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
Saturday, August 7, 2010
How Many Babies Have Died In Foster Care?
http://legallykidnapped.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-many-babies-have-died-in-foster.html
Friday, August 6, 2010
Four children ran away from foster care, found along I-35E
Four children ran away from foster care, found along I-35E
by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
Why would these kids run away from foster care? Could it be they want to be home with their families? If these kids were found on the road while living in their own homes, they would we taken from their parents and their parent's would be charged. It doesn't matter how well your home is secured. Foster parent's get away with what the Bio parent doesn't. Don't forget, they are the "chosen" by the great and powerful CPS/DCYF!
August 6, 2010
St. Paul, Minn. — Child protection workers are investigating a Maplewood foster care facility, after four children ran away from the residence and were found along a nearby freeway, police said.
Maplewood police chief Dave Thomalla said the children -- ages 4, 6, 8 and 9 -- left a short-term emergency foster care home early Thursday morning. The private residence houses children who have been removed from their original home due to abuse or other child protection concerns, he said.
"These four children, apparently under the guidance of one of them, decided that it would be good not to be at this shelter home, and basically did the great escape," he said.
A driver on I-35E noticed the children on the shoulder of the freeway near the Roselawn exit at about 5:30 a.m. and called police.
Thomalla said the children were trying to flag down motorists so they could borrow a cell phone to call for a ride. He said at least two of the children are related. The children didn't say where they planned to go, and police returned the children to the facility, he said.
"Kids run from these homes, and we've experienced that before," he said. "It's kind of like they don't want to be at home, and they don't want to be placed in another home, and they run away."
The facility is a private residence affiliated with Ramsey County, Thomalla said. He declined to provide the name of the facility, citing privacy concerns, but said that Ramsey County Child Protection Services is investigating the residence.
Ramsey County Child Protection Services could not be reached for comment.
Thomalla said that he doesn't know how the children were able to run away from the facility without anyone noticing. He said that a similar incident occurred several weeks ago when a child ran away from his grandfather's home in the middle of the night.
"It's a matter of how well your home is secured, I suppose, when you go to bed at night," he said.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/08/06/missing-children/
by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
Why would these kids run away from foster care? Could it be they want to be home with their families? If these kids were found on the road while living in their own homes, they would we taken from their parents and their parent's would be charged. It doesn't matter how well your home is secured. Foster parent's get away with what the Bio parent doesn't. Don't forget, they are the "chosen" by the great and powerful CPS/DCYF!
August 6, 2010
St. Paul, Minn. — Child protection workers are investigating a Maplewood foster care facility, after four children ran away from the residence and were found along a nearby freeway, police said.
Maplewood police chief Dave Thomalla said the children -- ages 4, 6, 8 and 9 -- left a short-term emergency foster care home early Thursday morning. The private residence houses children who have been removed from their original home due to abuse or other child protection concerns, he said.
"These four children, apparently under the guidance of one of them, decided that it would be good not to be at this shelter home, and basically did the great escape," he said.
A driver on I-35E noticed the children on the shoulder of the freeway near the Roselawn exit at about 5:30 a.m. and called police.
Thomalla said the children were trying to flag down motorists so they could borrow a cell phone to call for a ride. He said at least two of the children are related. The children didn't say where they planned to go, and police returned the children to the facility, he said.
"Kids run from these homes, and we've experienced that before," he said. "It's kind of like they don't want to be at home, and they don't want to be placed in another home, and they run away."
The facility is a private residence affiliated with Ramsey County, Thomalla said. He declined to provide the name of the facility, citing privacy concerns, but said that Ramsey County Child Protection Services is investigating the residence.
Ramsey County Child Protection Services could not be reached for comment.
Thomalla said that he doesn't know how the children were able to run away from the facility without anyone noticing. He said that a similar incident occurred several weeks ago when a child ran away from his grandfather's home in the middle of the night.
"It's a matter of how well your home is secured, I suppose, when you go to bed at night," he said.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/08/06/missing-children/
Child porn swoop nets 90 police, Welfare Worker's, Care Worker's and Teachers
Child porn swoop nets 90 police
Martin Bright and Paul Harris
The Observer, Sunday 20 October 2002
Article history
Hundreds of child welfare professionals, including police officers, care workers and teachers, have been identified as 'extremely high-risk' paedophiles by an investigation into internet porn.
The discovery came after US authorities passed on more than 7,000 names of UK subscribers to an American-based child porn website. When police examined a sample of the most dedicated users, they discovered that many worked with children.
Investigators knew paedophiles targeted jobs which brought them into contact with children, but were shocked by how many British suspects had been undetected by the usual checks.
The discovery that many were working in jobs of the highest sensitivity will send shock waves through the child protection world and lead to calls for even more stringent safeguards.
