A Parenting & kids forum. ParentingBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » ParentingBanter.com forum » alt.support » Child Support
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

UPDATE: CA - Teen Sues L.A. (county) After Decade in Foster Care



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 19th 06, 04:11 PM posted to alt.child-support,alt.mens-rights,alt.support.divorce
Dusty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 340
Default UPDATE: CA - Teen Sues L.A. (county) After Decade in Foster Care

Los Angeles Foster Care Outrage--Father, Daughter Separated for 10 Years
According to Long-Separated Father, Daughter Sue L.A. County Foster Care
Agency (Los Angeles Times, 7/17/06):

"There were plaudits all around last fall when a troubled teenager who spent
10 years in foster care was reunited with the father she had hardly known,
thanks to what Los Angeles County supervisors described as a 'groundbreaking
effort' at family unification.

"But the genesis of that heartwarming story is now the basis of a lawsuit
alleging that Los Angeles County officials condemned Melinda Smith, now 17,
to a decade of foster homes and institutions by failing to take the most
basic steps to find her father.

"Melinda's parents were not married when she was born in 1988, but her
father, Thomas Marion Smith, agreed to pay child support in 1989. He saw
Melinda often, he said, but when she was about 4, her mother moved and left
no forwarding address. Two years later, in 1995, after the county had
received two complaints of suspected child abuse, Melinda's mother turned
the girl over to foster care officials.

"Meanwhile, Thomas Smith continued to receive monthly bills and make support
payments to the county for several years, while Melinda was -- unbeknownst
to him -- being shuffled through a series of institutions and foster homes.

"The Department of Children and Family Services -- required by law to use
'due diligence' to locate a foster child's noncustodial parent -- never
notified Smith that Melinda was in foster care and never gave him a chance
to claim her, the lawsuit alleges.

"The department listed Smith's whereabouts as unknown in court documents
filed a decade ago, even though department records indicate that Melinda's
caseworker knew that Smith was paying child support through a separate
county agency and his address was on file there.

"'He's a registered voter with a valid driver's license and an open child
support case,' said his attorney, L. Wallace Pate. 'All they had to do, at
any time during those 10 years, was pick up the phone and ask the L.A.
County Child Support Services Department, 'Do you have a contact on this
man?'

"Ultimately, Smith was located last spring by retired social worker Peggy
Crist, who was brought in to help the Department of Children and Family
Services launch a program to find permanent placements for teenagers who had
spent years in foster care.

"After meeting Melinda -- who told Crist 'the most important thing she could
think of...was that she wanted to find her father' -- it took the social
worker one day to find Thomas Smith, who was living with his wife in a
comfortable two-bedroom home in Pine Valley, east of San Diego.

"Last July, the father and daughter saw each other for the first time in
more than 10 years. In November, Melinda left foster care and moved into her
father's home...[for years] social workers misled Melinda and family court
officials by portraying Smith as a 'deadbeat dad,' the lawsuit said, even
though they knew he was paying child support and had received 'no notice
that his daughter was being detained.'

"Melinda grew up in seven different foster care placements. For five years,
beginning at the age of 7, she lived in a residential treatment center
alongside older children convicted of criminal activity because social
workers decided her emotional issues ruled out placement with foster
parents.

"Agency records cited in the lawsuit detail a litany of behavior problems:
She threw toys, punched windows and walls, and was frequently restrained by
staff members when her tantrums escalated into kicking and biting attacks.

"When Melinda was 8, her social worker reported that she refused to speak,
suffered from extreme depression and was so 'oppositional and defiant' that
she was 'not appropriate for adoptive placement'...

"...Crist initiated her search [for Melinda's father on] May 16, 2005. By
May 17, she had Thomas Smith's current address, along with his addresses for
the last 15 years, the lawsuit said.

"She enlisted a San Diego social worker to visit Smith, who called Crist and
said that he had tried unsuccessfully to find his daughter for years. All
that time, he said, he thought she was living with her mother."


  #2  
Old July 19th 06, 04:26 PM posted to alt.child-support,alt.mens-rights,alt.support.divorce
Dusty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 340
Default UPDATE: CA - Teen Sues L.A. (county) After Decade in Foster Care

Strange the link didn't come through the first time.. Here's the link
again.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...=la-home-local


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
CA - Teen Sues L.A. (county) After Decade in Foster Care Dusty Child Support 21 July 21st 06 01:58 AM
abc's crisis of the foster care system (cross-posted) [email protected] General 87 June 24th 06 07:59 PM
Throwaway kids wexwimpy Foster Parents 0 June 22nd 06 04:52 PM
Assessing Foster Care From the Inside wexwimpy Foster Parents 0 March 9th 04 04:46 PM
HALF OF KIDS IN FOSTER CARE NEEDLESSLY Malev Foster Parents 0 December 12th 03 04:53 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:59 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ParentingBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.