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

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.

FRAUD, LIES AND CORRUPTION AT DCFS RUNS RIFE

Videotapes may change child sex abuse convictions
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/07/2008 03:32:12 PM PST

SAN JOSE, Calif.—The discovery of thousands of videotaped medical examinations recorded during child sex-abuse investigations in Santa Clara County could effect the outcome of a number of criminal convictions dating back to 1991.

The Santa Clara County district attorney's office says the tapes were found by medical experts hired by two convicted defendants. Those experts determined that the tapes contradicted medical findings that sex abuse had ever occurred.

One of the two convictions, that of Agustin Uribe, has already been overturned by a state appeals court because of the tape. The second conviction is now in question.

Prosecutors will review some 3,000 tapes recorded in cases dating back to 1991 and determine which cases ended in convictions. Defense attorneys will be notified by prosecutors in any cases where new evidence appears.