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Investigator: Move boys' group home from drug-ridden Lauderhill area
Investigator: Move boys' group home from drug-ridden Lauderhill area
With crime and drugs, neighborhood said to be unsafe for troubled teen boys By Jon Burstein | South Florida Sun-Sentinel May 17, 2008 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...,3232252.story A Lauderhill group home for troubled teenage boys is not safe and needs to be moved out of its troubled neighborhood, according to the preliminary findings of a court-ordered investigation. "The mix of children and the surrounding crime-ridden, drug-infested neighborhood create insurmountable safety concerns for the children admitted," a child welfare analyst wrote about Impact Community Services' group home. "The residents also pose a risk to the surrounding neighborhood." A Broward judge approved the inquiry into the group home at 5631 NW 27th Court after the county's guardian ad litem program raised concerns last month about the well-being of teenagers there. From March 2007 to March 2008, there were more than 140 police reports involving the facility. Although the vast majority of those reports involved residents running away, there were at least five reports detailing allegations of violence and one of child-on-child sexual activity. Impact's director, Paul Schauber, said the group home houses deeply troubled teenagers who often have criminal records. The facility legally has little ability to stop children from running away, he said. In a 14-page draft report released Friday, the court-appointed investigator wrote that former and current residents at Impact's facility — also known as Quest Group Home — have admitted they began dealing drugs while living there. The home is in the high-crime Cannon Point neighborhood, "a prime location" for the sale of a cheap form of crack cocaine, wrote child welfare analyst Cheleene Schembera, who once was acting head of the state Department of Children & Families' Miami-Dade office. One former resident said drugs were being passed through bedroom windows at the group home, Schembera wrote. The draft report describes the group home as "barren and institutional" with broken computers, shabby furniture and threadbare bedsheets. Former residents have said staff members encouraged the teenagers to fight and failed to intervene when fights broke out, Schembera wrote. Schauber said the group home is acting on the recommendations it can. But under state law, such state-licensed group homes cannot be locked facilities, meaning staff members can do little to stop teenagers from leaving when they want, Schauber said. Schembera acknowledged that issue in her draft report, recommending DCF seek legislative approval for developing secured facilities for troubled teenagers. Schauber said he has been looking for a new location for years but hasn't found an appropriate building in an area zoned for such a facility. Impact is licensed to house as many as 14 boys, between ages 13 and 18. They are not the type of teenagers people are eager to have next door, Schauber said. He said the allegations of drug-dealing stem from one resident caught with drugs in his room who was arrested by police. The group home has been through 60 computers over the years because they have been destroyed or stolen, Schauber said. The facility recently added three security cameras and is purchasing new furniture, Schauber said. He denied that staff members ever encouraged residents to fight. "We have said we have nothing to hide here, and if we have issues, we are more than willing to work on them if they are reasonable and realistic," Schauber said. Patty Walker, director of Broward County's guardian ad litem program, said Friday the recent changes at Impact have been "mostly cosmetic." It's clear that the group home needs to be moved out of the Cannon Point neighborhood, she said. "We're taking children out of what we consider risky home situations and then we put them there; it doesn't make sense," she said. In addition to Impact, the Agape Group Home, licensed to house 15 teenage girls, is in the Cannon Point neighborhood. Schembera recommended that it be moved too. DCF Southeast Regional Director Jack Moss said the state is "moving forward aggressively to see that the [draft] recommendations are being implemented." DCF licenses Impact, while the group home is contracted to provide services through ChildNet, the nonprofit agency responsible for managing foster care in Broward County. Larry Rein, ChildNet's vice president of network development, said the agency has started discussions with Impact and Agape about moving. He said, though, that it's difficult to find locations for such group homes. An attempt to open a similar program for teenagers failed a couple of years ago because no one could find a suitable site, he said. ChildNet has not placed any teenagers at Impact since a court hearing April 18, when Broward Circuit Judge David Krathen appointed Schembera to investigate the group home. Schembera declined Friday to discuss the report. She said she expects it will be completed next week. Jon Burstein can be reached at jburstein@sun-sentinel. com or 954-356-4491. 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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