Another day, another indictment of Washington states foster care

Our View: Foster care system must be improved

http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/story/129944.html


The Olympian

Another day, another indictment of the state�s foster care system.

A King County Superior Court jury on Tuesday ordered the state to pay
$6.2 million to four siblings who were repeatedly abused in foster care
for six years. The multimillion dollar award is simply the latest in a
string of legal troubles for the state Department of Social and Health
Services.

When will Gov. Chris Gregoire, DSHS Secretary Robin Arnold-Williams and
Children�s Administration director Cheryl Stephani realize the foster
care system is fundamentally flawed in this state? They and the
Legislature have thrown millions of dollars at the system and hired
hundreds of workers in the last couple of years, but the horrors
continue to grab headlines:

• In February, three former and current foster children filed $45
million in claims against the state, saying their former foster father
never should have been licensed. The case of sisters Estera Tamas, 20,
and Ruth Tamas, 18, and their former foster father, Enrique Fabregas,
made headlines last summer, when it was revealed that Fabregas was
trusted with foster children despite a long list of unresolved sexual
abuse complaints and a documented criminal history. Both the sisters and
a 13-year-old girl say Fabregas subjected them to severe abuse in his
Redmond home. The charges have not been proved in court.

Between 1997 and February 2006, the state received nearly 30 allegations
of abuse relating to foster children in Fabregas� home. Yet the children
were not removed from Fabregas� home until the Redmond Police Department
investigated and arrested him last year.

• In January a DSHS report had foster-care advocates threatening a
lawsuit and the department defending its efforts to improve the foster
care system. The report was required by a landmark lawsuit � the Braam
case � that was filed in 1998 on behalf of 13 foster children who sued
the state for bouncing them around foster homes without adequate
services. The state settled the Braam case in August 2004 by promising
to make dozens of specific improvements, from more mental health
treatment for kids to better training for foster parents.

The agreement�s blueprint for changing the system runs for about seven
years. Yet lawyers for the original lawsuit�s plaintiffs said the
department has failed to reach statistical benchmarks it was supposed to
have met.

• Last month, the state agreed to pay $290,000 to settle a lawsuit
accusing the state of negligence in the case of an 8-year-old foster
child sexually abused at a foster home in Ellensburg in 2002.

• In April, a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed in Yakima County blamed
state social workers for ignoring warnings that could have avoided abuse
that left a 6-year-old girl brain damaged and partially blind.

These are just recent developments. The toll also includes the death of
seven children under the state�s watch from 2003 to 2006.

When will the litany of death and abuse stop?

In the case of the $6.2 million jury award, the attorney for the abused
children, Becky Roe, said she had never seen a group of children who so
badly slipped through the system�s cracks. She said the verdict sends a
simple message to DSHS: �Get your act together.�

Good advice. Are the governor and two DSHS administrators paying attention?







CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

Dr. Shirley O'Brien, of the University of Arizona, notes that it has
been estimated up to 600,000 children are used by the 'kiddie porn'
industry" in the United States every year. Isn’t it entirely possible
that the huge demand for children to be used in child porn and exploited
by pedophiles is supplied from our nations foster care system?

http://www.lovestarrecords.com/earth..._Speeches.html

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

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...