The Audacity of Lies: Turning Abused Children into Gold

http://www.broowaha.com/articles/8097/the-audacity-of-lies-turning-abused-children-into-gold

Credit: Joshua Allen, Turning Abused Children into Gold, September 29, 2010

Treating abused children as commercial assets is offensive and objectionable. There must be another way.

 

“When the only thing you have ever worked with are words, how can you not lie?”
Politicians running for office such as Governor Brown and Los Angles DA Steven Cooley have found a legitimate “culture of corruption,” with the prosecution of the corrupt and pathetic leadership of the city of Bell. Handpicked city council members were paid close to 100 thousand dollars a year to work part time, and voted or acquiesced, to city managers and the police chief who paid themselves millions of dollars in salary and pension benefits over less than half a decade.

So what does this have to do with foster care?
As I noted previously, CEO’s of Foster Care Agencies have used the same model of corruption for years, putting friends and cronies on their board of directors who in exchange for- Lord knows what- vote huge and inappropriate salaries to administrators, CEO’s and whatever connected family and friends are allowed in on the spoils.
The latest Foster Agency to be snared in this culture of corruption is Teens Happy Homes which is run by CEO Beautina Robinson and administrator Dr. Nikki Milani.

Dr. Milani and family is expected to leave within the next 2 weeks as county audits continue a thorough investigation examining the inner workings of an agency that grew in just 2 or 3 years from caring for over 20 cases of abused and neglected children to over 200 children.

For those not familiar with the foster agency system in Los Angeles, this represents a great deal of money. Similar money to the corrupt takings from those involved with the city of Bell and, thus the comparison.

We are speaking about millions of dollars of tax dollars, and if you work it right, a lot of it can be yours!

A foster care agency with 200 cases of abused and neglected children may gross more than 5 million $5,000,000 annually with just a fraction of these monies actually making its way to foster parents for the care of abused and neglected children.

Five (5) or ten million dollars a year is a lot of money for a bent agency to divide up between friends and family members. The trick, for the more astute, is to ensure foster children remain properly cared for, just enough to allow the agency to stay under the county auditor’s radar while friends and family grow fat off the land. (Well actually, fat off of the abused children.)

Details about why Dr. Milani and friend have to leave are a bit hazy, but seem to have something to do with how she bought into Teens Happy Homes FFA contract, paying Beautina Robinson 10’s of thousands of dollars (contrary to county and state regulation if not law) to buy into the agency. This purchase of a large or even a controlling interest allowed Dr. Milani to install herself and cronies on the board of directors of Teens Happy Homes.

This controlling interest is very important since Agency Board Members vote and control salaries and hiring. Therefore Dr. Milani was able to control her own salary and personnel evaluations as well as the large salary of a family member who along with Dr. Milani is being forced to leave their positions at Teens Happy Homes.

One source quotes CEO Beautina Robinson as characterizing the payment by Dr. Milani as a “charitable donation,” rather than an outright payment for agency control. Of course, - everything is on the up and up!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it is now official. According to Ms. Robinson, we must be stupid.
County auditors continue to comb through agency books daily and the investigation by no means ends with the departure of Dr. Milani and family.

Dr. Milani was last heard from as administrator for disgraced CEO Craig Woods of the now defunct agency United Care. United Care later shut down after the death of Viola Vanclief who died from being bashed on the head with a hammer and whose foster parent Kiana Barker is currently being charged with her murder.

Dr. Milani was an administrator for United Care for many years and it would appear she was in a strong position to understand the allegedly corrupt and unethical business practices she may have witnessed there. It is alleged for example, that United Care has yet to return over $200,000 dollars from the quarter million the county says is still owed them because of some type of fraud or misappropriation a few years back. Unfortunately this is not unusual in the foster agency system in Los Angeles.

Milani was said to have come to Teens Happy Homes with the goal of doing things differently, but apparently this was not the case. Evidently, setting your own (and family members) salary can be quite seductive. One can only imagine the glowing descriptions present on her mandatory employee evaluations. Clearly worth the paper they were printed on.

At the beginning, Dr. Milani almost doubled the census case numbers (abused children) for Teens Happy Homes, and brought over (stole) many foster families from United Care. Several of these foster parents found it to be a profitable move in many ways, and many liked Milani personally and were only too happy to leave United Care.

