Silence allows child abuse to persist, worsen | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com
Excellent articles highlights the issue of silence that can lead to child deaths.
From the article:
""If (people) can see and witness harsh discipline going on in public, the odds are that things are worse in private," Taylor said."
"Nationwide, some 13,856 children died of abuse or neglect from 2001 through 2009, The National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths reports. Advocates believe the number is closer to 20,000 because of inconsistencies in fatality reporting and the inexperience of medical examiners unfamiliar with child abuse deaths."
As a former child protective services investigator I saw the same silence go on inside the government agency where I worked that was charged with the duty to protect children.
Young children, research shows, with single moms who have boyfriends increases the risk to very young ones.
Speak up and say what you see; and we will move forward to making a difference in the lives of children who are at risk.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Day Provider of the Year Arrested on Felony Charges in death of 2-month-old Avin Rominger
Infant's death leads to arrest of former 'child care provider of the year' - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com
From the article above about Sheila Caceres, child care provider of the year in 2008:
"She also is being charged with "repeatedly" violating the state Health and Safety Code by placing unattended infants in the upstairs of her home, while watching older children on the first floor."
From the article above about Sheila Caceres, child care provider of the year in 2008:
"She also is being charged with "repeatedly" violating the state Health and Safety Code by placing unattended infants in the upstairs of her home, while watching older children on the first floor."
DSHS Washington State & Kentucky Adoption Scandals
Kentucky Unjustly Terminates Parental Rights For Federal Money by Valarie Honeycutt Spears
In researching a question from one of my readers I found this article about the Whistle Blower in Kentucky who exposed the quick termination of parental rights and quick adoption out of children to qualify for the Feds $4000.00 bonus check for each of those children.
From the article above: "The attorney for former state social worker Pat Moore says Moore was fired because she criticized her supervisors for insisting that two foster children be placed with an adoptive family in Verona in Boone County even though the family, among other problems, allowed a man described in court documents as a pedophile convicted of sex crimes to be around the children."
I found my August 13, 2003 DSHS email sent to all of us social workers urging us to meet the goal of adopting out 150 more children by September 30, 2003 to reach that $4000.00 federal bonus money.
Can you imagine? In a month and a half...quick...get 150 more children adopted out to get that federal money.
Then a few years ago a bill got floated in the legislature by DSHS that essentially created the impression that...well...for those children we were not able to sell (my opinion and cynicism towards this program)...well...parental rights may be able to be restored.
I keep praying an individual out there will take on the massive investigation that rightfully should be done to give clear transparency to this issue.
I am not aware of any study about what happened to these children who were "quickly" adopted out. I know I had a couple of folks over the years who I was processing a child day care license for that were on my caseload who wanted to do foster adopt. My initial assessment was not only shouldn't they have a day care license, they were not healthy candidates to be foster or adoptive parents.
Were they allowed to adopt? I don't know, I did not have access to those records after I recommended denial that they not receive a child day care license.
A former co-worker and former foster care licensor in the state of Washington told me when I asked how many foster care parents on her caseload should not have gotten or kept a foster care license? She said 50%.
If you read my blog piece on the Manson foster parent who was also doing unlicensed child day care and read the child death review on the four babies who died while under her care...it is heartbreaking and revealing.
Out of those child deaths review the legislature strengthened the law (RCW 74.15) in 1995 to protect children. What did the unelected bureaucratic managers to over the ensuing years? Ignored the law, violated the laws made by our citizen legislature.
From the article above quoting Pat Moore's attorney:
"He said Moore was fired for going against regional management's judgment:
When the Department of Early Learning (DEL) was created in 2006 they created new laws for this new department. They took out the protection of children piece in the law. I asked the legislature in 2007 to put it back in, put it into the law that governs the state licensing child day care providers. The legislature did, bless their hearts and integrity.
But then the unelected bureaucratic managers of DEL kept on ignoring the protection of children laws. The Washington State Supreme Court this year (2011) ruled the protection of children is the law in the Hardee v DSHS case. I'll have to look at it again, it might be Hardee v The Department of Early Learning.
Thank you to the legislature, the Appellate Court and Washington State Supreme Court for affirming the law around protecting children.
Now we watch DEL and get records through public disclosure; and see if they will obey the Washington State Supreme Court.
If they don't I will be writing about it.
