I-TEAM: FEDERAL LAWSUIT GOES AFTER COUNTY FAMILY SERVICES

 

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11037385

A California appeals court may help to decide the future of Nevada’s child welfare system. At issue is whether a lawsuit against the state and Clark County should include all foster children.

The National Center for Youth Law, a California-based child advocacy firm, filed the case in 2006 on behalf of all foster children. It alleges kids in the custody of Clark County regularly suffer from physical abuse, a denial of medical and mental health care, and a lack of a permanent home due to the failures of the system that’s supposed to protect them.

“Class certification is important so that absent members of the class, children who in the future come into foster care and those who are now in foster care will be entitled to the protections that we hope to obtain for them through the federal court,” said Bill Grimm with the National Center for Youth Law.

Instead of monetary damages, the lawsuit seeks reform. In court records, Clark County argues reform efforts are underway and have been for several years. They insist many of the lawsuit’s claims are outdated.

The lawsuit names 10 children allegedly harmed by the action, or inaction, of the Clark County Department of Family Services, including one who was scalded to death in a foster home.

The surviving plaintiffs however have either been adopted or aged out of the foster care system so the firm bringing the suit seeks to include all foster kids to make the case a class action.

The Nevada federal judge hearing the suit denied their motion. Now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether he made the right decision.

Efforts to settle the case stalled in recent months. The county says, in part, because the appeals court decision will have a significant impact on the case and whether there are a few plaintiffs or several thousand.

No word on when the court may issue its decision.

 

Lawyers ask appeals court to make class action out of foster care lawsuit

 

http://www.lvrj.com/news/56878367.html

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Lawyers for children suing Clark County’s foster care system asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to allow their lawsuit to go forward as a class action representing all of the county’s foster children.

The National Center for Youth Law, based in San Francisco, filed the lawsuit in August 2006 alleging a “systematic failure of the Clark County foster care system” including physical abuse, neglect and denial of medical care.

In June 2008 U.S. District Judge Robert Jones denied a motion to create a class representing the county’s 4,000 foster children, saying there was not enough similarity between children in the lawsuit and the county’s other foster children.

Lawyers for the state and county agreed with the judge’s decision and argued against overturning it. The three-judge panel with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will issue a written decision.

The lawsuit has been on hold while the two sides try to negotiate a settlement.

THREE CHARGED IN GIRL’S DEATH

 

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6994096

KATY, TX (KTRK) — The parents and grandmother of a baby girl who died months ago now face criminal charges, accused of neglecting serious injuries that eventually took her life. Now some children’s rights advocates are criticizing Child Protective Services for not intervening before it was too late.

Two-year-old Amber MacCurdy died back in April. It’s a death that authorities say could have been prevented. CPS officials paid numerous visits to the girl’s Katy home before her death.

Authorities say the autopsy revealed Amber died from an untreated staph infection. The medical examiner also found she had broken ribs and a fractured arm.

When Amber’s parents and grandmother were arrested and charged with injury to a child, Randy Burton’s first thoughts were “that the case was preventable, that we could have saved this little girl’s life,” he said.

The former prosecutor and child advocate with Justice for Children doesn’t argue charges needed to be filed, but he also wonders why CPS isn’t taking some blame.(Why don’t the Prosecutor make them take the blame and file charges against them…this is 3 dead children with DSS involvement!!!)

Burton said, “To me what’s unforgiveable is that the system we put in place to protect these children when we know that they’re at risk, has failed to do anything to keep them safe.”

That criticism comes in light of the fact CPS visited MacCurdy’s home four times prior to her death. In 2003, when Amber’s then three- year-old brother had wandered from the home, CPS recommended a change of locks.

In 2006, when that same brother was found dirty and unsupervised, the case was investigated, but later closed. In 2007, when Amber’s other brother, a one-year-old, had a fractured arm, a doctor ruled it was not abuse. And in March of this year, when Amber’s older brother was the focus of a child abuse case, a CPS caseworker ruled the allegation unfounded, although Amber’s mother prevented the caseworker from fully inspecting her daughter.

Gwen Carter with Child Protective Services said, “There was no indication from our visit to the home that the other children were in danger.”