The county frowns on this practice but has been unable to prevent it. Treating abused and neglected children as commercial assets is offensive and objectionable, but this is what has happened in this flawed system that is resistant to reform.

And it is resistant to reform because of the money. Isn’t it always about the money? That the county found out about this growing scheme is commendable. Keep up the good work.

Eventually however, DCFS is going to have to look in the mirror. Who will be commended then?

Children Committing Suicide in LA County DCFS Care

“… laws, according to state documents, encourage counties and their private contractors to earn money by placing and keeping children in foster care. The county receives $30,000 to $150,000 in state and federal revenues annually for each child placed.”

[While reading this, please keep in mind the age of the story. The statistics have not decreased in the past 9 years, but on the contrary have increased. Although the beginning doesn't give the full impact of the article, please do read on as you will find it increasingly interesting and somewhat enlightening. ]

December 28, 2003
Troy Anderson
Staff Writer

Children committing suicide at younger age

Los Angeles County’s child protective system is one of the most violent and dangerous in the nation, and its foster children are up to 10 times more likely to die from abuse or neglect than elsewhere in the country, a two-year investigation by the Daily News has found.

In 2001 in the United States, 1.5 percent of the 1,225 children whodied from abuse and neglect were in foster care, but in the county 14.3 percent of the 35 children who died of mistreatment that year were in foster care, government statistics show. The percentage in the county from 1991 to 2001 averaged 4.23 percent. The taxpayer-funded county and state systems are so overwhelmed with false allegations – four out of every five mistreatment reports are ruled unfounded or inconclusive – and filled with so many children who shouldn’t even be in the system, experts say, that social workers are failing in their basic mission to protect youngsters. Nationally, two out of three reports of mistreatment are false.

Since 1991, the county Coroner’s Office has referred more than 2,300 child deaths to the county’s child death review team – and more than 660 of those dead children were involved in the child protective system, including nearly 160 who were homicide victims.

In many of these deaths, county Children’s Services Inspector General Michael Watrobski made recommendations to the Department of Children and Family Services to conduct in-house investigations to determine if disciplinary action was warranted against those workers involved
in the cases.

Of 191 child deaths Watrobski investigated since 2001, he made a total of 63 recommendations to address systemic problems to improve the way the system works in an effort to reduce the number of child deaths.

Despite spending more than $36 million on foster care lawsuit settlements, judgments and legal expenses since 1990, DCFS disciplined less than a third of the social workers responsible for the lawsuits, most of which involved families who alleged social workers’ negligence contributed to the deaths and mistreatment of their children in foster care.

“That’s pathetic,” county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said. “When you have a department that is responsible for the health and safety of children there is no excuse to have a dismal record of
accountability like this.”

Meanwhile, in the various facilities that make up the county’s foster care system, between 6 percent and 28 percent of the children are abused or neglected – figures comparable to the rate in New Jersey, which many experts have long called the state with the most dangerous child welfare system in the nation.

In the general population, only 1 percent of children suffer such mistreatment.

“When I stepped into this job, I said that too many kids are hurt in foster care,” said DCFS Director David Sanders, who started in March after the forced resignations of the previous four directors. “That is absolutely glaring and the fact this department has never been willing to say that is a huge problem.

“It is clear when you compare us to other systems, we have more kids being hurt in our care than in other systems. That is absolutely inexcusable. I can’t say that more strongly. If is a reflection of a
system that isn’t working.”

Despite the staggering number of child deaths and mistreatment of thousands of children, Sanders said the department’s efforts have saved the lives of hundreds of children over the years. He also noted
that the vast majority of foster parents don’t mistreat children.

And child advocates say for the first time in the county’s history the DCFS director is taking unprecedented steps to reduce the number of deaths and percentage of foster children who are mistreated.

“In the past, the system has failed to protect children in its care,” said Andrew Bridge, managing director of child welfare reform programs at the private Broad Foundation. “The new leadership at the
department has been left with that legacy and is taking aggressive steps to fix it and protect children.”

DCFS statistics show the percentage of foster children abused and neglected averages about 6 percent, but in the foster homes supervised by private foster family agencies, an average of 10 percent of children are mistreated. However, the rates range up to 28 percent in some homes, Sanders said.

Statewide, the rate averages close to 1 percent.

