for being too quick to remove children from their parents. It has also been criticized for acting too late, as in the case of Kassidy Bortner, a 21-month-old Rochester girl who was beaten to death by her mother's live-in boyfriend. At trial, the public learned that DCYF had been notified of alleged abuse more than a week before the girl died, on Nov. 9, 2000.(They still just take the child and run)
Chad Evans, the Rochester man convicted of repeatedly abusing and finally killing Kassidy was sentenced to 43 years to life in prison. Kassidy's mother, Amanda Bortner, was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of failing to protect her.
Lawmakers ultimately passed the Bortner Law, which requires DCYF to make public more information on abuse cases that result in death or near death.
Bishop said the division has made many changes over the years, including reducing caseloads for social workers.(By terminating every parents rights faster)
"All we want is for kids to be safe," she said. "If they are, we'll walk away."
(Is that why she asked me why my daughter isn't dead?) Walk away my a--!
© 2009, Union Leader http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=DCYF+goal%3A+permanent+homes+for+foster+children&articleId=b70dc72e-de5a-4fb1-92f3-b25d8af4e76b
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Birth Mother Frustrated Over State Adoption
Birth Mother Frustrated Over State Adoption
By Dan Gorenstein on Tuesday, August 19, 2008.
Two and a half years ago, the Division of Children Youth and Families offered a woman we’ll call Michelle a special opportunity.
The reason DCYF was even talking to her was that she was serving a 10-30 year sentence for manslaughter.
Up until 2006, in these kinds of cases, the state would typically termiate Michelle’s parental rights.
But under a new law, DCYF helped Michelle negotiate an adoption that allowed her to maintain contact with her two girls.
But Michelle says she was pushed into surrendering her rights and on top of that; the adoptive parents aren’t living up to their side of the agreement.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein reports.
In 2004, before her conviction, Michelle knew she might spend decades locked up.
So she asked DCYF to assume custody of her young daughters.
The two - both under 7 at the time- moved in with a foster family up north.
Even though she was in prison, Michelle got enough contact to feel involved.
28:32...I was seeing them once a month, and speaking with them once a week, and able to send cards and letters all the time. and that was a big thing that kept me going in here.
Staying in touch was really important to Michelle especially because her older girl had a variety of health problems, including autism.
28:32....I am so close to my girls, and I didn’t want to have to say bye to them. I didn’t want to say bye to my girls.
But Michelle had to say goodbye.
She got 10-30 years for manslaughter, after killing a friend in a car accident.
So the state decided the girls had to be put up for adoption.
But DCYF approached Michelle and asked her if she was interested in a new state program.
Instead of terminating her rights as a parent, she could do a mediated adoption and keep some contact with the girls.
She jumped at the chance.
7:37.... Even if I paid for it, I...thought that I was going to be able to keep my phone calls with them. I didn’t care. I wanted to be able to send them their gifts, cards, letters, for every holiday I send my kids something.
On March 3, 2006 Michelle traveled up to the Probate Court in Ossipee for the mediation with the likely adoptive parents.
But when she got there, she says they didn’t want to sit in the same room with her.
She says that set the tone.
24:20....I even commented one time, ‘this is ridiculous, why aren’t we sitting in the same room?’ I was wondering, ‘am I really that bad that they can’t sit in the same room with me?’
Julie Daniels, Michelle’s counselor from Child and Family Services says the morning went downhill from there.
26:02... as time went on and each thing she requested was rejected, or watered down...then she became more upset. And by the time we got to the end and she was given the list of things she was given, she was very disappointed...she was crying, visibly anxious, looking to her lawyer and to me as to ‘what should I do? Is this all I am going to get?’
Daniels says she and others encouraged Michelle to sign the mediated agreement.
But Michelle had deep misgivings.
Over the five months her daughters had lived with the couple; Michelle says she didn’t get any of the visits or phone calls she had been getting when they lived with the first foster family.
And now, after five hours of contentious, painful negotiations, Michelle wondered if she could trust these people to put the girls first.
T.125
6:04.... I think that if we were to work together to do what was best for these girls, and work as a team, than they would have a happier life, I think.
T.125
1:39 I didn’t want htem to feel as though they had to either love me or love them. I wanted them to know they could love both.
But in the end, she told herself, a little bit of something is better than nothing.
9:17... That’s why I did it. I didn’t want to lose contact with them. I didn’t want to have to wonder all the time how are they doing, are they happy, I didn’t want to have to live like that, always wondering.
28:30...at that point...she was upset, she wanted to be alone...
Counselor Julie Daniels.
...she went into a corner...to get some time alone....she said, ‘take me home. I want to go back.’
But Michelle was told she had one more piece of paper to sign.
She had to surrender her rights as a parent.
Michelle says if she didn’t, she was told the mediation would be off the table.
T.126
:08 I says, I can’t do this right now, I says, I can’t. we have to come back and do this. I need time to think. I can’t do this.
Michelle knew losing mediation meant losing any chance at all of staying connected to her girls.
The state had already scheduled a termination of parental rights case against her.
And considering that Michelle is serving a 10-30 year sentence, Michelle would lose the case.
DCYF Director Maggie Bishop says, to the best of her knowledge, no one ever issued any sort of ultimatum.
