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Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on The Florida Departmentof Children and Families



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 19th 07, 09:11 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 Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on The Florida Departmentof Children and Families

Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on agency

By MELANIE AVE
Published July 18, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/18/St..._report_.shtml

The foster girl's caseworker may have been the one who failed to report
her missing to Florida law enforcement for four months.

But it was the state's child welfare system - and its lax procedures and
oversight - that bears most of the responsibility for errors in the case
of Courtney Clark, a 2-year-old former Pinellas County foster child who
disappeared with her mother for nine months, according to a state report
released Tuesday.

The Florida Department of Children and Families, its nonprofit
contractor, the Sarasota Family YMCA, and the YMCA's subcontractor,
Directions for Mental Health in Clearwater, all failed to care for and
protect Courtney, according to a 39-page report released by the DCF
inspector general's office.

While some individuals "should be held accountable" for mistakes, the
report attributed the ultimate failure to be "poorly established
protocols within the provisions of the contract, lack of proper
oversight, weak internal controls, and ineffective communication by all
parties involved."

All three agencies lacked due diligence and a sense of urgency, the
report concluded.

Among its recommended changes:

* DCF should oversee its subcontractors more closely and
specifically be required to approve a subcontractor's policies.
* Workers should take immediate action when a child's safety is in
question.
* Employees should be trained on how to properly report missing
children.

The review also faulted a home study, done by the Seminole County
Sheriff's Office, for not being "detailed enough" about previous
allegations of sexual abuse at the foster home where Courtney was living.

Because of "inexcusable" errors in the case, DCF Secretary Bob
Butterworth previously announced the hiring of five missing-children
workers and the formation of a committee to study cracks in the foster
system.

The case is a wake-up call that shows DCF needs to hold the 20 private
agencies that provide foster care, like the YMCA, more accountable, he said.

"I don't think we have been as hands-on as we should have been,"
Butterworth said. "I do not believe we are providing the oversight ...
or requiring as much accountability as we should."

In June, police found Courtney and two younger sisters safe, but living
amid a grisly scene in a two-story rental home in Wisconsin. Police also
discovered there a scalded and starving 11-year-old boy and the buried
body of his 36-year-old mother.

Four people, including Courtney's mother, Candice Farris, 23, who took
the girl from foster care in Lake County, are jailed on murder and child
abuse charges. The children are in the custody of Wisconsin child welfare.

The inspector general report is the third review of the case. A June 20
YMCA report called for additional training of workers.

DCF's internal June 26 review faulted several agencies, including itself
and the YMCA for failing to follow proper procedures.

[Last modified July 18, 2007, 01:33:29]



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 20th 07, 04:34 AM 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 Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on The Florida Department of Children and Families

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:11:16 -0700, fx wrote:

Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on agency

By MELANIE AVE
Published July 18, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/18/St..._report_.shtml

The foster girl's caseworker may have been the one who failed to report
her missing to Florida law enforcement for four months.

But it was the state's child welfare system - and its lax procedures and
oversight - that bears most of the responsibility for errors in the case
of Courtney Clark, a 2-year-old former Pinellas County foster child who
disappeared with her mother for nine months, according to a state report
released Tuesday.


The interesting thing about this little article, is that if you trace
the story back, in an earlier rendition, the argument was that the
worker didn't report to the police "properly.
"

My guess? The cops monkey jumped. The claim they weren't told
"properly."

What crap.

The worker, as I recall, most certainly DID file a missing child
report with the police, with all the details needed to look for her.

The real question should be, just what do the police DO with that
information when they are told IT'S A FAMILY MEMBER THAT HAS THE
CHILD, A MOTHER IN FACT?

Do you think they put out a high priority alert? No puckering way, my
friend. A routine, watch for the following, etc. etc. etc. with NO
public release of information.

At that point, it's OUT of CPS hands. CPS has NO mandate to go looking
for missing children.

It's about time you assholes stopped your lying about such things.

You remind me of Fern, that insisted that CPS do Midnight Basketball
programs.

CPS hires nor are they allowed to hire, employees to do missing
persons detective work. THEY ARE MANDATED TO HAND IT OVER TO THE
POLICE AND THEY DO.

And paperwork wise, and response wise, there is not a lick of
difference between the "special form" for reporting a child missing
out of foster care, and a missing child report with a family member
involved.

And there is not a lick of difference in how the police handle it.

They just covered their ass with, 'well you didn't turn in the proper
form.'

I suspect you knew that if you actually read the article. And followed
this at all.

The Florida Department of Children and Families, its nonprofit
contractor, the Sarasota Family YMCA, and the YMCA's subcontractor,
Directions for Mental Health in Clearwater, all failed to care for and
protect Courtney, according to a 39-page report released by the DCF
inspector general's office.


