Caseworkers altered files after deaths of children

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16039850.htm

Posted on Mon, Nov. 20, 2006
LETHAL LAPSES: Caseworkers altered files after deaths of children
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER News-Democrat

FAIRMONT CITY - While an arson investigator sifted through a
fire-gutted trailer where a baby boy died, records show that state
child protection workers met to alter the family's case file to erase
concerns about the home's safety.

Two administrators, a supervisor and a caseworker for the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services met in the East St. Louis
office on Dec. 27, 2005 -- the same day 7-month-old Edgardo Martin
died.

They focused on the caseworker's notes questioning the safety of
hooking up three space heaters at the Martin family's mobile home to a
single series of extension cords. Cord overload caused the blaze, a
state fire marshal said.

The caseworker never warned the Martin family of the potential dangers
and accepted a Spanish translator's assurance that everything was OK,
according to a 2006 child death report compiled by the Office of the
Inspector General for the DCFS.

During the meeting on the day of the fire, the caseworker's concern
about the heaters "was minimized or stricken altogether," according to
the investigative report.

A supervisor told an inspector general's office investigator they
rewrote the caseworker's notes because they were not "sufficiently
descriptive."

The actions of the DCFS workers violated an agency regulation that
prohibits rewriting case records.

A News-Democrat investigation into children who died while under the
watch of the DCFS found at least three examples where state workers
altered records in an apparent attempt to cover up mistakes or minimize
department blame.

Kendall Marlowe, deputy chief of communications for the DCFS in
Springfield, said the department's top administrators had no comment.

In one case, investigators found a DCFS worker applying white-out to a
case file.

Each time, the changes were not listed on a Statement of File
Integrity, which requires that any changes to original reports or notes
be documented in writing and signed by a supervisor.

Denise Kane, the inspector general for the DCFS, said workers can add
to a case file, but they cannot make changes or remove anything from
it.

"They can't change a record," said Kane, whose office conducts
investigations of child protection worker conduct in cases of death and
serious injury.

"We asked for discipline in these (three) cases because whatever the
motivations of why they did it, that makes no difference. They can't do
it," Kane said.

The Martin family came to the attention of the DCFS after it received
concerns about a lack of heat in their home.

Juan Jose Martin, the boy's father, said no one warned him about the
potential danger of the space heaters.

"They are the government, and they're supposed to be able to inspect
and make sure that it's safe," Martin said in an interview through a
reporter who speaks Spanish.

"If they would have told us it was bad, we would have gotten rid of
them," he said.

In another case, the East St. Louis office of the DCFS lagged in
sending case records to the inspector general's office after the death
of Vanessa Ingram, a baby born in a toilet in Venice.

When they finally received the files, child death investigators found
that 14 months of caseworker notes and other documents were missing.
They also reported that a notation allegedly made in February about
whether a caseworker knew the infant's mother was pregnant actually was
created on May 2 -- four days after the baby died.

In the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights, two investigators from the
inspector general's office went to a local DCFS office in 2002 to seize
records in the case of 14-year-old Christopher Bahena, who died when
his father shot his children.

The Bahena family was the subject of 32 child abuse hot line calls and
25 investigations over 11 years. Even though the agency issued eight
findings against the parents that abuse had occurred, DCFS workers
allowed the children to remain in the home.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special investigators moved in to take control of all files pertaining
to Christopher's death.

Office staff told the two state investigators to wait in the lobby.
They waited 30 minutes before a public service administrator arrived.
She told them to wait some more.

The investigators finally announced they were there to immediately
seize department records and walked toward the inner office door.

The administrator tried to block them, but the investigators pushed
past her to where the case files were kept. They found a caseworker
"applying white-out to a document," according to the investigator's
report.

Later that day, a supervisor called an administrator and said, "We
screwed up," the report stated.

The incident prompted a special investigation by Kane, the inspector
general, and her office into file tampering. It was supposed to put
DCFS workers throughout the state on notice, but didn't prevent
allegations of tampering later in the Martin and Ingram cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------
Records reviewed by the newspaper did not show any discipline of any
worker or supervisor for tampering with records in any of the three
cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------



Presently, state employees must enter all case records into a state
database that can freeze the records after a child dies.

"I think it's a deterrent," Kane said.

