America’s dead children and Child Protective Services

http://www.examiner.com/x-29636-Surry-County-CPS-Examiner~y2009m11d11-Americas-dead-children-and-Child-Protective-Services

The list is long and heartbreaking, the children on it have been beaten, broken, drowned, burned, strangled, starved or neglected, and all of them are dead. Headlines have drawn attention to the cases of some of them, Danieal Kelly, Erin Maxwell, Kayla Allen, and Christopher Thomas, but there are many more, Phoenix Jordan Cody-Parrish, Brandon Williams, Elizabeth Goodwin, Logan Marr and Alexis (Lexie)Agyepong-Grover, just to name a few.

The children on this list died in very different settings; some died in their own homes, some in foster care, while others were killed by their adoptive parents. Yet, all of these dead, abused, children had one thing in common, Child Protective Services.

New Report Scalds DHS

Accuses Agency Of Allowing Abuse

http://www.koco.com/news/21586699/detail.html

TULSA, Okla. –

A child welfare expert said five foster children in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services were scalded in bath water, sexually molested, beaten with tree switches and belts and hit in the mouth – a pattern of abuse the expert called “outrageous and immoral.”

The 121-page report  by independent consultant Peg McCartt Hess was filed Wednesday afternoon in Tulsa federal court as part of a 2008 class-action lawsuit that accuses DHS of mistreating its foster children.

For her report, Hess reviewed case files for five of the nine children named as plaintiffs in the suit against Oklahoma by Children’s Rights, a New York-based child advocacy group.

In the report, two different child welfare experts reviewed a case involving several children in DHS custody and said DHS is inadequate in responding to abuse in a home, that children in DHS care are likely at risk of physical and mental abuse, that social workers have only superficial relationships with children, and that children are at risk of being placed with abusive and neglectful caregivers.

Hess said the abuse and neglect the children suffered while in DHS custody was “wholly preventable.”

The claim is a starkly different story than George Johnson of the DHS said in an interview with Eyewitness News 5 one year ago.

“Any time anything happens to a child in foster care, there’s an immediate investigation,” he said in the November 2008 interview. “That’s the best we can do to work hard every single day.”

At the time, he also said that it wasn’t true that children in DHS care are in danger of being placed with abusive or neglectful caregivers.

“Whether they’re in foster homes or their own relatives’ care, children will die,” he said in 2008. “Accidents will happen, period.”

DHS declined to comment on the new reports until workers have had a chance to review them.

Oklahoma kids in DHS care face dangers, report finds

Group seeks reform of state system

TULSA — Treatment of children in Oklahoma’s child welfare system has been “incomprehensible, unimaginable, outrageous and immoral,” a child welfare expert stated Wednesday in a report filed in Tulsa federal court.

Read more: http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-kids-in-dhs-care-face-dangers-report-finds/article/3416727?custom_click=pod_headline_crime#ixzz0WgHKV8kQ

The DSS mystery: Where did money go?

E-mails show officials suspected misspending, but they have never said who was at fault for disappearance of $162,000 in donations for needy kids

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/1044222.html

By Fred Clasen-Kelly

frkelly@charlotteobserver.com

Internal e-mails reveal new allegations of misspending at the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, raising more unanswered questions about what happened to money intended to help needy children.

Some of the more than 1,000 e-mails the Observer obtained through a public records request provide the most detailed account to date about the agency’s accounting fiasco.

E-mails show:

Officials suspected an employee wrote $80,000 in checks to herself from donations.

An administrator questioned why other donations were used to buy $340 diamond earrings, leather coats and a $300 DVD player.

A top executive complained that a senior fiscal administrator frustrated co-workers with her “inability to explain the simplest concepts of revenue and expenses.”

After nearly a year, officials have never said who was at fault for $162,000 that disappeared or whether anyone was disciplined.

No one has been charged in an ongoing police investigation and a county report says officials cannot be certain where the money went.

Meanwhile, donors are left to wonder whether their generosity ever helped buy Christmas gifts for those in need.

In one e-mail, a woman describes calling the county in 2007 to give $900 for single mothers at Christmas. The person who answered the phone told her to make a check payable to the worker’s sister.

The donor said she grew suspicious and made the check out to the county, but the idea that it may still have been misused is “like a kick in the stomach.”