Picking someone to throw to the wolves, politically. If I was the
worker, I'd sue the **** out of the inspector general.

The mother showed up and KIDNAPPED the child. NO ARMED GUARDS are kept
over foster homes. No foster parent should even attempt to stop a
parent showing up, but simply call the cops.

Did that foster parent? Check the news, bunky.

While some individuals "should be held accountable" for mistakes, the
report attributed the ultimate failure to be "poorly established
protocols within the provisions of the contract, lack of proper
oversight, weak internal controls, and ineffective communication by all
parties involved."


LACK OF RESOURCES WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. You have to have people, you
have to have infrastructure...ways to get the information from one
place to another. It COST PUCKERING MONEY. A great lot of it in these
times of inflation.

All three agencies lacked due diligence and a sense of urgency, the
report concluded.

Among its recommended changes:

* DCF should oversee its subcontractors more closely and
specifically be required to approve a subcontractor's policies.


I'd like to see the actual contracts and the wording that shows there
is no approval of the subs policies. I think it's bull****.

* Workers should take immediate action when a child's safety is in
question.


R R R R R .... really now. WHAT immediate action? They get a report
the mother has the child. Of course the mother is waiting around for
the worker and cops to show up. Brother.

* Employees should be trained on how to properly report missing
children.


And have time to do it.

And the cops need to be trained not to waffle. They damn well KNEW it
was a foster child abduction by a parent from the missing child report
that WAS turned in.

Gosh, if the worker used the right form and forgot to cross two t's
would that also apply?

The review also faulted a home study, done by the Seminole County
Sheriff's Office, for not being "detailed enough" about previous
allegations of sexual abuse at the foster home where Courtney was living.


But but but, right in this newsgroup a family rights advocate claimed
that POLICE are better trained to investigate than CPS investigators.
How could this possibly BE? (of course we know that when the LE
investigators began their child protection work THEY HAD TO HIRE
WORKERS AWAY FROM DCF TO PARTNER UP WITH THEM.)

The problem is not the agency or the workers. IT'S THE PUCKERING
POLITICIANS AND THEIR sycophants that constantly demand more and more
of what makes CPS run less and less well.

Why must anyone "fill out the right form" with the LE when a child
goes missing for them to take action?

Because of "inexcusable" errors in the case, DCF Secretary Bob
Butterworth previously announced the hiring of five missing-children
workers and the formation of a committee to study cracks in the foster
system.


Oh brother. POLITICS AGAIN. No bobbie boy. Leave the missing children
problem to the proper agency THE PUCKERING POLICE.

Hire more REGULAR workers so the ones that are overloaded with have
their case numbers reduced and well be less prone to error thereby.

The case is a wake-up call that shows DCF needs to hold the 20 private
agencies that provide foster care, like the YMCA, more accountable, he said.


Well, duh!

"I don't think we have been as hands-on as we should have been,"
Butterworth said. "I do not believe we are providing the oversight ...
or requiring as much accountability as we should."


The whole idea of moving foster care to the private sector was to
improve services and cut costs. Did they?

NO, of course not. The improvement could have been done more cheaply
by investing in MORE WORKERS WITH LESS CASELOAD to more closely follow
placement families.

This has been the stupid pattern for 30 years and more. Keep diddling
about instead of simply dealing with what IS the problem. Too many
cases, too few workers.

Stop changing what workers do and giving away money to contractors
that do NOT follow through. They will NEVER be accountable because if
they screw up, they can and do walk away, then open up under another
name after disolving the first corporation. That's how it works.

And shouldn't.

The one thing you can be sure of is that if the person responsible for
oversight of a foster home IS A PUCKERING EMPLOYEE is that you can
make them accountable.

And they can't walk away, change their name, and come back for their
old job.

In June, police found Courtney and two younger sisters safe, but living
amid a grisly scene in a two-story rental home in Wisconsin. Police also
discovered there a scalded and starving 11-year-old boy and the buried
body of his 36-year-old mother.

Four people, including Courtney's mother, Candice Farris, 23, who took
the girl from foster care in Lake County, are jailed on murder and child
abuse charges. The children are in the custody of Wisconsin child welfare.


So we have a mother that is a criminal, and likely not a little
skilled at avoiding detection, takes her child, runs, and IT'S
PUCKERING CPS FAULT. An agency that has NO police force internally?

They cannot put a guard on foster homes and the children in them.

They cannot put "detectives out there," nor should they...bobbie boy
is doing the 'gesture' genuflect to the legislature.

CPS missing child investigators......R R R R R R R R R R

Well I suppose he could hire the cops who were supposed to respond to
a missing child report no matter what form was used. And train them.

The inspector general report is the third review of the case. A June 20
YMCA report called for additional training of workers.