But that didn't stop one DCFS worker in Chicago from altering computer
files in a nondeath case. The Cook County Central Child Protection
office fired Cecilia Namayanja in September 2005 after she created new
case notes in a state computer, records showed.

A notice of discharge filed with the Civil Service Commission said that
"previous case notes that you entered into the system disappeared."

Will freezing computer files prevent further tampering? Kane said she
didn't know.

"Do I think that means that everybody is going to be the best that they
can be? I can't speculate on that," she said. "It has happened three
times. It may happen again."

Kane, you asked for this one in another thread.
Notice part where they got caught altering records after child death.


Greegor wrote:
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16039850.htm

Posted on Mon, Nov. 20, 2006
LETHAL LAPSES: Caseworkers altered files after deaths of children
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER News-Democrat

FAIRMONT CITY - While an arson investigator sifted through a
fire-gutted trailer where a baby boy died, records show that state
child protection workers met to alter the family's case file to erase
concerns about the home's safety.

Two administrators, a supervisor and a caseworker for the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services met in the East St. Louis
office on Dec. 27, 2005 -- the same day 7-month-old Edgardo Martin
died.

They focused on the caseworker's notes questioning the safety of
hooking up three space heaters at the Martin family's mobile home to a
single series of extension cords. Cord overload caused the blaze, a
state fire marshal said.

The caseworker never warned the Martin family of the potential dangers
and accepted a Spanish translator's assurance that everything was OK,
according to a 2006 child death report compiled by the Office of the
Inspector General for the DCFS.

During the meeting on the day of the fire, the caseworker's concern
about the heaters "was minimized or stricken altogether," according to
the investigative report.

A supervisor told an inspector general's office investigator they
rewrote the caseworker's notes because they were not "sufficiently
descriptive."

The actions of the DCFS workers violated an agency regulation that
prohibits rewriting case records.

A News-Democrat investigation into children who died while under the
watch of the DCFS found at least three examples where state workers
altered records in an apparent attempt to cover up mistakes or minimize
department blame.

Kendall Marlowe, deputy chief of communications for the DCFS in
Springfield, said the department's top administrators had no comment.

In one case, investigators found a DCFS worker applying white-out to a
case file.

Each time, the changes were not listed on a Statement of File
Integrity, which requires that any changes to original reports or notes
be documented in writing and signed by a supervisor.

Denise Kane, the inspector general for the DCFS, said workers can add
to a case file, but they cannot make changes or remove anything from
it.

"They can't change a record," said Kane, whose office conducts
investigations of child protection worker conduct in cases of death and
serious injury.

"We asked for discipline in these (three) cases because whatever the
motivations of why they did it, that makes no difference. They can't do
it," Kane said.

The Martin family came to the attention of the DCFS after it received
concerns about a lack of heat in their home.

Juan Jose Martin, the boy's father, said no one warned him about the
potential danger of the space heaters.

"They are the government, and they're supposed to be able to inspect
and make sure that it's safe," Martin said in an interview through a
reporter who speaks Spanish.

"If they would have told us it was bad, we would have gotten rid of
them," he said.

In another case, the East St. Louis office of the DCFS lagged in
sending case records to the inspector general's office after the death
of Vanessa Ingram, a baby born in a toilet in Venice.

When they finally received the files, child death investigators found
that 14 months of caseworker notes and other documents were missing.
They also reported that a notation allegedly made in February about
whether a caseworker knew the infant's mother was pregnant actually was
created on May 2 -- four days after the baby died.

In the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights, two investigators from the
inspector general's office went to a local DCFS office in 2002 to seize
records in the case of 14-year-old Christopher Bahena, who died when
his father shot his children.

The Bahena family was the subject of 32 child abuse hot line calls and
25 investigations over 11 years. Even though the agency issued eight
findings against the parents that abuse had occurred, DCFS workers
allowed the children to remain in the home.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special investigators moved in to take control of all files pertaining
to Christopher's death.

Office staff told the two state investigators to wait in the lobby.
They waited 30 minutes before a public service administrator arrived.
She told them to wait some more.

The investigators finally announced they were there to immediately
seize department records and walked toward the inner office door.

The administrator tried to block them, but the investigators pushed
past her to where the case files were kept. They found a caseworker
"applying white-out to a document," according to the investigator's
report.

Later that day, a supervisor called an administrator and said, "We
screwed up," the report stated.

