DCF FAILURES

Review: DCF Failed To Protect Blake Rupe

TAVARES, Fla. -- Officials with the Department of Children and Families said on Thursday that case managers took a gamble with a 15-month-old child that may have cost him his life.

"We know we could have done more. We know we have an obligation to do more," DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said.

Even after signs of child abuse in the home, Blake Rupe was allowed to stay with his mother.

Authorities said he died in December of blunt-force trauma. He suffered brain swelling and six broken bones.

Thee-in boyfriend, David Tatara, 27, had been at home with Blake at the time. Records showed she believes he's responsible for the child's death.

Tavares police haven't named any suspects in the case.

"It's a month later and still no arrests, but that doesn't mean we haven't been working," Tavares Police Department Lt. David Myers said.

The homicide happened less than one year after DCF first had contact with the family.

His 21-year-old mother and her boyfriend brought Blake into a Kissimmee hospital when he was just 4 months old. Investigators said his mouth was bleeding and his face was bruised.

"That injury was likely caused by someone forcibly shoving a pacifier or bottle into the child's mouth," Hoeppner said.

The mother voluntarily met with case workers for eight months, but officials said that didn't include Tatara, who repeatedly had a history of alcohol and domestic violence abuse.

During that time, there were more reports of unexplained cuts and bruises.

A review of the case found it took a case manager 10 days to check on the child's injuries. Mandatory reports about the family's stability weren't filed, and the case was closed when the couple moved to Tavares.

"When you look at this case, you can't help but see a series of breakdowns," Hoeppner said.

Blake'ssister, 2, was placed in foster care. Investigators said they found evidence she had been abused, suffering a gash to her head and arm fractures.

The case manager and her supervisor worked for a contracted agency and were terminated.

Great topic Toes that twinkle! Wish I had thought of it....

Abuse, murder case may net foster child $4 million

01/22/11 2:55 PM

A boy who suffered abuse while in San Francisco’s foster care system and whose twin sister was murdered by their guardian is poised to receive $4 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against The City.

In 2008, Antioch foster mother Shameeka Davis was charged by the Contra Costa County district attorney with torturing and murdering her 15-year-old niece Jazzmin Davis and abusing her twin brother.

The children were under the supervision of the San Francisco Department of Child Protective Services. Examinations reportedly showed both had been burned with hot irons and whipped with belts and electrical cords over time. In August 2009, the brother filed a lawsuit against The City.

A $4 million settlement agreement will be introduced Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors for review and approval.

The San Francisco Examiner is not naming the brother because he’s a minor.

The case raised questions about the state of San Francisco’s foster care system. At the time of the incident, Trent Rhorer, executive director of San Francisco’s Human Services Agency, was quoted in the press as saying neither San Francisco nor Contra Costa children’s services received any reports of suspected abuse. A social worker had visited Jazzmin in March 2008 and reportedly found no evidence of abuse. Jazzmin was found dead in September of that year.

“This is not something that goes away,” said Darren Kessler, the plaintiff’s attorney. “This is something that will be with him for the rest of his life.”

Kessler said a “central focus” of the case should be on why the abuse happened in the first place. “There has been a lax attitude toward children in the foster care system.” Kessler said, adding, “Hopefully this outcome will make a difference.”

Here's a case where the social workers and judge ought to be locked up IMO!
https://justice4caylee.forumotion.net/t10372-jo-jade-2-yo-2006-cypress-ca

Here's another one;
https://justice4caylee.forumotion.net/t10386-leland-valdez-3-yo-albuquerque-nm#622770

The actions taken by child welfare workers in Jackson and Ingham
counties failed to protect 7-year-old Ricky Holland, who was murdered by
his parents, according to a report released Friday.Workers from
Child Protective Services and Department of Human Services did not
follow certain laws and policies, contends a report from the Office of
Children's Ombudsman.That also left the remaining children in the Holland household "extremely vulnerable," the report states.To release the findings of her department's investigation, DHS Director Marianne Udow held a news conference Friday."Some
policies were not followed," she said, later adding: "I cannot tell you
if we do everything right, we can prevent every tragedy from
occurring."Lisa Holland, found guilty of first-degree murder in October, has been sentenced to life in prison.Her husband, Tim Holland, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and will spend at least 30 years in prison.The
Hollands, who lived in Jackson before moving to Williamston in May
2005, were Ricky's foster parents for about three years before they
adopted him in October 2003.They also adopted Ricky's three siblings and have a biological child. Those children are living with Tim Holland's relatives.Detailed report


The ombudsman's office, established by the state Legislature in 1994,
monitors children's welfare in the state. A detailed but
often-redacted report released Friday morning found:• Child
Protective Services failed to interview all the pertinent people who
could have shed light on complaints of Ricky's abuse.• CPS did not interview Tim Holland during investigations of alleged abuse against some or all of the Holland children.•
A Jackson County DHS adoption worker did not follow policy as the
Hollands went through the adoption process with Ricky. The worker failed
to meet with the Hollands in their home, and the report states there is
no evidence the worker ever met with Tim Holland.

The report's numerous recommendations include:• Increased training for CPS workers.•
Establishing policy that CPS workers must collect and document evidence
that sufficiently discredits a child's claim of abuse/neglect before
discounting that claim.• Developing policy so CPS workers investigate the scenes where abuse/neglect are alleged to have occurred.The
report also asked Ingham County DHS to explain why it did not take
action to protect Ricky's four siblings after becoming aware one of them
suffered injuries more than three months after Ricky was reported
missing and the Hollands were being investigated by police.Children's
Ombudsman Verlie Ruffin said her agency's recommendations are not
binding. But she said the DHS has been "compliant and receptive.""We're
in this field to improve the child-welfare system," she said, adding
her office will follow up on the recommendations, as they do in all
cases, to make sure the system is improved.Investigating employees


Friday also was the first time DHS has issued a public report into any child welfare case, Udow said.Her
department has begun disciplinary investigations of 10 of the 23
employees who worked on the Holland case over five years in both Jackson
and Ingham counties, she said. Nine of the 10 have been reassigned to
positions that have little or no connection to child welfare. Two of the
23 have resigned; one has died.Udow admitted the agency did not do everything it could have in the Holland case.Jackson
County Child Protective Services received four complaints regarding
Ricky, she said, but none resulted in any action. In part, she blamed
Lisa Holland's lies and deceptions."They trusted Lisa Holland's word," she said.One
complaint dealt with marks on Ricky's wrist, which he claimed were from
being tied to his bed. Lisa Holland gave another explanation, Udow
said, and caseworkers erred by only focusing on the cause of the marks -
not the conflicting statements.Udow also described the overwhelming caseloads faced by DHS caseworkers.Annually,
about 1,600 child welfare workers statewide handle more than 70,000
investigations, she said. They also oversee about 18,000 children in
foster care."Our employees have some of the most difficult jobs
imaginable," she said, handling "an overwhelming volume of work, where
vulnerable lives hang in the balance every day."As part of recent reforms, she said the agency has added 51 caseworkers.What went wrong


