WA Judge threatens to take control FC frm DSHS
Fern5827
too late, only after a six-week trial during which Braddock admitted under
cross-examination that there were "inherent" problems with the foster care
system.
Jurors in the Braam case, who learned that Jessica, a teenager, had been
shuffled through 34 different homes, eventually found that the state has
violated the constitutional rights of thousands of foster children, and a judge
threatened to wrest control of the entire system away from DSHS -- a move
Braddock bitterly contested.
Farris said yesterday that Braddock had been unwilling to face the inhumane
conditions that many of the state's foster kids confront daily.
"He should have been beating the drum about the mistreatment of foster
children," said Farris. "Instead, he tried to gloss over the problems."
Still, Farris praised Braddock for hiring Ahluwalia, a 38-year-old mother of
two, to head the Children's Administration. The worry, he said, is that without
the seasoned former lawmaker at her side, Ahluwalia might have difficulty
persuading the cash-strapped Legislature to fund her reforms.
Whoever replaces Braddock, he said, "must be a true lobbyist for the needs of
these foster children."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/205685_dshs29.html
WASHINGTON, CPS, LAWSUIT, FAMILY COURT, CAPTA, ASFA, UNCONSTITUTIONALITIES,
FOSTER CARE, CHILDREN'S ADMINISTRATION, CHILD PROTECTIVE, SEATTLE, TACOMA,
OLYMPIA, SPOKANE, BELLINGHAM, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES
Doug
Thanks for posting the newsstory about Gary Braddock, who resigned as head
of Washington's Department of Social and Health Services - the parent
organization to CPS.
Braddock leaves an agency overwhelmed with malpractice. One of his first
tasks when he took the position of director 4 years ago was attempt to
mitigate the state's 10 million dollars a year in lawsuits.
Interestingly, he got the job shortly after announcing that the entire
agency should be eliminated. The then State Senator thought it should be
rebuilt, well, from the bottom up.
I thought I would post a breakdown the Intelligencer published on Braddock's
tenure as director over one of the nation's most troubled CPS agencies.
BRADDOCK'S DSHS TENURE AT A GLANCE
a.. 1988: State Rep. Dennis Braddock, D-Bellingham, furious about the
Department of Social and Health Services' handling of a financial crisis at
Western State Hospital, suggests the agency be eliminated.
a.. July 1, 2000: Braddock, a health care reform advocate and 10-year
legislator who had gone on to become chief administrator for the state's
largest network of community clinics, takes over as secretary of DSHS.
Succeeds Lyle Quasim, who served 4 1/2 tumultuous years in what is often
called the most difficult job in state government.
a.. July 2000: 447 cases are pending against DSHS; state agrees to pay $8.8
million to Linda David, the battered Everett woman who was held captive by
her husband on a rotting sailboat while the state paid him to care for her.
In previous five years, agency paid out $50 million in claims.
a.. October 2000: Braddock announces "Kids Come First" program to reform
Child Protective Services. Hires attorney Bernie Friedman as special
assistant to manage risk and prevent losses because of civil lawsuits.
a.. January 2001: State agrees to pay $250,000 to a former high-ranking
official who claimed the agency fired him in 1997 for whistle-blowing.
a.. February 2001: 12-year-old girl allegedly raped in an incident involving
five older boys at Washington State School for the Deaf in Vancouver. State
investigation concludes school's supervision was not negligent because dorm
staff could not violate a non-existent policy on how to supervise residents.
a.. December 2001: Whatcom County jury finds DSHS has violated the
constitutional rights of thousands of foster children.
a.. April 2002: Braddock acknowledges that his reforms have had "no
measurable results" so far, and that the total number of child fatalities
among families who received help from DSHS inched upward in the previous
year.
a.. May 31, 2002: Whatcom County judge orders state to reform foster care
system.
a.. July 2002: Report by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services finds that a $250 million-a-year program serving about 11,700
developmentally disabled Washingtonians is so poorly run that it jeopardizes
their health and welfare and violates federal law. The report also concludes
that Washington provided services through Medicaid to more than 5,000
ineligible people over 4 1/2 years.
a.. March 2003: Braddock orders outside review of new statewide child-abuse
reporting system that has come under heavy criticism for being too slow to
respond to children at risk.
a.. April 2003: Braddock appoints independent expert to investigate 15-year
history of sexual harassment claims at Western State Hospital, after state
settles with female employee for nearly $1 million. Head of DSHS Economic
Services Administration resigns after sexual harassment investigation.
a.. July 2003: Emerald Champagne-Loop, 2, of Bellingham is murdered by her
mother's best friend's boyfriend after social workers received five separate
reports of suspicious injuries to the child in the two months before her
death.
a.. September 2003: Under federal court order to establish transition
facilities for the most dangerous of convicted sex offenders, DSHS picks
Seattle's South Spokane Street site.
a.. September 2003: Rafael Gomez, 2, of Ephrata is killed after being
removed from and returned to abusive home three times by the state.
a.. November 2003: State ruled responsible for most of $10.3 million awarded
Said Aba Sheikh, 20, who suffered permanent brain damage in an attack by
teenage boys living in a crowded foster home.
a.. August 2004: Ending a contentious, six-year court battle over the
treatment of thousands of foster children, state agrees to a far-reaching
settlement that would require improvements to Washington's child welfare
system and have an independent panel oversee the reforms.
a.. Nov. 14, 2004: 16-month-old Justice Robinson and 6-week-old Raiden
Robinson of Kent are found dead; the brothers starved while their mother,
Marie Robinson, the object of many state investigations, drank.
a.. December 2004: Annual state audit of DSHS administration of Medicaid
programs finds that: state mental hospitals failed to report patient abuse
allegations; institutions for the developmentally disabled couldn't account
for what happened to 1.4 million pills in their pharmacies; and nearly $24
million was spent on questionable taxpayer-funded services for clients who
had fraudulent or missing Social Security numbers or who had died. Braddock
disputes many of the audit's findings
Kane
I wonder what all this suggests...especially by you?
