"The meetings are titled “Rising to the Challenge: Reducing Childhood Poverty and Improving Childhood Outcomes in Kansas” and will feature national and state experts on childhood poverty, including the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector and Ron Haskins..."
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/11/10/2097958/child-poverty-meetings-scheduled.html#ixzz1dP4xBSFD
This is a public meeting and even though anyone can attend, the State is requiring citizens to register for this event.
Here is the link: http://www.srs.ks.gov/Pages/TownHallMeetings.aspx
The meetings will be:
1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Jack Reardon Convention Center, 500 Minnesota Ave., KC, KS
1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Drury Plaza Broadview Hotel, 400 W. Douglas, Wichita
1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex at.Garden City Community College
From The Heritage Foundation, Foster Care: Safety Net or Trap Door? by Thomas Atwood,
March 25, 2011.
"States tend to overuse foster care because they receive federal matching funds
for every qualifying child in care. "
"Abstract: For tens of thousands of endangered children, foster care has become a trap door rather than the safety net they need to help them succeed. In particular, federal financing policies have favored foster care over other child welfare approaches, leading states to overuse foster care to the detriment of children who could be adopted or whose families could be rehabilitated."
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/03/foster-care-safety-net-or-trap-door
Sunday, November 13, 2011
According to the New Secretary of SRS, Rob Siedlecki, Regarding Adoptions, IT'S ALL FREE MONEY!!!
According to the new Secretary of SRS, it's all FREE MONEY!
Free money to adopt Kansas children.
Free money to have medical coverage for those children.
Free money to send adopted children to college.
What about all the FREE MONTHLY SUBSIDIES AND TAX BREAKS those adopters receive?
And then there is the FREE $300,000 to Promote Adoptions of Kansas children.
It's NOT FREE MONEY, it is tax payers dollars funded by the private sector.
That would include, Secretary of SRS Rob Siedlecki's income. The private sector pays for his home, his life style and income.
Here's the story: http://cjonline.com/news/2011-11-07/srs-offers-300000-spur-adoption#comment-462415
By Tim Carpenter Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. November 7, 2011 - 06:11pm
SRS offers $300,000 to spur adoption
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Jonathan and Allison Schumm's family is big enough to conduct a regulation basketball game.That wouldn't be possible without five siblings adopted by the Topeka couple to complement their three biological children.The team was present at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center for the announcement Monday of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services' offer of $300,000 from a federal grant to the company proposing the most imaginative one-year marketing campaign to recruit adoptive families."This is a heartfelt cause," said SRS Secretary Robert Siedlecki. "This campaign is directed towards our children who are typically hardest to place in adoptive families — the kids of sibling groups, with mental or physical disabilities or teenagers."He said the state had 5,200 children in foster care. Five hundred of 900 in the adoption queue are awaiting completion of the adoption process, but 420 haven’t yet been linked with a prospective adoptive family."Those 400 children really are alone," Siedlecki said.Jonathan Schumm said he could attest to the compelling force for good generated by adoption of children. His roster: Nicole, 16, Alisa, 13, Emmanuel, 11, Jaquale, 6, Angel, 5, Mercy, 5, Isaiah, 3, and Kyrsten, 1."I'm not here to tell you foster care and adoption are easy," he said while the children played in the center's kid-friendly facility. "It's been worth every smile and every tear."He said information on children available for adoption in Kansas could be found at www.adoptkskids.org. Some children still on the list were there six years ago when Schumm and his wife initially became involved in foster care and adoption."So many kids are still waiting," he said.Gov. Sam Brownback decreed November as Kansas Adoption Month. On Nov. 19, several court jurisdictions in Kansas will finalize at least 100 adoptions to mark the declaration.Brownback and his wife, Mary, adopted two children from overseas. A son, Mark, celebrated his 14th birthday Monday."Adoption is fabulous," the governor said at the Statehouse. "It just brings a smile to my face every time I think about it. My hope is more families will step up."He said his family's decision to not adopt in Kansas reflected his trips while in Congress to orphanages in other countries, many of which didn't have a strong cultural tradition of adoption.In addition, the governor said he was aware of a U.S. family that struggled for six years to complete an adoption.Siedlecki, the top administrator at SRS, said adoptions through the state of Kansas were completed at little or no cost and were legally secure because parental rights had been severed.Kansas families who adopt children may be eligible for state or federal financial subsidies, he said. Funding is available for health care of adopted children through Medicaid and for college tuition for children adopted from state care after age 16.Siedlecki said the goal of SRS was to complete more than 800 adoptions in the current fiscal year ending in July. In the last fiscal year, the state finalized 761 adoptions. In the first three months of the year, 178 children have been adopted from state care in Kansas.Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 295-1158 or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.
Free money to adopt Kansas children.
Free money to have medical coverage for those children.
Free money to send adopted children to college.
What about all the FREE MONTHLY SUBSIDIES AND TAX BREAKS those adopters receive?
And then there is the FREE $300,000 to Promote Adoptions of Kansas children.
It's NOT FREE MONEY, it is tax payers dollars funded by the private sector.
That would include, Secretary of SRS Rob Siedlecki's income. The private sector pays for his home, his life style and income.
Here's the story: http://cjonline.com/news/2011-11-07/srs-offers-300000-spur-adoption#comment-462415
By Tim Carpenter Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. November 7, 2011 - 06:11pm
SRS offers $300,000 to spur adoption
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Jonathan and Allison Schumm's family is big enough to conduct a regulation basketball game.That wouldn't be possible without five siblings adopted by the Topeka couple to complement their three biological children.The team was present at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center for the announcement Monday of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services' offer of $300,000 from a federal grant to the company proposing the most imaginative one-year marketing campaign to recruit adoptive families."This is a heartfelt cause," said SRS Secretary Robert Siedlecki. "This campaign is directed towards our children who are typically hardest to place in adoptive families — the kids of sibling groups, with mental or physical disabilities or teenagers."He said the state had 5,200 children in foster care. Five hundred of 900 in the adoption queue are awaiting completion of the adoption process, but 420 haven’t yet been linked with a prospective adoptive family."Those 400 children really are alone," Siedlecki said.Jonathan Schumm said he could attest to the compelling force for good generated by adoption of children. His roster: Nicole, 16, Alisa, 13, Emmanuel, 11, Jaquale, 6, Angel, 5, Mercy, 5, Isaiah, 3, and Kyrsten, 1."I'm not here to tell you foster care and adoption are easy," he said while the children played in the center's kid-friendly facility. "It's been worth every smile and every tear."He said information on children available for adoption in Kansas could be found at www.adoptkskids.org. Some children still on the list were there six years ago when Schumm and his wife initially became involved in foster care and adoption."So many kids are still waiting," he said.Gov. Sam Brownback decreed November as Kansas Adoption Month. On Nov. 19, several court jurisdictions in Kansas will finalize at least 100 adoptions to mark the declaration.Brownback and his wife, Mary, adopted two children from overseas. A son, Mark, celebrated his 14th birthday Monday."Adoption is fabulous," the governor said at the Statehouse. "It just brings a smile to my face every time I think about it. My hope is more families will step up."He said his family's decision to not adopt in Kansas reflected his trips while in Congress to orphanages in other countries, many of which didn't have a strong cultural tradition of adoption.In addition, the governor said he was aware of a U.S. family that struggled for six years to complete an adoption.Siedlecki, the top administrator at SRS, said adoptions through the state of Kansas were completed at little or no cost and were legally secure because parental rights had been severed.Kansas families who adopt children may be eligible for state or federal financial subsidies, he said. Funding is available for health care of adopted children through Medicaid and for college tuition for children adopted from state care after age 16.Siedlecki said the goal of SRS was to complete more than 800 adoptions in the current fiscal year ending in July. In the last fiscal year, the state finalized 761 adoptions. In the first three months of the year, 178 children have been adopted from state care in Kansas.Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 295-1158 or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.
100,277 Kansas Children "Served" In Out Of Home Placement Since 1997
The Kansas SRS website shows that there has been a total of 100,277 Kansas Children "Served" in Out Of Home Placement since 1997
The State Labels these seizures as "Foster Care Service Frequency"
Here is the link to that information:
http://www.srs.ks.gov/agency/cfs/Pages/ProgramData.aspx#Federal%20Fiscal%20Year%20Adoptions%20Finalized
FY2011 shows that the Kansas Child Population under the age of 18 years old is 695,712
http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/statefactsheets/2011/kansas.pdf
The State Labels these seizures as "Foster Care Service Frequency"
Here is the link to that information:
http://www.srs.ks.gov/agency/cfs/Pages/ProgramData.aspx#Federal%20Fiscal%20Year%20Adoptions%20Finalized
FY2011 shows that the Kansas Child Population under the age of 18 years old is 695,712
http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/statefactsheets/2011/kansas.pdf
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Kansas Grandmother Fighting For Ella Jo
3 year old, Ella Jo is in the Kansas Foster Care SystemWhile in the care of the State, on Oct 4th, Ella Jo went into respitory failure and the family was called to be at her side. Ella Jo is still fighting but she needs to go back to her home to be with her family.
""Ella Jo’s history of accidental & pathological fractures started when she was one year old. Ella is not able to assimilate the nutrients in her food, therefore has a weaken bone structure. The seizure medicine that Ella Jo had been on for half her life also deteriorates bone mass! The doctors failed to suggest Ella Jo needing Vitamin D & Calcium supplements to prevent this! One of many tragic complications that comes with Retts Syndrome. At one year of age her Paternal Grandmother slipped and fell with her and that broke Ella’s femur. A sibling at home, jumped over Ella lying in bed and accidentally landed on her shoulder, breaking the shoulder, and collar-bone. On another unfortunate occasion, a Home Physical Therapist was doing weight-bearing on her arm and accidentally broke the upper part of the arm. Yet another accident that took place at Ella Jo’s school that possibly injured her neck. During a bath, Ella Jo slipped out of loving hands and that placed her in the hospital with a Halo …… as a result of that….. into the hands of the State and a foster home.""
