School Social Worker Forced To Resign

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2014/02/23/former-framingham-high-social-worker-suing-school-system/ZWz3YeJNtBuh4dH6yUc0tN/story.html

A former Framingham High School social worker who resigned last March after he said administrators mishandled sexual assault complaints against a male student is suing the town’s school system, alleging that district officials had pressured him to step down.


This school social worker requested action for a student who sexually assulted two people on different incidents.  Isn't that his job?  Instead, he got reprimanded by the school's faculty and was retaliated against.  This is what this school social worker gets for trying to protect the kids in the school?

Throughout the years stories are told time and time again about schools sweeping things under the rug whether it's a teacher sleeping with students, a teacher changing a star athletes grades, students assaulting other students, etc.  We hear it time and again.  As a school social worker, part of your job is to make sure that the school takes appropriate actions when it comes to circumstances that put your students in harms way.  I find it appalling that this school social worker was coerced into resigning after standing up for what he believes in and protecting his students.

L.A. County Social Workers go on Strike and File a Lawsuit Following the Death of an 8-Year-Old Girl

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=9315331

This article is a follow up to a story regarding the L.A. DCFS. An 8-year old girl was brutally beaten by her mother and her boyfriend to death in May of 2013 and a large scale investigation was done on the agency. Two social workers and two supervisors were fired following the investigation into the child's death. Social workers at L.A. DCFS reported they carry close to 50 cases each and report that they are unable to ensure the safety of all the children on their caseloads. The L.A. DCFS social workers are filing a lawsuit with the county to reduce their caseloads to 31 per caseworker. The union is also asking for a pay raise and for 1,400 more caseworkers to be hired.

"Our children in Los Angeles County, they need to be protected. And they need to be protected by having additional social workers providing direct practice social work for our kids," said David Green, a social worker with SEIU Local 721.

Social workers in child welfare are all too often underpaid and overworked. In order to ensure the safety of children in such large urban areas the counties must reevaluate their finances and make child safety a priority. They must put an emphasis on hiring the most trained individuals to conduct such serious work as well, which will mean paying them more. Unfortunately too many things in society today are run by money and by policy created by those who do not even in work in the field. All of these issues must be considered if we truly believe that children deserve to grow up in a safe and stable home environment!

Calif. boy dies after signs of abuse were missed, report says

http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/calif-boy-dies-after-signs-of-abuse-were-missed-report-says

This article details an 8 year old boy in California who had signs of abuse when he died. It was found that paramedics were in the home just prior to his death and they found broken ribs, a fractured skull and BB pellets embedded in his lungs. This story has gained a lot of traction because the family had involvement with the Department of Children and Family Services. The story reads that there were a total of 6 social workers who had been to the house over the preceding 10 years to investigate reports against this child and at least one brother.  There has been outrage from the community and a county supervisor stated that there were red flags of abuse that were missed. Both parents are currently facing murder charges but have not yet entered pleas.

This is an extremely sad story that will unfortunately cast a shadow on social workers and particularly child welfare workers. There were numerous reports made and teachers were apparently aware of the child coming to school with bruises and other marks. Since the DCFS were involved, I think it's safe to say that there were some people who noticed the signs and made referrals. It's just unfortunate that there was apparently a lack of follow through. One of the biggest things that bothered me about the story is that the boy recanted his allegations a number of times. Is it because he made it up or because he was threatened and feared for his safety?  Given this story, the agency clearly dropped the ball.

With that being said, I also had a problem with the light the agency was portrayed in by one particular line: "A recent internal review of the department found there haven't been any workers fired in 15 cases where children died."  To most people that seems like a sickening statement because it means there's no accountability. I challenge that idea. There is zero context provided to those cases. It very we'll could be 14 cases of Sudden Unexplained Infant Death and this one case to make 15. It seems that the author wanted to go for shock value when he/she wrote the article. If so, well done, I'm sure many people got upset over this fact. If the author wanted to give an objective telling of whether or not workers are held accountable, there would be more info than just a number of deaths without a worker being fired.

