Social Workers Behaving Badly
Child protection caseworkers and their social workers, etc. included
[DCF Worker Arrested for DUI: Police Find Child in Back Seat] Updated July 26, 2002 -- NBC 6 News Team
MIAMI -- A Department of Children and Families caseworker [56-year-old Mirla Pronga] is under arrest, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. But police say what she had in the back seat of her car is an even bigger outrage.
Officers said Pronga was asleep with the engine of her car still running. When they looked into the car, they allegedly found a crying 7-month-old baby girl in the back seat.
Investigators said Pronga had taken custody of the baby from the foster parents in order to supervise a short visit with a biological parent. http://www.nbc10.com/News/1579738/detail.html
November 8, 2006, Wednesday -- The New York Times
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - The executive director of one of the city's midsize foster care agencies resigned after an audit by the city's comptroller's office found that she had spent tens of thousands of dollars at luxury retailers. The audit showed that the executive director, Lelar Floyd, used the agency's corporate credit card ...
By LESLIE KAUFMAN (NYT); Metropolitan Desk Late Edition - Final, Section B, Page 1, Column 2, 760 words http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30E17FC355B0C7B8CDDA80994DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fF%2fFoster%20Care
[Caseworker charged with stealing gift card intended for child] February 01, 2007, Thursday -- AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF, Katie Humphrey
Donor wanted card to go to boy in state custody, but authorities say he never received it.
A state Child Protective Services caseworker [45-year-old Leslie Alexandra St. Aubin] is accused of stealing a $200 gift card that was intended as a Christmas present for a child in protective custody.
The gift card was used in the same transaction as a stolen credit card, the documents said. St. Aubin was also being held in connection with a misdemeanor theft by check case in Travis County. She remained in the Williamson County Jail on Wednesday, with bail set at $36,000. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/01/1cps.html
Friday, June 8, 2001 -- MaineToday.com, By GARY J. REMAL, Blethen Maine News Service
AUGUSTA -- A former state caseworker originally charged with manslaughter in the death of her 5-year-old foster daughter was indicted Thursday on a murder charge ... Schofield was a state child-protective caseworker at the time Marr and her younger sister were placed in her care, a violation of the Department of Human Service's regulations ... http://news.mainetoday.com/stories/010608schofield.shtml
[Social Worker Charged With Child Abuse] POSTED: 5:35 pm CDT Septermber 27, 2006 -- TheKansasCityChannel.com
Beth Hersh, 28, formerly of Blue Springs, is accused of assaulting her 2-month-old foster son at Children's Mercy Hospital. Hersh is charged with first-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.
Investigators said Hersh attempted to smother the 2-month-old while he was in the hospital being treated for something else. Hersh's former landlord, Melodie Chrisman, told KMBC that she isn't surprised by the charges ... she had a "Refrigerator full of spoiled food and running down the floor. There were bugs, rats, we had to fumigate several times. Just wasn't a clean place for children to be," she said. http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/9949377/detail.html?rss=kc1&psp=news
[State Labor Ruling Forces DCF To Rehire Employee Who Was Arrested] May 20, 2006 -- Courant Staff, COLIN POITRAS
A state social worker who was fired following allegations of fabricating evidence and tampering with a witness in a child endangerment case has gotten her job back with pay, officials and sources familiar with the case said Friday.
Valerie M. Miles returned to work at the Department of Children and Families last week. Miles is no longer handling abuse and neglect cases. She is currently doing research in the agency's central Hartford office after accepting a reduction in pay, said Gary Kleeblatt, a DCF spokesman.
Police accused Miles of falsely insisting in a sworn affidavit that plastic bags of drugs were found during a raid of a Hartford home that resulted in four children being taken from their parents. Police said they never found drugs in the home. Police also accused Miles of forcing one of the family's neighbors to provide a false statement supporting her claim about drugs in the home. The neighbor later told police she felt pressured to lie, according to Miles' arrest affidavit. http://www.geocities.com/family_rights_wv/socialworkers/supervisor_arrested2.html
[St. Louis licensed clinical social worker arrested on 19-county indictment of Medicaid fraud] June 18, 2003, Attorney General's News Release
The indictment charges that Burger, who owns Burger Youth and Family Services at 4144 Lindell Boulevard, billed the Missouri Medicaid program for psychological counseling services she did not provide. Burger is charged with 16 felony counts of making a false statement to receive a health care payment and with three felony counts of stealing by deceit. http://www.ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2003/061803b.htm
[Social Worker to Stand Trial on Medicaid Fraud Charges] June 23, 2005
Cheryl Jean Apollo (DOB 2/9/47) of East Peoria, Ill., allegedly submitted fraudulent Medicaid claims from January 2002 to May 2003 while she was an employee of Evergreen Behavioral Services in Mexico, according to a probable cause statement submitted with the charges. The office of Attorney General Jay Nixon is working with Audrain County Prosecuting Attorney Jason H. Lamb with the case.
Lamb filed the charges against Apollo on April 25. She faces three counts of stealing by deceit, a class C felony punishable upon conviction by up to seven years in prison and a $5,000 fine. She also faces 29 counts of making a false statement to receive a Medicaid payment, a class D felony punishable upon conviction by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Her arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. July 22 in Audrain County Circuit Court. http://www.ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2005/062305.htm
[School social worker charged with 'indecent liberties'] 01/25/2006 The Fairfax County Times
A 51-year-old Vienna man was arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 17 and charged with taking "custodial indecent liberties" with a 13-year-old Fairfax-area boy, according to Fairfax County police. On Jan. 17, Rother was taken into custody and transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab5.cfm?newsid=15996484&
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FYI: Proposing sexual activity or actually fondling a child (ages 0-18) -- when he or she is your own child or a child under your custody or supervision -- is a Class 6 felony, Taking indecent liberties with a child by person in custodial or supervisory relationship. The penalty for that is a fine-5 years. The Albo bill takes very serious crimes against children -- such as "any act of carnal knowledge," "an act of sexual intercourse" -- and adds them to the definition of § 18.2-370.1, Taking indecent liberties with child by person in custodial or supervisory relationship.
In Albo's bill, these acts, along with the fondling of genitals, are added to the definition of custodial indecent liberties in subsections vii-xi. Committing these sex crimes against a child age 0-18 thus would become a Class 6 felony. To be clear, that means that even if prosecutors had DNA evidence of sexual intercourse with a young child, they could plea bargain it down to a fine or probation. We think the more likely occurrence will be the routine skewing downward of sentences for sex crimes against children, as "options" get used. http://www.protect.org/virginia/vaAlboBillQA.html
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 -- PalmBeachCoast.com
STUART - A lawsuit filed in Martin Circuit Court Tuesday accuses a social worker with the state Department of Children and Families of taking the law into her own hands and separating a mother from her two children without a court order.
Jessica LaBoy said in court papers the caseworker lied when she told Martin County sheriff's deputies in February 2003 that she had a court order to remove LaBoy's children, a boy and a girl, from their mother's care. A day earlier, a circuit judge had ordered a DCF investigation on LaBoy closed. According to court records, two Martin sheriff's deputies took LaBoy's children from her without verifying whether an order existed. LaBoy, who also is suing DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth and the agency itself, said her son was injured while in foster care. The children were later returned to her.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/01/31/m2b_ briefs_0131.html
[Social Worker Charged with Sexual Contact] August 25, 2005 -- WXII2.com News
A local social worker [26-year-old Kenyon Laron Allen] has been charged with having sexual contact with a resident of the American Children's Home in Davidson County. http://www.wxii12.com/news/4899721/detail.html
[Police Chief Charged with Child Abuse] November 14, 2005 -- Daily Mail
Colin Inglis, 48, was charged by officers from North Yorkshire Police who were called in to investigate allegations that he abused boys when he was a social worker at a home in Hull in the 1980's. A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Following an investigation by North Yorkshire Police, on behalf of Humberside Police, a 48-year-old Hull man has been charged with 14 counts of indecent assault in relation to allegations of historic child abuse in the Humberside area. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=368602&in_page_id=1770
[Social Worker Faces Child Porn Charges] 05/28/2004 -- Daily Freeman.com, by Ariel Zangla
TOWN OF ULSTER - An employee of the Ulster County Department of Social Services was arrested on charges he possessed sexual performances by children obtained through the Internet, authorities said. Robert Myers, 56, was arrested by state police Wednesday on four counts of felony possessing a sexual performance by a child. He arraigned in Ulster Town Court and sent to Ulster County Jail on $50,000 bail.
Glenn Decker, the Commissioner of Social Services of Ulster County, said he was aware of the investigation and had been assured no crime had been committed on county time or property or with county equipments. "These charges stem from activities outside of the county department," Decker said. http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1769&dept_id=72585&newsid=11814548&PAG=461&rfi=9
[Two DCF Investigators Fired, Two Quit Over False Reports In Palm Beach County] February 3, 2007 -- The Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH - Two Department of Children & Families investigators have been fired and two others have resigned in recent months after falsifying information about visiting abused and neglected children in Palm Beach County. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-0203dcf,0,519798.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
[Social Worker's Attitude Angers Clients] Sunday, January 16, 2005 -- Plain Dealer Reporter, Joel Rutchick
" ... according to clients, child-welfare lawyers and fellow caregivers, it has been a years-long rampage by a rogue social worker who often seemed more determined to exercise her power over mostly poor clients than to help them get their families back on track. Butler has misrepresented parents' progress to deny them custody of their children, sometimes permanently, court records show. She has also violated important child-welfare requirements.
Documents show, for instance, that she has waited as long as 20 months to file paperwork in court showing what parents needed to do to get their children back, when state law directs child protection agencies to do so within a month.
And DCFS records show that, contrary to a key agency goal, Butler has been far more eager than her colleagues to remove children from their homes and far more likely to keep them away longer. According to court records, agency documents and interviews with court officials and other child-welfare workers, Butler has also been accused of:
Keeping children isolated from their mother for weeks without authority, a "gross abuse" of court rules, according to a Juvenile Court magistrate.
Misleading school officials about the status of children she removed from their home improperly.
Using questionable drug-abuse allegations against a mother before a key court hearing to get her to sign away custody rights to her children.
And threatening to have a mother arrested for checking on her daughter's academic progress at school.
Off the job, police records show, Butler was charged with domestic violence four years ago after she attacked her stepmother and vowed to return with others to beat her up.
"She's a very hurtful person," said Mark Witt, a leading child-welfare lawyer. Witt is one of many court officials, clients and caregivers who said they complained to DCFS officials about Butler's behavior, with little result. "She has a belligerent disregard for the rules of court and is disrespectful to people," he said.
In an interview last week, DCFS Director James McCafferty acknowledged that Butler could be "aggressive and rude," but said he thought that checks and balances were in place to keep her under control.