The MacCurdy case comes in the wake of the death of four-year-old Emma Thompson, who just weeks before she died with bruises covering her body and a skull fracture, tested positive for herpes. A caseworker decided not to remove her from her home because she didn’t have any other signs of sexual abuse. Then just this week, a three-year-old Montgomery County boy died from blunt force injuries. CPS had visited his guardians three times before his death.

“We are taking a hard look at the work that we do and we are making no excuses, if there is something we could have done,” Carter said.

CPS says it will be reviewing these cases with oversight from Austin, fully aware that people like Randy Burton will be watching, hoping this time things will change.

“We expect and we assume that when we call CPS they are the white knight that charges to the child’s safety,” Burton said. “It’s not what happens.”

All three of the defendants in the MacCurdy case have plead not guilty. The case is moving forward and the defendants are due in court later this week.

Video Link: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6994095

FOSTER PARENTS REMAIN FOCUS OF MISSING BOY INVESTIGATION

 

Hasanni Campbell Photo: Oakland Police Dept.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/20660596/detail.html

Posted: 11:05 pm PDT August 31, 2009

Updated: 3:51 pm PDT September 1, 2009

OAKLAND, Calif. — The foster parents of missing Fremont 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell may have been released from jail because of a lack of evidence, but the Oakland police said Tuesday the couple remained the focus of their investigation.

At an afternoon news conference, Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan left little doubt that the couple remained at the center of the investigation.

“This case is an on-going investigation; we will continue to follow up on leads,” he said. “We strongly believe and know for a fact that Hasanni Campbell never made it to Oakland on August 10th…We are continuing putting our efforts into solving this case and potentially re-arresting Mr. Louis Ross or Jennifer Campbell at some point. We respect the DA’s opinion, but we have more work to do here.”

However, Jordan didn’t offer any evidence to back up his assertion and left a brief news conference at police headquarters without taking any questions.

Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason told reporters that the last time anyone other than Ross or Campbell saw Hasanni was at the Walmart store in Fremont on Aug. 6, four days before Ross reported that Hasanni was missing.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office had released Jennifer Campbell on Monday and said it would release Louis Ross on Tuesday.

Veteran defense attorney John Burris, who has been advising the couple, told KTVU the arrests were an investigative gamble that had backfired.

“I was not surprised that she (Campbell) was released and not charged,” he said. “I knew the evidence. I knew there was no evidence and she was not going to talk because she had already given as many statements as she could.”

“I think it was a rush to judgment – an overreaction on the part of the police. They did not have evidence to support a conviction for her and I doubt that they had enough for a conviction for him. It may be a tactic on their part…I always thought it was a tactic by the police to squeeze one or both them to offer up incriminating evidence. It did not work.”

Campbell was arrested Friday on suspicion of aiding and abetting a homicide. Her fiancé Louis Ross was arrested at the couple’s Fremont home on the same charge.

Ross reported Hasanni missing on August 10th from Oakland’s Rockridge area.

“All I know is that this was one of the most difficult times in my life,” Campbell told KTVU after her release. “I’m still focused on finding Hasanni.”

Campbell said she was “in utter shock” when police arrested her at the Union City BART station Friday when she spoke to KTVU about being interrogated by police.

“They just said I was guilty of something. I told them I didn’t do anything. I just said find Hasanni. They accused me over and over again of doing something. I told them I didn’t,” Campbell said.

Oakland police have not said what led to the arrest of the foster parents or why investigators believe the child is dead.

Following her release, Campbell attended a prayer service for Hasanni in the Rockridge neighborhood.

Campbell was greeted by friends and those who have helped in the search for Hasanni.

Campbell said she was kept away from other inmates in an isolated cell at Santa Rita jail, but could still hear the inmates yell out derogatory remarks at her.

“I know what’s in my heart and anybody who knows me knows what I’m capable of. [They] know what I would do and know that this isn’t even in my character,” she said.

Campbell also said she has no doubt that Ross did not harm Hasanni either.

“We had nothing to do with it. He’s our little boy. We want him…and we want him back and our main concern is finding him and we still want people to come out. We still want people to know he is missing.”

Burris said being arrested was traumatic for Campbell, who is six months pregnant, and caused her “a great deal of emotional harm.” He had visited Campbell and Ross Sunday in jail, in attempt to assist them in locating a criminal defense attorney.

A search of Lake Elizabeth in Fremont has been organized for Saturday morning. Volunteers said they intend to continue to hold weekly vigils for Hasanni until he is found.

