LETHAL LAPSES: 50 botched cases. 53 dead children. [LONG]
Indigo Ace
From the Belleville [IL] News-Democrat--
LETHAL LAPSES
50 botched cases. 53 dead children.
They were under the care of a state agency, but that didn't prevent
their deaths
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat
Jim Moeller/News-Democrat
Fifty-three children died between 1998 and 2005 after state child
welfare workers assigned to protect them committed serious errors,
made lapses in judgment and ignored their own rules.
Children were beaten, burned, smothered, shaken and starved to death
by their parents or other adults, even though the Illinois Department
of Children and Family Services was supposed to be protecting them,
according to an investigation by the Belleville News-Democrat.
In one case, a full-term baby girl -- posthumously named Vanessa --
died in a ramshackle house in Venice when her mentally ill mother,
Jaki Ingram, delivered her into a waste-filled toilet. The DCFS
suspended a caseworker and a supervisor for failing to properly assess
the case over a five-year period.
In another case, 2-year-old Miracle Moon, of Chicago, died when her
mother's boyfriend pushed her head under water because, according to a
prosecutor, she was slow at potty training. A medical examiner found
more than 50 human bite marks on her buttocks.
State overseers from the DCFS' own Office of the Inspector General
investigate child deaths where DCFS worker error or neglect is
suspected. The office publishes annual warnings of the consequences of
repeated mistakes and offers solutions.
But the newspaper's four-month investigation showed that despite
receiving specific warnings regarding the 53 child deaths between
September 1998 and January 2005, DCFS caseworkers, child protection
investigators, supervisors and contracted private agency workers made
repeated errors and failed to properly gauge danger to children.
"No system should tolerate mistakes that can lead to the death of a
child," said Bruce Boyer, a law professor at Loyola University in
Chicago and director of its Civitas ChildLaw Clinic, which specializes
in representing children.
"It makes you wonder what they might be doing wrong in cases where
kids don't die."
Bryan Samuels, former director of the DCFS, declined repeated requests
for an interview for this series. Samuels resigned Friday.
Investigations of child deaths, which are published one to three years
later in inspector general's annual reports, detail department worker
errors but do not contain the names of victims, caseworkers or
references to where and when a death occurred.
To put a face on these children, the News-Democrat compared these
anonymous child death reports to news accounts, police and coroner's
reports and other documents.
As a result, the newspaper identified 41 of the 53 children who died
and linked errors to actual cases.
The newspaper found that DCFS and private agency workers:
• Repeatedly got suspected abusers' names wrong when making criminal
background checks, resulting in false "clean" reports.
• Accepted the word of a suspected child abuser that his son was
sleeping and couldn't be disturbed. The caseworker left without seeing
the boy, who died an hour later from a beating by his father.
• Failed to fully investigate a scalding case because a state-supplied
thermometer did not come with batteries. The child later died of
asphyxiation.
• Left a sick, 5-month-old baby boy in the care of a 7-year-old girl.
A caseworker said she was in a hurry and didn't have time to wait for
the mother to return.
DCFS records are not subject to the state's Freedom of Information
Act. This overall confidentiality prevents publicity that could reduce
errors by holding DCFS more accountable, said Patrick T. Murphy, a
Cook County domestic court judge.
"Kids get tortured and brutalized, and all we ever get is some
sanitized report without names, dates or places," said Murphy, who as
a public guardian in the 1990s fought to protect children in state
care. Murphy said the way to decrease errors is to open the agency's
records to public scrutiny.
Kendall Marlowe, deputy chief of communications for the department,
said top administrators are aware of worker errors.
"It's a matter of setting up procedures, policies and practices, and
monitoring supervision so that if an employee does a bonehead thing,
there's somebody right there that catches it before it affects the
child," Marlowe said.
Children still die
Despite these procedures, children continued to die during and after
botched DCFS child abuse investigations. According to inspector
general's reports:
• In Aurora, near Chicago, a child abuse investigator allowed
4-month-old Daniel Bowie's mother to smoke crack cocaine as long as
she agreed to first drop the baby off next door. The caseworker
accepted this arrangement as a "child safety plan" and allowed Daniel
to remain with his mother. A few weeks later, the baby died from a
beating in his home. No one was charged.
• In Southern Illinois, 5-month-old Dakota Jean Hedger of Carrier
Mills went to the emergency room with "friction burns on her nose, a
bruise on her ear, a puncture wound on her foot, a split lip,
fingertip bruises on her back and a tear on the underside of her
tongue," according to a child death report. A department supervisor
sent the baby and her mother to live with a relative, but the two
returned to the baby's father without approval. A caseworker could not
then locate the family for three days. On the fourth day, a sheriff's
deputy called to say the infant was dead. The father is serving 25
years for murder.
• In Chicago, 6-year-old Alma Manjarrez died after her mother's
boyfriend punched the girl in the stomach on Christmas Day and left
her outside in the snow. A DCFS investigator failed to check with
police about a previous episode involving the boyfriend that could
have alerted her to potential danger to Alma. The investigator said it
was inconvenient for her to talk to the police officer because he
worked nights and she worked days.
• In Blue Island, a department investigator was assigned to determine
whether it was safe to allow 3-year-old Kenya Riley to remain at home.
But the investigator, who was supposed to contact the family within 24
hours, failed to locate them. He finally got word of Kenya's
whereabouts six weeks later when a coroner called to say the little
girl died from head trauma.
In September, stories about a young East St. Louis mother whose unborn
fetus was cut from her womb and whose three children were killed and
stuffed into a washer and dryer emphasized the importance of DCFS'
duty to protect at-risk children.
The mother had been involved with DCFS as a child, as were her three
children.
The inspector general's office does not investigate most deaths of
children involved with the DCFS. During the period examined by the
newspaper, 780 children died while wards of the state or while having
some involvement with the department. Most of these deaths were due to
medical problems or accidents.
The inspector general's investigators conducted full probes into 77
child deaths during this seven-year period. The 53 deaths involved
cases where the newspaper found significant caseworker error or
neglect. In the other 24, there were few or no serious errors on the
part of DCFS workers, even though these cases ended with the death of
a child.
In many of the child death reports, the newspaper found a combination
of errors, instances of neglect and questionable judgment on the part
of DCFS workers.
The newspaper's review showed that state child protection workers who
commit serious errors are sometimes disciplined, transferred or
counseled, but seldom suspended and almost never fired.
