It's the case of child abuse shocking the country today. A man is accused of killing his adoptive daughter and severely injuring her twin brother.
In a hard-hitting interview with David Wilkins, head of Florida's Department of Children and Families, Megyn Kelly asks how the couple was allowed to adopt the twins in the first place given that they'd already been accused of abuse. And, how did it come to pass that an investigator visited the home on Thursday to look into charges of abuse, did nothing, and by Monday this 10-year-old child was dead. http://www.foxnewsinsider.com/2011/02/17/megyn-kelly-on-horrific-abuse-case-how-were-they-allowed-to-adopt-these-children/
Here are some contributing factors:
Lack of trained professionals that know what they are doing and that have a sense of ethical behavior
Poor Florida state support of social services; lack of supervision
Hard to access mental health services; mental health services inadequate
Increasingly bizarre crimes perpetrated on children; pedophiles and other perps getting off without prison time
Unfortunately this isn't something new. I remember the little boy in atlanta in foster care that was beaten, burned, starved, and myriad of other atrocities by the people that were in charge and the state investigator did nothing to stop it. The social worker did not even lose her job nor faced any prosecution for dereliction of her duty and is still employed.
This is a common occurrence but you will never hear about it because they hide behind hippa laws and privacy laws.
I am hearing on the news about more and more Florida cases of abuse, neglect and murder.
It puts a fury inside me like nothing else I can describe.. >:(
I did counseling with foster kids but I had to quit because of some of the awful things that occured.
I think the public needs to get involved and demand that systems work like they are supposed to. The situation in Longton is an example. An alleged perp was excused by the legal system, hired by another system because of relatives, and kept on by a school board that tried to ignore the facts.
In this case the Longton parents would not have it . They started going to board meetings, ran for council and ran for board. When people are willing to do this they are true heroes and they are going to get something done.
theres used to be information on the abused kids, especially the ones that were murdered in foster care homes but the pages were eliminated as soon as the government found them.
hard to find much info on it cause its covered up and the ONLY reason its ever found out about is when news reporters happen on the story.
I believe this is true. Some foster parents are wonderful, but others are criminal and mentally disordered.
Quote from: twirldoggy on February 18, 2011, 04:19:00 PM
I believe this is true. Some foster parents are wonderful, but others are criminal and mentally disordered.
Well what i believe is that its a cash cow. They pay the foster parents around 2g a month, and for every kid the state has in foster care they get federal funding which keeps the "social services" in business. The kids are a commodity. Most of the good foster care parents that I have ever met left the program because of its corruption.
personally they need to shut the entire system down dismantle it and find another way.
http://protectingourchildrenfrombeingsold.wordpress.com/category/murdered-children-at-the-hands-of-foster-parents-and-cps/
Sobering statistics on who is the abuser...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.� The following statistics represent the number of cases per 100,000 children in the United States and includes DCF in Connecticut.� This information is from The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) in Washington.
Perpetrators of Maltreatment CPS Parents
Physical Abuse 160 59
Sexual Abuse 112 13
Neglect 410 241
Medical Neglect 14 12
Fatalities 6.4 1.5
http://protectingourchildrenfrombeingsold.wordpress.com/about/something-every-parent-should-have-a-how-to-booklet-never-trust-anyone-from-cps/
When I talked with other counselors about foster care, the words were said that the parental home was better than a foster home. Unfortunately some children need to be removed to someplace, either relatives or foster. If the systems are functioning like they should be, then the evil foster homes would not exist.
Quote from: twirldoggy on February 18, 2011, 04:55:10 PM
When I talked with other counselors about foster care, the words were said that the parental home was better than a foster home. Unfortunately some children need to be removed to someplace, either relatives or foster. If the systems are functioning like they should be, then the evil foster homes would not exist.
You know churchs should be more involved in this function.
That would be a good idea as long as the churches were really Christian and avoiding extreme hypocrisy.
Some of the worst perps have been church president, music minister, assistant minister and minister.
Some foster homes I dealt with wanted the child to be a perfect example of the true Christian child and had them reading the Bible full time and going to church many times a week. If the child didn't comply then they used extreme punishment.
I think the best Christian foster homes would be homes where they have already done a good job of raising their own kids, have a close family and want to perform a community service.
THeres one that i would support if i had the funds, called bethel bible childrens village. It was started by a minister many many years ago, where he took kids off the street during depression i think and raised them. Taught them skills to make a living as well as gave them loving home. It has grown and still is in operation. Patt Boone is a major sponsor and contributor of this home, my mom leads the kids in a class on quilting and every year they make a quilt to auction off for funds. The quilt is signed by a lot of big name folks, and the auction is a big event.
