http://www.komonews.com/news/problemsolvers/70599312.html
By Tracy Vedder
SEATTLE — The most vulnerable children in our state – children who are supposed to be protected by the state – are dying at an alarming rate. The KOMO 4 Problem Solvers spent two years filing legal requests and analyzing hundreds of documents from the state’s Child Protective Services. What we’ve discovered is both startling and heartbreaking.
Three-year-old Kekoa Ravenell’s future sparkled. He sang. He golfed. He loved his baby sister, Chelsea, and his papa, Michael.
But Kekoa’s future was stolen. He was beaten and choked to death by his mother’s boyfriend.
“I wish he was still with us here,” said his father, Michael Ravenell, sobbing.
Take the anguish of Kekoa’s death and multiply it by dozens. You can’t forget their names. Sirita Sotelo was beaten to death by her stepmother. Justice and Raiden Robinson died of starvation and dehydration while their mother was passed out amidst 300 empty beer cans. Summer Phelps was killed by her father and stepmother. The list seems unending. Each child died while under the watch of the state’s Children’s Administration.
And as in Kekoa’s case, there were warning signs.
“There was no doubt,” said Michael Ravenell. “He (Kekoa) just came out and said, ‘He hit me. Noah hit me.”‘
Ravenell called Child Protective Service, not once but several times.
“Something’s wrong. There’s something wrong. She’s not, the case worker wasn’t doing her job,” he said.
What he didn’t know and what the social workers didn’t check, was that the mother’s boyfriend, Noah Thomas, had a prior conviction for abusing his own children. But Ravenell’s pleas for help fell on deaf ears.
“Bottom line: the system failed me,” he said.
Similar cases lost in the files
It took more than two years, but the Problem Solvers obtained the death reports of 595 children who had some contact with the state’s Children’s Administration and who died some time between 2002 and mid-2009. We wanted to find how many of those deaths might have been prevented.
Crunching the numbers, the state ruled at least 120 children died of abuse or neglect. That’s an average of 16 kids dying a year; more than one child died of abuse or neglect every single month.
And we found another 40 cases in which the state did not find abuse or neglect connected to the death, but the Problem Solvers dug up some horrifying facts. In one case, the social worker falsified documents and claimed treatment, which hadn’t been administered, had been given. The baby girl died.
In the case of a 2-year-old boy, the case worker decided there could be immediate harm and the child should be removed, yet the case was closed and the child died.
In a third case, the parents gave their kids Benadryl so they’d sleep. One died of an overdose. And in spite of the case worker reporting the surviving children lived in filth, with feces on the walls, the agency ruled the kids should stay in the home.
And in yet another case, a medical examiner ruled a 2 month old died of unexplained, natural causes. But the report concluded, “there was concerning CPS history on this family.” Part of that history includes allegations of abuse and neglect in the home. But most startling fact was that the family had had another baby girl die three years earlier.
And then there are another large group of files in which CPS was called five times, eight times, even 13 times. The agency was called to help a child, yet the child remained in the home and later died.
“There’s (sic) resources out there to help you, and I didn’t get any help at all,” said Ravenell.
‘I am the victim of the many years of abuse’
What we can’t even begin to calculate is the number of cases that don’t wind up in death, but still leave children physically and emotionally maimed.
Few will forget this girl’s horror story.
“I am the victim of the many years of abuse Rebecca Long put upon me until just last year,” she said. Because she is the victim of abuse, KOMO News has chosen not to identify her.
Found by law enforcement at age 14, she weighed just 48 pounds. Her stepmother and her father have both been convicted of criminal mistreatment for keeping the girl locked up in their Carnation home, and so severely limiting her food and water to the point that her teeth had nearly all rotted away.
But years earlier, a teacher had reported the family to CPS. She told the judge at her stepmother’s sentencing, “This is where I desperately wished that I could contact a social worker who came to our house that one afternoon.”
But after minimal investigation, CPS closed the case and the girl spent another three years in hell.
“I could not make contact, because that was when Rebecca began keeping me barricaded into a room all day,” she said.
Then there’s little P.T., whom KOMO News has chosen not to identify beyond her initials.
“I was hoping she would live,” said her godmother, Afua Ndiaye, last December. “She had cigarette burns under her eyes and all over her body.”
P.T. was just 2 years old at the time. The now 3 year old is partially blind and may have a brain injury.
“You could just see blood and scalp,” said Ndiaye as she gulped for air. “It was really bad.”