In New Jersey, the foster care mistreatment rate ranges from 7 percent to 28 percent in different parts of the state, said Marcia Lowry, executive director of the New York City-based Children’s Rights advocacy organization.

Of 20 states surveyed in 1999, the percentage of children mistreated by foster parents averaged a half percent. The rate of abuse ranged from one-tenth of a percent in Arizona, Delaware and Wyoming to 1.6 percent in Illinois to 2.3 percent in Rhode Island, according to federal statistics.

Susan Lambiase, associate director of Children’s Rights, was surprised to learn of the percentage in Los Angeles County, calling it “absolutely horrendous.”

“(Los Angeles County is) a child welfare system in crisis because the children are getting pulled from their homes to keep them safe and the system cannot assure that they are being kept safe,” said Lambiase, whose organization has filed about 10 class-action lawsuits to place state child welfare systems under federal consent decrees and is considering what action it might take in Los Angeles County.

“It’s unacceptable,” she said. “This is a malfunctioning foster care system given that its role in society is to protect children from abuse and neglect.”

Critics say social workers are so busy filling out paperwork and investigating false reports that they are overlooking the warning signs of many children in the community in real danger and are not able to properly ensure the safety of children in foster care.

“When you overload your system with children who don’t need to be in foster care, workers have less time to find the children in real danger,” said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform in Alexandria, Va.

The Daily News investigation found that up to half of the 75,000 children in the system and adoptive homes were needlessly placed in a system that is often more dangerous than their own homes because of financial incentives in state and federal laws. These laws, according to state documents, encourage counties and their private contractors to earn money by placing and keeping children in foster care. The county receives $30,000 to $150,000 in state and federal revenues annually for each child placed.

Some examples of settled cases involving the deaths of foster children include:

–Long Beach resident Jacquelyn Bishop, whose twins were taken away because she hadn’t gotten her son an immunization. Kameron Demery, 2, was later beaten to death by his foster mother.

The foster mother was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to prison. In 2000, the county settled a wrongful death case with Bishop for $200,000.

–Gardena resident Debra Reid was awarded a $1 million settlement last year for the death of her 9-year-old son Jonathan Reid, who had been in foster homes in El Monte and Pomona. He died of an asthma
attack in 1997 after social workers didn’t notify the foster mother of his severe asthma and diabetes conditions – a tragic irony, because the boy was placed in foster care after county social workers alleged Reid was neglecting her son by not providing appropriate medical care for his diabetes and asthma.

Reid’s other son, 10-year-old Debvin Mitchell, who received $100,000 as part of the settlement after he was wrongfully detained, said his foster parents were “brutal” to him during his one-and-a-half years in multiple foster homes.

“I thought that it was cruel and unusual for being beaten like that for no reason,” said Mitchell. “When I came home, I had bruises everywhere. I feel good to be back with my family where I don’t get beaten for silly things for no reason and most of all I’m glad to be back with my mom.”

Anthony Cavuoti, who has worked as a DCFS social worker for 14 years, said the department does a poor job of protecting children.

“The nominal goal is to protect children, but the real goal is to make money,” he said. “A caseworker used to have 80 to 100 cases. Now we have 30, but we have to file five times as much paperwork. If the workers put kids before paperwork and administration, they are going to be forced out or harassed. With such a mentality, children are always in danger.”

In a historic step to address the problem at the root of the system’s failures, Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Michael Nash recently called for a historic reevaluation of half of the 30,000 cases of children
in foster homes to determine who could be safely returned to their families or relatives.

If properly done by providing the services families need, experts say this step combined with the DCFS request for a federal waiver to use $250 million of its $1.4 billion budget on services to help keep families together could ultimately reduce the number of children in foster care and social workers’ large caseloads, giving them more time to help protect children in truly dangerous situations.

“The court system itself should only be for those cases that reflect serious cases of abuse and neglect,” Nash said. “We have to have more of a talk first, shoot later mentality rather than a shoot first, talk later mentality. We can do a much better job.”

Sanders said more than 25 percent of those children will probably be able to return home. Concerned that two-thirds of his 6,500-employees are working behind desks, Sanders said he plans to move 1,000 staff promoted to office jobs by previous directors back to the streets as social workers, which will reduce caseloads and give workers more time to spend with families, a critical element to assure the safetyof children.