When I knew workers one of the greatest bitches they had was that when
they went to trainings NO ONE COVERED THEIR CASELOAD. Come back three
days later and their actual workload was so bad they had to do 60-80
weeks to catch up.

Why? WORKER SHORTAGE.

DCF's internal June 26 review faulted several agencies, including itself
and the YMCA for failing to follow proper procedures.


I think it's long past time for CPS and their adminstrators to stand
up on their hind legs and tell all these critical assholes to SHOVE IT
UP THEIR SORRY ASSES.

Do NOT tell CPS to do things it can't by way of shortages, and LACK OF
PROPER MANDATE, unless the critics are willing to come in and DO THE
PUCKERING WORK for a few months.


[Last modified July 18, 2007, 01:33:29]


The population CPS deals with is not a controlled body of people.

They cannot imprison them to control them.

Even the cops, WHO CAN DO SO, cannot completely control their
population of 'clients.'

Not without a very expensive infrastructure, and a great many bodies
to guard the 'clients.'

Why is CPS expected to have that kind of control over people they
cannot incarcerate?




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...


  #3  
Old July 20th 07, 04:46 AM 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 Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on The Florida Department of Children and Families

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:34:24 -0700, "0:-]"
wrote:

.....interesting, Michael, that you could not find a more balanced
report than the one you did. Just an oversight? ...



http://www.heraldtribune.com/article...070474/-1/help

State urged YMCA to report missing toddler to police
By BOB MAHLBURG


In the months after a 2-year-old Florida foster girl was abducted,
state officials sent an increasingly impatient string of e-mails to
the Sarasota Family YMCA, asking what it had done to find her, records
released Friday by the Florida Department of Children and Families
show.

DCF officials, the YMCA and a YMCA subcontractor all made serious
mistakes in attempting to protect the toddler, who was found 1,000
miles away after being gone for nine months, reviews concluded.

State e-mails to the YMCA show a growing urgency by state officials to
push the agency to file a police report and find Courtney Clark.

The e-mails started in October with a list of missing children that
included Courtney's name. They escalated to blunt messages demanding
more be done by the nonprofit agency, which oversees foster care in
five Florida counties, including Sarasota.

A Nov. 6 e-mail listed Courtney's name at the top of a list of
children not seen by caseworkers. It asked why a missing child report
had not been filed on her and called for a response in two days. By
December, the state was making more serious pleas for action.

On Dec. 18, nearly three months after Courtney disappeared, DCF
official Kathleen Matthews e-mailed YMCA compliance specialist Trish
Adams demanding to know what was being done.

"This child is 2 years old. There is little evidence of a concerted
effort ... toward locating and recovering this child," Matthews wrote.
"Please provide documentation as to the current efforts to locate and
recover the child by Tuesday ..."

Adams sent back a description of steps taken in October and November
to contact courts and police in Colorado, a chronology state officials
already had reviewed. She added she would be out of the office the
next week.

Matthews replied that the response was inadequate and pressed for more
action. "It is imperative that a missing person report is taken in
order to have the child listed in the national database," she wrote.
She sent a similar e-mail again on Dec. 28.

Sarasota Family YMCA President and CEO Carl Weinrich said he was not
familiar with the e-mails but said they are indicative of what went
wrong at every level in Courtney's case. The state, the YMCA and its
subcontractor all are to blame, Weinrich said.

"They got caught up in their own bureaucratic thing," Weinrich said.
"Trish could have hollered at someone. Matthews could have hollered to
someone in Tallahassee and said these guys aren't getting this thing
done. Why wouldn't they come up the line in our management team?
That's the frustration with this whole thing. The lack of teamwork and
good critical thinking skills."

YMCA caseworkers did contact law enforcement in Colorado, where they
believed the girl to be. But Weinrich conceded they did not file a
missing child report in Florida until January.

"Obviously in hindsight there's a lot of things all of us could have
done to get the child entered quicker," said DCF regional director
Nick Cox. "In the future, that's going to happen, and steps have
already been taken to make sure that happens."

On Feb. 9, after a DCF investigator called Courtney's family and
police officials to try to help find the missing girl, YMCA official
Christy Kane questioned why the state launched its own investigation.

"I have some real issues with this e-mail," Kane wrote. "Sounds like
she is doing some diligent searches on our clients ... We can
certainly send them all to her if she wants to take that over."

YMCA Vice President Lee Johnson said he was not familiar with Kane's
e-mail and declined to say if that was an appropriate response.

"I don't know. I wasn't there. I think it's maybe frustration," he
said. "Sometimes when you're frustrated, you don't get it right."

The nearly 900 pages of records released Friday provide greater detail
of what went wrong with finding Courtney. They also paint a portrait
of a young mother and her boyfriend bouncing from motel to motel,
feeding junk food to Courtney.