In another e-mail, a founder of Second String Santa said he was concerned whether kids received the more than 50,000 toys his group had donated since 1989.

Will Miller said he believes some of the toys reached children, but he’s not sure about the rest.

“Will we ever know? Probably not,” he said.

Two commissioners said they have asked county administrators for a full accounting of what went wrong at DSS but have yet to receive answers. County officials have never explained who was responsible, they said.

“To fix it, you have to admit all the stuff that is messed up,” Commissioner Bill James said. “They don’t want to do too much digging.”

County administrators declined interview requests. Instead, a county spokesman released a prepared statement saying appropriate fiscal controls have been installed in response to an outside audit and an internal investigation.

“Our review of the e-mails we provided and your follow up questions did not reveal any new information that would suggest any change in the audit findings or in management’s response to those findings,” the statement said.

Some commissioners said they have been told that the employees involved have either left county government or been placed in new positions.

Unusual spending patterns

DSS spends $176 million annually and employs 1,200 workers to assist Mecklenburg’s poor and neglected. The agency administers everything from food stamps to foster care and child protection services.

Last spring, DSS Director Mary Wilson ordered financial audits following reports of suspicious spending.

Auditors looked at multiple spending programs and financial practices in the agency. They found a $10,000 check made out to an employee, missing and altered receipts and money for kids spent on office supplies.

County leaders responded by suspending the programs, putting DSS finance under direct county control, training workers on accounting procedures and ordering a review of financial procedures in each county agency.

The Observer reviewed e-mails dating from December 2008 to July 2009 for seven current and former county administrators, including Wilson, County Manager Harry Jones, County Finance Director Dena Diorio and Internal Auditor Cornita Spears.

E-mails show county officials noticed unusual spending patterns as early as last December but did not disclose problems to the public until March.

On New Year’s Eve, Wilson told staff she had suspended a voucher program the agency used to purchase clothes and other items for clients at local stores. She wrote that officials were worried about a lack of oversight and a spike in spending.

One monthly retail bill leapt from between $5,000 and $6,000 to more than $20,000 in October 2008, the e-mail says. Employees turned in receipts only 30 to 35 percent of the time, she wrote.

At one time or another, workers possessed or had access to numerous credit cards and gift cards, including some to Bath & Body Works, Bass Pro Shops, Macy’s, the Cheesecake Factory and Outback Steakhouse.

Outside auditors verified for county administrators that DSS workers possessed county-issued credit cards, including 10 credit cards for Sam’s Club, three for Harris Teeter and an online charge account with amazon.com.

In February, county officials asked internal auditors to look into questionable spending, including purchases of diamond earrings, leather coats and a DVD player.

An e-mail to one of the auditors from a human resources consultant said the purchases raise “many questions and concerns.”

According to the county’s statement, most gifts were typical children’s items such as toys, clothes and books. More expensive items such as diamond earrings and leather coats were approved purchases for foster children who reached special milestones like high school graduation, the statement says.

“Receiving a gift of some significant value was viewed as an incentive for other children who were in foster care to set goals and accomplish them,” the statement said.

Commissioner Harold Cogdell said he spent part of his early childhood in foster care and believes the gifts are a good idea.

“It makes sense to me to show the kids some love,” Cogdell said.

A new accountant

DSS has endured multiple management shakeups in recent years. The latest came when Wilson reorganized the agency after she was hired in July 2008.

She laid out the reasons to hire a new finance director in a February e-mail.

Wilson wrote that the senior fiscal administrator who managed DSS finances failed to provide reports about oversight, alienated staff and lacked the ability to conduct productive discussions with senior county executives. The e-mail does not name the senior fiscal administrator.

DSS later hired accountant Angela Hurlburt to oversee its finances.

James, the commissioner, said he has asked for the names and background information on Hurlburt’s predecessors. He wants them to answer questions from the Board of Commissioners’ Audit Review Committee, which investigated accounting lapses at DSS.

He said administrators have failed to respond to his requests and complained that officials “keep us in the dark.”

Other commissioners disagreed.

Chairman Jennifer Roberts and Commissioner Dumont Clarke said county leaders have already put in place reforms that will protect taxpayer and donor money.

“The highest priority” is implementing new financial controls, Clarke said.

