CHARLOTTE, Tenn. - Judge: DCS could be blamed for foster family deaths

Judge: DCS could be blamed for foster family deaths
Slayings prompt questions about foster placements

ANTONIO GONZALEZ, Associated Press
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Christopher Berkey/Associated Press

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/ja...ed-for-deaths/

CHARLOTTE, Tenn. - A juvenile court judge said the state Department of
Children's Services could be to blame in the slayings of a foster mother
and her mother-in-law because of the way it places troubled children in
its care.

Foster children James Earl Garrett, 17, and Jeffery Byrd Johnson Jr.,
15, are charged with first-degree murder in the New Year's Day deaths.

Judge Andrew Jackson pointed the finger at DCS after a hearing Friday
where he ordered the boys held in custody until he can decide whether
they will be tried as adults.

"If the facts of the case are true, as they appear to be, the blame
rests squarely at the front door of the Tennessee Department of
Children's Services," the judge told reporters.

"This is exactly the kind of situation we have warned about," he said
referring to the state's placement of foster children.

"It appears that DCS has been misappropriately placing juveniles for years."

Foster mother Mary Clark, 39, and Gail Clark, 66, of Orange, Mass., were
shot to death early New Year's Day. William Clark, husband and son of
the victims, also has blamed the state for a policy that gives DCS 15
days to respond to requests to relocate children from foster families.

One of the boys had asked to be moved from the home in White Bluff, and
the slayings occurred while the family was waiting for a meeting to take
place, William Clark said Thursday.

The process is expedited if there is a safety issue, DCS spokesman Rob
Johnson said, but in general DCS is cautious about relocating foster
children because of the disruption it can cause the child.

So far, DCS's internal review of the case has found no sign that anyone
was in danger, Johnson reiterated Friday.

Clark said the younger teen was a student at Dickson's alternative high
school, and didn't start to misbehave until Garrett arrived a few weeks
ago. Clark said Garrett had asked the state to remove him from the house.

He said Jeffery Johnson Jr. did have an assault charge for hitting a boy
at school, a small charge that wouldn't cause DCS to move a child.

"As tragic and saddening as this case is, we still believe this is an
appropriate placement," Rob Johnson said in response to the judge's
comments. "Based on everything we've reviewed so far, there's nothing
we've seen that shows these boys should have been placed somewhere else."

The boys arrived at the court in Charlotte, about 30 miles west of
Nashville, shackled at the waist.

The judge ordered both to stay in custody until a Feb. 18 hearing, but
allowed Garrett permission to contact his biological parents, who live
in Clarksville.

"He's disappointed right now. The young man, he's still a kid. He's just
trying to hang in there," said Garrett's attorney, Jerred Creasy, who
expects the case to be transferred to adult court.

"If this were an adult case, he'd be pleading not guilty today," he
said. There is no plea process in Tennessee's juvenile courts.

The younger teen's father, Jeffery Johnson Sr., attended the hearing
with his sister and her daughter. A tearful Johnson, holding up a
picture from when his son was 3 years old, said his son did not pull the
trigger in the slayings.

He also blamed DCS for the boys' placement in the Clarks' home.

"The system let both them boys down," Johnson said, pausing for a moment
to wipe his eyes. "They fouled up big time." His son's attorney declined
to comment.

Jeffery Johnson Sr. said he had been trying to regain custody of his son
for the last 18 months. He said his son was placed in foster care after
he was taken away from his mother, who was living in Florida.

Johnson has not been allowed to visit or talk to his son since he was
charged, until Friday's hearing.

William Clark has said the younger boy got along well with the family
for the four or five months he stayed with them, but Garrett had only
lived with them for about month.

Neither boy has a history of violence, DCS officials said.

DCS has been repeatedly criticized by police and court authorities for
putting violent juveniles in non-secure facilities where they continue
to commit crimes in the community.

Top officials of the agency were threatened with contempt of court
charges by a Nashville juvenile court judge in 2006 after a teenage
armed robbery suspect escaped custody from a non-secure
facility.Davidson County Juvenile Court Judge Betty Adams Green, the
same judge who threatened DCS officials with contempt charges, said she
has seen signs of improvement with child placement.

"We have had some very heated discussions with the DCS," Green said. "At
least, from my perspective, there have been some improvements,
especially better classifications of children."

© 2007, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.






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 PROGRAMS....

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.


CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS 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...