Bishop says, up until that day, the state had bent over backwards to accommodate Michelle.
She says her staff delayed a termination hearing multiple times.
T.542
1:22 to look back now and say, did we do everything she could, to make sure she had an opportunity, yes. B/c termination of parental rights was already going to happen. And so we stopped it to give her this...extension...to have some kind of contact.
But, as a rule, Bishop says there’s no place for hardball negotiating tactics when it comes to mediated adoptions.
T.542
6:35 what we are sanctioning is that in order for a mediated agreement to work and be successful, truly both parties have to be willing to agree. So the minute a hard tactic like that would kick in it no longer warrants being a mediated agreement.
Head of the Probate Court, Judge David King says no law prohibits birth parents from being asked to sign the mediation and- turn around and surrender their rights in mere minutes.
King 2
:23 it’s no different than any other case that works its way through the court system everyday in every courthouse in the state of New Hampshire.....the foundation of mediation is that it’s a voluntary process....parties can put whatever stipulations on the agreement they see fit, and the other side can agree with them or not.
While cutting deals may not be unusual, the state has taken steps to say a birth parent shouldn’t give up their rights too quickly.
The Family Court has instituted a protocol that gives birth-parents at least seven days to consider the agreement before they must surrender their rights.
Head of the Family Court Judge Ed Kelly says he could see putting that protocol into statute.
9:38 In fact it is already in law that no surrender can be taken until the passage of a minimum of 72 hours after the birth of a child. So obviously the Legislature has already recognized at the very early stages no birth parent should be making that decision very early on.
The court proceedings in this case are sealed because it involves minors.
Michelle’s attorney would no gon on record.
Barring a court order it’s probably impossible to ever know definitively whether a take it or leave it deal was offered to Michelle the day of her mediation.
Michelle signed the surrender.
But a judge conducted a process specifically designed to uncover any feelings of doubt or coercion.
Even if Michelle could prove that she was under duress when she surrendered her rights, judges say she has almost no chance of getting the adoption overturned.
But Michelle has another complaint.
She says the adoptive parents aren’t holding up their side of the agreement.
Here, she does have some recourse.
DCYF’s Maggie Bishop says her office is investigating the matter.
T.541
9:07 clearly the efficacy of these agreements have to be upheld. And with that said we have been working with Michelle, took her information and are looking into her concerns to assure that indeed the agreements are being followed. And if they are not we will assist Michelle and any parent to work through the process to make sure these agreements are enforced.
Bishop says mediated adoptions aren’t worth much if the parties don’t do what they’ve promised to do.
Just as important, Bishop says a birth parent deserves a chance to consider a mediated adoptions without fear of losing the option altogether.
She says she believes in the program, and that it’s helping families.
But she says that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
For NHPR News, I’m DG
http://www.nhpr.org/node/17125
By Dan Gorenstein on Tuesday, August 19, 2008.
Two and a half years ago, the Division of Children Youth and Families offered a woman we’ll call Michelle a special opportunity.
The reason DCYF was even talking to her was that she was serving a 10-30 year sentence for manslaughter.
Up until 2006, in these kinds of cases, the state would typically termiate Michelle’s parental rights.
But under a new law, DCYF helped Michelle negotiate an adoption that allowed her to maintain contact with her two girls.
But Michelle says she was pushed into surrendering her rights and on top of that; the adoptive parents aren’t living up to their side of the agreement.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein reports.
In 2004, before her conviction, Michelle knew she might spend decades locked up.
So she asked DCYF to assume custody of her young daughters.
The two - both under 7 at the time- moved in with a foster family up north.
Even though she was in prison, Michelle got enough contact to feel involved.
28:32...I was seeing them once a month, and speaking with them once a week, and able to send cards and letters all the time. and that was a big thing that kept me going in here.
Staying in touch was really important to Michelle especially because her older girl had a variety of health problems, including autism.
28:32....I am so close to my girls, and I didn’t want to have to say bye to them. I didn’t want to say bye to my girls.
But Michelle had to say goodbye.
She got 10-30 years for manslaughter, after killing a friend in a car accident.
So the state decided the girls had to be put up for adoption.
But DCYF approached Michelle and asked her if she was interested in a new state program.
Instead of terminating her rights as a parent, she could do a mediated adoption and keep some contact with the girls.
She jumped at the chance.
7:37.... Even if I paid for it, I...thought that I was going to be able to keep my phone calls with them. I didn’t care. I wanted to be able to send them their gifts, cards, letters, for every holiday I send my kids something.
On March 3, 2006 Michelle traveled up to the Probate Court in Ossipee for the mediation with the likely adoptive parents.
But when she got there, she says they didn’t want to sit in the same room with her.
She says that set the tone.
24:20....I even commented one time, ‘this is ridiculous, why aren’t we sitting in the same room?’ I was wondering, ‘am I really that bad that they can’t sit in the same room with me?’
Julie Daniels, Michelle’s counselor from Child and Family Services says the morning went downhill from there.
26:02... as time went on and each thing she requested was rejected, or watered down...then she became more upset. And by the time we got to the end and she was given the list of things she was given, she was very disappointed...she was crying, visibly anxious, looking to her lawyer and to me as to ‘what should I do? Is this all I am going to get?’
