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lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children, Youth and Familieshas repeatedly placed children in dangerous situations...



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 19th 07, 09:20 AM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
fx
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,848
Default lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children, Youth and Familieshas repeatedly placed children in dangerous situations...

Committee to convene on DCYF issues

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 18, 2007

By Katherine Gregg

http://www.projo.com/news/content/DC...L.29d7267.html

Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE — The Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee has
called a rare, but not unprecedented, midsummer hearing for next
Wednesday on the degree to which “excessive caseloads” have endangered
children in the state’s care and custody, as alleged in a lawsuit filed
late last month by the state’s child advocate.

The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children, Youth and Families
has repeatedly placed children in dangerous situations, failed to remove
them promptly after abuse was revealed, and later failed to offer proper
counseling and treatment.

In hopes of hearing “both sides” of the dispute at one hearing, the
Senate committee chaired by Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, has invited
the child advocate, Jametta O. Alston, DCYF director Patricia Martinez,
and Jane Hayward, secretary of Governor Carcieri’s Office of Health and
Human Services.

“We are gravely concerned for the children,” Perry said. “This is an
opportunity to have both sides there and really be able to ask
questions, hear responses and then follow-up with the other side.”

Perry’s committee last met exclusively on DCYF issues last December,
after an Oct. 31 status report by Alston came to light.

Among the conclusions: that the DCYF had failed to make some of the most
important changes that a review panel called for after a 3-year-old boy
— Thomas J. “T.J.” Wright, of Woonsocket — was beaten to death while in
state custody two years ago.

The state also failed to hold caseloads to the recommended average of 14
families per caseworker, the report said. Then-caseworker Pamela McElroy
told the senators that she planned on leaving the job soon because heavy
caseloads had sapped her. “The reality is that as the situation stands
now, even if one is good at this work, it is impossible to do well. When
you cannot do this job well, children and their families suffer,” she said.

Alston, the child advocate, told the senators back then: “The short
answer is: hire the staff DCYF needs to do their job.” Members of the
audience, which included many DCYF workers, applauded.

In March, the Senate passed a resolution requiring monthly reports on
the number of children in each family service worker’s assigned
caseload, the extent to which the agency is relying on overtime and the
pace at which the agency is evaluating, training and qualifying new
foster homes.

As of June 1, average caseloads stood at 17.9 in the Providence region;
19 in the East Bay; 16.3 in Kent and Washington counties; and 21.2 in
north and Northwestern Rhode Island. And overtime still played a large
role in keeping up.

From July 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007, DCYF paid $1.8 million — an average
of $19,422 per pay period — for 37,923 overtime hours. In May alone, the
cost was $141,150 for 3,826.7 hours, with an explanation from Martinez
that much of what social workers routinely need to do takes place
outside their normal working hours.

Examples from the reports submitted by director Martinez: “Social
caseworkers need to meet with parents who are working” or “to see
children who are in school during the social caseworkers’ normal work
hours.”

During a confirmation hearing last May, some legislators voiced concern
about mounting caseloads in the face of three dozen vacancies that
hiring restraints prevent Martinez from filling. In response, she said
she hoped to transfer some of the more “tedious” work to some of the
private agencies with which the DCYF interacts.

An hour before the full Senate confirmed Martinez for another term as
DCYF director, the governor’s office announced the ratification of a
four-year contract with Local 580 Service Employees International Union,
which represents the social workers and others in the DCYF.

The contract promised the union’s 1,100 members 4-percent pay raises in
each of the first two years, and 3-percent raises for the last two. It
also requires members to pay a percentage of their health-care premiums.
It was not clear then — or now — the extent to which the new contract
ameliorated the long-running scheduling problems that have, for years,
necessitated the overtime.

Perry said she has wanted to ask — in the months since her committee
began its inquiry — “how the department is progressing with the problems
it had with overtime and the possibility of establishing flexible work
schedules … with the cooperation of the union.”

Next Wednesday’s hearing has tentatively been scheduled for 4 p.m. at
the State House.





CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
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

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


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...
  #2  
Old July 19th 07, 05:25 PM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
0:-]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 805
Default lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children, Youth and Families has repeatedly placed children in dangerous situations...