In 50 child death cases (two cases involved more than one child), no
department employees or private agency workers were fired. Five
employees resigned, 12 were counseled and 14 were disciplined or
reprimanded.
In 26 cases, the department took no action against any worker after a
child's death.
In one case, 7-month-old Edgardo Martin died in January 2005 in a fire
at his family's mobile home in Fairmont City. A DCFS investigator
noticed three space heaters hooked up on a single series of extension
cords, but failed to warn the family and accepted the word of a
Spanish translator that it was OK, according to an investigative
report. Three weeks later, Edgardo died in a fire the state fire
marshal's office attributed to an electrical overload in the series of
cords.
The caseworker received no dicipline, while two supervisors received
counseling, the report stated.
Finding solutions
Child welfare advocates say openness, increased staffing and less
reluctance by prosecutors to bring child abuse cases to court are the
keys to reducing worker error.
"In the private sector, if someone makes an egregious error, you could
probably discharge them. In systems where you have a Civil Service
setting and personnel rules ... you can't do that," said Jess
McDonald, who was director of the DCFS from 1990 to 2003.
McDonald acknowledged that while children die under DCFS' watch,
including after worker errors, many are helped.
"Thousands and thousands of children over these same number of years
have been protected from abuse," he said, adding that eliminating
potentially lethal mistakes is probably a matter of increasing
supervision and vigilance.
"You know what they say when you walk along the beach," said McDonald.
"Don't turn your back to the ocean because that one in a million rogue
wave may get you. It's the same with worker error."
Most current and former department workers contacted for this series
did not want to be identified or talk on the record. They described
the work as stressful and said the department, especially in the East
St. Louis office, does not have enough workers.
Gary Guadagano, a former DCFS child abuse investigator, said the
department pays caseworkers to make "very chancy decisions."
"I found the job excruciating," he said. The state of constant worry
about whether he made the right decision led him to leave his DCFS
job.
"It's the worst thing. You worry that something might happen to a kid
you saw," said Guadagano, who works as a court liaison for the
department in St. Clair County Court.
A study released earlier this year by Council 31 of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents
DCFS workers, found that despite an 11 percent increase in child abuse
investigations from 2001-05, the department lost 23 percent, or 747,
of its "frontline" staff statewide.
Murphy, the Cook County judge, said the agency's strict emphasis on
confidentiality leads to a lack of accountability and increased
caseworker error. He favors making all details in child death reports
public except for the names of people reporting the abuse and
psychiatric records, unless a judge reviews them.
"They want to keep the whole thing secret, like this investigator who
let the mom smoke crack. That stuff goes on across the board. I've
seen it repeatedly," Murphy said.
Court involvement
DCFS Inspector General Denise Kane said one of her top concerns is the
practice of allowing children to remain in the home in the face of
obvious or repeated abuse.
She warned that accepting a parent's word without verification and
giving too much consideration to their promises to do better is
"fraught with difficulties."
"If a parent is using (drugs) and keeps getting high, there's a risk
to those children," she said.
DCFS often tries to steer family drug cases into court, but many
state's attorneys won't take them, Kane said.
"Our office says that's not correct. You should take them, even if
it's only for an order of supervision," she said.
An order of supervision allows a judge to force a mother into court,
where she can be ordered to accept drug treatment or lose custody of
her children and forfeit state benefits.
In order to remove a child from the home, a judge must find "an
immediate and emergent need." That's a problem, Kane said.
"If a mother smokes crack on Monday, but word doesn't get to the judge
until Thursday, he will probably decline to place the children in
protective custody because the immediate need was when the DCFS worker
actually saw the mother taking drugs," Kane said.
But Guadagano, who makes recommendations to judges about whether a
child should be removed, said most judges are willing to put a child
into foster care if there's any chance that leaving them at home will
lead to injury.
"Most people will err on the side of caution," Guadagano said. "Who
wants to take a chance like that?"
When to intervene and get a court order to remove someone's children
is the most difficult part of the job, said Michael Davis, a member of
the Illinois Child Welfare Ethics Advisory Board. The investigative
office turns to this board for broad answers about why children die in
DCFS' care.
"When somebody actually dies, a lot has to go wrong," he said,
"because DCFS has ... a number of back-up systems in place.
"There are egregious errors," he said, "which is why they ended up in
the reports. Our view is that (child deaths) indicate problems ... and
we try to figure out what the underlying cause is."
But in some cases, the DCFS allowed children who were obviously being
abused to remain in dangerous situations.
In Harvey, Ill., 9-year-old Shanecia McClellan, who suffered from
cerebral palsy, starved to death, despite 33 visits to the home by
DCFS caseworkers, according to a child death report.
The girl's mother, a cocaine user who refused free drug counseling,
told police that Shanecia had died three days earlier, but she hadn't
called authorities because she was "too busy to deal with that."
Waiting too long
William Adams didn't survive childhood, though there were many warning
signs that he was in danger.
In April 2002, 3-year-old William died in a Centreville house fire.
His mother had a long history of drug use and neglect during years of
involvement with DCFS, yet her children were allowed to remain in her
care, according to a child death report.
The mother, Rosie Rainey, gave birth to three children before William
was born. Two tested positive for cocaine at birth, according to the
state report. Three weeks after the birth of her second child, Rainey
took her 3-year-old daughter to a hospital emergency room where the
infant was found to be suffering from gonorrhea.
Authorities never charged anyone with sexual assault of the toddler.
William also tested positive for cocaine at birth. The DCFS referred
the mother to a drug treatment program, but she attended only
sporadically and was kicked out, the report stated.
In August 2000, Centreville Police Officer Pat Reliford found Rainey's
four children home alone. He found the oldest child, a 6-year-old
girl, cooking for her younger siblings. Police charged Rainey with
child endangerment.
As required by state law, Reliford called the state child abuse hot
line. DCFS took the children into protective custody but later
returned them and assigned a second caseworker to the family.
The state investigative report on Williams' death stated that the
14-month tenure of the second caseworker "was characterized by
ineffective assessments and lapses in critical judgment."
According to the state report, the caseworker was not concerned about
the threat of fire from the use of space heaters and general disarray
of the house "... because the mother did not smoke cigarettes."
But Rainey did use drugs, and one afternoon, while she slept,
William's older brother found a lighter and accidentally set some
blankets on fire, according to a police report.