" ... a Plain Dealer reporter reviewed Butler's personnel file. And five days after that, DCFS suspended Butler for a range of infractions, including failure to maintain a valid driver's license, falsifying county records, and inappropriately using work time to go to court on the domestic violence charges stemming from the confrontation with her stepmother.
As long as a decade ago, Butler's then supervisor noted that she talked down to clients, that she sometimes created crises on cases where none existed before and that she could be "difficult" when agency instructions didn't fit her "agenda." Butler also chastised the boy's biological mother for raising questions about her son's care, according to DCFS records, telling her that she had lost the right to have an opinion. "Your baby's all right," Butler told her, according to the investigator's report. "Don't create a false alarm."
With DCFS embarking on a successful campaign to slash the number of children in foster care, the roughly 35 social workers in her office have managed to cut their foster-child caseload by 60 percent since 2002. But over the same period, records show the number of foster children in Butler's roster increased by 71 percent, from 14 to 24. And over the last three years, her monthly average of children in foster care was twice that of others in her office. She also was the slowest in closing cases. http://www.cleveland.com/socialworker/plaindealer/index.ssf?/socialworker/more/3.html
[Social Worker Cries Foul, Pays Dearly: Unwillingness to Compromise costs her a job] Thursday, February 26, 1998; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, by Mike Barber and Andrew Schneider
"From what I saw, there was little or any real proof that those children (the Wenatchee child sex-abuse investigations) had been molested or raped by their parents. But there is no doubt in my mind that they were horribly abused by those of us who were supposed to protect them ..."
Her unwillingness to compromise in the pursuit of justice cost her a job, but it stands as an inspiration to those who know her.
"The better we did at reuniting families, the more CPS ... resented it, as though we were wrong in rehabilitating families," he says. CPS "had an attitude that children were replaceable parts," Glassen says. "Juana never had that. She knew the value of a family." http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/powertoharm/vasquez.html
For reference: In February 1998, the Post-Intelligencer published a series of articles that documented overzealous -- and even abusive -- actions by Perez and social service caseworkers, civil rights violations by judges and prosecutors as well as sloppy work by public defenders ..." To read Power to Harm: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/powertoharm/
[Woman wants kids back after social worker marries ex] Jan. 7, 2007 -- Associated Press
CLEVELAND (AP) - A woman says she was persuaded to give up custody of her four children by a social worker who secretly dated and later married her ex-husband. Hillmon resigned from the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services after the department found out about the marriage.
County officials reviewed the file at the time and still believe the children belong with their father and not Kidd, who acknowledged whipping them with an electrical cord before taking parenting and anger management courses. Hillmon, 30, said it was a mistake and unprofessional to get romantically involved with Anderson but believes the children are better off because of it.
The children were removed from Kidd again in May 2005 after the youngest boy, then 4, was seen hanging over a porch railing unsupervised.
Anderson was given legal custody in June 2005, just days after divorcing Kidd. Hillmon and Anderson married seven weeks later. Hillmon said their relationship did not start until weeks before they married.
Hillmon continued on the case and filed an affidavit with the court in August 2005 saying she had visited the family at Anderson's residence and found "the home and living situation appropriate." She did not mention she had married Anderson. http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0107socialworker-ON.html
[Middlesex County Court Charged with Corruption: Who Altered Court Hearing Tapes and Other Records?] December 2000 -- Massachusetts News, by Ed Oliver
A father has been separated from his son because "insiders" in the Middlesex County Probate and Family Court in Cambridge are friends and associates of his ex-wife's new husband, a father has charged.
There has also been deliberate manipulation of court files and hearing tapes, his attorney says. This and other irregularities have kept the father from his son for six years without any evidentiary hearing ever having taken place. As a result, the boy has developed serious problems and was eventually turned over to DSS by the mother and her new husband.
"There is ample evidence that insiders in the Middlesex Probate and Family Court have removed documents from his case file, falsified the case docket, refused to docket motions and hearings in the public record, and withheld the public file for nine months," Attorney Gregory Hession told Massachusetts News. He says someone has even edited several hearing tapes. "All these things are illegal and mock justice. If a court can engage in this kind of behavior and get away with it, can anyone with a case in the Commonwealth believe he will get fair and impartial justice?"
Judge McGovern said in a ruling this August that some of the tapes have been destroyed even though the law forbids their destruction if any matter is pending or subject to appeal. Some of the tapes which were destroyed were those which were the most altered. http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/12_Dec/1200middlesex1.htm
[Agency accused of Abusing Authority: Ombudsman rips Children Services over Custody Battle] Friday, January 12, 2007; Cincinnati.com - The Enquirer by Eileen Kelley and Sheila McLaughlin
High-ranking officials with the Butler County Children Services Board misused their power and curried favors across county lines when they threw themselves into the fray between Joetta Street and her ex-husband, Vince Richardson, the independent ombudsman for the board said.
Street's 9-year-old daughter was removed from her mother's home in March after Michelle Money, an administrator with Butler County Children Services, who is the girl's stepmother, accused Street of emotionally abusing the child. That allegation came on the heels of a police report Street filed that accused Money of beating the child with a belt.
Now, Street faces six months in jail after New Miami police accused her of making a false police report. Street stands by the abuse allegations and feels they were ignored. Money's emotional-abuse claims were backed up by Heffner and other top ranking administrators who threw the agency into the domestic relations case so the child would be taken away from Street, said Bill Morrison, the Ombudsman.
The girl is living with Richardson and Money while a Warren County judge sorts through the custody mess. Although Warren County child protection caseworks found Money's claim unfounded, Street is unable to see the girl unless she pays a therapist $110 to supervise the hourly visits each week according to a judge's order. "I never would have dreamed how corrupt the system was until I had to go through it myself," Street said. "This has devastated me." http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070112/NEWS01/701120356
[A State Agency with The Power to 'Kidnap With Impunity'] Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - Fox News, by Wendy McElroy
For Heidi and Neil Howard, giving birth to a terminally ill baby seemed punishment enough. But that was before the Massachusetts Department of Social Services stepped into their lives. The department came knocking at the door to their home in the form of a "home visitor" sent by the hospital when the Howards' first baby girl was born with terminal health problems. According to the Massachusetts News, the "home visitor" was a social worker who found the home in disorder. The kitchen was in the process of being remodeled. Over Heidi's objections and without identifying the true purpose of the call, the "home visitor" opened closets and quizzed her about her marriage. Then, she filed a report about the messy home and "stress" in the family -- stress undoubtedly caused by having a dying child.
Their situation was complicated by a restraining order that Heidi says she was blackmailed into filing: the DSS allegedly threatened to remove their two boys, 10-year-old Christopher and five-year-old Ethan, if Heidi did not register a complaint against her husband even though she insisted no abuse had occurred. With a restraining order on file, the DSS seized the boys in November 1999. In February 2001, another daughter, Jessica, was seized from her nursing mother on the grounds that the other children were already in DSS custody. No court hearing has been held on the two boys.
Chester Darling, an attorney for the Howards, has called the DSS "an agency ... that can kidnap children almost with impunity." The money from incentives, grants, and contracts goes directly into the coffers of child protection agencies when they adopt-out children. Who benefits? "Social workers, diagnosticians, attorneys, foster homes and group homes, to name a few," says Susan Jackson of CPS Watch, a watchdog organization that monitors Child Protective Services. "These folks are fed by a child abuse industry to the tune of well over $12 billion."
Collectively, they form the Child Abuse Industry.
In 1998 [One year after the introduction of the American Safe Families Act or ASFA], according to a federal Department of Health and Human Services report, Kansas removed 1,872 children from their homes. But only 1,104 of the investigations substantiated the charges of abuse. The report states that 272 children were removed from families for reasons "unknown" in Ohio the same year.
The DSS wanted to put baby Jessica up for adoption, but on July 16th, Judge Robert Belmonte of the Framingham Juvenile Court ordered the baby returned to her parents. At last report, the DSS maintains that the two boys should be adopted out but seems willing to let an aunt and uncle become the adoptive parents. That way, at least, the DSS would still receive its "adoption incentive payment." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,30915,00.html
[Social Worker Goes To Court] by Angie Moreschi/Eyewitness News Indianapolis, Jan. 16
Children's Services caseworker Denise Moore had no comment as she left court after her initial appearance.
Moore is accused of official misconduct and falsifying information in an adoption proceeding. An Eyewitness News investigation in November showed Moore failed to do a proper criminal history check before placing four-year-old Anthony Bars and his twin sister in the home of L.B. and Latricia Bars, but indicated on official court documents that she did.
L.B. Bars had a battery conviction on his own daughter and a history of abuse in CPS records. Anthony and his sister were beaten and severely malnourished and Anthony died.
Indianapolis Police did get a request for a background check on the Bars after the kids were already placed in the home. But even after getting the results of that, the children were left in the home. The state never even disciplined Moore for her actions. Officials have repeatedly refused to explain that, citing state confidentiality laws. http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=1603756
[Social Worker Fired for Leaving Child in Locked Van] 9/1/2006 -- Associated Press
WENTWORTH, N.C. -- A Rockingham County social services worker has been charged with child abuse and fired from her job after a child in her care was found locked in an unattended vehicle. Betty Vaughn, 60, of Reidsville, left a 12-week-old infant in a locked van Friday in a parking lot with the windows up and the engine off, according to her arrest warrant. Temperatures that day were more than 90 degrees. The infant, whose name and gender were not released, had been taken from its home and held in protective custody because the child had a broken arm, according to Rockingham County Sheriff's Office. http://rdu.news14.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=90162
[Child Haven Vows Name Count After Girl was Left in Van] Aug. 03, 2006 -- Las Vegas Review-Journal, by Lawrence Mower
Child Haven will be revising its policies after a 4-year-old girl was left in a van for 40 minutes last week.
The 4-year-old girl, whose name was not released, was left in the Child Haven van after a mix-up regarding how many children were in the vehicle when it returned to the home.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Aug-03-Thu-2006/news/8855342.html
[Social Worker Charged with Billing Fraud] December 14, 2005 Fayetteville, N.Y.
A licensed clinical social worker from Fayetteville has turned in her license after being charged by the state with professional misconduct for submitting bogus insurance claims. Madge Eileen Flynn, of 5294 Burke Road, pleaded guilty last year in Oneida County Court to fourth-degree insurance fraud, a felony.
Flynn, who provided mental health services in Clinton, was accused of billing Excellus BlueCross BlueShield for visits that never took place. Flynn paid more than $40,000 in restitution to Excellus and was sentenced to three years of conditional discharge and 50 hours of community service. She was charged with insurance fraud after a joint investigation by Excellus, the state Insurance Department and the Oneida County District Attorney's Office showed Flynn billed for bogus appointments in 2000 and 2001. http://www.insurancefraud.org/newsarchives/news_december2005.htm
[Child removed from home in 'sad' twist of fate] -- Robert Matas, Globe and Mail
The little girl was eight years old. She told a social worker and police officer in Saskatchewan that her foster parents had involved her in cannibalism, gruesome satanic rites and sexual orgies. Almost everyone she knew -- 16 family members and friends -- was charged in 1991 in what police called the province's scandal of the century.