In researching a question from one of my readers I found this article about the Whistle Blower in Kentucky who exposed the quick termination of parental rights and quick adoption out of children to qualify for the Feds $4000.00 bonus check for each of those children.
From the article above: "The attorney for former state social worker Pat Moore says Moore was fired because she criticized her supervisors for insisting that two foster children be placed with an adoptive family in Verona in Boone County even though the family, among other problems, allowed a man described in court documents as a pedophile convicted of sex crimes to be around the children."
I found my August 13, 2003 DSHS email sent to all of us social workers urging us to meet the goal of adopting out 150 more children by September 30, 2003 to reach that $4000.00 federal bonus money.
Can you imagine? In a month and a half...quick...get 150 more children adopted out to get that federal money.
Then a few years ago a bill got floated in the legislature by DSHS that essentially created the impression that...well...for those children we were not able to sell (my opinion and cynicism towards this program)...well...parental rights may be able to be restored.
I keep praying an individual out there will take on the massive investigation that rightfully should be done to give clear transparency to this issue.
I am not aware of any study about what happened to these children who were "quickly" adopted out. I know I had a couple of folks over the years who I was processing a child day care license for that were on my caseload who wanted to do foster adopt. My initial assessment was not only shouldn't they have a day care license, they were not healthy candidates to be foster or adoptive parents.
Were they allowed to adopt? I don't know, I did not have access to those records after I recommended denial that they not receive a child day care license.
A former co-worker and former foster care licensor in the state of Washington told me when I asked how many foster care parents on her caseload should not have gotten or kept a foster care license? She said 50%.
If you read my blog piece on the Manson foster parent who was also doing unlicensed child day care and read the child death review on the four babies who died while under her care...it is heartbreaking and revealing.
Out of those child deaths review the legislature strengthened the law (RCW 74.15) in 1995 to protect children. What did the unelected bureaucratic managers to over the ensuing years? Ignored the law, violated the laws made by our citizen legislature.
From the article above quoting Pat Moore's attorney:
"He said Moore was fired for going against regional management's judgment:
"The state found foster parents willing to adopt, and even though the state knew the family had major problems, the state needed to get the kids out of the 'system,' regardless of how unfit the foster parents were."
That was my experience as a social worker licensing and investigating child day care homes. Our duties under the law and regulation were simply ignored by the unelected bureaucratic managers. Then when Administrative Law Judges ruled against the state, instead of the state looking to see what they did wrong in terms of losing their cases, the state managers mucked around with the regulations related to the Office of Administrative Hearings.
When the Department of Early Learning (DEL) was created in 2006 they created new laws for this new department. They took out the protection of children piece in the law. I asked the legislature in 2007 to put it back in, put it into the law that governs the state licensing child day care providers. The legislature did, bless their hearts and integrity.
But then the unelected bureaucratic managers of DEL kept on ignoring the protection of children laws. The Washington State Supreme Court this year (2011) ruled the protection of children is the law in the Hardee v DSHS case. I'll have to look at it again, it might be Hardee v The Department of Early Learning.
Thank you to the legislature, the Appellate Court and Washington State Supreme Court for affirming the law around protecting children.
Now we watch DEL and get records through public disclosure; and see if they will obey the Washington State Supreme Court.
If they don't I will be writing about it.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Day Care - Stay at Home Dads
Family
I like this blog, the attitude, the caring and with such poor oversight on daycare, licensed and unlicensed; and the many sad faces I've seen in day care; the children who've been hurt and those that died to see couples managing and fathers enjoying taking care of their own kids....it is a good feeling.
From the article:
"Acknowledging that being an at-home dad is an economic privilege, most of the dads agreed that if a family is able to afford it, someone – regardless of gender – should stay home with the kids. For men in an ostensibly counter-cultural role, the sentiment felt practically retro. “My wife and I both felt we didn’t want a daycare raising our children,” said Tavill, who quoted Laura Schlesinger’s advice that there should always be a parent present when the child is awake. “We felt that if we had kids, we should raise them,” Ferguson said. These were, on the whole, men who didn’t believe in “outsourcing” (as one dad put it) child rearing."
Enjoy the article.
I like this blog, the attitude, the caring and with such poor oversight on daycare, licensed and unlicensed; and the many sad faces I've seen in day care; the children who've been hurt and those that died to see couples managing and fathers enjoying taking care of their own kids....it is a good feeling.