Shifting the finances

Auditors from Cherry, Bekaert & Holland reviewed DSS and found that Mecklenburg officials responded appropriately. The county’s Audit Review Committee came to the same conclusion.

But DSS Director Wilson bristled at one of the major reforms.

Leaders put DSS finance under the direct control of the county’s main finance department after allegations of misspending surfaced.

In April, Wilson sent an e-mail to County General Manager Michelle Lancaster to complain. Calling the decision “premature” and “shortsighted,” Wilson said there are emergencies when DSS workers must write checks immediately, including occasions when the agency takes children in custody who need clothes, toiletries and school supplies.

“I understand the urgency at the time, but there was a reason DSS had check writing capability and I think we threw the baby out with the bathwater instead of fixing the underlying issue, which is documentation and accountability,” Wilson wrote.

Donors left with questions

Past supporters of the DSS Christmas charity include Young Lawyers, employees of Wachovia and Bank of America, and Project Joy, the holiday fund drive initiated by Observer columnist Tommy Tomlinson. The Christmas charity, known as the Giving Tree, is now run by the Salvation Army.

The donor who gave $900 e-mailed the county in July after learning about accounting failures from news accounts. She attached a picture of the check copy she made around Christmas in 2007.

She wrote that she did not remember the name of the woman she spoke with on the phone.

The donor said she and her family all pitched in to raise the money so she could assist women like her who had struggled as single mothers.

When she heard there were allegations of misspending in a DSS charity program, “It’s like your stomach just drops.” Staff reporter April Bethea contributed.

Fred Clasen-Kelly: 704 358-5027

Crowdsourcing: Help us review e-mails

http://obspapertrail.blogspot.com/2009/11/crowdsourcing-help-us-review-e-mails.html

We examined some 1,100 emails from public officials to report our story on misspending at the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services.

Now you can, too.

Use the links below to view emails sent by top administrators related to DSS.

Let us know if you spot something that you think deserves further scrutiny. You can leave a comment below or send an e-mail.

The buzzword for this is “crowdsourcing.”

But the concept is as old as the notion that two heads are better than one.

(Collective wisdom is illustrated this way by author James Surowiecki: On the game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” the lifeline to an expert friend yielded the correct answer about 65 percent of the time, while the studio audience was right 91 percent of the time.)

Here are the links:

Click here for County Manager Harry Jones.

Click here for DSS Director Mary Wilson.

Click here for Finance Director Dena Diorio.

Click here for auditor Cornita Spears.

Click here for administrator Beverly Hinson.

Click here for supervisor Cindy Brady.

Here’s a link  to an e-mail highlighted in our story, in which Wilson says a senior fiscal administrator has left directors “frustrated with her inability to explain the simplest concepts of revenue and expenses.”

- Doug Miller

Man’s e-mail about DSS sent to his employer

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/408/story/1044223.html

By Fred Clasen-Kelly

frkelly@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

As news spread about possible missing money from the Department of Social Services Christmas charity, Harry Lomax and other donors contacted Mecklenburg County leaders to complain.

“I feel duped,” Lomax wrote in an e-mail to county commissioners and top administrators.

But Lomax likely did not anticipate County Manager Harry Jones’ response.

Jones forwarded the e-mail to Lomax’s employer, Bank of America, and wrote, “Do you know Harry Lomax.”

A Bank of America vice president replied to Jones about one hour later, writing that she was “embarrassed” by Lomax’s e-mail.

“I am tracking it down. I don’t know him – I have alerted charles. Will be back to you,” she wrote.

Some commissioners and ethics experts now say the actions by Jones and the bank official were improper because they could stifle free speech and blur the lines between employment and citizenship.

It’s unclear how Jones knew Lomax worked at Bank of America. Lomax sent his message from a personal account and did not mention the bank by name.

“It is not appropriate,” said Diane Swanson, a professor of business ethics at Kansas State University. “If this happened all the time, what kind of world would we have?”

The Observer obtained the e-mails from the county through an open records request. They provide a glimpse into how top Mecklenburg administrators reacted to reports of misspending and accounting lapses at the Department of Social Services.

Worried donors wrote to commissioners and county executives after auditors disclosed that they could not account for tens of thousands of dollars from a charity designed to buy Christmas presents for needy children.

Some county commissioners said they do not understand why Jones forwarded the e-mail from Lomax to his employer when he was speaking as a citizen and not on behalf of the company. They said they would question Jones about it.