Read more here: http://ellajoandgrandmapattibear.wordpress.com/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog
Monday, September 19, 2011
Kansas Lt Gov Colyer Said The State Will Cut Medicaid $720 Million Over The Next Several Years
KANSAS NEEDS TO STOP DRUGGING LITTLE CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE AND THAT WILL NOT ONLY SAVE CHILDREN'S LIVES BUT SAVE THE STATE
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!
Colyer: State must reform Medicaid
Posted on Mon, Sep. 19, 2011
TOPEKA — Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer today described a bleak future for the state's Medicaid program — unless reforms drive down costs and people begin making healthier lifestyle choices.
Without changes, rapidly growing costs will overwhelm the state and affect funding for things such as K-12 education.
Colyer said Medicaid, the health program for low-income residents, should do what some insurance companies do and reward patients who quit smoking, work their way out of obesity and take their medicine. And the 40-year-old program should work to transition users to private health insurance, he added.
"This (Medicaid) is the most complex thing I've seen in government," he said. "And we aren't going to fix it in one year."
Colyer's call for reform and improved services comes when federal funding is expected to decrease. Some say Colyer's descriptions of cutting costs and improving services are too rosy.
"I don't see how it can possibly work in any way, shape or form," said Sen. Roger Reitz, R-Manhattan.
He said he works with patients who need a lot of care. If they don't have adequate finances for proper care, they'll be in emergency rooms, which is part of the disaster the state is trying to avoid.
"You're never going to cut medical costs down, you know that," Reitz, who is a doctor, said to Colyer, who is also a doctor.
Colyer said that federal cuts to Medicaid announced today translate to roughly $720 million in reductions to Kansas over several years.
He said ideas gathered from more than 1,200 people in four public forums on Medicaid reform this summer — plus concepts used in other states — show Kansas needs to create a safety net for its neediest, a system that links outcomes to price, provides employers with incentives to hire people with disabilities and provides people to coordinate patients' care.
Reitz said there's no way the state can improve while drastically cutting funds without embellishing services.
"It won't happen; it can't happen," he said. "If it does, you're going to have people marching on the Statehouse, tearing the place apart, saying, 'We can't go on this way. Try something else.' "
Colyer disagreed.
"I believe economic forces do work and do force us into better patient care," he said. He cited laptop computers as an example, saying they were once thousands of dollars and now are cheaper and have better technology.
Colyer said the state can save money by having someone coordinate health care for patients with serious problems.
"If we can navigate them through, you can save money on not institutionalizing them," he said.
Reitz said he and other doctors already help their patients manage their care.
Reach Brent D. Wistrom at 785-296-3006 or bwistrom@wichitaeagle.com
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/09/19/2023944/colyer-state-must-reform-medicaid.html#ixzz1YS7yVIXW
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Nola Foulston to retire as district attorney
Posted on Fri, Sep. 16, 2011
District Attorney Nola Foulston, who prosecuted Sedgwick County's most notorious criminals for nearly a quarter-century, has decided to retire."At some point in time, you have to say it's time to give someone else a chance," she told the Eagle in explaining her decision to leave office.In a letter she plans to share today with her staff, friends and colleagues, Foulston said she will enter private practice when her current term expires."After over 30 years in public service, I have made the decision to 'retire' at the end of my term as district attorney in January of 2013 and plan to return to the private practice of law at that time," she said in the letter. "I have had a wonderful experience as district attorney, and feel that it's time now for me to step down from this position and become a private citizen."Foulston said in an interview at her home that she had been thinking for some time about returning to private life. "It's kind of like being a football player," she said. "I don't want to play until my legs are broken or I can't work any more."Foulston, 60, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, but she said the disease is in remission and her health had nothing to do with her decision. She said she had no specific plans other than to resume the practice of law as a private citizen.She was first elected in 1988, and was never seriously challenged in her five bids for re-election.Foulston said she seriously considered not entering the 2008 race, but decided she had to run after Republican Mark Schoenhofer entered the contest. She said she was concerned about changes Schoenhofer might make in the office, which now has an $8 million annual budget and 130 employees, 55 of whom are lawyers. "I felt an obligation to keep the staff intact," she said.She won the election with about 55 percent of the vote.Foulston said a half-dozen of her top assistants were qualified to run the office, but to date only Deputy District Attorney Marc Bennett has expressed an interest in the job. Bennett, a Republican, is the only announced candidate in the race."Any of them could handle the reins of that office without a hitch, and that includes Marc," she said.Foulston said she has no plans to endorse any candidate, and said voters should have the only say in deciding who occupies the office during the upcoming term."You and I both know that hand-picked successors never go anywhere," she said.Before her first race in 1988, Foulston switched parties to become a Democrat, then criticized incumbent Republican District Attorney Clark Owens for his handling of two high-profile murder cases.The cases — the Dec. 30, 1987, slayings of Wichita accountant Phillip Fager and his two daughters, and the New Year's night murder that same week of Wichita State University student Alice Mayfield — both ended in not-guilty jury verdicts. Foulston campaigned on a promise to take high-profile cases into the courtroom herself. She won the election with 60 percent of the vote.In the 1992 election, Foulston defeated Republican challenger Clarence Holeman — a member of Owens' staff who had been fired by Foulston — by a ratio of more than 2-1. She ran unopposed in 1996, 2000 and 2004.Foulston said she has been approached by Democratic Party officials several times over the years about running for another office. She said she was asked often about running for the 4th District seat in Congress, which has been in Republican hands since 1994. She said she never had an interest in that job."I'm not a politician; I'm a prosecutor," she said.During her six terms in office, Foulston has twice appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court. Both cases ended with the Court upholding 1994 Kansas laws by 5-4 votes. In June 2006, the Court upheld the state's death penalty. A year later, the Court upheld the state's Sexual Predator law, which allows for the indefinite confinement of some sex offenders for mental health treatment after they have served their criminal sentences.Both cases originated in Sedgwick County District Court.Foulston gained national attention in 2005 for her role in the prosecution of Dennis Rader, who pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder as he confessed to being the BTK serial killer. She also was in the national spotlight in the fall of 2002 as she prosecuted Reginald and Jonathan Carr, who were convicted and sentenced to death after a crime spree that left five dead.Nearly a decade earlier, in 1994, Foulston was the prosecutor in an equally troubling murder case — the July 30, 1990, abduction, rape and strangulation of 9-year-old Nancy Shoemaker.In those pre-capital punishment days, Doil Lane was convicted of Nancy's murder and given a Hard 40 prison sentence — a sentence of a minimum of 40 years without parole — which at the time was the maximum allowed under Kansas law.Foulston and her husband, Wichita lawyer Steve Foulston, have been married for about 29 years and have a son, Andrew, who is a senior at the University of Kansas. He is majoring in finance with a minor in Chinese, Foulston said, and has expressed no interest in becoming a lawyer.
Reach Hurst Laviana at 316-268-6499 or hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/09/16/2018836/foulston-to-retire-as-da.html#ixzz1YKpyey9O
District Attorney Nola Foulston, who prosecuted Sedgwick County's most notorious criminals for nearly a quarter-century, has decided to retire."At some point in time, you have to say it's time to give someone else a chance," she told the Eagle in explaining her decision to leave office.In a letter she plans to share today with her staff, friends and colleagues, Foulston said she will enter private practice when her current term expires."After over 30 years in public service, I have made the decision to 'retire' at the end of my term as district attorney in January of 2013 and plan to return to the private practice of law at that time," she said in the letter. "I have had a wonderful experience as district attorney, and feel that it's time now for me to step down from this position and become a private citizen."Foulston said in an interview at her home that she had been thinking for some time about returning to private life. "It's kind of like being a football player," she said. "I don't want to play until my legs are broken or I can't work any more."Foulston, 60, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, but she said the disease is in remission and her health had nothing to do with her decision. She said she had no specific plans other than to resume the practice of law as a private citizen.She was first elected in 1988, and was never seriously challenged in her five bids for re-election.Foulston said she seriously considered not entering the 2008 race, but decided she had to run after Republican Mark Schoenhofer entered the contest. She said she was concerned about changes Schoenhofer might make in the office, which now has an $8 million annual budget and 130 employees, 55 of whom are lawyers. "I felt an obligation to keep the staff intact," she said.She won the election with about 55 percent of the vote.Foulston said a half-dozen of her top assistants were qualified to run the office, but to date only Deputy District Attorney Marc Bennett has expressed an interest in the job. Bennett, a Republican, is the only announced candidate in the race."Any of them could handle the reins of that office without a hitch, and that includes Marc," she said.Foulston said she has no plans to endorse any candidate, and said voters should have the only say in deciding who occupies the office during the upcoming term."You and I both know that hand-picked successors never go anywhere," she said.Before her first race in 1988, Foulston switched parties to become a Democrat, then criticized incumbent Republican District Attorney Clark Owens for his handling of two high-profile murder cases.The cases — the Dec. 30, 1987, slayings of Wichita accountant Phillip Fager and his two daughters, and the New Year's night murder that same week of Wichita State University student Alice Mayfield — both ended in not-guilty jury verdicts. Foulston campaigned on a promise to take high-profile cases into the courtroom herself. She won the election with 60 percent of the vote.In the 1992 election, Foulston defeated Republican challenger Clarence Holeman — a member of Owens' staff who had been fired by Foulston — by a ratio of more than 2-1. She ran unopposed in 1996, 2000 and 2004.Foulston said she has been approached by Democratic Party officials several times over the years about running for another office. She said she was asked often about running for the 4th District seat in Congress, which has been in Republican hands since 1994. She said she never had an interest in that job."I'm not a politician; I'm a prosecutor," she said.During her six terms in office, Foulston has twice appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court. Both cases ended with the Court upholding 1994 Kansas laws by 5-4 votes. In June 2006, the Court upheld the state's death penalty. A year later, the Court upheld the state's Sexual Predator law, which allows for the indefinite confinement of some sex offenders for mental health treatment after they have served their criminal sentences.Both cases originated in Sedgwick County District Court.Foulston gained national attention in 2005 for her role in the prosecution of Dennis Rader, who pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder as he confessed to being the BTK serial killer. She also was in the national spotlight in the fall of 2002 as she prosecuted Reginald and Jonathan Carr, who were convicted and sentenced to death after a crime spree that left five dead.Nearly a decade earlier, in 1994, Foulston was the prosecutor in an equally troubling murder case — the July 30, 1990, abduction, rape and strangulation of 9-year-old Nancy Shoemaker.In those pre-capital punishment days, Doil Lane was convicted of Nancy's murder and given a Hard 40 prison sentence — a sentence of a minimum of 40 years without parole — which at the time was the maximum allowed under Kansas law.Foulston and her husband, Wichita lawyer Steve Foulston, have been married for about 29 years and have a son, Andrew, who is a senior at the University of Kansas. He is majoring in finance with a minor in Chinese, Foulston said, and has expressed no interest in becoming a lawyer.
