GEORGIA News

Georgia officials decided last year that a rules violation by a private
foster care agency was so egregious it warranted one of the toughest possible
penalties.
The agency, state records show, had inappropriately placed two children
in the same foster home. One was a 17-year-old who had engaged in incest and
other sexual activity. The other was 8, autistic and mute, with a history of
being abused and an IQ of 16. The boys at first shared a bedroom; ultimately,
they shared a bed.
The foster agency’s punishment: a $300 fine.
What happened at the Trek Program, a foster agency based in Fort
Oglethorpe, and how the state responded illustrate the scope of problems in
Georgia’s growing system of publicly funded but privately operated foster care,
according to an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The newspaper reviewed more than 1,500 reports of state inspections and
investigations, which provide an astonishing narrative of stark
conditions and inadequate oversight in small foster homes and large group
facilities alike.
Fights. Sexual assaults. Consensual sex between young teens. Abuse by
foster parents and group home employees. Escapes. Suicide attempts. All occur
with regularity at many of Georgia’s 336 private foster care agencies, the
Journal-Constitution’s examination found.
One agency, for example, repeatedly used anti-psychotic drugs to subdue
misbehaving children. Another tried to rid residents of “demons” through
forced exorcism.
Yet the state office that oversees foster care consistently excuses
serious, repeated rules violations that jeopardize children’s health and safety.
Since 2008, officials have issued 1,107 citations to 300 of the 336
private agencies. Most cases involved multiple violations of foster care rules.
But the state imposed fines or other penalties — what it calls “adverse
actions” — in just 83, or 7 percent, of those citations. The median fine: $500.
Of the 336 private foster care agencies, 100 receive direct state
funding; last year’s total exceeded $55 million. Even among those agencies,
violations are common. In the past two years, the state has cited 91 of
the 100 agencies — while continuing to pay them for housing foster children.
Like many other states, Georgia increasingly relies on private agencies —
not-for-profit organizations, for the most part — to place children in
foster homes or group homes and to oversee much of their care. Many of
the children have been diagnosed with mental illnesses, behavioral
disorders, or both. Some enter foster care through the state’s social services system
to protect them from abusive or neglectful parents. Others come through
juvenile courts after getting in trouble with the law.
About 4,000 children, roughly half those in state care, reside in
privately owned facilities. A decade ago, private agencies cared for no more than
10 percent of Georgia’s foster children.
State oversight, however, has not kept pace with the growth in private care.
In Fulton and DeKalb counties, Georgia’s most populous, half the
children in foster care did not receive the required two visits a month from state
workers in 2009, court-appointed monitors said in a recent report. In
addition, the monitors said, state officials inspected the operations of
one-third as many private foster agencies last year as in 2008.
And while half the foster children in the two counties live in private
facilities, the monitors told a judge, they account for three-fourths of
substantiated maltreatment cases in foster homes. (The state recently
countered that 37 percent of the maltreatment occurred outside foster
homes.)
“These are just the cases that actually get identified, investigated and
substantiated as abuse,” said Ira Lustbader, associate director of
Children’s Rights Inc., a New York-based advocacy group involved in the
federal lawsuit that led to the monitors’ appointment.
“If the state is going to utilize the private sector, they have to have
mechanisms in place” to ensure children’s safety, Lustbader said. “In
the end, it’s all about the quality of the state’s oversight.”
State officials, however, say regulating foster care agencies is a
complicated undertaking, one that involves using both persuasion and the specter of
serious penalties to combat substandard treatment.
“It is not the goal to put people out of business,” said Keith Bostick,
director of the state Office of Residential Child Care. “We want to do
as much as we can to try to keep kids safe. But it is a balancing act.”
Dena Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, which
oversees the regulatory office, added: “Many times there are agencies or
providers that, with a soft nudge, they can get back into compliance.”
But many foster care providers complain that enforcement is too
aggressive, too focused on administrative requirements that don’t directly affect
how children are treated.
“The regulations are good regulations,” said Normer Adams, executive
director of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children, an
industry lobbying group. “But sometimes the citations are really tedious. Most of
the violations don’t threaten the health or safety of a child.”
Regardless, in most instances, the state merely tells private agencies
to correct deficiencies. Sometimes it also threatens an “adverse action.”
But many agencies continue to violate the rules, with little or no consequence.