The older boy tried to awaken his mother to help William escape the
smoky and burning bedroom, but Rainey, who admitted to using crack a
few days earlier and smoking marijuana the night before, slept on.
Finally, she awoke and tried to rescue the trapped boy, but it was too
late.
"I heard William screaming in the room," she told police, "and I kept
calling to him to 'come to Momma, come to Momma.'"
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Indigo Ace
The girl who never had a chance; the forgotten boy
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat
VENICE - The empty, shotgun-style house at 218 Kerr St. is still
without electricity or running water.
In its shabby interior two and a half years ago, Jaki Ingram delivered
a full-term baby girl into a toilet.
"The baby just dropped out," she told a paramedic, who needed a
flashlight to find his way to where the newborn had suffocated.
Police spotlights illuminated the house, which reeked of human waste,
as neighbors watched from the street. The scene marked the end of
Ingram's five years of involvement with the Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services.
But it was the beginning for Ingram's 5-year-old son, Emmit. For most
of his life, his mother dragged him from house to house, staying with
relatives or friends.
When police finally seized Emmit after his newborn sister's death, he
was still in diapers and had not learned to talk. Authorities
immediately placed him in foster care.
More than a year later, a 35-page report by the Office of the
Inspector General for the DCFS outlined in precise detail how a
supervisor and a caseworker failed to provide meaningful help to the
mentally ill and homeless mother and her son.
Emmit was "virtually forgotten" by child protection workers who did
not attempt to place the boy in protective custody, the report stated.
"The department failed Emmit Ingram during the first five years of his
life," a state child death investigator's report stated.
Though such reports are usually kept confidential and unavailable to
the public, this rare look into how DCFS workers mishandled a case
became possible after former East St. Louis office supervisor Lorene
Floyd challenged her 29-day suspension.
The detailed document, usually not available even to DCFS officials,
became a public record after authorities entered it into evidence
during Floyd's unsuccessful appeal of her suspension before the
Illinois Civil Service Commission.
The report and interviews with Ingram's friends and relatives revealed
a mentally handicapped woman desperate to escape an existence that
sometimes caused her to publicly scream, cry and pull her hair out.
The only thing that soothed her, according to those close to her, was
the rocking of a public bus.
With an IQ of 58, Ingram was ill-prepared to care for herself, much
less her children, friends and relatives said.
So she rode the bus -- sometimes all day. It didn't matter where. In a
bus, Ingram felt protected, her friends said. On the street, she
devised her own mental armor -- angry, violent outbursts that
sometimes landed her in jail.
In November 1998, the state removed Ingram's oldest son, Shaquille,
and placed him in a foster home. Emmit, who was born in January 1999,
was allowed to stay with his mother, even though hospital officials
were reluctant to release him to her.
In August 1999, state psychologist Dr. Bernice Collins described
Ingram as childlike and sincere, even if her stories seemed
unbelievable. Did she really cut herself all over with a knife? Police
would later ask, had she really delivered two other children into a
toilet, one while she lived in Milwaukee?
Collins warned that Ingram should not be left alone with children.
However, because Shaquille had been placed in foster care, the
psychologist assumed that Emmit had, too, according to the inspector
general's report.
Instead, the little boy and his mother wandered Venice's dangerous
streets, staying with friends wherever they could. On days when her
state aid check arrived, men would make her buy them beer, then steal
the rest of her money, friends said.
Collins learned that even though Ingram loved her children, she beat
them, drugged them with cough syrup to put them to sleep, and ignored
them.
"This young mother does not have minimal skills necessary to provide
adequate parenting," Collins wrote.
When child welfare workers took Shaquille, then 3, into state custody
in 1998, a few months before Emmit's birth, Ingram had threatened a
DCFS caseworker.
"She began jumping up and down and tearing her hair out. She got down
on all fours and banged her head against the television set," the
report stated.
The DCFS accused supervisor Floyd, of Swansea, of falsifying a record,
ignoring her own supervisor, and failing to properly assess the Ingram
case. It later dropped the falsifying charge but upheld the
suspension.
The agency also suspended caseworker Cheri McCottrell-Wade, of
Fairview Heights, for 29 days -- the maximum suspension allowed
without involving a more complicated disciplinary process. It was her
sixth suspension, according to testimony during Floyd's appeal
hearing.
Floyd declined to comment, other than to say, "If one person was
disciplined, we all should have been disciplined." McCottrell-Wade
declined to comment.
During the five years of DCFS' involvement with Ingram, the case was
riddled with mistakes and neglect, according to the 35-page internal
report.
"The case had inappropriate actions and failures to act, but was
mainly plagued by the inactions," the report concluded.
For example, it said caseworkers failed to place Emmit in a special
program for delayed children under 3. When they finally got him in
similar classes for older children, he attended only one day. The
program dropped him after he missed 38 consecutive sessions.
McCottrell-Wade testified during Floyd's hearing that Ingram, despite
her mental disabilities, showed her competency to care for Emmit
because she knew when and where to catch a bus.
But Frances White, of Madison, Shaquille's foster mother, said anybody
who knew Ingram knew she got on the bus when she felt particularly bad
and just rode.
During her civil service hearing, Floyd told Judge Andrew Barris she
believed Ingram provided adequate care for Emmit. Barris challenged
Floyd's assertion that there was "nothing" she could have done to
prevent Ingram from delivering her baby into a toilet.
When asked why she hadn't arranged for Ingram to give birth in a
hospital, Floyd said she didn't know Ingram was pregnant because "she
always looked pregnant."
Without ever having received prenatal care, Ingram delivered the baby
girl at 8:20 p.m. on April 28, 2004.
Ingram told police she saw the full-term, 5-pound, 5-ounce infant
"kicking in the water," but did nothing to help her.
A police report described conditions inside the house as "horrendous."
The family brought in buckets of water from a neighbor's for drinking
and to flush the toilet.
A few months earlier, according to her notes, caseworker
McCottrell-Wade had visited the same house on Kerr Street and saw no
problems.
Four days after giving birth, police arrested Ingram and charged her
with first-degree murder. In September 2005, a judge found her
incompetent to stand trial and sent her to the Alton Mental Health
Center until 2024.
Before her arrest, Illinois State Police found Ingram wandering along
a Venice street carrying a shopping bag that contained only beer. They
asked whether she was going to make funeral arrangements. Ingram
agreed and later gave the little girl born into a toilet an identity.
