ParentingBanter.com - View Single Post - Foster parents' fitness in question: 2-year-old went missing fromfoster care for four months & 11-year-old torture victim and a woman's bodyburied in the backyard..

**Greegor**

Helluva screening process eh?

On Jun 26, 9:12 pm, fx wrote:
Foster parents' fitness in question
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

Before 2-year-old Courtney Clark went missing from foster care for four
months -- and before she was found in a Wisconsin home with an
11-year-old torture victim and a woman's body buried in the backyard --
state child welfare administrators left her in the care of Cynthia and
Mark Martell.

Documents released Tuesday by the head of the state's child welfare
agency suggest the Martells had dubious qualifications to be foster
parents: In 2003, the Department of Children & Families had found ''some
indicators'' that a child in the Martell's home in Sorrento had been
sexually abused and faced ``threatened harm.''

The department turned over the allegations to local enforcement, though
no charges were ever filed.

The documents made public by DCF chief Bob Butterworth include an
unconfirmed 1995 abuse report to DCF that also alleged sexual
molestation in the Martell home.

Records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement say Cynthia
Martell had been arrested three times between 1985 and 2003 on charges
ranging from larceny and shoplifting to grand theft. The records do not
show any convictions.

An investigator and supervisor with the Seminole County Sheriff's
Office, which handles child-abuse reports for DCF, approved the Martells
as caregivers for Courtney, who was taken into state care in July 2006
after her mother, Candice Farris, was arrested on larceny charges.
Farris also went by the name Candice Clark.

A telephone number listed to the Martells was disconnected, and the
family could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The approval of the Martells as caregivers for the toddler is among a
handful of actions in the case that raised troubling questions in the
internal DCF review Butterworth released Tuesday. At an afternoon news
conference, Butterworth said he was ''incensed'' by the handling of
Courtney's case by both his agency and private contractors.

Farris took the toddler from the Martells' home on Sept. 23, 2006. On
Oct. 4, Cynthia Martell called a caseworker to report ''she had made a
big mistake and allowed Ms. Farris to leave with'' Courtney, the report
says.

It was not until four months later that caseworkers with the private
Safe Children's Coalition, which contracts with DCF to provide foster
care services in the Tampa Bay area, reported Courtney missing to local
police. The delay hampered the state's ability to locate the toddler,
reports say.

''It is unconscionable that human failures throughout the system allowed
Courtney Clark to be missing for four months without being reported,''
Butterworth said. ``Fortunately, Courtney is alive and well. But I
cannot say she was well served. She was not well served by the system
nor this department.''

Reacting to the case, Butterworth announced Tuesday a series of reforms.
Among them: the appointment of ''child location specialists'' in each of
the five department regions to spearhead efforts to locate missing
children, and a new ''director of criminal justice services'' to improve
DCF's relationship with police, judges and juvenile justice.

The head of a Clearwater agency that oversaw Courtney's foster care,
Directions for Mental Health, said Tuesday the reforms may help prevent
failures in the future.

''I think the suggestions for corrective action have the potential to
improve the system,'' said Tom Riggs, who heads Directions for Mental
Health. ``I welcome them. We will work hard to do our part in helping
these things to happen.''

Candice Farris remains in jail in Wisconsin on murder charges.

Wisconsin police found the toddler in a Portage home where they also
found an 11-year-old boy who had been tortured. The boy's mother was
found buried in the backyard.

A spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health & Family Services,
Stephanie Marquis, said child welfare workers in Columbia County have
taken Courtney into custody.

Typically, Marquis said, workers will search for ''fit and willing
relatives'' for abused and neglected children before looking for foster
parents. She declined to discuss Courtney's case specifically.

CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...