Investigators now believe as many as 90 police officers have so far been identified from an initial trawl of 200 of the British names found in the US. Many of the other suspects work in other sensitive professions, often linked to the criminal justice system.
John Carr of the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS), which represents all major children's organisations, including the NSPCC, NCH and Barnardos, said: 'It's very distressing to learn that so many policeman are being arrested for these sorts of offences. It undermines people's confidence in our ability to deal with it at all.'
Harry Fletcher, deputy general secretary of the probation union Napo, said: 'There has been growing evidence over the past 10 years that paedophiles have infiltrated careers that put them in direct contact with children. This latest evidence suggests we have to be even more vigilant.'
Specialist child porn investigators, including officers from the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, have initially concentrated on users who had made more than 10 purchases of child porn from the internet. They used a US web 'portal' that gave access to dozens of sites with titles such as Cyber Lolita, I Am Fourteen and Child Rape. The sites were run by porn barons in Russia and Indonesia and involved abuse committed on captive children.
British involvement in the child porn ring was so large that police set up Operation Ore to investigate all 7,200 subscribers in this country. They have passed on all the names to the relevant forces for further investigation; 700 are known to be in Scotland and 279 in Cambridgeshire. Police believe at least 5,000 could be considered 'goers' and lead to arrests.
Operation Ore has also uncovered civil servants, a firefighter and a teacher in Northern Ireland. Another teacher has been arrested in Cambridgeshire and suspended from working with 11-year-olds at a village school.
One Home Office insider told The Observer that investigations targeted the most serious cases, where arrests and convictions were thought to be relatively straightforward. These involve images of pre-pubescent children where suspects cannot claim they believed they were purchasing adult porn.
The US investigation, Operation Avalanche, was set up by the United States Postal Inspection Service, which probes online porn. It began in Texas and has generated more than 75,000 identities worldwide.
The website portal was run by Thomas and Janice Reedy, a married couple in Fort Worth, Texas, who were running an online porn empire from their suburban mansion which generated £1 million a month in fees. Both have been sent to prison.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Apco) has warned Ministers that forces do not have the resources to deal with the problem. It is awaiting a Home Office decision on a submission for £2 million of crisis funding.
A Home Office spokeswoman said Ministers welcomed Acpo's focus on the issue, but they had already provided an extra £25 million to help combat hi-tech crime, including child porn.
A police spokesman said: 'There are people up and down this country who are sweating. Give us their computer, even if it's been thrown on a skip, and we can quickly nail them.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2002/oct/20/childrensservices.crime
Martin Bright and Paul Harris
The Observer, Sunday 20 October 2002
Article history
Hundreds of child welfare professionals, including police officers, care workers and teachers, have been identified as 'extremely high-risk' paedophiles by an investigation into internet porn.
The discovery came after US authorities passed on more than 7,000 names of UK subscribers to an American-based child porn website. When police examined a sample of the most dedicated users, they discovered that many worked with children.
Investigators knew paedophiles targeted jobs which brought them into contact with children, but were shocked by how many British suspects had been undetected by the usual checks.
The discovery that many were working in jobs of the highest sensitivity will send shock waves through the child protection world and lead to calls for even more stringent safeguards.
Investigators now believe as many as 90 police officers have so far been identified from an initial trawl of 200 of the British names found in the US. Many of the other suspects work in other sensitive professions, often linked to the criminal justice system.
John Carr of the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS), which represents all major children's organisations, including the NSPCC, NCH and Barnardos, said: 'It's very distressing to learn that so many policeman are being arrested for these sorts of offences. It undermines people's confidence in our ability to deal with it at all.'
Harry Fletcher, deputy general secretary of the probation union Napo, said: 'There has been growing evidence over the past 10 years that paedophiles have infiltrated careers that put them in direct contact with children. This latest evidence suggests we have to be even more vigilant.'
Specialist child porn investigators, including officers from the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, have initially concentrated on users who had made more than 10 purchases of child porn from the internet. They used a US web 'portal' that gave access to dozens of sites with titles such as Cyber Lolita, I Am Fourteen and Child Rape. The sites were run by porn barons in Russia and Indonesia and involved abuse committed on captive children.
British involvement in the child porn ring was so large that police set up Operation Ore to investigate all 7,200 subscribers in this country. They have passed on all the names to the relevant forces for further investigation; 700 are known to be in Scotland and 279 in Cambridgeshire. Police believe at least 5,000 could be considered 'goers' and lead to arrests.
Operation Ore has also uncovered civil servants, a firefighter and a teacher in Northern Ireland. Another teacher has been arrested in Cambridgeshire and suspended from working with 11-year-olds at a village school.