In July 2005, Tim Holland reported Ricky missing. However, by that
time, the boy already had been killed and dumped in a marshlike field
near Dansville. Tim and Lisa Holland's subsequent court appearances
revealed the torture and abuse inflicted upon Ricky during his life.State
Rep. David Law, R-Commerce Township, has played a key role in trying to
find out what went wrong. On Friday, he said he will seek an unredacted
version of the ombudsman's report.If denied, he plans to hold a closed session of his subcommittee Wednesday, where lawmakers would analyze the unredacted report."We need to see what went wrong and what we can do to fix the problem," Law said."The
quicker the Legislature can act, the quicker we can help children from
being caught up in this quagmire. We have to do what we can to make sure
this doesn't happen again."
Much more on this at: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20061209/NEWS01/612090325/0/LIFE05/Report-System-failed-Ricky-workers-didn-t-always-follow-law?odyssey=nav|head

Here's another one. After being informed by teachers DCF went to the house but decided to believe the mother that the girl was a liar. This despite them having removed the child years earlier but returned her.
Then after that, the Mother removed the child from school and "home-schooled" her which should have had the alarms clanging. Then the mother wouldn't let other relatives see her and they made several complaints to DCF. Never the less DCF were apparently deaf, dumb and blind and poor Jeanette died aged 16 years after the most horrendous torture for months.
https://justice4caylee.forumotion.net/t4275-jeanette-maples-16-yo-2009-eugene-or

New documents detail hardships endured by Florida twins

February 22, 2011 3:13 p.m. EST


Jorge Barahona has been charged with attempted murder of his 10-year-old adopted son.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• New documents in case of adopted Barahona twins reveal life full of hardships
  
• Secretary of the Department of Children and Families requested independent inquiry
  
• Report from 2007: "Nubia is always hungry, and she eats a lot at school"
  
• Nubia was found dead last week in her adoptive dad's truck; brother is still in hospital
  

Miami, Florida (CNN)
-- An independent
panel has been asked to investigate the actions of Florida's child
protection system in the case of 10-year-old twins, one of whom was
found dead in the truck of her adoptive father while the other was
rescued with life-threatening burns.

Documents in the case released to the public Monday paint a
disturbing picture of how the twins suffered hardships, first with their
biological parents and then in foster care with their eventual adoptive
parents.

Jorge Barahona had parked his pest-control truck on the side of a
south Florida interstate on February 14 when a roadside assistance
ranger said he found him and his adopted son ill inside the vehicle,
which was filled with toxic chemicals. The body of his adopted daughter,
Nubia, was discovered in the back of the truck.

Barahona has been charged with attempted first-degree murder with a
weapon and aggravated child abuse with a weapon. He is now in the West
Palm Beach jail. His son remains hospitalized.

"It has been a week since this tragedy became public, and the pain
and shock has not begun to wear off for this department, our partners or
this community," said David Wilkins, secretary of the Department of
Children and Families.

Wilkins, who requested the independent panel, visited the boy over the weekend and said he is optimistic about his recovery.

As the doctors tend to the boy, several investigations have been
opened to find out how and why this happened. The West Palm Beach
Police Department is investigating the death of the little girl. The
twins' adoptive mother, Carmen Barahona, has not been charged in the
case, but police say they are looking into everyone who had access to
the children. Carmen Barahona has declined to comment on the case.

The independent panel's investigation and a criminal investigation have
been opened to look at the role that the Department of Children and
Families played in the Barahonas' long-term dealings with the agency,
Wilkins said.

"The tragic death of Nubia Barahona and the ongoing horrors of what
the Barahona children faced would only be made worse if we as a state
and a department did not learn from this sad case," said Wilkins.

The agency has made public more than 150 pages of documents pertaining to the case.

In 2004, the two toddlers were placed in foster care with the
Barahonas after they were taken away from their biological father. That
man was arrested in a case of sexual battery against a minor, but not
against one of his children, according to the documents. The outcome of
that case was unclear from the documents.

One report brings to light how difficult Nubia's life was from early
on, referring to verbal abuse by her biological mother: "Mom tells
Nubia she hates her and calls her a female canine."

The biological mother, who is not named, lost her parental rights
because of drugs and alcohol, according to an investigative report made
by a Department of Children and Families investigator.

Things didn't get better for the twins in foster care, according to
reports quoting information provided by a nurse, teacher and school
principal.

Among the documents released are reports of abuse and problems in
the Barahona home that a Department of Children and Families
investigator looked into:

Report from December 2004

A nurse raised concerns about Nubia's foster parents to a Department
of Children and Families official. The girl was born with a condition
that needs constant medical attention. Nubia suffered from virilization,
an adrenal gland disorder that results in exaggerated masculine
characteristics, Dr. Walter Lambert with the Department of Children and
Families said at a court hearing last week.

The document says, "Foster parent never goes to the appointment with
the children. She sends them with transportation." It continues: "She
stated that she has a concern for the child if the placement is adoption
because the foster parent would then have the sole responsibility to
care for the child and she does not believe that will happen."

Report from February 2006

The report says, "Nubia, the child, was noticed with a huge bruise
located on her chin and neck area. The injury is about the size of a
tangerine."

When looking into this allegation, the investigator spoke to the
child's kindergarten teacher. The report says, "The child told her that
she fell at home" and the teacher "stated she did not know what to
believe." The teacher also told the investigator that the child
sometimes comes to school "not too clean."

The Barahonas denied any wrongdoing, and Nubia told the investigator
that she fell. Determining that no child abuse was involved, the
investigator closed the case.

Report from March 2007

This report made to the child protection agency alleges: "For the
past five months, Nubia has been smelling and appearing unkempt." It
says her brother also appears unkempt. "There is concern that maybe
she is not eating at home. Nubia is always hungry, and she eats a lot at
school. Nubia is afraid to talk."

The principal, when interviewed by the investigator, said, "On one
occasion, Nubia got apple sauce in her hair, the next day she had apple
sauce still in her hair." The principal adds, "Nubia appears to be
threatened or scared of the foster mother."

The agency's investigator wrote that he found two old discolored
uniform shirts that needed to be thrown away and "Aside from this, the
foster parents appear to be adequately caring for the (children)."

2009

The twins are adopted by the Barahonas. The adoption paperwork has never been made public.

Report from June 9, 2010

Another allegation made to the agency says: "Nubia's hunger has been
uncontrollable, she sneaks and steal food, steals money, has hair loss,
is very thin, unfocused, nervous, and jittery."

It is also alleged that Nubia missed two weeks of school and had an unpleasant odor.

Carmen Barahona was interviewed for the report and said her
daughter's medical problems were to blame. The investigator wrote, "The
parents are ensuring that the children's needs educational, medical, and
physical needs are met."

The guardian ad litem, a volunteer advocate for the children, wrote a
report to the court expressing his concerns with the children being
placed with the Barahonas before they were adopted, according to Sonia
Ferrer, circuit director of the guardian ad litem program.

The report wasn't released in the first batch of documents, but
three letters that the Barahonas wrote to then Gov. Charlie Crist were
made public. The couple wrote the governor about their problems with the
guardian ad litem. They complained about being unfairly portrayed, and
they stated the allegations against them were unfounded.