Public officials publish their phone numbers and e-mail addresses to allow constituents to voice concerns and ask questions. They also set aside time during public meetings to listen to comments from constituents.

“Citizens are able to vent frustrations without thinking that (county) management will get their employer to engage in some retribution,” Commissioner Bill James said. “This makes the county look bad. It makes Harry look vindictive. It makes Bank of America look like the county’s hatchet man.”

Jones did not respond to interview requests from the Observer. A county spokesman referred a reporter to a statement the county released, but it does not directly address questions about Lomax’s e-mail.

Nicole Nastacie, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, said “on their personal time, employees are free to express personal opinions” to government officials about any issue that is not related to the company.

Betty Turner, the bank’s government liaison who responded to Jones, suspected that Lomax’s e-mail involved issues related to the bank and appropriately looked into the situation, Nastacie said. When she determined Lomax was speaking as a private citizen, there were no further discussions, Nastacie said.

Lomax declined to comment.

The e-mail

On July 7, Lomax sent his e-mail to commissioners, Jones, DSS Director Mary Wilson and County Finance Director Dena Diorio. He wrote that he had planned to speak during a commissioners meeting the same day at the urging of Commissioner Neil Cooksey.

Lomax wrote that he left before speaking and decided to e-mail his comments.

The e-mail criticizes county management for failing to prevent accounting failures and accuses some commissioners of a “flippant, hands-off response” to the issue. “There seems to be a need for a wholesale cleanup of many county agencies, and I think that starts from the top down,” Lomax wrote.

A week after receiving the e-mail, Jones forwarded it to Turner.

Commissioners respond

Commissioner Karen Bentley said Jones should not have sent the e-mail to Bank of America.

“It should have no bearing on his job,” Bentley said. “That’s his right.”

Commissioner Dumont Clarke called the move “unusual.”

Clarke and some other commissioners said they would need more information to judge whether Jones acted appropriately.

“It’s not a good practice for the manager to do,” Clarke said.

Commissioner Chairman Jennifer Roberts said she would try to contact Lomax to speak with him. “I don’t read anything into this,” Roberts said. “Maybe Harry was trying to make sure Bank of America didn’t feel duped.”

Four business and government professors reviewed the e-mails for the Observer. Three said Jones did not have a valid reason to forward Lomax’s e-mail since he did not mention his employer by name or present himself as a representative of the company.

“Given these circumstances, one would expect a public official to respond directly to Mr. Lomax and not contact his employer,” said Denis Arnold, a professor of business ethics at UNC Charlotte.

Winthrop professor Marilyn Smith disagreed.

Considering public outcry over alleged misspending in DSS, Smith said it understandable that Jones would contact Bank of America. The bank also reacted appropriately, she said.

“To a certain extent, we represent our employers 24/7,” said Smith, a professor of management. “We like to think it’s my own personal opinion. Companies are judged by how their employees behave, fair or not.”

Fred Clasen-Kelly: 704 358-5027

State Supreme Court justice slams DHHR over foster care system

http://www.register-herald.com/statenews/local_story_306120858.html

The Associated Press

By Tom Breen

Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON — For the second time this year, a state Supreme Court justice has blasted the Department of Health and Human Resources by suggesting the agency has systemwide problems that need rapid correction.

In a concurring opinion filed this week, Justice Margaret Workman accused the DHHR of failing to properly protect children caught between the foster care system and an abusive home.

“The intent is to issue a clarion call to the DHHR to provide child protective services with more resources and more direction in protecting children,” Workman wrote.

Workman’s opinion comes roughly two months after Chief Justice Brent Benjamin rebuked DHHR in a different case. He wrote that the agency seems to have systemic problems preventing it from meeting its duties.

The two opinions, along with other concerns, have led some frustrated lawmakers to discuss whether splitting the agency up would make the bureaus and departments that comprise it more efficient.

Workman’s opinion backed the court’s unanimous affirmation of a 2008 decision by Mineral County Circuit Court Judge Philip Jordan. Jordan ordered that children who had been living in an Eastern Panhandle home should not be returned to the woman who ordered them to call her “Mom,” although she was not related to them by blood.

The woman, her son and seven children moved from Maryland to West Virginia in 2001. Over the next six years, the living arrangement was the subject of 11 referrals to DHHR concerning abuse and neglect.