Reach Hurst Laviana at 316-268-6499 or hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/09/16/2018836/foulston-to-retire-as-da.html#ixzz1YKpyey9O
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Kansas is placing toddlers in foster care for "truancy"
FY2011 Child between the age of 1 and 3 in foster care for "truancy"
FY2010 Child between the age of 1 and 3 in foster care for "truancy"
FY2011, Sedgwick County remained a leader for removing children from their families
Sedgwick County 479 children
Shawnee County 390 children
Johnson County 386 children
Wyandotte County 243 children
http://www.srs.ks.gov/agency/cfs/Documents/FY2011DataReports/ServedinSRScustody/RemovalReasonByCountyFY2011.pdf
FY2011 Average Length of Stay and Number of Children Reunified
Kansas reunified 1,874 children, and the average length of stay in care for all children is 19.6 months
Sedgwick County, Region 5/Wichita reunified 247 children and the average length of stay in care for all children is 27.4 months
http://www.srs.ks.gov/agency/cfs/Documents/FY2011DataReports/ServedinSRScustody/LengthofstayFY2011.pdf
FY2011 Percent Reunified
Kansas served 8,264 children, reunified 1,874 children, 22% were reunified
Sedgwick County served 1,453 children, reunified 247, 16% were reunified
http://www.srs.ks.gov/agency/cfs/Documents/FY2011DataReports/ServedinSRScustody/OOHPChildrenServedSFY2011.pdf
http://www.srs.ks.gov/agency/cfs/Documents/FY2011DataReports/ServedinSRScustody/LengthofstayFY2011.pdf
Program has foster teens, sex offenders in same spot
Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2011
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
A state-funded residential program designed to teach young adults how to live safe, productive lives mixes 16-year old-girls in foster care with sex offenders in their 20s.
The program groups juvenile offenders — including registered sex offenders — with foster teens. Each person in the program lives alone in one of 15 apartments in a building on West University, near Kellogg and Seneca.
Dorothy Loyd, vice president for transitional living services at Ozanam Pathways, the nonprofit provider that operates the program, said Ozanam isn't the only provider that commingles offenders and foster teens. It occurs at programs across the state, Loyd said. Ozanam is following state policies, she said.
"If the program is guilty of anything," Loyd said, "it's for taking kids that nobody wants to work with."
The state says it is beginning to move to a system that separates juvenile offenders and foster teens at facilities.
Wichita police Deputy Chief Tom Stolz said he is concerned about the practice of grouping young people who have committed serious crimes with "extremely impressionable" young people in the state's care.
Stolz said that considering some of the youths face a "myriad of social problems" from being victims of child abuse and neglect, putting them into an environment with convicted "gang members, sex offenders and drug dealers" doesn't make sense.
"I just don't think that's good policy," he said.
Investigation
The Ozanam program came under scrutiny earlier this month after a former employee raised allegations that sex offenders living at the apartments have too much contact with foster teens at the property, that clients sometimes lack food and that some incidents aren't properly reported.
The allegations led to investigations by Wichita police and the state's Juvenile Justice Authority and Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
No crimes or serious violations were found.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said that "everybody and their brother has been down investigating... and we come back as clean as a whistle."
There have been reports of trouble at the property.
Police records show that from January 2008 to July 21 of this year, Wichita police recorded 142 incidents at the West University apartments — including reports of battery, assault, runaways, drug crimes and three alleged incidents of rape.
Between December 2009 and October 2010, police investigated three reports of rape there.
In the most recent rape case, in October 2010, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old girl, and the suspect was a 17-year-old boy. In a July 2010 case, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was an 18-year-old male offender. And in a December 2009 case, the alleged victim was a 16-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was a 19-year-old man.
Charges weren't filed in the three cases, partly because the alleged victims weren't cooperative, police said.
Change will separate groups
The Juvenile Justice Authority, which has custody of offenders placed at the apartments, is moving toward a system where offenders and nonoffenders won't be grouped together.
In a July 1 e-mail, a JJA official told other officials that the new direction is "based on sound, evidence-based practices and research that supports the separation of juvenile offenders from the non-offending population."
In a statement to The Eagle on Thursday, JJA Commissioner Curtis Whitten said: "There has been an ongoing concern about the mingling of these populations, but the impetus of the new administration is enabling the Juvenile Justice Authority to move at a quicker pace toward resolving the situation."
SRS, which has custody of foster teens, says it supports the change.
For now, the change does not encompass the Wichita program on West University.
SRS says Ozanam Pathways, which is based in Kansas City, Mo., has served 98 youths in SRS custody at three Wichita locations since 2008.
Ozanam takes clients 16 to 23 years old.
JJA and SRS pay the nonprofit program $100 per day, per client to cover expenses including staffing, rent, food, clothing, furniture and linens, said Loyd, the Ozanam vice president.
Based on the former employee's complaints, a joint investigation by Wichita police and SRS began July 22. Police found no crimes that could be prosecuted and no lack of food at the University apartments, said Stolz, the deputy police chief.
Another investigation, conducted earlier this month by JJA, found that although registered sex offenders were living at the apartments, "there was no evidence... that these offenders were harming other youth placed there," a JJA report says.
The former employee asked The Eagle not to use his name, saying he fears being blacklisted within the social-service industry. He was recently laid off from his job as a life-skills coach and said it was because he raised concerns.
His allegations were echoed by a second former Ozanam employee who spoke to The Eagle. The second employee also asked that her name not be used, saying she feared being blacklisted.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said she investigated the former employee's complaints and found them to be unfounded and found that policies were being followed.
She reiterated that Ozanam works with young people who have a variety of problems and who are difficult to place.
"For many of the foster care kids, our program is really their last option. There is really no other placement opportunity for them."
Some of the foster teens have been in more than 50 placements before they arrive at the Ozanam apartments, she said.
"It's hard for them to attach."
Loyd said it's up to the state agencies — JJA and SRS — to decide who gets referred to a transitional living program, which teaches youths how to live independently.
Juvenile sex offenders who receive proper treatment have a lower chance of committing a new sex crime than adult offenders, she said.
Concerns
In December 2009, while still working for Ozanam, the former employee sent an e-mail to a supervisor expressing concern that vulnerable teens were being housed around sex offenders.
"Here we have multiple S.O.' s (sex offenders) living in close proximity to underage girls, some of whom are not even in the system but are here because they come from a troubled background."
The supervisor responded with this e-mail: "Right now, the only plan is that they are not to be in each other's apartments or signing out together. Beyond that, I'm not sure what we can do. I too am definitely concerned and just try to be extra attentive to what is going on over there."
At the time, Ozanam was operating two transitional housing programs — the one on West University and one near First and Ridge Road. It was about to launch a third program at apartments on South Mission.
Since then, Ozanam has closed two of the three programs, leaving the University property as the only remaining transitional living facility it operates in Wichita.
The other two were closed because government finances led to fewer referrals, Loyd said.
According to the state offender registry, three sex offenders — all in their early 20s — are listed as living at the University apartments. The three were in their teens when they committed their crimes.
Ozanam doesn't tell foster teens living at the apartments that some of the people living in the other units are sex offenders, the former employee said.
Although each client lives alone in an apartment, they share a common lounge and hang out together outside, he said.
The clients have curfews as early as 6 p.m. Staff are supposed to monitor them around the clock with the help of video cameras. Rules forbid physical contact between clients.
"They're not supposed to be in each other's apartments, but it's a daily occurrence," the former employee said.
He said that "in theory, we can watch them, but in reality... they get past us all the time."
SRS said that it has "no evidence to support the allegations (of) widespread sex between youth."
Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/31/1955545/program-has-foster-teens-sex-offenders.html#ixzz1Th4iylRc
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
A state-funded residential program designed to teach young adults how to live safe, productive lives mixes 16-year old-girls in foster care with sex offenders in their 20s.
The program groups juvenile offenders — including registered sex offenders — with foster teens. Each person in the program lives alone in one of 15 apartments in a building on West University, near Kellogg and Seneca.
Dorothy Loyd, vice president for transitional living services at Ozanam Pathways, the nonprofit provider that operates the program, said Ozanam isn't the only provider that commingles offenders and foster teens. It occurs at programs across the state, Loyd said. Ozanam is following state policies, she said.
"If the program is guilty of anything," Loyd said, "it's for taking kids that nobody wants to work with."
The state says it is beginning to move to a system that separates juvenile offenders and foster teens at facilities.
Wichita police Deputy Chief Tom Stolz said he is concerned about the practice of grouping young people who have committed serious crimes with "extremely impressionable" young people in the state's care.