Managed Health Care for Children in Foster Care

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/florida-moves-to-manage-health-care-for-foster-kids/2014/02/13/7d4ce066-9498-11e3-9e13-770265cf4962_story.html

The state of Florida aims to manage health care for children in the foster care system, which will enable them to more adequately address physical and mental health needs for children involved with foster care.  Children are now automatically enrolled in the state's Medicaid, and case managers have an allocated $150 per child to address socio-emotional needs (such as a new baseball mitt or a dress for a school dance).  In theory, this shift makes sense.  Foster care children often have gaps in medical and mental health care due to frequent changes in caregivers, and this program will address that.  It will also ensure that finances are not a barrier to children receiving necessary health care.  From a practical standpoint, I am curious as to how community-based case managers will be able to fill in gaps in children's medical histories (as the article says they will).  Will this significantly alter the amount of work that goes into each case, or will case managers still be able to provide appropriate care to each of their clients?  The article explains that states will need to pay higher rates to insurers, but that the pay-off is great because children in the foster care will have better health and will be able to avoid medical problems that result from a lack of proactive and preventative care.  Given the high percentage of kids in the foster care system who have significant medical needs, I agree that this is ultimately a positive shift.  Given the current state of Ohio's budget and its financial priorities, do you think the legislature would be willing to implement a similar program?

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/editorials/Editorial+Secrecy+child+welfare+system+fails+powerless/9202692/story.html

Secrecy in child welfare system

Just for fun, I wanted to share this for the comic on the page!
Often times many people in society have a bad image of the child welfare system.
This story, attached in the he link above is just one example of I'm sure many many undocumented instances. Many people say the "system failed".
Is this an accurate description?
Does the "system failing" depend on the county or even state that the instances occur in.

Burned infant in Knox County

http://columbus.gotnewswire.com/news/knox-county-man-charged-with-assault-over-infant’s-burns



Burned infant in Knox County


Mount Vernon Ohio is located in Knox County Ohio.
They have finally charged the boyfriend in a three-count indictment. He is accused of burning his girlfriend’s 5-month-old son so badly that part of the child’s left leg had to be amputated and he needed skin grafts on one arm. He is currently in jail. 
The charges allege Keen knowingly hurt the child and failed to seek appropriate medical help for him.
I am sure most of you have heard of this story and how much news coverage it received.
What are your feelings revolving around "accidental" instances that harm children?

Human Trafficking

This article discusses how a 15 yr old female, Emily, ran away from home and ended up linked w/ a Pimp and being sex trafficked. This article sheds light on the investigative procedures of locating possible human trafficking victims in Boston. Boston has been nationally recognized for their human task force and is looked up to as the standard. This national recognition is alarming due to way that Emily's case was dealt with. The investigative journalist was able to locate an ad for the youth online within 2 minutes which led to the youth being found but the Pimp got away. According to the article, everyday 4,000 children run away or are kicked out of their homes and every year 100,000 youth are sex trafficked. This abundant supply of youth make it available to recruit, with or without force, to be trafficked. There are numerous sources to search for a youth that may have been recruited but they are not being utilized by law enforcement and the families have to push for their case to be worked on. This article exposes the biases that our culture sees these youth as prostitutes and not victims of sex trafficking, like they were asking for their predicament. We live in a culture where we go after the youth offering the service more than their Pimp or the John paying for service. What I would like to know is if this task force will continue to pursue the Pimp or if they consider the case closed due to locating the youth. Until our attitudes change we will continue to drag our feet because we believe that these victims were asking for it and don't deserve the man hours.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/kristof-when-emily-was-sold-for-sex.html?_r=0

Child Endangerment

Last week three people were arrested in connection with child endangerment in Wheelerburg, Ohio. The children attended school online and one of them bravely notified their teacher stating that they were being abused.

Juan Carlos Sanchez, Edwina Louis, Bobbi Sue Pack

By Josh PolandThursday February 13, 2014 5:20 PM 
UPDATED: Thursday February 13, 2014 6:18 PM

       

WHEELERSBURG, Ohio - Investigators are calling it a "horrific" child abuse case.

Three Scioto County residents--Juan Carlos Sanchez, 44, Bobbi Sue Pack, 31, and Edwina Louis, 52,--were arrested earlier this week and face child endangerment charges for what detectives say the three did to three of Pack’s children.