The incident prompted a special investigation by Kane, the inspector
general, and her office into file tampering. It was supposed to put
DCFS workers throughout the state on notice, but didn't prevent
allegations of tampering later in the Martin and Ingram cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------
Records reviewed by the newspaper did not show any discipline of any
worker or supervisor for tampering with records in any of the three
cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------



Presently, state employees must enter all case records into a state
database that can freeze the records after a child dies.

"I think it's a deterrent," Kane said.

But that didn't stop one DCFS worker in Chicago from altering computer
files in a nondeath case. The Cook County Central Child Protection
office fired Cecilia Namayanja in September 2005 after she created new
case notes in a state computer, records showed.

A notice of discharge filed with the Civil Service Commission said that
"previous case notes that you entered into the system disappeared."

Will freezing computer files prevent further tampering? Kane said she
didn't know.

"Do I think that means that everybody is going to be the best that they
can be? I can't speculate on that," she said. "It has happened three
times. It may happen again."

Kane?

Greegor wrote:
Kane, you asked for this one in another thread.
Notice part where they got caught altering records after child death.


Greegor wrote:
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16039850.htm

Posted on Mon, Nov. 20, 2006
LETHAL LAPSES: Caseworkers altered files after deaths of children
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER News-Democrat

FAIRMONT CITY - While an arson investigator sifted through a
fire-gutted trailer where a baby boy died, records show that state
child protection workers met to alter the family's case file to erase
concerns about the home's safety.

Two administrators, a supervisor and a caseworker for the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services met in the East St. Louis
office on Dec. 27, 2005 -- the same day 7-month-old Edgardo Martin
died.

They focused on the caseworker's notes questioning the safety of
hooking up three space heaters at the Martin family's mobile home to a
single series of extension cords. Cord overload caused the blaze, a
state fire marshal said.

The caseworker never warned the Martin family of the potential dangers
and accepted a Spanish translator's assurance that everything was OK,
according to a 2006 child death report compiled by the Office of the
Inspector General for the DCFS.

During the meeting on the day of the fire, the caseworker's concern
about the heaters "was minimized or stricken altogether," according to
the investigative report.

A supervisor told an inspector general's office investigator they
rewrote the caseworker's notes because they were not "sufficiently
descriptive."

The actions of the DCFS workers violated an agency regulation that
prohibits rewriting case records.

A News-Democrat investigation into children who died while under the
watch of the DCFS found at least three examples where state workers
altered records in an apparent attempt to cover up mistakes or minimize
department blame.

Kendall Marlowe, deputy chief of communications for the DCFS in
Springfield, said the department's top administrators had no comment.

In one case, investigators found a DCFS worker applying white-out to a
case file.

Each time, the changes were not listed on a Statement of File
Integrity, which requires that any changes to original reports or notes
be documented in writing and signed by a supervisor.

Denise Kane, the inspector general for the DCFS, said workers can add
to a case file, but they cannot make changes or remove anything from
it.

"They can't change a record," said Kane, whose office conducts
investigations of child protection worker conduct in cases of death and
serious injury.

"We asked for discipline in these (three) cases because whatever the
motivations of why they did it, that makes no difference. They can't do
it," Kane said.

The Martin family came to the attention of the DCFS after it received
concerns about a lack of heat in their home.

Juan Jose Martin, the boy's father, said no one warned him about the
potential danger of the space heaters.

"They are the government, and they're supposed to be able to inspect
and make sure that it's safe," Martin said in an interview through a
reporter who speaks Spanish.

"If they would have told us it was bad, we would have gotten rid of
them," he said.

In another case, the East St. Louis office of the DCFS lagged in
sending case records to the inspector general's office after the death
of Vanessa Ingram, a baby born in a toilet in Venice.

When they finally received the files, child death investigators found
that 14 months of caseworker notes and other documents were missing.
They also reported that a notation allegedly made in February about
whether a caseworker knew the infant's mother was pregnant actually was
created on May 2 -- four days after the baby died.

In the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights, two investigators from the
inspector general's office went to a local DCFS office in 2002 to seize
records in the case of 14-year-old Christopher Bahena, who died when
his father shot his children.

The Bahena family was the subject of 32 child abuse hot line calls and
25 investigations over 11 years. Even though the agency issued eight
findings against the parents that abuse had occurred, DCFS workers
allowed the children to remain in the home.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special investigators moved in to take control of all files pertaining
to Christopher's death.