After her parents and one of their friends were convicted, she told a social worker she made up the stories. But her denials were dismissed.
Now she is a mother in her mid-twenties. And, in a twist of fate, a British Columbia court decided recently she was unfit to take care of her own three-year-old child. "This is a sad case," Judge R.R. Smith of the Provincial Court of British Columbia stated in a ruing that cleared the way for her child to be adopted.
The mother "seems to live a life that goes from one crisis to the next," Judge Smith said. She has slow impulse control and poor anger-management skils. She is in denial about her drinking problem and associates with people involved in the drug culture. "Even though this child has no special needs, the mother repeatedly demonstrated that she is unable to live a life that could focus on the best interests of the child. This is probably because the mother's own needs are so strong that they will usually take priority over the needs of the child," he wrote.
She feels she is "getting picked on" for what happened earlier in her life and authorities are not looking at what she is doing now.
Saskatoon lawyer Robert Borden, who represented families who successfully sued for malicious prosecution, said yesterday the mother's problems in B.C. relate back to how she was treated in Saskatchewan when she was a little girl.
"She was not looked after," he said. She told a social worker in the early 1990's that she made up the stories, and the social worker did nothing, Mr. Borden said. She also told the social worker that she was being sexually assaulted by a sibling, and the social worker left her with the sibling for four years, he said. " ... And now she has lost her child."
I have to ask how different Kathy's life might have been if the amount of money the Saskatchewan government has spent keeping her away from her family had instead been spent on her, how different her life might be. Her twin sister ... also informed Dueck that their older brother Michael was raping them -- right on one of the 1990 disclosure tapes. Michell has also had her children apprehended in B.C. To read additional details, please visit the links below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheila_steele/1718133/ (or)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2FTPStory%2FLAC%2F20051026%2FBCCHILD26%2FTPNational%2FCanada&ord=1171443970032&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true
Although these chidren were in Canada their tragic stories, while under the "protection" of the government, must be told.
Office of The Attorney General - Peter C. Harvey, Attorney General -- November 16, 2005
NEWARK -- A social worker who has been charged with criminal sexual contact and child endangerment by local authorities today agreed to voluntarily surrender his license and cease practice, Attorney General Peter C. Harvey and Consumer Affairs Director Kimberly Ricketts announced.
The New Jersey Board of Social Work Examiners was scheduled to hold a hearing this morning on the temporary suspension of Richard J. Mieliwocki's license to practice social work. The hearing was scheduled after Mieliwocki, a resident of Madison, was criminally charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of criminal sexual contact. "The criminal allegations raise serious issues about the safety of clients," Attorney General Harvey said. "We cannot allow this social worker to remain in practice while these allegations are pending." http://www.state.nj.us/lps/newsreleases05/pr20051116c.html
[Child Protection Social Worker Arrested for DUI]
Nicole Lorraine Dewar, 38, worked for the Rock County Family Service Agency in Luverne as a child protection social worker.
She worked as a child protection social worker, but a former Rock County, Minnesota, employee faces 2 years in jail for allegedly driving drunk with her own children in the car. Police say her blood alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit. The county's car was impounded, and Dewar was jailed in St. Paul. She has since been released, and the county's vehicle has been returned to Luverne. As for her children, the St. Paul City Attorney's Office couldn't release any information on their condition or whereabouts. http://www.ksfy.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=7593
[DCF Worker Arrested for DUI: Police Find Child in Back Seat] Updated July 26, 2002 -- NBC 6 News Team
MIAMI -- A Department of Children and Families caseworker [56-year-old Mirla Pronga] is under arrest, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. But police say what she had in the back seat of her car is an even bigger outrage.
Officers said Pronga was asleep with the engine of her car still running. When they looked into the car, they allegedly found a crying 7-month-old baby girl in the back seat.
Investigators said Pronga had taken custody of the baby from the foster parents in order to supervise a short visit with a biological parent.
http://www.nbc10.com/News/1579738/detail.html
[Social Worker Arrested after Party with Teens] 10/18/2005 by Candace Taylor, Register Staff
GUILFORD -- A local social worker [49-year-old Margaret Pohe Rose] has been arrested on charges she held a drinking party for a group of underage teens and was found to be in possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. An online advertisement for Rose's Boston Post Road practice states that she serves adolescents, adults, families and couples, and that she specializes in supporting people suffering from addictions. http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15404729&BRD=1281&
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[Social Worker Arrested, Accused of Possessing Child Porn]
Social worker Elizabeth McClain, of Apache Junction, has been arrested and jailed, accused of having approximately 700 images of child pornography. http://www.kpho.com/news/10201438/detail.html
[Second Child Welfare Caseworker Accused of Falsifying Documents] -- December 1, 2006
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A second child welfare caseworker bonded out of the Orange County jail on Friday afternoon. Department of Children and Families administrators said Luanne Brunson falsified documents saying she'd made home visits on at-risk kids when she really did not [Christopher McDonald was also charged less than 24 hours earlier].
http://www.wftv.com/news/10443482/detail.html
[Computer Sex Sting Snares State Social Worker] July 17, 2003 -- Burlington Vermont
Ralph Culver, 52, Burlington, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after police say he attempted to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old girl, according to court records.
Culver used his home computer and the state-owned computer in his Burlington office to send explicit sexual descriptions and requests about what he hoped the "girl" would do with him, according to police.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=1365190&nav=4QcRGxlr
[Baby Stolen! ... Children & Youth Steal a Chidl] December 1, 2006 -- 5thEstate.com
Lancaster County Children & Youth Agency along with one of their agents, Gary Sanderson are being sued in federal court for violating the civil rights of a Warwick Township resident and her baby. Sanderson, accompanied by two police officers, took Patricia Shope's one year old daughter under specious reasons and threatened that, "the clock is ticking" and that the mom could lose her baby through adoption!
Why? Sanderson said she was on drug! When she voluntarily submitted to drug testing and proved she wasn't on drugs, Sanderson and company then accused her of Munchaussen Syndrome by proxy. (that is where often a mother makes their child ill to get attention) Sanderson, who has no training to make such a diagnosis was undaunted by the facts! Moreover, Children and Youth Agency lied, distorted and exaggerated in their petition presented to Judge Jim Cullen in order to take the child ...
http://5thestate.com/061201b.htm
[Social Worker Pleads Guilty to Buying Cocaine from Client] April 9, 2003; By Jacob Goldstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
A former social worker admitted Wednesday that she bought cocaine from one of her clients. Rita Watson Bennet, 49, pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs and official misconduct. The Bozeman woman gave curt answers to the questions put to her by District Court Judge Nels Swaqndal at a change ... bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2003/04/09/news/drugsbzbigs.txt
[Committee on Ways & Means: Statement of Jody Wardell, Enon, Ohio]
At my own expense I have been working to expose fraud, waste, and abuse within the Montana DPHHS Child and Family Service Division (CFSD) for 3 years. I wrote and produced my own newsletter to keep Montana legislators informed and continue to work out of Ohio to help keep information circulating. I also took more than 10 telephone calls during a 2 and a half hour talk radio show in Kalispell, Montana dealing with issues of abusive social work power.
Current social work abuse and neglect in Montana is undermining family as the fundamental unit of society, not only in terms of the trauma caused to the maltreated parents and children through false allegations, but also in gross abuse of taxpayer dollars. The cost economically includes 1) the funds spent on child welfare services based upon false allegations and 2) the increasingly large sums of money dedicated to addressing issues based upon "precautionary principles" of "possible" consequences of abuse and neglect which in reality, simply do not exist.
Critics of the Montana DPPHS CFSD have begun to turn public attention toward what appears to be a DPPHS systemic problem. A cultural problem that apparently has been ignored by Montana DPHHS bureaucrats for years: Social workers can and do lie due to personal issues of dysfunction which cause maladjusted perceptions of abuse, compassion, fatigue and burnout.
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=1355
[Infant Dies In Family Under D.C. Supervision] Friday, January 19, 2001; Page B01 -- By Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz
Child and Family Services has been operating under a court-appointed receiver since 1995, when a federal judge found that the agency was failing to comply with court orders and violating the constitutional rights of neglected and abused children.
The agency is being transferred back to District government control.
The agency also said in its statement that police were investigating unrelated allegations of misconduct on the part of an employee. The agency did not release any details concerning the allegations, but child welfare sources said the employee allegedly was having sex with at least one foster child under his supervision.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A15580-2001Jan18
[Social Worker Pleads Guilty to Medicaid, Insurance Fraud] May 21, 2003 - Maryland Attorney General, Douglas F. Gansler
Comparison of individual insurance company billing records with Andreadis' office records revealed many instances where the defendant billed private insurers for therapy sessions that either never took place or were conducted by unlicensed and untrained individuals. Interviews with numerous former and present patients corroborated this documented analysis.
The defendant employed a number of individuals whom she assigned to perform hands-on face to face social work services. These individuals were not licensed nor did they possess any qualifications to perform psychotherapy or social work services. Several of these employees were in fact former patients of Andreadis. These employees saw patients and made notations in their medical charts. On some occasions, diagnoses were even rendered by these employees and on numerous occasions, these employees saw patients when the defendant was not present at the office, yet the defendant billed for these sessions.
http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2003/052103.htm
[Caseworker Faked Visit to Slain Child] July 13, 2002 -- St. Petersburg Times, Curtis Krueger
A state child-welfare investigator was fired and criminally charged Friday with falsely claiming she had visited the 2-year-old boy whose body was found beside I-275 this week.
The investigator, Erica Jones, reported that she visited the child on the same day police say he was killed.
Kearney, who spent three days in Polk County working with police on the case, said she was "very concerned about the fact that we have an investigator who has falsified records . . . . The reality is there was no contact with Alfredo, Rheyna and the mother."
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/07/13/State/Caseworker_faked_visi.shtml
[Rilya's Caseworker Charged, Jailed] October 18, 2002 - Associated Press
Deborah Muskelly turned herself in to state law enforcement agents and was charged with 21 counts of official misconduct, 11 counts of grand theft and nine counts of petty theft.
Muskelly is charged with working as a substitute and adult education teacher at the same time she claimed she was working for the Department of Children and Families, said Ed Griffith, spokesman for Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. The fraudulent time cards were filed from January 2000 to February 2002, investigators said.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/18/State/Rilya_s_caseworker_ch.shtml (&)
http://www.wesh.com/news/1726710/detail.html
[Caseworker Charged with Molesting Third Boy] November 3, 2005
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- A Hamilton County child protective services worker who already faced sex-related charges involving two boys has been charged with molesting a third.
Cory Heinzman, of Arcadia, was charged this week with molesting an 11-year-old boy on three occasions in 2002.