Records show that police found squalid conditions when they caught up
with Courtney's mother, Candice Farris, and her boyfriend, Michael
Sisk, at an Econo Lodge last month. The stench from the room was
immediately noticeable. A disposable diaper hung on the clothes rack
as if it had been washed and dried for reuse, reports say.

Farris told a caseworker that she did not have money to feed or take
care of herself. Yet Farris had a new laptop computer and printer
delivered to the hotel, records show.

A state report blames DCF and the Sarasota YMCA for a series of
errors. Among mistakes detailed in the newly released records:

Child welfare caseworkers did not make a missing child report for four
months, from October to January. Even after they reported her
disappearance, Courtney's name was not put in a computer to alert
police around the nation. State rules require reporting any missing
child to local police within four hours.

Caseworkers temporarily reunited Courtney with her mother, Candice
Farris, in March 2006 even though she did not meet legal requirements,
such as providing a stable income, a stable home and avoiding
additional arrests.

Though Farris' daughter, Courtney, had been taken from her and put in
state custody, caseworkers decided to leave a new baby in Farris' care
in March 2006. State rules require caseworkers to immediately report a
pending birth or a new baby, and review its safety. The state report
notes there is no sign that Sarasota YMCA followed its own rules.

The Sarasota YMCA did not make sure Courtney lived in safe homes. They
allowed Courtney to be placed in four foster homes in less than two
months, including a Lake County couple approved by Seminole County
sheriff's officials, despite "some indicators" that sexual abuse had
occurred in that home.

The Sarasota YMCA failed to ask other counties to check on Courtney
when she was moved from Pinellas County to Seminole and Lake counties.
She had been checked just once at the Lake County home where she was
abducted by Farris.

_______

Staff writer Todd Ruger contributed to this report.

Last modified: July 07. 2007 4:19AM
















On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:11:16 -0700, fx wrote:

Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on agency

By MELANIE AVE
Published July 18, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/18/St..._report_.shtml

The foster girl's caseworker may have been the one who failed to report
her missing to Florida law enforcement for four months.

But it was the state's child welfare system - and its lax procedures and
oversight - that bears most of the responsibility for errors in the case
of Courtney Clark, a 2-year-old former Pinellas County foster child who
disappeared with her mother for nine months, according to a state report
released Tuesday.


The interesting thing about this little article, is that if you trace
the story back, in an earlier rendition, the argument was that the
worker didn't report to the police "properly.
"

My guess? The cops monkey jumped. The claim they weren't told
"properly."

What crap.

The worker, as I recall, most certainly DID file a missing child
report with the police, with all the details needed to look for her.

The real question should be, just what do the police DO with that
information when they are told IT'S A FAMILY MEMBER THAT HAS THE
CHILD, A MOTHER IN FACT?

Do you think they put out a high priority alert? No puckering way, my
friend. A routine, watch for the following, etc. etc. etc. with NO
public release of information.

At that point, it's OUT of CPS hands. CPS has NO mandate to go looking
for missing children.

It's about time you assholes stopped your lying about such things.

You remind me of Fern, that insisted that CPS do Midnight Basketball
programs.

CPS hires nor are they allowed to hire, employees to do missing
persons detective work. THEY ARE MANDATED TO HAND IT OVER TO THE
POLICE AND THEY DO.

And paperwork wise, and response wise, there is not a lick of
difference between the "special form" for reporting a child missing
out of foster care, and a missing child report with a family member
involved.

And there is not a lick of difference in how the police handle it.

They just covered their ass with, 'well you didn't turn in the proper
form.'

I suspect you knew that if you actually read the article. And followed
this at all.

The Florida Department of Children and Families, its nonprofit
contractor, the Sarasota Family YMCA, and the YMCA's subcontractor,
Directions for Mental Health in Clearwater, all failed to care for and
protect Courtney, according to a 39-page report released by the DCF
inspector general's office.


Picking someone to throw to the wolves, politically. If I was the
worker, I'd sue the **** out of the inspector general.

The mother showed up and KIDNAPPED the child. NO ARMED GUARDS are kept
over foster homes. No foster parent should even attempt to stop a
parent showing up, but simply call the cops.

Did that foster parent? Check the news, bunky.

While some individuals "should be held accountable" for mistakes, the
report attributed the ultimate failure to be "poorly established
protocols within the provisions of the contract, lack of proper
oversight, weak internal controls, and ineffective communication by all
parties involved."


LACK OF RESOURCES WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. You have to have people, you
have to have infrastructure...ways to get the information from one
place to another. It COST PUCKERING MONEY. A great lot of it in these
times of inflation.

All three agencies lacked due diligence and a sense of urgency, the
report concluded.

Among its recommended changes:

* DCF should oversee its subcontractors more closely and
specifically be required to approve a subcontractor's policies.