In the Supreme Court’s anonymous, or “per curiam,” decision, the justices wrote that the DHHR substantiated claims of everything from physical abuse to a home with cockroaches falling from the ceiling and farm animals sharing living space with people.

The woman, named in the case only as Rosemary C., eventually lost custody of the children in 2007. A year later, though, after she had completed an improvement plan, DHHR recommended that four of the children be returned to her custody.

Jordan disagreed, and Rosemary C. appealed. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court, DHHR had changed its position and recommended the children not be returned to her.

“It is outrageous that seven children were left in despicable circumstances by the DHHR for more than six years and even then, that the DHHR still sought to place those children back in an unsafe environment,” Workman wrote.

She further wrote that the incident raises concern that it’s only “the tip of the iceberg,” which raises the question “whether we must begin to re-examine child protective services in a more systemic manner.”

DHHR spokesman John Law said the agency wants to further review the justices’ ruling before commenting.

Lawmakers who have read it, though, say it matches their frustration with the agency in matters ranging from foster care to the conditions at the state’s two psychiatric hospitals in Huntington and Weston.

“This is similar to what we saw at Bateman Hospital,” said Delegate Don Perdue, referring to the crowded conditions at the Huntington hospital. “It seems that DHHR has no ability to move quickly to intervene in negative situations like this.”

The Wayne County Democrat, who is chairman of the House Health and Human Resources Committee, said he wants legislation in the next session of the Legislature to address what he calls depleted resources at the agency, starting with hiring more people.

“DHHR needs to ramp up its work force, and it needs to recognize it has really severe problems in terms of being able to do what it needs to do,” he said.

Gov. Joe Manchin said that DHHR has made significant progress in several areas, but that he understands more work needs to be done. Manchin said he’s especially concerned if the agency is failing in its duty to protect children.

“Children are our number one priority and if there’s something wrong, then we need to fix it,” he said. “If that means additional training, more efficiencies, whatever it may be, then let’s look at the ideas on how we can make it better.”

Perdue and some of his colleagues have discussed splitting the agency up, which he said might make it easier to focus on the many tasks it currently has.

Prior to the administration of Gov. Gaston Caperton, many of the functions now handled by DHHR were located in separate parts of state government. Caperton sought the merger of those agencies to make them more streamlined and efficient.

“From what we’ve seen since, it hasn’t really achieved that goal,” Perdue said.

Manchin stopped short of endorsing that idea, although he said he wants to discuss it further with Perdue.

Perdue’s House colleague, Delegate Barbara Hatfield, has been crafting legislation she plans to introduce in the 2010 legislative session to address situations like the one described in the Supreme Court ruling.

“The system is broken,” the Kanawha County Democrat said. “Everyone knows it, but no one is doing anything about it.”

Hatfield’s legislation would create pilot programs offering specialized training and guidance to foster parents, and provide for better tracking of children in the system.

She also wants to see improved training for caseworkers and a boost in their pay to make the agency more competitive with the private sector.

“We have dedicated, good people doing their best,” she said, “but the strain on them is tremendous and there just aren’t enough of them.”

DSHS to pay $525,001 to settle records lawsuit

Abused children: Agency admits to errors

http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/1027189.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=4762396#Comments_Container

BRAD SHANNON; The Olympian

The state Department of Social and Health Services is paying $525,001 to settle a public-records lawsuit brought by former foster children abused by their state-licensed foster parents.

Lawyers David Moody and Marty McLean had sued to obtain state records in connection with a claim for $45 million in damages that they filed, alleging the state was liable for harm to the girls, two of whom are now adults. Their ex-foster father Enrique Fabregas was convicted two years ago of sex charges related to abuse of the children, according to The Seattle Times.

“Seeking answers as to why DSHS licensed a career criminal to be a foster parent and continually ignored numerous warnings of abuse, these young women each made a formal request for their public records,” Moody’s law firm stated in a news release Thursday. “DSHS illegally refused to provide a complete response.”

DSHS spokesman Steve Williams said the dispute was over 203 records that were disclosed late. He said the agency turned over more than 5,300 records that included more than 10,000 pages of information and that a court found the disclosures were complete by July 1, 2008.

But a King County judge ruled in June and October that the agency violated the Public Records Act, and a trial was scheduled to decide penalties, according to Moody’s office.