Office staff told the two state investigators to wait in the lobby.
They waited 30 minutes before a public service administrator arrived.
She told them to wait some more.

The investigators finally announced they were there to immediately
seize department records and walked toward the inner office door.

The administrator tried to block them, but the investigators pushed
past her to where the case files were kept. They found a caseworker
"applying white-out to a document," according to the investigator's
report.

Later that day, a supervisor called an administrator and said, "We
screwed up," the report stated.

The incident prompted a special investigation by Kane, the inspector
general, and her office into file tampering. It was supposed to put
DCFS workers throughout the state on notice, but didn't prevent
allegations of tampering later in the Martin and Ingram cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------
Records reviewed by the newspaper did not show any discipline of any
worker or supervisor for tampering with records in any of the three
cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------



Presently, state employees must enter all case records into a state
database that can freeze the records after a child dies.

"I think it's a deterrent," Kane said.

But that didn't stop one DCFS worker in Chicago from altering computer
files in a nondeath case. The Cook County Central Child Protection
office fired Cecilia Namayanja in September 2005 after she created new
case notes in a state computer, records showed.

A notice of discharge filed with the Civil Service Commission said that
"previous case notes that you entered into the system disappeared."

Will freezing computer files prevent further tampering? Kane said she
didn't know.

"Do I think that means that everybody is going to be the best that they
can be? I can't speculate on that," she said. "It has happened three
times. It may happen again."

I like the part about how they kept the investigators waiting
and an administrator blocked the door, but the investigators
charge in and caseworkers are using white out on the records!!

And NOBODY was FIRED!

Ya like that one Ronaldo?
Dan?
Kane?


Greegor wrote:
Kane, you asked for this one in another thread.
Notice part where they got caught altering records after child death.


Greegor wrote:
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16039850.htm

Posted on Mon, Nov. 20, 2006
LETHAL LAPSES: Caseworkers altered files after deaths of children
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER News-Democrat

FAIRMONT CITY - While an arson investigator sifted through a
fire-gutted trailer where a baby boy died, records show that state
child protection workers met to alter the family's case file to erase
concerns about the home's safety.

Two administrators, a supervisor and a caseworker for the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services met in the East St. Louis
office on Dec. 27, 2005 -- the same day 7-month-old Edgardo Martin
died.

They focused on the caseworker's notes questioning the safety of
hooking up three space heaters at the Martin family's mobile home to a
single series of extension cords. Cord overload caused the blaze, a
state fire marshal said.

The caseworker never warned the Martin family of the potential dangers
and accepted a Spanish translator's assurance that everything was OK,
according to a 2006 child death report compiled by the Office of the
Inspector General for the DCFS.

During the meeting on the day of the fire, the caseworker's concern
about the heaters "was minimized or stricken altogether," according to
the investigative report.

A supervisor told an inspector general's office investigator they
rewrote the caseworker's notes because they were not "sufficiently
descriptive."

The actions of the DCFS workers violated an agency regulation that
prohibits rewriting case records.

A News-Democrat investigation into children who died while under the
watch of the DCFS found at least three examples where state workers
altered records in an apparent attempt to cover up mistakes or minimize
department blame.

Kendall Marlowe, deputy chief of communications for the DCFS in
Springfield, said the department's top administrators had no comment.

In one case, investigators found a DCFS worker applying white-out to a
case file.

Each time, the changes were not listed on a Statement of File
Integrity, which requires that any changes to original reports or notes
be documented in writing and signed by a supervisor.

Denise Kane, the inspector general for the DCFS, said workers can add
to a case file, but they cannot make changes or remove anything from
it.

"They can't change a record," said Kane, whose office conducts
investigations of child protection worker conduct in cases of death and
serious injury.

"We asked for discipline in these (three) cases because whatever the
motivations of why they did it, that makes no difference. They can't do
it," Kane said.

The Martin family came to the attention of the DCFS after it received
concerns about a lack of heat in their home.

Juan Jose Martin, the boy's father, said no one warned him about the
potential danger of the space heaters.

"They are the government, and they're supposed to be able to inspect
and make sure that it's safe," Martin said in an interview through a
reporter who speaks Spanish.

"If they would have told us it was bad, we would have gotten rid of
them," he said.