Heinzman was arrested in May on charges that he molested an autistic teenage boy who had been part of his caseload. Authorities said molestation in that case allegedly happened between August 2004 and March.
In June, he was charged with having sexual contact with a second boy late last year. That boy made the allegations after the first investigation started.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/5246180/detail.html
[Mother charged after baby’s death: CPS caseworker fired; third Madison County child in three years to die under CPS care] -- The Herald Bulletin
The worker, whose name was not available at press time, was fired and her supervisor demoted, according to Cummings.
Cummings said criminal charges against the caseworker are possible. In January 2003, Cummings filed criminal charges against Mike Warrum, the caseworker assigned to protect 8-year-old wheelchair-bound Mark Norris, who died of pneumonia and malnutrition. http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_165230609.html?start:int=15
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/archives/04/11/08/110804innorris.htm
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/3901609/detail.html
[Ex-caseworker accused of rape] December 7, 2005 - The Billings Gazette
Allan Lee Morrison, 46, was arrested last week on felony charges of rape and promoting prostitution.
Court records say the 12-year-old reported having sex with Morrison on multiple occasions between February and September 2002. Morrison later reinitiated contact after he was no longer the boy's caseworker, court documents say.
Morrison also allegedly paid a local teenager $50 to $100 to have sex with him on 15 to 20 occasions. The teenager, who was not a client, said that in a few instances, Morrison used alcohol and other drugs to entice him, court records say.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/newdex.php?display=rednews/2005/12/07/build/state/98-caseworker-rape.inc
[Caseworker Went Out of His Way]
A Jackson County caseworker accused of sexually abusing his developmentally delayed clients went out of his way to nurture intense friendships with young men in his care, colleagues said.
Until he was arrested Wednesday, those who worked with and depended upon Robert Jackson believed that was a good thing. In hindsight, former associates are flinching at recollections of the 62-year-old Talent man's zeal.
Jackson was arraigned on 11 felony sex charges Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court.
Jackson, a former state-certified foster parent and Prospect School Board member, passed criminal background checks. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2000/august/080400n2.htm
[Caseworker Charged with Selling Crack Cocaine] Wednesday, June 4, 2003 -- Pittsburgh Tribune Review by Daniel Reynolds
Police arrested an Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families caseworker [27-year-old Amy Eskievich] from Swissvale on Tuesday and charged her with selling crack cocaine to undercover officers.
" ... Eskievich worked in the Family to Family division of CYF and served as a liaison between foster families and biological families to help the biological parents develop better parenting skills.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_137931.html
[Report Cites CPS Errors, Caseworker Load in Deaths] Wednesday, April 13, 2005 by Jonathan Martin Seattle Times Staff Reporter
At the time of their death by starvation and dehydration last November, Justice and Raiden Robinson had fallen off Child Protective Services' (CPS) radar despite their mother being accused of child neglect at least six times.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002239932_starved13m.html
[More Charges In Starved Kids Case] Oct. 27, 2003
COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. -- (AP) State officials were investigating whether a caseworker ignored evidence that four malnourished boys were being starved by their adoptive parents to determine if criminal charges should be filed, the governor said Monday.
"It's inconceivable how a case worker could go there and not detect these atrocious conditions," Gov. James E. McGreevey said during an appearance in Jamesburg.
The boy's adoptive parents, Vanessa Jackson, 48, and Raymond Jackson, 50, of Collingswood were arrested Friday and were being held on four counts of aggravated assault and 14 counts of child endangerment. The oldest of the boys, 19-year-old Bruce Jackson, was just 4 feet tall and weighed just 45 pounds when he was found earlier this month.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/28/national/main580372.shtml
[Caseworker Held on Gun Charges] July 29, 2005 -- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Jill King Greenwood
Federal agents have charged a caseworker [Theresa Marie Bishop] with the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families with buying four guns -- one a high-powered assault rifle -- for a convicted felon.
Bishop bought a .45-caliber Ruger handgun, a high-powered rifle and two 9-millimeter pistols and gave the weapons to her boyfriend, Glenn Edwards, according to a criminal complaint. She purchased the guns on two different days in June and one day this month, the complaint states.
Bishop began working for CYF as a caseworker trainee on Oct. 18 and was promoted to a second-level caseworker April 18. She worked in the intake division, investigating abuse cases.
The promotion indicates that Bishop "apparently" had been a good worker, Lubawy said.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_358251.html
[Martin Co. Caseworker Sentenced as a Sex Offender] October 13th, 2006 by WBIW News
(SHOALS) - A former child caseworker from Martin County has been sentenced to six years in prison following his guilty plea to charges of distributing sexually explicit material involving minors.
Fifty-six-year old Michael Pridemore of Loogootee will also be registered as a sex offender. Following his release from prison, Pridemore will serve a supervised release for life, which includes ongoing participation in a sex offender treatment program. He'll also not be allowed to have contact with minors.
http://www.wbiw.com/news/local/archives/2006/10/martin_co_caseworker_sentenced.php
[Panel: DCYF Failed Child Who Died After Beating from Foster Parents] 11/01/2005 -- Jo C. Goode, Journal Register News
PROVIDENCE -- One year ago on Oct. 31, 3-year-old Thomas "T.J." Wright died at 1:50 p.m. from a beating the Woonsocket toddler allegedly suffered at the hands of his foster parents while under the care of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).
Specifically, the panel said, the child protection agency missed at least five separate opportunities to identify the foster parents as inappropriate caregivers while in the process of certifying the unemployed couple.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15489596&BRD=1713&amp
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[State team takes over DCS in Wilson] By Ian Demsky Staff Writer
The state is putting a new team in charge of the Wilson County Department of Children's Services office, a development that comes after a worker there and a former DCS worker were arrested trying to gain access to a hospital maternity ward.
Christopher Lott, a DCS caseworker in Wilson County, was arrested Friday by the Smyrna Police Department along with former DCS worker Erica Barham.
The duo claimed to be on official department business but were stopped by security in the waiting room of the maternity area of the StoneCrest Medical Center in Smyrna, hospital spokeswoman Jessica Florida said.
DCS had been under scrutiny since October when a report from a child-welfare oversight committee found that from April to December 2003, caseworkers failed to perform adequate visits, too many children had multiple home placements, and oversight was improper for children on psychotropic drugs.
http://www.tennessean.com/government/archives/05/01/64269716.shtml?Element_ID=64269716
[DCF Worker Arrested When Police Search Murder Suspect's Apartment] Oct. 7, 2004
(Waterbury-AP ...) A state social worker was arrested yesterday when police searched the apartment she shares with her boyfriend who is wanted on a murder charge.
Authorities say they found 13 bags of crack cocaine, a 25-caliber handgun and Tenisha Rogers, a social worker with the Department of Children and Families.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2398745
[Sitter Says She Reported Abuse Before Baby Died] December 15, 2006 by Randy Ludlow and Dana Wilson - The Columbus
Dispatch
DELAWARE, Ohio -- A baby sitter alarmed by bruises on 11-month-old Nicholas Goodrich said she called children services officials on Nov. 20 to report that she suspected abuse.
A baby sitter said she was concerned for Nicholas' well-being and called children services in Franklin and Delaware counties three weeks before he died.
The agency reviewed the report but did not investigate, spokeswoman Kay Marshall said. Agency Director John Saros has requested an administrative inquiry into how the matter was handled, Marshall said.
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/12/15/20061215-D1-01.html
http://www.cleveland.com/ohio/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/
116747210282830.xml&coll=2
[City Hit with Suit in HRA Molest Rap] April 19, 2006
A Brooklyn boy allegedly molested by a city caseworker in a Human Resources Administration bathroom is suing the city - charging officials knew the caseworker had a history of sexually abusing children.
The lawsuit claims Serafin Colon, 55, "was engaging in a pattern of inappropriate conduct with children and other [HRA] visitors, including sexual abuse and touching."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/410018p-346965c.html
[Probation Officer Charged in Molestation] December 06, 2006 by Don Lehman
GLENS FALLS -- A Warren County probation officer and local youth minister, who formerly worked as a child protective services caseworker, was arrested Tuesday on charges he had improper sexual contact with two underage boys.
Bradford T. Overton, 30, of 10 Nelson St., Apt. 4, Glens Falls, faces four misdemeanor charges -- two counts each of forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child -- for allegedly having sexual contact with 15- and 16-year-old boys at his home over the summer, police said.
Overton has worked as a probation officer, handling a caseload of juvenile offenders for the past six months. Before that, he was a Child Protective Services caseworker for the Warren County Department of Social Services, police said.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2006/12/06/news/doc457642baa2bd5971983461.txt
[Social Worker Boozed Minors] February 21, 2007 by Kenneth Hart - The Independent
LOUISA -- A Lawrence County social worker was arrested last week for allegedly serving alcohol to teenage girls at a party.
Ruth J. Horn, 32, of Louisa, was charged with four counts of third-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, a Class A misdemeanor. Each count carries a jail sentence of up to one year.
The charges stem from a party Horn hosted at her residence on Jan. 27, Kentucky State Police at Ashland said. Four girls, ranging in age from 15 to 18, allegedly were given alcoholic beverages by Horn during the party, according to the KSP.
The five-year veteran of the Division of Protection and Permanency resigned her position this week, the KSP said.
http://www.dailyindependent.com/local/local_story_052233849.html
[Social Workers Ignore Child's Abuse Before 2003 Murder, Panel Rules] December 23, 2004 -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter
In the two months before 2-year-old Emerald Champagne Loop was murdered in 2003, social workers [Bjerkness and Campbell] in the Bellingham office of the state Department of Social and Health Services received five different reports of missing teeth and deep, unexplained bruises on the toddler's pale body.
But Emmie's Child Protective Services social worker and the social worker's boss never acted to take Emmie and her older sister out of harm's way.
Both Bjerkness and Campbell have since been reassigned to DSHS positions in which they do not provide direct services to children and famiies, she said. Neither could be reached for comment.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/204981_emmie23.html
[Richmond Mom Charged in Son's Death] Nov. 01, 2006 by Bruce Gerstman - Contra Costa Times
Contra Costa Child Protective Services was aware of three previous reports concerning the child's well-being last year. Social workers in each case found the reports were unworthy of further investigation. http://www.philly.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15904655.htm
[KSL News Investigates Problems with D.C.F.S] Feb. 19, 2004
"They have absolutely no personal accountability at all, if they do something wrong or a child dies. Well, then changes are simply made to the records usually by administration so that DCFS doesn't get in trouble when the case is reviewed."
http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=76339
[Lifting the Veil: Falsification of Records]
In southwest Florida, a supervisor of child-abuse investigators instructed several caseworkers to falsify reports to improve his unit's performance numbers, according to a 1991 Health and Rehabilitative Services Inspector General report.
http://www.liftingtheveil.org/falsification.htm
[DCF Worker Arrested for DUI: Police Find Child in Back Seat] Updated July 26, 2002 -- NBC 6 News Team
MIAMI -- A Department of Children and Families caseworker [56-year-old Mirla Pronga] is under arrest, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. But police say what she had in the back seat of her car is an even bigger outrage.