The intake reports from 2004 to 2010 note that law enforcement was not notified about the allegations.

Over the years, the Miami-Dade Police Department had been called to
the home 16 times, according to Jacqui Colyer, Southern Region director
of the Department of Children and Families. Colyer did not discuss the
content of the calls, but she did say that two of them took place in the
past three years: a 911 hang-up and a call on the day of the incident
from Palm Beach to the Miami-Dade Police Department. "So there weren't a
lot of police call-outs to the home, it was just that over 15 years
they ended up with about 16 call-outs," said Colyer.

Whether Department of Children and Families investigators knew about
those calls or the nature of them will likely be one of many questions
addressed in the independent investigation.

"I am personally
committed to ensuring that we do our best to prevent even one such
tragedy from occurring again," said Wilkins. "We owe it to our citizens.
We owe it to our employees. And we owe it to the Barahona children."

http://www.justice4caylee.org/t10944-alexander-perkins-6-yo-2010-colorado-springs-co#631494

San Francisco to pay $4M to abused foster child

SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco lawmakers have agreed to pay $4 million to a teenage boy who was beaten and starved by his aunt, who is awaiting trial on charges that similar abuse caused the death of the boy's twin sister. The payment approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is designed to settle a lawsuit brought by the boy. He and his late sister were under the supervision of the city's Department of Child Protective Services when they were living as foster children of their aunt, Shemeeka Davis, in Antioch. Davis wasarrested in September 2008 after her 15-year-old niece's death.

Authorities said the girl died of malnutrition exacerbated by long-term physical abuse. The boy's lawyer, Darren Kessler, told The San Francisco Examiner he hoped the case would lead to better monitoring of foster children.

——— Information from: The San Francisco Examiner, http://www.sfexaminer.com

Report: Woman accused of beating foster child with his own belt

Orlando Sentinel

Deidra Harris, 28, was arrested Monday on charges of aggravated child abuse with a weapon after Orange County deputies said she abused her adopted child with his own belt, according to a ClickOrlando.com report.

According to the report, the boy's school called police after they noticed "deep purple bruises" all over his body and lacerations on his head.

The Department of Children and Families has investigated Harris twice before for child abuse, according to the report,and now is looking into why Family Services of Metro Orlando placed the child in Harris' home and allowed her to adopt him.

Fla. Teacher Warned Of Girl's Abuse Before Death

9:26 pm EST March 1, 2011

MIAMI -- Nearly four years before a 10-year-old girl was found dead in her adoptive father's truck, a teacher told a Miami-Dade judge the girl was being abused at home and hit on the bottom of her feet in a way that wouldn't leave bruises, a child welfare lawyer said Tuesday.

School officials warned a judge who was considering whether to let Jorge and Carmen Barahona adopt the girl and her twin brother that the girl came to school dirty and was very thin and hoarding food in her desk in 2007. A kindergarten teacher also testified that the girl, Nubia Docter, had wet her pants one day at school, which is common for children of that age.

When the teacher told the girl she was going to call her then-foster mother, Carmen Barahona, the girl became hysterical and begged her not to call, child welfare attorney Christey Lopez-Acevedo on Tuesday told a panel investigating the child's death.

"Momma is going to hit me with a (flip flop) on the bottom of my feet," the girl said when asked why she didn't want her mother called, according to Lopez-Acevedo, an attorney for the court-appointed guardian whose concerns prompted the mid-2007 hearing.

Lopez-Acevedo said at the time she didn't understand the seriousness of the girl's allegation.

"I am (now) fully aware from what the experts tell me that is a sign of torture. No bruises are left," Lopez-Acevedo said through tears.

An expert panel is trying to piece together how child welfare officials missed several red flags in the twins' adoption, despite serious abuse allegations from a school teacher and principal.

The case has highlighted glaring mistakes by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) after the girl's body was found Feb. 14 in plastic bags in the back of the truck of her father, Jorge Barahona. Her brother Victor was in the front seat doused in a toxic chemical. Jorge Barahona has pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the attack on his son.

No charges have been filed in the girl's death. Child welfare officials have said they expect charges will be filed against Carmen Barahona, but police have not released any details because it is an open investigation.

Child advocate David Lawrence, a former Miami Herald publisher, said the case raises troubling questions.

"These are signals of the highest order. How seriously did folks take what the principal was saying?" Lawrence asked. "It just seems stunningly tragic to me. It makes you cry."

Born to a drug-addicted mother, the twins were placed in foster care in 2004 after their biological father was arrested for allegedly fondling a neighborhood child. He was later accused of sexually assaulting the twins. Agency officials said they did not know if he was convicted of a crime in either case.

A biological aunt and uncle from Texas tried desperately to adopt the twins in 2005 before the Barahonas were granted full custody.

Caseworkers, psychologists and therapists gave glowing reports about the Barahona home, saying the children were thriving there and had bonded with the family.

The Barahonas were serving as foster parents in the spring of 2007 when the school contacted Lopez-Acevedo with the abuse allegation. The child welfare attorney immediately asked for a hearing to look at the twins' placement with the Barahonas and whether they were fit parents.

Several hearings were held over the next few months as therapists, school officials and guardian ad litems weighed in on whether the Barahonas should be allowed to adopt the twins.

A psychologist completed an evaluation and recommended approval for the twins' adoption by the Barahonas in February 2008, child welfare officials said. The psychologist concluded it would be "detrimental" to remove the children from the Barahonas' care. If they did, the children would never bond with adults again.

However, the psychologist did not include any information about the school's abuse allegations when she made her evaluation and she did not reach out to school officials, child welfare officials said.

A case manager and two child welfare attorneys, including Lopez-Acevedo, read the psychologist's report that was given to the judge and saw that it didn't include the school's abuse allegations, but never said anything.

A short time later, Judge Valerie Manno Schurr approved the adoption, basing much of the decision on the psychologist's opinion.

Child welfare officials said Tuesday they were not certain if she was the same judge who was informed of the abuse allegations in mid-2007. Manno Schurr did not return a phone message Tuesday afternoon.

Attorney Roberto Martinez, one of the panelists investigating the girl's death, said during Tuesday's meeting that the abuse allegations should have been brought up again in 2008, when the judge was weighing the adoption.

"That was a mistake several times repeated," Martinez said. "Nobody that read this brought it to the attention of the judge. It appears to be a pretty glaring red flag for whatever reason. Somebody dropped the ball."

When asked whether child welfare officials asked to have the children re-evaluated considering the school's allegations, Lopez-Acevedo said one of the psychologists involved in the case said it was too soon to do another evaluation.

It's common for agency experts to complete thousands of evaluations in a year. DCF typically relies on the same experts, Lopez-Acevedo said.

One child advocate wondered if adoptions are getting the kind of review they should.

Lawrence asked Tuesday: "Are we moving these through and even jamming these through because we have such a boatload of cases that we have to get these things moving?"