One Home Office insider told The Observer that investigations targeted the most serious cases, where arrests and convictions were thought to be relatively straightforward. These involve images of pre-pubescent children where suspects cannot claim they believed they were purchasing adult porn.
The US investigation, Operation Avalanche, was set up by the United States Postal Inspection Service, which probes online porn. It began in Texas and has generated more than 75,000 identities worldwide.
The website portal was run by Thomas and Janice Reedy, a married couple in Fort Worth, Texas, who were running an online porn empire from their suburban mansion which generated £1 million a month in fees. Both have been sent to prison.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Apco) has warned Ministers that forces do not have the resources to deal with the problem. It is awaiting a Home Office decision on a submission for £2 million of crisis funding.
A Home Office spokeswoman said Ministers welcomed Acpo's focus on the issue, but they had already provided an extra £25 million to help combat hi-tech crime, including child porn.
A police spokesman said: 'There are people up and down this country who are sweating. Give us their computer, even if it's been thrown on a skip, and we can quickly nail them.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2002/oct/20/childrensservices.crime
Oregon sues Canadian over foster care
Oregon sues Canadian over foster care
By KATIE SCHNEIDER, QMI Agency
CALGARY - The mother who fought Oregon authorities for two years to get her son back to Canada after he was seized into foster care says it's ridiculous they are now suing her for child care costs.
The boy, now 12 years old, was taken by U.S. officials in 2008 while visiting his stepfather in Oakridge, Ore.
His mom battled for two years to get her son back to Calgary and finally saw her wish come true when he was returned to her last month.
Now the state is coming after her for costs related to his stay in foster care including medical expenses, citing the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act.
On Monday, she received a notice of hearing from the Alberta provincial court asking her to appear in court Sept. 14.
"They want support money to pay for all the expenses and his medical care covered," she said.
"They tripled his medication, took him to doctors, he was seeing a therapist because of the trauma of being taken."
She said authorities could have just sent him back to Canada if they didn't want to pay his costs.
"My son wasn't supposed to be there - I won, I got him back," she said.
"After that they have the gall to charge me for his care?"
The mother said when she first read the letter her first reaction was to laugh.
"It's ridiculous," she said.
"I said 'no way' and I started laughing because it's so absurd.
"Now that I have my son back, which is the most important thing, I can take amusement of the ridiculousness of it."
She said the documents do not say how much authorities are seeking.
Lawyer Tony Merchant who fought for the mom to get her son back, called the turn of events "bizarre."
"Our firm has more family law litigation filed than any in Canada and I've never seen this happen before," he said.
"It's backwards.
"You wonder what misguided views could have caused this."
He also wonders if the costs the state of Oregon are trying to recoup also include those related to his schooling.
The boy was taken in September 2008 after he was stopped for riding his bike without a helmet.
He has a severe attention deficit disorder and struggled to explain he was on holiday and staying with his stepdad.
He was eventually shuffled through four foster care placements and three schools until he was returned home June 11.
The case, first reported by QMI Agency, attracted international attention as the Calgary mom pleaded with the Canadian government to step in.
She said her son is doing well, glad to be home, and ready to begin junior high in the fall.
"He's in seventh heaven," she said.
katie.schneider@sunmedia.ca
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/07/29/14862401.html
By KATIE SCHNEIDER, QMI Agency
CALGARY - The mother who fought Oregon authorities for two years to get her son back to Canada after he was seized into foster care says it's ridiculous they are now suing her for child care costs.
The boy, now 12 years old, was taken by U.S. officials in 2008 while visiting his stepfather in Oakridge, Ore.
His mom battled for two years to get her son back to Calgary and finally saw her wish come true when he was returned to her last month.
Now the state is coming after her for costs related to his stay in foster care including medical expenses, citing the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act.
On Monday, she received a notice of hearing from the Alberta provincial court asking her to appear in court Sept. 14.
"They want support money to pay for all the expenses and his medical care covered," she said.
"They tripled his medication, took him to doctors, he was seeing a therapist because of the trauma of being taken."
She said authorities could have just sent him back to Canada if they didn't want to pay his costs.
"My son wasn't supposed to be there - I won, I got him back," she said.
"After that they have the gall to charge me for his care?"
The mother said when she first read the letter her first reaction was to laugh.
"It's ridiculous," she said.
"I said 'no way' and I started laughing because it's so absurd.
"Now that I have my son back, which is the most important thing, I can take amusement of the ridiculousness of it."
She said the documents do not say how much authorities are seeking.
Lawyer Tony Merchant who fought for the mom to get her son back, called the turn of events "bizarre."
"Our firm has more family law litigation filed than any in Canada and I've never seen this happen before," he said.
"It's backwards.
"You wonder what misguided views could have caused this."
He also wonders if the costs the state of Oregon are trying to recoup also include those related to his schooling.
