Wednesday, June 25, 2008

State Senator Val Stevens rebukes DSHS for Not protecting Children

I just sent this letter off to the Colmunbian Newspaper in Vancouver. See a link to the full article below

Dear Editor,

The state's spokesman said:

"Agency spokeswoman Lee said the state disagrees with the accrediting body that all supervisors must have master’s degrees in social work..."

Before 1989 all supervisors (Social Worker 4's) and social worker 3's were required to have their masters in social work.

AFSCME and DSHS administrators decertified that position themselves a long long time ago in 1989. We got a big raise and the requirements for social worker 4 (supervisors) and social worker 3 (social workers or caseworkers) positions were weakened.

The next big investigation that a newspaper or television media should do is on what is going on in the Attorney General's Office. More of the story will come into view. Perhaps a federal Inspector General must be called. They recently did a good investigation on the Justice Department.

In 1911 the father of scientific management Frederick Winslow Taylor wrote: "In the past man has been first. In the future the system must be first."

It's been almost 100 years. These systems are crumbling. Reforms aren't working. The state has few leaders who will manage and monitor the system to success. Christine Gregoire in my opinion has failed in her responsibility to protect children when she was the attorney general and as governor.

Margo Logan

Here's the link:


http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/06/06242008_Legislator-rebukes-childrens-agency.cfm?newsletter=1

Monday, June 23, 2008

Remembering How You Learned to Read

Folks in my classes continue to report not remembering how they learned to read. A couple here and there do, but most do not.

One woman who learned to read before she went to school, again, like Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird" got in trouble when she read along with the teacher.

I haven't spent a lot of time this spring reading with the seven year old in my life. I got an adult book out of the library on pirates. The pleasure and pride came to his face when he once again could tackle an adult book. I helped him when he stumbled with the decoding.

He stopped at one point and said, "My teacher says that if I come across five words that are hard to pronounce it means the book is too hard for me." "No way", I shouted gleefully! His look of relief warmed my heart.

He read the first page of the introduction. Took him 23 minutes of concentration and effort. I gave definition to the words he didn't know.

Kids want to be in the real world with adults. They really like to hang out with adults who treat them with respect who have an interest in the world.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Child Care Licensing Website and the Ides of March

As a former child care licensor looking at the most newly created Department of Early Learning (DEL) website "Beware the Ides of March" phrase pops into my head.

Why?

Caesar's wife had a dream about treachery and betrayal that would happen mid-March. I don't have the exact date but the "NEW" child care licensing website got launched about mid-March.

As a parent looking up a child care provider on this website you will not be given the information whether or not the provider or facility has a "founded" child protective services (CPS) claim against it.

Parents now have access to all the regulations (called WACs) on the website but the bureaucracy fails to tell you that a WAC can be waived at the whim of a supervisor and manager.

Thus when a parent views a particular provider and the history looks clean, we don't know if they were found to have abused, neglected a child or a child was sexually abused on their property.

The CPS statute is being used to keep secrets. Investigations of child abuse in a licensed facility do not fall under the CPS law (RCW 26.44). That law was written to do with the "private" family not a "licensed" facility.

Perhaps some of our Senators and Representatives will help this next legislative session to clear up this problem for parents who must use licensed child care in order to go to work for the benefit of the state, the economy and stakeholders.