Foster families do some wonderful work in Oregon. But every now and then abusive parents get into the system.
This is the story of a nine-year-old boy, we'll call him Richard. The state only identifies him as RH.
His story shows the state failed to act on a series of reports that he was being abused by the foster parents who adopted him.

Richard was placed at the home of Alona and Roger Hartwig when he was about five.
They lived outside Eugene and were certified to care for up to five children.
A state investigation found four reports of abuse there, before
Richard even arrived. They involved very young kids who were bruised or
who were losing weight.
Richard moved in during 2005 and for two years there were no reports of trouble.
Then, when he was about seven, there were calls to say he didn't have
enough clothes on for the rainy weather -- and that he had to stand for
hours as punishment.
The next year, another call said Richard was made to go days without
food and that he was being beaten down mentally and maybe physically.
It also said he was the only child in the house being home schooled -- an indicator, the state now says, of disparate treatment.
Another report that year said the family had been at a wedding and Richard looked scared to death of his adoptive mother.
Next year, when he was about nine, someone called to say Richard had
weeping sores on his legs -- and that Alona Hartwig had gone on vacation
instead of taking him to the doctor.
The report also said she told other children in the house not to talk
to Richard -- and coached them on answering questions from state
workers.
It's important to know that Richard and other children repeatedly denied any abuse.
Then, last year, he spent more than a month in the hospital with a
fractured pelvis and a burn that had turned septic from a lack of
treatment.
That finally sparked the investigation that led to charges being filed against the Hartwigs.
By law, the state didn't have to investigate what happened to
Richard, because he didn't die. But the abuse was so bad, authorities
decided to find out why it took so long to recognize what was going on.
The investigation revealed several flaws.
For one, case workers should have conducted more interviews. And
those interviews should have been done individually and in a neutral
location -- so the kids would feel free to speak.
The state found that if similar abuse allegations were made nowadays, there would have been more investigation.
The state also found that by 2008 the sheer number of reports should have triggered further inquiry.
Richard still lives in a foster home in Lane County.
Case workers say he is doing well.
Meanwhile, Alona Hartwig pleaded guilty to criminal mistreatment.
She was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Roger Hartwig got five years for second-degree assault. A report on
whether the state has made changes as a result of this case, has yet to
be published.
http://news.opb.org/article/71594-well-call-him-richard-story-foster-child-abuse/

Mother Of Abused Twins Behind Bars

Carmen Barahona Charged With Murder

Saturday, March 5, 2011 9:44 pm EST

MIAMI -- Saturday afternoon, Carmen Barahona, 60, was booked into a Miami-Dade County jail.

The adoptive mother is accused of first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated child abuse, and seven counts of neglect.

Special Section: The Barahona Investigation

Her husband, Jorge Barahona, 53, remains in a Palm Beach County jail.

Authorities said on Feb. 14, he was found in a pest control pick-up truck on the side of Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County.

Also in the truck was his severely burned 10-year-old son, Victor Barahona. He'd been burned with an unknown chemical.

In the back of the truck investigators found the body of the boy's twin sister, Nubia Barahona, inside a bag.

Since then, a disturbing story of abuse has put the Florida Department of Children and Families under the microscope.An investigative panel has been appointed to look into the DCF's actions in the twins' case.

Days before the twins were discovered, calls had been made to the Florida Abuse Hotline to report suspected abuse.

The adoptive father, Jorge Barahona, 53, has been charged with aggravated child abuse and attempted murder.

Victor Barahona was released from Jackson Memorial Hospital on Tuesday. He has been placed in a therapeutic foster home.

Miami-Dade police Director James K. Loftus is expected to address the new charges on Monday.
Previous Stories:

• March 3, 2011: Panel Reviews Thousands Of Documents In Barahona Case
  
• March 3, 2011: 2nd Call Reported Suspected Abuse Of Twins
  
• March 2, 2011: Barahona Child Released From Hospital
  
• March 1, 2011: Panel Investigates Abuse Claims In Barahona Case
  
• March 1, 2011: Abuse Hotline Call About Barahona Twins Released
  
• February 26, 2011: Community Comes Together To Honor Nubia Barahona
  
• February 25, 2011: Judge Denies Mother Visit With Whistle-Blower Daughter
  
• February 25, 2011: Case Worker Under Fire After DCF Releases Report
  
• February 24, 2011: Adoptive Parents' Home Searched After Girl's Death
  
• February 22, 2011: Barahona's Daughter Accused Of Hiding Twins' Abuse
  
• February 22, 2011: Independent Panel To Review Barahona Case
  

DHS Criticized In Child Deaths In RV Fire

DHS Accused Of Failing To Save 3 Kids After 5 Welfare Checks
March 8, 2011

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The
Department of Human Services was criticized after a report showed that
it had five chances to remove three children from an unstable home
environment before they died in a Del City fire last Jan. 4.

Siblings
Christopher, 4, Crystal, 3, and Kaylee Dunham,1, were killed after
their RV caught fire. The three children were sleeping at the time of
the fire, and police said the mother locked the mobile home and left her
children trapped inside to call for help.

Oklahoma City police said both of the children's parents are facing charges of child neglect.

According to a report released Monday, DHS workers went to the
children's home to investigate reports of domestic violence and drug
abuse five times.

The report states that DHS workers were called in to the home to
investigate concerns of physical abuse, substance abuse, an
inappropriate caretaker, domestic violence and possible sexual abuse to
Crystal Dunham.

The report showed that each of these times, the worker thought it
was safe to leave the children in the home and had not petitioned a
judge to remove the children from the home.

But DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell said not only did the workers
interview parents Stephanie and Christopher Dunham, they also
interviewed the family. Powell said everyone in the family said nothing
was wrong.

"If everyone is lying and covering up, then it's going to be very
difficult to find whether or not (the home is unsafe for the children).
Our main goal is not to determine if someone is taking drugs, but to
find out are these children safe," Powell said.

Powell also said it is much harder to remove a child from a home
than it used to be. Two years ago, the law changed because people were
complaining too many children were in DHS custody.

Now, a police officer needs a court order or the children have to be
in immediate danger before they can be taken into DHS custody, Powell
said.

"We believe we've done everything possible we could do within our authority," Powell said.

Court officials said Stephanie and Christopher Dunham are out of jail on bond.

Posted on Wednesday, 03.09.11

Senator demands answers in child deaths

The agency charged with protecting children in Florida and its new secretary are under fire after several high-profile child abuse deaths.

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- Sen. Ronda Storms told Gov. Rick Scott’s social services secretary Wednesday to “dispense with the niceties” and demanded he provide some answers to the recent troubling child abuse deaths that have exposed cracks in his agency.

“Welcome to your baptism by fire,’’ said Storms, the chairwoman of the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee as David Wilkins stood before her committee for the first time. “You’ve had very difficult days and weeks and I respect that.”

Then she barreled ahead, asking him to explain what the state Department of Children and Families is doing to address the “horrible atrocities’’ surrounding the 10-year-old Miami twins tortured by their adoptive parents after being in state protective custody.