Keywords: LOS ANGELES COUNTY – FOSTER CARE – CHILD – DAILY NEWS -PROBE -VIOLENCE – DEATH – MURDER – US – STATISTIC – COMPARISON – REPORT - DEPT OF CHILDREN FAMILY SERVICES – DCFS – REACTION – ABUSE – ISSUE – LIST - SAFETY -CALIFORNIA – REFORM

Shock study: 12% of kids sexually abused in govt. custody

Daniel Tencer
Raw Story
Friday, January 8th, 2010

Some 12 percent of minors held in government custody are sexually abused, and in some facilities the rate reaches a stunning one in three children, says a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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The law did not prevent abuse - it allowed the law to abuse them. The children became permanently dependant on therapists, drugs, government, and the DCF. Their relationship with their parents was destroyed. Their marriage was wracked with distrust, bitterness, anger, and other emotions. Their heart and soul are damaged, maybe forever. The family is broken financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

http://www.massoutrage.com/ma/restraining-order-resources/restraining-orders-how-they-really-work/

CALIFORNIA DEPENDENCY COURTS NEED TO BE OPEN LEGISLATORS TOLD

Nearly 60,000 California children are supervised by a county dependency court. But who's supervising those courts? Children's advocates and officials say accountability and transparency would be improved in cases involving child abuse, neglect and foster care placements.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), who introduced the bill, said that based on the comments at the hearing, he would probably introduce a bill proposing a pilot program for open court proceedings.

"Ultimately, I believe it's in the best interest of children to have a court where the public can see both strengths and deficiencies in the system," Feuer said after the hearing. He cited Minnesota's move to open dependency courts, where, he said, no additional harm to children or their families was shown.

Edwards said the presumption that dependency court proceedings are secret leads to a closed atmosphere that does a disservice to the court and the families involved.

------------------------------------------ COMMENTS -----------------------------------------------------
In our present state, children are being taken from loving parents at will. In one horrendous case, two teen-age children were given to Commissioners Alan Friedenthal and Steff Padilla to adopt. There is huge controversie surrounding Commissioner Friedenthal's decisions in Family Court. It is awfully suspect that he was able to adopt children against the parent's wishes.

If dependancy court records were open, we may find out if certain lawyers such as Kenneth Sherman garnered favor in family law by assisting Friedenthal and Padilla in the aquisition of the two children.
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As for Los Angeles DCFS caseworkers, the allegations are “100 percent true.”

“I’ve witnessed DI-CSW Christina Lin (Torrance office) lie and withhold exculpatory evidence. I've seen her supervisor Minda Light cover up for her. I’ve witnessed Debra Ramirez manipulate people. It’s absolutely true that they are untrustworthy,” former DCFS employee Pendolphi said. “They intimidate and threaten parents. I’ve witnessed that first hand and I quit because I could not be the part of the corrupt system that destroys families.”

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This bill should be passed, it will solve much of the incompetence and dysfunction in the DCFS and court system. By allowing transparency in the children’s court system, due process and the rights of families can be restored without risking the lives of children. As it stands now, DCFS/Children’s court can take your children at their discretion without any accountability.

They do not follow any constitutional guidelines when investigating or handling cases and their agenda can be imposed on anyone, innocent or guilty of any crime. This amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in some cases, for accused parents and especially for the children that wind up being abused/further abused while in the system.

It makes DCFS and children's court accountable for their decisions and for their cases. What we have now is not working, we have empowered sometimes untrained immoral civilians with enforcement/investigation of criminal statutes and have given them powers that they are not equipped for and are not accountable for. If they are not held accountable, then the children’s court system, referees and judges cannot be held accountable either and it’s one giant corrupt and screwed up system.

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“Opening dependency courtsmay yield the biggest bang-for-the-buck of any child protection measure. Any solution to our current child safety crisis lies in expanding, not curtailing civil rights.

“In other words, those worthy of scrutiny could no longer hide behind confidentiality; and those who suffer false accusations silently could defend themselves with the public record.

SEN. NANCY SCHAEFER EXPOSES EVIL CPS

US Senator Nancy Schaefer was murdered several years after coming out against CPS, describing them as "Protected Empire Built on Taking Children and Separating Families"...Great, MUST SEE Video!

