Faith Club

11.2.18 14:39
Par Arizonas (ASV) bērnu atņemšanas kultūru. 7 miljoni iedzīvotāju.

"Over the past decade, only tiny Wyoming and West Virginia may have removed children at a higher rate than Arizona. "

"Buried under huge caseloads, many workers defaulted to removing a child if they had the slightest doubt."

"[...] one reason DCS [Department of Child Services -w] can’t answer crucial questions: Five years ago, CPS [Child Protective Services, kuru nācās izformēt tāpēc ka bija izpuvis un pārsaukt par DCS -w] gave up on having overwhelmed caseworkers fill out forms that detailed, in 17 categories, the safety or health threats that justified taking a child away — such as domestic violence, drug use, unsafe living conditions or young children left unsupervised, among others. Instead, caseworkers now fill out brief narratives that vary in what specific information they contain, and that aren’t easy to search or analyze."

"The biggest questions the department can’t answer all relate to the one Maribel Ontiveros asked about the removal of her children: Why?

"Why does DCS remove so many children? Are Arizona parents simply the worst in the country? Or is something else going on? Given that four out of five children taken away are removed for alleged neglect, why hasn’t DCS systematically tracked and analyzed what kinds of neglect are the most common?"

"In 2003, after the high-profile deaths of several children who’d been left with troubled families, Gov. Janet Napolitano called a special session of the Legislature to reform Child Protective Services. She and lawmakers ordered the agency to prioritize child safety over keeping families together. The numbers of children being taken away leaped 40 percent over the next two years, from about 5,700 to about 8,000 a year."

"Then, in 2008, two crucial events occurred. That spring, the Legislature broadened the statutory definition for when a child could be removed for neglect. The old standard required that the life or health of a child had to be “endangered.” The new definition called for removal when there was “an unreasonable risk of harm” to a child’s health or life.

"The broader definition came into play just as Arizona’s economy tanked in the Great Recession."

"Among other cuts to the social safety net, the state also eviscerated funding for child-care subsidies, cutting the number of low-income families getting help from 29,000 in early 2009 to 11,000 last year.

"Past and current DCS workers say the cutbacks in help to struggling families, together with looser rules on when a child should be removed, sparked an even bigger surge in children being taken from their families."

"Last fiscal year, on average, DCS took away a child somewhere in Arizona every 40 minutes."

***

Nu, tas tā kā parasti. Viss kā pie cilvēkiem. Bet kur te ir sistēma?

"Two weeks before Devani's second birthday, she was taken away from her parents in Tucson by a state child-welfare caseworker.

"The little curly-haired girl seemed to be well-fed and cared for, but the caseworker cited drugs in the home and alleged domestic violence in deciding that Devani would be safer, at least temporarily, in foster care.

"Instead, over the next four years — as her mother fought to get her back — Devani suffered an odyssey of mistreatment in a succession of foster homes."

"She was physically abused. She was placed with David Frodsham, a man subsequently convicted of child molestation, who investigators suspect repeatedly sexually assaulted her and other foster children while he ran a pedophilia ring."

"Foster parents pass a raft of reviews to ensure they are qualified, and most work hard to take proper care of children placed with them.

"But those who don't — foster parents who harm children the state leaves in their care — are tracked in only the broadest terms. The state handles verified allegations of neglect or abuse in foster families much as it does those in other families.

"But officials admit they don't really analyze the data for patterns of foster-care problems that could be prevented. And data shows caseworkers often don't talk privately with children to identify what happens to them in foster care."

"Those children's families say the problem is real. Of 42 families interviewed for this story who had children removed, 11 alleged that their children were physically or sexually abused, exposed to drugs or harmed in some other way while in foster care."

"DCS declined to comment on whether there were any red flags at the time David Frodsham and his wife gained their foster-care license in 2002. He didn't have a prior criminal record in Arizona. In 2013, the state would put Devani in his care."

"During Devani’s first foster placement, in April 2013, Michelle Calderon repeatedly complained to case manager Jeannette Sheldon and to others at DCS that her daughter kept showing up for visits with scratches and bruises."
"In a May 2, 2014 report, Sheldon wrote that after overnight visits, Devani was “having a harder time to leave her mother,” and that after one visit “she walked into the front door of the foster home, wet all over the floor, and cried and cried.” Sheldon added that “once she has transitioned back into the foster home, she is peaceful and appears happy again."

"Both Sheldon and a contract therapist, Alexis Kirkendall, dismissed Calderon’s complaints as baseless. Later, they used her insistent concerns against her. In July 2015, even though Juvenile Court Judge K.C. Stanford found that Calderon was “in substantial compliance with her case plan,” he stopped her visitations with Devani, after Kirkendall said that contact with Calderon was “psychologically damaging” to the girl."