From the article:
"Acknowledging that being an at-home dad is an economic privilege, most of the dads agreed that if a family is able to afford it, someone – regardless of gender – should stay home with the kids. For men in an ostensibly counter-cultural role, the sentiment felt practically retro. “My wife and I both felt we didn’t want a daycare raising our children,” said Tavill, who quoted Laura Schlesinger’s advice that there should always be a parent present when the child is awake. “We felt that if we had kids, we should raise them,” Ferguson said. These were, on the whole, men who didn’t believe in “outsourcing” (as one dad put it) child rearing."
Enjoy the article.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
20 Photos of Sweet Babies now Dead - Unlicensed Care MO
Missouri lawmakers urged to strengthen child care laws
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, click the link and take a look at twenty babies who died in day care in Missouri.
Forty-five (45) deaths in four years. An average of elven (11) baby deaths a year.
Heartbreaking for those who loved those forty-five (45) babies.
Missouri keeps, at least, some kind of data on the deaths of little ones. Many states don't.
The people who populate our various state governments stay numbed out to the actual deaths of children. They don't go to the funerals or memorial services of these little ones. They don't send a card.
In my state of Washington they wouldn't sign a card that I brought to one of our regional meetings for two year old little sweet Hailee Rhodes who had been slammed down in a playpen by her licensed day care provider.
A simple card that said we, individual human beings in state government charged with licensing day care providers per the laws passed by our citizen legislature, cared about Hailee, that we prayed that Hailee's brain damage would not be permanent. A simple card. A loving human action. A simple act of caring, my co-workers and managers would not do.
Hailee's brain damage I was told last year is permanent.
For all the babies that died, all the children that died and those who were maimed, permanently damaged how do we describe to them our community that created and then set the conditions in which they lived then died?
How do we bring down the veil of denial?
Can we look at each of those smiley baby pictures and weep? Then speak the truth of what we know, what we see and then make a better community?
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, click the link and take a look at twenty babies who died in day care in Missouri.
Forty-five (45) deaths in four years. An average of elven (11) baby deaths a year.
Heartbreaking for those who loved those forty-five (45) babies.
Missouri keeps, at least, some kind of data on the deaths of little ones. Many states don't.
The people who populate our various state governments stay numbed out to the actual deaths of children. They don't go to the funerals or memorial services of these little ones. They don't send a card.
In my state of Washington they wouldn't sign a card that I brought to one of our regional meetings for two year old little sweet Hailee Rhodes who had been slammed down in a playpen by her licensed day care provider.
A simple card that said we, individual human beings in state government charged with licensing day care providers per the laws passed by our citizen legislature, cared about Hailee, that we prayed that Hailee's brain damage would not be permanent. A simple card. A loving human action. A simple act of caring, my co-workers and managers would not do.
Hailee's brain damage I was told last year is permanent.
For all the babies that died, all the children that died and those who were maimed, permanently damaged how do we describe to them our community that created and then set the conditions in which they lived then died?
How do we bring down the veil of denial?
Can we look at each of those smiley baby pictures and weep? Then speak the truth of what we know, what we see and then make a better community?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Day Care Study Done on Southern States
The scary side of day care | ajc.com
As a former day care licensor in Washington State there are similarities across the many states. It would behoove all states to do valid studies on licensed and exempt folks doing day care.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution above wrote:
"Our analysis of state records for the past five years shows that at least: 8 children died, 239 were injured, 62 broke bones, 4 fractured skulls, 7 had fingers severed or amputated, 34 suffered burns, 50 wandered off."
Dead more than one child a year. It's important to understand the statistics Georgia found are "at least". They are only the incidents"found".
How many times don't we know about injuries and children wandering off?
As a former day care licensor in Washington State there are similarities across the many states. It would behoove all states to do valid studies on licensed and exempt folks doing day care.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution above wrote:
"Our analysis of state records for the past five years shows that at least: 8 children died, 239 were injured, 62 broke bones, 4 fractured skulls, 7 had fingers severed or amputated, 34 suffered burns, 50 wandered off."
Dead more than one child a year. It's important to understand the statistics Georgia found are "at least". They are only the incidents"found".
How many times don't we know about injuries and children wandering off?
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