Child Care Licensing Inspects Random Sample of Agency Foster Homes

Original Article Here

eSenate Bill 6, passed during the 79th regular legislative session amended the Texas Human Resource Code (HRC) 42.044(e) to require Child-Care Licensing (CCL) to inspect a random sample of agency foster homes. Information gained during these inspections must be used to determine a child-placing agency’s (CPA) compliance with the licensing law, rules and minimum standards.

In preparation to meet this requirement, CCL conducted focus group and feedback meetings with representatives from the foster care community** to gain insight into the concerns that foster parents and child-placing agencies may have regarding these inspections. Input from these meetings was used in developing CCL staff training, creating inspection procedures and forms, and identifying the best ways to share information with CPA’s and foster homes.

**Why with the foster care community? To find out what they're afraid of and how they can comply without exposing the truth? Why don't they consult with the members of the community that are affected by this - ie the natural birth parents of the children affected by CPS?

Are there minutes of those meetings and Are those minutes available for public review. If not, why not? What do we need to do in order to obtain those?

Why isn't there feedback and inspections from 3rd party objective members of community? From former foster children?

DFPS statisticians pull a random sample list of homes from the DFPS database on a quarterly basis. From this sample, CCL staff plan and conduct their inspections. Additional homes are selected as a part of each sample to compensate for homes that have closed or have changed operating status. Foster homes that are not inspected during the sample period may be selected again in a future sample. Since inspections are conducted to evaluate how well a CPA is doing, foster homes that move from one CPA to another may be selected and inspected again with each subsequent move.

Minimum standard Section 749.2489 requires a CPA submit information about a foster home’s verification status to CCL within two working days of a change. This can easily be done by completing an Agency Home Report available in the CCL on-line provider section of our DFPS website. Up to date information on a foster home helps CCL staff better prepare for an inspection and avoids unnecessary contact with foster parents in inactive or closed status.

Foster Home Inspection Protocol

CCL mailed a pre-inspection notice to each foster home selected in the random sampling process. In most circumstances, CCL staff will announce their inspections to ensure that an adult caregiver is present during the inspection**. Once an inspection is scheduled, we encourage foster parents to explain about the CCL visit to their foster children and other persons in the home. CCL staff will have a picture ID card to present upon arrival at the foster home.

**Yeah sure they inform them ahead of time - how nice.... do they inform natural birth parents ahead of time that they're coming by to check the homes of the children??? They do this to ensure an adult caregiver is present during the inspection? Um.... its a foster home with children in it, don't you think an adult caregiver SHOULD ALWAYS BE PRESENT ANYWAY? What about suprise inspections? This is no way to "reform" how foster homes are run... this is a way to look good on paper but skirt the real issues...

CCL staff must use a foster home sampling guide to conduct their inspection. This ensures consistency in the type of information that is gathered about each foster home. During the inspection, CCL staff will interview foster parents and verbal children who are present, walk through the home both indoors and out, and review paperwork on file in the home, to determine how well the CPA is doing its job in verifying and monitoring their foster homes.

At the end of the inspection, any areas of concern are discussed with the foster parent or adult caregiver during an exit interview. CCL staff will leave a brief report, identifying concerns and discussion points. A summary letter outlining the minimum standards related to these concerns is sent to the CPA within 10 days. The CPA is responsible for following-up with the home to ensure concerns are addressed. If immediate hazards are found during an inspection, CCL staff will contact the CPA within 24 hours of the inspection.

and then what do they do??? they don't remove the children from that home as if they would to a parent???

Before leaving the home, CCL staff will also provide a feedback form with a postage paid return envelope. This form gives the foster parent an opportunity to tell CCL about the inspection experience and share suggestions for improvement.

Foster parents who have questions or concerns regarding an inspection should contact** their CPA. CPAs that have questions or concerns regarding the sampling program or a sampling report should contact their DFPS Licensing Representative or Licensing Supervisor.

**I think that I will contact them as they suggest the foster parent to do. We'll see what response I get.

No, i'm not a foster parent, I'm a birth parent. And in December 2004 my son arrived at a visit black and blue beaten up with a black eye and blood covered his shirt and was still dried in his nose and on his little body. I requested records of the agency he was placed at, and received, after many many many months of persistence in order to even GET THEM, incidents of many things, but not anything with regard to MY child's black eye and bloody appearance. If you go to my profile and click on the audio link, you'll hear a recording from that visit where I was shocked to see his condition, and he tells me what happened, but i have yet to find an incident report on that. Matter of fact, in the months prior to that incident, my son was abused terribly and for some reason in my case files, those months' reports are missing, and the caseworker has since left and so there is a note by the following caseworker that she is unable to go back and fill in those incidents because the original caseworker left no notes of that time. Isn't that called backdating?