Wilkins, 50, a former global managing director for Accenture Health and Public Service, has only been on the job a month. Yet he’s had to confront the tragic death 10-year-old Nubia Barahona, of Miami, and the discovery of two Delray Beach siblings, 10-year-old Jermaine McNeil and 6-year-old Ju’Tyra Allen, whose bodies were found last week stuffed in suitcases and dumped in a canal.

Nubia’s body was found on Valentine’s Day in the flatbed of her adoptive father’s pest-control truck, drenched in toxic chemicals. Her twin, Victor, was found hours earlier in the pickup’s cab, burned by caustic chemicals, convulsing, but still alive. He is recovering at a therapeutic foster home after being released from Jackson Memorial Hospital’s burn unit. The adoptive parents, Jorge and Carmen Barahona face charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and child neglect. In the case of the Delray Beach siblings, police have a sole suspect in custody, but he has not been charged in connection with the deaths.

Wilkins said he traveled to Miami the day after Nubia Barahona’s body was found and said he encountered “finger pointing of all the different parties.”

“I realized the situation was much more complicated than I understood,” he said. “I believe an overall systematic failure contributed to this process due to outdated business processes, conflicting rules and responsibilities that exist in this agency, institutional lapses in quality, governance and accountability.”

But Storms interrupted Wilkins as he tried to describe the panel of social service experts he appointed to conduct an independent review.

“I appreciate what you’re saying but what I want to know is how will this be different?,’’ said Storms, a Republican from Valrico. “How many more investigations, how many more death reviews will we have?”

Wilkins promised to work “very aggressively” to reform DCF and he called the case “the defining moment of my early tenure.”

He said he wants to restructure the jobs of child protection investigators – the agency’s “first line of defense” – and enhance their tools and technology. He said he has worked side by side with them, but is concerned about their lack of experience. More than 56 percent of DCF investigators have less than two years experience and turnover is high — 64 percent — in three regions of the state.

Wilkins acknowledged DCF’s problems are deep. He said the limited training requirements “are misdirected” ecause they focus on case management and social work instead of “how to assess a situation.”

He offered no immediate remedy to address the current situation.The review panel’s report on the Barahona case is due out on Monday and Wilkins said he promises to adopt the recommendations.

Storms, however, said the agency failure goes beyond DCF. She blamed the Community Based Care agencies, a local organization contracted to handle the agency’s work.

“I’m tired of just throwing case workers under the bus,’’ Storms said. She said she agreed to give local groups more flexibility, but they “are not doing their job.”

She lambasted the groups for “having some gall” to ask the Legislature for exemptions from liability for negligence and chastised their executives. She then urged Wilkins not to defend them: “You should just duck and stay out of the way.”

Wilkins said he will use his business experience to improve the agency’s hotline and call centers, increase “community engagement” and keep the focus on accountability.

Storms then finished with a commendation and a plea. She thanked Wilkins for leaving a comfortable retirement from the private sector to work for the state.

“Please do not disappoint us,” she said. “Do not shrink away from the job. You have a short window of opportunity for goodwill … take that goodwill and exploit it.”

Abused tot's grandmother sues state over boy's death

01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 19, 2011

A 14-month-old boy who died from child abuse in military housing on Ford Island was hospitalized the day before due to injury, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in state court.

One month before his death, the state Department of Human Serv­ices received an emergency report on its abuse hot line of severe and ongoing abuse of the boy, the lawsuit says.

Brayden Elizah McVeigh died Sept. 18, 2009. The Hono­lulu medical examiner said McVeigh died from brain injury caused by "abusive head trauma."

The boy's father, Matthew McVeigh, 26, is awaiting Navy court-martial proceedings for allegedly causing his son's injuries and death. He was a Navy diver assigned to Pearl Harbor at the time. The Navy has since reassigned McVeigh to other duties.

Brayden's maternal grandmother is suing the state and the boy's father for allegedly causing the boy's death.

Terri Polm said the Human Serv­ices Department should not have returned Braden and his older sister to their parents; its Child Welfare Serv­ices Branch had taken custody of the children when Brayden suffered a broken arm and other injuries at the age of 5 weeks. She also claims the state did not adequately monitor the children's care after it returned the children to their parents and failed to investigate the emergency report or the cause of Brayden's hospitalization.

Polm, who lives in Texas, is also fighting for custody of Brayden's now 4-year-old sister, who is in foster care in Hawaii.




A 14-month-old boy who died from child abuse in military housing on Ford Island was hospitalized the day before due to injury, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in state court.

One month before his death, the state Department of Human Serv­ices received an emergency report on its abuse hot line of severe and ongoing abuse of the boy, the lawsuit says.

Brayden Elizah McVeigh died Sept. 18, 2009. The Hono­lulu medical examiner said McVeigh died from brain injury caused by "abusive head trauma."

The boy's father, Matthew McVeigh, 26, is awaiting Navy court-martial proceedings for allegedly causing his son's injuries and death. He was a Navy diver assigned to Pearl Harbor at the time. The Navy has since reassigned McVeigh to other duties.

Brayden's maternal grandmother is suing the state and the boy's father for allegedly causing the boy's death.

Terri Polm said the Human Serv­ices Department should not have returned Braden and his older sister to their parents; its Child Welfare Serv­ices Branch had taken custody of the children when Brayden suffered a broken arm and other injuries at the age of 5 weeks. She also claims the state did not adequately monitor the children's care after it returned the children to their parents and failed to investigate the emergency report or the cause of Brayden's hospitalization.

Polm, who lives in Texas, is also fighting for custody of Brayden's now 4-year-old sister, who is in foster care in Hawaii.


http://www.justice4caylee.org/t11368-brayden-elizah-mcveigh-14-mos-sept-09-ford-island-military-housing-hi#639384

State grapples with its child protective services

THE ISSUE: DCF reacts to rash of fatal child abuse cases.

March 21, 2011

Here we go again. Another series of press conferences by Florida's top child-welfare administrators left to explain the horrific deaths of young children, deaths that might have been prevented if the people and programs responsible for protecting abused children hadn't missed the obvious signs.

Granted, Florida Department of Children & Families Secretary David E. Wilkins and his staff are in a tough spot. The deaths of 10-year-old Nubia Barahona of Miami Dade County and, to a lesser degree, 10-year-old Jermaine McNeil, and his sister, 6-year-old Ju'Tyra Allen, in Palm Beach County, have put a harsh spotlight on the state's abilities to uncover child abuse and to provide rehabilitative services once that discovery is made.

Unfortunately, the department's reaction — staff dismissals, the promise of improvements and particularly the remorse — sounds all too familiar, and unsatisfyingly frustrating. Worse still is the reality that DCF has little leverage over the network of community-based care organizations that conduct the lion's share of Florida's child welfare services.

Ideally, Florida's child protective and child welfare system is supposed to work like this: DCF, or through contracts it has with various sheriff's offices, receives and investigates child abuse and neglect cases. The results of those probes are then turned over to local community agencies under contract with DCF to provide a safe environment and family support services to help troubled youngsters.

