December 16, 2009
Psychiatric Times.
Antipsychotic Prescribing in Children: What We Know—What We Need to Know
Mark Olfson, MD, MPH
Columbia University
New York, New York
A pair of recent research articles has cast the public spotlight on treating children and adolescents with antipsychotic medications.1,2 In the first report, a large and broadly representative group of child and adolescent patients, all naive to antipsychotic medications, was followed for approximately 10 weeks after initiating treatment with olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, or aripiprazole. The average weight increase ranged from 18.7 pounds (olanzapine) to 9.7 pounds (aripiprazole).3 In the second report, Medicaid-insured youth were found to be approximately 4 times as likely as privately insured youth to fill prescriptions for antipsychotic medications. Only a minority of the privately-insured (32.6%) and Medicaid-insured (26.9%) youth had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or a pervasive developmental disorder.4
The prospect of large numbers of youth receiving potentially weight-inducing antipsychotic medications for clinical diagnoses that have only scant empirical support of clinical efficacy understandably raises critical concern. How often do the known cardiometabolic risks outweigh uncertain clinical benefits? This question becomes especially pointed when it involves low income and minority children—vulnerable groups already at high risk for obesity and its metabolic complications. The new findings are likely to fuel fresh concerns over drug safety and raise new worries over indiscriminate antipsychotic medication use in young people. If taken out of context, the findings could tarnish the image of child psychiatric services and further restrict appropriate mental health seeking behavior by concerned parents for their children. Before jumping to conclusions, however, it is important to consider what we know and what we do not know about antipsychotic prescribing to young people.
Over the last decade, the clinical targets of antipsychotic medications for children and adolescents have broadened. What had been a relatively narrow focus on psychotic symptoms in rare early onset psychotic disorders and irritability in pervasive developmental disorders has grown to include aggressive behaviors and mood dysregulation that occurs in a wide range of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders and sometimes in otherwise normal youth. Aggressive behavior, in particular, is a common and clinically heterogeneous feature of the disorders that have seen the largest increases in antipsychotic medication treatment of children, including bipolar disorder and disruptive behavior disorders. Yet the potential dangers of not treating these symptoms, especially when they occur in more severe forms, have not been well quantified.
A consideration of antipsychotic treatment of young people inevitably leads to a consideration of treatment alternatives. Unfortunately, we know little about the availability of evidence-based psychosocial treatments5 such as cognitive behavioral therapy with a focus on anger management or mood regulation. If, as I suspect, these psychosocial interventions are rarely accessible to children and adolescents in need, then strong policy and educational reforms are required to help make these treatments more widely available.
The public too often tends to link all psychotropic medication prescribing with the practice of psychiatry. The reality, of course, is that non-psychiatrist physicians prescribe most of the psychotropic medication treatment in the United States. For antidepressants—the most common class of psychotropic medication—only about 20% of treated patients are cared for psychiatrists.6 We lack an understanding of the respective roles of psychiatrists and other physicians in the antipsychotic treatment of children and adolescents. More specifically, little is known about how the clinical characteristics of young people treated with antipsychotic medications vary by the specialty of their treating physician. In addition to learning more about the clinical symptom targets of antipsychotic use in clinical practice, attention should be devoted to describing and improving routine clinical assessments. To what extent do children and adolescents who are prescribed antipsychotic medications receive thorough and developmentally-sensitive mental health assessments and evaluations of their home environments?
Strong evidence that several widely prescribed antipsychotic medications result in rapid and substantial weight gain in young people should increase attention devoted to clinical assessment, patient selection, and metabolic status monitoring. It is hoped that the public interest that has been raised by the recent reports will invigorate efforts to improve our understanding of the appropriate role of antipsychotic medications in treating childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders while spurring efforts to increase access to evidence-based psychosocial treatments.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
1. Wilson D, Weight gain associated with antipsychotic drugs. New York Times. October 28, 2009.
2. Wilson D, Poor children likelier to get antipsychotics. New York Times. December 11, 2009.
3. Correll CU, Manu P, Olshanskiy V, et al. Cardiometabolic risk of second-generation antipsychotic medications during first-time use in children and adolescents. JAMA. 2009;302:1765-73.
4. Crystal SC, Olfson M, Huang C, et al. Broadened use of atypical antipsychotic drugs: safety, effectiveness, and policy challenges. Health Affairs. 2009;28:770-81.
5. Weissman MM, Verdili H, Gameroff MJ, et al. National survey of psychotherapy training in psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:925-934.