Detectives say the adults tied the children to their beds with ropes and chains in their Wheelersburg home and also forced the children to go long stretches without eating.

The action of an online teacher to notify authorities about the abuse is drawing praise from the online education community.

Detectives with the Scioto County Sherriff's Office say the children were online students of Ohio Virtual Academy.

One of the children messaged her online teacher to tell them that she and her siblings were being abused. That is when detectives say the teacher contacted authorities.

"We are so very proud of this teacher, absolutely,” said Shannon Bozigar, professional development and training coordinator with Ohio Virtual Academy.

Neither the school nor the sheriff’s office is releasing the teacher's name.

But Bozigar says the teacher had been through the same child abuse prevention training that all teachers at the school are required to receive.

"We take time to train not only in child safety and violence prevention but in all areas to keep really the core of our mission which is educating students and keeping them safe,” Bozigar said.

What the Ohio Virtual Academy teacher did in notifying authorities is drawing praise from other e-schools across the state such as Columbus-based ECOT.

"I would hope that all of our teachers would handle the situation the same way that this teacher did,” said Rick Teeters, ECOT Superintendent.

Teeters says ECOT teachers go through an initial child abuse prevention training program and refresher courses every three years.

Cultural Competency and Adoption

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/native-american-child-welfare_n_4719553.html

In our child welfare classes we have all learned about historical laws regarding the specific adoption requirements of Native American children. This article highlights the challenges faced by Native American children in the system despite The Indian Child Welfare act of 1978.

The article talks about the disparities in the amount of Native American children adopted, and the number of Native American children in the foster care system that have been suspected to suffer from abuse and neglect.

Four Native American organizations have asked the United States Justice Department to launch formal investigations.

The laws regarding cultural competence for Native American children were put into place to combat these issues. But are these laws being strictly followed? In some cases traditions are being lost because in the eyes of the law some children are not "indian enough." Who gets to decide? In other cases lawyers and judges are using roundabout ways to specifically side step the law completely. This is very disturbing to me, and yet at the same time sounds very familiar for the American justice system. How often do we see populations being oppressed despite protective measures? And who will actually defend these children and keep cultures alive within the justice systems nebulous "Grey area"

Is DCFS diverting cases to save costs?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-04-05/news/ct-met-dcfs-family-court-20100405_1_dcfs-probate-juvenile-court

This article in the Chicago Tribune is sad to read about, yet believable at the same time. It discussed how the court will divert families to the probation area, which means they would not have to help out families financially. I feel it shows even more how money runs the world and what people and systems may do to save them, despite who or how it affects people. In the specific case they talked about a grandmother was willing to take in another grand child even under her physically setbacks and who was not asked to take in, yet DCFS put her through probate court, meaning she would have to support the children all by her self financially.

This is not a long term foster care for children and in turn are only hindering these children. These children who are helpless and are suppose to be taken care of and who were not asked to be brought into this world. I think a lot has more has to be done and considered within the system to make sure these children and people who actually want to help and try and make a better life for these kids. Another care giver who is not the biological parent is willing to take on another person and to raise them should receive assistance and help from the state. But, I am not sure how or what exactly could be done to ensure this. What could be some options and possibilities to make sure the state does not try and push these "families" away and leave the financial burden on them?

Family Income and the Rising Cost of Quality Child Care

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/05/child-care-costs_n_4215659.html

Among US families, there is a growing disparity between the cost of quality child care and household income. Parents are feeling the budget crunch: the cost of quality child care vs. food, rent and/or mortgage payments. Some parents may feel pressured to take their children to care centers that are less expensive but not licensed.
Do you agree with the basic premise in this shared article: "Ensuring this care is high quality, affordable, and available for families is crucial to our nation's ability to produce and sustain an economically viable, competitively positioned workforce." How would you propose our nation's lawmakers respond to this need to improve the availability of quality child care in the US?