They are housed in homes on the campus, and house parents are assigned to each home. They are held accountable not only by church leaders but community leaders as well as average citizens like my mom.
My mom enjoys it. even gets hugged by patt boone which is kind of a big thing for her.
It makes me sick, when the judicial system removes a child from the parent and then will not let the grandparents have any rights to the children, but puts them in a foster care home. Then the children are subject to people who do not know nor love them. I personally believe children would be better off with a relative ( if the relative wants to be involved).
Grandparents need to have a chance of involvement. But the courts have the final say.......and now look how things turn out. A dead Child - abused, threatened. It makes me sick and VERY angry.
Thee are exceptions in every case, but a child is helpless against the courts and the laws that are imposed upon them.
Jo -
They are working on changing the law in Kansas, and a couple of other states, to give the grandparents some standing, so they are considered before and alongside foster care. It a lot of cases that would be a good thing. I agree with you - I think it should be expanded to include other relatives as well. Grandparents is a good step, however.
There are good and bad foster homes, group homes and case workers. Regretfully, sometimes it's just the luck of the draw.
A good foster parent can work around a bad case manager in most cases. It's a lot of work and draining.
If the training is done correctly, most bad foster parents are weeded out. If the case managers are allowed to do their jobs, they make sure the bad foster parents don't have kids placed with them and their licenses aren't renewed.
It's just not a perfect world. We can, however, change it one child at a time. So we try.
In Missouri the relatives are always considered. But sometimes they are not able to care for the child full time. Other times they have legal problems themselves and should not have children in the home. Missouri pays a fee to the grandparents who care for their own grandchildren.
This is a lawsuit by grandparents based on a case right in Coffeyville, Kansas. It's funny that this story was reported by the Wichita Eagle and nothing has ever been in the Independence Reporter or the Coffeyville Journal that I know of.
Coffeyville couple sues SRS worker after granddaughter's beating death
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
A family's lawsuit accuses a state social worker of gross negligence, saying she failed to protect a 23-month-old Coffeyville girl beaten to death by herfather's meth-addicted girlfriend.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court Tuesday, accuses SRS social worker LindaGillen of not taking steps to remove Brooklyn Coons and her brother from adangerous household after the maternal grandparents repeatedly raised concernsabout injuries to Brooklyn.
The lawsuit — brought by Brooklyn's maternal grandparents, Larry and MaryCrosetto — contends Gillen "failed to act to protect their grandchildren becauseof a pre-existing grudge." The grudge involved actions the Crosettos took yearsearlier in their adoption of Brooklyn's mother, Angela Crosetto Coons, thelawsuit says.
Brooklyn's death is a case of a social worker who remained determined to keepchildren with a parent even when it put the children at serious risk, thelawsuit contends. Other agencies that could have protected Brooklyn deferred toSRS because they thought the social worker was taking steps to monitor the girl,it says.
In an interview, Larry Crosetto said Gillen, a licensed social worker withthe Coffeyville office of the Kansas Department of Social and RehabilitationServices (SRS), "was aware there was a situation in that home. She didn'tinvestigate and find out what the situation was.
"What we hope to do is get SRS to act in these situations ... and prevent itfrom happening to another family," Crosetto said.
SRS won't comment because of the pending litigation, spokeswoman MichellePonce said Friday.
Gillen remains employed as an SRS social worker, Ponce said.
Gillen could not be reached for comment.
The litigation is filed in federal court because of the argument thatBrooklyn and her survivors were denied their constitutional rights by the state,said Randy Rathbun, a Wichita lawyer and former U.S. attorney for Kansas who isrepresenting the Crosettos in their lawsuit.
The Kansas Attorney General's Office prosecuted the girlfriend in Brooklyn'sdeath, which occurred on Jan. 20, 2008. The girlfriend later married Brooklyn'sfather. On Dec. 30, 2009, a judge sentenced Melissa Wells Coons to life inprison for the murder of Brooklyn.
The same day the judge sentenced Melissa Coons, Brooklyn's father, RandyCoons, was charged with aggravated child endangerment, said Ashley Anstaett,spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office.
The lawsuit against Gillen seeks more than $75,000 in damages.
The first loss
The Crosettos had dealt with a tragic loss less than six months before theirgranddaughter's murder. On Aug. 9, 2007, Brooklyn's mother, Angela Coons, diedof a sudden illness at a Wichita hospital. She was 24.
Angela Coons had moved her small children — Brooklyn and son Christian, now 7— to be with her in Wichita just weeks before she died, Larry Crosetto said.Angela Coons was working in Wichita as a Comcare caseworker.