P.T.’s godmother says she repeatedly warned CPS about the little girl’s mother and her boyfriend, who had a criminal record.
“They did nothing. It was like another case, waiting on the side,” she said. “And while it waited on the side, she almost died.”
Sen. Stevens: ‘Why can’t we get this right?’
All of this has happened since 2005 when the state began adding 465 new workers for child welfare and protection. And last spring, Gov. Christine Gregoire hired a new head for the state Department of Social and Health Services — Susan Dreyfus, who, in turn, has brought in new blood to head up Children’s Administration.
“We have to be accountable. There is no worse day in this state when a child’s not safe in their own home,” Dreyfus said.
But we’ve heard these sentiments from state leaders for years. It appears things have only gotten worse, and some lawmakers are frankly fed up.
“How can we allow this to go on?” said Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee.
“Why can’t we get this right?” said Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington.
We went to state lawmakers with some of our research, and asked what’s being done to fix the problems. In fact, they’ve passed laws and given the agency millions to force them to do a better job of protecting kids.
During a 2004 gubernatorial debate, Gregoire talked of the need to overhaul the DSHS, which oversees Children’s Administration.
“And the track record is not stellar, and we have been ravaged here in Eastern Washington by some very tragic deaths,” she said.
Gregoire promised to make that agency a priority. But the instances of deaths and abuse have only gotten worse.
“Children are dying at the hands of people who are not able to take care of them,” said Stevens.
Stevens has worked for years to overhaul the system, in one effort even forcing the agency to seek national accreditation. After several years of working with the National Council on Accreditation, last year the COA set a deadline for Washington to meet its standards. Children’s Administration refused to comply, and dropped out of the accreditation process.
“It was a bill that we passed and they said, ‘We’re not going to do it,”‘ Stevens said. “But too often that’s what’s happening. They are thwarting the very laws that we are passing.”
Falling behind on the national scale
Records indicate Washington’s child welfare agency scores poorly in two different national evaluations. A review by U.S. Health and Human Services found 36 states were better than Washington at meeting children’s needs and keeping them safe.
And a review by the national organization Every Child Matters shows that between 2001 and 2007, the state’s per-capita number of kids who were abused or neglected have gone up, as has the number of deaths.
Washington’s Children’s Administration contends the rise may be partially due to a difference in the way they now determine deaths by abuse.
In 2004, then-candidate Gregoire said she wanted to make Children’s Administration directly answerable to the governor.
When asked why she hadn’t been able to follow through on those promises, Gregoire said, “Well, we’ve made good progress.” Now into her second term, Gregoire still hasn’t made Children’s a separate agency or directly accountable to her.
But last spring she hired Susan Dreyfus, who used to head up Wisconsin’s Division of Children and Families.
“It’s about being accountable, and it’s about being transparent and being very upfront with people (on) where we have weaknesses, what we have to do to change, and that we are changing,” Dreyfus said.
Dreyfus has many supporters across the country. Bt the state she comes from, Wisconsin, did even worse in both those national evaluations than Washington. We asked if that wasn’t a report card on her tenure there.
“I don’t believe so, no. I’m looking at outcomes, I’m looking at how many children are in care, our permanency record,” she said.
Dreyfus has now hired Denise Revels Robinson to head up Children’s. Revels Robinson also gets high marks across the country. But she left her last post – also in Wisconsin – under a cloud after a high-profile case of a child who died under her watch.
When asked if she bears some responsibility in that case, she said, “I think the head of the agency always bears some responsibility, because as we talked about earlier, accountability is key.”
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation of the county’s children’s services with Revels Robinson at its helm showed evidence that 22 children died of abuse or neglect under her watch.
We asked Dreyfus why she would you bring someone into our already-troubled state who has a history of running an agency that’s troubled.
“You know, it’s so funny, you’re responding to media,” Dreyfus said. “I’m not looking for media sensationalism in making my selection of who’s the right person on my team, but I am looking for someone that’s proven, passionate and has outcomes to prove it.”
But several legislators insist the only way to fix the system is to break it apart, making Children’s Administration more accountable to both the governor and, more importantly, to the citizens
“I think a lot of folks are to-the-point. They just want to get this thing fixed and start taking care of kids,” said Armstrong.
The Problem Solvers are not going to let this go. We’re taking the results of our investigation to key legislators. And we will be there when the legislative session begins next year to see if action is taken and CPS is held accountable.