6. Olfson M, Marcus SC. National patterns in antidepressant medication treatment. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66:848-856.
2. Wilson D, Poor children likelier to get antipsychotics. New York Times. December 11, 2009. 3. Correll CU, Manu P, Olshanskiy V, et al. Cardiometabolic risk of second-generation antipsychotic medications during first-time use in children and adolescents. JAMA. 2009;302:1765-73. 4. Crystal SC, Olfson M, Huang C, et al. Broadened use of atypical antipsychotic drugs: safety, effectiveness, and policy challenges. Health Affairs. 2009;28:770-81. 5. Weissman MM, Verdili H, Gameroff MJ, et al. National survey of psychotherapy training in psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:925-934. 6. Olfson M, Marcus SC. National patterns in antidepressant medication treatment. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66:848-856
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1499811?verify=0
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
Drug charge against pregnant woman is unusual in NH
Published: November 15, 2007 11:55 am
(It's quite odd for this woman to be arrested and charged, whereas in the State of NH, a woman Can Not be charged with abuse and neglect for pre-natal drug use. In which case, DCYF then covers their behinds by charging the mother with "anticipated neglect in the future". Also, in the State of NH, an unborn fetus is NOT considered a human being!)
Drug charge against pregnant woman is unusual
By James A. Kimble , Staff writer
Eagle-Tribune
A Hampstead woman may be the first in Rockingham County to be arrested on charges of shooting heroin while being pregnant.
But state officials said it isn't uncommon for parents to have some form of substance abuse - from alcohol to hardcore narcotics.
"Typically, we would find out if a baby is addicted to a substance after the child is born," said Maggie Bishop, an administrator with the Department of Health and Human Services.
When there's enough evidence to support it, police can file criminal charges.
Hampstead police charged Nina Doane, 22, with a misdemeanor child endangerment charge on Oct. 26. Doane is about five months pregnant, according to a complaint filed in Plaistow District Court.
Police did not say how they came to arrest Doane. If convicted, she faces up to a year in jail, with court-ordered counseling and up to a $2,000 fine. Health and Human Services could step in and file court action to take custody away from Doane.
Investigators with the state's Child Protection Bureau, a branch of Health and Human Services, found 33 percent of the neglect cases in Southern New Hampshire last year involved substance abuse issues that impacted children. Those cases included parents addicted to alcohol, and a variety of illegal or over-the-counter drugs.
The bureau's Salem-based office conducted 477 new neglect investigations in 2006 in Salem, Atkinson, Chester, Danville, Derry, Hampstead, Kingston, Sandown, Windham, Londonderry, Newton and Plaistow.
Statewide, the agency conducted 6,929 investigations, with 34 percent, or 2,379 cases, involving substance abuse that affected a child. The agency does not track how many children are born addicted to a substance or the types of substances, Bishop said.
Melissa Correia, an administrator with Health and Human Services Bureau of Quality Improvement, said the number of neglect cases involving substance abuse has remained fairly static over the last five years.
County Attorney James Reams said Doane's case may be a first for Rockingham County, but such charges are being tried more and more around the country.
"It's not done here very often," Reams said. "I'd characterize it here as something that's very rare."
Prosecutors must prove that Doane knew heroin would be harmful to her baby. They could use expert witnesses to explain to a judge or jury how drugs can affect the development of an unborn child, Reams said.
Doane is due for her first court appearance on Dec. 17, 2007
http://www.eagletribune.com/punewsnh/local_story_319115647
(It's quite odd for this woman to be arrested and charged, whereas in the State of NH, a woman Can Not be charged with abuse and neglect for pre-natal drug use. In which case, DCYF then covers their behinds by charging the mother with "anticipated neglect in the future". Also, in the State of NH, an unborn fetus is NOT considered a human being!)
Drug charge against pregnant woman is unusual
By James A. Kimble , Staff writer
Eagle-Tribune
A Hampstead woman may be the first in Rockingham County to be arrested on charges of shooting heroin while being pregnant.
But state officials said it isn't uncommon for parents to have some form of substance abuse - from alcohol to hardcore narcotics.
"Typically, we would find out if a baby is addicted to a substance after the child is born," said Maggie Bishop, an administrator with the Department of Health and Human Services.
When there's enough evidence to support it, police can file criminal charges.
Hampstead police charged Nina Doane, 22, with a misdemeanor child endangerment charge on Oct. 26. Doane is about five months pregnant, according to a complaint filed in Plaistow District Court.