FEDERAL APPELS COURT FINDS DCFS TACTIC UNCONSTITUTIONAL

City: Sacramento, CA

As families gather for the holidays, a recent ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals offers hope to hundreds of thousands of parents haunted by the nightmare of unproven child abuse allegations.

For years, attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute have warned parents that, once CPS decides to investigate them for child abuse - sometimes based on anonymous tips from neighbors or vindictive ex-spouses - their names can end up on California's Child Abuse Central Index (CACI). Parents are listed on the CACI even when CPS eventually deems the charges "inconclusive" and closes its files. The CACI listing shows up on background checks for years to come and prevents parents from obtaining jobs or state licenses.

In Humphries v. County of Los Angeles, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sharply criticized the ease with which people are listed on the CACI and the obstacles which prevent their names from being removed. The court was also troubled by a study indicating that as many as half of the more than 800,000 individuals listed on the CACI "may have a legitimate basis for expungement." Calling the list "the reverse of the presumption of innocence in our criminal justice system," the court ordered the state to enact greater procedural safeguards.

PJI President Brad Dacus commented, "It is gratifying that the Ninth Circuit has acknowledged what we have been saying for years-that treating parents as criminals when they are never convicted of a crime is unjust. We call on the legislature to finally fix this broken system in a way that honors basic constitutional rights."

Karen Milam, who directs PJI's Southern California office, stated, "Every year, PJI is inundated with hundreds of calls from desperate parents who do not understand how they could be labeled as child abusers based solely on unproven suspicions. This ruling is an important step toward keeping CPS honest."

GEORGIA v. RANDOLPH

Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103(2006)is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that police without a search warrant could not constitutionally search a house in which one resident consents to the search while another resident objects The court distinguished the case from the "co-occupant consent rule" announced in United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164 (1974), which permitted one resident to consent in the co-occupant's absence. The case proved yet another battle in the ongoing contest between proponents of the "Originalist" and the "Living Constitution" philosophies on the Court (and within American jurisprudence).

Know Your Rights - You Do Not Have to Consent to a Search!

Police officers know the restrictions, and know that they are not allowed to search without probable cause. To get around this requirement, they will often ask for your consent. If a police officer asks for permission to search your car, your home, or your person - you generally have the right to say NO.

L.A. COUNTY DCFS OFICIAL FALSIFIED DEATH REPORTYS, TWO STAFFERS CLAIM!!!

The senior managers say they faced a hostile work environment after reporting the alleged wrongdoing to the department's director. County supervisors act to remove child-death investigator.

By Garrett Therolf, LATimes, September 9, 2010  

  

Los Angeles County's child welfare system, already under fire for failing to report dozens of child deaths tied to abuse or neglect, is facing allegations that an official intentionally falsified fatality reports.

   The existence of the civil allegations, filed in June by two senior managers and revealed this week after a public records request by The Times, comes to light as the Board of Supervisors acted to remove the county's independent child-death investigator, according to three sources familiar with the decision.

The existence of the civil allegations, filed in June by two senior managers and revealed this week after a public records request by The Times, comes to light as the Board of Supervisors acted to remove the county's independent child-death investigator, according to three sources familiar with the decision.   It was unclear who would replace Rosemarie Belda, who was appointed last year to the position after it had been vacant since 2006. The job, which reports directly to the supervisors, involves the politically sensitive task of reviewing child fatality cases in search of ways the county's case management errors might have contributed to the deaths.   

 The claim that some child fatality reports had been intentionally misleading was made by Cassandra Turner, a Department of Children and Family Services senior manager who said her superior "purposefully falsified at least three child fatality reports."   "These falsifications, which occurred in spite of my fervent protest, are clearly contrary to department policy," Turner wrote in a civil claim that seeks unspecified damages.    

Turner served as an administrator in the department's child fatality section at the time of the alleged falsifications. Her claim does not contain specifics about those cases. She also says in the claim that she reported the wrongdoing directly to department Director Trish Ploehn in April 2008.   