"Sheldon and Kirkendall cited what they called Calderon’s “false complaints” in later hearings, telling Stanford that she had tried to disrupt Devani’s placements in various foster homes. Kirkendall, raising worrisome behavior by Devani, such as crying, wetting herself, and showing fear of male drivers, told the judge that Calderon was making Devani afraid of men.

"Stanford cited those arguments, among others, in terminating Calderon’s parental rights on Oct. 8, 2015.

"There was, though, another possible explanation for Devani's behaviors."

"On April 21, 2016, Sierra Vista police arrested David Frodsham on child sexual-abuse charges, after an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police also arrested a soldier at nearby Fort Huachuca, Spc. Randall Bischak, citing evidence that Frodsham had allowed Bischak to molest the foster children."

***

"In December 2016, Frodsham was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of child sexual abuse and pornography. John Doe was identified as one of the victims in the federal case."

“David Frodsham utilized the State of Arizona and the foster care system to funnel innocent, vulnerable children into his home, so he could run a pedophile ring,” the claim said.

"The neglect and abuse was documented by DCS, but still continued, the claim said.

"“The foster and other children ... were forced to eat hot sauce as punishment, handcuffed to the bed all night, locked outside the home and locked in closets,” the claim said. “John Doe and the other boys were beaten with fists, brooms, belts and other objects to the extent that medical care was frequently required.”

In an internal DCS document obtained by the Star, one caseworker noted in March 2007 that the Frodshams admitted to handcuffing John Doe one night, after he had gotten out of his room.

“The Frodshams did not hide the fact that they used the handcuffs and notified the agency immediately,” the progress report said, adding that the only “corrective action” to be taken against the Frodshams would be a review of policies and a “stern warning that this is inappropriate behavior and against policy.”

"DCS had access to more than 38 police reports from the Frodsham house, dated between 2002 and 2016 — all prior to Frodsham’s arrest for child abuse."

"“The state should have reviewed these as part of their licensing of the foster/adoptive parent program,” the claim says. “John Doe complained to (DCS) over 16 times and nothing was done.”

"DCS also documented at least 10 abuse and neglect complaints against the Frodshams between 2002 and 2015."

***

"Calderon didn’t learn about the charges against Frodsham until long afterward. After the sexual-abuse charges became public, no one at DCS nor at the Arizona Attorney General's Office, which represents the agency, brought the new facts to the attention of the Juvenile Court. Nor did DCS ask the court to reconsider the termination of Calderon’s parental rights.

"Asked recently why, DCS spokeswoman Cynthia Weiss said, “it wasn’t DCS’s responsibility” to correct the record."

"Citing privacy laws, DCS declined to discuss Devani's foster placements. As for Calderon’s complaints that her daughter showed signs of sexual abuse, DCS declined to say why workers didn't refer those warnings to a forensic specialist or investigate them further.

"Instead, in the months after Frodsham's arrest, DCS moved forward with plans to have Devani adopted by another family.

"In that case, too, there had been warnings."

"[...] on the evening of last Dec. 29, for reasons that aren’t clear, Devani’s adoptive mother put — and kept — the girl in a bath so scalding that it gave the 5-year-old third-degree burns over 80 percent of her body and clotted the blood in her veins, according to police reports."

"Investigators noted scratch marks on the woman's forearms, and other signs that she might have held Devani down, possibly using a towel to avoid burning her own hands."

"Among many other surgeries, doctors had to amputate some of her toes. For more than a month, they expected her to die, according to police reports.

"Nationwide last year, 48 percent of children with such extensive burns died, according to data from the National Burn Repository."

"The adoptive mother was arrested in January on suspicion of two counts of child abuse. "

"Police said the woman's husband was not home when Devani was burned.

"The family gained their foster-care license through one of DCS’ contract agencies, Christian Family Care, which says, on its site, “We wrap children and families with the love of Jesus Christ.”

"A brother of the adoptive father, who lives in Colorado, told police that he spoke with Christian Family Care during the couple’s background check. He warned the licensing agency that the mother had mental-health issues and had abused her husband physically and emotionally, “but they were licensed anyway,” he said, according to a police report."

***

Sistēma tāda: CPS/DCS darbinieki piesedz to kas audžu ģimenēs darās. Kamēr no bioloģiskās ģimenes var izņemt par aizdomām, uz sūdzības pamata, vai vispār bez pamatojuma - kad bērns ir audžuģimenē, tad sistēma savējos "sargā". (Bet gan jau arī bija kāds(i) DCS darbinieks pedofīlu maizē, lai visus ziņojumus nolaistu uz bremzēm.)
Tags: bērni