The truth about these facilities are amazingly disgusting.... and I vow to tell as much truth as I can to you, because even with my obsessive persistence and passionate desire to seek it out, I have a hard time finding it, its buried very deep behind corporate veils.

Still, I'm doing it for the children - as THEY purport themselves to be doing.... then prove it CPS - prove it!!

227 Texas Children Died Innocently At Hands Of Parents - But... What I REALLY want to know is...

I read this article and have just a few questions that this article brings to my mind; I will comment throughout and welcome (encourage) comments or resources i can turn to in order to answer my questions... because the facts here mean only so much but with the ENTIRE facts at hand, then, we can really know whats happening to our children. So please join in on the discussion if you will... I'd like to know thoughts of families that are affected by the system, or from the people within the system, or just taxpaying citizens whose hard earned money goes towards these services that are supposed to safeguard our children... there is a lot to be said about the statistics within the child abuse/neglect concern, which takes place not just by parents/guardians, but within the foster homes and residential treatment centers and youth camps... whats the WHOLE truth? lets see what we can learn here...

Last year, 227 Texas children died innocently

— By Debby Schamber
The Orange Leader

Officials with Child Protective Services want to paint the town blue to recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The Blue Ribbon Child Abuse Prevention Campaign started in 1989 after a child’s death. The child’s grandmother received the news of her grandson’s traumatic death from injuries inflicted by his parents. As an expression of her grief and outrage she tied a blue ribbon on the antennae of her van to symbolize the bruised and battered body of her grandson, according to information from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Child Protective Services kicked off a month-long campaign Sunday, hoping raise public awareness and eventually stop child abuse. To help get the program get started, a candlelight vigil and blue ribbon campaign will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Orange County Courthouse.
“This is to remember the victims and bring awareness to the community,” said Shari Pulliam, public awareness officer the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. “Everyone is invited to attend.”

Last year 227 Texas children died from the abuse or neglect at the hands of their parents or guardians.*

I would like to know how many Texas children died from abuse or neglect at the hands of their FOSTER parents, Adopted parents (who adopted through TDPRS) and at the hands of workers at the residential treatment centers, therapeutic foster camps, or due to mishandling, misdiagnosis, or incidents relating to psychotropic drugs prescribed to them by contracted psychologists treating our foster children.. I'd like to know THOSE numbers.

Additionally, 67,737 Texas children were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect* and 17,536 children were removed from their homes, according to CPS.

If 67,737 Texas children were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect, I want to know if by saying confirmed they are saying that allegations from referrals were substantiated? And if so, how many of those were actual abuse rather than "neglectful supervision", a term CPS likes to use to sustain a referral on vague, sometimes (for lack of better terms) silly information because they did something (such as removing a child) that they shouldn't have done, and need to have a reason on paper to back it up - neglectful supervision.

In the UCCJEA when it was being changed over from the UCCJA, one area of discussion dealing with jurisdiction on the basis of emergency if the child is abused in another state, or taken and withheld in another state than the one of continuing jurisdiction, the court should not (but they do) transfer or grant emergency jurisdiction based on the term of neglect - it is considered too elastic of a term to be used in order to substantiate allegations made as a defense to parental abduction. That would only encourage parental kidnapping. Furthermore, if you look into the federal definitions of terms relating to child abuse laws... neglectful supervision is not even listed as a recognized term within federal guidelines. So, my point is, their statistic claims 67,737 children were confirmed abused or neglected .... how many of each? Is it, for example.... 20,000 abused and 47,737 neglected children with 40,000 of those being labeled neglectful supervision because of things like a parent in the household having marijuana i n their system from a new years eve party that is found after a spite referral comes in from an angry mother-in-law... having nothing to do with the children... or similar circumstances that really have no other application than that (unrecognized) term....

CPS - please tell us - whats the REAL numbers there? If those ARE sustained abuse/neglect cases, how many were NOT substantiated...? If 67,737 cases were substantiated - then tell us how many kids removed into foster care had cases where in the end the allegations were baseless? Whats THAT number? And how many children, if 227 children were killed at the hands of their parents/guardians, do you mean family members when you say guardians? who are the guardians you mean? define them? Or are the guardians you speak of stepparents? are they the foster parents? adopted parents? Who do you mean when you say "guardian"??

