Terror, torture – abetted by a negligent agency...

Terror, torture – abetted by a negligent agency

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: June 24th, 2007 01:00 AM

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/94680.html

Sometimes what is done to a child is so cruel and brutal that just
thinking about it is hardly bearable.

Such is the case with a South King County foster girl, now 16, whose
foster “parent” – that word is far too kind – inflicted torture upon her
for as long as 10 years. The word bears repeating: Torture – as in
“intentionally inflicted injury amounting to torture” – is the exact
term used by a physician who examined her after her years-long ordeal.

The News Tribune’s Sean Robinson documents her shocking abuse on today’s
Page One; we won’t detail it here. Suffice it to say that the girl,
after her rescue, was found to have multiple scars and bruises, burns
and blunt-force injuries, a bruised face and a chipped tooth.

That’s not the worst of it. Her “caregiver” – Chornice Lewis, now jailed
on charges of child assault – apparently liked to go after the girl’s
eyes, sometimes with needles. Her eyes were often blackened, swollen or
inflamed when she came to school. The examinations turned up a broken
eye socket and puncture wounds to both eyes. Her right eye is now
functionally blind.

But no, maybe that’s not the worst of it. The worst may be the fact that
public agencies charged with protecting children, the Children’s
Administration of the Department of Social and Health Services and the
King County Juvenile Court, overlooked the girl’s torture over all those
years.

It wasn’t because they weren’t told. Time after time, as Robinson
recounts, teachers, neighbors, school counselors or police officers
alerted Children’s Administration social workers to the girl’s injuries
and signs of her suffering.

Time after time, the social workers “investigated” and accepted Lewis’
version of the truth: that the girl was a liar, a thief, difficult and
out of control. This despite the lack of evidence of any such tendencies
when she was at school – where she was quiet, poorly clothed and friendless.

Nor did the juvenile court provide the supervision that might have
compensated for the social workers’ negligence and gullibility. A
critical review initiated – to its credit – by the Children’s
Administration found that the court gave little scrutiny to the girl’s
placement and treatment and failed to provide an effective child
advocate as required.

As for the Children’s Administration, the internal review noted that the
complaints it ignored followed a classic pattern of abuse, including
physical injury, poor hygiene, frequent changes in schools, inadequate
food and being locked out of the house.

Yet the Children’s Administration has not held even one social worker or
supervisor accountable for this monumental failure. No one has been
disciplined for their part in this horror story.

The review did lead to one astonishing recommendation: that Child
Protective Services investigators and DSHS social workers should be
trained in the “detection of patterns in child abuse and neglect cases.”

Silly us. For some reason, we imagined that the professionals charged
with stopping child abuse might already know what it looks like.








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...