Daniels says she and others encouraged Michelle to sign the mediated agreement.
But Michelle had deep misgivings.
Over the five months her daughters had lived with the couple; Michelle says she didn’t get any of the visits or phone calls she had been getting when they lived with the first foster family.
And now, after five hours of contentious, painful negotiations, Michelle wondered if she could trust these people to put the girls first.
T.125
6:04.... I think that if we were to work together to do what was best for these girls, and work as a team, than they would have a happier life, I think.
T.125
1:39 I didn’t want htem to feel as though they had to either love me or love them. I wanted them to know they could love both.
But in the end, she told herself, a little bit of something is better than nothing.
9:17... That’s why I did it. I didn’t want to lose contact with them. I didn’t want to have to wonder all the time how are they doing, are they happy, I didn’t want to have to live like that, always wondering.
28:30...at that point...she was upset, she wanted to be alone...
Counselor Julie Daniels.
...she went into a corner...to get some time alone....she said, ‘take me home. I want to go back.’
But Michelle was told she had one more piece of paper to sign.
She had to surrender her rights as a parent.
Michelle says if she didn’t, she was told the mediation would be off the table.
T.126
:08 I says, I can’t do this right now, I says, I can’t. we have to come back and do this. I need time to think. I can’t do this.
Michelle knew losing mediation meant losing any chance at all of staying connected to her girls.
The state had already scheduled a termination of parental rights case against her.
And considering that Michelle is serving a 10-30 year sentence, Michelle would lose the case.
DCYF Director Maggie Bishop says, to the best of her knowledge, no one ever issued any sort of ultimatum.
Bishop says, up until that day, the state had bent over backwards to accommodate Michelle.
She says her staff delayed a termination hearing multiple times.
T.542
1:22 to look back now and say, did we do everything she could, to make sure she had an opportunity, yes. B/c termination of parental rights was already going to happen. And so we stopped it to give her this...extension...to have some kind of contact.
But, as a rule, Bishop says there’s no place for hardball negotiating tactics when it comes to mediated adoptions.
T.542
6:35 what we are sanctioning is that in order for a mediated agreement to work and be successful, truly both parties have to be willing to agree. So the minute a hard tactic like that would kick in it no longer warrants being a mediated agreement.
Head of the Probate Court, Judge David King says no law prohibits birth parents from being asked to sign the mediation and- turn around and surrender their rights in mere minutes.
King 2
:23 it’s no different than any other case that works its way through the court system everyday in every courthouse in the state of New Hampshire.....the foundation of mediation is that it’s a voluntary process....parties can put whatever stipulations on the agreement they see fit, and the other side can agree with them or not.
While cutting deals may not be unusual, the state has taken steps to say a birth parent shouldn’t give up their rights too quickly.
The Family Court has instituted a protocol that gives birth-parents at least seven days to consider the agreement before they must surrender their rights.
Head of the Family Court Judge Ed Kelly says he could see putting that protocol into statute.
9:38 In fact it is already in law that no surrender can be taken until the passage of a minimum of 72 hours after the birth of a child. So obviously the Legislature has already recognized at the very early stages no birth parent should be making that decision very early on.
The court proceedings in this case are sealed because it involves minors.
Michelle’s attorney would no gon on record.
Barring a court order it’s probably impossible to ever know definitively whether a take it or leave it deal was offered to Michelle the day of her mediation.
Michelle signed the surrender.
But a judge conducted a process specifically designed to uncover any feelings of doubt or coercion.
Even if Michelle could prove that she was under duress when she surrendered her rights, judges say she has almost no chance of getting the adoption overturned.
But Michelle has another complaint.
She says the adoptive parents aren’t holding up their side of the agreement.
Here, she does have some recourse.
DCYF’s Maggie Bishop says her office is investigating the matter.
T.541
9:07 clearly the efficacy of these agreements have to be upheld. And with that said we have been working with Michelle, took her information and are looking into her concerns to assure that indeed the agreements are being followed. And if they are not we will assist Michelle and any parent to work through the process to make sure these agreements are enforced.
Bishop says mediated adoptions aren’t worth much if the parties don’t do what they’ve promised to do.
Just as important, Bishop says a birth parent deserves a chance to consider a mediated adoptions without fear of losing the option altogether.
She says she believes in the program, and that it’s helping families.
But she says that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
For NHPR News, I’m DG
http://www.nhpr.org/node/17125
Female offenders get some help , but NOT from DCYF
Female offenders get some help
Specialist to assist released prisoners
By ANNMARIE TIMMINS Monitor staff
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 01, 2009 - 6:56 am
Female inmates are about to get a little more attention as they leave prison and begin a new life on parole.
The state Department of Corrections has hired a new administrator for female offenders and has just received a generous federal grant to assess the services now available to female offenders and beef up those that are working.
The goal is to reduce recidivism by 50 percent in five years. The money will be used to create a pilot project in Merrimack County.
Niki Miller, who has worked for corrections since August 2008 but has a long history working with female inmates, was named the new administrator last week. The job was created by the state Legislature in 2006 after a study showed services for female prisoners were lagging behind those provided to male inmates.
Miller is the third person to hold the position, but she has an advantage her predecessors did not: About a month ago, the state learned it had won a $400,000 federal grant for prisoner re-entry programs.