I'd like to see the actual contracts and the wording that shows there
is no approval of the subs policies. I think it's bull****.

* Workers should take immediate action when a child's safety is in
question.


R R R R R .... really now. WHAT immediate action? They get a report
the mother has the child. Of course the mother is waiting around for
the worker and cops to show up. Brother.

* Employees should be trained on how to properly report missing
children.


And have time to do it.

And the cops need to be trained not to waffle. They damn well KNEW it
was a foster child abduction by a parent from the missing child report
that WAS turned in.

Gosh, if the worker used the right form and forgot to cross two t's
would that also apply?

The review also faulted a home study, done by the Seminole County
Sheriff's Office, for not being "detailed enough" about previous
allegations of sexual abuse at the foster home where Courtney was living.


But but but, right in this newsgroup a family rights advocate claimed
that POLICE are better trained to investigate than CPS investigators.
How could this possibly BE? (of course we know that when the LE
investigators began their child protection work THEY HAD TO HIRE
WORKERS AWAY FROM DCF TO PARTNER UP WITH THEM.)

The problem is not the agency or the workers. IT'S THE PUCKERING
POLITICIANS AND THEIR sycophants that constantly demand more and more
of what makes CPS run less and less well.

Why must anyone "fill out the right form" with the LE when a child
goes missing for them to take action?

Because of "inexcusable" errors in the case, DCF Secretary Bob
Butterworth previously announced the hiring of five missing-children
workers and the formation of a committee to study cracks in the foster
system.


Oh brother. POLITICS AGAIN. No bobbie boy. Leave the missing children
problem to the proper agency THE PUCKERING POLICE.

Hire more REGULAR workers so the ones that are overloaded with have
their case numbers reduced and well be less prone to error thereby.

The case is a wake-up call that shows DCF needs to hold the 20 private
agencies that provide foster care, like the YMCA, more accountable, he said.


Well, duh!

"I don't think we have been as hands-on as we should have been,"
Butterworth said. "I do not believe we are providing the oversight ...
or requiring as much accountability as we should."


The whole idea of moving foster care to the private sector was to
improve services and cut costs. Did they?

NO, of course not. The improvement could have been done more cheaply
by investing in MORE WORKERS WITH LESS CASELOAD to more closely follow
placement families.

This has been the stupid pattern for 30 years and more. Keep diddling
about instead of simply dealing with what IS the problem. Too many
cases, too few workers.

Stop changing what workers do and giving away money to contractors
that do NOT follow through. They will NEVER be accountable because if
they screw up, they can and do walk away, then open up under another
name after disolving the first corporation. That's how it works.

And shouldn't.

The one thing you can be sure of is that if the person responsible for
oversight of a foster home IS A PUCKERING EMPLOYEE is that you can
make them accountable.

And they can't walk away, change their name, and come back for their
old job.

In June, police found Courtney and two younger sisters safe, but living
amid a grisly scene in a two-story rental home in Wisconsin. Police also
discovered there a scalded and starving 11-year-old boy and the buried
body of his 36-year-old mother.

Four people, including Courtney's mother, Candice Farris, 23, who took
the girl from foster care in Lake County, are jailed on murder and child
abuse charges. The children are in the custody of Wisconsin child welfare.


So we have a mother that is a criminal, and likely not a little
skilled at avoiding detection, takes her child, runs, and IT'S
PUCKERING CPS FAULT. An agency that has NO police force internally?

They cannot put a guard on foster homes and the children in them.

They cannot put "detectives out there," nor should they...bobbie boy
is doing the 'gesture' genuflect to the legislature.

CPS missing child investigators......R R R R R R R R R R

Well I suppose he could hire the cops who were supposed to respond to
a missing child report no matter what form was used. And train them.

The inspector general report is the third review of the case. A June 20
YMCA report called for additional training of workers.


When I knew workers one of the greatest bitches they had was that when
they went to trainings NO ONE COVERED THEIR CASELOAD. Come back three
days later and their actual workload was so bad they had to do 60-80
weeks to catch up.

Why? WORKER SHORTAGE.

DCF's internal June 26 review faulted several agencies, including itself
and the YMCA for failing to follow proper procedures.


I think it's long past time for CPS and their adminstrators to stand
up on their hind legs and tell all these critical assholes to SHOVE IT
UP THEIR SORRY ASSES.

Do NOT tell CPS to do things it can't by way of shortages, and LACK OF
PROPER MANDATE, unless the critics are willing to come in and DO THE
PUCKERING WORK for a few months.


[Last modified July 18, 2007, 01:33:29]


The population CPS deals with is not a controlled body of people.

They cannot imprison them to control them.

Even the cops, WHO CAN DO SO, cannot completely control their
population of 'clients.'

Not without a very expensive infrastructure, and a great many bodies
to guard the 'clients.'

