Activists fault DCF in deaf mom's case: The lack of a qualifiedinterpreter in a crisis has focused attention on a widespread problem.

Activists fault DCF in deaf mom's case

The lack of a qualified interpreter in a crisis has focused attention on
a widespread problem.

Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
June 24, 2007

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,1411801.story

LEESBURG - Talking with her hands, Linda Farrell said she tried to
convey the pain in her heart.

But a neighbor enlisted by the state Department of Children and Families
and police to communicate in sign language with the deaf woman said
Farrell threatened to kill herself if the child-protection agency took
her kids.

"I felt angry and frustrated, and I didn't understand what was
happening," Farrell said through an interpreter at the offices of Deaf &
Hearing Services of Lake & Sumter Counties. "But I didn't say that."


Citing the now-disputed translation, police handcuffed Farrell and
involuntarily committed her June 7 to a mental-health facility. Her
daughter, 9, and son, 6, were placed temporarily in foster care.

Advocates for the deaf woman are outraged at DCF, which was
investigating a complaint that Farrell's husband had made sexually
explicit videos available to minors.

DCF, which had previous dealings with Farrell, 48, and her husband,
Louis Roscoe, 42, had planned days in advance to visit the deaf couple's
home but ignored rules requiring the agency to provide a qualified
interpreter when interacting with a hearing-impaired person, said Kim
House, Deaf & Hearing Services' executive director.

DCF officials refuse to discuss the case, citing privacy laws. Spokesman
Tim Bottcher also would not say whether the agency's investigator erred,
but added, "As a matter of policy, in cases like this, our investigator
should be accompanied by an interpreter."

Matthew Dietz, a South Florida lawyer specializing in access issues for
the deaf, said DCF's failings with people who are hearing-impaired are
chronic.

"They either refuse to learn the rules or they don't care," Dietz said.

He said he has prepared lawsuits on behalf of two other deaf women who
say DCF failed to provide them with interpreters during investigations.

'All about the money'

One of the women, Dawn Roshette of Flagler County, said the agency used
her children -- the focus of the investigations -- as interpreters.

"I think it's all about the money," she said during a telephone
interview that relied on video-relay technology. "They don't want to pay
for an interpreter."

House, whose nonprofit organization provides interpretive services in
Lake and Sumter counties, said a trained interpreter costs about $30 an
hour.

But the problem is not only money, said Richard J. Kottler Jr. of the
Florida Coordinating Council on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

"It's ignorance, too," he said.

Although DCF drafted its interaction policy in 1999 to settle a
civil-rights complaint, many investigators and social workers seem
unaware of the requirement.

DCF's Bottcher conceded that the agency needs "to do a better job as far
as communicating this procedure to our investigators . . . [but] the
truth be told, we don't encounter many cases where we're interacting
with hearing-impaired persons."

170,000 in state are deaf

Florida has 3 million residents who are hearing-impaired, including
170,000 who are deaf, according to state estimates.

Despite the Americans with Disabilities Act, deaf people find themselves
blocked by language barriers in courtrooms, doctor's offices and
government buildings, said Wendi Herzman, CEO of the Deaf Services
Bureau of West Central Florida.

"There [are] not enough hours in our lives to tell you all the horror
stories," she said in an e-mail that recounted myriad civil-rights
violations and slights.

Many problems could be avoided with patience and a qualified, impartial
interpreter.

Lucie Oliver, the neighbor whose sign-language interpretation led to
Linda Farrell's temporary commitment to LifeStream Behavioral Center,
insists she relayed only what the deaf woman said.

Oliver said Farrell became upset when she was told the children would be
removed from the home if her husband stayed. Farrell said she loved her
husband and didn't want him to go.

She was discharged from LifeStream the next day after doctors, Farrell
said, determined she was not a threat to herself.

Oliver, 54, who wears hearing aids in both ears, said she would never
want DCF to tap a neighbor as a go-between for her. "A certified
interpreter swears to confidentiality," said Oliver.

"Neighbors don't."



Stephen Hudak can be reached at or 352-742-5930.






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...