She chose the name of her favorite bus driver -- Vanessa.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16029924.htm
Indigo Ace
Woman: DCFS was indifferent to warning
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat
FLORA - Linda Jones says child protection workers were hostile and
indifferent when she tried to warn them that someone was abusing her
step-granddaughter.
"They said, 'Don't you worry about this. This is none of your
business,'" said Jones, a Flora beautician.
Jones said she made several calls to an Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services child abuse caseworker at the field
office in Olney concerning bruises she observed on the baby, Cree Lynn
Scott.
On Aug. 24, 2000, the 10-month-old girl choked to death on tissue
paper forced down her throat while her mother, Brandy Scott, attended
a parenting class.
Jones said she made her last call to DCFS several hours before Cree
Lynn's death.
Police charged Scott's boyfriend, Chad W. Jones, no relation to Linda
Jones, with murder. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and
received five years in prison.
Chad Jones testified he placed the tissue paper in the little girl's
mouth to stop her from crying but could not remove it before she
suffocated.
The DCFS had required Scott to take parenting classes after an earlier
finding that someone had physically abused Cree Lynn, according to a
child death report by the department's Office of the Inspector
General.
Linda Jones, who had already adopted two of Brandy Scott's older
children, both girls, said she continued to observe bruising on Cree
Lynn, even after a second probe.
"They would not listen," she said. "To me, they were more or less just
protecting Brandy. They're supposed to be there to protect the child.
It was like the baby wasn't even important."
Brandy Scott could not be reached for comment. A supervisor in the
DCFS' Olney office declined to comment.
In the investigation of Cree Lynn's death, an investigator faulted the
DCFS caseworker and her supervisor for "ethics" violations. After the
first child abuse probe, a supervisor allowed Scott's former private
therapist to become her DCFS caseworker.
Because of the prior relationship, "The caseworker accepted all of the
mother's (claims) regarding substance abuse, employment and the baby's
health, and neglected to verify information when obvious discrepancies
arose," the investigative report stated.
When the agency assigned another child protection investigator to the
case after the second abuse allegation, that worker failed to assess
the danger and accepted the opinion of the former therapist-caseworker
that the girl's injuries were accidental, the inspector general's
office reported.
Linda Jones said a judge would not allow her to make a victim
statement at Chad Jones' sentencing.
"They wouldn't hear anything we had to say," she said. "It was like
Cree Lynn just didn't matter."
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16029969.htm
Indigo Ace
One child survived abuse, but her sister didn't
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat
CAHOKIA - Christyuna Mickens was only 33 days old when an ambulance
rushed her to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis with
nine fractured ribs.
A medical report stated the infant's injuries were "highly
suspicious."
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services took
Christyuna and her sister, Rashae, then 3, into protective custody two
days later on Oct. 21, 1999.
A state child abuse investigator initially determined that their
mother, Lenora Russell, or her live-in boyfriend, Christopher Mickens,
had abused or neglected Christyuna, but there was no official
determination of who broke the baby's ribs.
DCFS workers faced a difficult dilemma: Who do you trust -- the
mother, the boyfriend, or neither?
"(Russell's) parenting skills are a problem in that she has not met
the minimum parenting standards in terms of protecting her child," a
DCFS caseworker wrote in a report.
The state required Russell and Mickens to receive counseling and
attend parenting classes and eventually returned Russell's children to
her.
Mickens continued to live in a house in East St. Louis with Russell
and the children, even though he failed to attend the parenting
classes or counseling sessions, according to case documents Russell
provided to the newspaper.
A caseworker ignored this and failed to take action, according to a
child death summary by the DCFS Office of the Inspector General.
Russell gave birth to Natoria Mickens in October 2002 after the family
moved to Cahokia. Less than two months later, Natoria died from shaken
baby syndrome.
In December 2004, Mickens pleaded guilty to killing Natoria and
received nine years in prison. Mickens said the infant's irreversible
brain damage was from an accident.
Child protection investigator Steven Blair wrote in a confidential
DCFS report supplied by Russell: "(Russell) admitted she suspected
that Christopher Mickens caused the injuries to Christyuna in 1999,"
but didn't tell authorities.
"I asked Ms. Russell that knowing all she knows about Christopher
Mickens if she didn't have concerns about leaving the children with
him, and she stated she guessed she was stupid," Blair wrote.
"Ms. Russell stated that she doesn't know why, but she 'loves that
boy.'"
When Russell lost her children for the second time, after Natoria's
death, investigator Blair again became concerned.
"Lenora appeared to be having some sort of breakdown," Blair wrote
after a judge ordered Russell's children be removed again.
"She was holding her head and moving in very jerky movements, and it
sounded as if she stated she was hearing voices," Blair noted.
After Natoria's death, Russell got her children back 16 months later
after she agreed, once again, to take parenting classes and meet with
counselors.
Today, her children -- Rashae, 10, Christyuna, 7, Kattie, 4 and
2-year-old Arterio -- live with their mother in a small, rented house
in Cahokia. She said she has no boyfriend or job and spends her time
with her kids.
During a recent interview at her home, Russell said: "You can't tell
what a person is going to do to your children. I never saw this
coming. You can't tell what's in a person's mind."
After the interview, Russell showed a News-Democrat reporter a room
full of toys where her four neatly dressed children were playing.
"Don't they look well taken care of?" she asked.
"My baby's dead, and she's never coming home. All I got is a picture
of her on the wall," she said of Natoria.
Russell said she no longer takes medication for chronic depression
because her mental problems ended when she got her kids back.
"I don't need that stuff," she said.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16029965.htm
Indigo Ace
DCFS offers few answers about deaths
News-Democrat
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' top officials
declined to be interviewed for this series.
Bryan Samuels, who was the director from 2003 until his resignation on
Friday, declined repeated requests for an interview. No reason was
given for Samuels' resignation. The News-Democrat sent written
questions to Kendall Marlowe, deputy chief of communications, who
declined to talk about specific cases.
Marlowe responded to two questions and did not answer five others. He
also issued this statement:
"Through the Office of the Inspector General, death investigations and
the (regional) Child Death Review Teams, DCFS examines each of these
cases using a process that has been demonstrated over time to work.
"Both of these efforts use independent experts to investigate the
department's performance in these cases and continually improve
practices, through a process that is purposefully transparent and
accountable to the public."
