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Rhode Island was the worst in the nation in the rate of childrenabused and neglected while in state foster care in five of the six yearsbetween 2000 and 2005, according to federal data.



 
 
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Old June 30th 07, 06:08 AM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
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Default Rhode Island was the worst in the nation in the rate of childrenabused and neglected while in state foster care in five of the six yearsbetween 2000 and 2005, according to federal data.

DCYF chief vows action on alleged foster abuse

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, June 30, 2007

By Steve Peoples

Journal State House Bureau

http://www.projo.com/news/content/dc...L.3559ab7.html

The state may pursue criminal charges and other disciplinary measures
against any state employee, foster parent or foster home that failed to
protect children from repeated sexual, physical and emotional abuse as
disclosed in a sweeping civil-rights lawsuit filed this week in federal
court, according to Patricia Martinez, director of the state Department
of Children, Youth and Families.

Martinez yesterday said she was not previously aware of the allegations
outlined in the 85-page lawsuit filed Thursday by the state child
advocate. The stories of 10 young children who suffered repeated abuse
and constant shuffling through foster homes, shelters and institutions
are told in graphic detail in the suit against Martinez, Governor
Carcieri and Jane A. Hayward, secretary of the Executive Office of
Health and Human Services.

The lawsuit is riddled with allegations that the DCYF repeatedly placed
children in dangerous situations, failed to remove them promptly after
abuse was revealed, and later failed to offer proper counseling and
treatment.

“If people did not follow the appropriate steps and children were harmed
in a foster home, we will have to take disciplinary actions,” said
Martinez, who took over the DCYF in 2005. “If we see that there are
definitely things that we need to bring to the police, there’s no
question about it. … Corrective action could be that we may need to
revoke that [foster home’s] license — not suspend it, but revoke it.”

DCYF lawyers have requested the real names of the children from the
lawsuit (only pseudonyms are used in the court filing) and plan to
examine the cases in the coming days, Martinez said. “I want to know if
there was a conversation with somebody who failed to take action,” she said.

Child Advocate Jametta O. Alston is pursuing class-action status on
behalf of the 3,000 children now in state custody, aiming to overhaul
Rhode Island’s child-welfare system, which the suit portrays as
overburdened and mismanaged. Rhode Island was the worst in the nation in
the rate of children abused and neglected while in state foster care in
five of the six years between 2000 and 2005, according to federal data.

The suit claims state caseworkers are laboring under “excessive
caseloads”; the state places too many children in institutions, group
homes and emergency shelters; and children are being reunited with
parents who have abused them.

The governor, who refused for a second consecutive day to speak publicly
about the case, released a written statement saying he was “extremely
concerned” by the allegations, but that some of the information “may be
outdated and fails to take into account the reforms that have been made
under” Martinez.

Carcieri has agreed to meet with Alston in his office Monday.

“Any case of abuse involving children is extremely upsetting to me,
which is why I take this lawsuit very seriously,” Carcieri said in the
statement. “We have instituted a number of reforms within DCYF that are
making a difference, but are not reflected in the lawsuit.”

The statement cites reforms that require foster homes to be licensed
within six months of a placement and end “night-to-night placements,” in
which children in state care don’t know from one night to the next where
they will sleep.

“Everything he says is inaccurate,” Alston said of the governor,
referring to her DCYF filings that show at least 25 night-to-night
placements in the last two months.

Carcieri also touted the addition of flexible schedules negotiated as
part of the social worker union’s four-year contract which was signed
May 1. The scheduling changes allow caseworkers to better match their
work hours with families’ needs.

The statement did not mention one reform the union wanted: inserting
language into the contact that would limit families assigned to each
social worker to 14. The Carcieri administration blocked that reform for
financial reasons, according to Lucie Burdick, president of Local 580,
the Rhode Island Alliance of Social Service Employees.

Most caseworkers currently handle about 20 families, Burdick said, and
because families often include multiple children, caseworkers are often
responsible for monitoring more than 50 children.

“They aren’t feeling like they can do the job with the resources they
have in a way that protects the kids,” Burdick said. “The caseloads are
way too high.”

In his statement, the governor noted that the DCYF was “in a process” of
hiring 10 new caseworkers.

Burdick says there are between 38 and 40 vacancies out of about 85
caseworkers in the Pawtucket regional office alone.

The lawsuit was backed by Children’s Rights, a nonprofit New York City
organization, and the international law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges,
which has an office in Providence.

Although Alston said she told Martinez of a potential lawsuit almost
seven months ago, Martinez said yesterday that she was caught off-guard
by this week’s announcement.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers yesterday responded.

“The concerns, particularly with regard to the number of caseworkers,
have been paramount concerns for the Senate,” Majority Leader M. Teresa
Paiva Weed said yesterday. “And I would anticipate that the Senate will
continue to do meaningful oversight.”









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...
 




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