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:20:59 -0700, fx wrote:

Committee to convene on DCYF issues


Thanks for providing evidence for the underfunding of CPS to be key to
practice failures.

0:]

Don't you read these, Michael?

Or are you so busy you haven't the time.

0:]



01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 18, 2007

By Katherine Gregg

http://www.projo.com/news/content/DC...L.29d7267.html

Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE — The Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee has
called a rare, but not unprecedented, midsummer hearing for next
Wednesday on the degree to which “excessive caseloads” have endangered
children in the state’s care and custody, as alleged in a lawsuit filed
late last month by the state’s child advocate.

The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children, Youth and Families
has repeatedly placed children in dangerous situations, failed to remove
them promptly after abuse was revealed, and later failed to offer proper
counseling and treatment.

In hopes of hearing “both sides” of the dispute at one hearing, the
Senate committee chaired by Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, has invited
the child advocate, Jametta O. Alston, DCYF director Patricia Martinez,
and Jane Hayward, secretary of Governor Carcieri’s Office of Health and
Human Services.

“We are gravely concerned for the children,” Perry said. “This is an
opportunity to have both sides there and really be able to ask
questions, hear responses and then follow-up with the other side.”

Perry’s committee last met exclusively on DCYF issues last December,
after an Oct. 31 status report by Alston came to light.

Among the conclusions: that the DCYF had failed to make some of the most
important changes that a review panel called for after a 3-year-old boy
— Thomas J. “T.J.” Wright, of Woonsocket — was beaten to death while in
state custody two years ago.

The state also failed to hold caseloads to the recommended average of 14
families per caseworker, the report said. Then-caseworker Pamela McElroy
told the senators that she planned on leaving the job soon because heavy
caseloads had sapped her. “The reality is that as the situation stands
now, even if one is good at this work, it is impossible to do well. When
you cannot do this job well, children and their families suffer,” she said.

Alston, the child advocate, told the senators back then: “The short
answer is: hire the staff DCYF needs to do their job.” Members of the
audience, which included many DCYF workers, applauded.

In March, the Senate passed a resolution requiring monthly reports on
the number of children in each family service worker’s assigned
caseload, the extent to which the agency is relying on overtime and the
pace at which the agency is evaluating, training and qualifying new
foster homes.

As of June 1, average caseloads stood at 17.9 in the Providence region;
19 in the East Bay; 16.3 in Kent and Washington counties; and 21.2 in
north and Northwestern Rhode Island. And overtime still played a large
role in keeping up.

From July 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007, DCYF paid $1.8 million — an average
of $19,422 per pay period — for 37,923 overtime hours. In May alone, the
cost was $141,150 for 3,826.7 hours, with an explanation from Martinez
that much of what social workers routinely need to do takes place
outside their normal working hours.

Examples from the reports submitted by director Martinez: “Social
caseworkers need to meet with parents who are working” or “to see
children who are in school during the social caseworkers’ normal work
hours.”

During a confirmation hearing last May, some legislators voiced concern
about mounting caseloads in the face of three dozen vacancies that
hiring restraints prevent Martinez from filling. In response, she said
she hoped to transfer some of the more “tedious” work to some of the
private agencies with which the DCYF interacts.

An hour before the full Senate confirmed Martinez for another term as
DCYF director, the governor’s office announced the ratification of a
four-year contract with Local 580 Service Employees International Union,
which represents the social workers and others in the DCYF.

The contract promised the union’s 1,100 members 4-percent pay raises in
each of the first two years, and 3-percent raises for the last two. It
also requires members to pay a percentage of their health-care premiums.
It was not clear then — or now — the extent to which the new contract
ameliorated the long-running scheduling problems that have, for years,
necessitated the overtime.

Perry said she has wanted to ask — in the months since her committee
began its inquiry — “how the department is progressing with the problems
it had with overtime and the possibility of establishing flexible work
schedules … with the cooperation of the union.”

Next Wednesday’s hearing has tentatively been scheduled for 4 p.m. at
the State House.





CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
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

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


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...


 




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