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Questions linger in death of foster child
Questions linger in death of foster child Lack of response from child services agency frustrates grieving mom By Tim Evans Posted: May 30, 2008 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...AL18/805300466 More than a month has passed since 7-week-old Destiny Linden died after being found unconscious in an adult bed in an Indianapolis foster home, and her family is still waiting for answers from the state Department of Child Services. "I really don't know what happened to my baby," said Randi Linden, 20, Indianapolis. "She was happy and fine when they took her from me, and a few days later she was dead." Advertisement Angered by repeated phone calls that weren't returned and fruitless visits to the DCS office, the family is frustrated by many of the issues state officials have spent the past four years trying to fix within Indiana's child welfare system. While DCS has doubled its work force and expanded training, critics say the case points out gaps the agency still must address, including a lack of consistency in the way cases are handled, insufficient training for foster parents and the need for an ombudsman to help families with complaints. The family's problems with DCS began April 21, when a caseworker removed Destiny after her mother refused to press charges against a man who allegedly had assaulted her earlier in the month. Their frustration escalated April 24, when they were called to Riley Hospital for Children and found Destiny on life support. Aggravating the situation: Randi Linden said she was made to wait several hours before DCS caseworkers let her see her baby. And when she snapped a few pictures of Destiny with a cell phone camera, the CPS worker monitoring the visit forced the distraught mother to delete them. Five days later, Destiny was pronounced dead after being removed from life support. The exact cause of her death remains undetermined, pending results of toxicology and other tests, but Marion County Chief Deputy Coroner Alfarena Ballew said it appeared to be the result of an unsafe sleeping situation. Susan Tielking, spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Child Services, said state confidentiality rules prevent her from discussing specifics of the case. She also said DCS is reviewing how the case was handled and the circumstances surrounding Destiny's death. Family members say the state agency has not answered a number of their questions, including: » Why agency officials removed Destiny from her mother without exploring other options. » Why the baby's nose was noticeably bent to one side when they saw her in the hospital. » Why officials have been so slow to answer questions or assist the grieving family. "Nobody has told us anything," said Carole Hill, Destiny's great-grandmother. "When they snatched her out of Randi's arms, Destiny was healthy and safe. We want to know what went wrong." Not an isolated case Destiny is at least the fourth child to die in Marion County since November while under the supervision of DCS. The agency removed her when Linden refused to go to a domestic violence shelter or press charges after she allegedly was assaulted by the man believed to be Destiny's father. According to DCS and court documents provided by Randi Linden, Destiny was removed because a caseworker believed the baby was in danger. Dawn Robertson, spokeswoman for the Indianapolis-based advocacy group Honk for Kids, which assists families involved with DCS, said the agency's handling of cases that lead to a child's removal from his or her family has been inconsistent. "It's just crazy, and there doesn't seem to be any common approach," Robertson said. "We see cases from one extreme to the other: where kids who should be removed aren't, and where kids who shouldn't be removed are." The deaths of Destiny and Indianapolis toddler TaJanay Bailey underscore those extremes. TaJanay, 3, died Nov. 27 from a beating just weeks after being returned to her mother and the woman's boyfriend over the objections of some family counselors and advocates involved in the DCS case. TaJanay's mother had failed a drug test, and neither she nor her boyfriend had completed court-ordered steps required to regain custody of TaJanay, who had spent the majority of her short life in foster care. Still, DCS placed her back in the home. In contrast, the state removed Destiny from her mother based on the threat posed by the man before taking custody of his children. (Because he has not been charged, The Indianapolis Star is withholding the man's identity.) The state did not have to take Destiny, Linden said, because she and the child had moved into a relative's home where the man could not find them. Also, while Destiny was with her mother at the time of the alleged assault, the child was never threatened or injured, according to the family and a police report. "I feel like they took Destiny hostage because I wouldn't press charges," Linden said. "It didn't have anything to do with her being safe or not." Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform in Alexandria, Va., said removing a child because of a nonspecific threat of domestic violence is "such bad practice that, if this happened in New York City, it would be illegal." New York's law is the result of a class-action lawsuit in which many experts testified that witnessing domestic violence can be harmful to children, but removing them from a nonoffending parent is more harmful, Wexler said. There are no such restrictions in Indiana and, in fact, DCS recently launched a domestic violence team in Marion County so that it could more aggressively investigate such cases, including the one involving Linden. Tielking said each case involves so many individual factors that it is impossible to compare them without knowing details that, by state law, must remain confidential. While some decisions do come down to "judgment calls," she said there are policies in place to help guide those decisions. Destiny's family also is frustrated by another piece missing from Indiana's reform effort: Unlike families in about 30 other states, Hoosiers have no independent arbiter they can turn to with questions or complaints about DCS. State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said the case is another example of why Indiana needs a children's services ombudsman. He introduced legislation to establish an independent overseer during this year's legislative session, but lawmakers focused on property tax reform and his proposal did not get a vote before the date for action to clear the House. Brown has said he will introduce a similar bill next year. "This is an issue I have heard a lot about, and there certainly is a need for someone to watch over how families and children are treated," he said. DCS promotes safe sleeping No disciplinary or criminal action has been taken against Destiny's foster parents, Everett and Kim Coleman. DCS officials they were licensed and in good standing during the time they had Destiny. A police report says Destiny was found unconscious in an adult bed in the Colemans' East 34th Street home. The report noted there was a crib in the home. If preliminary indications prove true, and Destiny did die from unsafe sleeping conditions, it could indicate another breakdown in the child protection system. In the past year, DCS has been actively promoting public awareness about infant sleep safety. But not all of the agency's foster parents have received training on the issue, according to agency spokeswoman Tielking. Robertson of Honk for Kids finds that astonishing: "The state takes these kids because they say they will be safer in their care than they will be with their parents, but the people they put them with don't have the appropriate training." Call Star reporter Tim Evans at (317) 44-6204. An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and the Child Protection "INDUSTRY" Child Protective Services Does not protect children... It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of CPS. every parent should read the free handbook from connecticut dcf watch... 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/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59 Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13 Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241 Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12 Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological 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. THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central intelligence agency wiretaping programs… THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/...s.php?filter=6 This is Child Protection? By Gregory A. Hession, J.D. http://www.jbs.org/node/4632 Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...nion-rightrail FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILU. A Brief Analysis of the Casey Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler http://www.nccpr.org/reports/cfpanalysis.doc HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families By Nev Moore Massachusetts News http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/...May/mayds4.htm A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster ca 30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children. 27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated 33% were receiving public assistance 37% had not finished high school 2% receive a college degree 50% were unemployed Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment than the general population. *Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support 80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system. The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should just be blown up. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991 Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent housing. This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in the first place. Front-page story in USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...m?csp=34#Close Read the studies online. Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Ca Findings from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study," http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publi...lumniStudy.htm MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fo...arch07_aer.pdf Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" reports: www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than walking wreckage... CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS.... 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... |
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