Stolz said that considering some of the youths face a "myriad of social problems" from being victims of child abuse and neglect, putting them into an environment with convicted "gang members, sex offenders and drug dealers" doesn't make sense.
"I just don't think that's good policy," he said.
Investigation
The Ozanam program came under scrutiny earlier this month after a former employee raised allegations that sex offenders living at the apartments have too much contact with foster teens at the property, that clients sometimes lack food and that some incidents aren't properly reported.
The allegations led to investigations by Wichita police and the state's Juvenile Justice Authority and Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
No crimes or serious violations were found.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said that "everybody and their brother has been down investigating... and we come back as clean as a whistle."
There have been reports of trouble at the property.
Police records show that from January 2008 to July 21 of this year, Wichita police recorded 142 incidents at the West University apartments — including reports of battery, assault, runaways, drug crimes and three alleged incidents of rape.
Between December 2009 and October 2010, police investigated three reports of rape there.
In the most recent rape case, in October 2010, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old girl, and the suspect was a 17-year-old boy. In a July 2010 case, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was an 18-year-old male offender. And in a December 2009 case, the alleged victim was a 16-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was a 19-year-old man.
Charges weren't filed in the three cases, partly because the alleged victims weren't cooperative, police said.
Change will separate groups
The Juvenile Justice Authority, which has custody of offenders placed at the apartments, is moving toward a system where offenders and nonoffenders won't be grouped together.
In a July 1 e-mail, a JJA official told other officials that the new direction is "based on sound, evidence-based practices and research that supports the separation of juvenile offenders from the non-offending population."
In a statement to The Eagle on Thursday, JJA Commissioner Curtis Whitten said: "There has been an ongoing concern about the mingling of these populations, but the impetus of the new administration is enabling the Juvenile Justice Authority to move at a quicker pace toward resolving the situation."
SRS, which has custody of foster teens, says it supports the change.
For now, the change does not encompass the Wichita program on West University.
SRS says Ozanam Pathways, which is based in Kansas City, Mo., has served 98 youths in SRS custody at three Wichita locations since 2008.
Ozanam takes clients 16 to 23 years old.
JJA and SRS pay the nonprofit program $100 per day, per client to cover expenses including staffing, rent, food, clothing, furniture and linens, said Loyd, the Ozanam vice president.
Based on the former employee's complaints, a joint investigation by Wichita police and SRS began July 22. Police found no crimes that could be prosecuted and no lack of food at the University apartments, said Stolz, the deputy police chief.
Another investigation, conducted earlier this month by JJA, found that although registered sex offenders were living at the apartments, "there was no evidence... that these offenders were harming other youth placed there," a JJA report says.
The former employee asked The Eagle not to use his name, saying he fears being blacklisted within the social-service industry. He was recently laid off from his job as a life-skills coach and said it was because he raised concerns.
His allegations were echoed by a second former Ozanam employee who spoke to The Eagle. The second employee also asked that her name not be used, saying she feared being blacklisted.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said she investigated the former employee's complaints and found them to be unfounded and found that policies were being followed.
She reiterated that Ozanam works with young people who have a variety of problems and who are difficult to place.
"For many of the foster care kids, our program is really their last option. There is really no other placement opportunity for them."
Some of the foster teens have been in more than 50 placements before they arrive at the Ozanam apartments, she said.
"It's hard for them to attach."
Loyd said it's up to the state agencies — JJA and SRS — to decide who gets referred to a transitional living program, which teaches youths how to live independently.
Juvenile sex offenders who receive proper treatment have a lower chance of committing a new sex crime than adult offenders, she said.
Concerns
In December 2009, while still working for Ozanam, the former employee sent an e-mail to a supervisor expressing concern that vulnerable teens were being housed around sex offenders.
"Here we have multiple S.O.' s (sex offenders) living in close proximity to underage girls, some of whom are not even in the system but are here because they come from a troubled background."
The supervisor responded with this e-mail: "Right now, the only plan is that they are not to be in each other's apartments or signing out together. Beyond that, I'm not sure what we can do. I too am definitely concerned and just try to be extra attentive to what is going on over there."
At the time, Ozanam was operating two transitional housing programs — the one on West University and one near First and Ridge Road. It was about to launch a third program at apartments on South Mission.
Since then, Ozanam has closed two of the three programs, leaving the University property as the only remaining transitional living facility it operates in Wichita.
The other two were closed because government finances led to fewer referrals, Loyd said.
According to the state offender registry, three sex offenders — all in their early 20s — are listed as living at the University apartments. The three were in their teens when they committed their crimes.
Ozanam doesn't tell foster teens living at the apartments that some of the people living in the other units are sex offenders, the former employee said.
Although each client lives alone in an apartment, they share a common lounge and hang out together outside, he said.
The clients have curfews as early as 6 p.m. Staff are supposed to monitor them around the clock with the help of video cameras. Rules forbid physical contact between clients.
"They're not supposed to be in each other's apartments, but it's a daily occurrence," the former employee said.
He said that "in theory, we can watch them, but in reality... they get past us all the time."
SRS said that it has "no evidence to support the allegations (of) widespread sex between youth."
Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/31/1955545/program-has-foster-teens-sex-offenders.html#ixzz1Th4iylRc
Program has foster teens, sex offenders in same spot
Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2011
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
A state-funded residential program designed to teach young adults how to live safe, productive lives mixes 16-year old-girls in foster care with sex offenders in their 20s.
The program groups juvenile offenders — including registered sex offenders — with foster teens. Each person in the program lives alone in one of 15 apartments in a building on West University, near Kellogg and Seneca.
Dorothy Loyd, vice president for transitional living services at Ozanam Pathways, the nonprofit provider that operates the program, said Ozanam isn't the only provider that commingles offenders and foster teens. It occurs at programs across the state, Loyd said. Ozanam is following state policies, she said.
"If the program is guilty of anything," Loyd said, "it's for taking kids that nobody wants to work with."
The state says it is beginning to move to a system that separates juvenile offenders and foster teens at facilities.
Wichita police Deputy Chief Tom Stolz said he is concerned about the practice of grouping young people who have committed serious crimes with "extremely impressionable" young people in the state's care.
Stolz said that considering some of the youths face a "myriad of social problems" from being victims of child abuse and neglect, putting them into an environment with convicted "gang members, sex offenders and drug dealers" doesn't make sense.
"I just don't think that's good policy," he said.
Investigation
The Ozanam program came under scrutiny earlier this month after a former employee raised allegations that sex offenders living at the apartments have too much contact with foster teens at the property, that clients sometimes lack food and that some incidents aren't properly reported.
The allegations led to investigations by Wichita police and the state's Juvenile Justice Authority and Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
No crimes or serious violations were found.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said that "everybody and their brother has been down investigating... and we come back as clean as a whistle."
There have been reports of trouble at the property.
Police records show that from January 2008 to July 21 of this year, Wichita police recorded 142 incidents at the West University apartments — including reports of battery, assault, runaways, drug crimes and three alleged incidents of rape.
Between December 2009 and October 2010, police investigated three reports of rape there.
In the most recent rape case, in October 2010, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old girl, and the suspect was a 17-year-old boy. In a July 2010 case, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was an 18-year-old male offender. And in a December 2009 case, the alleged victim was a 16-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was a 19-year-old man.
Charges weren't filed in the three cases, partly because the alleged victims weren't cooperative, police said.
Change will separate groups
The Juvenile Justice Authority, which has custody of offenders placed at the apartments, is moving toward a system where offenders and nonoffenders won't be grouped together.
In a July 1 e-mail, a JJA official told other officials that the new direction is "based on sound, evidence-based practices and research that supports the separation of juvenile offenders from the non-offending population."
In a statement to The Eagle on Thursday, JJA Commissioner Curtis Whitten said: "There has been an ongoing concern about the mingling of these populations, but the impetus of the new administration is enabling the Juvenile Justice Authority to move at a quicker pace toward resolving the situation."
SRS, which has custody of foster teens, says it supports the change.
For now, the change does not encompass the Wichita program on West University.
SRS says Ozanam Pathways, which is based in Kansas City, Mo., has served 98 youths in SRS custody at three Wichita locations since 2008.
Ozanam takes clients 16 to 23 years old.
JJA and SRS pay the nonprofit program $100 per day, per client to cover expenses including staffing, rent, food, clothing, furniture and linens, said Loyd, the Ozanam vice president.
Based on the former employee's complaints, a joint investigation by Wichita police and SRS began July 22. Police found no crimes that could be prosecuted and no lack of food at the University apartments, said Stolz, the deputy police chief.
Another investigation, conducted earlier this month by JJA, found that although registered sex offenders were living at the apartments, "there was no evidence... that these offenders were harming other youth placed there," a JJA report says.
The former employee asked The Eagle not to use his name, saying he fears being blacklisted within the social-service industry. He was recently laid off from his job as a life-skills coach and said it was because he raised concerns.
His allegations were echoed by a second former Ozanam employee who spoke to The Eagle. The second employee also asked that her name not be used, saying she feared being blacklisted.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said she investigated the former employee's complaints and found them to be unfounded and found that policies were being followed.
She reiterated that Ozanam works with young people who have a variety of problems and who are difficult to place.
"For many of the foster care kids, our program is really their last option. There is really no other placement opportunity for them."
Some of the foster teens have been in more than 50 placements before they arrive at the Ozanam apartments, she said.
"It's hard for them to attach."
Loyd said it's up to the state agencies — JJA and SRS — to decide who gets referred to a transitional living program, which teaches youths how to live independently.
Juvenile sex offenders who receive proper treatment have a lower chance of committing a new sex crime than adult offenders, she said.
Concerns
In December 2009, while still working for Ozanam, the former employee sent an e-mail to a supervisor expressing concern that vulnerable teens were being housed around sex offenders.
"Here we have multiple S.O.' s (sex offenders) living in close proximity to underage girls, some of whom are not even in the system but are here because they come from a troubled background."