DSHS death investigation reports:
Report from Every Child Matters:
4 DHS Workers Ousted in Fallout from Danieal Kelly Case |
| by KYW’s Mike Dunnsee related story). Four DHS workers involved in the death of 14-year old Danieal Kelley are now being shown the door. The four employees — Shawn Davis, Ingrid Hawk, Martha Poller, and Valerie Mond — had been named but not indicted the Danieal Kelly grand jury report. Now DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose says all four will be gone. Poller was allowed to retire, Mond allowed to resign while Hawk and Davis are being fired. DHS spokeswoman Alicia Taylor says Ambrose felt the actions of the four were unconscionable: “Given their egregious disregard for their professional responsibilities, and the role that it played in Danieal Kelly’s death, she felt that she had no other choice but to rule the way she did.” Now, Taylor says, the department hopes to move on, though never forget: “Danieal Kelly will always be remembered in the department. Because of her death, there’s been a major reform effort underway at DHS.” Nine others face charges in Kelly’s death, including two DHS workers and the girl’s parents ( |
more about “Parents upset after DSS won’t let hea…“, posted with vodpod
Mecklenburg DSS has Prevented Noblely Lawson, who is finally well enough after almost being killed, from going home with her parents.
Noblely’s parents have done everything in their power to make sure that they had a suitable place to live for when Noblely was released from the hospital, but apparently, Mecklenburg DSS wants this baby no matter what. You can see the full story here.
Picture From http://angiemedia.com/?p=4130
These parents almost lost their daughter through the carelessness of someone else. For the last month and a half, they have had to watch Noblely suffer in agony on a daily basis. They have had to endure what no parent should ever have to, their child in pain, while they stand hopelessly by and watch.
Any parent who has ever had an injured child knows this agony, the overwhelming fear, the sense of helplessness that occurs in this situation. You long to be able to trade places with your child, if you could, you would gladly suffer the pain for them. You live each and everyday wishing you really could kiss away the boo boos and make it all better, you live each and everyday wondering if your child will ever be the same again and the quality of life they will have now.
…and now after these parents, Shane Lawson and Summer Brown, who were also struck by this car, have lived through the fear of loosing their child, the unknown results of this horrible accident, spent countless nights and days by their daughter side watching helplessly her struggle to survive…DSS has taken custody of this child and refuses to let her go home with her obviously loving parents.
Why would they do this? Is this some kind of sick sadistic game that Mecklenburg DSS is playing? What does Mecklenburg DSS do, sit in their director’s $20, 000 office and decided how to make a families life’s more hell then it all ready is? These parents and this child have been through enough! Noblely almost died and instead of reaching out a helping hand to these parents, Mecklenburg DSS decides to kick them while they are down. There was no reason to take this child…no evidence of abuse or neglect, if anything, these parents have went above and beyond DSS’s minimal requirements of care. Mecklenburg DSS is way out of line with the removal or Nobely Lawson from her parents!
Everyone who reads this story needs to contact the media in Charlotte, as well as Lanier Cansler the Secretary of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Governor Bev Perdue, complain about the treatment this family has received, complain about the corrupt actions of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services. I have listed the contact information at the end of this story.
Let me just say that DSS that work in glass offices should not throw stones…
Earlier this month I published on this blog a story about Mecklenburg DSS , in that story it was stated that Mecklenburg DSS Director Mary E. Wilson had spent $20,000 redoing her office, money that I felt could have been better spent on the Lawson family or some other families in this community. I stated then and I still stand by what I said, “Look at this office…my living room doesn’t even look like this…do you know how many people she could have helped with all of the money she spent redoing her office…This is a prime example of why they have no money and are always requesting more funds…this just proves…they have the money, but they don’t use it to help children or the community!”
VIDEO: DSS director spends $20,000 renovating office
http://www.wcnc.com/video/?nvid=305319&shu=1
Not only did Mecklenburg County DSS spend $20,000 dollars on the Directors elaborate office with plasma screen T.V., they also spent $20,000 dollars on their annual holiday party, below is the video for this story.
While most workplaces are scaling back their holiday parties, one local government agency doubled their budget
http://www.wcnc.com/video/?nvid=314488&shu=1
That is a grand total of $40,000 dollars that they spent on themselves. Less then most of their “clients” make in a year!!! And they spent this amount of money on two things…the directors comfort and a party that they refused to allow the media to attend. On my earlier blog I stated, “DSS could have used the $40,000 dollars that they spent on themselves on this family so Nobely and her family could have a place to live that would accommodate the equipment she now needs to survive. Instead of using funds to help families like the Lawson’s, Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services blows thousands of dollars on themselves and then uses lack of funds to tear families apart or as an excuse not to help because of “lack of funds”.