Williams acknowledged that the agency committed errors but could not say what the mistakes were or who made them.

“DSHS did not intentionally withhold any records,” he said. Quoting from agency talking points, he said: “Mistakes were made due to technical errors, confusion created in part by the staggered way in which the requester presented authorizations allowing release of his clients’ confidential information, and some delays in finding a few of the thousands of requested records.’’

DSHS is changing how it handles public-records requests. It plans to train staff members in records retention and management and is developing tools to aid in the search for and production of electronic records, Williams said. The agency also plans to have a centralized public-records staff, but it has not decided whether to have central offices for each division in the 18,700-employee agency or one for the entire agency.

The agency will pay its penalty out of operating funds, giving $175,000 each to Estera Tamas and Ruth Tamas and $175,001 to guardians for a disabled child named Monica, the settlement agreement says.

Police investigate baby’s death

http://www.poststar.com/news/local/article_8ab4d49e-ca89-11de-ac6f-001cc4c03286.html

By Don Lehman

GLENS FALLS — Police and Warren County officials are investigating the death of an 8-month-old baby in a Montcalm Street apartment, a death that happened weeks after the county Department of Social Services removed the baby from the home because of conditions there but then allowed him to return.

A union official said Thursday that he believed “Social Services failed that baby,” at least in part because of job cuts and an agency restructuring that occurred in recent months. The official, labor relations specialist Jon Premo of the Civil Service Employees Association, said Social Services employees had been expressing concern since the summer about being able to do their jobs amid budget cuts.

It has not been determined how the child, Hayden M. Jones, died, Glens Falls Police said. The child was sleeping on a couch with his mother, Amber LaBarge, on the morning of Oct. 11, and when LaBarge awoke, the baby was dead.

An autopsy performed on the child could not pinpoint a cause of death, but the investigation is continuing, said Glens Falls Police Detective Sgt. Paul Frettoloso.

No natural causes for the death were found, but there was no trauma or any other indication of foul play, and no charges were filed, he said. Police have theorized the baby suffocated.

Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said authorities are awaiting a final autopsy report.

Hayden had been removed from the home over the summer after the Department of Social Services received a complaint about conditions in the 12 Montcalm St. apartment where he had been staying with LaBarge and at least six other people. Hayden’s father was not among those living there, officials said.

The home was littered with garbage and considered unfit for the baby, authorities said. So the child was given to his father, Joshua Jones of Hudson Falls, until conditions at the Montcalm Street apartment improved.

Glens Falls Police Officer John Norton, who was one of the first officers to arrive at the home Oct. 11, said the apartment had no electricity or hot water, maggots in the kitchen and bathroom, and garbage strewn throughout. He said the conditions were bad enough for officers to notify the city Building and Codes office about apparent code violations.

John Ward, the city’s code enforcement officer, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

It was unclear whether workers with the Department of Social Services checked the home after Hayden was allowed to return to LaBarge’s care.

“I think if they had gone back there they would have removed the kid again, definitely,” Frettoloso said.

“It obviously passed the standard to put the child back in the home, but it didn’t stay that way,” said Glens Falls Police Detective Sgt. Peter Casertino.

Hayden did have a crib and clean clothes, and seemed in good health overall before his death, Frettoloso said. LaBarge did not have her own room or bed, and slept on the couch.

It was unclear when Hayden was returned to the Glens Falls home.

In a phone interview this week, LaBarge, 19, said the baby was returned to the home a few weeks before his death, but she could not pinpoint the date.

She said she had asked the Department of Social Services for help earlier this fall because she wanted to get out of the apartment, which is where her mother lives, because she knew the conditions were bad for the child. She said she was told there was a waiting list for “temporary assistance.”

“I told them I needed to get out of there,” she said. “I did everything I could to get out of that place for my baby.”

Labarge, who works at a local fast food restaurant, said she slept with Hayden on the couch the night of his death because he had been “screaming his head off.” She said she thought he was teething.

She said she understood police were continuing to investigate the death, but said, “I’d never hurt my son. That was my baby. I would have done anything for him.”

Premo, a labor relations specialist for the Civil Service Employees Association, which represents 480 Warren County workers, including employees of the Department of Social Services, said workers in the department have expressed concerns to him about their ability to do their jobs in light of cuts and changes to the department in recent months.

