Report: DHS worker faked report to cover up botched investigation

Report: DHS worker faked report to cover up botched investigation
By AP
Monday, September 3, 2007 12:03 PM CDT

http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/a...te/news115.txt


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A worker for the state Department of Human Services
faked reports to cover up his failure to properly investigate
accusations that a boy was being abused in the weeks leading up to his
death, according to a published report.

A report prepared by a state oversight committee at the request of The
Oklahoman states that DHS discovered the fabricated reports only after
the 2-year-old boy died from abuse and neglect, the newspaper reported
in a copyright story in Sunday’s editions.

Keenan Taylor died from burns on June 9, 2005, a day after he was
scalded by boiling water at his home. The DHS “intake� worker reported
he had checked on the boy and three other children two weeks earlier
because of abuse complaints but found no problems at the father’s home.

The oversight committee’s report states the worker may not have actually
interviewed or observed the boy at all. Records show a DHS supervisor
also found that key witnesses were never interviewed even though reports
reflect the worker questioned them.

The worker resigned after he was confronted about the inaccuracies, the
oversight agency’s report indicates.

The tragedy is an extreme example of a recurring problem at the agency —
workers sometimes fail to check on a child’s welfare and then falsify
reports to show they did.

Some former employees have told The Oklahoman that workers make phony
reports because they are struggling with high caseloads and are under
extreme pressure from supervisors to make documentation a top priority.

“They chose to put these kids in these types of situations and then they
don’t follow up and they lie about following up,� said Keenan’s
grandfather, Archie Taylor, who is suing DHS and current and former DHS
workers.

“It was like they were just half doing their job,� said Taylor, a Tulsa
aircraft machinist whose daughter is Keenan’s mother. “I want to make
sure that this don’t happen to other kids, and the only way to do that
is to expose DHS.�

In Keenan’s case, both the worker who faked reports and a “permanency�
worker resigned shortly after the boy’s death, records show. The
permanency worker failed twice to turn in accusations of mistreatment
for possible investigation, records show.

“When we hire and train staff to do a job, we have to rely on a certain
amount of trust and honesty,� said DHS spokesman George Johnson. “With a
work force the size of ours, that trust is going to be violated.�

Keenan’s father, Carlis Anthony Ball, 25, is serving a life prison
sentence for the boy’s death. He was found guilty of first-degree murder
and neglect at a trial last year.

Prosecutors say Ball deliberately poured scalding water on his son,
burning 50 percent of the boy’s body, on June 8, 2005. Ball allegedly
then stuck the boy in a dirty bedroom closet overnight.

Ball called for help the next afternoon and claimed he accidentally
knocked a pot of boiling water on Keenan while cooking, according to
testimony at his trial.

DHS disclosed to prosecutors that its intake worker had performed an
inaccurate investigation. DHS did not discuss the fraud in its only
public report on the case. Most DHS records on the case remain
confidential by law.

Some details about the case were detailed last week by the Oklahoma
Commission on Children and Youth in an 11-page report. The report did
not name the employees.

However, a DHS attorney, Richard Freeman Jr., identified Granville L.
Haynes II and Billie J. Mayberry as the two child-welfare specialists
who resigned to avoid being fired for their actions in the case.

Haynes and Mayberry could not be reached for comment. Freeman said DHS
will not represent them in the lawsuit.




CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
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.


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...