The supervisor responded with this e-mail: "Right now, the only plan is that they are not to be in each other's apartments or signing out together. Beyond that, I'm not sure what we can do. I too am definitely concerned and just try to be extra attentive to what is going on over there."
At the time, Ozanam was operating two transitional housing programs — the one on West University and one near First and Ridge Road. It was about to launch a third program at apartments on South Mission.
Since then, Ozanam has closed two of the three programs, leaving the University property as the only remaining transitional living facility it operates in Wichita.
The other two were closed because government finances led to fewer referrals, Loyd said.
According to the state offender registry, three sex offenders — all in their early 20s — are listed as living at the University apartments. The three were in their teens when they committed their crimes.
Ozanam doesn't tell foster teens living at the apartments that some of the people living in the other units are sex offenders, the former employee said.
Although each client lives alone in an apartment, they share a common lounge and hang out together outside, he said.
The clients have curfews as early as 6 p.m. Staff are supposed to monitor them around the clock with the help of video cameras. Rules forbid physical contact between clients.
"They're not supposed to be in each other's apartments, but it's a daily occurrence," the former employee said.
He said that "in theory, we can watch them, but in reality... they get past us all the time."
SRS said that it has "no evidence to support the allegations (of) widespread sex between youth."
Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/31/1955545/program-has-foster-teens-sex-offenders.html#ixzz1Th4iylRc
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
A state-funded residential program designed to teach young adults how to live safe, productive lives mixes 16-year old-girls in foster care with sex offenders in their 20s.
The program groups juvenile offenders — including registered sex offenders — with foster teens. Each person in the program lives alone in one of 15 apartments in a building on West University, near Kellogg and Seneca.
Dorothy Loyd, vice president for transitional living services at Ozanam Pathways, the nonprofit provider that operates the program, said Ozanam isn't the only provider that commingles offenders and foster teens. It occurs at programs across the state, Loyd said. Ozanam is following state policies, she said.
"If the program is guilty of anything," Loyd said, "it's for taking kids that nobody wants to work with."
The state says it is beginning to move to a system that separates juvenile offenders and foster teens at facilities.
Wichita police Deputy Chief Tom Stolz said he is concerned about the practice of grouping young people who have committed serious crimes with "extremely impressionable" young people in the state's care.
Stolz said that considering some of the youths face a "myriad of social problems" from being victims of child abuse and neglect, putting them into an environment with convicted "gang members, sex offenders and drug dealers" doesn't make sense.
"I just don't think that's good policy," he said.
Investigation
The Ozanam program came under scrutiny earlier this month after a former employee raised allegations that sex offenders living at the apartments have too much contact with foster teens at the property, that clients sometimes lack food and that some incidents aren't properly reported.
The allegations led to investigations by Wichita police and the state's Juvenile Justice Authority and Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
No crimes or serious violations were found.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said that "everybody and their brother has been down investigating... and we come back as clean as a whistle."
There have been reports of trouble at the property.
Police records show that from January 2008 to July 21 of this year, Wichita police recorded 142 incidents at the West University apartments — including reports of battery, assault, runaways, drug crimes and three alleged incidents of rape.
Between December 2009 and October 2010, police investigated three reports of rape there.
In the most recent rape case, in October 2010, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old girl, and the suspect was a 17-year-old boy. In a July 2010 case, the alleged victim was a 17-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was an 18-year-old male offender. And in a December 2009 case, the alleged victim was a 16-year-old foster girl, and the suspect was a 19-year-old man.
Charges weren't filed in the three cases, partly because the alleged victims weren't cooperative, police said.
Change will separate groups
The Juvenile Justice Authority, which has custody of offenders placed at the apartments, is moving toward a system where offenders and nonoffenders won't be grouped together.
In a July 1 e-mail, a JJA official told other officials that the new direction is "based on sound, evidence-based practices and research that supports the separation of juvenile offenders from the non-offending population."
In a statement to The Eagle on Thursday, JJA Commissioner Curtis Whitten said: "There has been an ongoing concern about the mingling of these populations, but the impetus of the new administration is enabling the Juvenile Justice Authority to move at a quicker pace toward resolving the situation."
SRS, which has custody of foster teens, says it supports the change.
For now, the change does not encompass the Wichita program on West University.
SRS says Ozanam Pathways, which is based in Kansas City, Mo., has served 98 youths in SRS custody at three Wichita locations since 2008.
Ozanam takes clients 16 to 23 years old.
JJA and SRS pay the nonprofit program $100 per day, per client to cover expenses including staffing, rent, food, clothing, furniture and linens, said Loyd, the Ozanam vice president.
Based on the former employee's complaints, a joint investigation by Wichita police and SRS began July 22. Police found no crimes that could be prosecuted and no lack of food at the University apartments, said Stolz, the deputy police chief.
Another investigation, conducted earlier this month by JJA, found that although registered sex offenders were living at the apartments, "there was no evidence... that these offenders were harming other youth placed there," a JJA report says.
The former employee asked The Eagle not to use his name, saying he fears being blacklisted within the social-service industry. He was recently laid off from his job as a life-skills coach and said it was because he raised concerns.
His allegations were echoed by a second former Ozanam employee who spoke to The Eagle. The second employee also asked that her name not be used, saying she feared being blacklisted.
Loyd, the Ozanam vice president, said she investigated the former employee's complaints and found them to be unfounded and found that policies were being followed.
She reiterated that Ozanam works with young people who have a variety of problems and who are difficult to place.
"For many of the foster care kids, our program is really their last option. There is really no other placement opportunity for them."
Some of the foster teens have been in more than 50 placements before they arrive at the Ozanam apartments, she said.
"It's hard for them to attach."
Loyd said it's up to the state agencies — JJA and SRS — to decide who gets referred to a transitional living program, which teaches youths how to live independently.
Juvenile sex offenders who receive proper treatment have a lower chance of committing a new sex crime than adult offenders, she said.
Concerns
In December 2009, while still working for Ozanam, the former employee sent an e-mail to a supervisor expressing concern that vulnerable teens were being housed around sex offenders.
"Here we have multiple S.O.' s (sex offenders) living in close proximity to underage girls, some of whom are not even in the system but are here because they come from a troubled background."
The supervisor responded with this e-mail: "Right now, the only plan is that they are not to be in each other's apartments or signing out together. Beyond that, I'm not sure what we can do. I too am definitely concerned and just try to be extra attentive to what is going on over there."
At the time, Ozanam was operating two transitional housing programs — the one on West University and one near First and Ridge Road. It was about to launch a third program at apartments on South Mission.
Since then, Ozanam has closed two of the three programs, leaving the University property as the only remaining transitional living facility it operates in Wichita.
The other two were closed because government finances led to fewer referrals, Loyd said.
According to the state offender registry, three sex offenders — all in their early 20s — are listed as living at the University apartments. The three were in their teens when they committed their crimes.
Ozanam doesn't tell foster teens living at the apartments that some of the people living in the other units are sex offenders, the former employee said.
Although each client lives alone in an apartment, they share a common lounge and hang out together outside, he said.
The clients have curfews as early as 6 p.m. Staff are supposed to monitor them around the clock with the help of video cameras. Rules forbid physical contact between clients.
"They're not supposed to be in each other's apartments, but it's a daily occurrence," the former employee said.
He said that "in theory, we can watch them, but in reality... they get past us all the time."
SRS said that it has "no evidence to support the allegations (of) widespread sex between youth."
Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/31/1955545/program-has-foster-teens-sex-offenders.html#ixzz1Th4iylRc
Sunday, July 10, 2011
SRS/CPS Lacks Integrity, Shut Them All Down
About 150 attend meeting on SRS closure
By Scott Rothschild — Lawrence Journal-World
July 9, 2011
If Gov. Sam Brownback's plan to shut down the Lawrence office of the
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services goes into effect, it will harm many vulnerable Kansans, social workers and law enforcement officials said Saturday.
For example, Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said police must have a social worker accompany them if they go into a school to interview an alleged victim of sexual abuse.
The decision by SRS Secretary Robert Siedlecki Jr. to shut down the Lawrence office will make it more difficult to get a social worker in these instances, Branson said.
"I'm just very fearful that we are going to miss a lot of people who are in need of care," Branson said. "We have children going through horrific instances in their lives, and we have small windows to go in and make a difference, and the governor and secretary have closed that window on us," he said.
He said without the timely availability of an SRS social worker, the child could face having to return to his or her abuser at the end of the school day before police could intervene.
Branson's comments were made during a meeting at the Lawrence Public Library that was attended by a packed crowd of about 150 people, many of whom had to stand or sit in adjacent rooms.
Those in attendance expressed anger and shock at the Brownback administration's decision announced July 1 to close nine SRS offices, with Lawrence being the largest one by far. The closures would take effect within three months. Siedlecki has said the 87 employees will be able to get jobs at other SRS offices.
Brownback and Siedlecki have said the closures are needed to save money during tight budget times, and that those receiving SRS services in Lawrence can continue to get assistance by accessing them online or traveling to offices in Topeka, Overland Park or Ottawa. Brownback has noted that Lawrence is served by several four-lane roads.
Many at the meeting said that was unrealistic.
Gayle Sigurdson of Lawrence said she thought the closure of SRS offices was intended to cut state spending by making it more difficult for people to get help.
She also said the way Siedlecki announced the closures without any public meetings to gain input was a "suspension of the Democratic process."
"These closures were made without public comment, or participation of our local legislators and without any formal appeals process," she said.
She said she feared Brownback's statement on Friday when he said he may consider options to the closures was "lip service."
The meeting was held by the Douglas County Democratic Party. Former SRS Secretary Robert Harder had been scheduled to speak several weeks ago prior to the announced closures.
Harder, who has held the position of SRS secretary the longest in state history, said the prevailing political climate at the Statehouse represented a departure from decades of bi-partisan support for social services.
