DCF FL Whistleblower finds records falsified-CPS has to do that to keep up census

Subject: DCF, FL Whistleblower, Records falsification Ocala area
From: (Fern5827)
Date: 9/12/2003 1:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time
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DCF Fires Employee After Inquiry
Inspector general criticizes eight other workers, who may also be disciplined.

By Gary Fineout
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau


TALLAHASSEE -- The Department of Children &Families has fired a supervisor and
plans to fire two other employees in its Ocala office after an internal
investigation showed that child-abuse records had been altered and that abuse
investigations were inadequate.

Eight other employees working in the DCF Marion County office also face
disciplinary action ranging from reprimands to final warnings.

The action taken against DCF employees was sparked by a whistleblower complaint
made last March. That complaint triggered a massive investigation into more
than 70 allegations regarding violations of law and department policy.

The final report contends that nearly one-half of the allegations were true and
"their combined shortcomings adversely affected the welfare of numerous
children in Marion County who were identified during the scope of this
investigation."

DCF officials say that they have reviewed all the cases cited in the report and
that all children are safe.

Among the most serious charges were that David J. Knight, an acting program
administrator had falsified child abuse records while working as an
investigator a year ago.

Knight was also accused of closing out child abuse investigations prematurely.

Knight, who had been the acting operations and program administrator for the
office that covers southern Marion County, was summoned to DCF's District 13
office in Wildwood and fired late Wednesday. But Knight sharply disputed the
findings of the inspector general's report.

Knight, a former police officer from Minnesota who first went to work for DCF
in 2001, blamed the initial allegations on a disgruntled employee upset that he
was given a promotion.

Knight, 54, said that while procedural mistakes may have been made in an effort
to reduce a backlog of cases, he insisted no children were ever in danger.

"I stand by my training and my professional conduct," said Knight. "In my
opinion, there was a scapegoat needed in the case and in my opinion I became
the scapegoat."

The inspector general's report also criticized work done by several other Ocala
DCF employees: abuse investigator Kristina Furniss, investigator Lindsay Vanis,
counselor Eileen Smith and investigator Andrew Molella.

Molella was cited numerous times by DCF officials, including allegations that
he waited 43 days to see one child abuse victim and that he closed the report
saying no abuse had occurred even though injuries were observed on the child
and the father was arrested.

In another case, Molella was accused of falsely stating that he had
face-to-face meetings with children when in fact the children were living out
of state.

Molella responded to investigators that he just entered the wrong answer on the
state's child abuse tracking computer and that other information in the file
showed the children were no longer living in Marion County.

The allegations against the other DCF employees included, for example, that
Furniss closed a child abuse investigation prematurely, Smith failed to find a
family listed in a child abuse report and that Vanis did not investigate the
arrest of the father of one child abuse victim.

"No cases get daily attention, it just can't be done," Furniss told an
Associated Press reporter before breaking down in tears. She said she had not
seen the report.

Attempts to reach Molella were unsuccessful Wednesday night. There was no Ocala
phone listing for Vanis.

While it may take days or weeks to sort out the shakeup in Ocala, one judge who
handles DCF cases praised the swift action taken by DCF officials on Wednesday.

"The taxpayers and the citizens of our community should be grateful ...that our
state government is doing what it ought to do -- clean up its own house," said
Circuit Judge Jack Singbush.

Joe Byrnes and Kisha Dunn of the Star Banner contributed to this report.
Material from the Associated Press was also used.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.d.../NEWS/30911039
2/1004


http://www.EMBEZZLEMENT, CAPTA, ASFA, ABUSE, NEGLECT, DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN
AND FAMILIES, FLORIDA, QUI TAM LAWSUIT, MEDICAID FRAUD, STING OPERATION, CPS

http://www.CPSWatch.com/fl/ Note that there are other FL groups advising
families about DCF. Particularly in the NW area of the state. Email