After questioning that, I wonder then how many children died at the hands of those you...CPS.... entrusted the children to - the foster parents or adoptive parents who adopted from CPS - the workers at state run juvenile detention centers, RTC's, camps? How many of those 227 children whose lives were needlessly and horribly cut short actually were killed by the hands of their BIRTH PARENTS - split that statistic for us after you define "guardian" - is it 7 killed by parents and 220 by guardians? Give us the REAL facts...

How many children died while in the care of the state? And while you're at it, how many of those children 17,536 children torn from their homes were allegations which were NOT substantiated or based on "neglectful supervision"? And of those - how many of THOSE children died in state's care. Those are the questions I want answered! I'll refrain at this time from asking about how many of those children were abused and beaten, battered, tortured, or traumatized by the state's child "protection" system... that, we can discuss later.

“Child abuse is an everyday occurrence that needs to be focused on, but we do this to simply raise awareness to the problem,” Pulliam said.

Pulliam asks who holds the answer to child abuse and also replies, “We all do.”
“Prevention of child abuse is not a responsibility that is only appropriate for parents and family. In fact it is an action in which each of us can participate.” Pulliam said. “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something and together we can do anything. Together we can prevent child abuse.”

If thats the case, Pulliam, tell me, how many foster parents or state facility workers are actually convicted, facility shut down, or forced into services with children immediately removed from their homes naming THOSE who are caring for those children under CPSs supervision, actually named in a registry as abuse/neglect perpetrators when a child is abused or killed in their care? If you want to be honest about pulling together to stop child abuse START THERE - because I can tell you not just from experience where my child was abused in state's care and nobody was convicted for it (instead they didn't bring him to visit me while his injuries were still present and told him I didn't show up thats why there was no visit....LYING to cover it up) ... I know that nothings been done inside the system except whats necessary to protect themselves when incidents occur. Go to the TDPRS Child Care Search Engine where you can input names of facilities and read their incident reports that they are legally bound to furnish the public with (although I've found that some are, in fact, not reported) - such as::

Narrative A young foster child was sexually assaulted by an older child in the home. The older child was arrested for sexual assault

WHO HERE WAS CONVICTED FOR NEGLECTFUL SUPERVISION TO ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN????? That facility is up and running still....

See my POST OF VIOLATIONS to discuss... I was going to list some here, but there are too many I want to show you that it deserved its own post....meanwhile back to the article....

The focus for the campaign this year is there is “no excuse for child abuse.”

Child abuse prevention is about stopping child abuse and neglect before it starts. The best way to prevent child abuse is to support families and provide parents with the skills and resources they need.

The public can have an active role in prevention of child abuse by being aware of the signs.

(and by demanding accountability within the foster care system)

“It is important for the community to be aware of the problems of child abuse and to learn what to do,” said Jane Nielsen, volunteer cooridnator/public relations for CASA.
Injury to a child is considered abuse regardless whether the caretaker intended the incident to happen or not. A person should suspect abuse if the child has frequent injuries without adequate explanations or complains of pain without obvious injury.
A person suspicious of child abuse may look for burns or bruises in unusual patterns that may indicate cigarette burns, the use of an instrument or even a human bite. To hide the marks a child may wear unseasonable clothing. The child may also disappear for a few days and the re-urface with injuries that appear to be a few days old.
Furthermore, a child may act out emotionally by becoming aggressive, disruptive, and have destructive behavior. On the other hand, a child may become withdrawn, passive, have emotionless behavior and a fear of going home or seeing the parents.
“It is important for the victims of abuse to know it is never their fault,” Pulliam said. “The kids can’t blame themselves and say if only they cleaned their room or did something different then it would not have happened.”
Child neglect is also a form of child abuse. Neglect is just as harmful and is a failure to provide basic needs to sustain the life or health of the child. However, this excludes failure to provide based on financial status unless services or help has been offered and refused.
A person may suspect neglect if a child suffers from obvious malnourishment or is stealing or begging for food. Furthermore, a child may have a lack of personal cleanliness and have torn or dirty clothing. In addition, the child may be left unattended at home or be absent from school frequently.
Child abuse and neglect is against the law in Texas, so is the failure to report the abuse. If a person suspects a child is abused they can call law enforcement or CPS at 1-800-252-5400. The hotline is answered 24 hours a day, every day. If the situation is life threatening, the person should call 911.
Reporters are not expected to prove the abuse or neglect they report. It is best to be specific of the injuries noted and the incidents observed. A delay in reporting the incident may result in serious harm to the child and it is also best for the investigator to see the injuries or bruises before they fade.
If a person fails to report suspected child abuse it may result in the person being charged with a Class B misdemeanor which can carry a fine up to $1,500 and up to 180 days of imprisonment.