Police did not say how they came to arrest Doane. If convicted, she faces up to a year in jail, with court-ordered counseling and up to a $2,000 fine. Health and Human Services could step in and file court action to take custody away from Doane.
Investigators with the state's Child Protection Bureau, a branch of Health and Human Services, found 33 percent of the neglect cases in Southern New Hampshire last year involved substance abuse issues that impacted children. Those cases included parents addicted to alcohol, and a variety of illegal or over-the-counter drugs.
The bureau's Salem-based office conducted 477 new neglect investigations in 2006 in Salem, Atkinson, Chester, Danville, Derry, Hampstead, Kingston, Sandown, Windham, Londonderry, Newton and Plaistow.
Statewide, the agency conducted 6,929 investigations, with 34 percent, or 2,379 cases, involving substance abuse that affected a child. The agency does not track how many children are born addicted to a substance or the types of substances, Bishop said.
Melissa Correia, an administrator with Health and Human Services Bureau of Quality Improvement, said the number of neglect cases involving substance abuse has remained fairly static over the last five years.
County Attorney James Reams said Doane's case may be a first for Rockingham County, but such charges are being tried more and more around the country.
"It's not done here very often," Reams said. "I'd characterize it here as something that's very rare."
Prosecutors must prove that Doane knew heroin would be harmful to her baby. They could use expert witnesses to explain to a judge or jury how drugs can affect the development of an unborn child, Reams said.
Doane is due for her first court appearance on Dec. 17, 2007
http://www.eagletribune.com/punewsnh/local_story_319115647
State faces suit over foster family placement
State faces suit over foster family placement
on Nashuatelegraph.com DHHS Releases Study of Children in Out of Home Placement in the Medicaid Program
Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 07:18AM
Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Medicaid and Business Policy (OMBP) announce results from a study of the health and health care use of children in out-of-home placement (i.e., residential placement and family foster care) in the New Hampshire Medicaid program. The report is part of OMBP’s Comprehensive Healthcare Information System (CHIS) project. The study evaluated various health care measures to compare children in out-of-home placement to other low-income children enrolled in New Hampshire Medicaid during State Fiscal Year 2007.
“The study of the medical and mental health services used by the out-of-home placement population,” said DHHS Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas, “is an important cross-departmental effort to learn more about this vulnerable population the Department serves.”
The study revealed that NH children in both kinds of out-of-home placement had higher rates of disease, mental health disorders, utilization, and payment rates compared with other low-income children covered by Medicaid. The study also showed that children in out-of-home placement had higher rates of well-child preventive visits than the comparison low-income group and national managed care rates.
"The Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) has a strong foster care health program that has been recognized nationally as a promising practice,” said DCYF Director Maggie Bishop, “this research contributes to our model of continuous quality improvement and the results will have a direct impact on practice and policy decisions."
After removing services unique to special Medicaid populations (including placement services), the Medicaid payments for children in out-of-home placement were on average three times the rate of the low-income comparison group (per member, per month costs for children in residential placement were $807, in family foster care were $369, and in the low-income comparison group were $142).
To see the study visit the DHHS website:
http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/DHHS/OMBP/LIBRARY
http://www.backtype.com/anonymous/comment/000027d7e24e49ae000000009f15c26d
on Nashuatelegraph.com DHHS Releases Study of Children in Out of Home Placement in the Medicaid Program
Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 07:18AM
Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Medicaid and Business Policy (OMBP) announce results from a study of the health and health care use of children in out-of-home placement (i.e., residential placement and family foster care) in the New Hampshire Medicaid program. The report is part of OMBP’s Comprehensive Healthcare Information System (CHIS) project. The study evaluated various health care measures to compare children in out-of-home placement to other low-income children enrolled in New Hampshire Medicaid during State Fiscal Year 2007.
“The study of the medical and mental health services used by the out-of-home placement population,” said DHHS Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas, “is an important cross-departmental effort to learn more about this vulnerable population the Department serves.”
The study revealed that NH children in both kinds of out-of-home placement had higher rates of disease, mental health disorders, utilization, and payment rates compared with other low-income children covered by Medicaid. The study also showed that children in out-of-home placement had higher rates of well-child preventive visits than the comparison low-income group and national managed care rates.
"The Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) has a strong foster care health program that has been recognized nationally as a promising practice,” said DCYF Director Maggie Bishop, “this research contributes to our model of continuous quality improvement and the results will have a direct impact on practice and policy decisions."