The boy was taken in September 2008 after he was stopped for riding his bike without a helmet.
He has a severe attention deficit disorder and struggled to explain he was on holiday and staying with his stepdad.
He was eventually shuffled through four foster care placements and three schools until he was returned home June 11.
The case, first reported by QMI Agency, attracted international attention as the Calgary mom pleaded with the Canadian government to step in.
She said her son is doing well, glad to be home, and ready to begin junior high in the fall.
"He's in seventh heaven," she said.
katie.schneider@sunmedia.ca
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/07/29/14862401.html
Group home employees cited for ‘neglect’
Group home employees cited for ‘neglect’
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 6, 2010
By Lynn Arditi
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — State officials have cited three staff members at a Johnston group home with “institutional neglect” for confining a group of teenage boys to a poorly ventilated common room for nearly five hours during last month’s heat wave while a manager questioned the boys about the theft of some clothing.
“The children were exposed to conditions that were detrimental to their health and well-being because…of the excessive heat,” said Jorge Garcia, deputy director of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families. Though the decision to confine the boys was made by the group home’s program manager, he said, the other two staff members “could have prevented it from happening” or reported the incident to the state’s child abuse and neglect hotline (1-800-RI CHILD).
The DCYF also cited the group home with 11 licensing violations, including a lockdown following the reported theft during which all but two newly arrived residents were not allowed to leave the property for eight days. The punishment, the agency reported, was “cruel, unusual and unnecessary.”
During the eight-day restriction, Garcia said, one of the seven boys living there was prevented from a scheduled visit home. State regulations require the operators of residential facilities to consult with the DCYF before restricting home visits.
The DCYF also cited the group home’s staff for several maintenance violations, including failure to report a broken water pump which limited toilet flushing and showers, and failure to properly clean and maintain the facility. The staff had been taking the boys to the local YMCA to shower.
The Johnston home, on Greenville Avenue, is owned and operated by the Windsor, Conn.-based nonprofit operation Community Solutions Inc. Community Solutions has a contract with one of the state’s leading child-welfare providers, Child & Family of Middletown, to run the group home in Johnston for teenage boys with behavioral problems.
Community Solutions’ chief executive, Robert D. Pidgeon, said Wednesday that he was prohibited by regulation from discussing details of the report.
The Johnston group home is one of 104 licensed residential-care facilities in Rhode Island.
In addition to the required annual licensing inspections, the DCYF has three program monitors –– down from six monitors a few years ago –– who are supposed to visit each residential-care facility in the state every three months. (Though no state law or regulation requires these visits, the DCYC has said they are “standard practice.”)
When the problems at the Johnston group home were discovered, the state program monitor hadn’t set foot in the facility in more than a year.
The problems surfaced after the state child advocate’s office –– an independent agency created to serve as a watchdog over the state child-welfare system –– received a call from a social worker who had a scheduled visit at the Johnston home. Two investigators from the child advocate’s office made an unannounced visit to the home on July 8. They reported that five boys had been confined to a sweltering common room earlier that week with no air conditioning for hours in an effort to get them to confess about the theft of some clothing.
On the day of the confinement — July 6 — temperatures climbed as high as 102 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass.
The DCYF sent its own investigators to interview the children and staff and, on July 9, ordered the home shut down and the children moved to other facilities. The DCYF placed the group home’s license on probation pending a full investigation.
The agency confirmed that on July 6, five of the boys had been confined to a poorly ventilated common room in “excessive heat” for 4 hours and 45 minutes, Garcia said, while the director questioned the boys separately about the theft in her office. (State regulations have no requirement that common rooms be air-conditioned, only that they have adequate ventilation.)
The DCYF concluded this amounted to “institutional neglect” on the part of the director and the other two staff members. The finding, Garcia said, will become part of their permanent record in the state’s Child Abuse & Neglect Registry, which child-welfare agencies in other states can request when considering hiring. However, there is no penalty associated with the finding, he said, nor would it disqualify them from working in other childcare facilities.
Since the group home closed, the three staffers have remained on the payroll — cleaning, painting and repairing the Johnston house — but have not been working with children, said Pidgeon, the group home operator’s chief executive.
larditi@projo.com
http://www.projo.com/news/content/JOHNSTON_GROUP_HOME_VIOLATIONS_08-06-10_BNJF2_v153.22a64b3.html
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 6, 2010
By Lynn Arditi
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — State officials have cited three staff members at a Johnston group home with “institutional neglect” for confining a group of teenage boys to a poorly ventilated common room for nearly five hours during last month’s heat wave while a manager questioned the boys about the theft of some clothing.
