Report Faults N.J. Child Welfare Workers

Report Faults N.J. Child Welfare Workers
Thu Feb 12, 4:26 PM ET
By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press Writer
NEWARK, N.J. - Child welfare workers consistently failed to carry out
state policies in the case of a couple accused of starving four
adopted sons, according to a report released Thursday by New Jersey's
independent child advocate.
The report by Kevin Ryan, appointed in September to the newly created
post, also recommended sweeping changes for the state's Division of
Youth and Family Services. The agency is already scheduled to announce
its own reform plans next week.
"Every step of the way, the Division of Youth and Family Services has
failed these children," Ryan said at a news conference.
Raymond and Vanessa Jackson were charged in October with aggravated
assault and child endangerment after the oldest of the four boys was
found foraging through a neighbor's trash for food. The boys, ages 9
to 19, each stood no more than 4 feet tall and weighed no more than 45
pounds.
A day before the Jacksons were arrested, agency officials announced
they had completed safety assessments with 14,000 children. Ryan said
the four boys — along with hundreds of other children — had not been
visited.
The boys were removed from the home, and the Jacksons have denied the
charges. Family friends have said the children, who came into the
Jacksons' care between 1991 and 1995, suffered eating disorders and
complications from fetal alcohol syndrome.
No state employees have been charged in the case.
Among other findings in the report, the child welfare agency had
records pointing to the boys' weight loss after they were adopted, but
never followed up.
According to the agency's regulations, all four boys should have had
annual medical checkups, and those reports should have been forwarded
to the agency. Ryan said there were never any such evaluations and the
boys never had professional medical attention after they were adopted.
Among departmental changes recommended in Ryan's report were to
require in-person safety assessments, to coordinate medical care for
foster children and to make case information more easily shared among
offices.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...hed_children_1
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