DCF, initially, was responsible for oversight of these local groups,
which offered the promise of more efficient and responsive services in
contrast to the days long agoof the old state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

Over the years, though, community-based care groups like Child Net Inc. in Broward County and Our Kids Inc. in Miami-Dade County lobbied state lawmakers for new procedures that made them less accountable to DCF's oversight.

Many of the fiscal and quality assurance oversight responsibilities are now contracted out to private firms, and DCF has seen its oversight of contracts brokered by these organizations diminished in recent years.

So it was disappointing, at best, to hear Secretary Wilkins this week ask Our Kids Inc. for a "corrective action plan" as part of his list of new initiatives to improve the system. It's particularly disappointing because a panel Wilkins himself appointed to examine the mistakes leading up to the death of Nubia Barahona felt it was being stonewalled by Our Kids officials and their subcontractor responsible for case management services, including Barahona's.

"The incoming secretary should undertake a review of the quality of the services performed by Our Kids and its subcontractors," the three-member panel that authored "The Nubia Report" concluded. "Our Kids receives about $100 million per year from DCF to perform contracted services. This investigation has raised concerns about the quality of some services delivered by Our Kids and its subcontractors."

No question DCF faces a host of challenges. Inadequate funding remains a problem, but so, too, are those recent bills passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor that have weakened the state's oversight of the local community groups that have child-welfare contracts with DCF.

Wilkins' recommendations, ranging from a review of the agency's hotline operations to hiring more caseworkers, are almost mandatory at this point, but DCF must seek further changes if it hopes to get the best out of community-based care reform.

Asking state lawmakers to help DCF maintain current spending for child protective programs helps, but obtaining more statutory authority to ensure local community-based organizations improve their operating standards would amount to a significant improvement.

DCF officials should take a different course and break out of what's become an all-too-familiar refrain following a tragic child death. Rilya Wilson, Gabriel Myers and now Nubia Barahona, Jermaine McNeil and Ju'Tyra Allen — all unfortunate incidents in a child welfare system that, at the moment at least, seems anything but.

BOTTOM LINE: DCF must be given more oversight of its contractors.

Re: MARCHELLA PIERCE - 4 yo (2010) - Brooklyn/NYC NY



by TomTerrific0420 Today at 12:54 pm
Two child welfare workers were charged in the death of a child under
their care - the first such prosecution in the city's history, officials
said Wednesday.Authorities said an Administration for Children's Services case worker failed to visit the Bedford-Stuyvesant home where 4-year-old Marchella Brett-Pierce was found dead in September.The worker, Damon Adams,
was also accused of falsifying records after the girl died weighing
just 18 pounds. Adams' direct supervisor, Chereece Bell, was charged for
not monitoring his work on the case.The ACS workers both
resigned a month after the girl's death. They each face criminally
negligent homicide charges and were expected to be arraigned late
Wednesday.The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office also announced Wednesday that the girl's grandmother, Loretta Brett, SNIP


http://www.justice4caylee.org/t8183-marchella-pierce-4-yo-2010-brooklyn-nyc-ny#640488

Law & Disorder: Ex-child abuse investigator pleads guilty to misconduct

Prosecutor doesn't plan to ask for jail time, just wants her accountable.

March 29, 2011 -


Anderson

A former state Department of Children and Families investigator in Jacksonville has pleaded guilty to falsifying a child abuse record.

Quakeita Leisha Anderson, 28, resigned from the agency last year amid an investigation into the bogus report. She closed a child abuse case without making a standard follow-up visit, even though she justified it by reporting she made the visit.

The same family became subject to another child abuse investigation based on a hotline tip a month later.

Anderson pleaded guilty to official misconduct last week. She had been scheduled to go to trial this week.

She is scheduled to be back in court for sentencing April 25.

Prosecutor Richard Komando said he was mostly concerned with holding Anderson accountable and does not plan to ask for jail time.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-03-29/story/law-disorder-ex-child-abuse-investigator-pleads-guilty-misconduct#ixzz1I11jtiIa

Child welfare head says panel will review Barahona case


By Mike Clary, Sun Sentinel

3:06 p.m. EST, February 21, 2011


MIAMI— David Wilkins, secretary of the Department of Children & Families, said thousands of pages of documents spelling out how a Miami couple, Carmen and Jorge Barahona, came to be foster parents, and then adoptive parents, of four children. One of them is dead and her 10-year-old twin is in intensive care.

Reeling from what he called "the ongoing horror of what the Barahona children faced," the head of the state's child welfare agency announced Monday that an independent panel will investigate what may be one of the worst child abuse cases in Florida history.

David Wilkins, secretary of the Department of Children & Families, also announced the release of thousands of pages of documents that could help spell out how a Miami couple, Carmen and Jorge Barahona, came to be foster parents, and then adoptive parents, of four children. One of them is dead and her 10-year-old twin brother is in intensive care.

"It has been a week since this tragedy became public and the pain and shock has not begun to wear off for this department, our partners or this community," said Wilkins. Gov. Rick Scott named him to head DCF just three weeks before the tragedy began to unfold.

At a press conference Monday, Wilkins said caseworker Andrea Fleary, who on Feb. 11 visited the couple's home in response to a hotline tip that the twins were bring abused, has been put on paid administrative leave.

Three days later Nubia Barahona was found dead, her body discovered in a bag in the back of Jorge Barahona's truck parked alongside Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County.

In the cab of the truck was Nubia's twin, Victor. He had been doused with a caustic chemical, and is now a patient in the burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Wilkins said Monday that Victor Barahona's condition is improving, and, "We are optimistic about his recovery."

Jorge Barahona, 53, told police he had intended to kill himself. He is being held in the Palm Beach County jail, charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

A children's court judge last week ordered his wife Carmen, 60, to have no contact with Victor or the two other surviving adopted children. DCF placed the three children in what the agency calls "therapeutic foster care" while they continue to attend public elementary school in southwest Miami-Dade.

At the press conference, Wilkins said the independent review of how the department handled the Barahona case would run concurrent with criminal probes of the couple by police in West Palm Beach and Miami-Dade County. DCF is also conducting a review, he said.

Named to the review panel, which is to report by March 11, were David Lawrence, former Miami Herald publisher and children's advocate; former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez, and Jim Sewell, former assistant commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The panel will be holding public hearings, the first scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at DCF's Southern Regional Headquarters, 401 NW 2nd Ave., Miami.

Changes in DCF procedures are expected, Wilkins said. He cautioned, however, "No government agency can prevent those very few who have lost the core values of humanity from performing inhumane acts."

N.J. paid $7M to settle lawsuits from three abused foster children




Published: Monday, April 25, 2011

TRENTON — Nate was 8 years
old when he first accused his foster mother of abusing him. But it took
several complaints over a number of years before state child-welfare
investigators could prove she was abusive and move him to another foster
family.

Then the boy was abused again in another foster home — this time by his foster mother’s son.

“He was taken from his mother at a very young age. He was in 22
different places over the course of his life,” said attorney Joel Garber
of Voorhees, who represented the boy and his adoptive family in a
lawsuit against the Division of Youth and Family Services. “This kid has
been through it all.”