Why is CPS expected to have that kind of control over people they
cannot incarcerate?




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...


  #4  
Old July 20th 07, 05:55 AM 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 Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on The Florida Department of Children and Families

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:46:35 -0700, "0:-]"
wrote:

Here's the key to this case, fx, .... and someone YOU said could and
did teach ME, claimed the police were the ones to investigate...

"the refusal by the Lake County Sheriff's Office to take a
missing-person report from Courtney's caseworker over the telephone."

That little piece was in another article.

And because you are just a common lying asshole **** slinger like the
rest of the anti government clowns, you don't bother to look INTO
these cases and find out the whole story.

In other words, asshole, the claim the worker did NOT report the
missing child for four months was a crock.

Just like I told you.

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB3E4OK04F.html

I think you are a dishonorable prick, as always.

And you'd rather lie than admit you are wrong.

Say, Greg...why don't you read this story and give us your opinion and
support for this screeching harpy aunt...after all, she is operating
from ignorance, and that IS your specialty.

0:]



On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:34:24 -0700, "0:-]"
wrote:

....interesting, Michael, that you could not find a more balanced
report than the one you did. Just an oversight? ...



http://www.heraldtribune.com/article...070474/-1/help

State urged YMCA to report missing toddler to police
By BOB MAHLBURG


In the months after a 2-year-old Florida foster girl was abducted,
state officials sent an increasingly impatient string of e-mails to
the Sarasota Family YMCA, asking what it had done to find her, records
released Friday by the Florida Department of Children and Families
show.

DCF officials, the YMCA and a YMCA subcontractor all made serious
mistakes in attempting to protect the toddler, who was found 1,000
miles away after being gone for nine months, reviews concluded.

State e-mails to the YMCA show a growing urgency by state officials to
push the agency to file a police report and find Courtney Clark.

The e-mails started in October with a list of missing children that
included Courtney's name. They escalated to blunt messages demanding
more be done by the nonprofit agency, which oversees foster care in
five Florida counties, including Sarasota.

A Nov. 6 e-mail listed Courtney's name at the top of a list of
children not seen by caseworkers. It asked why a missing child report
had not been filed on her and called for a response in two days. By
December, the state was making more serious pleas for action.

On Dec. 18, nearly three months after Courtney disappeared, DCF
official Kathleen Matthews e-mailed YMCA compliance specialist Trish
Adams demanding to know what was being done.

"This child is 2 years old. There is little evidence of a concerted
effort ... toward locating and recovering this child," Matthews wrote.
"Please provide documentation as to the current efforts to locate and
recover the child by Tuesday ..."

Adams sent back a description of steps taken in October and November
to contact courts and police in Colorado, a chronology state officials
already had reviewed. She added she would be out of the office the
next week.

Matthews replied that the response was inadequate and pressed for more
action. "It is imperative that a missing person report is taken in
order to have the child listed in the national database," she wrote.
She sent a similar e-mail again on Dec. 28.

Sarasota Family YMCA President and CEO Carl Weinrich said he was not
familiar with the e-mails but said they are indicative of what went
wrong at every level in Courtney's case. The state, the YMCA and its
subcontractor all are to blame, Weinrich said.

"They got caught up in their own bureaucratic thing," Weinrich said.
"Trish could have hollered at someone. Matthews could have hollered to
someone in Tallahassee and said these guys aren't getting this thing
done. Why wouldn't they come up the line in our management team?
That's the frustration with this whole thing. The lack of teamwork and
good critical thinking skills."

YMCA caseworkers did contact law enforcement in Colorado, where they
believed the girl to be. But Weinrich conceded they did not file a
missing child report in Florida until January.

"Obviously in hindsight there's a lot of things all of us could have
done to get the child entered quicker," said DCF regional director
Nick Cox. "In the future, that's going to happen, and steps have
already been taken to make sure that happens."

On Feb. 9, after a DCF investigator called Courtney's family and
police officials to try to help find the missing girl, YMCA official
Christy Kane questioned why the state launched its own investigation.

"I have some real issues with this e-mail," Kane wrote. "Sounds like
she is doing some diligent searches on our clients ... We can
certainly send them all to her if she wants to take that over."

YMCA Vice President Lee Johnson said he was not familiar with Kane's
e-mail and declined to say if that was an appropriate response.

"I don't know. I wasn't there. I think it's maybe frustration," he
said. "Sometimes when you're frustrated, you don't get it right."

The nearly 900 pages of records released Friday provide greater detail
of what went wrong with finding Courtney. They also paint a portrait
of a young mother and her boyfriend bouncing from motel to motel,
feeding junk food to Courtney.

Records show that police found squalid conditions when they caught up
with Courtney's mother, Candice Farris, and her boyfriend, Michael
Sisk, at an Econo Lodge last month. The stench from the room was
immediately noticeable. A disposable diaper hung on the clothes rack
as if it had been washed and dried for reuse, reports say.