 

Murderers or model parents?

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/01/BAVA19H138.DTL

Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

Hasanni Campbell’s foster parents – whom Oakland police held over the weekend on suspicion of being involved in the 5-year-old Fremont boy’s disappearance – would appear to be the least likely of suspects, according to social service records that have been turned over to investigators.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/01/BAVA19H138.DTL#ixzz0Q3ZhDLRb

DISCLOSE DETAILS IN ABUSE CASES SOONER

 

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090902/OPINION03/909020344/1110

It’s impossible to know how many young lives are saved because social workers do their jobs by intervening when children are abused or neglected. But when the Iowa Department of Human Services is involved with a child who is seriously injured or dies as a result of abuse, everyone starts asking questions.

What actions, if any, did workers take to protect the child? Were mistakes made? Did the state do its job?

The public has a right to answers, including details, about state involvement with a child.

Right now, the public isn’t getting this information in a timely manner.

Iowa lawmakers should take additional steps toward openness in abuse cases. Previous legislative attempts to shed light on the inner workings of DHS didn’t go far enough.

Those efforts came after Spirit Lake toddler Shelby Duis died in 2000, after enduring months of physical and sexual abuse. The public was outraged. People came forward to say they’d reported abuse to the agency. A physician said he had contacted the state after treating Shelby for a broken hand.

But DHS was silent about its involvement with the little girl.

And that silence was required by state law, which prohibited the disclosure of child-abuse records to the public. Lawmakers made changes, which included adding the governor and legislative leaders to the list of those to whom the information could be revealed – but prohibited sharing it more broadly.

A few years later, the Legislature allowed public disclosure of details in certain child-abuse cases in response to statements made by individuals involved in the case, such as a parent going public with their story.

Lawmakers didn’t go far enough.

Whereas DHS used to cite state law in withholding information on abuse cases, now it cites county prosecutors as the reason.

That’s the case with requests for information about the agency’s involvement with Ethan Neiderbach.

In May, the Des Moines infant was born with a controlled substance in his body – which brought him to the attention of DHS. A few weeks later, he was taken to the hospital with a broken arm. Less than a month after that, he arrived at the hospital “lifeless,” according to a police report. His condition remains dire, and his parents have been charged with felony child endangerment, with both entering not-guilty pleas this week. Current law allows for child-abuse information to be made public in the event of fatal or near-fatal abuse. But the law requires DHS to consult with county attorneys – who may be pursuing charges against alleged abusers – before releasing records.

And the prosecutors always recommend against it. In at least eight abuse cases in 2007 and 2008 that resulted in death the records still remain confidential.

“It does not serve us well to not have people know what we did. On the other hand, we can see how the director is not going to go against the advice of a prosecutor,” said DHS spokesperson Roger Munns.

Law-enforcement authorities understandably want to avoid public disclosures that could compromise their investigations. But the public has a right to information without needless delay to determine whether the state did all it could to prevent a tragedy.

The Iowa Legislature should change the law to require information be made public after the initial criminal prosecution is complete, so the secrecy doesn’t drag on for years during appeals.

A few years after the Duis tragedy, then-director of DHS Jessie Rasmussen said she wished she would have “pushed the limits” of what she shared with the public, rather than listening to lawyers telling her to keep quiet.

When DHS doesn’t tell its side of the story, that leaves the public in the dark about how the state is operating. It frustrates human-services workers who want to explain what happened. Change the law to ensure silence does not extend beyond a reasonable time.

2 LOSE VOTE ON AUDIT REVIEW

 

Commissioners feared officials’ involvement might undermine public confidence in DSS investigation.

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/922161.html

By Fred Clasen-Kelly

frkelly@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Wednesday, Sep. 02, 2009

 

Reacting to complaints about possible conflicts of interest, Mecklenburg County commissioners voted Tuesday to remove County Manager Harry Jones and one of his top lieutenants as voting members of a committee that looks into alleged misspending.

The move means Jones and County General Manager John McGillicuddy can serve only as ex-officio members of the county board’s Audit Review Committee.

Their roles have come under scrutiny since the committee began evaluating county management’s response to recently revealed accounting failures at the Department of Social Services.

Some commissioners said the arrangement could undermine public confidence in an ongoing investigation because Jones and McGillicuddy would, in effect, judge their own performance.