Drugs and demons

One day last April, an employee of the Mercy’s Door group home near
Dalton approached a resident with a plan for his redemption: exorcism.
The employee took the boy to an office, where four other staff members
were waiting, the boy later told a state inspector. They sat the boy in a
chair and encircled him, hands joined, saying they would “exorcise the demons
out” of him, he told the inspector.
“In Jesus’ name,” the boy quoted a staff member as saying, “remove the demons.”
Employees at Mercy’s Door required residents to attend daily
“devotionals,” where they claimed to “rebuke demons of depression” and spoke in
tongues, according to a second boy, who witnessed part of the exorcism rite. When
another resident, an atheist, left his room, the boy said, staff members
prayed over his bed. The staff, according to one resident, believed that
“everyone has demons inside of them.”
The boy targeted by the exorcism said two staff members rubbed olive oil
on his forehead and spoke about “four angels and rings of fire” — an
apparent reference to Revelation’s prophesy that 144,000 people will be “sealed”
and spared in Earth’s inevitable destruction. The boy said he was told he
had been “bought for a price and adopted by Jesus.”
At one point, two of the facility’s employees later said, the boy became
distraught. “Why,” he asked, jumping out of his chair, “can’t you be Baptist?”
In a brief telephone interview, the facility’s director, Veronica Alcerro, declined to comment.
A state investigation confirmed the boy’s story about the exorcism — and
found that an employee of the group home, which received $62,416 in state money
last year, had lied to an inspector.
But while the state cited Mercy’s Door for rules violations, it assessed no
penalty.
In May 2008, the state cited Morningstar Treatment Services, which operates
the Youth Estate group home outside Brunswick, for repeatedly using
anti-psychotic drugs to control residents who would “act up.” A similar
citation had been issued the previous October.
Regulators described the shots as an improper form of chemical restraint, used
“as a means of convenience” for the facility’s staff.
One resident, for instance, was drugged for “non-compliance,” according
to an incident report prepared by Morningstar. The resident had argued over
serving an in-school suspension, so a nurse gave the child Ativan, an
anti-psychotic, and Benadryl, an over-the-counter antihistamine also
used as a sedative. After “lying on the bench for a little while,” the incident
report said, the child completed the suspension “without fighting it.”
The state ordered Morningstar to revise its medication policy, and the
agency said it would.
Ten months later, however, state inspectors learned that Morningstar was
still using medication to discipline or control residents.
A nurse sedated one child for “being out of area.” Another resident was
given a blend of Benadryl, Ativan and Haldol, another anti-psychotic, for
“agitation, destruction and self-abuse.” Yet another received Valium for
“agitation and aggression”; when the child still didn’t calm down, a
nurse gave him the powerful anti-psychotic drug Thorazine.
In those instances, as in others, inspectors noted, “there was no valid
prescription for the medications given.”
Staff members told inspectors that without the shots, “they would not be
able to handle some of the residents,” according to a state report.
The four dozen or so residents at Morningstar typically have IQs between
40 and 70 and emotional and behavioral disorders, said Barry Kerr, the
agency’s chief executive.
Morningstar has been “very aggressive” in reducing the use of drugs to
manage residents’ behavior, Kerr said. The medicines, he said, have been used
only “when we did not have another alternative.”
After Morningstar’s second citation, the state gave the agency a stern
warning: “Based on repeat rule violations and failure to comply with an
accepted plan of correction, adverse action may be initiated.”
About a week later, the state did act against Morningstar.
It imposed a $450 fine.

‘Eyes on the situation’

At least once a year, Rachel Neal shows up unannounced at each of the 80
or so foster care facilities that comprise her portfolio as a state inspector.
She carries a lengthy list of rules that each must follow: a minimum
number of training hours for employees, up-to-date inspections for vehicles that
transport foster children, and on and on.
Most violations get a written citation and are corrected within weeks.
But when she discovers dangerous situations, such as toxic materials left
within the reach of children, Neal expects instant remedies.
“Usually, they’ll be like, ‘OK, Ms. Neal, that will be dealt with
immediately,’ ” she said during a tour of The Bridge, a group home in
northwest Atlanta. “We make sure before I leave that that hazard will be fixed.”
Even during standard inspections, Neal said, “a lot of times you may
come across something else” that endangers children or otherwise violates
state rules. She said she may deviate from the routine “if I hear something,
or see something, or read something in a file.”
But Neal and other inspectors spend relatively little time at each
foster care facility. State case workers — assigned to a different division of the
Department of Human Services — are supposed to visit each child they
oversee twice a month. But they may not always look for problems affecting
children supervised by other case workers, said Melissa Carter, the state’s child
advocate.
“They are our eyes on the situation,” Carter said. “If I’m a case
manager and I’m responsible for little Susie, I just go in and take a look at little
Susie. It could be that other children were seen and other problems
could have been detected.”