He said five caseworkers quit over the summer after a restructuring that changed the on-call caseworker system.

An agency restructuring last month eliminated six jobs, and some were “direct supervisors” that, Premo said, oversaw and assisted caseworkers. Additional layoffs happened during a round of cuts during the spring.

In e-mails to a reporter dating back to late August, Premo relayed concerns that the apparent problems at the Department of Social Services could hurt the services the agency provides and result in a tragedy.

“I do think this is related to the cuts and restructuring,” he said Thursday. “Everybody has been moved from their chairs. It’s a difficult situation. There seems to be blame all-around.”

He said he had discussed the baby death situation with employees of the department, but was not at liberty to say what he believed happened.

Sheila Weaver, the county’s commissioner of social services, said Wednesday she “could not confirm or deny anything to do with” the Hayden Jones case.

Fred Monroe, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, said Weaver briefed him and County Attorney Paul Dusek about the case recently.

He said it is standard practice for the chairman of the board and county attorney to be notified when a child who had been subject to Department of Social Services action died, though it hadn’t happened before during his two-year tenure at the helm of the board.

“They both cautioned me that we couldn’t say much because there are privacy aspects,” Monroe said.

Dusek did not return a phone call about the matter Thursday.

Johnson held for grand jury in son’s death

Mother also has reported history of abuse with another child

http://www.thetimestribune.com/local/local_story_310090239.html

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

Amanda Johnson’s alleged treatment of her son Stephen Carl Troy was apparently not the first time she had reportedly abused a child.

According to reports from Muskegon County, Michigan assistant prosecutor Brett Gardner, Johnson’s first child was taken from her after she pleaded no contest in 2005 to child abuse for injuring her two-year-old son.

He told reporters the boy had sustained a spiral fracture to his arm. Parental rights were terminated for her and the boy’s father, Michael Troy.

Rights to a second child were also terminated when the county’s child protective services took the child directly from the hospital after his birth.

The pair reportedly left for Kentucky in September 2007, a month before Stephen’s birth.

Johnson, 21, was held over for the Laurel grand jury after a pre-trial hearing in Laurel District Court.

Johnson had been charged with murder in the death of her third child, 23-month-old Stephen on Oct. 23.

According to testimony in the hearing, Stephen was dead on arrival at St. Joseph hospital in London.

Kentucky State Police Detective Mark Allen testified that the child died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen. Allen said he had interviewed Johnson and her live-in boyfriend Will Callahan over the next few days and in those interviews, Allen said, Callahan had reported seeing Johnson throw the baby and punch the child in the back.

Stephen’s father, Michael Troy, had earlier reported a fist-sized bruise on the child’s back.

Callahan told Allen that on the morning of the incident, Stephen was crying and Johnson had told him that it was perhaps because the child didn’t want her to leave for work.

An autopsy revealed that Stephen had died as the result of the rupture of arteries to his small intestine and internal bleeding.

Along with the murder charge came charges of criminal abuse.

Johnson is in the Laurel County jail under a $250,000 bond.

Indictments are set to be returned on Nov. 20.

THE HEARTBREAKING STORY OF ADRIANNA CRAM 

ADVOCATES CALL FOR ACTION ON BIRTHDAY OF SLAIN FOSTER CHILD  (Marcus Fiesel)

THE SHORT, HORRIFIC LIFE OF DANIEAL KELLY: WARNING THIS PAGE CONTAINS GRAPHIC PICTURES AND ARTICLES

Think It is Not About Money-The Case of Jack and Kathy Stratton

http://defeatdcs.blogspot.com/2009/11/think-it-is-not-about-money-case-of.html

The following was taken from the excellent http://www.couldyoubenext.com/website.

Jack and Kathy Stratton’s nine children have proved to be a veritable cash cow for the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services. The Stratton children have been in foster care for nearly two years, ever since the DSS removed them from their home on charges of neglect. The Strattons have steadfastly denied the charges, and have been fighting to regain custody.During that time, the DSS, through federal funding, has been receiving $9,971.73 per month for the Stratton children, while paying out only $3,600. Net profit: $6,372 per month.

The rest of this story can be read at:

Defeat Children’s Services http://defeatdcs.blogspot.com/2009/11/think-it-is-not-about-money-case-of.html