They also use the excuse of lack of funds when they fail to protect a child from child abuse, “we are short staffed, we don’t have enough funds”…how many times have we heard this excuse as to why children died, why the child was not monitored closely enough…I, for one, am tired of their shitty excuses. They are spending money left and right, misappropriating funds, stealing from the very people who need it the most…and where do you think this money comes from in the first place??? The taxpayer wallet…this is our money that they are blowing! These are our children, neighbors, friends, and follow Americans that they are failing…if you step back and look…you will find one person, one child, one family member, or one friend that DSS has failed that you personally know….enough is enough…the time has come to speak out against this corruption.”
I stand by my earlier statement and add that the time to speak out is now, we cannot continue to allow these corrupt Department’s of Social Services to get away with their illegal, unethical, and corrupt behavior.
There is currently a huge audit occurring at the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services,
Among the findings:
You can read the full story at: Spending probe spreads at DSS
And did you know that Mecklenburg County has been under a firing freeze, but apparently that can be lifted so long as the new employee has political connections.
Who did they hire??
To see the full story, visit the following link:
‘Cronyism’ investigated in DSS hiring
My earlier blog post about Noblely Lawson and the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services can be found at the following links:
MECKLENBURG DSS AUDIT/SPENDING HABITS/MISAPPROPRIATION OF FUNDS
DSS THREATENS TO DESTROY FAMILY INJURED BY CAR CRASH
MORE ON NOBLELY LAWSON’S STORY:
Father Describes Moment Car Hit Baby’s Stroller
Parents may lose custody of child who survived crash
As young girl recovers, family’s future is in question
Parents may lose custody of injured baby
What Can You Do To Help The Lawson Family? (From http://angiemedia.com/?p=4130)
The Lawsons don’t have the money or political connections to fight DSS. They need the help of people around the world who are willing to fight abusive government.
Here’s what you can do to help them:
Send us a story
If you see news breaking, call us:
704-329-3600
*WBTV News Channel 3
News Tips: To report breaking news, call 704-374-3691 or email assignmentdesk@wbtv.com.
Consumer stories: To send suggestions for a consumer-related story, email kmiranda@wbtv.com.
PSI Charlotte: Got a story you want our Problem Solvers Investigators to look into? Call 704-374-3511 or email problemsolvers@wbtv.com.
More contacts at WBTV…
Address:
WBTV TELEVISION
1 Julian Price Place
Charlotte, NC 28208
Main phone: 704-374-3500, ext 1
| Phone: 704-338-9999 (Main switchboard) Phone: 704-335-4871 (Newsroom) Street address: 1901 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28206 Mailing address: P.O. Box 34665, Charlotte, NC 28234*NEWS 14 CAROLINA 316 E. Morehead Street Lanier CanslerLanier M. Cansler, Secretary 2001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-2001
Governor Bev PerdueCitizen and Community Services OfficeThe Citizen and Community Services Office responds to requests and questions that the Governor’s Office receives from citizens throughout North Carolina. (800) 662-7952 |
http://www.enterprisenewspapers.com/article/20090814/NEWS01/708149873/0/ETPZONELT
By Diana Hefley
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Adults making decisions for Shayne Abegg told a court commissioner they wanted to protect the boy’s privacy when they asked to alter public records.
The 6-year-old boy who in 2007 nearly starved to death at the hands of his father and the man’s girlfriend deserves to be spared any more pain and embarrassment, the lawyers said.
The adults also were protecting themselves.
Court documents obtained by The Herald show that attorneys for the state Department of Social and Health Services and a contract social worker, along with Shayne’s own lawyer and the boy’s court-appointed guardian ad litem were allowed to redact large portions of a lengthy report once included in a public court file.
Their efforts hid from public view harsh criticisms of the state’s handling of Shayne’s case.
The lawyers argued that the boy’s privacy outweighed public interest and asked that medical and financial information be blacked out of a report filed by the guardian in May.
“Our overriding concern with the original report was it revealed confidential health and mental health information,” said Assistant Attorney General Pamela Anderson, who represented DSHS in the civil lawsuit.