Miller said the federal money will be matched by charitable donations and in-kind services. And if corrections uses the money successfully, Miller said, the grant could be extended to three years.
"There is no one at the Department of Corrections who wouldn't like to roll out a whole range of services for female offenders and re-entry programs," Miller said. "But there isn't any money to do so a lot of the time."
Miller said she's lucky to have the work and research of her two predecessors to build upon.
In the past three years, corrections has used the administrator position to formalize its substance abuse treatment in the women's prison in Goffstown, so it's consistent and documented to gauge the effectiveness, said William McGonagle, assistant commissioner of corrections.
Similarly, the women's prison has improved its intake process for new inmates so corrections staff have a better sense of what individual inmates have been through and what services they'll most need.
The previous administrator, Annette Escalante, began exploring ways to find mentors outside the prison for the female inmates, McGonagle said. And she built up the prison's contacts with providers in the community who can help female parolees adjust to life on the outside and the challenges they face, including child care issues, substance abuse and past traumas.
Miller's first priority, she said, will be to take stock of all those programs and assess which of those is working or needs replacing or improving.
"We have an opportunity to really craft women's re-entry services," Miller said. "The grant will be used to put resources to those (programs) that work."
One program Miller believes is working well is corrections' partnership with the state Division of Children, Youth and Families. Before a female offender is paroled, she is connected with DCYF staff to help the offender reunite with her family and get help for substance use or past abuse.
Miller said the connection is critical because many female offenders won't seek out those services on their own because for them, DCYF has been an agency to hide from. They may have had children taken away by the state or fear that happening after they are released, Miller said.
The state needed an area to start this pilot project and chose Merrimack County. Miller's job now is to touch base with those groups and agencies that play a role in a female offender's return to society. She'll ask them what they think is working and what isn't.
Staff will put the same question to female offenders, Miller said. That is critical, she said. Who knows better what's working and what isn't?
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091201/NEWS01/912010312
DCYF steals these womens children while they're incarcerated. They are not returned when the mother gets out of jail. Their rights are terminated because they could NOT follow the case plan while in jail, only given twelve month's to make things right. Twelve months is not enough time for a woman, especially recovering addicts. Most of the other states given parents eighteen months to correct the conditions which threw them into the corrupt DCYF system. Most women will NOT recover after being pushed over the edge by DCYF and the courts, after losing their children. Most will be right back in jail, feeling like they no longer have anything to live for.Yes, DCYF is such a BIG help! Not!
Specialist to assist released prisoners
By ANNMARIE TIMMINS Monitor staff
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 01, 2009 - 6:56 am
Female inmates are about to get a little more attention as they leave prison and begin a new life on parole.
The state Department of Corrections has hired a new administrator for female offenders and has just received a generous federal grant to assess the services now available to female offenders and beef up those that are working.
The goal is to reduce recidivism by 50 percent in five years. The money will be used to create a pilot project in Merrimack County.
Niki Miller, who has worked for corrections since August 2008 but has a long history working with female inmates, was named the new administrator last week. The job was created by the state Legislature in 2006 after a study showed services for female prisoners were lagging behind those provided to male inmates.
Miller is the third person to hold the position, but she has an advantage her predecessors did not: About a month ago, the state learned it had won a $400,000 federal grant for prisoner re-entry programs.
Miller said the federal money will be matched by charitable donations and in-kind services. And if corrections uses the money successfully, Miller said, the grant could be extended to three years.
"There is no one at the Department of Corrections who wouldn't like to roll out a whole range of services for female offenders and re-entry programs," Miller said. "But there isn't any money to do so a lot of the time."
Miller said she's lucky to have the work and research of her two predecessors to build upon.
In the past three years, corrections has used the administrator position to formalize its substance abuse treatment in the women's prison in Goffstown, so it's consistent and documented to gauge the effectiveness, said William McGonagle, assistant commissioner of corrections.
Similarly, the women's prison has improved its intake process for new inmates so corrections staff have a better sense of what individual inmates have been through and what services they'll most need.
The previous administrator, Annette Escalante, began exploring ways to find mentors outside the prison for the female inmates, McGonagle said. And she built up the prison's contacts with providers in the community who can help female parolees adjust to life on the outside and the challenges they face, including child care issues, substance abuse and past traumas.
Miller's first priority, she said, will be to take stock of all those programs and assess which of those is working or needs replacing or improving.
"We have an opportunity to really craft women's re-entry services," Miller said. "The grant will be used to put resources to those (programs) that work."
One program Miller believes is working well is corrections' partnership with the state Division of Children, Youth and Families. Before a female offender is paroled, she is connected with DCYF staff to help the offender reunite with her family and get help for substance use or past abuse.
Miller said the connection is critical because many female offenders won't seek out those services on their own because for them, DCYF has been an agency to hide from. They may have had children taken away by the state or fear that happening after they are released, Miller said.
The state needed an area to start this pilot project and chose Merrimack County. Miller's job now is to touch base with those groups and agencies that play a role in a female offender's return to society. She'll ask them what they think is working and what isn't.
Staff will put the same question to female offenders, Miller said. That is critical, she said. Who knows better what's working and what isn't?