On Tuesday, the county board agreed to add commissioners Dumont Clarke and Karen Bentley to the committee. Two members of county management will provide information to the panel.

“There was an obvious conflict of interest on some issues,” Commissioner Dan Murrey said.

In their final act as voting committee members, Jones and McGillicuddy voted last month to remove themselves from the panel.

County officials established the Audit Review Committee in 1999 to oversee financial audits and make recommendations to the commissioners. They took action following the indictment of former county elections director Bill Culp, who pleaded guilty to taking $134,000 in bribes and kickbacks.

The original committee included two commissioners, two county administrators and a community member.

The committee has helped lead a county investigation into why officials cannot account for tens of thousands of dollars that were supposed to help needy children. The issues include a $10,000 check that was made out to a county employee.

Complaints about the makeup of the committee surfaced in July after it issued a report that endorses reforms county managers implemented to correct problems found by auditors.

Counties such as Guilford, Wake, Durham and Forsyth have audit review committees and none allows staff to sit on the panel.

Fred Clasen-Kelly: 704-358-5027

…AND AGAIN, ANOTHER CHILD, ANOTHER MISSED CHANCE?

Three charged in death of 3-year-old Montgomery boy

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6596497.html

By TERRI LANGFORD

A 3-year-old Conroe boy was the victim of a fatal beating less than a week after a Texas Child Protective Services caseworker made a random visit and deemed him safe, as well as the cousins who lived with him.

Late Monday, paramedics were called to the home after the boy, whose name has not been officially released, was found bruised and not breathing. He was later pronounced dead, an hour after arriving at St. Luke’s Hospital in The Woodlands.

On Tuesday, three people were arrested and charged with the injuries that led to the boy’s death Monday night. Crystal Tijerina, the boy’s aunt, 26; her 30-year-old boyfriend, Noah Herrera; and Steven Paul Chauvin, 47, remained in the Montgomery County Jail on Tuesday.

“The caseworker is just devastated,” CPS spokeswoman Gwen Carter said of the boy’s death.

On Aug. 25, the worker made a random visit to the boy’s home in east Montgomery County. “All the children appear to be happy and healthy,” the caseworker wrote.

The boy was part of a blended family that had been investigated four times by CPS.

His death is at least the third in the span of five months in which a child died despite CPS invention. On June 27, 4-year-old Emma Thompson of Spring died after a fatal beating, less than three weeks after investigators were notified that she had genital herpes. On April 9, 2-month-old Amber Maccurdy died of an untreated staph infection less than four weeks after a CPS visit.

Montgomery County Justice of the Peace Edie Connelly said a preliminary autopsy determined that the boy died of severe blunt trauma to the abdomen. “He had numerous injuries,” Connelly said.

The boy was living with his maternal grandparents, five cousins, an aunt and an uncle. CPS removed the cousins — ranging in age from 2 to 12 — from the home while the agency investigates.

The first CPS entry for the boy came on Aug. 3, 2006, the day he was born, when his mother appeared to have tested positive for drugs after she delivered him. But the mother told CPS she had been taking cold medication and agency officials concluded the medication could have resulted in a positive test result.

CPS was called a second time six months later — Feb. 17, 2007 — after someone complained that the boy’s mother and her boyfriend were passed out inside a car while the baby was strapped in a car seat in the back. He was examined by CPS. The boy appeared to be in good health and was placed with the mother’s parents.

That’s where he was living when 911 was called on Monday.

In January 2008, the boy’s mother died of an accidental drug overdose.

CPS made two more visits last year, to investigate neglect and abuse complaints involving the boy’s cousins in the grandmother’s home. The last visit came on Aug. 25, the day the caseworker showed up for a random check.

Carter said CPS spent Tuesday retracing its steps to determine what, if any, mistakes may have been made in handling the family’s case.

terri.langford@chron.com

ANOTHR CHILD, ANOTHER MISSED CHANCE?

Another child, another missed chance?

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6596098.html

By TERRI LANGFORD

All that marks Amber Maccurdy’s short 66 days on earth is a vacant space for the mobile home where the 2-month-old baby once lived and later died an excruciating death.

By the time paramedics arrived on April 9 to her grandmother’s Katy mobile home, the infant had a large gaping abscess on the right side of her chest, the result of a brutal, untreated staph infection. Autopsy results would later find she had broken ribs and a fractured arm, compromising her immune system even more.