“The children were exposed to conditions that were detrimental to their health and well-being because…of the excessive heat,” said Jorge Garcia, deputy director of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families. Though the decision to confine the boys was made by the group home’s program manager, he said, the other two staff members “could have prevented it from happening” or reported the incident to the state’s child abuse and neglect hotline (1-800-RI CHILD).
The DCYF also cited the group home with 11 licensing violations, including a lockdown following the reported theft during which all but two newly arrived residents were not allowed to leave the property for eight days. The punishment, the agency reported, was “cruel, unusual and unnecessary.”
During the eight-day restriction, Garcia said, one of the seven boys living there was prevented from a scheduled visit home. State regulations require the operators of residential facilities to consult with the DCYF before restricting home visits.
The DCYF also cited the group home’s staff for several maintenance violations, including failure to report a broken water pump which limited toilet flushing and showers, and failure to properly clean and maintain the facility. The staff had been taking the boys to the local YMCA to shower.
The Johnston home, on Greenville Avenue, is owned and operated by the Windsor, Conn.-based nonprofit operation Community Solutions Inc. Community Solutions has a contract with one of the state’s leading child-welfare providers, Child & Family of Middletown, to run the group home in Johnston for teenage boys with behavioral problems.
Community Solutions’ chief executive, Robert D. Pidgeon, said Wednesday that he was prohibited by regulation from discussing details of the report.
The Johnston group home is one of 104 licensed residential-care facilities in Rhode Island.
In addition to the required annual licensing inspections, the DCYF has three program monitors –– down from six monitors a few years ago –– who are supposed to visit each residential-care facility in the state every three months. (Though no state law or regulation requires these visits, the DCYC has said they are “standard practice.”)
When the problems at the Johnston group home were discovered, the state program monitor hadn’t set foot in the facility in more than a year.
The problems surfaced after the state child advocate’s office –– an independent agency created to serve as a watchdog over the state child-welfare system –– received a call from a social worker who had a scheduled visit at the Johnston home. Two investigators from the child advocate’s office made an unannounced visit to the home on July 8. They reported that five boys had been confined to a sweltering common room earlier that week with no air conditioning for hours in an effort to get them to confess about the theft of some clothing.
On the day of the confinement — July 6 — temperatures climbed as high as 102 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass.
The DCYF sent its own investigators to interview the children and staff and, on July 9, ordered the home shut down and the children moved to other facilities. The DCYF placed the group home’s license on probation pending a full investigation.
The agency confirmed that on July 6, five of the boys had been confined to a poorly ventilated common room in “excessive heat” for 4 hours and 45 minutes, Garcia said, while the director questioned the boys separately about the theft in her office. (State regulations have no requirement that common rooms be air-conditioned, only that they have adequate ventilation.)
The DCYF concluded this amounted to “institutional neglect” on the part of the director and the other two staff members. The finding, Garcia said, will become part of their permanent record in the state’s Child Abuse & Neglect Registry, which child-welfare agencies in other states can request when considering hiring. However, there is no penalty associated with the finding, he said, nor would it disqualify them from working in other childcare facilities.
Since the group home closed, the three staffers have remained on the payroll — cleaning, painting and repairing the Johnston house — but have not been working with children, said Pidgeon, the group home operator’s chief executive.
larditi@projo.com
http://www.projo.com/news/content/JOHNSTON_GROUP_HOME_VIOLATIONS_08-06-10_BNJF2_v153.22a64b3.html
How to fix L.A. County's broken child welfare system
How to fix L.A. County's broken child welfare system
The focus must be on getting at-risk kids into safe homes. The Sheriff's Department should handle abuse investigations. And there must be an independent, public review of serious injuries and deaths.
By Wendy Ramallo
August 6, 2010
Another child death, another vote by Los Angeles County supervisors.
Miguel Padilla, Lazhanae Harris, Nicole Haas and now 11-year-old Jorge Tarin, who hanged himself in June, are just a few of the hundreds of children who have died when they should have been protected by Los Angeles County's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. News reports said Jorge's caseworker didn't have the technology to get the facts that might have prevented his suicide. But children don't lose their lives because of the lack of a wireless computer card. Time and time again, they die because of a negligent system.
Jorge lived in a world of neglect and violence. His home didn't become dangerous overnight. He should have been removed from his abusers long ago. When you leave children in dangerous homes or send them back to such homes, at best you're severely damaging them psychologically, and at worst you're playing Russian roulette with their lives.
Yet the number of children removed from abusive homes in Los Angeles County is artificially low because of an unacceptable backlog of investigations, and because thousands more "act out" and end up transferred to supervision under the Los Angeles County Probation Department.
Get the best in Southern California opinion journalism delivered to your inbox with our Opinion L.A. newsletter. Sign up »
If the social workers we are sending out do not have the basic common sense needed to keep a child out of danger, or the skill and resources necessary to supervise a case, then the system needs an overhaul. It is past the time for studies and incremental change.