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091201/NEWS01/912010312
DCYF steals these womens children while they're incarcerated. They are not returned when the mother gets out of jail. Their rights are terminated because they could NOT follow the case plan while in jail, only given twelve month's to make things right. Twelve months is not enough time for a woman, especially recovering addicts. Most of the other states given parents eighteen months to correct the conditions which threw them into the corrupt DCYF system. Most women will NOT recover after being pushed over the edge by DCYF and the courts, after losing their children. Most will be right back in jail, feeling like they no longer have anything to live for.Yes, DCYF is such a BIG help! Not!
Cutting family preservation to fund foster care
NCCPR Child Welfare Blog
News and commentary from the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (www.nccpr.org) concerning child abuse, child welfare, foster care, and family preservation.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Cutting family preservation to fund foster care: Michigan children abandoned again?
The group that so arrogantly calls itself Children's Rights was doing what it does best last week – promoting itself. They put out a press release and trumpeted the news all over Twitter. The message: Look how wonderful we are. There's a state that's cutting a vitally-important program to keep children out of foster care. But we have a consent decree in that state – so we're marching into court to stop them!
The state was Connecticut.
But CR also has a consent decree in Michigan. And under the "leadership" of Michigan Department of Human Services Director Ismael Ahmed, that state is cutting not one but a great many programs with proven track records for safely saving children from the anguish of needless foster care. As noted previously on this Blog, the independent court monitor for the consent decree says the cuts may violate the decree. Yet CR has not gone to court to stop these cuts. They've put out no press release. There hasn't even been a tweet.
Why the difference?
Perhaps it has something to do with which children are affected. The cut in Connecticut affected a program to help families who would have had to surrender their children to foster care in order to obtain mental health care for them. This is a huge problem nationwide, brought into stark relief by the Nebraska "safe haven" debacle. The proposed cut in Connecticut is, indeed, despicable. But these kinds of cases also are among the few times the long arm of child protective services reaches into the middle class.
Or perhaps it has to do with where the money that is being cut is going. In Connecticut, it's just going to close a budget gap. In Michigan, some of the money is going to help fund CR's own settlement – in particular a foster care caseworker hiring binge. It's also going to help fund rate increases for agencies that institutionalize children.
So perhaps it's just a matter of priorities.
Posted by NATIONAL COALITION FOR CHILD PROTECTION REFORM at 6:42 AM Labels: child abuse, child welfare, Department of Human Services, DHS, family preservation, foster care, Ismael Ahmed, Marcia Lowry Michigan
http://nccpr.blogspot.com/2009/12/cutting-family-preservation-to-fund.html
News and commentary from the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (www.nccpr.org) concerning child abuse, child welfare, foster care, and family preservation.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Cutting family preservation to fund foster care: Michigan children abandoned again?
The group that so arrogantly calls itself Children's Rights was doing what it does best last week – promoting itself. They put out a press release and trumpeted the news all over Twitter. The message: Look how wonderful we are. There's a state that's cutting a vitally-important program to keep children out of foster care. But we have a consent decree in that state – so we're marching into court to stop them!
The state was Connecticut.
But CR also has a consent decree in Michigan. And under the "leadership" of Michigan Department of Human Services Director Ismael Ahmed, that state is cutting not one but a great many programs with proven track records for safely saving children from the anguish of needless foster care. As noted previously on this Blog, the independent court monitor for the consent decree says the cuts may violate the decree. Yet CR has not gone to court to stop these cuts. They've put out no press release. There hasn't even been a tweet.
Why the difference?
Perhaps it has something to do with which children are affected. The cut in Connecticut affected a program to help families who would have had to surrender their children to foster care in order to obtain mental health care for them. This is a huge problem nationwide, brought into stark relief by the Nebraska "safe haven" debacle. The proposed cut in Connecticut is, indeed, despicable. But these kinds of cases also are among the few times the long arm of child protective services reaches into the middle class.
Or perhaps it has to do with where the money that is being cut is going. In Connecticut, it's just going to close a budget gap. In Michigan, some of the money is going to help fund CR's own settlement – in particular a foster care caseworker hiring binge. It's also going to help fund rate increases for agencies that institutionalize children.
So perhaps it's just a matter of priorities.
Posted by NATIONAL COALITION FOR CHILD PROTECTION REFORM at 6:42 AM Labels: child abuse, child welfare, Department of Human Services, DHS, family preservation, foster care, Ismael Ahmed, Marcia Lowry Michigan
http://nccpr.blogspot.com/2009/12/cutting-family-preservation-to-fund.html
Social services take $5.7M hit
Social services take $5.7M hit
By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon • jfitzgib@lohud.com • December 16, 2009
The Lower Hudson Valley will have to do without $5.7 million in human services funds from Albany as Gov. David Paterson withholds the cash to deal with the state's lingering budget crisis.
The money, earmarked for child welfare and other social services, is part of $750 million Paterson is holding back to deal with what he said was a $1 billion shortfall for the state this month.
That includes $76 million in cuts to human services statewide, with Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties seeing local cuts.
State officials said Westchester alone would have nearly $4.7 million withheld. That money, county officials said, largely funds child welfare services.
Rockland stands to have $834,000 held back. County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said the money pays for child welfare services, providing everything from health care to day care.