Farris told a caseworker that she did not have money to feed or take
care of herself. Yet Farris had a new laptop computer and printer
delivered to the hotel, records show.

A state report blames DCF and the Sarasota YMCA for a series of
errors. Among mistakes detailed in the newly released records:

Child welfare caseworkers did not make a missing child report for four
months, from October to January. Even after they reported her
disappearance, Courtney's name was not put in a computer to alert
police around the nation. State rules require reporting any missing
child to local police within four hours.

Caseworkers temporarily reunited Courtney with her mother, Candice
Farris, in March 2006 even though she did not meet legal requirements,
such as providing a stable income, a stable home and avoiding
additional arrests.

Though Farris' daughter, Courtney, had been taken from her and put in
state custody, caseworkers decided to leave a new baby in Farris' care
in March 2006. State rules require caseworkers to immediately report a
pending birth or a new baby, and review its safety. The state report
notes there is no sign that Sarasota YMCA followed its own rules.

The Sarasota YMCA did not make sure Courtney lived in safe homes. They
allowed Courtney to be placed in four foster homes in less than two
months, including a Lake County couple approved by Seminole County
sheriff's officials, despite "some indicators" that sexual abuse had
occurred in that home.

The Sarasota YMCA failed to ask other counties to check on Courtney
when she was moved from Pinellas County to Seminole and Lake counties.
She had been checked just once at the Lake County home where she was
abducted by Farris.

_______

Staff writer Todd Ruger contributed to this report.

Last modified: July 07. 2007 4:19AM
















On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:11:16 -0700, fx wrote:

Missing-child report pins bulk of blame on agency

By MELANIE AVE
Published July 18, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/18/St..._report_.shtml

The foster girl's caseworker may have been the one who failed to report
her missing to Florida law enforcement for four months.

But it was the state's child welfare system - and its lax procedures and
oversight - that bears most of the responsibility for errors in the case
of Courtney Clark, a 2-year-old former Pinellas County foster child who
disappeared with her mother for nine months, according to a state report
released Tuesday.


The interesting thing about this little article, is that if you trace
the story back, in an earlier rendition, the argument was that the
worker didn't report to the police "properly.
"

My guess? The cops monkey jumped. The claim they weren't told
"properly."

What crap.

The worker, as I recall, most certainly DID file a missing child
report with the police, with all the details needed to look for her.

The real question should be, just what do the police DO with that
information when they are told IT'S A FAMILY MEMBER THAT HAS THE
CHILD, A MOTHER IN FACT?

Do you think they put out a high priority alert? No puckering way, my
friend. A routine, watch for the following, etc. etc. etc. with NO
public release of information.

At that point, it's OUT of CPS hands. CPS has NO mandate to go looking
for missing children.

It's about time you assholes stopped your lying about such things.

You remind me of Fern, that insisted that CPS do Midnight Basketball
programs.

CPS hires nor are they allowed to hire, employees to do missing
persons detective work. THEY ARE MANDATED TO HAND IT OVER TO THE
POLICE AND THEY DO.

And paperwork wise, and response wise, there is not a lick of
difference between the "special form" for reporting a child missing
out of foster care, and a missing child report with a family member
involved.

And there is not a lick of difference in how the police handle it.

They just covered their ass with, 'well you didn't turn in the proper
form.'

I suspect you knew that if you actually read the article. And followed
this at all.

The Florida Department of Children and Families, its nonprofit
contractor, the Sarasota Family YMCA, and the YMCA's subcontractor,
Directions for Mental Health in Clearwater, all failed to care for and
protect Courtney, according to a 39-page report released by the DCF
inspector general's office.


Picking someone to throw to the wolves, politically. If I was the
worker, I'd sue the **** out of the inspector general.

The mother showed up and KIDNAPPED the child. NO ARMED GUARDS are kept
over foster homes. No foster parent should even attempt to stop a
parent showing up, but simply call the cops.

Did that foster parent? Check the news, bunky.

While some individuals "should be held accountable" for mistakes, the
report attributed the ultimate failure to be "poorly established
protocols within the provisions of the contract, lack of proper
oversight, weak internal controls, and ineffective communication by all
parties involved."


LACK OF RESOURCES WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. You have to have people, you
have to have infrastructure...ways to get the information from one
place to another. It COST PUCKERING MONEY. A great lot of it in these
times of inflation.

All three agencies lacked due diligence and a sense of urgency, the
report concluded.

Among its recommended changes:

* DCF should oversee its subcontractors more closely and
specifically be required to approve a subcontractor's policies.


I'd like to see the actual contracts and the wording that shows there
is no approval of the subs policies. I think it's bull****.