Officers said Pronga was asleep with the engine of her car still running. When they looked into the car, they allegedly found a crying 7-month-old baby girl in the back seat.
Investigators said Pronga had taken custody of the baby from the foster parents in order to supervise a short visit with a biological parent. http://www.nbc10.com/News/1579738/detail.html
November 8, 2006, Wednesday -- The New York Times
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - The executive director of one of the city's midsize foster care agencies resigned after an audit by the city's comptroller's office found that she had spent tens of thousands of dollars at luxury retailers. The audit showed that the executive director, Lelar Floyd, used the agency's corporate credit card ...
By LESLIE KAUFMAN (NYT); Metropolitan Desk Late Edition - Final, Section B, Page 1, Column 2, 760 words http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30E17FC355B0C7B8CDDA80994DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fF%2fFoster%20Care
[Caseworker charged with stealing gift card intended for child] February 01, 2007, Thursday -- AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF, Katie Humphrey
Donor wanted card to go to boy in state custody, but authorities say he never received it.
A state Child Protective Services caseworker [45-year-old Leslie Alexandra St. Aubin] is accused of stealing a $200 gift card that was intended as a Christmas present for a child in protective custody.
The gift card was used in the same transaction as a stolen credit card, the documents said. St. Aubin was also being held in connection with a misdemeanor theft by check case in Travis County. She remained in the Williamson County Jail on Wednesday, with bail set at $36,000. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/01/1cps.html
Friday, June 8, 2001 -- MaineToday.com, By GARY J. REMAL, Blethen Maine News Service
AUGUSTA -- A former state caseworker originally charged with manslaughter in the death of her 5-year-old foster daughter was indicted Thursday on a murder charge ... Schofield was a state child-protective caseworker at the time Marr and her younger sister were placed in her care, a violation of the Department of Human Service's regulations ... http://news.mainetoday.com/stories/010608schofield.shtml
[Social Worker Charged With Child Abuse] POSTED: 5:35 pm CDT Septermber 27, 2006 -- TheKansasCityChannel.com
Beth Hersh, 28, formerly of Blue Springs, is accused of assaulting her 2-month-old foster son at Children's Mercy Hospital. Hersh is charged with first-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.
Investigators said Hersh attempted to smother the 2-month-old while he was in the hospital being treated for something else. Hersh's former landlord, Melodie Chrisman, told KMBC that she isn't surprised by the charges ... she had a "Refrigerator full of spoiled food and running down the floor. There were bugs, rats, we had to fumigate several times. Just wasn't a clean place for children to be," she said. http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/9949377/detail.html?rss=kc1&psp=news
[State Labor Ruling Forces DCF To Rehire Employee Who Was Arrested] May 20, 2006 -- Courant Staff, COLIN POITRAS
A state social worker who was fired following allegations of fabricating evidence and tampering with a witness in a child endangerment case has gotten her job back with pay, officials and sources familiar with the case said Friday.
Valerie M. Miles returned to work at the Department of Children and Families last week. Miles is no longer handling abuse and neglect cases. She is currently doing research in the agency's central Hartford office after accepting a reduction in pay, said Gary Kleeblatt, a DCF spokesman.
Police accused Miles of falsely insisting in a sworn affidavit that plastic bags of drugs were found during a raid of a Hartford home that resulted in four children being taken from their parents. Police said they never found drugs in the home. Police also accused Miles of forcing one of the family's neighbors to provide a false statement supporting her claim about drugs in the home. The neighbor later told police she felt pressured to lie, according to Miles' arrest affidavit. http://www.geocities.com/family_rights_wv/socialworkers/supervisor_arrested2.html
[St. Louis licensed clinical social worker arrested on 19-county indictment of Medicaid fraud] June 18, 2003, Attorney General's News Release
The indictment charges that Burger, who owns Burger Youth and Family Services at 4144 Lindell Boulevard, billed the Missouri Medicaid program for psychological counseling services she did not provide. Burger is charged with 16 felony counts of making a false statement to receive a health care payment and with three felony counts of stealing by deceit. http://www.ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2003/061803b.htm
[Social Worker to Stand Trial on Medicaid Fraud Charges] June 23, 2005
Cheryl Jean Apollo (DOB 2/9/47) of East Peoria, Ill., allegedly submitted fraudulent Medicaid claims from January 2002 to May 2003 while she was an employee of Evergreen Behavioral Services in Mexico, according to a probable cause statement submitted with the charges. The office of Attorney General Jay Nixon is working with Audrain County Prosecuting Attorney Jason H. Lamb with the case.
Lamb filed the charges against Apollo on April 25. She faces three counts of stealing by deceit, a class C felony punishable upon conviction by up to seven years in prison and a $5,000 fine. She also faces 29 counts of making a false statement to receive a Medicaid payment, a class D felony punishable upon conviction by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Her arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. July 22 in Audrain County Circuit Court. http://www.ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2005/062305.htm
[School social worker charged with 'indecent liberties'] 01/25/2006 The Fairfax County Times
A 51-year-old Vienna man was arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 17 and charged with taking "custodial indecent liberties" with a 13-year-old Fairfax-area boy, according to Fairfax County police. On Jan. 17, Rother was taken into custody and transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab5.cfm?newsid=15996484&
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FYI: Proposing sexual activity or actually fondling a child (ages 0-18) -- when he or she is your own child or a child under your custody or supervision -- is a Class 6 felony, Taking indecent liberties with a child by person in custodial or supervisory relationship. The penalty for that is a fine-5 years. The Albo bill takes very serious crimes against children -- such as "any act of carnal knowledge," "an act of sexual intercourse" -- and adds them to the definition of § 18.2-370.1, Taking indecent liberties with child by person in custodial or supervisory relationship.
In Albo's bill, these acts, along with the fondling of genitals, are added to the definition of custodial indecent liberties in subsections vii-xi. Committing these sex crimes against a child age 0-18 thus would become a Class 6 felony. To be clear, that means that even if prosecutors had DNA evidence of sexual intercourse with a young child, they could plea bargain it down to a fine or probation. We think the more likely occurrence will be the routine skewing downward of sentences for sex crimes against children, as "options" get used. http://www.protect.org/virginia/vaAlboBillQA.html
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 -- PalmBeachCoast.com
STUART - A lawsuit filed in Martin Circuit Court Tuesday accuses a social worker with the state Department of Children and Families of taking the law into her own hands and separating a mother from her two children without a court order.
Jessica LaBoy said in court papers the caseworker lied when she told Martin County sheriff's deputies in February 2003 that she had a court order to remove LaBoy's children, a boy and a girl, from their mother's care. A day earlier, a circuit judge had ordered a DCF investigation on LaBoy closed. According to court records, two Martin sheriff's deputies took LaBoy's children from her without verifying whether an order existed. LaBoy, who also is suing DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth and the agency itself, said her son was injured while in foster care. The children were later returned to her.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/01/31/m2b_ briefs_0131.html
[Social Worker Charged with Sexual Contact] August 25, 2005 -- WXII2.com News
A local social worker [26-year-old Kenyon Laron Allen] has been charged with having sexual contact with a resident of the American Children's Home in Davidson County. http://www.wxii12.com/news/4899721/detail.html
[Police Chief Charged with Child Abuse] November 14, 2005 -- Daily Mail
Colin Inglis, 48, was charged by officers from North Yorkshire Police who were called in to investigate allegations that he abused boys when he was a social worker at a home in Hull in the 1980's. A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Following an investigation by North Yorkshire Police, on behalf of Humberside Police, a 48-year-old Hull man has been charged with 14 counts of indecent assault in relation to allegations of historic child abuse in the Humberside area. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=368602&in_page_id=1770
[Social Worker Faces Child Porn Charges] 05/28/2004 -- Daily Freeman.com, by Ariel Zangla
TOWN OF ULSTER - An employee of the Ulster County Department of Social Services was arrested on charges he possessed sexual performances by children obtained through the Internet, authorities said. Robert Myers, 56, was arrested by state police Wednesday on four counts of felony possessing a sexual performance by a child. He arraigned in Ulster Town Court and sent to Ulster County Jail on $50,000 bail.
Glenn Decker, the Commissioner of Social Services of Ulster County, said he was aware of the investigation and had been assured no crime had been committed on county time or property or with county equipments. "These charges stem from activities outside of the county department," Decker said. http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1769&dept_id=72585&newsid=11814548&PAG=461&rfi=9
[Two DCF Investigators Fired, Two Quit Over False Reports In Palm Beach County] February 3, 2007 -- The Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH - Two Department of Children & Families investigators have been fired and two others have resigned in recent months after falsifying information about visiting abused and neglected children in Palm Beach County. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-0203dcf,0,519798.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
[Social Worker's Attitude Angers Clients] Sunday, January 16, 2005 -- Plain Dealer Reporter, Joel Rutchick
" ... according to clients, child-welfare lawyers and fellow caregivers, it has been a years-long rampage by a rogue social worker who often seemed more determined to exercise her power over mostly poor clients than to help them get their families back on track. Butler has misrepresented parents' progress to deny them custody of their children, sometimes permanently, court records show. She has also violated important child-welfare requirements.
Documents show, for instance, that she has waited as long as 20 months to file paperwork in court showing what parents needed to do to get their children back, when state law directs child protection agencies to do so within a month.
And DCFS records show that, contrary to a key agency goal, Butler has been far more eager than her colleagues to remove children from their homes and far more likely to keep them away longer. According to court records, agency documents and interviews with court officials and other child-welfare workers, Butler has also been accused of:
Keeping children isolated from their mother for weeks without authority, a "gross abuse" of court rules, according to a Juvenile Court magistrate.
Misleading school officials about the status of children she removed from their home improperly.
Using questionable drug-abuse allegations against a mother before a key court hearing to get her to sign away custody rights to her children.
And threatening to have a mother arrested for checking on her daughter's academic progress at school.
Off the job, police records show, Butler was charged with domestic violence four years ago after she attacked her stepmother and vowed to return with others to beat her up.
"She's a very hurtful person," said Mark Witt, a leading child-welfare lawyer. Witt is one of many court officials, clients and caregivers who said they complained to DCFS officials about Butler's behavior, with little result. "She has a belligerent disregard for the rules of court and is disrespectful to people," he said.
In an interview last week, DCFS Director James McCafferty acknowledged that Butler could be "aggressive and rude," but said he thought that checks and balances were in place to keep her under control.
" ... a Plain Dealer reporter reviewed Butler's personnel file. And five days after that, DCFS suspended Butler for a range of infractions, including failure to maintain a valid driver's license, falsifying county records, and inappropriately using work time to go to court on the domestic violence charges stemming from the confrontation with her stepmother.