After removing services unique to special Medicaid populations (including placement services), the Medicaid payments for children in out-of-home placement were on average three times the rate of the low-income comparison group (per member, per month costs for children in residential placement were $807, in family foster care were $369, and in the low-income comparison group were $142).
To see the study visit the DHHS website:
http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/DHHS/OMBP/LIBRARY
http://www.backtype.com/anonymous/comment/000027d7e24e49ae000000009f15c26d
Maine and N.H. abuse figures not easily compared
Maine and N.H. abuse figures not easily compared (how could they even be considered accurate when children are stolen from their families due to false allegations?)
June 24, 2007 — Lisa
Article
By VICTORIA GUAY
Staff Writer
vguay@citizen.com
There were an estimated 899,000 victims of abuse and neglect in 2005, according to the 16th annual Child Maltreatment Report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published in April.
More than half of the victims (54.5 percent) were 7 years old or younger.
In New Hampshire, there were 941 victims of abuse and neglect in fiscal year 2005. This compares to 2001, when there were 1,102 victims.
Approximately 192 of New Hampshire’s 941 victims in 2005 (or 20.4 percent) were victims of physical abuse, and 185 (or 19.7 percent) were victims of sexual abuse.
In Maine, the federal report indicated there were 3,349 victims of abuse and neglect in fiscal year 2005. Of those children, 751 (or 22.4 percent) were victims of physical abuse and 426 (or 12.7 percent) were victims of sexual abuse.
Maine’s number of child victims was more than three times New Hampshire’s, despite both states having similar populations, New Hampshire at 1.31 million and Maine at 1.32 million.
Maggie Bishop, director of the New Hampshire Division of Children Youth and Families, said the disparity may be due to several possibilities.
First, each state has a different definition of what constitutes child abuse and neglect, usually set forth in a state statute. Second, many states have different data collection systems, Bishop said.
For example, one state may assign each child who may have been abused or neglected a separate case number while another state may assign one case number to a whole family. So an allegation of abuse by a mother of her four children may count as one case in one state and four cases in another.
Also, some states may count an allegation of both abuse and neglect against one child to be two cases, while another state would count it as one case.
“It’s like comparing apples to oranges,” Bishop said.
Dan Despard, director of Child Welfare Services in Maine, said that in addition to each state having different definitions of abuse, they also have different standards for how a finding should be made and the appeal process.
Despard said that Maine is a state that would consider an allegation of abuse and neglect against one child as one abuse victim and one neglect victim, which could account in part for why Maine’s number is so much higher in the federal report.
Despard said during fiscal year 2005, Maine had 17,681 reports made to the department.
Of those reports, 9,731 did not contain specific allegations of abuse or neglect, and were not investigated.
There were approximately 7,950 cases that were investigated and of those, 2,052 were confirmed cases. Of the 2,052 confirmed cases, Despard said there were 380 child victims of sexual abuse and 648 victims of physical abuse.
Despard said that Maine’s substantiation rate is 36.6 percent compared to New Hampshire’s 12 percent, which also helps account for the disparity in the number of victims listed in the federal report.
Bishop said in 2005 in New Hampshire, more than 16,000 alleged abuse and neglect incidents were reported. Of those, approximately 6,000 cases were investigated. There were 182 complete and substantiated investigations of physical child abuse, and 184 cases of sexual assault. (Ms. Bishop fails to report how many children were stolen and kept from their families due to allegations of "Anticipated Neglect in the Future.")(She also failed to report how many children were stolen in NH due to false allegations.)
Comparatively, there were 608 completed investigations of neglect allegations conducted by the division.
The states with the highest percentages of reported physical abuse victims include Alabama, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Vermont had 48.4 percent of its 1,080 confirmed victims suffering from physical abuse, Alabama’s percentage was 40.5 percent of 9,028 victims, and Pennsylvania’s rate was 32.4 percent out of 4,353 victims.
The states with the highest percent of sexual abuse victims during fiscal year 2005 include Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania reported that 62.5 percent of their total 4,353 confirmed child victims suffered sexual abuse. In Vermont, 46.5 percent of 1,080 confirmed child victims suffered sexual abuse, and in Wisconsin it was 37.8 percent of 9,686 total victims.
Nationally, of all the reported child victims during fiscal year 2005, 16.6 percent were physically abused and 9.3 percent were sexually abused. Neglect is by far the most reported crime, having affected 62.8 percent of child victims.