Just following up on ONE case I find elements that lent to the death
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6749024/
That YOU Doug have supported.
"
Even if social workers were unsure who was causing Emmie's injuries,
they could have had Emmie and her sister removed from their home while
the case was investigated, Wesley said.
"
Isn't it you that claims a child's rights to be with their family are
being violated if they are removed before a finding?
Isn't this case a typical one of staff shortages and overloaded
workers?
Wouldn't this child have been three times more likely to be killed by
abuse in foster care?
Kane
Doug
> "'Even if social workers were unsure who was causing Emmie's injuries,
> they could have had Emmie and her sister removed from their home while
> the case was investigated,' Wesley said."
And writes:
> Isn't it you that claims a child's rights to be with their family are
> being violated if they are removed before a finding?
Hi, Kane!
Isn't it you who claims that children are removed from their homes while
their cases are being investigated?
What I have said is that the 96,000 children removed from homes CPS
unsubstantiated for risk of or actual maltreatment were NOT children who
were removed during the investigation or assessment.
YOU continually claim that these children are removed during an
investigation that later determines the allegations unsubstantiated and I
continually dispute that claim. I have consistently stated these
unsubstantiated children are removed for other reasons...that in fact the
basis for removing all children from their homes has little to do with abuse
or neglect, but failure to accept services/sanctions. It is the underlying
distinction in our positions.
> Isn't this case a typical one of staff shortages and overloaded
> workers?
No.
> Wouldn't this child have been three times more likely to be killed by
> abuse in foster care?
No.
Happy New Year, Kane!
Doug
Fern5827
54% of children WITHOUT COURT ORDERS.
Federal Appeals Judge Weinstein in Brooklyn has indicated that ACS is
vulnerable to constitutional violations on the grounds of involuntary removals
are comparable to involuntary slavery.
And that he would would welcome appeals based on Thirteenth Amendment
violations by CPS.
I had previously posted a link from the Cardozo University School of Law which
featured a law student writing an article dealing with just such violations of
the child's personal freedom and liberty.
Greegor
destroyed and rebuilt.
What did they do, give him the job to shut him up?
Apparently, another fix it man (like Regier in FL)
just got swallowed up by the corruption.
Kane
Greegor wrote:
> The guy was a state legislator who said the agency should be
> destroyed and rebuilt.
> What did they do, give him the job to shut him up?
Nope. To contribute...just as Ferneal and you have been asked to put up
or shut up. Of course we know you are hapless twits who will do
neither, but hope springs eternal. R R R R R...
When he actually was faced with the job no doubt the first thing that
popped into his mind (I wrote him a letter, by the way, asking him how
he intended destroying the agency and serving children and families
during the destruction and downtime for rebuilding) was that he had
been doing what you do, what Doug does, what all loudmouthed assholes
who think they know it all tend to do.
He screwed up and found himself with a monster on his hands that was
caused more by short fundedness and huge overload than anything else.
Yah can't even get good help unless you are willing to pay for them.
> Apparently, another fix it man (like Regier in FL)
> just got swallowed up by the corruption.
I don't think it compared at all. It wasn't case of corruption in WA,
but a case of huge overload and steep deficites.
You children in this newsgroup, some driven by your ignorance and by
your hate filled vengence agenda, can't seem to grasp how the real
world works, so you blather about what others are supposed to do, while
you can barely read and comprehend.
Too bad about you and reality.
Doug suffers this same problem. And won't admit he's wrong even when
his nose is rubbed in it. Florida moving to police investigation of
abuse and neglect is the mess I said it would be. His assumption that
police are trained investigators only works if you crimanize all CA/N.
He's a nitwit with no more going for him, other than journalistic
training, than you have greegor. Full of himself just as you are, and
driven by hate and vengence barely contained and disquised behind a
polite exterior.
You are a pack of stumblebums. Petty, foolish, self deluding
stumblebums.
Kane
Doug
"Greegor" <Gre...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1104801664.6...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Hi, Greegor!
Braddock? He admitted under cross that there were inherent problems in
Washington State's foster care system. It is likely this will be one of the
next foster care systems that federal district court will be asked to take
over. Washington's system is very poor. It has not recovered from Tim
Abbey and the Wenatchee fisaco. If you will remember, children wrongfully
removed from those homes were being shipped incognito to an out of state
institution that fed back to CPS's Abbey what he wanted to hear regarding
the children.
Washington's legislature is acting on reform measures, but it has a way to
go with that state's foster care system.
Doug