Nate, now 17 and living in Colorado with his adoptive family,
received $1.2 million last year from the state to settle the suit.

It was part of the nearly $7 million New Jersey paid out last year to
settle lawsuits brought on behalf of three foster children harmed in a
system created to protect them, according to information from the state
Attorney General’s office. The state admitted no wrongdoing.

The foster care lawsuits represent 15 percent of the $51.7 million
the state paid out in 317 suits last year. But attorneys and child
advocates say these lawsuits are among the most tragic because DYFS acts
as the de facto parent when children are removed from abusive or
neglectful homes. The agency is responsible for screening, training and
monitoring foster parents.

The lawsuits were paid after New Jersey spent more than $1 billion
beginning in 2003 to overhaul its child-welfare system under the
supervision of a federal judge.

With DYFS supervising more than 7,000 children living in licensed
foster and group homes, advocates and attorneys say it would be unfair
to use any one case to indict an entire system. But they also say these
cases should raise red flags — and be used to correct flaws.

“DYFS, like everything else, is run by human beings and everyone
makes mistakes. The problem is when they make a mistake it’s a
devastating mistake because they are dealing with extremely important
issues,” said attorney Jeffrey Advokat of Morristown, who represented
another boy sexually abused by his foster parents in Hudson County from
1996 to 1998. The state settled that case for $4.5 million last May.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Editorial: Negligent, not criminal behavior by child welfare

• Report says DYFS has improved, but continues to struggle to meet basic goals

• DYFS fails to meet federal requirements for reuniting foster children with families, report says

• DYFS to pay $4.5M to N.J. boy who was sexually abused by foster parent




“While these are individual cases, I would hope that DYFS is looking
at them — as they should for all child death and serious injury cases …
to identify any problems in practice that must be fixed to prevent
similar cases in the future,” said Cecilia Zalkind, executive director
of Advocates for Children of New Jersey.

At least one of the three victims endured abuse before the 2003 court
order. But another case that settled last year — the June 7, 2006,
death of 21-month-old Xavier Jones, who swallowed a bottle of methadone
that belonged to a relative living in the foster home — occurred
afterward. The state has already publicly acknowledged mistakes in that
case.

The state paid $800,000 to Xavier Jones’s family. The family’s attorney did not return calls seeking comment.

According to a 2007 report by the now-defunct Office of the Child
Advocate, DYFS failed to regularly communicate with Xavier’s foster
mother. She made repeated requests to have children removed because she
couldn’t handle their care, to which DYFS “did not always respond,” the
report said.

In a response statement on its website, the department said Xavier’s
caseworker supervised too many children. The state closed the foster
home, and also pledged to “re-emphasize in our training for prospective
and ongoing resource parents the need for proper medication storage.”

Lauren Kidd, spokeswoman for DYFS’ parent agency, the Department of
Children and Families, declined to discuss any specific cases. But in
general, Kidd said, “Changes have begun to take hold since the reform.”
The department “has been able to recruit and license more foster parents
and focus on appropriate, timely and thorough investigations.”

Judith Meltzer, the court-appointed monitor of New Jersey’s reform
effort, praised DYFS for recruiting 7,000 new foster parents since 2005,
and for completing the vast majority of abuse investigations in foster
care within 60 days.

But Zalkind said these cases call into question the adequacy of foster-care abuse investigations.

“What concerns me is that system problems that put kids at risk in
the past have presumably been addressed (by the reforms),” Zalkind said.
“With all these positive changes, why are there cases in which the
basic safety of children in (foster care) placement — to be free from
abuse or neglect — is still at risk?”

Allegations of abuse and neglect in foster homes, schools and other
institutions are investigated by a different team than the employees who
investigate complaints against a child’s parents. This team, the
Institutional Abuse Investigations Unit, has delved into more than 3,000
allegations a year, with one-third of them against foster families,
Kidd said.

The percent of allegations confirmed against foster parents or
caregivers in other “institutional” settings — such as day care centers,
camps and schools — is very low. In 2009, the unit confirmed 2.75
percent of all allegations, down from 7.6 percent in 2006.

Overall, the rate of substantiated abuse and neglect is 0.14 percent
in New Jersey, Kidd said. That’s nearly three times lower than the
national average of 0.5 percent, according to Fred Wulczyn, a research
fellow at Chapin Hall, a child-welfare think tank in Chicago.

While Advokat said he feels there has been some improvement in the foster care situation, there clearly is more work to be done.

Garber, the attorney for Nate and his adoptive family, is not as
optimistic about DYFS’ progress. He said the lawsuit “woke me up to how
the system doesn’t work. … In foster homes, it’s too hard to police
what’s going on.”

CPS messes up, now a child is dead



In her final days of life, Janie Buelna lay in agony. Her
hands were tied behind her back so she couldn't touch her scalded legs.
She was gagged, presumably so she wouldn't cry out.
Authorities do not yet know who killed Janie, just a month before she
would have turned 2. But one thing seems clear. Janie Buelna should be
alive today.
The Department of Economic Security isn't talking. But a highly
placed source inside the agency says the blame for Janie's death rests
squarely with Child Protective Services.
“We could have averted this,” the official told me. “There's no way
we could say we didn't have responsibility in this. It's just not
humanly possible.”
The caseworker, a 10-year CPS employee, has been fired, according to records obtained by The Arizona Republic. Her supervisor, a nine-year veteran, is on paid administrative leave. Meanwhile, CPS is continuing to investigate.
That's an encouraging sign in an agency more known for breaking out a whisk broom and lifting up the rug than cleaning house.
The same week that Janie died in March, CPS got a new boss.
Department of Economic Security Director Clarence Carter vowed at the
time that he would get to the bottom of what happened.
It appears he meant it.
Janie was 11 months old in March 2010, when CPS was called. She and
her 3-year-old brother were living in a west Phoenix apartment with
their 44-year-old grandmother Juanita Rodriguez, her 33-year-old
boyfriend Humelio Dominguez-Vazquez; and Christopher Lopez, 27.
According to the report, the grandmother had slapped Janie, leaving her face swollen and bruised, and it wasn't the first time.
“Grandmother has a history of Child Protective Services involvement
in Las Vegas, Nev,” according to the report, released this week in
response to a public records request.
CPS caseworker Timiadi Edogi was promptly dispatched but it would be
eight days before the grandmother allowed her to see the children. You
can guess what Edogi found.
“The kids look healthy,” she wrote. “The kids were clean and were dressed well.”
Edogi noted that there was no previous CPS history and wrote that
both Rodriguez and the children's mother — who is homeless but drops in
occasionally — are “mentally and emotionally capable” of caring for the
children.
“Parenting practices,” she wrote, “appear to be adequate.”
Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving, as she might have realized had she actually done a thorough investigation.
Had she checked with Nevada CPS, she would have learned that Rodriguez lost custody of her own six children in 2004.
Had she done the required criminal background check, she would have
discovered that Rodriguez served 13 months in a Nevada prison, for
attempted child abuse. And she would have discovered that one of the men
living in the house had lost custody of his own children.
Instead, she found no evidence of abuse and no reason to check back. Ever.
According to DES personnel records, Edogi went on medical leave in
April 2010 and Janie's file sat untouched until her return four months
later.
DES records indicate that her supervisor never questioned why the
case wasn't properly investigated and didn't reassign it when Edogi went
on leave. He closed the case in December 2010.
Three months later, Janie was dead. Scars covered her body, too many
to count. Her teeth were broken and her forehead was deformed. She had a
severe burn to her leg, one that went untreated because Rodriguez
didn't want to alert CPS.
Turns out the adults in the apartment were methamphetamine addicts
and the children had been starved and beaten. They were locked in a
pantry or buckled into their car seats for hours on end. They were
forced to stand in a corner – on their heads.
A few days before Janie's death, a visitor, believed to be the
child's mother, stayed the weekend. She would describe Janie lying on a
mattress, bound and at times gagged, in pain from the untreated burns.
The visitor left three days before Janie died, never calling for
help. Family members tell me CPS is now allowing the mother visitation
with her son, who is in foster care.
Rodriguez and her two friends have been charged with child abuse. A
spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office says they have not
yet determined who killed Janie.
Edogi was fired on April 22. DES Acting Assistant Director Veronica
Bossack cited a pattern of improperly investigated cases, including
reports of physical and sexual abuse.
In her response to DES, Edogi wrote that Rodriguez “withheld
important information” from her and that she “lacked the appropriate
information” to contact Nevada CPS.
The supervisor, meanwhile, has been accused of lax oversight in this and seven other cases. The Republic
is not naming him because no final determination on his actions has
been made. In his response, he calls the charges unfounded, noting that
his unit is understaffed and investigates 100 cases a month. He calls
the girl's death “a very unfortunate incident.”
“I … understand that when unfortunate events such as these occur,
there is an underlying political factor that rises to the forefront and
demands some time (sic) of misplaced sense of exacted punish (sic)
against someone we can vilify and disparage as blame worthy,” he wrote.
Or put another way, when a baby like Janie could have been saved and
should have been saved, we ask the very reasonable question:
Why wasn't she?
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/LaurieRoberts/128975