* Workers should take immediate action when a child's safety is in
question.


R R R R R .... really now. WHAT immediate action? They get a report
the mother has the child. Of course the mother is waiting around for
the worker and cops to show up. Brother.

* Employees should be trained on how to properly report missing
children.


And have time to do it.

And the cops need to be trained not to waffle. They damn well KNEW it
was a foster child abduction by a parent from the missing child report
that WAS turned in.

Gosh, if the worker used the right form and forgot to cross two t's
would that also apply?

The review also faulted a home study, done by the Seminole County
Sheriff's Office, for not being "detailed enough" about previous
allegations of sexual abuse at the foster home where Courtney was living.


But but but, right in this newsgroup a family rights advocate claimed
that POLICE are better trained to investigate than CPS investigators.
How could this possibly BE? (of course we know that when the LE
investigators began their child protection work THEY HAD TO HIRE
WORKERS AWAY FROM DCF TO PARTNER UP WITH THEM.)

The problem is not the agency or the workers. IT'S THE PUCKERING
POLITICIANS AND THEIR sycophants that constantly demand more and more
of what makes CPS run less and less well.

Why must anyone "fill out the right form" with the LE when a child
goes missing for them to take action?

Because of "inexcusable" errors in the case, DCF Secretary Bob
Butterworth previously announced the hiring of five missing-children
workers and the formation of a committee to study cracks in the foster
system.


Oh brother. POLITICS AGAIN. No bobbie boy. Leave the missing children
problem to the proper agency THE PUCKERING POLICE.

Hire more REGULAR workers so the ones that are overloaded with have
their case numbers reduced and well be less prone to error thereby.

The case is a wake-up call that shows DCF needs to hold the 20 private
agencies that provide foster care, like the YMCA, more accountable, he said.


Well, duh!

"I don't think we have been as hands-on as we should have been,"
Butterworth said. "I do not believe we are providing the oversight ...
or requiring as much accountability as we should."


The whole idea of moving foster care to the private sector was to
improve services and cut costs. Did they?

NO, of course not. The improvement could have been done more cheaply
by investing in MORE WORKERS WITH LESS CASELOAD to more closely follow
placement families.

This has been the stupid pattern for 30 years and more. Keep diddling
about instead of simply dealing with what IS the problem. Too many
cases, too few workers.

Stop changing what workers do and giving away money to contractors
that do NOT follow through. They will NEVER be accountable because if
they screw up, they can and do walk away, then open up under another
name after disolving the first corporation. That's how it works.

And shouldn't.

The one thing you can be sure of is that if the person responsible for
oversight of a foster home IS A PUCKERING EMPLOYEE is that you can
make them accountable.

And they can't walk away, change their name, and come back for their
old job.

In June, police found Courtney and two younger sisters safe, but living
amid a grisly scene in a two-story rental home in Wisconsin. Police also
discovered there a scalded and starving 11-year-old boy and the buried
body of his 36-year-old mother.

Four people, including Courtney's mother, Candice Farris, 23, who took
the girl from foster care in Lake County, are jailed on murder and child
abuse charges. The children are in the custody of Wisconsin child welfare.


So we have a mother that is a criminal, and likely not a little
skilled at avoiding detection, takes her child, runs, and IT'S
PUCKERING CPS FAULT. An agency that has NO police force internally?

They cannot put a guard on foster homes and the children in them.

They cannot put "detectives out there," nor should they...bobbie boy
is doing the 'gesture' genuflect to the legislature.

CPS missing child investigators......R R R R R R R R R R

Well I suppose he could hire the cops who were supposed to respond to
a missing child report no matter what form was used. And train them.

The inspector general report is the third review of the case. A June 20
YMCA report called for additional training of workers.


When I knew workers one of the greatest bitches they had was that when
they went to trainings NO ONE COVERED THEIR CASELOAD. Come back three
days later and their actual workload was so bad they had to do 60-80
weeks to catch up.

Why? WORKER SHORTAGE.

DCF's internal June 26 review faulted several agencies, including itself
and the YMCA for failing to follow proper procedures.


I think it's long past time for CPS and their adminstrators to stand
up on their hind legs and tell all these critical assholes to SHOVE IT
UP THEIR SORRY ASSES.

Do NOT tell CPS to do things it can't by way of shortages, and LACK OF
PROPER MANDATE, unless the critics are willing to come in and DO THE
PUCKERING WORK for a few months.


[Last modified July 18, 2007, 01:33:29]


The population CPS deals with is not a controlled body of people.

They cannot imprison them to control them.

Even the cops, WHO CAN DO SO, cannot completely control their
population of 'clients.'

Not without a very expensive infrastructure, and a great many bodies
to guard the 'clients.'

Why is CPS expected to have that kind of control over people they
cannot incarcerate?




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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