Woman Charged in Death of her Son, 2

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/nyregion/woman-charged-in-death-of-her-son-2-in-brooklyn.html?_r=0

This is another story of a mother beating and killing her child.  It is so saddening how people have difficulties with her children.  This mother was 19 when she killed her 2 year old son.  After reading this article and thinking about some stories I have heard in the past I have begun wondering if there is any research or statistics regarding the age of a parent who kills and/or abuses his/her child.  I think that would be very fascinating to see and if so, can there be a creation of some sort of program to help young parents?  I had never considered this before but have more recently thought about the fact it is many times young parents below the age of 25 that kill their children.

N.Y. / REGION

Woman Charged in Death of Her Son, 2, in Brooklyn

By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONSFEB. 11, 2014

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A 19-year-old Brooklyn woman was charged Tuesday in connection with the death of her 2-year-old son, the latest in a string of suspicious child deaths in New York City investigated by the police.

Emergency responders were called to the woman’s apartment in Sheepshead Bay early last Thursday and found the boy, Jayden Smith, vomiting and having difficulty breathing. He was pronounced dead at Maimonides Medical Center.

On Tuesday, the New York City medical examiner’s office found that the boy died of blunt force trauma to his abdomen and ruled the death a homicide. His mother, Geraldine Smith, was charged on Tuesday evening with assault, child endangerment and assaulting a person under 7 years of age, police officials said.

The boy’s twin was put in the care of the city’sAdministration for Children’s Services Tuesday.

The agency, which is investigating the boy’s death, declined to say whether it had prior contact with the family, citing confidentiality laws.

Pam Holloman, a neighbor of Ms. Smith’s, said on Tuesday night that the twins had seemed like normal, happy toddlers.

“I wish she would have knocked on my door if she was having problems,” Ms. Holloman said. “Maybe we could have took the baby a little while for her.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed changes to child protection policies in response to the death of another child, Myls Dobson, 4, in Manhattan on Jan. 8; a caregiver has been charged in connection with his death. This month Kevasia Edwards, 2, was foundunconscious in her home in Queens with broken ribs and bruising around her mouth, and later died. Her mother, Ashley Diaz, was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault.

Eli Rosenberg contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on February 12, 2014, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Woman Charged in Death of Her Son, 2, in Brooklyn. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe

Greene County Explains Case

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140213/NEWS01/302130146/Child-welfare-officials-explain-process-in-cases-like-one-alleging-3-year-old-kept-in-cage-starved

The website News-Leader.com posted an article about the Greene County child welfare system making the decision to remove six children from a Springfield home. Greene County became involved with this family earlier this year when one child was hospitalized for treatment of multiple injuries and signs of starvation.

It was reported to Greene County child welfare that the child was being kept in a cage and was not being fed. The family is reportedly fighting the allegations about the child abuse with a lawyers help. This article explains in great detail how children services make the decision about removal of children. It explains in detail the steps that have to be followed.

The parents and their lawyer are fighting the accusations and reporting that the child has an illness. After reading this article I found another article related to this topic stating that children services went too far when they removed the children from them home.  Everyone will have to read the article and decide for themselves what to believe. I am sure there would be an even larger debate on this topic if Greene County had not removed and it was found out that the allegations were true.

Pay if Forward

So when I first started searching for child welfare in the news, dozens of articles came up about children dying in foster care and other tragic stories.

And while I think these are all very imporant and need to be reported, I wanted to highlight a positive story or "The Good Stuff" as CNN calls it.

This is the story of 22 year old Marchelle Roberts who had a rocky journey through life but is an example of how youth are resilient and perservere toward greatness!

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/29/politics/foster-interns/index.html?iref=allsearch

Marchelle is from Camden, NJ. For any of you who have seen the 20/20 episode called "Waiting on the World to Change" (if you havent see it you should watch it, its really touching) you know that Camden is the poorest and most dangerour neighborhood in America.

She suffered abuse, trauma and lots of confusion as no one took the time to explain to her what was happening.

Thankfully she was adopted by a caring individual and that became a turning point in her life.

"Now she is one of 15 former foster children participating in the Foster Youth Internship program run by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. The program aims to give former foster children an opportunity to help shape public policy on child welfare issues. Interns spend the summer working in the offices of members of Congress from both parties. At the end of the program, they make a presentation to the entire Congress with recommendations on how to improve the foster care system."