The state was worried the information could be used to stigmatize the boy in the future, she added. They were concerned it could affect his future placement with caregivers.
Shayne is expected to be adopted by a foster family this fall.
The Herald obtained a copy of the guardian’s report during the month it was part of the public file. Lawyers in June asked for portions of the report to be redacted.
A Snohomish County judge said that some of the information never should have been made public, including medical information about Shayne. Court rules allow for some sensitive material, particularly in guardianship cases, to be included in separate reports and steps can be taken to seal those reports.
In this case the lawyers also were allowed to redact portions of the report that were critical of state caseworkers and the contract counselor hired to help Shayne and his family.
Gone from the public record are parts of the report that discuss how caseworkers failed to recognize clear signs of ongoing neglect. The document also has been sanitized of details about how Shayne has been harmed by being moved to four different foster homes since he was rescued on March 7, 2007.
The state and lawyers for the caseworkers viewed some of those statements as prejudicial and immaterial to the settlement, court papers said.
At the same time, the lawyers didn’t raise any concerns about semi-nude photographs of Shayne that remain in the public court file.
Detectives took the photographs at the hospital to document the boy’s condition for the criminal case against his abusers. Seattle attorney David Moody, hired to pursue a claim against DSHS, provided some of those photographs to the media. The boy’s guardian submitted additional photographs in a petition asking a judge to proceed with the civil lawsuit.
The child was embarrassed when the photographs were taken, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Mark Roe said.
Roe prosecuted the criminal case against the boy’s father, Danny Abegg, and the man’s girlfriend, Marilea Mitchell. The deputy prosecutor requested detectives take pictures to document the extent of Shayne’s condition.
Shayne weighed 25 pounds, half the weight of a healthy 4-year-old child, when he was removed from his father’s Lynnwood apartment. A judge likened his physical appearance to that of a Nazi concentration camp survivor.
Danny Abegg and Marilea Mitchell were sentenced to more than eight years in prison for deliberately withholding food from the boy as punishment.
“The fact that those pictures are just out there in a public file, on the Internet and airwaves bothers me,” Roe said. “People don’t choose to be crime victims. Their misfortune should not be for profit, entertainment or a side show attraction. They don’t give up their right to privacy just because someone chose to victimize them.”
Anderson said Thursday that some of the photographs already had been made public by Moody. When The Herald told her that naked pictures of Shayne remain in the court file she agreed to look into the matter.
“Those things may be considered something private,” she said.
Originally, she said, the parties had asked to have the entire file sealed. Court commissioner Tracey Waggoner was unwilling to seal the whole record and required the parties to propose what they wanted removed from the public file.
Anderson said DSHS and the other defendants were concerned with portions of the report that they believed raised unproven allegations. Those same claims already were on record in the civil lawsuit filed against DSHS and others, they said.
Shayne’s guardian needed to provide the judge with all the information she had to support her decision to agree with settling the civil lawsuit, Anderson said. The state, however, didn’t accept those statements as facts, she said.
The lawsuit alleged that caseworkers ignored warning signs that the Shayne was being starved.
An executive review ordered by the Children’s Administration, part of the state Department of Social and Health Services, found that state social workers missed a pattern of abuse and neglect, didn’t follow policy to make sure Shayne was safe and failed to hold his parents more accountable for their son’s well-being.
The state denied the allegations in the lawsuit but agreed to settle and pay $5 million. A contract caseworker, Brad Simkins, and his employer Grayson Associates, agreed to pay Shayne $1 million.
As part of the settlement, the state and contract worker did not admit wrongdoing.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne approved the settlement in May. Concerns about the content of the 120-page report by Shayne’s guardian were raised at the hearing, Wynne said.
The lawyers filed a motion to redact the file on June 22.
Waggoner signed the order on July 6.
The lawyers would have been required to explain each redaction they were requesting, Wynne said. Records related to physical and mental health are private and routinely are sealed from public view, he said. The law allows for a guardian ad litem to file separate reports — one for the public record and another that can be sealed to protect a person’s privacy. That would have been a better option in this case, he said.
The privacy concerns would not apply to statements about the state’s alleged failures in Shayne’s case, the judge said.
“It is a balancing act with providing for personal privacy and allowing the courts to operate publicly,” Wynne said.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com.
Practicing family attorney Gregory Hession confirms child protective service agencies engage in abusive, deliberate and dirty tricks motivated by federal funding.