After her meeting with Ploehn, Turner said, the department failed to properly investigate the allegations and retaliated by assigning her to less-desirable duties. 
She listed Darlene McDade-White, the department's chief internal affairs investigator, as a witness to the alleged wrongdoing. McDade filed a claim jointly with Turner saying she too faced a hostile work environment and, like Turner, was subject to racial discrimination because the two women are African American.   Melvin Neal, Turner's and McDade-White's attorney, declined to offer further detail. If the county denies their claim, the two women will be free to pursue a lawsuit in court.  Asked about the allegations Wednesday, Ploehn issued a written statement: "These are serious claims and they are being taken seriously.  These claims are under investigation by the department, and our policy is not to comment on ongoing investigations." 

    
The allegations about falsifications were made more than two months before last week's revelations that the department had failed to comply with state disclosure laws. Those findings were contained in a report by Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the county's Office of Independent Review, who found that in many cases department officials referenced deaths from abuse or neglect in confidential court filings but then left those cases off the child-death lists for public release.     

The lack of disclosure hid dozens of cases from public view, giving the false impression that far fewer children were dying of maltreatment under the department's watch. County officials have yet to establish a complete tally of improperly undisclosed records.     

The move to end the tenure of Belda, who had recommended at least 25 reform measures for Children and Family Services and the Department of Mental Health in her role as child-death investigator, was made behind closed doors at Tuesday's board meeting, according to the sources familiar with the situation.     

The previous child-death investigator was quietly dismissed in 2006 after investigating just two cases.      On Wednesday, all five supervisors — Michael D. Antonovich, Don Knabe, Gloria Molina, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky — refused to comment on Belda or the future of the position. A source familiar with the discussion said Yaroslavsky was the only person to speak in defense of Belda.     

garrett.therolf@latimes.com

Los Angeles DCFS Defies Law

August 31, 2010   

The state of California passed a law  requiring full disclosure of  case  files following a death in custody of the Department of Children and  Family  Services  (DCFS). After  a  few successful  applications  on  behalf  of    newspapers, DCFS has  taken to stonewalling  requests for information  about    child deaths.

They have little alternative.  Truthful disclosure would show  that the foster care system is  a killing field for children, losing  public    support and provoking  a backlash against  incumbent management.  The  child    protection system, which has  long ignored the  rights of parents and  the welfare of children is now defying the law  to conceal its wrongdoing  from  the politicians and  the public.  

Best estimates  are that US  foster  care  kills  over a  thousand children   annually.  Since the first Gulf War, that is over 20 thousand deaths, a  lot more than the number of soldiers memorialized in the photo.   

DEPENDANCY - WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILDREN ARE REMOVED BY DCFS?

One of the most traumatizing things that can happen to parents and children is to have their children removed by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Unfortunately, DCFS conducts interviews of parents and children without a right to counsel first. Thus, they often discover information that they can use to justify taking the children, information they would not have gotten if in the parent(s) had the right to speak with an attorney first, or have an attorney present when they were interviewed.

So what can you do? You can refuse to be interviewed or you can ask to have an attorney present when you are interviewed, either of which may not prevent DCFS from detaining the children. However, it will give them less information to plead as to why your children should be detained from you. You may also assert your 5th Amendment right to not reveal information that may incriminate you. Understand, statements you make to social workers are discoverable by District Attorneys and should your case involve criminal charges, everything you tell a social worker can be used against you in a criminal proceeding.

What you should do is immediately contact an attorney qualified to practice in Dependency Court and seek counsel as to your rights and legal options.

ADVISEMENT: The preceding is for informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as legal advice.

CERTIORARI GRANTED In 9th CIRCUIT CASE CITING COLEMAN ARTICLE

Oct 26, 2010 | Duke Law News

In a recently published opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit cites the work of Professor Doriane Lambelet Coleman in a case relating to the constitutional rights of children and parents in child sexual abuse investigations. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case in mid-October.

Principally at issue in Greene v. Camreta was whether the actions of a child protective services caseworker and deputy sheriff who sequestered and questioned a nine-year old child suspected of being the victim of sexual abuse at her school for two hours “without a warrant, probable cause, or parental consent” violated the child’s Fourth Amendment rights. The Ninth Circuit held that they did.

In doing so, it specifically considered the “competing considerations” at issue in such cases, including the state’s “compelling interest” in protecting children and other vulnerable members of society from abuse in their homes and parents’ “exceedingly strong interest in directing the upbringing of their children, as well as in protecting both themselves and their children from the embarrassment and social stigmatization attached to child abuse investigations.”

