Kansas SRS - problems with validity of affidavits
Greegor
Posted on Sun, Jun. 08, 2008
Concerns arise over SRS files' validity
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
For years, some families have complained that court documents filed by
social workers that result in children being removed from the home
have contained false or fabricated information.
Now, some say they have proof.
The head of the state's child welfare agency was recorded in a meeting
with a family advocacy group saying that Sedgwick County prosecutors
have "bullied" social workers into putting information they don't
agree with in affidavits. Those affidavits are used to decide whether
children remain in protective custody or are returned to their
parents.
Sedgwick County prosecutors deny using improper pressure. And three
Sedgwick County judges who hear the cases say they have seen no
evidence of wrongdoing.
But critics of the state child custody system and some legislators say
the remarks by Don Jordan, secretary of the Kansas Department of
Social and Rehabilitation Services, raise questions about the
affidavits' validity.
Weighty comments
The affidavits are important because judges rely on the documents to
decide whether children go home to their parents or remain in
temporary custody or go into foster care.
The affidavits, typically three to four pages long, are based on
interviews by social workers with parents, children, relatives,
teachers.
The social workers lay out results of their child abuse and neglect
investigations. Prosecutors then cite the documents in petitions
recommending that children remain in temporary custody.
During a meeting with the advocacy group Citizens for Change on March
18 in Topeka, Jordan was recorded saying:
"But in Sedgwick County oftentimes we end up writing things because
it's what our social workers get bullied by the District Attorney's
Office into writing. So they really have no belief in what it says."
Later in the meeting, Jordan said: "I am working on our staff that we
do our assessments properly and we not get bullied into writing things
we don't believe. But then the reality comes down to, you send a 25-
year-old social worker into a room with a 15-year county ADA
(assistant district attorney) who is willing to yell at them, cuss at
them, scream at them and threaten them, you know."
Jordan said he made the comments but wishes he hadn't said "bullied,"
adding that he respects District Attorney Nola Foulston and her staff.
"I don't think they intend to bully our staff. It was a poor choice of
words.... I don't believe anybody's asked to perjure themselves or
lie."
He also said social workers should have independence. "I think they
(affidavits) should reflect, without intervention of the DA's office,
the professional judgment of the social worker."
His comments not only raise questions about the affidavits' validity
but also seem to be grounds for families to contest court decisions
that have kept their children in state custody, said Vickie Burris,
president of Citizens for Change, a statewide family advocacy group.
"The courts are only going to be as good as the information they
receive," she said.
Jordan's comments also confirm suspicions Burris has had, based on
complaints from families, that the affidavits include false
information, she said.
Often, attorneys advise families not to contest the information or
risk angering the judges, the prosecutors and SRS, she said.
Burris said an observer who was not a member of Citizens for Change
recorded the comments. She said she had no part in the recording and
learned of it afterward.
DA's response
Foulston, the district attorney, called Jordan's recorded comments
"outrageous."
"That was just so disappointing to have something like that said by an
agency head," she said.
"You can't un-ring the bell. He's left the impression with citizens
and individuals in the community that the District Attorney's Office
is doing something that we shouldn't be doing."
Deputy District Attorney Ron Paschal, who oversees Sedgwick County
juvenile cases, said his staff reviews the affidavits but does not
improperly pressure social workers about what they write in the
documents.
Although preserving families is one goal of the child-welfare system,
"our utmost concern is the immediate safety of the child," he said.
"We have a job to do, and they have a job to do, and if they come to
our office and have not done it, we're not going to hesitate to ask
them to follow up," Paschal said.
Prosecutors have the legal authority and responsibility to order that
relevant information be put in the affidavits, Paschal said. Social
workers don't have to sign them if they disagree, he said.
"We're the ones who have to prove the matter in court."
Paschal said Jordan, after being contacted by The Eagle, called to
apologize.
"He was pandering to this particular group. He used 'pandering.' Those
were his words," Paschal said of Jordan's talk with him.
Custody system critics
Nancy Berry is one of the critics of the state custody system, and she
attended the meeting where Jordan made the comments.
Berry, 54, of Wichita, said she spent $30,000 of her retirement
savings, much of it on legal fees, so her family could regain custody
of her nephew.
For a time, the boy's parents lost custody to the state partly because
of older medical records that were "pieced together to make a case,"
Berry said. A social worker cited the records in the affidavit, she
said.
In that kind of situation, she said, a family has great difficulty
contesting the information. "If it's in the record, you can't get it
out. It's there forever."
Marlene Jones, 69, of Wichita, also attended the meeting with Jordan.
Her family also has had a custody battle with the state.
When Jones heard Jordan say that prosecutors were bullying social
workers over the affidavits, she said, "I was so floored at what he
said, that this man acknowledged... he was aware of what was going
on."
Jones, who has voiced concerns to the Legislature about the fairness
of the child custody system, contends that her family lost custody of
her grandson partly because of false information in the social
worker's affidavit.
"I believe that SRS is a necessity," Jones said. "They just have to
get it right."
Belief in the system
Sedgwick County District Judge Jim Burgess, presiding judge in the
juvenile division, which handles the child custody cases, said the
process is thorough and fair.
Burgess said he is confident that prosecutors "would never
intentionally put in false information."
Over the years, he has heard complaints that social workers get
pressured but has not seen evidence of it, he said.
In "at least 95 percent" of the cases, parents do not contest moves to
keep their children in temporary custody, he said.
Critics of the child-welfare system might see details in the
affidavits as "piling on," but prosecutors are only trying "to present
the clearest picture they can," Burgess said.
District Judge Tim Henderson said he typically sees a social worker's
affidavit about 48 hours into a child abuse investigation, after a
child has been taken into protective custody.
Before he signs a custody order, Henderson said, "I look at the social
worker, and I say, 'Do you believe we've done everything we can to
prevent this child from being removed from the family?'
"I am very comfortable in the integrity of the DA's office and the
(SRS) workers... because I am constantly asking them if they believe
it is appropriate," he said.
"Are there inaccuracies in these affidavits sometimes? Sure. It's
because of the tight time frames and limitations.... But it doesn't
mean that anybody's being bullied and anybody's being dishonest."
Valid concerns
State Rep. Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, a lawyer and the chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, said of Jordan's comments: "At a minimum,
it raises the question as to whether the affidavit... is truly
representative of the caseworker who has signed the affidavit. That
doesn't necessarily put into doubt" all information in the affidavit,
O'Neal said.
An affidavit is a "sworn, legal document signed by one person," he
said. "So it needs to reflect truly what that person is swearing to."
O'Neal called Jordan's comments "refreshing" because of their apparent
candor.
"I applaud him for recognizing (a concern) and saying we need to do
something about it."
State Rep. Jim Morrison, R-Colby, said concerns about child custody
investigations aren't limited to Sedgwick County.
Morrison said he has heard that social workers around the state have
at times felt overly pressured by prosecutors.
So he wasn't surprised to hear of Jordan's comments, Morrison said.
"I think it's good that we have a secretary (of SRS) that is as
frustrated as a lot of people who are complaining," he said.