‘Minimal information’

In early 2007, the state took custody of an autistic child who had been
neglected and abused in his home. The boy was “greatly at risk” of more
maltreatment, case workers wrote, and would have to be “safeguarded from
abuse.”
The state then delegated the boy’s protection to a private agency: Trek,
a nonprofit program operated by the Lookout Mountain Community Services
Board in North Georgia. Trek, in turn, placed the child in a foster home with
which it contracted.
In March 2009, the state asked Trek to handle another child with profound
troubles: a 17-year-old with a long, repulsive sexual history. The
agency chose the same home where it had put the autistic child.
No one, however, told the foster parents about the 17-year-old’s
experiences with incest and pornography. Or about his “sexual inappropriateness”
with a stepparent. Or about what a therapist described as his “distorted sexual
beliefs”: that children aren’t hurt if adults molest them, for example, and
it’s OK for an older child to initiate sex with a younger one.
Trek provided “very minimal information,” the foster parents would later
tell a state inspector. When they asked to see the 17-year-old’s
psychological evaluations, the foster parents said, a Trek case worker demurred,
saying only that the child had “never sexually acted out in previous
placements.”
The foster parents moved the 17-year-old into a bedroom with the
8-year-old autistic boy. About a month later, the night of April 7, a cry
transmitted by a baby monitor awoke one of the foster parents. He went to the boys’
bedroom, where he found the 17-year-old in bed with the younger child.
The older boy was masturbating and had one hand in the 8-year-old’s pants.
The state cited Trek for failing to “prepare the foster family for the
placement ... by anticipating adjustments and problems that may arise.”
The previous month, the agency had received two similar citations. And a
month later, the state assessed the $300 fine.
John Brewer, Trek’s program director, declined to comment on the case.
But he said Trek tries to comply with state rules.
“They’ve always looked for specific things and make sure we follow through,”
Brewer said. “We do get cited occasionally, and we try to correct those
things.”

No one told

The state has cited numerous agencies that withheld critical information
from foster parents.

For instance, state officials found that Benchmark Family Services of
Jonesboro knew a child it placed in a foster home was supposed to
receive therapy for sexual misbehavior. But no one, records show, told the foster family.
Soon, the child “inappropriately touched” another student at school, according
to state reports. At the foster home, he groped another child.
The state cited the agency, but imposed no penalty.
A child placed in 2008 by another agency, Choices for Life of Georgia,
based in Valdosta, had entered foster care after having sex with a cousin. He
was not supposed to sleep, bathe, undress or be alone with younger children.
Again, no one told the foster family. Within weeks, the boy had molested
at least one of the younger children in the home.
The state cited the agency, but imposed no penalty.
Foster parents need information about children in their care, said Beth
Locker, policy director for Voices for Georgia’s Children, an Atlanta-based
advocacy group.
“When that doesn’t happen,” Locker said, “it’s hard to know whether it’s
a breakdown in communication, or a genuine concern about the privacy of a
child’s family, or a concern about the cost of providing needed
services.”
Sometimes, however, foster parents exacerbate harm already done to the
children they supervise.
Choices for Life is one of several agencies cited for not preventing
foster parents from using corporal punishment or other prohibited disciplinary
methods. Last year, regulators said, the agency “failed to take
appropriate corrective action” after learning a child had been spanked, and injured,
by her foster parent. The child reported the spanking in December 2008, but
Choices for Life left her in the foster home for 42 days.
The state imposed no penalty. It rarely does unless it finds a series of
serious violations.
Inspectors documented numerous deficiencies in oversight by Bethany
Christian Services of Atlanta, for instance. One of the agency’s foster parents
left a child who uses a wheelchair home alone several times. Once, a social
worker came by and found the wheelchair upstairs and the child on the basement
floor, unable to get up and lying in his own waste.
Two other foster parents with Bethany forced a child to swallow a
Benadryl tablet. The foster parents, the child said, called it a “sleep vitamin.”
From 20 investigations and four other inspections since May 2008, the
state has cited Bethany Christian eight times for a total of 27 rules
violations.
Just once, however, did the state impose a penalty: a $500 fine this
January.

Differing solutions

More regulation or less? Experts and children’s advocates are divided in
their suggestions for improving Georgia’s foster care system.

Those who support tougher enforcement of foster care rules suggest that:

● More state case workers are needed so each child in foster care can be
visited at least twice each month, as required by a settlement agreement
in a lawsuit over conditions in foster care.

● The state should be more diligent in searching for relatives to care
for children taken into protective custody.

● State officials could more closely monitor private agencies that
operate group homes or place children in foster homes; inspections of those
agencies dropped dramatically in 2009.