In response to a question about whether DCFS has a "zero tolerance"
policy concerning child deaths, Marlowe said: "Refer to Procedures 300
on website." This is a lengthy section outlining how child abuse
investigations are to be conducted.
A question about the effectiveness of worker training drew this
response:
"The DCFS Office of Training and Development continually evaluates,
revises and improves training provided to our employees. The
department requires and provides core training for all caseworkers and
investigators, as well as specialized education for specific
positions, followed by ongoing training throughout an employee's
service to the department."
Marlowe declined to answer these questions:
• Are DCFS regional offices understaffed?
• Are top DCFS officials aware of employees who have been cited for
discipline in more than one child death case? How many are there? What
are their names?
• Between 2000 and the present, how many recommendations for
discipline were appealed through the employees' union or the Illinois
Civil Service Commission? How many workers won their cases and were
not disciplined?
• What is the maximum safe caseload for a child protection
investigator? Do investigators in Southwestern Illinois have caseloads
that exceed an accepted safe limit?
• Do child protection investigators have skills comparable to police?
http://www.belleville.com/mld/newsdemocrat/16029983.htm
Indigo Ace
Can you sue DCFS? The odds aren't very good
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
Failure to follow strict rules and regulations, even when a child dies
or is seriously injured, does not necessarily subject the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services to legal liability.
That's because a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision based on a Wisconsin
case -- DeShaney vs. Winnebago County -- found that the county's
failure to take 4-year-old Joshua DeShaney away from his abusive
father did not violate the boy's constitutional rights.
Joshua suffered severe brain damage, even after state caseworkers
learned the boy's father was beating him.
The Supreme Court ruling generally means that only children who become
wards of the state, usually through foster care, can sue for injuries.
This leaves children who remain with their parents virtually without
legal recourse.
"When you lose the ability through the law to hold people accountable
for bad decisions, I think it clearly takes away a powerful tool,"
said Bruce Boyer, a law professor at Loyola University in Chicago and
director of its Civitas ChildLaw Clinic.
"You're less likely to make sure that you have qualified, trained and
capable people going out on these investigations," he said.
Despite the DeShaney decision, Belleville attorney Gregory Shevlin won
a judgment in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis for the brother of
4-year-old Jimmy Novy, whose 1989 beating death at his father's hands
drew widespread publicity.
Although he managed to win, Shevlin said the Supreme Court decision
"has put a big damper on a lot of these situations."
The St. Clair County grand jury that indicted Jimmy's parents, Keith
and Kimberly Novy, for murder also issued a report slamming the DCFS
for its handling of the child abuse investigation and asked whether it
could indict a child protection investigator who failed to take the
boy into protective custody after examining him on the night before he
died.
Under an Illinois law that protects state employees, the investigator
was not charged.
Instead, the DCFS switched her from investigator to caseworker. Today
she makes $59,160 per year in the East St. Louis office, where she
still is involved with child abuse monitoring.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/16030002.htm
Indigo Ace
Child victims: their stories
The News-Democrat identified 41 of 53 children who died from September
1998 to January 2005 after serious errors by Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services workers. To learn their names, the
newspaper linked anonymous state investigative reports from the DCFS'
own Office of the Inspector General to newspaper accounts, coroners'
reports, police records and other documents. Here are some of their
stories:
Edgardo Martin, 7 months old, Fairmont City. Died Jan. 27, 2005
A caseworker for the Illinois Department of Children and Family
Services had concerns about space heaters used to heat the family's
mobile home. But instead of warning the family, the caseworker took
the word of a Spanish translator that the heaters were safe. Three
weeks later, Edgardo died in a fire a state fire marshal attributed to
an overload in a series of electrical cords that powered the heaters.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: A supervisor and a site supervisor received
counseling.
Alex Quevedo, 8 months old, Aurora. Died March 3, 2004
An investigation began after a state hot line call alleged Alex had
bruises. But a DCFS worker used the wrong fax number and failed to
contact the pediatrician who treated the boy. While hospital workers
were aware from earlier emergency room visits that Alex had been
injured, no one called the hot line. Alex died from being shaken in
the home four days after DCFS closed the case.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The child protection investigator and supervisor
received discipline.
Daniel Bowie, 4 months old, Aurora. Died April 4, 2004
A DCFS investigator created a "child safety plan" that allowed
Daniel's mother to smoke crack cocaine if she first dropped her baby
off with a neighbor. Then, without checking the father's criminal
record, the abuse investigator ended the probe. DCFS workers were
unaware that the father had a conviction for kicking Daniel's mother
when she was five months pregnant. A few weeks after DCFS closed the
case, someone beat Daniel to death in the home. No one was charged.
Six months later, Daniel's mother delivered a stillborn baby that
tested positive for cocaine. A prosecutor failed in an attempt to have
the mother charged with murder.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The child protection investigator received
discipline. The caseworker and supervisor received counseling.
Vanessa Ingram, newborn, Venice. Died April 28, 2004
During five years of involvement with Jaki Ingram, a mentally ill and
often homeless woman, DCFS workers failed to get the woman counseling
or to take her toddler son into protective custody. Vanessa suffocated
when her mother delivered her into a toilet filled with urine and
feces. Police investigating Vanessa's death found that at age 5, her
brother Emmit had not learned to talk and was still in diapers.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The caseworker and her supervisor both were suspended
for 29 days. This was the caseworker's sixth suspension. An
administrator received a letter of reprimand.
Ikyria Jasmine Williams, 3 weeks old, Decatur. Died June 6, 2004
The infant's parents had a long history of alcoholism and domestic
violence, and the mother used cocaine, yet a DCFS caseworker
investigating injury to the girl's older brother did not identify
substance abuse as a problem. The worker accepted a "safety plan" that
if one parent became intoxicated, the other was supposed to remove the
child. "The safety plan was woefully inadequate," the inspector
general's report stated. Ikyria, who weighed 11/2 pounds at birth,
died from complications of exposure to cocaine and from premature
delivery.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The child protection investigator received
discipline. The investigator's supervisor received counseling.
