Texas suspends placements by foster-care contractor

Texas suspends placements by foster-care contractor

Agency to challenge placement suspension, says 4 incidents cited by
state were exaggerated

09:37 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 29, 2007

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...s.3014439.html

AUSTIN – The state has suspended placements of foster children with most
foster parents recruited by Lutheran Social Services of the South Inc.
in North Texas and Central Texas, citing "serious incidents" in four
homes last spring.

While no deaths occurred, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family
and Protective Services said two young foster children in Lutheran's
care sustained serious injuries, and he said there was lax supervision
in two other homes.

Lutheran officials said they will challenge the placement suspension.

State spokesman Darrell Azar said the state this summer has closely
scrutinized Lutheran – an Austin-based child-placing agency managing 660
foster homes, more than any other contractor in Texas – because of
insights gained from difficulties with another private agency,
now-defunct Mesa Family Services of Harker Heights.

Mesa recruited the homes where three North Texas foster children
suffered fatal head injuries between August 2005 and last December.

"We learned a lesson from that," Mr. Azar said. "When you see multiple,
serious incidents within a single [agency], you have to take those
seriously and look to see if there's a pattern. Although this is not
comparable to the problems you saw with Mesa ... certainly these were
some serious problems."

Lutheran officials accused the state of exaggerating the four incidents
last spring, all of which they said Lutheran promptly reported, as
required, to a Child Protective Services hotline.

Irene Clements, a top Lutheran executive, said the department launched
the crackdown against her nonprofit – named three times as the "child
placing agency of the year" by the National Foster Parent Association –
to retaliate for strong criticisms she and other Lutheran officials have
made in legislative testimony and press interviews.

Mr. Azar said criticisms by Lutheran played no role in the state's actions.

In May, Child Care Licensing representatives and contract enforcement
officials from the department made unannounced inspections at 73 foster
homes managed by Lutheran's Dallas office, 38 homes run by its Mineral
Wells office and 30 homes recruited by its Waco office. The 141 affected
homes care for 304 foster children.

Officials said they found scores of rule violations, many involving poor
training of foster parents and insufficient background checks.

On Aug. 13, the department's licensing division notified Lutheran, which
has 19 branch offices across the state, that offices in Dallas, Mineral
Wells and Waco had been placed on "evaluation."

The state warned that if the homes and the agency's supervision in those
three regions don't shape up quickly, it could put the contractor on
probation – the last step before the state suspends or revokes licenses
and starts removing children. Improvements must be made by Feb. 29, the
state said.

Patrick Crimmins, the department's deputy spokesman, said, "We don't
think any of the [304] children are in any danger at all or at any risk
of imminent harm."

However, he said state workers had some concerns about care being given
to 30 of the youngsters in North Texas and Waco. "Caseworkers are
tracking the cases of all 30 children to ensure their care improves," he
said.

Mr. Crimmins said he didn't think the freeze on new placements with
Lutheran would affect Child Protective Services workers' decisions about
removing children from possibly abusive or neglectful birth families.
Together with its Mesquite branch, which was unaffected, Lutheran's
Dallas and Mineral Wells offices supply about 11 percent of the private
foster-care slots in North Texas.

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENTS

The state cited four incidents last spring in foster homes managed by
Lutheran Social Services of the South Inc.:

• On April 2, a 2-year-old foster girl in Waco was allegedly shaken and
suffered brain damage. Her foster father was charged with injury to a child.

• On April 12, a medically fragile, 1-year-old girl in North Richland
Hills was poked in the eye several times with a sharp object. No arrest
has been made. The assault was made "allegedly by a substitute
caregiver," the state says.

• On April 24, a longtime foster mother in Granbury self-reported that
police told her that an 18-year-old boy formerly in her care admitted
having consensual sex with a 16-year-old girl then in her home. Finding
other deficiencies, the state closed it as a foster home.

• On May 27, a foster mother who was helping another foster mother move
– the second woman was being evicted from her home in Richardson – found
a 1-year-old boy unattended in the home, which is a violation, and
reported it.



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

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...