Baltimore foster children are still being sheltered at a state officebuilding and still missing medical and dental appointments

City's foster care is faulted
Monitors' lawsuit contends Md., Baltimore not carrying out reforms
ordered in 1988

By Lynn Anderson | Sun reporter
November 6, 2007

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,3277011.story


Baltimore foster children are still being sheltered at a state office
building and still missing medical and dental appointments, according to
lawyers charged with monitoring a long-standing court decree on care for
these children.

In a more than 400-page document filed yesterday in federal court, the
lawyers say the state Department of Human Resources and Baltimore's
Department of Social Services have persistently failed to comply with a
1988 agreement that called for swift reform in the care of foster children.

Attorneys say that as recently as Oct. 27, a 14-year-old boy in foster
care stayed overnight in a state office building on Gay Street in
Baltimore and that caseworkers are still too slow to enroll children in
school. They say some caseworkers fail to make regular visits to
children to ensure that they are well.



"A generation of children, literally tens of thousands of abused and
neglected children, has lived in the foster care system since [the
consent decree] without receiving the court- ordered services and
protections that [the state] agreed to provide," lawyers Mitchell Y.
Mirviss and Rhonda Lipkin contend in the document charging the state
with contempt of court. "Baltimore's abused and neglected children are
entitled to better treatment than this."

State officials must respond to the contempt filing, and a federal judge
is expected to consider the allegations. Mirviss and Lipkin hope the
judge will appoint a full-time monitor who will follow up on the state's
efforts to improve foster child welfare in Baltimore. Such a system has
worked well in other states, including Alabama and Utah, they said.

Human Resources Secretary Brenda Donald, who has been in the post for
less than a year, said she knew the court action was coming - she had
been warned in writing by Mirviss and Lipkin as required by law several
months ago. Still, she said she was disappointed that they couldn't wait
a bit longer to see whether her initial reform efforts could produce
improvements.

Donald's agency recently joined with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to
study successful foster care programs in other states and try to
replicate them in Maryland. And for the first time yesterday, Donald met
with leaders at Baltimore's social services headquarters, including
director Samuel Chambers Jr., as part of a new effort called Baltimore
ReBuild that she hopes will speed reforms. Chambers also has tried to
enact changes during his nearly three years in the position, including
creating community centers in several city neighborhoods to reach
families in need of counseling and other services.

"This is a 19-year-old lawsuit, and I have only been here nine months,"
said Donald, who was appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley this year. She
oversees the Baltimore social services office because it is part of the
state's human resources network. "We've been making such great strides,
and I think there is clear evidence that the central [DHR] office is
taking Baltimore very seriously," she said. "We are bringing a large
number of resources to the city."

Donald said children are staying at the state office building on Gay
Street for a few hours at a time, not days on end as in the spring of
2005 when The Sun first reported that children were sleeping on floors
and chairs. She said there are regular reports on the children who stay
at the office - which is staffed 24 hours a day - and that those reports
are shared with child advocates. In October, 45 children stayed at the
office for an average of 1.9 hours, Donald said.

"I believe that the Gay Street situation has been resolved," Donald
said. "Certainly, it is an overnight placement office and sometimes
children come in in the middle of the night, but they are not staying
there for long periods of time."

Mirviss and Lipkin acknowledge that Donald - a former deputy mayor for
children, youth, families and elders in Washington - has brought new
energy to the agency. However, they said they had heard too many
unfulfilled promises since the lawsuit was first filed to wait any
longer for evidence of improvements.

"We're at a crisis point," said Lipkin, whose position with the Public
Justice Center in Baltimore is funded by legal fees paid by the state
out of the consent decree. "What's unfortunate is that we've been at a
crisis point for quite a while."

Lawyers used the Freedom of Information Act, which guarantees public
access to certain documents, to force the state to let them examine
files of numerous foster children in the city. A review enabled
attorneys to document a history of unsuitable foster home placements -
including an over-reliance on expensive, group home facilities - as well
as failure by the state to ensure basic medical and dental care to some
children.

In one case documented by the lawyers, city social services case workers
allowed a 13-year-old girl to live with a family friend who "drank
[alcohol] and physically abused her."

In another case, the agency moved a 14-year-old boy with psychiatric
problems to 11 group homes in as many months. As a result, according to
court documents, the boy's mental condition deteriorated and he had to
be placed in an expensive therapeutic facility.

Mirviss, one of several Baltimore attorneys who represented foster
children when the class action lawsuit was filed in the 1980s, said he
believes that in some ways the city's system is in worse shape now than
20 years ago.

The attorney said he is worried about the large decrease in the number
of foster families in the city - a situation that has been worsened by
the agency's decision six years ago to cut day care subsidies to foster
families. According to information Mirviss obtained from the state, the
total number of foster families in the city has dropped by more than 55
percent - from 3,000 in 2001 to about 1,330 this year.

Donald said her department plans to reinstate day care subsidies for
foster families early next year.

But in the meantime, the drop in foster families has meant that
officials have had to rely more heavily on group homes, which charge the
state up to $60,000 a year per child. Foster families receive a subsidy
rate of $735 a month, or about $8,820 a year, Mirviss said.

Group homes often are not the best living situations for foster
children, many of whom have been sexually abused or have emotional
problems, Mirviss said.

"The system is not providing good outcomes for these kids," he said,
adding that while reading some of the foster care files he felt
heartbroken and angry. "The children who remain in care aren't getting
the services they need to become independent, functioning adults."





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...