As long as a decade ago, Butler's then supervisor noted that she talked down to clients, that she sometimes created crises on cases where none existed before and that she could be "difficult" when agency instructions didn't fit her "agenda." Butler also chastised the boy's biological mother for raising questions about her son's care, according to DCFS records, telling her that she had lost the right to have an opinion. "Your baby's all right," Butler told her, according to the investigator's report. "Don't create a false alarm."
With DCFS embarking on a successful campaign to slash the number of children in foster care, the roughly 35 social workers in her office have managed to cut their foster-child caseload by 60 percent since 2002. But over the same period, records show the number of foster children in Butler's roster increased by 71 percent, from 14 to 24. And over the last three years, her monthly average of children in foster care was twice that of others in her office. She also was the slowest in closing cases. http://www.cleveland.com/socialworker/plaindealer/index.ssf?/socialworker/more/3.html
[Social Worker Cries Foul, Pays Dearly: Unwillingness to Compromise costs her a job] Thursday, February 26, 1998; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, by Mike Barber and Andrew Schneider
"From what I saw, there was little or any real proof that those children (the Wenatchee child sex-abuse investigations) had been molested or raped by their parents. But there is no doubt in my mind that they were horribly abused by those of us who were supposed to protect them ..."
Her unwillingness to compromise in the pursuit of justice cost her a job, but it stands as an inspiration to those who know her.
"The better we did at reuniting families, the more CPS ... resented it, as though we were wrong in rehabilitating families," he says. CPS "had an attitude that children were replaceable parts," Glassen says. "Juana never had that. She knew the value of a family." http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/powertoharm/vasquez.html
For reference: In February 1998, the Post-Intelligencer published a series of articles that documented overzealous -- and even abusive -- actions by Perez and social service caseworkers, civil rights violations by judges and prosecutors as well as sloppy work by public defenders ..." To read Power to Harm: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/powertoharm/
[Woman wants kids back after social worker marries ex] Jan. 7, 2007 -- Associated Press
CLEVELAND (AP) - A woman says she was persuaded to give up custody of her four children by a social worker who secretly dated and later married her ex-husband. Hillmon resigned from the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services after the department found out about the marriage.
County officials reviewed the file at the time and still believe the children belong with their father and not Kidd, who acknowledged whipping them with an electrical cord before taking parenting and anger management courses. Hillmon, 30, said it was a mistake and unprofessional to get romantically involved with Anderson but believes the children are better off because of it.
The children were removed from Kidd again in May 2005 after the youngest boy, then 4, was seen hanging over a porch railing unsupervised.
Anderson was given legal custody in June 2005, just days after divorcing Kidd. Hillmon and Anderson married seven weeks later. Hillmon said their relationship did not start until weeks before they married.
Hillmon continued on the case and filed an affidavit with the court in August 2005 saying she had visited the family at Anderson's residence and found "the home and living situation appropriate." She did not mention she had married Anderson. http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0107socialworker-ON.html
[Middlesex County Court Charged with Corruption: Who Altered Court Hearing Tapes and Other Records?] December 2000 -- Massachusetts News, by Ed Oliver
A father has been separated from his son because "insiders" in the Middlesex County Probate and Family Court in Cambridge are friends and associates of his ex-wife's new husband, a father has charged.
There has also been deliberate manipulation of court files and hearing tapes, his attorney says. This and other irregularities have kept the father from his son for six years without any evidentiary hearing ever having taken place. As a result, the boy has developed serious problems and was eventually turned over to DSS by the mother and her new husband.
"There is ample evidence that insiders in the Middlesex Probate and Family Court have removed documents from his case file, falsified the case docket, refused to docket motions and hearings in the public record, and withheld the public file for nine months," Attorney Gregory Hession told Massachusetts News. He says someone has even edited several hearing tapes. "All these things are illegal and mock justice. If a court can engage in this kind of behavior and get away with it, can anyone with a case in the Commonwealth believe he will get fair and impartial justice?"
Judge McGovern said in a ruling this August that some of the tapes have been destroyed even though the law forbids their destruction if any matter is pending or subject to appeal. Some of the tapes which were destroyed were those which were the most altered. http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/12_Dec/1200middlesex1.htm
[Agency accused of Abusing Authority: Ombudsman rips Children Services over Custody Battle] Friday, January 12, 2007; Cincinnati.com - The Enquirer by Eileen Kelley and Sheila McLaughlin
High-ranking officials with the Butler County Children Services Board misused their power and curried favors across county lines when they threw themselves into the fray between Joetta Street and her ex-husband, Vince Richardson, the independent ombudsman for the board said.
Street's 9-year-old daughter was removed from her mother's home in March after Michelle Money, an administrator with Butler County Children Services, who is the girl's stepmother, accused Street of emotionally abusing the child. That allegation came on the heels of a police report Street filed that accused Money of beating the child with a belt.
Now, Street faces six months in jail after New Miami police accused her of making a false police report. Street stands by the abuse allegations and feels they were ignored. Money's emotional-abuse claims were backed up by Heffner and other top ranking administrators who threw the agency into the domestic relations case so the child would be taken away from Street, said Bill Morrison, the Ombudsman.
The girl is living with Richardson and Money while a Warren County judge sorts through the custody mess. Although Warren County child protection caseworks found Money's claim unfounded, Street is unable to see the girl unless she pays a therapist $110 to supervise the hourly visits each week according to a judge's order. "I never would have dreamed how corrupt the system was until I had to go through it myself," Street said. "This has devastated me." http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070112/NEWS01/701120356
[A State Agency with The Power to 'Kidnap With Impunity'] Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - Fox News, by Wendy McElroy
For Heidi and Neil Howard, giving birth to a terminally ill baby seemed punishment enough. But that was before the Massachusetts Department of Social Services stepped into their lives. The department came knocking at the door to their home in the form of a "home visitor" sent by the hospital when the Howards' first baby girl was born with terminal health problems. According to the Massachusetts News, the "home visitor" was a social worker who found the home in disorder. The kitchen was in the process of being remodeled. Over Heidi's objections and without identifying the true purpose of the call, the "home visitor" opened closets and quizzed her about her marriage. Then, she filed a report about the messy home and "stress" in the family -- stress undoubtedly caused by having a dying child.
Their situation was complicated by a restraining order that Heidi says she was blackmailed into filing: the DSS allegedly threatened to remove their two boys, 10-year-old Christopher and five-year-old Ethan, if Heidi did not register a complaint against her husband even though she insisted no abuse had occurred. With a restraining order on file, the DSS seized the boys in November 1999. In February 2001, another daughter, Jessica, was seized from her nursing mother on the grounds that the other children were already in DSS custody. No court hearing has been held on the two boys.
Chester Darling, an attorney for the Howards, has called the DSS "an agency ... that can kidnap children almost with impunity." The money from incentives, grants, and contracts goes directly into the coffers of child protection agencies when they adopt-out children. Who benefits? "Social workers, diagnosticians, attorneys, foster homes and group homes, to name a few," says Susan Jackson of CPS Watch, a watchdog organization that monitors Child Protective Services. "These folks are fed by a child abuse industry to the tune of well over $12 billion."
Collectively, they form the Child Abuse Industry.
In 1998 [One year after the introduction of the American Safe Families Act or ASFA], according to a federal Department of Health and Human Services report, Kansas removed 1,872 children from their homes. But only 1,104 of the investigations substantiated the charges of abuse. The report states that 272 children were removed from families for reasons "unknown" in Ohio the same year.
The DSS wanted to put baby Jessica up for adoption, but on July 16th, Judge Robert Belmonte of the Framingham Juvenile Court ordered the baby returned to her parents. At last report, the DSS maintains that the two boys should be adopted out but seems willing to let an aunt and uncle become the adoptive parents. That way, at least, the DSS would still receive its "adoption incentive payment." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,30915,00.html
[Social Worker Goes To Court] by Angie Moreschi/Eyewitness News Indianapolis, Jan. 16
Children's Services caseworker Denise Moore had no comment as she left court after her initial appearance.
Moore is accused of official misconduct and falsifying information in an adoption proceeding. An Eyewitness News investigation in November showed Moore failed to do a proper criminal history check before placing four-year-old Anthony Bars and his twin sister in the home of L.B. and Latricia Bars, but indicated on official court documents that she did.
L.B. Bars had a battery conviction on his own daughter and a history of abuse in CPS records. Anthony and his sister were beaten and severely malnourished and Anthony died.
Indianapolis Police did get a request for a background check on the Bars after the kids were already placed in the home. But even after getting the results of that, the children were left in the home. The state never even disciplined Moore for her actions. Officials have repeatedly refused to explain that, citing state confidentiality laws. http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=1603756
[Social Worker Fired for Leaving Child in Locked Van] 9/1/2006 -- Associated Press
WENTWORTH, N.C. -- A Rockingham County social services worker has been charged with child abuse and fired from her job after a child in her care was found locked in an unattended vehicle. Betty Vaughn, 60, of Reidsville, left a 12-week-old infant in a locked van Friday in a parking lot with the windows up and the engine off, according to her arrest warrant. Temperatures that day were more than 90 degrees. The infant, whose name and gender were not released, had been taken from its home and held in protective custody because the child had a broken arm, according to Rockingham County Sheriff's Office. http://rdu.news14.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=90162
[Child Haven Vows Name Count After Girl was Left in Van] Aug. 03, 2006 -- Las Vegas Review-Journal, by Lawrence Mower
Child Haven will be revising its policies after a 4-year-old girl was left in a van for 40 minutes last week.
The 4-year-old girl, whose name was not released, was left in the Child Haven van after a mix-up regarding how many children were in the vehicle when it returned to the home.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Aug-03-Thu-2006/news/8855342.html
[Social Worker Charged with Billing Fraud] December 14, 2005 Fayetteville, N.Y.
A licensed clinical social worker from Fayetteville has turned in her license after being charged by the state with professional misconduct for submitting bogus insurance claims. Madge Eileen Flynn, of 5294 Burke Road, pleaded guilty last year in Oneida County Court to fourth-degree insurance fraud, a felony.
Flynn, who provided mental health services in Clinton, was accused of billing Excellus BlueCross BlueShield for visits that never took place. Flynn paid more than $40,000 in restitution to Excellus and was sentenced to three years of conditional discharge and 50 hours of community service. She was charged with insurance fraud after a joint investigation by Excellus, the state Insurance Department and the Oneida County District Attorney's Office showed Flynn billed for bogus appointments in 2000 and 2001. http://www.insurancefraud.org/newsarchives/news_december2005.htm
[Child removed from home in 'sad' twist of fate] -- Robert Matas, Globe and Mail
The little girl was eight years old. She told a social worker and police officer in Saskatchewan that her foster parents had involved her in cannibalism, gruesome satanic rites and sexual orgies. Almost everyone she knew -- 16 family members and friends -- was charged in 1991 in what police called the province's scandal of the century.