Amber’s parents — Hobert Maccurdy and Melissa Menkes — along with maternal grandmother Linda Menkes, have been charged, accused of failing to seek medical attention leading to Amber’s death. They didn’t seek medical care, her mother told authorities, because she was afraid Texas Child Protective Services would take Amber and her two brothers away from them.

After all, CPS investigators had been called to the mobile home a total of four times since 2003, including one time nearly a month before Amber died.

But not once were Amber or her brothers taken from the home, despite several warning signs.

Not in 2003, when her oldest brother, then 3, wandered away from the home and was found with a soiled diaper standing on a median in the middle of a four-lane road.

Not in 2006, when a caseworker was called to the home after it was reported the same boy exhibited signs of poor physical hygiene and his mother could not be located.

Not in 2007, when another of Amber’s brothers, then 1 month old, had a fracture to his right arm.

And definitely not in March, when a caseworker came to check a report that Amber’s oldest brother, now 9, had been hit with an open fist. All the children were fine, the caseworker reported back to her superiors, according to CPS officials. The caseworker noted she saw no “marks or bruises” on Amber.

But the caseworker never examined Amber. The mother refused to let the caseworker see her closely, a fact confirmed by Patrick Crimmins, CPS spokesman in Austin.

“The mother only allowed the caseworker to examine Amber while holding her, so the worker saw the child’s face, arms and legs,” Crimmins said. “To the worker, Amber did not appear to be in any distress and did not appear to be injured or harmed in any way.”

‘We … are human’

He had no immediate answer as to why the caseworker seemed to violate policy by allowing the mother to prevent her from examining the child. “If an examination cannot be conducted because the parent, caretaker, or child objects … The caseworker discusses with a supervisor or (CPS) attorney any questions or concerns about: the need to obtain a court order; and the authority to take photographs under these circumstances,” the agency’s policy reads.

“What I will tell you is that the job of a CPS investigator is one of the toughest imaginable. What those workers are required to do, and trained to do, is described as “risk assessment,” but what it really entails is the ability to predict human behavior. We are imperfect at that because we, ourselves, are human,” Crimmins said.

Luci Davidson, attorney for Melissa Menkes, would say only that she will “zealously represent my client and present the evidence as we see the evidence should be presented. I don’t have any comment on what CPS says to the press.”

Menkes, who wrote the court, denied she had anything to do with her daughter’s death.

“I’m not guilty of hurting my child,” Melissa Menkes said in a letter she dictated on May 31 while in the Harris County Jail and sent to State District Judge Jim Wallace. “If I would have know (sic) she was sick I would have taken her to the doctor right away.”

Another tragedy

Amber’s death came just two months before another child known to CPS died after caseworkers may have failed to look at the sum of the factors pointing to trouble.

Four-year-old Emma Thompson of Spring died June 27 in an emergency room with 80 bruises covering her body, a skull fracture and signs of sexual abuse.

A few weeks before her death, CPS was notified the little girl tested positive for genital herpes, but the caseworker decided against removing her because no other possible signs of sexual abuse could be found.

Both Emma’s mother and the mother’s boyfriend have been charged in the injuries that caused her death: severe abdominal trauma.

“It’s unfortunate, any way you look at it,” said Robert R. Scott, attorney for Hobert Maccurdy, Amber’s father. “He’s not guilty of this.”

An internal review is under way in Amber’s case, Crimmins said, in response to questions from the Houston Chronicle about it.

“The Legislature has been more than generous with CPS in terms of resources, including money, employees and innovative tools such as special investigators,” Crimmins said. “CPS will continue to make the best possible use of those resources while constantly seeking to improve its own performance.”

terri.langford@chron.com

BOY WHOSE EYE WAS BITTEN OUT IS PLACE WITH UNCLE

Boy whose eye was bitten out is placed with uncle

 

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x616725048/Boy-whose-eye-was-bitten-out-is-placed-with-uncle

BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer

sswenson@bakersfield.com

Angelo Mendoza Jr., the boy whose eye was bit out by his father, has been moved from a foster home to the home of his uncle.

The 4-year-old boy was taken from the foster home on Thursday evening with just a few minutes notice, according to a source familiar with the situation.