THATS AWESOME!!

"Roberts survived that system and says there's a lot she wants to see changed. She wants to create a one-stop online clearinghouse laying out the resources available to foster youth and former foster youth all across the country, and she wants states to do more to keep siblings together in foster care."

~Always remember the "Good Stuff"~

Child Abuse rises with income inequality

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140211132959.htm

This article talks about a peer reviewed article that will be released in March 2014.  It discusses the relationship between income inequality and child maltreatment.  "Nearly 3 million children younger than 18 are physically abused, sexually abused, physically neglected or emotionally abused each year in the United States." This is a huge amount of children being mistreated.   The authors looked at the relationship between income and geographical locations.  I think it will be really interesting to read the entire article and study when it is released in March.
I find it incredibly disturbing to see the amount of maltreatment occurring each year.  There needs to be more awareness about this issue and more prevention strategies in place.  I know that children services in Allen county provide several parenting classes and healthy partner classes, but I am not aware of other strategies in place to reduce these numbers. Child Abuse Prevention month is coming up in April.  I think this is great opportunity to educate and inform the community of this issue and educate them appropriately. This will need to be well advertised and promoted.  I have talked with several families who want to report on child abuse, but don't know how to go about actually reporting it.  I feel that to keep our kids safe, we need to educate early on what maltreatment is and how to develop healthy relationships.

Underground Adoptions

http://www.reuters.com/investigates/adoption/#article/part1

I found this article when I was scanning through articles on Google about child welfare.  Children are being adopted, and then their adoptive parents are "re-homing" them to new families shortly after.  Many of these adoptive parents are unaware of the amount of work that is required to raise a child, and in turn give up shortly after.  Parents are advertising their adoptive children on sites such as Facebook and Yahoo, as if they were re-homing a pet.

Apparently this has been on the news quite a bit, but I had never heard of this before and am so shocked that this is occuring. Children are being put into dangerous situations, as the only paperwork that is involved is a notarized statement authorizing legal guardianship to the new adoptive parents who are receiving the child.  These children have no voice or say in what happens to them, many of them adopted from foreign countries and are in a new place on top of that.  There clearly needs to be tighter restrictions.

Number of Children in Foster Care Declining (Hancock County)

Hancock County's implementation of an alternative response approach to child welfare is proving to be effective- at least for now. "Alternative response" is a more recently developed way of addressing reported incidences of child abuse and neglect. Contrary to the traditional response when child abuse or neglect is reported, caseworkers assigned to alternative response intake units do not name "victims" and "perpetrators." Instead, their goal is to work with the family to prevent removal from the home if possible. This includes linking the family with services such as parenting classes and drug and alcohol counseling, and helping them to find housing and employment. As the following article shows, this approach has shown positive results in Hancock County, and has also been implemented in other children services agencies (including Franklin County).

There are, however, situations when an alternative response approach may not be appropriate. For cases of alleged sexual abuse, and for situations where a child is at imminent risk of harm, investigations often lead to court involvement or immediate removal from the home. This movement toward alternative response presents a fine line which caseworkers must walk- how can they remain objective while ensuring the safety and well-being of the children? Is the trauma of being removed from the home and potentially moving from foster family to foster family greater than that of physical abuse or neglect? Would these potential foster families truly be the best fit for the child?


http://thecourier.com/local-news/2014/02/03/foster-care-numbers-declining/

Poverty's effects on children in Detroit

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/05/271997428/poverty-behind-detroit-s-high-child-mortality-rate

There has been a lot of attention for Detroit lack of financial stability recently. In conversations I have had about Detroit, I have taken away the fact that I should avoid Detroit at all cost for my own safety. I never considered the permanent effects that the poverty may have on the children and families in Detroit.

 I would like to share this story that I heard on NPR. It is shedding a light on the effects that poverty has on health, child mortality and crime. I thought it was interesting how the the social worker explained that the lack of support, poor environment and education all combined created the dangerous atmosphere for the community and for the children.  This communities problems seem to be coming from the same source.The interview focussed importance of preventative programs being a good solution to Detroit and other communities child safety, social and economic issues.
What do you think about the interview?