After her parents and one of their friends were convicted, she told a social worker she made up the stories. But her denials were dismissed.
Now she is a mother in her mid-twenties. And, in a twist of fate, a British Columbia court decided recently she was unfit to take care of her own three-year-old child. "This is a sad case," Judge R.R. Smith of the Provincial Court of British Columbia stated in a ruing that cleared the way for her child to be adopted.
The mother "seems to live a life that goes from one crisis to the next," Judge Smith said. She has slow impulse control and poor anger-management skils. She is in denial about her drinking problem and associates with people involved in the drug culture. "Even though this child has no special needs, the mother repeatedly demonstrated that she is unable to live a life that could focus on the best interests of the child. This is probably because the mother's own needs are so strong that they will usually take priority over the needs of the child," he wrote.
She feels she is "getting picked on" for what happened earlier in her life and authorities are not looking at what she is doing now.
Saskatoon lawyer Robert Borden, who represented families who successfully sued for malicious prosecution, said yesterday the mother's problems in B.C. relate back to how she was treated in Saskatchewan when she was a little girl.
"She was not looked after," he said. She told a social worker in the early 1990's that she made up the stories, and the social worker did nothing, Mr. Borden said. She also told the social worker that she was being sexually assaulted by a sibling, and the social worker left her with the sibling for four years, he said. " ... And now she has lost her child."
I have to ask how different Kathy's life might have been if the amount of money the Saskatchewan government has spent keeping her away from her family had instead been spent on her, how different her life might be. Her twin sister ... also informed Dueck that their older brother Michael was raping them -- right on one of the 1990 disclosure tapes. Michell has also had her children apprehended in B.C. To read additional details, please visit the links below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheila_steele/1718133/ (or)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2FTPStory%2FLAC%2F20051026%2FBCCHILD26%2FTPNational%2FCanada&ord=1171443970032&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true
Although these chidren were in Canada their tragic stories, while under the "protection" of the government, must be told.
Office of The Attorney General - Peter C. Harvey, Attorney General -- November 16, 2005
NEWARK -- A social worker who has been charged with criminal sexual contact and child endangerment by local authorities today agreed to voluntarily surrender his license and cease practice, Attorney General Peter C. Harvey and Consumer Affairs Director Kimberly Ricketts announced.
The New Jersey Board of Social Work Examiners was scheduled to hold a hearing this morning on the temporary suspension of Richard J. Mieliwocki's license to practice social work. The hearing was scheduled after Mieliwocki, a resident of Madison, was criminally charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of criminal sexual contact. "The criminal allegations raise serious issues about the safety of clients," Attorney General Harvey said. "We cannot allow this social worker to remain in practice while these allegations are pending." http://www.state.nj.us/lps/newsreleases05/pr20051116c.html
[Child Protection Social Worker Arrested for DUI]
Nicole Lorraine Dewar, 38, worked for the Rock County Family Service Agency in Luverne as a child protection social worker.
She worked as a child protection social worker, but a former Rock County, Minnesota, employee faces 2 years in jail for allegedly driving drunk with her own children in the car. Police say her blood alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit. The county's car was impounded, and Dewar was jailed in St. Paul. She has since been released, and the county's vehicle has been returned to Luverne. As for her children, the St. Paul City Attorney's Office couldn't release any information on their condition or whereabouts. http://www.ksfy.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=7593
[DCF Worker Arrested for DUI: Police Find Child in Back Seat] Updated July 26, 2002 -- NBC 6 News Team
MIAMI -- A Department of Children and Families caseworker [56-year-old Mirla Pronga] is under arrest, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. But police say what she had in the back seat of her car is an even bigger outrage.
Officers said Pronga was asleep with the engine of her car still running. When they looked into the car, they allegedly found a crying 7-month-old baby girl in the back seat.
Investigators said Pronga had taken custody of the baby from the foster parents in order to supervise a short visit with a biological parent.
http://www.nbc10.com/News/1579738/detail.html
[Social Worker Arrested after Party with Teens] 10/18/2005 by Candace Taylor, Register Staff
GUILFORD -- A local social worker [49-year-old Margaret Pohe Rose] has been arrested on charges she held a drinking party for a group of underage teens and was found to be in possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. An online advertisement for Rose's Boston Post Road practice states that she serves adolescents, adults, families and couples, and that she specializes in supporting people suffering from addictions. http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15404729&BRD=1281&
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[Social Worker Arrested, Accused of Possessing Child Porn]
Social worker Elizabeth McClain, of Apache Junction, has been arrested and jailed, accused of having approximately 700 images of child pornography. http://www.kpho.com/news/10201438/detail.html
[Second Child Welfare Caseworker Accused of Falsifying Documents] -- December 1, 2006
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A second child welfare caseworker bonded out of the Orange County jail on Friday afternoon. Department of Children and Families administrators said Luanne Brunson falsified documents saying she'd made home visits on at-risk kids when she really did not [Christopher McDonald was also charged less than 24 hours earlier].
http://www.wftv.com/news/10443482/detail.html
[Computer Sex Sting Snares State Social Worker] July 17, 2003 -- Burlington Vermont
Ralph Culver, 52, Burlington, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after police say he attempted to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old girl, according to court records.
Culver used his home computer and the state-owned computer in his Burlington office to send explicit sexual descriptions and requests about what he hoped the "girl" would do with him, according to police.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=1365190&nav=4QcRGxlr
[Baby Stolen! ... Children & Youth Steal a Chidl] December 1, 2006 -- 5thEstate.com
Lancaster County Children & Youth Agency along with one of their agents, Gary Sanderson are being sued in federal court for violating the civil rights of a Warwick Township resident and her baby. Sanderson, accompanied by two police officers, took Patricia Shope's one year old daughter under specious reasons and threatened that, "the clock is ticking" and that the mom could lose her baby through adoption!
Why? Sanderson said she was on drug! When she voluntarily submitted to drug testing and proved she wasn't on drugs, Sanderson and company then accused her of Munchaussen Syndrome by proxy. (that is where often a mother makes their child ill to get attention) Sanderson, who has no training to make such a diagnosis was undaunted by the facts! Moreover, Children and Youth Agency lied, distorted and exaggerated in their petition presented to Judge Jim Cullen in order to take the child ...
http://5thestate.com/061201b.htm
[Social Worker Pleads Guilty to Buying Cocaine from Client] April 9, 2003; By Jacob Goldstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
A former social worker admitted Wednesday that she bought cocaine from one of her clients. Rita Watson Bennet, 49, pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs and official misconduct. The Bozeman woman gave curt answers to the questions put to her by District Court Judge Nels Swaqndal at a change ... bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2003/04/09/news/drugsbzbigs.txt
[Committee on Ways & Means: Statement of Jody Wardell, Enon, Ohio]
At my own expense I have been working to expose fraud, waste, and abuse within the Montana DPHHS Child and Family Service Division (CFSD) for 3 years. I wrote and produced my own newsletter to keep Montana legislators informed and continue to work out of Ohio to help keep information circulating. I also took more than 10 telephone calls during a 2 and a half hour talk radio show in Kalispell, Montana dealing with issues of abusive social work power.
Current social work abuse and neglect in Montana is undermining family as the fundamental unit of society, not only in terms of the trauma caused to the maltreated parents and children through false allegations, but also in gross abuse of taxpayer dollars. The cost economically includes 1) the funds spent on child welfare services based upon false allegations and 2) the increasingly large sums of money dedicated to addressing issues based upon "precautionary principles" of "possible" consequences of abuse and neglect which in reality, simply do not exist.
Critics of the Montana DPPHS CFSD have begun to turn public attention toward what appears to be a DPPHS systemic problem. A cultural problem that apparently has been ignored by Montana DPHHS bureaucrats for years: Social workers can and do lie due to personal issues of dysfunction which cause maladjusted perceptions of abuse, compassion, fatigue and burnout.
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=1355
[Infant Dies In Family Under D.C. Supervision] Friday, January 19, 2001; Page B01 -- By Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz
Child and Family Services has been operating under a court-appointed receiver since 1995, when a federal judge found that the agency was failing to comply with court orders and violating the constitutional rights of neglected and abused children.
The agency is being transferred back to District government control.
The agency also said in its statement that police were investigating unrelated allegations of misconduct on the part of an employee. The agency did not release any details concerning the allegations, but child welfare sources said the employee allegedly was having sex with at least one foster child under his supervision.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A15580-2001Jan18
[Social Worker Pleads Guilty to Medicaid, Insurance Fraud] May 21, 2003 - Maryland Attorney General, Douglas F. Gansler
Comparison of individual insurance company billing records with Andreadis' office records revealed many instances where the defendant billed private insurers for therapy sessions that either never took place or were conducted by unlicensed and untrained individuals. Interviews with numerous former and present patients corroborated this documented analysis.
The defendant employed a number of individuals whom she assigned to perform hands-on face to face social work services. These individuals were not licensed nor did they possess any qualifications to perform psychotherapy or social work services. Several of these employees were in fact former patients of Andreadis. These employees saw patients and made notations in their medical charts. On some occasions, diagnoses were even rendered by these employees and on numerous occasions, these employees saw patients when the defendant was not present at the office, yet the defendant billed for these sessions.
http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2003/052103.htm
[Caseworker Faked Visit to Slain Child] July 13, 2002 -- St. Petersburg Times, Curtis Krueger
A state child-welfare investigator was fired and criminally charged Friday with falsely claiming she had visited the 2-year-old boy whose body was found beside I-275 this week.
The investigator, Erica Jones, reported that she visited the child on the same day police say he was killed.
Kearney, who spent three days in Polk County working with police on the case, said she was "very concerned about the fact that we have an investigator who has falsified records . . . . The reality is there was no contact with Alfredo, Rheyna and the mother."
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/07/13/State/Caseworker_faked_visi.shtml
[Rilya's Caseworker Charged, Jailed] October 18, 2002 - Associated Press
Deborah Muskelly turned herself in to state law enforcement agents and was charged with 21 counts of official misconduct, 11 counts of grand theft and nine counts of petty theft.
Muskelly is charged with working as a substitute and adult education teacher at the same time she claimed she was working for the Department of Children and Families, said Ed Griffith, spokesman for Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. The fraudulent time cards were filed from January 2000 to February 2002, investigators said.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/18/State/Rilya_s_caseworker_ch.shtml (&)
http://www.wesh.com/news/1726710/detail.html
[Caseworker Charged with Molesting Third Boy] November 3, 2005
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- A Hamilton County child protective services worker who already faced sex-related charges involving two boys has been charged with molesting a third.
Cory Heinzman, of Arcadia, was charged this week with molesting an 11-year-old boy on three occasions in 2002.