By Monday, the boy is doing “okay,” the source said. It’s unclear if the boy has suffered trauma from being moved from the home he has spent the last four months recovering from his attack, the source said.

A hearing on the boy’s placement was held on Friday in Juvenile Court. The boy’s parents, Angelo Mendoza Sr., 34, and Desirae Bermudez, 23, were present in the courtroom. Questions were asked about how close the boy is to his mother, the source said.

The boy’s mother has declined to talk to reporters.

Two of the boy’s uncles and an aunt, as well as the boy’s foster mother, were at the courthouse but were asked to wait outside the courtroom.

Those four had been instructed by Child Protective Services workers not to talk to the news media about the case.

The boy was placed with his uncle, 26-year-old Jesse Rosas.

In the weeks after the April 28 attack on the boy, Rosas announced he would be seeking custody.

He and his wife, Tamara, obtained a “relative placement” of the boy, the source said. That’s similar to a foster care placement.

Official custody of the child is still with Child Protective Services.

Mrs. Rosas said on Friday that her family would not confirm where the boy was because they want their privacy.

A background check of Rosas showed he is a homeowner, an oilfield worker, a graduate of Centennial High School and has no criminal record.

He is a member of Forever Changed, a Christian sport motorcycle group which has raised more than $24,000 on behalf of the boy. An account known as the Baby Angel Fund has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank.

The others at Juvenile Court Friday were Martha Mejia, a sister to the suspect, and Manuel Vidal, an uncle to the suspect and great uncle to the boy.

The uncles, aunt and the boy’s mother have had regular contact with the boy while he was in the foster home. That was expected to continue, the source said.

In the meantime, Angelo Mendoza Sr., has been found not competent to stand trial on charges of mayhem and torture.

He is awaiting a Sept. 22 hearing on his expected placement to Patton State Hospital. The hospital staff will have up to three years to try to restore him to competency so he can stand trial on the charges.

CPS REVIEWING CASE OF STARVED 14-YEAR-OLD IN CARNATION

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008267686_cpsabuse15m.html

A 14-year-old girl who was found starved to 48 pounds in August had told a teacher three years ago that her stepmother was locking her in her room and starving her. Child Protective Services investigated the 2005 complaint and is now reviewing its actions, but officials said the agency would have been hard-pressed to do anything differently.

By Maureen O’Hagan

Seattle Times staff reporter

Three years ago, an 11-year-old Carnation girl told her teacher she wanted to run away from home because her stepmother was abusing her. Locking her in her room. Starving her, even.

The girl figured she weighed 60 pounds. All she’d get was two pieces of toast a day, she said at the time.

At first glance, it seems like a clear-cut case of child abuse. Just months earlier, a Spokane-area boy named Tyler DeLeon died after being starved by his mother. But it was not so simple, and for three more years, the girl remained at home.

On Monday, her stepmother, Rebecca Long, and father, Jon Pomeroy, were charged with criminal mistreatment. When investigators responded to a complaint in August — after a neighbor reported hearing screaming from the house — the girl was 14 years old and weighed 48 pounds.

She suffered dehydration so severe that all of her teeth were rotting, court documents state. It was the worst case of abuse the veteran King County detective assigned to the case had ever seen.

“Obviously we wish we’d had the vision to know that something was going to happen to this child,” Children’s Administration head Cheryl Stephani said Tuesday.

The agency is still reviewing its work from 2005 to see if there are any lessons to draw. But for the most part, Stephani defended the agency’s actions, saying that given the totality of the situation, the agency would have been hard-pressed to do anything differently.

“We’re going to thoroughly review the case and see if there were things that were not disclosed at that point [three years ago]” Children’s Administration spokesman Thomas Shapley said.

The 2005 case came to light after the girl disclosed abuse to a teacher, who called law enforcement and Child Protective Services (CPS). The girl was home-schooled, but attended a program once a week at Carnation Elementary School.

She told the CPS investigator that she wanted to go into foster care because she was “tired of eating two pieces of bread,” according to notes from the CPS interview read to a reporter.

But when questioned further, the girl said that she sometimes ate soup and a sandwich for lunch, and that when her father, a software engineer, came home from work, she ate the dinner he prepared.

Her complaints, the investigator concluded, were focused more on disputes with her stepmother than they were on starvation. Given the girl’s report, there wasn’t a lot for the investigator to latch onto, Stephanie Allison-Noone, the regional CPS manager in charge of the case, said Tuesday.