After their daughter became ill, the Crosettos rushed to Wichita. After shedied, they brought their grandchildren back to their Coffeyville home, Crosettosaid.
Before Angela Coons moved to Wichita, she had left Randy Coons and moved inwith her parents. Because Angela was busy completing her degree at PittsburgState University, the Crosettos had "practically raised" their grandchildren,Larry Crosetto said.
The weekend after they buried their daughter, their son-in-law, Randy Coons,showed up on their front porch with two Coffeyville police officers and demandedto take the children, Crosetto said. The son-in-law moved the children in withhim and his girlfriend, Melissa Wells.
"Within a week of the kids being put into that home, Brooklyn showed up on aweekend with her lip stitched together," Crosetto said.
A narrative, timeline
The lawsuit provides this timeline:
In the fall of 2007, the Crosettos started seeing bruises on Brooklyn, andtheir granddaughter received medical treatment twice for suspiciousinjuries.
"The Crosettos began to get more and more concerned about the bruises ontheir grandchildren," the lawsuit says.
On Nov. 5, 2007, school officials told Gillen, the SRS social worker, thatChristian had bruising that looked suspicious, the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit narrative: The next day, Larry Crosetto tried toreach Gillen about the bruising, but got no return call, so he tried to contacther again on Nov. 14, 15 and 16, eventually reaching her on Nov. 20. Gillen saidshe had interviewed a school official, the children's father, his girlfriend andChristian. Gillen indicated she had been at the girlfriend's home, the lawsuitsays.
Gillen said a case had been opened and she would make a recommendation inabout 30 days. "She refused to discuss the suspected drug situation in thehome," the lawsuit says.
Crosetto said the grandchildren remained with the girlfriend during the week;the grandparents got the children on weekends. They would exchange the childrenin the front yard of the girlfriend's home. He said he wasn't allowedinside.
He became concerned about the conditions in the house, noticing that thechildren had rashes that appeared to be from fleas and that they looked "filthydirty" every Friday night when he or his wife picked them up.
"Sometimes it was hard to tell if it was bruises or dirt," he said.
"I tried everything to find out what was going on inside that house," saidCrosetto, a 62-year-old accountant.
He said he began taking pictures to document injuries he saw.
Escalating situation
The situation got worse.
On Dec. 10, 2007, the lawsuit says, Crosetto called Gillen again because the"bruising and marks were beginning to escalate. She told Crosetto to call thepolice as it was her duty to try to protect the family and keep it together.Larry asked for an appointment to visit about her duty to protect thechildren."
On Dec. 12, 2007, Crosetto sought help from school officials. "Their positionwas that SRS had taken control of the situation and it was out of their hands,"the lawsuit says.
On Sunday Dec. 23, the Crosettos' doctor noticed bruises on Brooklyn's facewhile she was at church, and he thought SRS should be notified. The doctorrecommended that Larry Crosetto have another doctor examine Brooklyn the nextday. On Dec. 24, the second doctor saw the girl, called police and sent a letterto the Coffeyville SRS office asking that "they investigate the situation andget back to him."
Gillen did not respond to the letter, the lawsuit says. But that same day thedoctor called police, a Coffeyville police officer took a report from Crosettoin the doctor's office and said he would contact the prosecutor's office when itopened after the holiday, Crosetto said.
"I was under the understanding that the Police Department was trying ... tointervene, that the roadblock was SRS," Crosetto said.
The Crosettos believed Brooklyn was in danger.
"I was scared to death," Crosetto said.
The grandparents met with Gillen at her office on Dec. 28, and Larry Crosettooffered a CD showing Brooklyn's injuries. Gillen refused to accept it, saying itwould be a police matter, the lawsuit said.
"The meeting became heated when it became apparent to the Crosettos that thedefendant had some animus against them and was not going to do anything toprotect the children. Mr. Crosetto made it clear that he was afraid she was notgoing to do anything until one of his grandchildren was killed."
And then the worst happened. On Jan. 17, 2008 — 20 days after the Crosettosexpressed their fears to Gillen — Coffeyville police responded to a 911 callabout Brooklyn. She was unresponsive, and she was in the care of Wells. Policesaw head trauma and bruises.
Doctors found that Brooklyn's brain was bleeding as a result of her beingstruck on the head, and she had brain damage from being shaken, the lawsuitsays.
The day after the 911 call, it says, police put three other children from thehome of Wells and Randy Coons into protective custody because of "deplorable"living conditions and because of the fatal injuries to Brooklyn.
The lawsuit says that the Police Department didn't take more steps to protectBrooklyn and the other children before Jan. 18, 2008, "as it reasonably believedthat the defendant was undertaking her statutory obligations to safeguard" thechildren.