Chloe Palmer, 2 months old, Chicago. Died May 15, 2003
The mother's drug addiction led to DCFS involvement. Caseworkers told
her to attend drug treatment and keep her two children at the home of
her 93-year-old great-great-grandmother. Instead, she moved in with a
male friend and did not seek treatment. A private agency worker hired
by DCFS did not move the case into court, where a judge could have
ordered the mother to return to treatment or lose custody of her
children. The worker told the office of the inspector general that she
closed the case because she thought the children were at the
great-great-grandmother's house, even though her case notes showed the
family was living at the male friend's apartment. When the mother left
to "get money for milk," Chloe died of undetermined causes. Her
12-year-old brother cradled her all night, praying over her.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Yeritza Torres, 3, Chicago.
Died June 17, 2003
After a teacher observed bruising on the girl and called the state
child abuse hot line, DCFS assigned an investigator. However, during
the five weeks between the teacher's call and the little girl's death
from being punched in the stomach, the investigator's activity on the
case consisted of a single phone call to the girl's physician. The
call did not go through.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Dymon Davis, 2, Chicago.
Died Sept. 30, 2003
This foster child's injuries were not properly documented, "although
most of these injuries were observed by either the caseworker or the
(foster home) licensing worker," according to an investigative report.
Documentation could have led to a court order to remove the girl to
protective custody. When Dymon was burned on the lip with a lit cigar,
DCFS started a second child abuse probe, which was still under way six
weeks later when Dymon died from being shaken. The foster mother was
convicted of involuntary manslaughter. She was paroled three weeks
ago.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: A private agency supervisor received counseling.
Michael Padin, 5, Chicago.
Died Nov. 7, 2003
A hospital staff member called the state child abuse hot line to
report the boy had been removed from the facility against medical
advice, prompting an investigation. But the investigator violated
department regulations by failing to contact the person who reported
the abuse. He didn't run a criminal history check on the mother's
boyfriend, who had convictions for domestic violence and violating an
order of protection obtained by the mother. With a child abuse probe
under way, Michael didn't awake from a nap and doctors declared him
dead a few minutes later at a hospital. A judge sentenced the mother
to four years in prison for her son's death. The boyfriend, Joseph
Martinez, who a judge described as "a beast," got life in prison. A
medical examiner found 44 recent external injuries on Michael and 25
that were healing.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Charles Green, 6, Des Moines, Iowa. Died March 18, 2002
In Illinois, doctors treated Charles for a human bite mark on his
buttocks, a cigarette burn and cuts on his face, hands and back.
Authorities placed the boy in the custody of an aunt. Caseworkers
became suspicious that the stepmother caused the injuries. They heard
from staff at a private social agency's office that when Charles and
his stepmother emerged from the agency's bathroom, they saw "marks on
the boy's face that resembled the bathroom floor tiles." However,
Charles was returned to his father and stepmother when they moved to
Iowa. A caseworker ignored the initial reports of injuries and
recommended the boy be returned to his father and stepmother. Four
months later, Charles died from a beating. The stepmother told police
she had beat him especially hard after she became frustrated by "his
ability to withstand pain without complaint."
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Christopher Bahena, 14, Glendale Heights. Died April 8, 2002
The Bahena family was the subject of 32 child abuse hot line calls, 25
abuse investigations and eight findings that abuse had occurred. The
household was described as "chaotic, dysfunctional," yet caseworkers
failed to call the state child abuse hot line, as required by law,
after being told of still more allegations of abuse, and did not
attempt to remove the children. Tomas Bahena shot his son,
Christopher, to death and wounded two other children before killing
himself with a pistol.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
William Adams, 2, Centreville.
Died April 16, 2002
This boy's mother gave birth to three children who tested positive for
cocaine. She attended drug treatment only sporadically before
counselors kicked her out. When William was a year old, police
arrested his mother for leaving her children home alone. The state
removed the children but later returned them. DCFS hired and assigned
a private agency worker to the case for 14 months. The inspector
general's report said: "(The worker's) handling of the case was
characterized by ineffective assessments and lapses in critical
judgment." On the day fire broke out in the family home, the mother,
who admitted to using crack cocaine a few days earlier and smoking
marijuana the night before, could not be awakened in time to save
William.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Shanecia McClellan, 9, Harvey.
Died July 11, 2002
After Shanecia's mother gave birth to a sibling who tested positive
for cocaine, a state investigator opened a case. Despite 33 visits to
the home by various workers, a private agency assigned to the family
ignored the mother's failure to regularly attend drug treatment, or to
ensure that Shanecia, a cerebral palsy victim, took her anti-seizure
medicine. The private worker lost track of the family after they
moved. A few months later, officials found the girl's emaciated body
in her bed. A coroner ruled that the 9-year-old, who weighed just 38
pounds, starved to death. Her mother told police that she waited three
days after finding her daughter dead before calling them because she
had "too many things on her mind to deal with that."
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Earwin Hemphill, 2, Chicago.
Died July 21, 2002
After a child abuse hot line call involving Earwin's mother, the DCFS
assigned a caseworker and a supervisor with little experience to the
family. An inspector general's review found that the caseworker made
few contacts with Earwin's mother, and the supervisor had few
discussions with the caseworker. One day, the caseworker discovered
the mother left an ill Earwin in the care of a girl, estimated to be 7
or 8 years old. The DCFS caseworker later told an investigator, "She
allowed the then 5-month-old infant to remain in the child's custody
because she (the caseworker) ... did not feel comfortable holding
children and did not intend to 'baby-sit' until the mother returned."
When Earwin's mother turned 21, her DCFS involvement ended, even
though she was unemployed and homeless. When promised help from
relatives failed to show up, she beat Earwin and then smothered him
with a mattress and box spring, police said. Earwin's mother, Shonita
Roach, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The caseworker resigned after facing discipline for
leaving Earwin with a child. The agency transferred the supervisor to
a nonsupervisory job.