The agency is still reviewing its work from 2005 to see if there are any lessons to draw. But for the most part, Stephani defended the agency’s actions, saying that given the totality of the situation, the agency would have been hard-pressed to do anything differently.

“We’re going to thoroughly review the case and see if there were things that were not disclosed at that point [three years ago]” Children’s Administration spokesman Thomas Shapley said.

The 2005 case came to light after the girl disclosed abuse to a teacher, who called law enforcement and Child Protective Services (CPS). The girl was home-schooled, but attended a program once a week at Carnation Elementary School.

She told the CPS investigator that she wanted to go into foster care because she was “tired of eating two pieces of bread,” according to notes from the CPS interview read to a reporter.

But when questioned further, the girl said that she sometimes ate soup and a sandwich for lunch, and that when her father, a software engineer, came home from work, she ate the dinner he prepared.

Her complaints, the investigator concluded, were focused more on disputes with her stepmother than they were on starvation. Given the girl’s report, there wasn’t a lot for the investigator to latch onto, Stephanie Allison-Noone, the regional CPS manager in charge of the case, said Tuesday.

The agency was able to determine that Long punished the girl by locking her in a room. That complaint was deemed “founded.” The case quickly concluded when the investigator told the mother it was “not OK” to lock the girl in, in case of fire, and Long said she wouldn’t do it again.

From appearances, Long was just a typical stay-at-home mom.

One of Long’s relatives, who lives in another state and did not want to be named, said she had never seen any indications of abuse.

“The times I’ve seen her with the children, she seemed very concerned about them. She was home-schooling then because [the girl] was doing poorly and she always seemed to care about them.”

To outsiders, she seemed like a woman obsessed — with knitting. She accumulated yarn with a manic focus, buying more and more skeins to add to her “stash.” As the stash grew uncontrollably, she vowed on her blog to whittle it down by finishing projects for family and friends at the frantic pace of one a week. But she could not keep up. Last February, she calculated she had enough yarn in her stash for 72 projects.

Meanwhile, she was systematically depriving her stepdaughter of sustenance, court documents state. Investigators say the girl told them that Long permitted her half a Dixie cup of water a day and supervised the girl’s showers and toothbrushing so she could not sneak a drink. Once, the girl said she was caught drinking from the toilet, her thirst was so bad. The girl told a detective that her father was “aware of the water restrictions but chooses not to interfere,” according to court documents.

In August, a neighbor called CPS to report screams coming from the home. Sheriff deputies found the child emaciated, dehydrated and starving to death — her body resembling that of a 7- or 8-year-old.

Detectives say Long told them she punished the girl by restricting her water intake. Pomeroy, a software engineer described by a former colleague as “brilliant and hyperintelligent,” told detectives he thought it was odd that his daughter looked like a child in elementary school. He was also aware of the water restriction but thought “they could just handle it themselves,” according to court documents.

Stephani said that this time, the CPS investigator demanded the girl be taken to a doctor. The doctor who saw her the next day referred the child immediately to Seattle Children’s hospital, which has expertise in these kinds of cases. She spent two weeks in the hospital and was placed in foster care.

“I’m not trying to make excuses but it — is complex,” Stephani said.

Long and Pomeroy were each released on $20,000 bail. They are scheduled for arraignment Oct. 27.

Staff reporters Christine Clarridge and Lornet Turnbull contributed to this report. Maureen O’Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com

SOCIAL WORKER ACCUSED OF SCAM

 

Official: Baffi Promised Help for A Price

 

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/090831_social_worker_scams_immigrant_family

Kathy Carvajal

MINEOLA, N.Y. – An employee of the Department of Social Services was arrested for taking thousands of dollars from a Peruvian couple with promises to bring their children to the United States.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office says Tula Baffi, 42, “exploited a hardworking couple’s desire to give their children a better life… she preyed on them… she believed they wouldn’t come forward.. she was wrong,” says Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

The couple paid Baffi $11,500 over the course of a year.

Officials say Baffi convinced the family that her government job gave her the authority to bring the children into the United States. She also traveled to Peru at the couple’s expense in July 2006 but did not return with the children.

The D.A. says in 2007, Baffi agreed to pay back the family but only made one payment of $500.