In another case, the East St. Louis office of the DCFS lagged in
sending case records to the inspector general's office after the death
of Vanessa Ingram, a baby born in a toilet in Venice.

When they finally received the files, child death investigators found
that 14 months of caseworker notes and other documents were missing.
They also reported that a notation allegedly made in February about
whether a caseworker knew the infant's mother was pregnant actually was
created on May 2 -- four days after the baby died.

In the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights, two investigators from the
inspector general's office went to a local DCFS office in 2002 to seize
records in the case of 14-year-old Christopher Bahena, who died when
his father shot his children.

The Bahena family was the subject of 32 child abuse hot line calls and
25 investigations over 11 years. Even though the agency issued eight
findings against the parents that abuse had occurred, DCFS workers
allowed the children to remain in the home.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special investigators moved in to take control of all files pertaining
to Christopher's death.

Office staff told the two state investigators to wait in the lobby.
They waited 30 minutes before a public service administrator arrived.
She told them to wait some more.

The investigators finally announced they were there to immediately
seize department records and walked toward the inner office door.

The administrator tried to block them, but the investigators pushed
past her to where the case files were kept. They found a caseworker
"applying white-out to a document," according to the investigator's
report.

Later that day, a supervisor called an administrator and said, "We
screwed up," the report stated.

The incident prompted a special investigation by Kane, the inspector
general, and her office into file tampering. It was supposed to put
DCFS workers throughout the state on notice, but didn't prevent
allegations of tampering later in the Martin and Ingram cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------
Records reviewed by the newspaper did not show any discipline of any
worker or supervisor for tampering with records in any of the three
cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------



Presently, state employees must enter all case records into a state
database that can freeze the records after a child dies.

"I think it's a deterrent," Kane said.

But that didn't stop one DCFS worker in Chicago from altering computer
files in a nondeath case. The Cook County Central Child Protection
office fired Cecilia Namayanja in September 2005 after she created new
case notes in a state computer, records showed.

A notice of discharge filed with the Civil Service Commission said that
"previous case notes that you entered into the system disappeared."

Will freezing computer files prevent further tampering? Kane said she
didn't know.

"Do I think that means that everybody is going to be the best that they
can be? I can't speculate on that," she said. "It has happened three
times. It may happen again."

Greegor wrote:
I like the part about how they kept the investigators waiting
and an administrator blocked the door, but the investigators
charge in and caseworkers are using white out on the records!!

I don't know why this was taking place. I do know that I have found
entire branch offices were conditions had deteriorated to that
level...not necessarily of that kind, but bad.

They were inevitably understaffed, overworked with monsterously large
caseloads, in the most dangerous areas, in crumbling buildlings with
even the furniture, their chairs and desks falling apart, out-dated or
even nonfunctional computer systems and workstations. Total messes.

Every single one was underfunding, Greg. Even their damn lighting
systems couldn't be kept up and workers were working in perpetual
twilight.

You and your buddies here lie.

And NOBODY was FIRED!

I missed that. Did the article say no one was fired, or otherwise
disciplined after the events? At some time after the events?

Ya like that one Ronaldo?
Dan?
Kane?

When you have seen any of us, Dan, Ron, or myself excuse or condone
malpractice by CPS.

Malpractice of any kind?

You are operating out of your grotesque need to see blood spatters and
immediate execution far beyond that which is civilized, apparently,
Greg.

Greegor wrote:
Kane, you asked for this one in another thread.
Notice part where they got caught altering records after child death.


Greegor wrote:
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16039850.htm

Posted on Mon, Nov. 20, 2006
LETHAL LAPSES: Caseworkers altered files after deaths of children
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER News-Democrat

FAIRMONT CITY - While an arson investigator sifted through a
fire-gutted trailer where a baby boy died, records show that state
child protection workers met to alter the family's case file to erase
concerns about the home's safety.

Two administrators, a supervisor and a caseworker for the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services met in the East St. Louis
office on Dec. 27, 2005 -- the same day 7-month-old Edgardo Martin
died.

They focused on the caseworker's notes questioning the safety of
hooking up three space heaters at the Martin family's mobile home to a
single series of extension cords. Cord overload caused the blaze, a
state fire marshal said.

The caseworker never warned the Martin family of the potential dangers
and accepted a Spanish translator's assurance that everything was OK,
according to a 2006 child death report compiled by the Office of the
Inspector General for the DCFS.