Amanda Stahl, 15 months old, Rockford. Died July 30, 2002
Three calls to the state child abuse hot line alleged unsanitary
living conditions, but after three investigations, the family's three
children remained at home. A fourth call alleged that someone was
poisoning Amanda. Hospital tests showed the toddler was ill from high
levels of ipecac syrup, a liquid usually used to induce vomiting when
a person has ingested poison. The investigator interviewed the mother,
who blamed the grandmother for using ipecac. The investigator accepted
this and erroneously "indicated" the grandmother, or issued an
official finding against her, for child abuse, even though hospital
reports showed that the mother had been caring for Amanda on each of
the three days she came to the emergency room. The inspector general's
report said a lack of communication between the investigator and her
supervisor prevented "an accurate assessment of who most likely
poisoned" the baby. The inspector general later determined that the
investigator and 15 of her co-workers had caseloads that exceeded the
recommended limit. Three weeks after the grandmother was falsely
blamed for administering the ipecac, Amanda died of suffocation. Her
mother told police that she had made the child take ipecac syrup so
that she would become sick and "cling" to her. The mother, Jennifer
Stahl, who was convicted of murder, said she smothered her daughter
with a blanket.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Jesse James Law, 3 months old, Jacksonville. Died Dec. 17, 2002
The state removed a 20-year-old mother's two older children to
protective custody. A DCFS Parent Assessment Team then made an
evaluation that the children would be at "high risk" and should not be
returned because the mother could not care for them. But when Jesse
was born soon afterward, a DCFS caseworker refused to read the file --
a department requirement -- because she didn't want to "prejudge" the
mother, and was unaware of the assessment team's warnings. A private
agency worker who visited the home found Jesse sleeping face down and
warned the mother, who became belligerent. The worker's supervisor
knew of the negative parenting assessment but disregarded it. Three
weeks later, the mother found Jesse dead, face down on a blanket.
Police investigated but did not file charges.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Alma Manjarrez, 6, Chicago.
Died Dec. 25, 2002
During a visit to a clinic, the mother's boyfriend told Alma in
Spanish to say that her black eyes came from a fall. A bilingual staff
member heard this and alerted another staffer who called the state
child abuse hot line. Two months later, an acting supervisor
instructed the caseworker to rule the allegation "unfounded." After
still another hot line call alleging additional injury to Alma, DCFS
assigned a second investigator. This investigator told the inspector
general she didn't contact local police, who had earlier investigated
the mother's boyfriend, because it would have conflicted with the DCFS
worker's schedule -- she worked days and the police officer who
investigated the boyfriend worked nights. Soon after, the family moved
and the DCFS investigator stopped visiting. The mother's boyfriend
punched Alma in the stomach on Christmas Day and left her outside in
the snow. She died of hypothermia. Police charged the boyfriend, David
Hernandez, a Mexican national, with murder. A disposition in the case
could not be found.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The agency suspended the second investigator for 30
days. The acting supervisor received an oral reprimand.
Shemire Jones, 6 months old, Chicago. Died Jan. 16, 2001
During a visit to a medical center to treat the girl for diarrhea, a
physician noticed her arm was broken. The doctor made arrangements to
have X-rays taken at a nearby hospital, but when the mother failed to
show up with Shemire, he called the state child abuse hot line. The
investigator assigned to the case unsuccessfully attempted to locate
the family through telephone calls to relatives, but never contacted
local police, who had information and officers who would have assisted
in the search. The investigator also failed to run a criminal history
check on the parents. The father, Diante Wiley, was a gang member and
the mother, Latoya Jones, had an outstanding warrant for drugs. About
five weeks after the hot line call, Shemire was beaten to death,
suffering a broken spinal cord and broken bones. Wiley was sentenced
to 25 years for murder, and Jones was sentenced to 12 years for
aggravated battery of a child.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Allen Kalfus, 6, Chicago.
Died Feb. 22, 2001
Allen told a therapist his foster mother made him stand in a cold
shower after he took a cupcake without permission. A DCFS investigator
found that "the majority of records concerning the foster mother's
training and history of care had disappeared." The boy's neighbor told
police that Allen "was just too jittery to be a kid. He was just too
young to be so scared." While an inspector general's office
investigator would later learn that licensing agents had "serious
concerns" about the foster mother's ability to care for children, the
DCFS investigator recorded none of this in the file. Authorities made
another attempt to remove Allen and another child from the home, but
the foster mother appealed and won. "Involved child welfare
professionals neglected to ensure that a comprehensive approach to the
foster children in the home was employed," the inspector general
wrote. Allen died from hypothermia when his foster mother held him
under cold water. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and
was paroled last month.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Javonne King, 1 month old, Englewood. Died April 30, 2001
After a call to the state child abuse hot line, the DCFS investigated
Javonne's 16-year-old mother. It found that abuse had occurred, but
the agency allowed the child to remain at home and provided counseling
and other services. But, as the inspector general's report stated,
"(Case) records were marked by incomplete and inaccurate reports." An
investigator concluded that the caseworker should be fired. "The
history of her performance is not indicative of problems correctable
by training," the investigator wrote. A Rottweiler that wandered into
the house mauled Javonne to death.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The caseworker received a 25-day suspension, which
was appealed.
Tyler Rusher, 17 months old, Bloomington. Died in June 2001
His 19-year-old mother was in DCFS custody when the boy was born.
However, because of abuse she had suffered, the mother developed
severe behavioral issues and threatened DCFS workers. Against advice
in a previous report, caseworkers placed her in an independent living
program. "Although there was strong evidence that the mother was raped
while in the program, staff failed to pursue medical care or crisis
counseling on the girl's behalf," an inspector general's report
stated. When a pediatrician noticed Tyler and his 7-month-old sister
were losing weight, an abuse investigation began. But a supervisor
"did not read the investigative notes," which would have alerted him
that the mother was not caring for her children, according to the
inspector general. A few weeks later, Tyler was beaten to death. His
mother, Kimberly Foote, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The supervisor and case manager received counseling.
Todd Alexander, 23 months old, Chicago. Died July 19, 2001
When Todd tested positive for cocaine at birth, the family became
involved with DCFS. The mother failed to attend a treatment program,
and caseworkers sent Todd to foster care, but he was returned to his
mother when she completed treatment. The mother hired her neighbor as
a baby sitter. The DCFS caseworker, however, failed to check on the
neighbor, who had been previously investigated and was "indicated," or
officially found to have abused her own children and children she
supervised for a private agency. A check by the inspector general
showed that this baby sitter also had an extensive criminal history.
During the caseworker's involvement with Todd and his mother, she
learned of another baby sitter, and this time attempted a check within
the DCFS system. However, the caseworker spelled the name wrong. If
she had checked properly, she would have found that the second
baby-sitter had four previous official findings of abuse of her own
children and had two of her three children removed from her custody.
