Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label Department of Children and Families. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Department of Children and Families. Show all posts

Friday, September 7, 2018

DCF Hid Reports on 30 Dead Kids


After an embarrassing article appeared in The Miami Herald in September, a regional supervisor for the Department of Children and Families ordered workers not to file required incident reports on the deaths of children who were supposed to be safeguarded by DCF, the Herald reports.

DCF Deputy Secretary Peter Digre
CREDIT DCF
Because of that order, the deaths of at least 30 children in Southeast Florida over five months were never entered into the state information system, Carol Marbin Miller of The Miami Herald reported on Sunday. That region covers five counties, including Broward and Palm Beach.
The regional DCF administrator who issued the order on Dec. 13 was Kimberly Welles, an administrator at the Department of Children & Families’ Southeast Region, according to e-mail records obtained by the Herald.
Welles took the action after supervisor Lindsey McCrudden sent her a report on the death of an infant  in a family that had been the focus of DCF on four occasions, the Herald said. Welles deleted her copy and ordered McCrudden to do the same, the e-mails show.
"No incident reports right now on death cases," Welles wrote to McCrudden, the Herald said. Welles said she'd explain later.
At the time, DCF administrators knew that the newspaper was assembling a series of articles on the deaths of children from abuse or neglect who were supposedly under the protection of the agency.  The series Innocents Lost, which began in late March, reported that 477 children fell into that category.
But that total left off at Nov. 1, so on March 31, the Herald reporters asked for the death reports filed after that. In gathering materials to fulfill that information request, DCF headquarters discovered there weren't any from the region that usually produced the most.
DCF's new secretary, Mike Carroll, has assigned deputy Peter Digre to follow up, the Herald said.
The Child Welfare Act, which orders an overhaul of the way DCF looks into abuse and neglect cases,  passed last month and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott. Health News Florida reported last month that the act was the major accomplishment of the 2014 Legislature.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Connecticut Child Advocate Finds Urgent Safety Problems At Juvenile Detention Facilities:

The Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, Connecticut
CREDIT CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

By ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Boys and girls in Connecticut's juvenile detention facilities have been subjected to unlawful and repeated use of isolation and restraints, while officials haven't adequately prevented youths from attempting suicide or injuring themselves, according to a report released Wednesday by the state child advocate.

The months-long investigation by Child Advocate Sarah Eagan's office, which was sparked by whistleblower complaints, found what the report called urgent safety problems at the Connecticut Juvenile Training School for boys and the neighboring Pueblo Unit for girls in Middletown, which are both run by the state Department of Children and Families.

"Right now, conditions at CJTS and Pueblo place many youth at risk of physical and emotional harm,'' the report says.

The report found that isolation and restraints were repeatedly used unlawfully, staff didn't adequately prevent suicide attempts and self-injury, and officials did not meet the needs of youths with significant mental health disorders.

One finding by the investigation was that there were at least 225 documented incidents of isolating juveniles for four hours or longer at the two facilities over one six-month period, including nearly 100 lasting eight hours or longer.

The child advocate's office says national standards for juvenile correctional facilities limit isolation to four hours or less.

The findings are similar to ones noted in a recent report by a juvenile justice expert hired by DCF to review the two juvenile facilities.

DCF, in response to the expert's findings, already has pledged to make a number of improvements, including improving suicide prevention training, eliminating unlawful restraint and seclusion, and improving treatment for juveniles with mental health problems, which also are among the recommendation made by the child advocate's office.

"The priority of DCF remains the well-being of the children in our care,'' the agency said in a statement Wednesday. "We have had a great degree of success and have made progress over the last five years, but we know there is still more work to be done to make sure every child in our care gets the service they need.''

The 135-bed Connecticut Juvenile Training School is the state's only secure facility for boys who have been deemed delinquent and committed to DCF. The 12-bed Pueblo Unit is the state's only detention center for delinquent juvenile girls.

The child advocate's office found a total of more than two dozen documented acts of youths trying to injure or kill themselves at the two centers between June 2014 and February 2015. Agency officials believe there are many more self-harming incidents that are not clearly documented.

For the yearlong period ending July 1 of this year, there were at least 532 physical restraints and 134 uses of mechanical restraints such as handcuffs and shackles, the child advocate's office found.

The child advocate's office said state law requires that restraints be used only to prevent immediate or imminent injury to the person or others, but video tapes and incident reports showed that restraints were repeatedly used for behavior management.


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