During fiscal year 2005, an estimated 1,460 children died due to abuse or neglect, at a rate of nearly two (1.96) children per every 100,000. In 2004, 1,490 children lost their lives, or slightly over two (2.3) children per 100,000.
More than three-quarters (76.6 percent) of children who died were younger than 4 years of age, 13.4 percent were 4 to 7 years of age, 4 percent were 8 to 11 years of age, and 6.1 percent were 12 to 17 years of age.
Infant boys (younger than 1 year old) had the highest fatality rate in 2005.
Below half (44.3 percent) of all fatalities were white children, 26 percent were African-American and 19.3 percent were Hispanic. American Indian, other minority groups and multiple race categories accounted for 4.5 percent of the fatalities.
Three-quarters (76.6 percent) of deaths due to abuse and neglect in 2005 were caused by a parent. Nonparental perpetrators accounted for 13 percent of the deaths.
In New Hampshire, out of a total child population of 303,151, there were 2 deaths attributed to abuse or neglect, for a rate of .66 per 100,000 children. In Maine, out of the total child population of 277,336, there was one fatality, resulting in a rate of .36 per 100,000.
The states that had the highest child death rates due to abuse and neglect were Oklahoma, with nearly 5 (4.8) deaths per 100,000 children; West Virginia, with 4.2 deaths per 100,000 children; Georgia at 3.2 deaths per 100,000 children; Texas with 3.1 deaths per 100,000 children; and Missouri, with 3.05 deaths per 100,000 children.
Several states reported no child deaths due to abuse or neglect in 2005, including Delaware, Idaho, North Carolina and Vermont.
In fiscal year 2005, an estimated 3.3 million referrals, involving the alleged maltreatment of approximately 6 million children, were made to child protection agencies in the United States. This is an increase of approximately 73,000 children from 2004.
According to the U.S. DHHS maltreatment report, in fiscal year 2005 more than three-quarters (79.4 percent) of perpetrators of abuse and neglect were parents of their victim (s) and another 6.8 percent were other relatives. Unrelated caregivers — including foster parents, residential facility staff, child care providers and legal guardians — made up less than 10 percent of perpetrators.
Women comprised a larger percentage of all perpetrators than men — 57.8 percent compared to 42.2 percent. This includes all maltreatment crimes, including neglect.
Also according to the U.S. DHHS report, 7.7 percent of all perpetrators committed sexual abuse while 61 percent committed neglect.
Posted in Maine, New Hampshire, Studies, US NEWS.
http://sadlynormal.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/maine-and-nh-abuse-figures-not-easily-compared/
June 24, 2007 — Lisa
Article
By VICTORIA GUAY
Staff Writer
vguay@citizen.com
There were an estimated 899,000 victims of abuse and neglect in 2005, according to the 16th annual Child Maltreatment Report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published in April.
More than half of the victims (54.5 percent) were 7 years old or younger.
In New Hampshire, there were 941 victims of abuse and neglect in fiscal year 2005. This compares to 2001, when there were 1,102 victims.
Approximately 192 of New Hampshire’s 941 victims in 2005 (or 20.4 percent) were victims of physical abuse, and 185 (or 19.7 percent) were victims of sexual abuse.
In Maine, the federal report indicated there were 3,349 victims of abuse and neglect in fiscal year 2005. Of those children, 751 (or 22.4 percent) were victims of physical abuse and 426 (or 12.7 percent) were victims of sexual abuse.
Maine’s number of child victims was more than three times New Hampshire’s, despite both states having similar populations, New Hampshire at 1.31 million and Maine at 1.32 million.
Maggie Bishop, director of the New Hampshire Division of Children Youth and Families, said the disparity may be due to several possibilities.
First, each state has a different definition of what constitutes child abuse and neglect, usually set forth in a state statute. Second, many states have different data collection systems, Bishop said.
For example, one state may assign each child who may have been abused or neglected a separate case number while another state may assign one case number to a whole family. So an allegation of abuse by a mother of her four children may count as one case in one state and four cases in another.
Also, some states may count an allegation of both abuse and neglect against one child to be two cases, while another state would count it as one case.
“It’s like comparing apples to oranges,” Bishop said.
Dan Despard, director of Child Welfare Services in Maine, said that in addition to each state having different definitions of abuse, they also have different standards for how a finding should be made and the appeal process.
Despard said that Maine is a state that would consider an allegation of abuse and neglect against one child as one abuse victim and one neglect victim, which could account in part for why Maine’s number is so much higher in the federal report.
Despard said during fiscal year 2005, Maine had 17,681 reports made to the department.