Caring for our most vulnerable children is difficult, and there are outstanding staff members in the Department of Children and Family Services. But when I worked on these issues a decade ago, the same problems were occurring. Why does Los Angeles County continue to fail?
We know that professionals in other jurisdictions get the job done: Colorado, Massachusetts and New York have instituted excellent reforms in child protection, placement, adoption and coordination with juvenile justice systems. We need to ask: Why aren't those professionals here?
Bold steps need to be taken. The county Board of Supervisors has called for an independent audit of the Department of Children and Family Services, but we don't have time to wait for that.
First, the department's organizational structure in a county of this size and complexity is fatally flawed. It's a behemoth, with far too many responsibilities to focus on its main job: getting abused kids into safe homes. At a minimum, the department should transfer all abuse investigations to the Sheriff's Department, and then work with that department in multidisciplinary teams. Many other jurisdictions run abuse investigations jointly with law enforcement or hand them off altogether — this is not a radical concept.
Second, a permanent, independent structure for the public review of serious child injuries and deaths must be put in place for both the Department of Children and Family Services and the Probation Department.
Where there is no public scrutiny, there is no pressure for change. We've set up such systems in the past — an inspector general's office, for example — only to see them disbanded, defunded or otherwise marginalized as political winds change direction.
This week, at a meeting of the Los Angeles Children and Family Commission, a county attorney blocked information about serious injuries and deaths in the system. This can't be allowed in agencies that we, the taxpayers, are supporting.
Third, the county should launch a grass-roots, multimedia campaign to recruit more emergency placement homes and licensed foster parents. The county also should consider creating a division solely dedicated to out-of-home-care recruitment, training and support. The Department of Children and Family Services spent almost $6 million on tablet computers, but when was the last time you were asked to be a foster parent?
Fourth, Los Angeles County's child welfare and juvenile probation systems must be better integrated. According to the Child Welfare League of America, at least 40% of the children who end up in the juvenile justice system have histories of abuse and neglect. In my experience, those statistics are higher in Los Angeles County. Yet the Department of Children and Family Services and the Probation Department are mired in jurisdictional competition and a willful lack of communication.
Jorge's suicide is only the latest wakeup call. Let's stop proclaiming our outrage when a child dies in the county's care. It's time to turn outrage into real reform.
Wendy Ramallo is a former senior legislative deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina who handled Department of Children and Family Services, Probation Department and law enforcement issues, and is a former Los Angeles County Children's Commissioner.
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ramallo-dcfs-20100806,0,1194701.story
The focus must be on getting at-risk kids into safe homes. The Sheriff's Department should handle abuse investigations. And there must be an independent, public review of serious injuries and deaths.
By Wendy Ramallo
August 6, 2010
Another child death, another vote by Los Angeles County supervisors.
Miguel Padilla, Lazhanae Harris, Nicole Haas and now 11-year-old Jorge Tarin, who hanged himself in June, are just a few of the hundreds of children who have died when they should have been protected by Los Angeles County's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. News reports said Jorge's caseworker didn't have the technology to get the facts that might have prevented his suicide. But children don't lose their lives because of the lack of a wireless computer card. Time and time again, they die because of a negligent system.
Jorge lived in a world of neglect and violence. His home didn't become dangerous overnight. He should have been removed from his abusers long ago. When you leave children in dangerous homes or send them back to such homes, at best you're severely damaging them psychologically, and at worst you're playing Russian roulette with their lives.
Yet the number of children removed from abusive homes in Los Angeles County is artificially low because of an unacceptable backlog of investigations, and because thousands more "act out" and end up transferred to supervision under the Los Angeles County Probation Department.
Get the best in Southern California opinion journalism delivered to your inbox with our Opinion L.A. newsletter. Sign up »
If the social workers we are sending out do not have the basic common sense needed to keep a child out of danger, or the skill and resources necessary to supervise a case, then the system needs an overhaul. It is past the time for studies and incremental change.
Caring for our most vulnerable children is difficult, and there are outstanding staff members in the Department of Children and Family Services. But when I worked on these issues a decade ago, the same problems were occurring. Why does Los Angeles County continue to fail?
We know that professionals in other jurisdictions get the job done: Colorado, Massachusetts and New York have instituted excellent reforms in child protection, placement, adoption and coordination with juvenile justice systems. We need to ask: Why aren't those professionals here?
Bold steps need to be taken. The county Board of Supervisors has called for an independent audit of the Department of Children and Family Services, but we don't have time to wait for that.
First, the department's organizational structure in a county of this size and complexity is fatally flawed. It's a behemoth, with far too many responsibilities to focus on its main job: getting abused kids into safe homes. At a minimum, the department should transfer all abuse investigations to the Sheriff's Department, and then work with that department in multidisciplinary teams. Many other jurisdictions run abuse investigations jointly with law enforcement or hand them off altogether — this is not a radical concept.
