State reports say child died after DCF ignored abuse claims

State reports say child died after DCF ignored abuse claims
Associated Press Posted February 28 2004, 1:25 PM EST
JACKSONVILLE -- The battering death of a toddler was one of many cases
in which child welfare workers ignored prior reports of abuse, a
newspaper reported Saturday.
Family services counselors in the state Department of Children &
Families' Jacksonville office left unfinished background checks and
follow-ups while their supervisor looked the other way, according to
internal e-mails, memos and reports that The Florida Times-Union
acquired through a public records request.
An audit of 70 cases handled by the same office was prompted by the
death of 2-year-old Shawn Sumner, murdered by his mother's boyfriend
in May 2001.
Shawn was beaten to death by Travis Yoder, who is now serving 25 years
in prison for second-degree murder. The toddler's grandmother said she
called the state abuse hot line more than 20 times to report problems
in the home Shawn's mother shared with Yoder.
A month before the murder, DCF workers had evidence of violence and
drug use in the home and Yoder's previous domestic violence and
drunken driving arrests. But the documents show the counselor assigned
to the case never interviewed the grandmother or Yoder's ex-wife.
``You failed to take any action in this case after it was assigned to
you. ... Basically, you just put the record aside upon receipt,'' a
DCF manager wrote to Karen Mullis, the counselor assigned to
investigate an abuse report a month before the murder.
``If you had pursued the investigation ... valuable information might
have been obtained which could have prevented the death of this
child,'' the manager wrote.
The case prompted lawsuits against DCF in state court and individual
employees, including Mullis and her supervisor, in federal court. Both
are pending.
According to a performance appraisal of Mullis' supervisor, ``the
deficiencies in the death case were not isolated to his case only.''
The review found workers routinely didn't check backgrounds, contact
witnesses, assess risks or follow up on basic information ``critical
to the safety of the child.'' Their supervisor, whose name wasn't
disclosed, didn't monitor her employees' risk assessments or provide
oversight,'' her appraisal said.
The agency fired Mullis after auditors found similar lapses in 13 of
20 of her cases it reviewed. Her lawyer, who also represents the
supervisor and other employees, declined comment but said he would
respond in court by March 10.
DCF spokesman Bill Spann said Saturday: ``The Department of Children &
Families has absolutely zero tolerance for any action or inaction by
our employees which places children at risk.
``While we can't discuss pending litigation on a 3½-year-old incident,
there are now a variety of checks, balances, fail-safes and quality
assurance procedures that ensure the safety of Florida's children.''
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines


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