Of those reports, 9,731 did not contain specific allegations of abuse or neglect, and were not investigated.
There were approximately 7,950 cases that were investigated and of those, 2,052 were confirmed cases. Of the 2,052 confirmed cases, Despard said there were 380 child victims of sexual abuse and 648 victims of physical abuse.
Despard said that Maine’s substantiation rate is 36.6 percent compared to New Hampshire’s 12 percent, which also helps account for the disparity in the number of victims listed in the federal report.
Bishop said in 2005 in New Hampshire, more than 16,000 alleged abuse and neglect incidents were reported. Of those, approximately 6,000 cases were investigated. There were 182 complete and substantiated investigations of physical child abuse, and 184 cases of sexual assault. (Ms. Bishop fails to report how many children were stolen and kept from their families due to allegations of "Anticipated Neglect in the Future.")(She also failed to report how many children were stolen in NH due to false allegations.)
Comparatively, there were 608 completed investigations of neglect allegations conducted by the division.
The states with the highest percentages of reported physical abuse victims include Alabama, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Vermont had 48.4 percent of its 1,080 confirmed victims suffering from physical abuse, Alabama’s percentage was 40.5 percent of 9,028 victims, and Pennsylvania’s rate was 32.4 percent out of 4,353 victims.
The states with the highest percent of sexual abuse victims during fiscal year 2005 include Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania reported that 62.5 percent of their total 4,353 confirmed child victims suffered sexual abuse. In Vermont, 46.5 percent of 1,080 confirmed child victims suffered sexual abuse, and in Wisconsin it was 37.8 percent of 9,686 total victims.
Nationally, of all the reported child victims during fiscal year 2005, 16.6 percent were physically abused and 9.3 percent were sexually abused. Neglect is by far the most reported crime, having affected 62.8 percent of child victims.
During fiscal year 2005, an estimated 1,460 children died due to abuse or neglect, at a rate of nearly two (1.96) children per every 100,000. In 2004, 1,490 children lost their lives, or slightly over two (2.3) children per 100,000.
More than three-quarters (76.6 percent) of children who died were younger than 4 years of age, 13.4 percent were 4 to 7 years of age, 4 percent were 8 to 11 years of age, and 6.1 percent were 12 to 17 years of age.
Infant boys (younger than 1 year old) had the highest fatality rate in 2005.
Below half (44.3 percent) of all fatalities were white children, 26 percent were African-American and 19.3 percent were Hispanic. American Indian, other minority groups and multiple race categories accounted for 4.5 percent of the fatalities.
Three-quarters (76.6 percent) of deaths due to abuse and neglect in 2005 were caused by a parent. Nonparental perpetrators accounted for 13 percent of the deaths.
In New Hampshire, out of a total child population of 303,151, there were 2 deaths attributed to abuse or neglect, for a rate of .66 per 100,000 children. In Maine, out of the total child population of 277,336, there was one fatality, resulting in a rate of .36 per 100,000.
The states that had the highest child death rates due to abuse and neglect were Oklahoma, with nearly 5 (4.8) deaths per 100,000 children; West Virginia, with 4.2 deaths per 100,000 children; Georgia at 3.2 deaths per 100,000 children; Texas with 3.1 deaths per 100,000 children; and Missouri, with 3.05 deaths per 100,000 children.
Several states reported no child deaths due to abuse or neglect in 2005, including Delaware, Idaho, North Carolina and Vermont.
In fiscal year 2005, an estimated 3.3 million referrals, involving the alleged maltreatment of approximately 6 million children, were made to child protection agencies in the United States. This is an increase of approximately 73,000 children from 2004.
According to the U.S. DHHS maltreatment report, in fiscal year 2005 more than three-quarters (79.4 percent) of perpetrators of abuse and neglect were parents of their victim (s) and another 6.8 percent were other relatives. Unrelated caregivers — including foster parents, residential facility staff, child care providers and legal guardians — made up less than 10 percent of perpetrators.
Women comprised a larger percentage of all perpetrators than men — 57.8 percent compared to 42.2 percent. This includes all maltreatment crimes, including neglect.
Also according to the U.S. DHHS report, 7.7 percent of all perpetrators committed sexual abuse while 61 percent committed neglect.
Posted in Maine, New Hampshire, Studies, US NEWS.
http://sadlynormal.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/maine-and-nh-abuse-figures-not-easily-compared/
DCYF goal: permanent homes for foster children
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
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
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)