The baby sitter, Centoria Ashford, told police she beat Todd to death
by punching him in the stomach over an 18-hour period.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None
Joseph M. Duncan, 8, Creal Springs. Body discovered
on Sept. 28, 1999
Joseph's teacher observed his bruising and cuts and called the state
child abuse hot line. An investigator interviewed the suspect -- the
mother's boyfriend, Ernst Bruny Jr. The investigator accepted Bruny's
Illinois nursing certificate that purported to show he had not been
reported for child abuse. But the investigator failed to check a
national criminal database, falsely believing he needed the couple's
consent before making the check. The crime database would have shown
that in Florida, Bruny had a history of child abuse and criminal
convictions for domestic violence. Over the course of three weeks,
Bruny beat Joseph to death and hid his body in a suitcase. A county
sheriff's investigator discovered Joseph's body in the bedroom of the
home. Police charged Bruny and the mother, Donna Duncan, with Joseph's
death. Bruny was sentenced to life in prison for murder. Duncan
received eight years for aggravated battery of a child.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: Discipline was recommended but not pursued for the
case investigator, his supervisor and a follow-up caseworker.
Michael Cross, 1, Chicago.
Died Aug. 7, 2001
The mother's three children tested positive for cocaine at birth. The
finding that Michael, the last of the three to be born, was exposed to
the drug generated a child abuse investigation. Authorities told the
mother she must attend free drug treatment. But a DCFS caseworker and
her supervisor took the mother's word that she was sober and failed to
confirm that she had attended even one session. The inspector general
could not find any record of attendance. "The (DCFS) supervisor
acknowledged she had not provided adequate supervision of the family's
case and cited a number of personal problems ... as the cause for her
substandard effort." Michael and his mother died in a fire that
destroyed their public housing apartment.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: None. The supervisor left DCFS and became the
director of foster care for a private agency.
Anthony Davis, 6 weeks old, Geneva. Died Sept. 5, 2001
After a call to the state child abuse hot line alleging abuse to
Anthony's 4-year-old sister, an investigation resulted in their
father, Wayne Davis, being "indicated" or blamed for causing the
girl's bruising. The children remained with the mother, who lived with
a relative. During a second probe a month later concerning injuries to
Anthony, the DCFS investigator used the wrong birthdate when checking
Wayne Davis' criminal record, which had not been checked earlier. With
the wrong date, his record came up clean. He had convictions for drug
possession and domestic battery and arrests for disorderly conduct,
resisting arrest and obstruction of justice. The mother returned to
the father and five days later the family became homeless and moved
into a motel. A few days later, the parents took Anthony to a
hospital, where he died. Wayne Davis later told police he took the
baby into the motel bathroom and shook him because he would not stop
crying. Davis was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced
to 10 years.
DCFS DISCIPLINE: The department ordered counseling for the caseworker.
The investigator also received counseling.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/16029934.htm
Indigo Ace
DCFS and potential 'heater cases'
Child deaths that have the potential to bring bad press are referred
to by state workers as "heater cases."
"The label 'heater' implied that the child's death would have been
insignificant if it weren't for the possible negative press,'"
Inspector General Denise Kane wrote in her 2006 annual report.
Kane's Office of the Inspector General investigates child death cases
handled by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and
is similar to a police department's internal affairs division.
Kane said she learned about heater cases after a DCFS worker warned
supervisors about potential media fallout in a staff report on a
child's death.
"The death of any child, especially through violence, negligence or
accident, is a tragedy," she said.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/16030024.htm
Child abuse hot line
• Call the Illinois Child Abuse Hotline at 800-25-ABUSE or
800-252-2873. If you are out-of-state, call 217-524-2606.
• Callers can remain anonymous, and all calls are kept confidential.
• The DCFS warns against e-mailing an allegation of child abuse
because it may cause delays.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/16029999.htm
Consequences of child deaths
In the 53 child deaths reviewed by the News-Democrat, the DCFS
discipline breakdown for caseworkers, child protection investigators
and supervisors was:
• No action taken -- 26
• Counseled -- 12
• Disciplined -- 14
• Suspended -- 7
• Transferred to non-supervisory jobs -- 1
• Resigned -- 5
• Fired -- 0
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/16030017.htm
Duties of a DCFS worker
Following, in the department's own words, is a check list of duties a
child protection investigator for the Department of Children and
Family Services must follow: *
1. Review prior investigations.
2. Review contact and evidence requirements for current allegations.
3. Develop investigation plan.
4. Identify multiple explanations for alleged incident of
maltreatment. Do not assume the (child abuse) report information
provides an accurate explanation for the injury.
5. Identify and document all relevant information.
6. Develop interview questions before the interview.
7. When necessary, use child advocacy center to interview victims.
8. Assess credibility and motivation of witnesses.
9. Corroborate statements through other witness interviews.
10. Identify and document physical and medical evidence.
11. Assess "factors to be considered" to verify specific allegations.
12. Complete all required assessments.
13. Complete criminal background checks.
14. Thoroughly document all investigative activities.
15. Evaluate all witness statements and other evidence.
* A child protection investigator is the only DCFS employee authorized
to immediately take a child into protective custody.
SOURCE: DCFS Web Resource
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/local/16040353.htm
Barb
died in a ramshackle house in Venice when her mentally ill mother,
Jaki Ingram, delivered her into a waste-filled toilet. The DCFS
suspended a caseworker and a supervisor for failing to properly assess
the case over a five-year period.
How is this the Caseworker's fault? Was the Mother pregnant for 5 years? A
Caseworker can't be referred until the Child is born.
Part of the problem is that the state wants to make Caseworker's
responsible, but they refuse to professionalize the job that no one wants.
Turnover is extreme. Starting salaries are in the low $20's for a
Caseworker with a 4 year degree. Services are "contracted out" to other
agencies whose workers make even less.
Uncle Clover
> In article <4562d94a....@news.prodigy.net>,
> indi...@seesignature.com (Indigo Ace) wrote:
>
> > There are several other articles, which I will post as followups.
> >
> > From the Belleville [IL] News-Democrat--
> >
> > LETHAL LAPSES
> > 50 botched cases. 53 dead children.
> > They were under the care of a state agency, but that didn't prevent
> > their deaths
> > BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
> > News-Democrat
> > Jim Moeller/News-Democrat
> >
> > Fifty-three children died between 1998 and 2005 after state child
> > welfare workers assigned to protect them committed serious errors,
> > made lapses in judgment and ignored their own rules.
>
> Just think of them as full term abortions.
Rather like anyone anywhere who dies at any time can be considered a full-term
"miscarriage"?