Second, a permanent, independent structure for the public review of serious child injuries and deaths must be put in place for both the Department of Children and Family Services and the Probation Department.
Where there is no public scrutiny, there is no pressure for change. We've set up such systems in the past — an inspector general's office, for example — only to see them disbanded, defunded or otherwise marginalized as political winds change direction.
This week, at a meeting of the Los Angeles Children and Family Commission, a county attorney blocked information about serious injuries and deaths in the system. This can't be allowed in agencies that we, the taxpayers, are supporting.
Third, the county should launch a grass-roots, multimedia campaign to recruit more emergency placement homes and licensed foster parents. The county also should consider creating a division solely dedicated to out-of-home-care recruitment, training and support. The Department of Children and Family Services spent almost $6 million on tablet computers, but when was the last time you were asked to be a foster parent?
Fourth, Los Angeles County's child welfare and juvenile probation systems must be better integrated. According to the Child Welfare League of America, at least 40% of the children who end up in the juvenile justice system have histories of abuse and neglect. In my experience, those statistics are higher in Los Angeles County. Yet the Department of Children and Family Services and the Probation Department are mired in jurisdictional competition and a willful lack of communication.
Jorge's suicide is only the latest wakeup call. Let's stop proclaiming our outrage when a child dies in the county's care. It's time to turn outrage into real reform.
Wendy Ramallo is a former senior legislative deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina who handled Department of Children and Family Services, Probation Department and law enforcement issues, and is a former Los Angeles County Children's Commissioner.
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ramallo-dcfs-20100806,0,1194701.story
'My foster mother may as well have been my pimp'
'My foster mother may as well have been my pimp'
"To this day I don't know why I was taken from my real mother. All I want are answers"
Published Date: 06 August 2010
Catherine's* story is painful to hear. Taken from her birth mother when she was just an infant, she spent the first 18 years of her life in the care.
During her 16 years with a foster family, she was both physically and sexually abused by the men she believed to have been her brothers.
Upon breaking her silence about the abuse she was enduring, she was outcast by her family, branded a liar and sent to a school for trouble-makers. Her experiences left her so scarred she gave up a baby for adoption at the age of 18 and has spent years trying to find answers.
To this day, the Derry woman does not know why she - and eight siblings - were taken from the care of their mother. She claims that, when she contacted Social Services to ask to see her files, she was told they had been destroyed - but now, at the age of 48, she says she feels strong enough to lay the demons of her past to rest.
"No one has ever told me why we were taken from my mother. All I know is that I was only an infant at the time - maybe two of three months old - when I was moved to live with my foster family.
"No one ever told me I was fostered. I believed them to my real family and my foster mother to be my real mum. I couldn't understand why she let the things that happened to me happen."
When Catherine turned 10, she said her foster brothers started to abuse her. "It was both physical and sexual. My foster mother must have known about it but she did nothing. As far as I was concerned, she may as well have been my pimp."
The abuse continued for three years until a chance conversation in the street blew the reality of Catherine's life wide open.
"I was playing in the street when my friend said she knew my sister. I laughed and told her of course she did, sure didn't she live in the house with me. She looked and me and said, 'No, your real sister,' and that was the first I knew that the woman who had raised me was not my real mother.
"I started piecing things together. I learned that some of the children who had come in and out of our home over the years were actually my brothers and sisters but no one told me.
"It was then I started playing up and acting out. I was hurt that they had lied to me, but I was also increasingly aware that what was happening to me was very wrong."
She admits that, from that stage, she became a troublesome child - running away and acting up. She said no one ever asked her why she was running away. They thought she was trying to stir up trouble, but in her words she was "only trying to escape the hell" her home life had become.
"Looking back, all the signs were there that I was being abused but no one seemed to want to do anything about it. I felt alone."
When Catherine was 16, she travelled into town one day and decided to go to visit Social Services herself - where she reported what had happened to her. She was shipped to St. Joseph's Training Centre in Middletown and, when her allegations were put to her foster family, they were denied.
"To have no one believe me, that was devastating."
The allegations tore what was left of Catherine's birth family apart. She did not see her elder sister for five years, nor her brother until she married seven years later. During this time, she gave one baby up for adoption and had another child die. "No one from my family attended the funeral," she said sadly.
In 1992, at the age of 30, Catherine approached Social Services to see her records and was told they had been destroyed in a fire. She is still fighting to find whatever information she can about her past.
"All I want are answers. Why was I taken from my mother? Where the family I was placed with ever vetted? Why did no one listen when I reported the abuse?"
