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Foster Mother’s Pain Patch Is Believed Responsible in 6-Year-Old Girl’s Death



 
 
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Old May 20th 08, 09:45 PM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
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Default Foster Mother’s Pain Patch Is Believed Responsible in 6-Year-Old Girl’s Death

Foster Mother’s Pain Patch Is Believed Responsible in 6-Year-Old Girl’s
Death

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/ny...l?ref=nyregion

By AL BAKER
Published: May 20, 2008

A foster mother in Harlem has been arrested and accused of accidentally
killing a 6-year-old girl in her care by placing a powerful medicinal
patch on the child’s neck as treatment for pain, the authorities said on
Monday.

The girl, Taylor Webster, was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Medical
Center in Manhattan on Sunday evening, and her foster mother, Joanne
Alvarez, 54, was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter,
which is a felony, criminally negligent homicide and endangering the
welfare of a child, officials said.

The pain-relieving patch, known as a fentanyl transdermal patch,
delivers through the skin a narcotic drug that is more powerful than
morphine, said Allen J. Vaida, a pharmacist and the executive vice
president of the Institute for Safe Medical Practices, a nonprofit
organization. Ms. Alvarez also gave the child some Motrin by mouth, the
police said.

A doctor had given Ms. Alvarez a prescription for fentanyl to treat some
chronic pain after a 2000 accident, said an official in the office of
Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, which is
investigating the case with the police.

The strength of the prescribed dose is based on the patient’s weight.
Ms. Alvarez weighs 260 pounds; Taylor weighed 59 pounds. A detective
found that the label on the fentanyl stated that it should be kept out
of the reach of children, the official said.

The city medical examiner’s office performed an autopsy on Monday, but
further medical tests and a police investigation are necessary to
determine the cause and manner of the child’s death, said Ellen S.
Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, speaking after a budget hearing on
Monday, said: “The mother gave the child Motrin and also put one of
these medical patches on the child, and it appears that this may have
caused the child’s death. So, it’s under investigation.”

Mr. Kelly said the criminal charges were based on the severity of the
negligence.

“You can have negligence and you can have gross negligence that rises to
the level of criminality,” Mr. Kelly said. “It really has to do with the
gross aspect of the negligence, as to whether or not it rises to the
level of criminality.”

Ms. Alvarez, who entered no plea during her arraignment Monday evening
in Manhattan Criminal Court, was being held in $500,000 bail.

Sharman Stein, a spokeswoman for the city’s Administration for
Children’s Services, would say only that the incident was under
investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Penelope Brady said in court that the
child-protection agency had investigated Ms. Alvarez three times. Two
inquiries involved accusations of excessive corporal punishment of
Taylor, most recently in April, and one inquiry is still open, Ms. Brady
said.

But Ms. Alvarez’s lawyer, Arnold Levine, said he was aware of only one
complaint, which he described as unfounded.

Assistant District Attorney Brady said that Ms. Alvarez “could not
possibly have been more reckless” with Taylor. But Mr. Levine said that
his client had never intended to hurt the child, nor had she anticipated
the terrible outcome. “I think this case is grossly overcharged,” he said.

Mr. Levine said that Ms. Alvarez had even planned to adopt Taylor, in
addition to the five biological children and two adopted children she
already has.

It was unclear why Taylor was in foster care or how long she had been in
the care of Ms. Alvarez. Children are generally placed in foster care
after a determination is made by the child welfare agency, and confirmed
by a family court judge, that they cannot safely remain with their
parents, Ms. Stein said.

She said that the agency’s procedures gave foster parents the authority
to consent to most types of routine and emergency medical treatment for
children in their care, though the policy calls for birth parents or
guardians to be consulted about all significant medical issues on an
individual basis when applicable.

The events began in Ms. Alvarez’s 11th-floor apartment at 1345 Fifth
Avenue, in the Taft Houses, where she lives with an adult child, the
police said. About 11 p.m. on Saturday, Taylor complained of neck pain.
Ms. Alvarez put the pain patch on Taylor’s neck, in the area of her
carotid artery, and gave her the Motrin, the police said.

About 3 p.m. on Sunday, the girl was found unconscious in her bed, the
police said. A call was made to 911, and the girl was taken to the
hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 5:10 p.m., officials said.

Fentanyl is a prime drug for cancer patients, and when administered
through the skin is released slowly into the bloodstream and works to
salve continuous pain. But it is for patients who are opiate-tolerant,
those who have already taken morphine or other high-dose narcotics, and
because it works by reducing respiratory function it must be used with
care, said Mr. Vaida, the pharmacist.

“It’s a powerful narcotic; it is more powerful than morphine,” Mr. Vaida
said, adding that there were cases on record of people dying from its
misuse.

A makeshift memorial with candles, flowers and teddy bears was set up at
Ms. Alvarez’s building. Some residents said they believed that Ms.
Alvarez was a foster mother to several children.

Precious Henry, 21, who said she learned of Taylor’s death by telephone,
said that she had known Taylor since she was a baby and that she had
occasionally been her baby sitter. She said Ms. Alvarez was a nice woman
who worked and “took care” of her children.

Taylor “was a happy little girl,” Ms. Henry said. “She loved everybody,
all the people she knew.”

Sushil Cheema, Colin Moynihan and Carolyn Wilder contributed reporting.









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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