Of the past legislative session, which produced massive cuts to social services, he said, "I would have to say, without question, it was absolutely the meanest, toughest session that I have observed in my 50 years," of being around Kansas politics.
He said the assertion that people could receive SRS services online was not plausible. Applications for medical assistance are not available online, and the application for cash assistance is 16 pages long, he said.
Harder added that social service advocates are not opposed to change but they want change in a careful, thought out way.
Steve Ruttinger of Lawrence said he was dismayed by the Brownback administration's layoffs of experienced staff at SRS and replacing them with those lacking experienced. "They profess this connection to God but there is nothing Christian about it," he said.
The Democratic members of the Douglas County legislative delegation urged the crowd to continue to contact Brownback's office to voice their disapproval and attend Monday's meeting at 7 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church to discuss ways to try to reverse the closure decision.
"People in government make mistakes from time to time and they need to be called on it, and this is a classic example," said House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/jul/09/about-150-attend-meeting-srs-closure/
By Scott Rothschild — Lawrence Journal-World
July 9, 2011
If Gov. Sam Brownback's plan to shut down the Lawrence office of the
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services goes into effect, it will harm many vulnerable Kansans, social workers and law enforcement officials said Saturday.
For example, Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said police must have a social worker accompany them if they go into a school to interview an alleged victim of sexual abuse.
The decision by SRS Secretary Robert Siedlecki Jr. to shut down the Lawrence office will make it more difficult to get a social worker in these instances, Branson said.
"I'm just very fearful that we are going to miss a lot of people who are in need of care," Branson said. "We have children going through horrific instances in their lives, and we have small windows to go in and make a difference, and the governor and secretary have closed that window on us," he said.
He said without the timely availability of an SRS social worker, the child could face having to return to his or her abuser at the end of the school day before police could intervene.
Branson's comments were made during a meeting at the Lawrence Public Library that was attended by a packed crowd of about 150 people, many of whom had to stand or sit in adjacent rooms.
Those in attendance expressed anger and shock at the Brownback administration's decision announced July 1 to close nine SRS offices, with Lawrence being the largest one by far. The closures would take effect within three months. Siedlecki has said the 87 employees will be able to get jobs at other SRS offices.
Brownback and Siedlecki have said the closures are needed to save money during tight budget times, and that those receiving SRS services in Lawrence can continue to get assistance by accessing them online or traveling to offices in Topeka, Overland Park or Ottawa. Brownback has noted that Lawrence is served by several four-lane roads.
Many at the meeting said that was unrealistic.
Gayle Sigurdson of Lawrence said she thought the closure of SRS offices was intended to cut state spending by making it more difficult for people to get help.
She also said the way Siedlecki announced the closures without any public meetings to gain input was a "suspension of the Democratic process."
"These closures were made without public comment, or participation of our local legislators and without any formal appeals process," she said.
She said she feared Brownback's statement on Friday when he said he may consider options to the closures was "lip service."
The meeting was held by the Douglas County Democratic Party. Former SRS Secretary Robert Harder had been scheduled to speak several weeks ago prior to the announced closures.
Harder, who has held the position of SRS secretary the longest in state history, said the prevailing political climate at the Statehouse represented a departure from decades of bi-partisan support for social services.
Of the past legislative session, which produced massive cuts to social services, he said, "I would have to say, without question, it was absolutely the meanest, toughest session that I have observed in my 50 years," of being around Kansas politics.
He said the assertion that people could receive SRS services online was not plausible. Applications for medical assistance are not available online, and the application for cash assistance is 16 pages long, he said.
Harder added that social service advocates are not opposed to change but they want change in a careful, thought out way.
Steve Ruttinger of Lawrence said he was dismayed by the Brownback administration's layoffs of experienced staff at SRS and replacing them with those lacking experienced. "They profess this connection to God but there is nothing Christian about it," he said.
The Democratic members of the Douglas County legislative delegation urged the crowd to continue to contact Brownback's office to voice their disapproval and attend Monday's meeting at 7 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church to discuss ways to try to reverse the closure decision.
"People in government make mistakes from time to time and they need to be called on it, and this is a classic example," said House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/jul/09/about-150-attend-meeting-srs-closure/
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Kansas Foster Child, Girl was staying at shelter before she died
Mother reports that her daughter, of Garden City, ran away from girls
home.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
http://www.hutchnews.com/Localregional/Great-Bend-death-follow--2
Although
Akings declined to release the girl's name, citing an ongoing investigation into
the suspicious death, The Garden City Telegram identified the girl as Jessica
Cheyanne Shearer of Garden City.
Shearer's mother, Alida Potter of
Garden City, told The Telegram her daughter had been staying at the girls home
for a couple of months before running away.
Joseph J. Rykiel, 30, was
arrested Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree murder and aggravated indecent
liberties with a child. Akings said investigators are focusing on the suspected
aggravated indecent liberties, and formal charges against Rykiel were being
prepared late Thursday.
Jackie McHolland, 39, and his fiancee, Mary Coker,
27, told The News on Wednesday they have been renting a room in their basement
at 2509 Walnut to Rykiel since Feb. 23. They came home from out of town on the
Fourth of July to find police at their house and learn the girl had been found
dead in their basement.
Police were called to the home at 5:10 p.m. Monday on
the report of a female with respiratory problems, but when officers arrived,
they found the 15-year-old girl had died from "unknown medical causes,"
according to Akings.
McHolland said his prescription medication was found on
Rykiel, and the locked box he kept his prescription medications in, including
morphine, had been "pried open."
"She ran away, and somehow she met up with
this guy," Alida Potter, Shearer's mother, told The Telegram.
When contacted
by phone Thursday, an employee at Barton County Youth Care Inc. in Great Bend
declined to comment. The shelter offers level IV care to girls for the state of
Kansas, according to a 2009 annual report filed by the nonprofit organization.
Barton County Youth Care is licensed for in-home foster care, said Gary Brooks,
a former board member.
Kansas Department of Corrections records show Rykiel,
30, previously served time in prison for multiple convictions, including
aggravated robbery in 2002 in Labette County. He was previously paroled to Reno
County in 2007, violated parole and then was paroled out of state to Tennessee
in 2009 before his sentence expired Feb. 13.
Rykiel had been working for a
Great Bend concrete company.
http://www.hutchnews.com/Localregional/Great-Bend-death-follow--2
Although
Akings declined to release the girl's name, citing an ongoing investigation into
the suspicious death, The Garden City Telegram identified the girl as Jessica
Cheyanne Shearer of Garden City.
Shearer's mother, Alida Potter of
Garden City, told The Telegram her daughter had been staying at the girls home
for a couple of months before running away.
Joseph J. Rykiel, 30, was
arrested Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree murder and aggravated indecent
liberties with a child. Akings said investigators are focusing on the suspected
aggravated indecent liberties, and formal charges against Rykiel were being
prepared late Thursday.
Jackie McHolland, 39, and his fiancee, Mary Coker,
27, told The News on Wednesday they have been renting a room in their basement
at 2509 Walnut to Rykiel since Feb. 23. They came home from out of town on the
Fourth of July to find police at their house and learn the girl had been found
dead in their basement.
Police were called to the home at 5:10 p.m. Monday on
the report of a female with respiratory problems, but when officers arrived,
they found the 15-year-old girl had died from "unknown medical causes,"
according to Akings.
McHolland said his prescription medication was found on
Rykiel, and the locked box he kept his prescription medications in, including
morphine, had been "pried open."
"She ran away, and somehow she met up with
this guy," Alida Potter, Shearer's mother, told The Telegram.
When contacted
by phone Thursday, an employee at Barton County Youth Care Inc. in Great Bend
declined to comment. The shelter offers level IV care to girls for the state of
Kansas, according to a 2009 annual report filed by the nonprofit organization.
Barton County Youth Care is licensed for in-home foster care, said Gary Brooks,
a former board member.
Kansas Department of Corrections records show Rykiel,
30, previously served time in prison for multiple convictions, including
aggravated robbery in 2002 in Labette County. He was previously paroled to Reno
County in 2007, violated parole and then was paroled out of state to Tennessee
in 2009 before his sentence expired Feb. 13.
Rykiel had been working for a
Great Bend concrete company.
Wichita, Kansas Judge rules for social worker in child's death
Posted on Fri, Jul. 08, 2011The Associated Press WICHITA, Kan. - A federal judge in Wichita has ruled in favor of a Kansas social worker accused of failing to protect a toddler who was beaten to death by her father's girlfriend.U.S. District Judge Monti Belot ruled Thursday that the civil lawsuit filed by the child's grandparents, Larry and Mary Crosetto, failed to show that social worker Linda Gillen was negligent in not protecting the child despite complaints about abuse.The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services argued that Gillen had "no duty to intervene" after she investigated a report claiming abuse and neglect of the 23-month-old Coffeyville girl, who died in 2008. The civil lawsuit did not name SRS as a defendant.The child's father's girlfriend, Melissa Wells, has been sentenced to life in prison in the child's death.Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/08/1925678/judge-rules-for-social-worker.html#ixzz1Rbn7bBsa
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Bambi Hazen, CPS Fraud Upon The Court
Bambi Hazen spoke before the Blue Ribbon Commission May 26th, 2011, CPS Wrongful Removal, Fraud Upon The Court
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Marlene Jones Says CPS Wrongful Removal Costs Tax Payers
Marlene Jones spoke before the Blue Ribbon Commission,
Thur May 26th, 2011, CPS Wrongful Removal Costs Tax Payers
Friday, April 1, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
KS Asst Dir CFS Sue McKenna Misleads Public
Kansas Assistant Director of Children and Family Services, Roberta Sue McKenna, participated in a panel discussion which included Kansas Attorney/Guardian Ad Litems, and Judges. This was titled "KTWU's Abused, Neglected, Protected: When Children Go to Court" which was produced by nonprofit Washburn University.
