Colorado - Shifting blame It wasn't lack of funding that doomedChandler Grafner...

Shifting blame
It wasn't lack of funding that doomed Chandler Grafner

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...685613,00.html

August 30, 2007
Child services agencies are underfunded and overworked. That was one
immediate reaction from several welfare advocacy groups to the Colorado
Department of Health Services' official review of the tragic death by
starvation of 7-year-old Chandler Grafner in May.

Yet we read the report, too, and could find little evidence that either
factor - even assuming each is true - was remotely a cause in Grafner's
cruel fate.

To the extent his death could have been prevented by timely
intervention, the culprit was - in one critical instance, for example -
an incorrect assumption as to which public agency should follow up on a
particularly bright red flag.

And until that time, it is not clear that even an overstaffed agency
would have discovered Chandler's hellish existence in time to save him.

Yet spokespersons for the Colorado Association of Family and Children's
Agencies and the Colorado Children's Campaign each have suggested that
somehow bigger budgets and larger staffs at social service agencies
could have prevented the tragedy. County and state departments lack the
money to track abuse cases and share information across jurisdictions,
they say, so some can fall through the cracks.

Maybe some do, but that's not the story we read in the state's review of
Chandler's death. It says that had counties followed current procedures
more diligently, case workers might have saved him from the combination
of abuse and neglect that eventually led to his death and to
first-degree murder charges being lodged against Jon Phillips,
Chandler's legal guardian, and Sarah Berry, Phillips' common-law wife.

The report did recommend several policy changes, which would mainly
amount to doing a better job following up on allegations of abuse. But
from what we can tell, no bump in any budget would have stopped the
adults who were entrusted with Chandler's care from allegedly locking
him in a linen closet and letting him slowly starve to death.

For at least the final 32 months of his brief life, Chandler was
shuffled from one place to another, placed at times in the custody
("care" seems inappropriate) of his mother, his grandmother and finally
Phillips (his mother's boyfriend) and Berry.

The review chronicles 14 contacts involving Chandler's guardians and
various social service, education and law enforcement agencies between
Oct. 4, 2004, and May 6 of this year, when he died. Agencies in three
counties - Jefferson, Arapahoe and Denver - were involved.

Several instances involved allegations of abuse and neglect. Yet in only
one instance were charges filed - and then, Chandler's mother,
Christina, pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless endangerment and
received one year probation.

At times, child welfare officials completely lost track of the
whereabouts of Chandler, his brother and the adults who should have
cared for them.

Clearly, better agency follow-up was in order. That said, we see only
one time more aggressive intervention was almost certainly called for
that had a chance to save Chandler.

In early March, he stopped attending kindergarten at Holm Elementary
School in Denver. Berry, who had worked as a teacher's assistant at the
school, reportedly told teachers that Chandler was going to be
home-schooled.

That should have immediately raised alarms. A few weeks earlier, as it
happens, school officials found bruises on Chandler, who said Phillips
had struck him in the shower. The school notified the Denver Department
of Human Services and a police investigation even followed. However, it
led to no charges.

The school should have told Denver Human Services of Chandler's absences
right away. Instead, it waited until April 17, three weeks before
Chandler died. At that point, unfortunately, the agency simply noted
that there were no allegations of neglect or abuse in the referral and
that Chandler's case file remained "open" in Jeffco. It made no mention
of the school's report of Chandler's alleged abuse in January. It failed
to connect the dots.

We're not trying to point fingers at social workers and bureaucrats, all
of whom are as horrified as we are by Chandler's death. But it is simply
too pat to always cite budgets and staffing as the reason for
institutional failure. That suggests that no one can be held
accountable, even when someone incontestably is at fault.



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


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...