The court cited Coleman’s work in connection with its balancing of these competing interests:

“Of the 3.6 million investigations conducted by state and local agencies in 2006, only about a quarter concluded that the children were indeed victims of abuse. … This discrepancy creates the risk that ‘in the name of saving children from the harm that their parents and guardians are thought to pose, states ultimately cause more harm to many more children than they ever help.’ Doriane Lambelet Coleman, Storming the Castle to Save the Children: The Ironic Costs of a Child Welfare Exception to the Fourth Amendment, 47 WM. & MARY L. REV. 413, 417 (2005).”

LA DCFS SEXUAL PREDATOR ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING A MOTHER

December 02, 2010 Los Angeles County DCFS
Social Worker Arrested for Sexual AssaultLos Angeles: A Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) social worker was arrested today on felony sexual battery charges stemming from allegations he had sexually assaulted a woman during a home visit in Woodland Hills on September 17, 2010.

The 30-year-old victim claimed the suspect, 53-year-old Yadullah "Eddie" Lorghaba, forced her to submit to unwanted sexual advances after threatening to remove her children from her home.

After the assault, the suspect told her he would not be removing her children that day; however, he would be returning the following week for another follow-up visit.

The victim immediately reported the assault to DCFS and law enforcement. DCFS supervisors immediately removed Lorghaba from the field and placed him on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The district attorney's office filed charges after forensic analysis of crime scene evidence, DNA, confirmed the victim's allegations

Lorghaba has been employed with DCFS for 13 years. LAPD Detectives are trying to determine whether this is an isolated incident and are requesting any other person who may have been victimized by Lorghaba to come forward.

Lorghaba was released on $75,000 bail. His next court date is January 5, 2010, at Van Nuys Court to set a date for the preliminary hearing.

Anyone with information regarding this matter is asked to call Topanga Area Detective Stewart at 818-756-3375. After-hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text "CRIMES" with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on "Web Tips." When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

DCFS + DEPENDANCY COURT = NIGHTMARE!

The more you know the worse it is, at least in dealing with DCFS. Each day he meets with his clients attorney Howell says, he listen to horror stories about how their family has been torn apart by the intervention of DCFS.

It is thus ironic that the intent of the legislature regarding Welfare and Institutions Code Section 300 is that..."[n]othing in that code section should be used to disrupt the family unnecessarily or intrude inappropriately into family life, prohibit the method of parental discipline, or prescribe a particular method of parenting."

The facts are, at least in Los Angeles County that DCFS most often acts in a way that violates the legislative intent. In my own practice I have had to defend many parents who were dealing with aberrant teen age behavior (usually the result of mental illness) or the normal tensions brought on by raising children in a poor economy (translate that as poverty).

Discipline is also a big issue, as the dependency courts continually find that spanking a child is jurisdictional and remove the child from the parent. Finally, the most egregious intervention into family life is when DCFS is not in agreement with a parent’s method of raising their children.

These allegations are the most insidious, because they usually add other allegations to hide their true intent. However, the most tragic and far reaching allegation used to destroy a family is an accusation that there is sexually inappropriate behavior, usually by the father. When this happens DCFS immediately begins to drive a wedge in the family, insisting the mother seek a restraining order, commences a divorce and never allow the father around the children again.

These families usually never recover from this intervention. What furthers the tragedy is that the father is still being labeled a sex offender, yet has none of the protections that would have been afforded him if he were charged criminally (in most my cases there is no criminal charge).

Adding to this tragedy is that the victim (especially if it is a teenage girl) often recants, admitting it was a false allegation used to gain power in a family where she did not like the rules being imposed on her. In several of my cases I have tried to have the matter reheard, without success.

Thus, I must participate in an event that results in the destruction of a nuclear family unit. Statistics indicate that the national average for returning children to their families is 80%, but the average in Los Angeles is closer to 30%.

Thus, if your children are placed into the custody of DCFS, it is twice likely in Los Angeles County than for the rest of the country that they will never return home.

Finally, attorney Howell said, he attended a conference for attorneys who represent parents in which one of the speakers, a well respected child psychologist with more than 20 years of dealing with DCFS, noted that in her experience, children removed from the home (even the home of the abuser) are more likely to suffer severe emotional trauma than if they had been left in the home with their abuser. Welcome to the real nightmare.