During the meeting on the day of the fire, the caseworker's concern
about the heaters "was minimized or stricken altogether," according to
the investigative report.

A supervisor told an inspector general's office investigator they
rewrote the caseworker's notes because they were not "sufficiently
descriptive."

The actions of the DCFS workers violated an agency regulation that
prohibits rewriting case records.

A News-Democrat investigation into children who died while under the
watch of the DCFS found at least three examples where state workers
altered records in an apparent attempt to cover up mistakes or minimize
department blame.

Kendall Marlowe, deputy chief of communications for the DCFS in
Springfield, said the department's top administrators had no comment.

In one case, investigators found a DCFS worker applying white-out to a
case file.

Each time, the changes were not listed on a Statement of File
Integrity, which requires that any changes to original reports or notes
be documented in writing and signed by a supervisor.

Denise Kane, the inspector general for the DCFS, said workers can add
to a case file, but they cannot make changes or remove anything from
it.

"They can't change a record," said Kane, whose office conducts
investigations of child protection worker conduct in cases of death and
serious injury.

"We asked for discipline in these (three) cases because whatever the
motivations of why they did it, that makes no difference. They can't do
it," Kane said.

The Martin family came to the attention of the DCFS after it received
concerns about a lack of heat in their home.

Juan Jose Martin, the boy's father, said no one warned him about the
potential danger of the space heaters.

"They are the government, and they're supposed to be able to inspect
and make sure that it's safe," Martin said in an interview through a
reporter who speaks Spanish.

"If they would have told us it was bad, we would have gotten rid of
them," he said.

In another case, the East St. Louis office of the DCFS lagged in
sending case records to the inspector general's office after the death
of Vanessa Ingram, a baby born in a toilet in Venice.

When they finally received the files, child death investigators found
that 14 months of caseworker notes and other documents were missing.
They also reported that a notation allegedly made in February about
whether a caseworker knew the infant's mother was pregnant actually was
created on May 2 -- four days after the baby died.

In the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights, two investigators from the
inspector general's office went to a local DCFS office in 2002 to seize
records in the case of 14-year-old Christopher Bahena, who died when
his father shot his children.

The Bahena family was the subject of 32 child abuse hot line calls and
25 investigations over 11 years. Even though the agency issued eight
findings against the parents that abuse had occurred, DCFS workers
allowed the children to remain in the home.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special investigators moved in to take control of all files pertaining
to Christopher's death.

Office staff told the two state investigators to wait in the lobby.
They waited 30 minutes before a public service administrator arrived.
She told them to wait some more.

The investigators finally announced they were there to immediately
seize department records and walked toward the inner office door.

The administrator tried to block them, but the investigators pushed
past her to where the case files were kept. They found a caseworker
"applying white-out to a document," according to the investigator's
report.

Later that day, a supervisor called an administrator and said, "We
screwed up," the report stated.

The incident prompted a special investigation by Kane, the inspector
general, and her office into file tampering. It was supposed to put
DCFS workers throughout the state on notice, but didn't prevent
allegations of tampering later in the Martin and Ingram cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------
Records reviewed by the newspaper did not show any discipline of any
worker or supervisor for tampering with records in any of the three
cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------



Presently, state employees must enter all case records into a state
database that can freeze the records after a child dies.

"I think it's a deterrent," Kane said.

But that didn't stop one DCFS worker in Chicago from altering computer
files in a nondeath case. The Cook County Central Child Protection
office fired Cecilia Namayanja in September 2005 after she created new
case notes in a state computer, records showed.

A notice of discharge filed with the Civil Service Commission said that
"previous case notes that you entered into the system disappeared."

Will freezing computer files prevent further tampering? Kane said she
didn't know.

"Do I think that means that everybody is going to be the best that they
can be? I can't speculate on that," she said. "It has happened three
times. It may happen again."

Michael© wrote:
"0:-" wrote in
oups.com:

Greegor wrote:
I like the part about how they kept the investigators waiting
and an administrator blocked the door, but the investigators
charge in and caseworkers are using white out on the records!!
I don't know why this was taking place. I do know that I have found
entire branch offices were conditions had deteriorated to that
level...not necessarily of that kind, but bad.

