Review shows more child-neglect deaths
By Christina Jewett - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 12:53 am PDT Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/374333.html
Daelynn Foreman was not the only one.
The 12-year-old girl wasted away to 23 pounds, even after six separate
reports to Sacramento County Child Protective Services about the child
with cerebral palsy, state records show. Beneath the girl's pink
pajamas, coroner's officials found open sores down to her bones.
After the July 31, 2006, death received public scrutiny this year, CPS
officials said they had ratcheted up policies for helping medically
fragile children.
But it was not revealed until Tuesday in a report by the county's Child
Death Review Team that six other children with special health care needs
also died from maltreatment in 2006.
Three of the six, like Daelynn, had been reported to CPS before they
died, according to the team's report.
The special report to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors shows
the number of children dying of abuse and neglect spiked to 24 in 2006,
a sustained increase compared with 11 such deaths in 2004 and 17 in 2005.
"It comes as a shock to see all of the data," Sacramento County
Supervisor Jimmie Yee said. "It's one of those things as a parent that
you can't believe it's happening."
Supervisors voted to hold off on a decision to fund $2.2 million for
additional in-home health care and CPS workers until a budget hearing
Thursday.
The child death review team reviewed 181 child deaths that occurred in
2006. Many were due to cancer, congenital illnesses or accidents.
However, the review team singled out 24 cases they believe were related
to maltreatment and analyzed them in depth, said Sheila Anderson,
director of the Child Abuse Prevention Council, which convenes the death
review team.
The cases range from abusive homicides to car crashes, drownings and
medication errors with an element of caregiver neglect.
Eight of the 24 cases are considered homicides, including one in which a
16-year-old is charged with the apparent beating death of his 3-year-old
cousin.
The remainder were not classified as homicides, but arose from parental
neglect, such as instances when children fell into a backyard pool and
drowned, Anderson said.
Robin Shakely, a death review team member and homicide prosecutor, said
the leap in the number of deaths is alarming. She said it appears to
stem from a priority change within Child Protective Services to keep
families together rather than remove children from homes where they may
be in peril.
Eleven of the 24 juvenile maltreatment-death victims were known to
Sacramento County Child Protective Services workers before they died.
"If these families are known to CPS and children remain in home and die
there, there must have been a decision made by CPS to let them remain
there," she said.
Indeed, data collected by the UC Berkeley Center for Social Services
Research show a decrease in the number of children removed from
Sacramento County homes. From 1998 to 2006, the number of children
placed in foster care fell from 3,467 to 2,749, a 21 percent drop.
Lynn Frank, director of Health and Human Services, which oversees CPS,
told the Board of Supervisors that workers' foremost priority is to
protect children.
"Child safety is the No. 1 priority of (CPS)," Frank said. "That might
be hard to believe looking at some of the recent numbers."
The case that received the most attention was Daelynn Foreman's.
A CPS worker visited her Orangevale home 10 weeks before she was found
dead, according to a report CPS sent to the state Department of Social
Services.
Among six reports to Sacramento County CPS workers, two were
substantiated and three alleged "severe neglect."
A warrant request to arrest Foreman's mother, Brandy Foreman, on
homicide charges revealed a myriad of problems:
Foreman was refusing medical services. One doctor left repeated messages
requesting to see Daelynn. An in-home teacher reported Daelynn's
dwindling weight to CPS.
While no member of the death review team or CPS staff gave details of
the remaining medical maltreatment deaths, CPS spokeswoman Laurie
Slothower said the cases can be very subtle.
She said such deaths might involve a missed medication, inadequate care
of a feeding tube or parents who are unaware of the need to provide
particular care.
"It's very difficult for a lay person -- including a social worker -- to
assess medical neglect," she said.
Frank described to the board a number of policy changes within CPS.
Frank said social workers are now expected to reach out to doctors,
teachers and other case workers to get a full picture of a case.
She said cases that involve medically fragile children are getting a
closer look from teams of social workers and medical workers. And she
said cases with multiple referrals are getting a second look from a
review team.
"One death due to child abuse in Sacramento County is one too many, and
we're very serious about that," she said.
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
.
|