The discussion aired on KPTS Channel 8 on Tuesday Feb 22, 2011
Roberta Sue McKenna works directly under Tanya Keys who is the Director of Children and Family Services.
Why is McKenna misleading the public on time spent in care and making foster care look like a walk in the park?
McKenna said, "64% go home within 12 months.. another substantial percentage go home in less than two years. So most of the children who are removed from their parents custody return to their parents custody.....
(Regarding time spent in care)...less than 12 months.. Just think, if we could all remember how long it took to get to Christmas. How much time there was between birthdays..."
FACTS: The number of Kansas children served in Out of Home Placement in FY2010 was 8,275
The number of Kansas children reunified in FY2010 was 1,720
The total percentage of children reunified in FY2010 was 20%...NOT 64% as McKenna said.
FACTS: Kansas children average length of time in care FY2010 was 19.4 months
Sedgwick County children average length of time in care FY2010 was 30.7 months
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Kansas A.G. inquiry: 'ill will' led SRS worker to ignore abuse
Posted on Sun, Feb. 13, 2011
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
A Kansas attorney general's investigation found that a state social worker disliked a Coffeyville couple and chose to do "nothing to protect" their 23-month-old granddaughter before she was murdered in 2008.
The investigation concluded that veteran SRS social worker Linda Gillen treated abuse reports involving the couple's grandchildren very differently from others and failed to take steps that her agency required in child abuse cases.
The investigation is coming to light now as part of a lawsuit brought by the couple, Larry and Mary Crosetto.
Last year the Crosettos filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that Gillen held a decades-old grudge against them and that it cost them their granddaughter's life.
They say Gillen refused to act on repeated reports of abuse in the months before their granddaughter, Brooklyn Coons, died.
The lawsuit — which offers a rare look at inner workings of the child protection system — says Gillen had a "personal animus, bordering on hatred" toward the couple.
The Crosettos say that the "animus led to the tragic and totally preventable death" of the toddler.
In January 2008 — more than two months after the Crosettos began pressing Gillen to have the children removed from their home — Brooklyn died.
Authorities said the toddler suffered brain injuries after being beaten or violently shaken. Her father's meth-addicted girlfriend, Melissa Wells, was later convicted of first-degree murder.
Last month, an SRS attorney filed a legal argument denying that Gillen is liable. Bill Miskell, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS), said he can't comment on the investigation but that the agency will be filing a response in court. No one from SRS, including Gillen, can comment on pending litigation, Miskell said.
Gillen has been with SRS since 1974. At the time of Brooklyn's death, she was the only licensed social worker in the Coffeyville SRS office investigating child abuse and neglect cases, documents say.
Gillen remains in that role, Miskell said.
Another tragedy
The Crosettos had been the main caregivers for Brooklyn and her 5-year-old brother when their mother, Angela Coons, the Crosettos' daughter, was attending college. She became separated from the children's father, Randy Coons.
In June 2007, the children and their mother moved to Wichita after she got a job. About two months later, Angela Coons suddenly became ill and died.
Around September 2007, the children went to the Coffeyville home of their father and Wells, his girlfriend.
As a child, Wells had been in SRS custody, and Gillen was a social worker assigned to her case, the lawsuit says.
The Crosettos' lawyer is Randy Rathbun, a former U.S. attorney.
A striking difference
In an affidavit signed Jan. 24, Camie Russell, former director of the attorney general's Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Unit, said that as director she reviewed about a dozen child abuse cases handled by Gillen in Montgomery County. Russell said she found a clear difference in the way Gillen treated Brooklyn's case.
In the other cases, Gillen was "very hands on," Russell said. "She undertook actions without court order based upon suggestions made by the county attorney or the district judge."
But, Russell said, "As to the Coons children she was very hands off."
Russell's investigation concluded that Gillen held "some animus or ill will toward the Crosettos," according to her affidavit.
The affidavit, based on a 2009 investigative report by Russell, said Gillen denied "that anyone blocked her from taking action."
The investigation found that Gillen "elected to do nothing to protect" the Crosettos' grandchildren.
The Crosettos say Gillen became unhappy with them in 1982 when they adopted their daughter — Brooklyn's mother — when she was an infant.
The Crosettos said they excluded Gillen, the social worker, from their efforts to adopt their daughter. They said they reported Gillen's failure to complete a home study, which led a judge to rebuke her. As a result, the Crosettos said, she became angry at them.
The couple "totally circumvented" Gillen from another adoption in 1985, "which further angered Gillen," court documents say.
"This hatred was so immense that Gillen could not hide it — so much so that a Coffeyville police officer noted it while the Crosettos' granddaughter lay in a Tulsa hospital bed fighting for her life," the Crosettos' attorney said in the recent filings.
Russell's affidavit says that when Gillen met with police and the Crosettos the day after Brooklyn went to the hospital, "Gillen's animosity toward Larry Crosetto was so obvious that Detective George indicated that she wishes that she would have recorded the interaction."
Repeated concerns
The lawsuit claims that before Brooklyn's death, "Gillen stonewalled the Crosettos' attempts to protect their grandchildren, arguing that it was her duty to do whatever she could to 'keep the family together.' The 'family' in this case consisted of Brook, her brother .. , their natural father, Randy Coons, who at the time was living in squalor with his meth-addicted girlfriend, Melissa Wells, and her two children," one of whom had been the subject of a call to the SRS reporting center.
The Crosettos argue that Gillen had a number of reasons to have Brooklyn and her brother removed from Wells' home:
* An August 2006 report to the SRS Protection Report Center or hotline alleging Wells abused her own son.
That boy's grandfather reported that the child had two nickel-size, black-and-blue bruises above the diaper line and a fading bruise under his right eye. Wells said the bruises came from falls, but her son's grandfather said he didn't believe her. He also reported that she smoked marijuana a lot, possibly with the child present.
* A September 2007 report from Brooklyn's day care provider to the SRS report center that Brooklyn was being abused.
In an affidavit, the former day care provider, Allison Horner, said that when she saw Brooklyn that September, "I was shocked by her condition. She had a black eye, a busted lip with stitches and random bruising all over her body. She was not the same little girl I had cared for just a few months earlier. ... It was very plain to me she was being abused."
Horner called the SRS reporting center and gave details about Brooklyn's injuries and other information that would allow SRS to follow up.
The report to the SRS hotline should have gone to Gillen "but is now nowhere to be found," the lawsuit says.
* A November 2007 report from a school to the SRS center that Wells was suspected of abusing Brooklyn's brother.
Gillen noted in a report that the boy came to school with a 2-inch-by-2-inch red mark on his face.
"Wells confessed to Gillen that she had struck CSC (Brooklyn's brother) in anger leaving bruising that required icing at school later that day. Predictably, Gillen found the complaint 'unsubstantiated,' " the lawsuit says.
* Repeated calls from Larry Crosetto to Gillen "detailing the abuse of his grandchildren."
* "Deplorable living conditions in Wells' home that Gillen refused to investigate. She then lied to Crosetto about having visited there to get him to stop bothering her about it," the lawsuit says.
* Evidence of drug use by Wells from two sources.
* A Dec. 24, 2007, letter from a doctor to the local SRS office — which Gillen says she didn't get — reporting that Brooklyn had bruises that should be investigated.
* On Dec. 28, 2007, Crosetto offered photos of bruises on the children.
That same day, Crosetto told Gillen "that her refusal to do her job was going to end up causing the death of one of his grandchildren. ... Three weeks later, Brook was dead," the lawsuit says.
SRS worker defended
In a document filed early last month, SRS staff attorney Maureen Redeker defended Gillen, saying:
* "There is no evidence of Ms. Gillen's intent towards Crosettos."
* Gillen "is not liable for private violence."
* There is no evidence that Gillen's conduct "created or increased the danger" to Brooklyn.
* The risk to Brooklyn "was not obvious and known" to Gillen.
* Gillen "did not act in conscious disregard of a known risk" to Brooklyn.
* Gillen's "conduct was not conscience shocking."
A list of 'failures'
Regardless of whether Gillen is liable, she failed on the Coons case in multiple ways, court documents say.
Russell, the former attorney general's official, said in an affidavit that Gillen failed to take actions required by her agency. Russell cited five areas:
* "Failure to note prior SRS involvement with Wells ... ."
* "Failure to take photos of the child to document the injury."
* "Failure to complete a home visit; the site where the maltreatment occurred."
* "Failure to report Wells' confession of intentionally hitting CSC (Brooklyn's brother, in the face) to law enforcement."
* "Failure to interview additional significant caretakers of the children."
Russell's investigation noted a lingering question: What happened to the letter the doctor wrote addressing bruises and other marks on Brooklyn about three weeks before she died?
The doctor sent the letter to the Coffeyville SRS office. The doctor's letter "noted concern of abuse, listed marks and bruising, referenced records of past injury... and requested SRS look into child's environment and provide a report back to him," Russell's review said.
Gillen should have received it, but there is no record of it being received, Russell's affidavit says.
Gillen's role crucial
Russell found that the role of SRS and Gillen was crucial.
"Law enforcement, the school, the doctor, a daycare provider, and others interviewed indicated that they were under the impression that SRS/Gillen was investigating and addressing the Coons abuse and neglect concerns."
Larry Crosetto tried other routes besides Gillen and the doctor.
On Nov. 5, 2007, he called Fire Chief Greg Allen to voice concerns about living conditions at Wells' home. Allen inspected the home's exterior and left a note asking permission to check inside but never heard back from Wells or Randy Coons.
On Dec. 12, 2007, when Crosetto sought help from school district officials, he was told "that the school could do no more as the matter was in the hands of the SRS."
Crosetto feared that if his grandchildren were removed from their father, he probably would not see them again. But after his grandson was struck in the face, he decided his "fears were insignificant compared to the welfare of the children," and from then on "he really started to push Gillen to protect the children," the lawsuit says.