Vanderhoef said the cuts account for about 2 percent of the $10 million Rockland gets from the state each month to cover the costs of state-mandated programs.
"We literally are not spending money we absolutely don't have to," he said. "All brakes are on so we can get through to March."
For Putnam, the $187,000 being withheld is money alloted for the county's Child Protective Services and its preventive services.
Deputy County Executive John Tully said the money was a routine advance from the state meant to cover various costs and keep the county from spending its funds and getting reimbursed later.
"Unless this becomes a reduction in state aid, it won't adversely affect the programs," Tully said.
But just how the loss in funds may affect day-to-day services remains largely unclear — Paterson made the announcement Sunday, and local officials are still scrambling to determine the full impact.
"Obviously, it will affect us in the fourth quarter, but we don't really know what that's going to be yet because all the bills are not in yet," said Victoria Hochman, a spokeswoman for Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano.
(2 of 2)
"In terms of the cash flow, that's still being evaluated," she said. "Obviously, it's not a good thing."
One agency that could feel the pinch is The Children's Village, which receives funding through Westchester County for a shelter for runaway and homeless children, and a number of preventive programs in the community.
"It's guaranteed to impact us," said Jeremy Kohomban, president and CEO of the Dobbs Ferry-based agency. "It's guaranteed to hurt kids and families."
"I can tell you whenever Albany makes these kinds of unilateral cuts that impact the local government, it impacts children and families in the community," Kohomban said Tuesday. "No question about it. And especially now at a time when our local communities are struggling with the very same problems that Albany is struggling with, which is tax revenue."
The governor's state budget measure also comes at a time when many nonprofit agencies are struggling financially, with cutbacks in public funds coupled with a drop in private contributions.
"Most not-for-profits are as far out on their credit line as they can be and are really making it payment by payment," said Paul Anderson Winchell, executive director of the Grace Church Community Center in White Plains.
"We are all so dependent on a certain level of nongovernmental private fundraising, and that is down across-the-board, whether it's grants or corporate giving or individual giving," Winchell said. "It hasn't totally dried up, and people are still trying individually to be generous. But it certainly has had an impact on all of us."
The state Association of Counties had lobbied the governor to make cuts to individual programs instead of across-the-board, said Rockland's Vanderhoef, who sits on the association's executive board.
The state is supposed to cough up the aid in January, but in the meantime, the county will need to address a cash-flow issue, he said.
"Between stimulus money we received and managing our expenses well, we think we can get through this," Vanderhoef said.
Earlier this year, federal stimulus money helped avert similar cuts. This time, officials said, there's not likely to be such a safety net.
"It's kind of that time of crisis where you will see what people are really made of," said Cora Greenberg, executive director of the Westchester Children's Association in White Plains. "When push comes to shove, what are they willing to risk politically, and what are communities willing to risk financially in order to help secure the future by making sure kids have a fair start."
writers Laura Incalcaterra and Michael Risinit
For the rest of the article, go to:http://www.lohud.com/article/2009912160341
By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon • jfitzgib@lohud.com • December 16, 2009
The Lower Hudson Valley will have to do without $5.7 million in human services funds from Albany as Gov. David Paterson withholds the cash to deal with the state's lingering budget crisis.
The money, earmarked for child welfare and other social services, is part of $750 million Paterson is holding back to deal with what he said was a $1 billion shortfall for the state this month.
That includes $76 million in cuts to human services statewide, with Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties seeing local cuts.
State officials said Westchester alone would have nearly $4.7 million withheld. That money, county officials said, largely funds child welfare services.
Rockland stands to have $834,000 held back. County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said the money pays for child welfare services, providing everything from health care to day care.
Vanderhoef said the cuts account for about 2 percent of the $10 million Rockland gets from the state each month to cover the costs of state-mandated programs.
"We literally are not spending money we absolutely don't have to," he said. "All brakes are on so we can get through to March."
For Putnam, the $187,000 being withheld is money alloted for the county's Child Protective Services and its preventive services.
Deputy County Executive John Tully said the money was a routine advance from the state meant to cover various costs and keep the county from spending its funds and getting reimbursed later.
"Unless this becomes a reduction in state aid, it won't adversely affect the programs," Tully said.
But just how the loss in funds may affect day-to-day services remains largely unclear — Paterson made the announcement Sunday, and local officials are still scrambling to determine the full impact.
"Obviously, it will affect us in the fourth quarter, but we don't really know what that's going to be yet because all the bills are not in yet," said Victoria Hochman, a spokeswoman for Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano.
(2 of 2)
"In terms of the cash flow, that's still being evaluated," she said. "Obviously, it's not a good thing."
One agency that could feel the pinch is The Children's Village, which receives funding through Westchester County for a shelter for runaway and homeless children, and a number of preventive programs in the community.
"It's guaranteed to impact us," said Jeremy Kohomban, president and CEO of the Dobbs Ferry-based agency. "It's guaranteed to hurt kids and families."
"I can tell you whenever Albany makes these kinds of unilateral cuts that impact the local government, it impacts children and families in the community," Kohomban said Tuesday. "No question about it. And especially now at a time when our local communities are struggling with the very same problems that Albany is struggling with, which is tax revenue."