The lawsuit argues that Gillen's "conduct increased the danger to (Brooklyn)from the meth addicted girlfriend."
The first time bruises or injuries were observed, then all the children should have been removed. Then the father would have to show that the home was safe. In Missouri bruises are considered the indicator of abuse.
I think it would be better to go after the social worker's license. This would prevent any further work in this kind of setting.
It is my understanding that this family is going after the social worker. I'm wondering if our state will defend her or will she have to retain her own attorney? Is it possible that she could be investigated for any criminal acts that have come out of this case? I don't understand how a social worker could not see what needed to be done. Is she so overworked that she couldn't get to that case? No, the family is saying she failed to do her job because of a pre-existing grudge against them. How does a social worker let personal feelings sway how she handles a case. She should have told her supervisor that there was a conflict and insisted that someone else handle the case. But, no. Now we have a dead baby because of neglect on the government's part.
I have to put my 2 cents in on this topic. As a case manager at four county I work with adults and I have made abuse and neglect reports on a couple and the SRS case worker came in and seen the same problems that I seen and we increased services with someone in the home to teach these parents how to be parents and the SRS worker and I both kept a close eye on this situation and I has to make around 6 abuse reports before the baby was finally removed from the home because the Farm was involved and it is their job to keep the family together!!! The Farm case worker told me that the baby needed out of this home ASAP so that is why I kept having to make so many phone calls until they finally listened to me and not the FARM. Then there are other cases that the children need removed and once we turn on the heat and report the parents then they pull their children from four county services and these children are stuck with no one to advocate for them. It should be a HUGE red flag to the state when the parents get rid of services and these poor kids are stuck. It kills us to not be able to do anything else and we know these children are in horrible living conditions. I don't know what responsibility the school teachers have in reporting but I would think that not enough is being done there. I can think of several cases in this area and we all see these kids and feel sorry for them but no one steps up to the plate and makes that cridical call that could saves these kids from the abuse that they are suffering from. Now my opinion on these so called foster homes that are more like puppy mills and the foster parents are making money hand over fist make me so sick!!! But no one is ever going to do anything to these children mills because no one wants to adopt a child that has addiction, mental retardation, and mental health problems, so off to those homes way out in the country where no one sees how horrible their living conditions are and once again if four county blows the whistle on these people well were not allowed in the homes!! The state needs to run these programs better and remember that these children are our future.
Social workers in Kansas are licensed and have insurance to cover liabilities. The insurance company will try to come to a resolution without going to court. If it goes to court, the insurance company will pay the attorney. It is out of the social worker's hands and she may not like what the insurance company does on her behalf.
The Farm is a private agency that provides foster care for the State of Kansas. Many social workers refuse to work there because of their policies. I would not want my child in foster care in the State of Kansas.
It is common for families to leave services or to leave the area to get away from reports of abuse and neglect. Sometimes the use of placement is worse than leaving the child in its own home.
In this particular case it seems apparent that the child should have been placed with the grandparents.
Teachers absolutely do have a responsibility to watch for possible abuse in the home, after school care or anytime. We are expected to be an advocate for the child's mental and physical health. It's a tough thing to sort out and shouldn't have to be that way, but it is.
The problem is not always adults either. Sometimes it is other children in the home, especially in blended families or families where there is a constant parade of adult "boyfriends" and "girlfriends" and their children moving in and out. That kind of cohabitation has become too common, without real emotional commitment, and often includes the presence of drugs and alcohol. Physical and mental abuse can be all too common. In some cases it's a wonder the kids ever learn anything in school, their lives are so unsettled. Once again absenteeism is often a problem.The child may be kept out of school until visible bruises heal so the child won't be asked any awkward questions.
I would like to add that if the prosecutor finds she has done a criminal act, her insurance would still cover a lawyer chosen by her insurance company. The only exception would be if she is not a real social worker but some kind of helper that does not require a license. Further in the insurance policy itself there is a list of acts that are not covered by the policy. This varies by the company providing the insurance. It is possible but not very probable that the social worker did not carry insurance.
Thoughts on "going after the social worker": It would be very hard to prove a grudge existed against a couple or family. It would be much easier to prove that the social worker did unethical things that would compromise her license.
I just read the article in the Wichita paper and it looks like the grandparents are suing SRS, the agency, rather than the individual, Linda Gillen. This makes a big difference. SRS will have their own lawyer. It will be quite interesting to see if SRS prevails. I hope they do not. This lawsuit would also cause the supervisor and director to be liable for the behavior of Linda Gillen.
Well either way it doesn't change my mind on reporting a home. Quite frankly the kids got a better chance in the home than in Foster care.