Crosetto called Gillen on Nov. 6, 14, 15 and 16. "She refused to return my calls," his recently filed affidavit says.
On Nov. 20, Gillen "finally accepted a call from me. ... I tried to discuss my concerns about bruising on Brooklyn and the suspected drug use of Melissa Wells. Gillen said those were police matters and refused to discuss them."
Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/02/13/1718592/ag-inquiry-ill-will-led-srs-worker.html#ixzz1Dr1lWUsj
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
A Kansas attorney general's investigation found that a state social worker disliked a Coffeyville couple and chose to do "nothing to protect" their 23-month-old granddaughter before she was murdered in 2008.
The investigation concluded that veteran SRS social worker Linda Gillen treated abuse reports involving the couple's grandchildren very differently from others and failed to take steps that her agency required in child abuse cases.
The investigation is coming to light now as part of a lawsuit brought by the couple, Larry and Mary Crosetto.
Last year the Crosettos filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that Gillen held a decades-old grudge against them and that it cost them their granddaughter's life.
They say Gillen refused to act on repeated reports of abuse in the months before their granddaughter, Brooklyn Coons, died.
The lawsuit — which offers a rare look at inner workings of the child protection system — says Gillen had a "personal animus, bordering on hatred" toward the couple.
The Crosettos say that the "animus led to the tragic and totally preventable death" of the toddler.
In January 2008 — more than two months after the Crosettos began pressing Gillen to have the children removed from their home — Brooklyn died.
Authorities said the toddler suffered brain injuries after being beaten or violently shaken. Her father's meth-addicted girlfriend, Melissa Wells, was later convicted of first-degree murder.
Last month, an SRS attorney filed a legal argument denying that Gillen is liable. Bill Miskell, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS), said he can't comment on the investigation but that the agency will be filing a response in court. No one from SRS, including Gillen, can comment on pending litigation, Miskell said.
Gillen has been with SRS since 1974. At the time of Brooklyn's death, she was the only licensed social worker in the Coffeyville SRS office investigating child abuse and neglect cases, documents say.
Gillen remains in that role, Miskell said.
Another tragedy
The Crosettos had been the main caregivers for Brooklyn and her 5-year-old brother when their mother, Angela Coons, the Crosettos' daughter, was attending college. She became separated from the children's father, Randy Coons.
In June 2007, the children and their mother moved to Wichita after she got a job. About two months later, Angela Coons suddenly became ill and died.
Around September 2007, the children went to the Coffeyville home of their father and Wells, his girlfriend.
As a child, Wells had been in SRS custody, and Gillen was a social worker assigned to her case, the lawsuit says.
The Crosettos' lawyer is Randy Rathbun, a former U.S. attorney.
A striking difference
In an affidavit signed Jan. 24, Camie Russell, former director of the attorney general's Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Unit, said that as director she reviewed about a dozen child abuse cases handled by Gillen in Montgomery County. Russell said she found a clear difference in the way Gillen treated Brooklyn's case.
In the other cases, Gillen was "very hands on," Russell said. "She undertook actions without court order based upon suggestions made by the county attorney or the district judge."
But, Russell said, "As to the Coons children she was very hands off."
Russell's investigation concluded that Gillen held "some animus or ill will toward the Crosettos," according to her affidavit.
The affidavit, based on a 2009 investigative report by Russell, said Gillen denied "that anyone blocked her from taking action."
The investigation found that Gillen "elected to do nothing to protect" the Crosettos' grandchildren.
The Crosettos say Gillen became unhappy with them in 1982 when they adopted their daughter — Brooklyn's mother — when she was an infant.
The Crosettos said they excluded Gillen, the social worker, from their efforts to adopt their daughter. They said they reported Gillen's failure to complete a home study, which led a judge to rebuke her. As a result, the Crosettos said, she became angry at them.
The couple "totally circumvented" Gillen from another adoption in 1985, "which further angered Gillen," court documents say.
"This hatred was so immense that Gillen could not hide it — so much so that a Coffeyville police officer noted it while the Crosettos' granddaughter lay in a Tulsa hospital bed fighting for her life," the Crosettos' attorney said in the recent filings.
Russell's affidavit says that when Gillen met with police and the Crosettos the day after Brooklyn went to the hospital, "Gillen's animosity toward Larry Crosetto was so obvious that Detective George indicated that she wishes that she would have recorded the interaction."
Repeated concerns
The lawsuit claims that before Brooklyn's death, "Gillen stonewalled the Crosettos' attempts to protect their grandchildren, arguing that it was her duty to do whatever she could to 'keep the family together.' The 'family' in this case consisted of Brook, her brother .. , their natural father, Randy Coons, who at the time was living in squalor with his meth-addicted girlfriend, Melissa Wells, and her two children," one of whom had been the subject of a call to the SRS reporting center.
The Crosettos argue that Gillen had a number of reasons to have Brooklyn and her brother removed from Wells' home:
* An August 2006 report to the SRS Protection Report Center or hotline alleging Wells abused her own son.
That boy's grandfather reported that the child had two nickel-size, black-and-blue bruises above the diaper line and a fading bruise under his right eye. Wells said the bruises came from falls, but her son's grandfather said he didn't believe her. He also reported that she smoked marijuana a lot, possibly with the child present.
* A September 2007 report from Brooklyn's day care provider to the SRS report center that Brooklyn was being abused.
In an affidavit, the former day care provider, Allison Horner, said that when she saw Brooklyn that September, "I was shocked by her condition. She had a black eye, a busted lip with stitches and random bruising all over her body. She was not the same little girl I had cared for just a few months earlier. ... It was very plain to me she was being abused."
Horner called the SRS reporting center and gave details about Brooklyn's injuries and other information that would allow SRS to follow up.
The report to the SRS hotline should have gone to Gillen "but is now nowhere to be found," the lawsuit says.
* A November 2007 report from a school to the SRS center that Wells was suspected of abusing Brooklyn's brother.
Gillen noted in a report that the boy came to school with a 2-inch-by-2-inch red mark on his face.
"Wells confessed to Gillen that she had struck CSC (Brooklyn's brother) in anger leaving bruising that required icing at school later that day. Predictably, Gillen found the complaint 'unsubstantiated,' " the lawsuit says.
* Repeated calls from Larry Crosetto to Gillen "detailing the abuse of his grandchildren."
* "Deplorable living conditions in Wells' home that Gillen refused to investigate. She then lied to Crosetto about having visited there to get him to stop bothering her about it," the lawsuit says.
* Evidence of drug use by Wells from two sources.
* A Dec. 24, 2007, letter from a doctor to the local SRS office — which Gillen says she didn't get — reporting that Brooklyn had bruises that should be investigated.
* On Dec. 28, 2007, Crosetto offered photos of bruises on the children.
That same day, Crosetto told Gillen "that her refusal to do her job was going to end up causing the death of one of his grandchildren. ... Three weeks later, Brook was dead," the lawsuit says.
SRS worker defended
In a document filed early last month, SRS staff attorney Maureen Redeker defended Gillen, saying:
* "There is no evidence of Ms. Gillen's intent towards Crosettos."
* Gillen "is not liable for private violence."
* There is no evidence that Gillen's conduct "created or increased the danger" to Brooklyn.
* The risk to Brooklyn "was not obvious and known" to Gillen.
* Gillen "did not act in conscious disregard of a known risk" to Brooklyn.
* Gillen's "conduct was not conscience shocking."
A list of 'failures'
Regardless of whether Gillen is liable, she failed on the Coons case in multiple ways, court documents say.
Russell, the former attorney general's official, said in an affidavit that Gillen failed to take actions required by her agency. Russell cited five areas:
* "Failure to note prior SRS involvement with Wells ... ."
* "Failure to take photos of the child to document the injury."
* "Failure to complete a home visit; the site where the maltreatment occurred."
* "Failure to report Wells' confession of intentionally hitting CSC (Brooklyn's brother, in the face) to law enforcement."
* "Failure to interview additional significant caretakers of the children."
Russell's investigation noted a lingering question: What happened to the letter the doctor wrote addressing bruises and other marks on Brooklyn about three weeks before she died?
The doctor sent the letter to the Coffeyville SRS office. The doctor's letter "noted concern of abuse, listed marks and bruising, referenced records of past injury... and requested SRS look into child's environment and provide a report back to him," Russell's review said.
Gillen should have received it, but there is no record of it being received, Russell's affidavit says.
Gillen's role crucial
Russell found that the role of SRS and Gillen was crucial.
"Law enforcement, the school, the doctor, a daycare provider, and others interviewed indicated that they were under the impression that SRS/Gillen was investigating and addressing the Coons abuse and neglect concerns."
Larry Crosetto tried other routes besides Gillen and the doctor.
On Nov. 5, 2007, he called Fire Chief Greg Allen to voice concerns about living conditions at Wells' home. Allen inspected the home's exterior and left a note asking permission to check inside but never heard back from Wells or Randy Coons.
On Dec. 12, 2007, when Crosetto sought help from school district officials, he was told "that the school could do no more as the matter was in the hands of the SRS."
Crosetto feared that if his grandchildren were removed from their father, he probably would not see them again. But after his grandson was struck in the face, he decided his "fears were insignificant compared to the welfare of the children," and from then on "he really started to push Gillen to protect the children," the lawsuit says.
Crosetto called Gillen on Nov. 6, 14, 15 and 16. "She refused to return my calls," his recently filed affidavit says.
On Nov. 20, Gillen "finally accepted a call from me. ... I tried to discuss my concerns about bruising on Brooklyn and the suspected drug use of Melissa Wells. Gillen said those were police matters and refused to discuss them."
Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/02/13/1718592/ag-inquiry-ill-will-led-srs-worker.html#ixzz1Dr1lWUsj
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