A spokesperson for the Western Health and Social Care Trust said: "Respecting confidentiality, it would not be appropriate for the Trust to comment on any individual patient or client.
"The Trust would encourage this lady to get in touch with the Fostering Service to discuss the serious matters raised.
"The Fostering Service would be happy to arrange for this lady to meet a senior member of the team who would provide whatever help and support they can in relation to this situation. The Fostering Team can be contacted on 028 71314244."In relation to records held by the Trust, any member of the public can submit a subject access request to search for copies of their records under the Data Protection Act 1998. Further information can be obtained by contacting the Information Governance Office, Main Building, Tyrone & Fermanagh Hospital, 1 Donaghanie Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone BT79 0NS, tel 02882 835440 or fax 02882 835249. An application form is also available on the Trust's website: www.westerntrust.hscni.net."
* Name has been changed
Last Updated: 06 August 2010 9:36 AM
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/My-foster-mother-may-as.6461228.jp
"To this day I don't know why I was taken from my real mother. All I want are answers"
Published Date: 06 August 2010
Catherine's* story is painful to hear. Taken from her birth mother when she was just an infant, she spent the first 18 years of her life in the care.
During her 16 years with a foster family, she was both physically and sexually abused by the men she believed to have been her brothers.
Upon breaking her silence about the abuse she was enduring, she was outcast by her family, branded a liar and sent to a school for trouble-makers. Her experiences left her so scarred she gave up a baby for adoption at the age of 18 and has spent years trying to find answers.
To this day, the Derry woman does not know why she - and eight siblings - were taken from the care of their mother. She claims that, when she contacted Social Services to ask to see her files, she was told they had been destroyed - but now, at the age of 48, she says she feels strong enough to lay the demons of her past to rest.
"No one has ever told me why we were taken from my mother. All I know is that I was only an infant at the time - maybe two of three months old - when I was moved to live with my foster family.
"No one ever told me I was fostered. I believed them to my real family and my foster mother to be my real mum. I couldn't understand why she let the things that happened to me happen."
When Catherine turned 10, she said her foster brothers started to abuse her. "It was both physical and sexual. My foster mother must have known about it but she did nothing. As far as I was concerned, she may as well have been my pimp."
The abuse continued for three years until a chance conversation in the street blew the reality of Catherine's life wide open.
"I was playing in the street when my friend said she knew my sister. I laughed and told her of course she did, sure didn't she live in the house with me. She looked and me and said, 'No, your real sister,' and that was the first I knew that the woman who had raised me was not my real mother.
"I started piecing things together. I learned that some of the children who had come in and out of our home over the years were actually my brothers and sisters but no one told me.
"It was then I started playing up and acting out. I was hurt that they had lied to me, but I was also increasingly aware that what was happening to me was very wrong."
She admits that, from that stage, she became a troublesome child - running away and acting up. She said no one ever asked her why she was running away. They thought she was trying to stir up trouble, but in her words she was "only trying to escape the hell" her home life had become.
"Looking back, all the signs were there that I was being abused but no one seemed to want to do anything about it. I felt alone."
When Catherine was 16, she travelled into town one day and decided to go to visit Social Services herself - where she reported what had happened to her. She was shipped to St. Joseph's Training Centre in Middletown and, when her allegations were put to her foster family, they were denied.
"To have no one believe me, that was devastating."
The allegations tore what was left of Catherine's birth family apart. She did not see her elder sister for five years, nor her brother until she married seven years later. During this time, she gave one baby up for adoption and had another child die. "No one from my family attended the funeral," she said sadly.
In 1992, at the age of 30, Catherine approached Social Services to see her records and was told they had been destroyed in a fire. She is still fighting to find whatever information she can about her past.
"All I want are answers. Why was I taken from my mother? Where the family I was placed with ever vetted? Why did no one listen when I reported the abuse?"
A spokesperson for the Western Health and Social Care Trust said: "Respecting confidentiality, it would not be appropriate for the Trust to comment on any individual patient or client.
"The Trust would encourage this lady to get in touch with the Fostering Service to discuss the serious matters raised.
"The Fostering Service would be happy to arrange for this lady to meet a senior member of the team who would provide whatever help and support they can in relation to this situation. The Fostering Team can be contacted on 028 71314244."In relation to records held by the Trust, any member of the public can submit a subject access request to search for copies of their records under the Data Protection Act 1998. Further information can be obtained by contacting the Information Governance Office, Main Building, Tyrone & Fermanagh Hospital, 1 Donaghanie Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone BT79 0NS, tel 02882 835440 or fax 02882 835249. An application form is also available on the Trust's website: www.westerntrust.hscni.net."
* Name has been changed
Last Updated: 06 August 2010 9:36 AM
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/My-foster-mother-may-as.6461228.jp
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