The governor's state budget measure also comes at a time when many nonprofit agencies are struggling financially, with cutbacks in public funds coupled with a drop in private contributions.
"Most not-for-profits are as far out on their credit line as they can be and are really making it payment by payment," said Paul Anderson Winchell, executive director of the Grace Church Community Center in White Plains.
"We are all so dependent on a certain level of nongovernmental private fundraising, and that is down across-the-board, whether it's grants or corporate giving or individual giving," Winchell said. "It hasn't totally dried up, and people are still trying individually to be generous. But it certainly has had an impact on all of us."
The state Association of Counties had lobbied the governor to make cuts to individual programs instead of across-the-board, said Rockland's Vanderhoef, who sits on the association's executive board.
The state is supposed to cough up the aid in January, but in the meantime, the county will need to address a cash-flow issue, he said.
"Between stimulus money we received and managing our expenses well, we think we can get through this," Vanderhoef said.
Earlier this year, federal stimulus money helped avert similar cuts. This time, officials said, there's not likely to be such a safety net.
"It's kind of that time of crisis where you will see what people are really made of," said Cora Greenberg, executive director of the Westchester Children's Association in White Plains. "When push comes to shove, what are they willing to risk politically, and what are communities willing to risk financially in order to help secure the future by making sure kids have a fair start."
writers Laura Incalcaterra and Michael Risinit
For the rest of the article, go to:http://www.lohud.com/article/2009912160341
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Substance Abuse Treatment Alone Often Not Enough to Stem Child Abuse and Neglect
Substance Abuse Treatment Alone Often Not Enough to Stem Child Abuse and Neglect
By Elisabeth H. Donahue on December 16, 2009 1:34 PM |
Evidence linking alcohol and other drug abuse with child maltreatment, particularly neglect, is strong. But does substance abuse cause maltreatment? In a recent article in The Future of Children volume Preventing Child Maltreatment, authors Mark Testa and Brenda Smith found that co-occurring risk factors such as parental depression, social isolation, homelessness, or domestic violence may be more directly responsible than substance abuse itself for maltreatment. Interventions to prevent substance abuse–related maltreatment, say the authors, must attend to the underlying direct causes of both.
Research on whether prevention programs reduce drug abuse or help parents control substance use and improve their parenting has had mixed results, at best. The evidence raises questions generally about the effectiveness of substance abuse services in preventing child maltreatment. Such services, for example, raise only marginally the rates at which parents are reunified with children who have been placed in foster care. The primary reason for the mixed findings is that almost all the parents face not only substance abuse problems but the co-occurring issues as well. To prevent recurring maltreatment and promote reunification, programs must ensure client progress in all problem areas.
At some point in the intervention process, attention must turn to the child’s permanency needs and well-being. The best evidence to date suggests that substance-abusing parents pose no greater risk to their children than do parents of other children taken into child protective custody. It may be sensible to set a six-month timetable for parents to engage in treatment and allow twelve to eighteen months for them to show sufficient progress in all identified problem areas. After that, permanency plans should be expedited to place the child with a relative caregiver or in an adoptive home.
Investing in parental recovery from substance abuse and dependence should not substitute for a comprehensive approach that addresses the multiple social and economic risks to child well-being beyond the harms associated with parental substance abuse.
Drawn from “Prevention and Drug Treatment,” by Mark Testa and Brenda Smith.
Categories:Health,Welfare
Tags:alcohol abuse,child abuse,child neglect,drug abuse,parenting,preventing child abuse and neglect,preventing child maltreatment,rehabilitation programs,substance abuse
http://blogs.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/2009/12/substance-abuse-treatment-alone-often-not-enough-to-stem-child-abuse-and-neglect.html
By Elisabeth H. Donahue on December 16, 2009 1:34 PM |
Evidence linking alcohol and other drug abuse with child maltreatment, particularly neglect, is strong. But does substance abuse cause maltreatment? In a recent article in The Future of Children volume Preventing Child Maltreatment, authors Mark Testa and Brenda Smith found that co-occurring risk factors such as parental depression, social isolation, homelessness, or domestic violence may be more directly responsible than substance abuse itself for maltreatment. Interventions to prevent substance abuse–related maltreatment, say the authors, must attend to the underlying direct causes of both.
Research on whether prevention programs reduce drug abuse or help parents control substance use and improve their parenting has had mixed results, at best. The evidence raises questions generally about the effectiveness of substance abuse services in preventing child maltreatment. Such services, for example, raise only marginally the rates at which parents are reunified with children who have been placed in foster care. The primary reason for the mixed findings is that almost all the parents face not only substance abuse problems but the co-occurring issues as well. To prevent recurring maltreatment and promote reunification, programs must ensure client progress in all problem areas.
At some point in the intervention process, attention must turn to the child’s permanency needs and well-being. The best evidence to date suggests that substance-abusing parents pose no greater risk to their children than do parents of other children taken into child protective custody. It may be sensible to set a six-month timetable for parents to engage in treatment and allow twelve to eighteen months for them to show sufficient progress in all identified problem areas. After that, permanency plans should be expedited to place the child with a relative caregiver or in an adoptive home.
Investing in parental recovery from substance abuse and dependence should not substitute for a comprehensive approach that addresses the multiple social and economic risks to child well-being beyond the harms associated with parental substance abuse.