You have to read it to believe it. Then you still might have trouble.

https://justice4caylee.forumotion.net/t14012-vyctorya-sandoval-2-yo-los-angeles-ca#702890

Get Tough on Sex Offenders. Fight to Protect Our Children


Mark Bello

Posted by Mark Bello

August 08, 2011 1:44 PM

A King County judge has dismissed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Tacoma, Pierce County and the state of Washington by the family of a girl who was kidnapped and murdered by a sex offender four years ago during a fireworks display behind her home.

The lawsuit alleged:

• the county and state negligently supervised a sex offender after a prior conviction for a sex crime; had they done their duty, the sex offender would have been deported after his first sex offense.
  
• the city mishandled issuing an Amber Alert because the on-duty police officer fell back to sleep instead of issuing the alert.
  
• that Child Protective Services and the Sheriff's Department did not do enough to investigate a claim of child abuse made against the sex offender in the years before he killed the girl.
  
• the government tried to hide its mistakes.
  

According to plaintiff attorney, Tyler Firkins, the original purpose of the case was two-fold.

To expose the significant errors and omissions that resulted in girl’s death and to change the laws regarding the various agencies and their duties to protect children and the public.

To create a higher duty of care for Child Protective Services and law enforcement when it comes to protecting children.

Sadly, it appears the little girl was dead within minutes of her disappearance, thus an Amber Alert would have been pointless. But, that was not the point; it was not whether the government entities had a right to protect the child, but rather whether they were negligent in releasing the Amber Alert in a timely manner.

In the lawsuit's discovery phase, Firkins asked Tacoma's lawyers the following question: "By year, how many unregistered sex offenders who failed to return verification forms were located by Tacoma after failing to return the verification form from 1998 to 2007?”

The city responded, "There are no records to indicate that such mailings ever occurred. The Tacoma Police Department has never done any mailings.”

This is in direct violation of the statute requiring law enforcement officers to verify the address of all sex offenders living in the area. When the city started “back-peddling” claiming they do track offenders, they were unable to define the tracking process.

Why wasn’t he deported after his first offense? Because he benefited from Washington State's protected "special sex offender" status, by pleading guilty to incest in the prior case, avoiding both prison and deportation. Washington's Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA) was created to encouraged prosecutors, judges, mental health professionals and even "victim advocates" to treat child sexual abuse as a psychological or medical problem, not a serious crime. Sexually abusing an innocent child it not a crime? How do you explain that to a parent?

I have read many comments that this was a frivolous lawsuit. Let’s assume for a minute that the case was financially worthless when filed, that it still is, and even if there is an appeal the plaintiff will not receive any monetary award. Does that mean is it "frivolous"? What if it changes a defective system? Wrongful death lawsuits are generally not filed to be a “frivolous” attempt to get rich by capitalizing on the death of a loved one. Usually, they are the only recourse to be able to highlight flaws in a system, enact change, and ensure that it doesn’t happen to another innocent victim.

The state has already enacted laws to monitor sex offenders more closely as a result of the girl's death, and Tacoma police changed their policy last year to give more people within the department the ability to issue an Amber Alert. It is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to shake things up in the system so that significant changes are implemented. But, the system is still flawed because using the Amber Alert system is voluntary. It is up to the individual police agencies to decide whether to use the program. This marks a serious failure by a system the public depends on to monitor sex offenders.

Mr. Firkins wanted to shine a light on how defective the system is in protecting kids against sexual predators. His goal was on the errors and omissions that were committed; that an officer of the law, someone we count on to do everything in their power to protect us, behaved in a very irresponsible manner and should also be held accountable for his actions. The focus should not be that the child was already dead therefore an Amber Alert would have made no difference. The sleeping officer did not know that at the time. What happens the next time an Amber Alert is not released in a timely manner?

Firkins also wanted to show how important it is that laws are changed regarding the protection of children. Only by bringing this atrocity to the public light can changes be made. It could make a difference in the life of a child.

Isn’t it time we improve laws to protect our children? Shouldn’t we be able to count on our law enforcement and Child Protective Services?

For every moment we do nothing, we are putting children in harm’s way. I commend Mr. Firkins for his mission to fight for justice; to push for changes that could prevent similar tragedies. Mr. Firkins is a “hero for justice”.

Mark Bello has thirty-three years experience as a trial lawyer and twelve years as an underwriter and situational analyst in the lawsuit funding industry. He is the owner and founder of Lawsuit Financial Corporation which helps provide legal finance cash flow solutions and consulting when necessities of life litigation funding is needed by plaintiffs involved in pending, personal injury litigation. Bello is a Justice Pac member of the American Association for Justice, Sustaining and Justice Pac member of the Michigan Association for Justice, Business Associate of the Florida, Tennessee, and Colorado Associations for Justice, a member of the American Bar Association as well as their ABA Advisory Committee, the State Bar of Michigan and the Injury Board.

http://southfield.injuryboard.com/wrongful-death/get-tough-on-sex-offenders-fight-to-protect-our-children.aspx?googleid=292980