● The state could increase funding to replace case workers and other
regulators, whose numbers have declined through attrition, retirement
and other factors.
Those who say less-stringent oversight would help privately operated
foster care agencies propose that:

● The state could eliminate what one report called “disparities in
degrees of regulation and disparate treatment” of state-supervised foster homes and
those overseen by private agencies. Problems in state-operated homes,
the report said, may be addressed by case workers “who personally know and
have worked with the foster parents.”

● Privately operated foster homes could be regulated by social workers,
rather than inspectors with more of an enforcement mentality.

● A single, independent body — not affiliated with the Department of
Human Services, which funds foster care — could oversee all foster care
providers.

Sources: Court-appointed monitors’ report to U.S. District Court, Georgia
Office of the Child Advocate’s 2008 annual report.

It is very painful to read about the physical and emotional abuse and
neglect suffered by the children in the case currently being tried in
Oconee County (Story, “More details of cruelty emerge in abuse trial,”
Tuesday). I thank Judge Steve Jones for closing the courtroom to the
public and trying to make testifying less traumatic for the children.
I work for an organization whose mission is to prevent child abuse
and neglect. Prevent Child Abuse Athens offers services and education to
support families and reduce the number of abused children in Clarke and
surrounding counties. We were founded by volunteers 25 years ago, and
we continue to have volunteers working with us today. We also partner
with many organizations to reach and help as many children and families
as possible.
Our motto is “Positive Parenting ... Stronger Families.” It is
evident that the parents in the current court case did not know, or
chose not to use, positive discipline methods. This is something we
teach at our parenting classes, which are offered free of charge in the
community. A new class began this week. Call or e-mail us for more information.
How can you help prevent child abuse? Do whatever you can to help
your family members and friends when they are struggling with high
stress, from parenting or other issues. If you want to learn more and
possibly volunteer or support us in some way, take a look at our
website, www.pcaathens.org,or give us a call at (706) 546-9713.

Mary P. Hood

• Mary P. Hood is executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Athens.

Inadequate home environments have led to 140 children
being placed into foster care in Glynn County, an overwhelming number
because of a shortage of foster homes.

About eight children were placed into foster homes in neighboring Camden
County when Glynn's 18 foster homes could not meet their needs, said
Laurie Morton, social services supervisor for Camden County and interim
for Glynn and McIntosh counties.

She said both counties actively recruit foster parents.

"We never know how many children will come into care at any point in
time," Morton said. "It's good to have a pool of resources so we won't
have to remove any out of the county."

But enough foster parents are not answering the call to serve as
caregivers to children removed from their homes by Juvenile Court, which
leads to overflow and more adjustments for the children.

Morton said being placed in a foster home in a different county hinders
the parent's ability to eventually reunify with their children over
time and makes visitations more difficult.

It's not a problem unique to Glynn County. Coastal Georgia needs more
foster homes, along with the rest of the state, said Dena Smith, press
secretary for the Georgia Department of Human Services.

Today, there are two foster homes in McIntosh County, nine in Brantley
County and 23 in Camden County.

Children need a stable, safe and comfortable home when the state removes
them from their parents, said Ellen Mayoue Baker, director of CASA, or
Court Appointed Special Advocates. CASA volunteers advocate for children
in foster care.

"There's a laundry list of reasons why the court determines it's not
safe [for children] to remain in the home that they're in," Baker said.

Issues include abuse, neglect, homelessness, hygiene, health and
substance abuse, she said.

Foster parents make an enormous difference in children's lives, Morton
said.

"They help children adjust to the trauma of being removed from their
biological family and meet their educational, medical, psychological and
social needs while in the home," Morton said. "We ask them to treat
foster children as if they were their own children. They work closely
for a permanency plan for the child to reunify with parents, find
alternative resources or prepare for adoption."

Foster parents take a seven- week preparation course. After completing
the class, the state performs a minimum of two home consultations to
complete a family assessment.

A foster family's strength is matched with a child's needs.

To qualify as a foster parent, individuals must be able to meet the
basic needs of the members of their household.

The state requires home safety checks, criminal record checks, proof of
legal residency or citizenship, drug screens, medical examinations and
references.

Single people must be at least 25 years old and at least 10 years older
than the child. If married, they must be at least 10 years older than
the child.

Get involved

People interested in becoming foster parents should call 877-210-KIDS.
Their information will be put into a database and a member from the
Department of Family and Children Services will contact them.

The above story needs to be moved to the NEW JERSEY topic.
That's where we find Atlantic City.
For some reason my magic wand doesn't work in here....

TomTerrific0420 wrote:The above story needs to be moved to the NEW JERSEY topic.
That's where we find Atlantic City.
For some reason my magic wand doesn't work in here....

Done. Stupid Kiwi got mixed up with Atlanta