Drawn from “Prevention and Drug Treatment,” by Mark Testa and Brenda Smith.
Categories:Health,Welfare
Tags:alcohol abuse,child abuse,child neglect,drug abuse,parenting,preventing child abuse and neglect,preventing child maltreatment,rehabilitation programs,substance abuse
http://blogs.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/2009/12/substance-abuse-treatment-alone-often-not-enough-to-stem-child-abuse-and-neglect.html
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
32 accused of $60M in Medicare fraud in 3 states(How about CPS/DCYF Fraud Next?)
32 accused of $60M in Medicare fraud in 3 states
AP – Federal agents load boxes of records seized from Courtesy Medical Group, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 in Miami. …
By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 23 mins ago
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams.
Arrests in Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit included a Florida doctor accused of running a $40 million home health care scheme that falsely listed patients as blind diabetics so that he could bill for twice-daily nurse visits.
The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the total of 32 indicted suspects lined up bogus patients and otherwise billed Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment, physical therapy and HIV infusions.
Miami Dr. Fred Dweck, along with 14 people with whom he worked, was accused in an indictment of running a scam to tap a Medicare program that pays very high rates to care for the sickest patients.
Dweck referred about 1,279 Medicare beneficiaries for expensive and unnecessary home health and therapy services, bribing the owners of two Miami clinics to join the scam. He also faked medical certifications, according to the indictment.
A telephone listing for Dweck could not be found and it was unclear if he had a lawyer.
"No matter what type of fraud is committed, there is one common denominator and that denominator is greed," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said. "Medicare fraud is not a victimless crime. It hurts every American taxpayer by raising the cost of health care."
The raids come a week after a report that Miami-Dade County received more than half a billion dollars from Medicare in home health care payments intended for the sickest patients in 2008, which is more than the rest of the country combined, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General. Medicare paid the county about $520 million, even though only 2 percent of those patients receiving home health care live here.
In Detroit's raids, suspects paid recruiters to find patients willing to feign symptoms to justify expensive testing, including nerve conduction studies, federal authorities said.
A mother and son were charged in Brooklyn with billing Medicare $246 per patient for expensive shoe inserts reserved for diabetes patients, even though they only provided cheap, over-the-counter versions.
Including Tuesday's arrests, a Medicare Fraud strike force formed by the Justice and Health departments has now charged suspects accused of bilking Medicare of more than $1 billion in less than two years.
The pilot strike force, which started in Miami in 2007, has indicted more than 460 suspects in Medicare fraud scams. The program is now in Los Angeles, Houston and Detroit. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced Tuesday the operation will expand to Tampa, Fla., Baton Rouge, La., and Brooklyn.
Cleaning up an estimated $60 billion a year in Medicare fraud will be key to President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul. HHS and DOJ have promised more money and manpower to fight the fraud.
__Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this report from New York.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091215/ap_on_bi_ge/us_medicare_fraud_busts
AP – Federal agents load boxes of records seized from Courtesy Medical Group, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 in Miami. …
By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 23 mins ago
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams.
Arrests in Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit included a Florida doctor accused of running a $40 million home health care scheme that falsely listed patients as blind diabetics so that he could bill for twice-daily nurse visits.
The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the total of 32 indicted suspects lined up bogus patients and otherwise billed Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment, physical therapy and HIV infusions.
Miami Dr. Fred Dweck, along with 14 people with whom he worked, was accused in an indictment of running a scam to tap a Medicare program that pays very high rates to care for the sickest patients.
Dweck referred about 1,279 Medicare beneficiaries for expensive and unnecessary home health and therapy services, bribing the owners of two Miami clinics to join the scam. He also faked medical certifications, according to the indictment.
A telephone listing for Dweck could not be found and it was unclear if he had a lawyer.
"No matter what type of fraud is committed, there is one common denominator and that denominator is greed," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said. "Medicare fraud is not a victimless crime. It hurts every American taxpayer by raising the cost of health care."
The raids come a week after a report that Miami-Dade County received more than half a billion dollars from Medicare in home health care payments intended for the sickest patients in 2008, which is more than the rest of the country combined, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General. Medicare paid the county about $520 million, even though only 2 percent of those patients receiving home health care live here.
In Detroit's raids, suspects paid recruiters to find patients willing to feign symptoms to justify expensive testing, including nerve conduction studies, federal authorities said.
A mother and son were charged in Brooklyn with billing Medicare $246 per patient for expensive shoe inserts reserved for diabetes patients, even though they only provided cheap, over-the-counter versions.
Including Tuesday's arrests, a Medicare Fraud strike force formed by the Justice and Health departments has now charged suspects accused of bilking Medicare of more than $1 billion in less than two years.
The pilot strike force, which started in Miami in 2007, has indicted more than 460 suspects in Medicare fraud scams. The program is now in Los Angeles, Houston and Detroit. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced Tuesday the operation will expand to Tampa, Fla., Baton Rouge, La., and Brooklyn.
Cleaning up an estimated $60 billion a year in Medicare fraud will be key to President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul. HHS and DOJ have promised more money and manpower to fight the fraud.
__Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this report from New York.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091215/ap_on_bi_ge/us_medicare_fraud_busts
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