They were inevitably understaffed, overworked with monsterously large
caseloads, in the most dangerous areas, in crumbling buildlings with
even the furniture, their chairs and desks falling apart, out-dated or
even nonfunctional computer systems and workstations. Total messes.

Every single one was underfunding, Greg. Even their damn lighting
systems couldn't be kept up and workers were working in perpetual
twilight.

Are you implying that underfunding causes deceit and malfeasance?

Actually yes.

Lack of adequately trained staff in numbers to do the job well has been
known to eventually result in just such outcomes.

It may make the job more difficult to do but, by no stretch of the
imagination would it cause what happened in this situation with deceit and
malfeasances.

Mike. The real world says differently.

For instance, in police departments that are underfunded, where
supervisors are fewer, police officers tend to pop up more often that
have indeed gone corrupt.

Would you deny this?

Did you think I was making and excuse?

Lack of resources always strains the system, and one way it shows up is
with malpractice...ANY system.

Remember the challenger? A contractor substituted a lousy O-ring for the
proper quality and many died as a result.

MONEY was the problem, not "evil" contractors who plotted to bring down
the space shuttle.

NO INTENT to do harm appears so far in this very case we are discussing.

The records were unlikely to have been dumped to deliberately reveal the
personal information of clients.

Those actions are no less than corrupt behavior to cover screw-ups.

I have no doubt. And they happen more often where any group is resource
poor.

There WILL be more corrupt behavior, as we define it. The rich do steal,
but the poor steal more OFTEN for instance.

You and your buddies here lie.

You worthy to cast the first stone, Don?

Yep. I do not lie to argue CPS or parent actions.

And NOBODY was FIRED!
I missed that. Did the article say no one was fired, or otherwise
disciplined after the events? At some time after the events?

Ya like that one Ronaldo?
Dan?
Kane?
When you have seen any of us, Dan, Ron, or myself excuse or condone
malpractice by CPS.

It appears in this very article I'm replying to that, their actions have
some bearing on funding according to your statement.

I fail to see how your answer relates to my question (sorry for missing
the question mark, a simple mistake on my part).


I asked if no one had been fired, presuming someone would offer me some
proof they had not been.

I asked, sans appropriate punctuation, when anyone had seen Ron, Dan, or
myself condone CPS malpractice.

We were just accused of it. Did you miss that?

Malpractice of any kind?

You are operating out of your grotesque need to see blood spatters and
immediate execution far beyond that which is civilized, apparently,
Greg.

You aren't Greg, so you apparently had no obligation to respond, but
your response could have come somewhere unrelated to my questions.

Nevertheless I must have missed both where my statement had some bearing
on funding. Unless of course you mean hiring less competent people
because of the funding mandates laid on them by the legislature.

Kane

.. . .

Donald AKA Kane wrote
Remember the challenger? A contractor substituted a
lousy O-ring for the proper quality and many died as a result.

Wasn't that an engineer who failed to account for
extreme cold when they specified the O ring?

Long ways away from catching CPS workers
hurriedly whiting out text as inspectors are delayed in the lobby.

Greegor wrote:
Donald AKA Kane wrote

Only Kane here, Gagg.

Remember the challenger? A contractor substituted a
lousy O-ring for the proper quality and many died as a result.

Wasn't that an engineer who failed to account for
extreme cold when they specified the O ring?

You could be right. Shall we waltz, or would you like to discuss the
issue?

Long ways away from catching CPS workers
hurriedly whiting out text as inspectors are delayed in the lobby.

Not really. Incompetence is incompetence, regardless of the form it
takes.

So some CPS workers have been caught. What now?

How credible is the story?

You are one of those that like to claim that stories that go against
your views aren't true.


0:-

0:- wrote:
Greegor wrote:
Donald AKA Kane wrote

Only Kane here, Gagg.

Remember the challenger? A contractor substituted a
lousy O-ring for the proper quality and many died as a result.

Wasn't that an engineer who failed to account for
extreme cold when they specified the O ring?

You could be right. Shall we waltz, or would you like to discuss the
issue?

Long ways away from catching CPS workers
hurriedly whiting out text as inspectors are delayed in the lobby.

Not really. Incompetence is incompetence, regardless of the form it
takes.

So some CPS workers have been caught. What now?

How credible is the story?

You are one of those that like to claim that stories that go against
your views aren't true.

The bio parents made them use white out?