Caseworkers suspended loafing, neglect, idleness, etc.FW:

Subject: Fw: Cw's suspended for loafing, neglect of duty, idleness, etc. in NJ
horror case
From: (Fern5827)
Date: 11/6/2003 4:55 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

FWD aa:


Subject: Social Workers Suspended For `Neglect of Duty, Loafing, Idleness,
etc` in NJ Horror Case
From: "Byker"
Date: 11/3/2003 11:50 AM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: . net

VoiceOfReason wrote in message
...

From
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index....1056260800.xml


The labor leaders, holding a news conference in Trenton in between
hearings, walked a delicate line yesterday. They agreed with the
department's assertion that people must be held accountable for the
state's part in the boys' suffering, yet demanded that DYFS management
not trample the rights of their workers in the process.

Translation: The AA hires didn't give a **** about their jobs...






And yet these folks can YANK kids out of homes? When they can't detect
starvation when it is right in front of them?

9 DYFS workers hear charges at closed sessions in Trenton
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
BY SUSAN K. LIVIO
Star-Ledger Staff (NJ)

One by one, the nine child welfare employees removed from their jobs
for allegedly mishandling a case that left four boys in Camden County
starving appeared at closed-door hearings yesterday to face the
disciplinary charges against them.

A lawyer representing some of the staff described the hearings as
perfunctory, tense and combative, yet lacking one crucial element:
proof of any wrongdoing.

A copy of the disciplinary notice from the Department of Human
Services simply said each worker was suspended without pay with intent
to fire them for "neglect of duty, loafing, idleness, or willful
failure to devote attention to tasks which could result in danger to
persons."

In a box reserved for more detail of the charges, the notice reads:
"You neglected your responsibilities for clients," followed by the
children's initials.

"They presented not a shred of evidence to support the charge, yet
these workers are being fired without pay -- workers with families,
with children to support," said attorney Steve Weissman, representing
seven of the nine employees who are members of the Communication
Workers of America.

"Two of the workers were last involved with the case in 2000,"
Weissman added, predicting the charges against them wouldn't hold up.

Special Deputy Human Services Commissioner Colleen Maguire contends
the employees -- from front-line workers, to an inspector, supervisors
and managers -- believed Raymond and Vanessa Jackson when they said
their four adopted sons suffered from ongoing eating disorders. Yet
there are no medical records in the family's file to support that
claim, nor did DYFS demand such records.

The adoption caseworkers, in particular, didn't pay much attention to
the other children in the family, Maguire said, focusing only on the
latest foster child the couple intended to adopt, a healthy and
well-fed 10-year-old girl.

Human Services Commissioner Gwendolyn L. Harris issued a brief
response to the union's remarks last night: "The department and the
Division of Youth and Family Services stand by the disciplinary
actions taken against the nine staff involved in the Jackson case.
Obviously we felt the actions were both necessary and appropriate in
light of facts of this case."

The employees worked in the Southern Adoption Resource Center in
Voorhees, the Camden County district office, a regional office in
Hammonton, and the department's central office in Trenton.

According to sources familiar with the case who spoke on condition of
anonymity, the disciplined workers included the family's last
caseworker, Frances Ransome, a two-year employee whom officials say
logged 27 visits to the home; veteran managers Margaret Rovner and
Bettye Fowler; and supervisor Eladia Gonzalez, a 15-year veteran.

Efforts to obtain comment from the workers by telephone and at their
homes were unsuccessful.

The labor leaders, holding a news conference in Trenton in between
hearings, walked a delicate line yesterday. They agreed with the
department's assertion that people must be held accountable for the
state's part in the boys' suffering, yet demanded that DYFS management
not trample the rights of their workers in the process.

"Everybody feels very desperate about DYFS," said Hetty Rosenstein,
president of Local 1037 Communication Workers of America, which
represents one of the employees. "The governor and the commissioner
feel really strongly because they have to have the public's confidence
that DYFS is going to do its job and protect children. We agree with
that. We understand that level of desperation because we share it. We
don't think this is quite the way to do it."

Typically civil service employees are entitled to a departmental
proceeding at which they can challenge disciplinary action against
them, but in this instance, the workers have opted to skip that
process and seek arbitration, Rosenstein said.

CWA official Paul Alexander said in the state's rush to hold the
employees accountable, it failed to build a solid case.

"If they can demonstrate they placed kids at risk or put blinders on,
yeah, people need to be accountable for that," Alexander said. "Yet
they are not putting out any information. They are just saying, trust
us."

Staff writers John Martin and Mary Jo Patterson contributed to this
report.