Heinzman was arrested in May on charges that he molested an autistic teenage boy who had been part of his caseload. Authorities said molestation in that case allegedly happened between August 2004 and March.
In June, he was charged with having sexual contact with a second boy late last year. That boy made the allegations after the first investigation started.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/5246180/detail.html
[Mother charged after baby’s death: CPS caseworker fired; third Madison County child in three years to die under CPS care] -- The Herald Bulletin
The worker, whose name was not available at press time, was fired and her supervisor demoted, according to Cummings.
Cummings said criminal charges against the caseworker are possible. In January 2003, Cummings filed criminal charges against Mike Warrum, the caseworker assigned to protect 8-year-old wheelchair-bound Mark Norris, who died of pneumonia and malnutrition. http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_165230609.html?start:int=15
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/archives/04/11/08/110804innorris.htm
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/3901609/detail.html
[Ex-caseworker accused of rape] December 7, 2005 - The Billings Gazette
Allan Lee Morrison, 46, was arrested last week on felony charges of rape and promoting prostitution.
Court records say the 12-year-old reported having sex with Morrison on multiple occasions between February and September 2002. Morrison later reinitiated contact after he was no longer the boy's caseworker, court documents say.
Morrison also allegedly paid a local teenager $50 to $100 to have sex with him on 15 to 20 occasions. The teenager, who was not a client, said that in a few instances, Morrison used alcohol and other drugs to entice him, court records say.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/newdex.php?display=rednews/2005/12/07/build/state/98-caseworker-rape.inc
[Caseworker Went Out of His Way]
A Jackson County caseworker accused of sexually abusing his developmentally delayed clients went out of his way to nurture intense friendships with young men in his care, colleagues said.
Until he was arrested Wednesday, those who worked with and depended upon Robert Jackson believed that was a good thing. In hindsight, former associates are flinching at recollections of the 62-year-old Talent man's zeal.
Jackson was arraigned on 11 felony sex charges Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court.
Jackson, a former state-certified foster parent and Prospect School Board member, passed criminal background checks. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2000/august/080400n2.htm
[Caseworker Charged with Selling Crack Cocaine] Wednesday, June 4, 2003 -- Pittsburgh Tribune Review by Daniel Reynolds
Police arrested an Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families caseworker [27-year-old Amy Eskievich] from Swissvale on Tuesday and charged her with selling crack cocaine to undercover officers.
" ... Eskievich worked in the Family to Family division of CYF and served as a liaison between foster families and biological families to help the biological parents develop better parenting skills.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_137931.html
[Report Cites CPS Errors, Caseworker Load in Deaths] Wednesday, April 13, 2005 by Jonathan Martin Seattle Times Staff Reporter
At the time of their death by starvation and dehydration last November, Justice and Raiden Robinson had fallen off Child Protective Services' (CPS) radar despite their mother being accused of child neglect at least six times.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002239932_starved13m.html
[More Charges In Starved Kids Case] Oct. 27, 2003
COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. -- (AP) State officials were investigating whether a caseworker ignored evidence that four malnourished boys were being starved by their adoptive parents to determine if criminal charges should be filed, the governor said Monday.
"It's inconceivable how a case worker could go there and not detect these atrocious conditions," Gov. James E. McGreevey said during an appearance in Jamesburg.
The boy's adoptive parents, Vanessa Jackson, 48, and Raymond Jackson, 50, of Collingswood were arrested Friday and were being held on four counts of aggravated assault and 14 counts of child endangerment. The oldest of the boys, 19-year-old Bruce Jackson, was just 4 feet tall and weighed just 45 pounds when he was found earlier this month.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/28/national/main580372.shtml
[Caseworker Held on Gun Charges] July 29, 2005 -- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Jill King Greenwood
Federal agents have charged a caseworker [Theresa Marie Bishop] with the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families with buying four guns -- one a high-powered assault rifle -- for a convicted felon.
Bishop bought a .45-caliber Ruger handgun, a high-powered rifle and two 9-millimeter pistols and gave the weapons to her boyfriend, Glenn Edwards, according to a criminal complaint. She purchased the guns on two different days in June and one day this month, the complaint states.
Bishop began working for CYF as a caseworker trainee on Oct. 18 and was promoted to a second-level caseworker April 18. She worked in the intake division, investigating abuse cases.
The promotion indicates that Bishop "apparently" had been a good worker, Lubawy said.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_358251.html
[Martin Co. Caseworker Sentenced as a Sex Offender] October 13th, 2006 by WBIW News
(SHOALS) - A former child caseworker from Martin County has been sentenced to six years in prison following his guilty plea to charges of distributing sexually explicit material involving minors.
Fifty-six-year old Michael Pridemore of Loogootee will also be registered as a sex offender. Following his release from prison, Pridemore will serve a supervised release for life, which includes ongoing participation in a sex offender treatment program. He'll also not be allowed to have contact with minors.
http://www.wbiw.com/news/local/archives/2006/10/martin_co_caseworker_sentenced.php
[Panel: DCYF Failed Child Who Died After Beating from Foster Parents] 11/01/2005 -- Jo C. Goode, Journal Register News
PROVIDENCE -- One year ago on Oct. 31, 3-year-old Thomas "T.J." Wright died at 1:50 p.m. from a beating the Woonsocket toddler allegedly suffered at the hands of his foster parents while under the care of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).
Specifically, the panel said, the child protection agency missed at least five separate opportunities to identify the foster parents as inappropriate caregivers while in the process of certifying the unemployed couple.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15489596&BRD=1713&amp
;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;PAG=461&dept_id=24491&rfi=6
[State team takes over DCS in Wilson] By Ian Demsky Staff Writer
The state is putting a new team in charge of the Wilson County Department of Children's Services office, a development that comes after a worker there and a former DCS worker were arrested trying to gain access to a hospital maternity ward.
Christopher Lott, a DCS caseworker in Wilson County, was arrested Friday by the Smyrna Police Department along with former DCS worker Erica Barham.
The duo claimed to be on official department business but were stopped by security in the waiting room of the maternity area of the StoneCrest Medical Center in Smyrna, hospital spokeswoman Jessica Florida said.
DCS had been under scrutiny since October when a report from a child-welfare oversight committee found that from April to December 2003, caseworkers failed to perform adequate visits, too many children had multiple home placements, and oversight was improper for children on psychotropic drugs.
http://www.tennessean.com/government/archives/05/01/64269716.shtml?Element_ID=64269716
[DCF Worker Arrested When Police Search Murder Suspect's Apartment] Oct. 7, 2004
(Waterbury-AP ...) A state social worker was arrested yesterday when police searched the apartment she shares with her boyfriend who is wanted on a murder charge.
Authorities say they found 13 bags of crack cocaine, a 25-caliber handgun and Tenisha Rogers, a social worker with the Department of Children and Families.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2398745
[Sitter Says She Reported Abuse Before Baby Died] December 15, 2006 by Randy Ludlow and Dana Wilson - The Columbus
Dispatch
DELAWARE, Ohio -- A baby sitter alarmed by bruises on 11-month-old Nicholas Goodrich said she called children services officials on Nov. 20 to report that she suspected abuse.
A baby sitter said she was concerned for Nicholas' well-being and called children services in Franklin and Delaware counties three weeks before he died.
The agency reviewed the report but did not investigate, spokeswoman Kay Marshall said. Agency Director John Saros has requested an administrative inquiry into how the matter was handled, Marshall said.
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/12/15/20061215-D1-01.html
http://www.cleveland.com/ohio/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/
116747210282830.xml&coll=2
[City Hit with Suit in HRA Molest Rap] April 19, 2006
A Brooklyn boy allegedly molested by a city caseworker in a Human Resources Administration bathroom is suing the city - charging officials knew the caseworker had a history of sexually abusing children.
The lawsuit claims Serafin Colon, 55, "was engaging in a pattern of inappropriate conduct with children and other [HRA] visitors, including sexual abuse and touching."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/410018p-346965c.html
[Probation Officer Charged in Molestation] December 06, 2006 by Don Lehman
GLENS FALLS -- A Warren County probation officer and local youth minister, who formerly worked as a child protective services caseworker, was arrested Tuesday on charges he had improper sexual contact with two underage boys.
Bradford T. Overton, 30, of 10 Nelson St., Apt. 4, Glens Falls, faces four misdemeanor charges -- two counts each of forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child -- for allegedly having sexual contact with 15- and 16-year-old boys at his home over the summer, police said.
Overton has worked as a probation officer, handling a caseload of juvenile offenders for the past six months. Before that, he was a Child Protective Services caseworker for the Warren County Department of Social Services, police said.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2006/12/06/news/doc457642baa2bd5971983461.txt
[Social Worker Boozed Minors] February 21, 2007 by Kenneth Hart - The Independent
LOUISA -- A Lawrence County social worker was arrested last week for allegedly serving alcohol to teenage girls at a party.
Ruth J. Horn, 32, of Louisa, was charged with four counts of third-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, a Class A misdemeanor. Each count carries a jail sentence of up to one year.
The charges stem from a party Horn hosted at her residence on Jan. 27, Kentucky State Police at Ashland said. Four girls, ranging in age from 15 to 18, allegedly were given alcoholic beverages by Horn during the party, according to the KSP.
The five-year veteran of the Division of Protection and Permanency resigned her position this week, the KSP said.
http://www.dailyindependent.com/local/local_story_052233849.html
[Social Workers Ignore Child's Abuse Before 2003 Murder, Panel Rules] December 23, 2004 -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter
In the two months before 2-year-old Emerald Champagne Loop was murdered in 2003, social workers [Bjerkness and Campbell] in the Bellingham office of the state Department of Social and Health Services received five different reports of missing teeth and deep, unexplained bruises on the toddler's pale body.
But Emmie's Child Protective Services social worker and the social worker's boss never acted to take Emmie and her older sister out of harm's way.
Both Bjerkness and Campbell have since been reassigned to DSHS positions in which they do not provide direct services to children and famiies, she said. Neither could be reached for comment.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/204981_emmie23.html
[Richmond Mom Charged in Son's Death] Nov. 01, 2006 by Bruce Gerstman - Contra Costa Times
Contra Costa Child Protective Services was aware of three previous reports concerning the child's well-being last year. Social workers in each case found the reports were unworthy of further investigation. http://www.philly.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15904655.htm
[KSL News Investigates Problems with D.C.F.S] Feb. 19, 2004
"They have absolutely no personal accountability at all, if they do something wrong or a child dies. Well, then changes are simply made to the records usually by administration so that DCFS doesn't get in trouble when the case is reviewed."
http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=76339
[Lifting the Veil: Falsification of Records]
In southwest Florida, a supervisor of child-abuse investigators instructed several caseworkers to falsify reports to improve his unit's performance numbers, according to a 1991 Health and Rehabilitative Services Inspector General report.
http://www.liftingtheveil.org/falsification.htm
posted by DCFSvictim | 2:11 PM
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