Reach this reporter at 409-883-3571, Ext. 2613, or dschamber@orangeleader.com

Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.

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14 year old makes threats to remain in foster care (NEWS DAILY ITEM)

Daily Item:
News - 14-year-old who made threats to remain in foster care http://www.dailyitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704130311



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2 YEAR OLD BATTERED IN CPS CARE - SEE THIS VIDEO

Watch This Video

Posted 3/16/07BAKERSFIELD -

A Tehachapi family is outraged Friday night after finding bruises on their little girl when she was returned to them from a foster home.
The 2-year-old toddler was placed with her grandmother earlier this week after Child Protective Services found bruising on the girl during a foster home visit last week.
The grandmother said the toddler was emaciated, bruised, her head shaved bald, and possibly sexually abused.
We want to warn you, some of the pictures may be graphic.
“I couldn’t even think,” said Heather Yeck, the toddler’s mother. “I was in shock. I couldn’t even cry. I was just sick.”
Yeck is talking about her reaction after seeing these pictures of her daughter taken by her grandmother, bruised from head-to-toe and also in areas we can’t show you.
“She was totally black and blue,” said Cynthia Miller, grandmother. “Underneath her diaper and her ankles and her legs were covered with bruises.”
Her grandmother said the 2-year-old should not have been taken away in the first place. A Tehachapi Sheriff’s detective took the toddler away from her parents in late January and placed her in the hands of Child Protective Services when a thin fracture in the leg was found after she tripped over a wire—an indication of abuse in the past, but not so anymore. She reads a report from a county doctor.
“This is a very common accidental fracture in toddlers, and may occur even with an apparently minor fall and twist of the tibia,” the report stated.
The girl is staying with her grandmother now, and even though it has been a few days, you can still see remnants of her bruising but it’s nothing compared to the condition she came in with that Tuesday afternoon.
Her parents are furious.
“These people say they’re supposed to be Child Protective Services? And they take away my little girl because she falls on a little carpet strip and get a little spiral fracture which is really common,” said Sonny Wright, stepfather. “But they try to say we’re dangerous, we’re neglecting our kids, yet when we get her back, she’s not even the same little girl.”
“All I want to say is I want justice for my baby,” said Yeck, mother. “I want someone to suffer for this just as she has.”
We tried to get CPS’ side of the story, but they declined an on-camera interview and a statement, citing that they were prohibited by national laws from discussing the case. They did say over the phone a social worker checked on Savannah weekly, CPS discovered and reported the injuries during a visit last Thursday and acted immediately when injuries were discovered, and they are conducting their own investigation into what occurred at the foster home.
Bakersfield Police are also investigating the case.
The foster home was local.

These sad stories are nothing new... (click and see this video)

Action Alert

We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:

We are asking For: Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day

Target: George W. Bush & Richard B. Cheney, President & Vice President, The White House
Sponsor: Suncana Sesic Alvarado, Voice For Children

• Signatures: 877
• Goal: 5,000
• Deadline: Ongoing...

• See Full Petition
• Email this Petition

To: OUR Government and Child Protective Services - Our kids need us. Ever notice that a human child doesn't walk until it's tall enough to reach a parent's hand? -

"We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but the worst crime is abandoning children and therefore neglecting the foundation of life. Many of the things we need, can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer, Tomorrow. His name is Today."

Government agencies, Social workers, judges they all make decisions on what is in the BEST interest of Children ... decisions which often determine their destiny.

Sadly, when the wrong decisions are made - Children are murdered!

They are beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered.

Who is responsible? The One making the decisions!

WE are asking for justice ... for Help!


Help never came for Angellika Nicole Arndt , Isaac Lethbridge,Daniel Jack Matthews, Ricky Holland, Christopher Michael, Sirita Sotelo, Nicholas Contreras, Sarah Angelina Chavez, Martin Lee Anderson,Ebony Smith,Kayla Allen,Candice Raynor......
and sadly many, many more but perhaps one day justice will come for them all. For these children, it's too late to turn back the hands of time. May the spirits of those lost rest in peace and may we never forget or ignore what happened to them.



In The Name of Those Children
We are asking For
October 22nd as Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day to remember those who have died as a result of Child Welfare in their lives. -
In Memory of.....

The mistakes that are made when dealing with a child's life are inexcusable. With a "Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day", increased attention and care with decisions concerning a child's disposition may come about." John King

Data shows that while the number of foster children in our state's care increased 24 percent from 26,133 in Fiscal 2003 to 32,474 in Fiscal 2005, the number of deaths increased 60 percent.
Read more....

A Child advocate in Chicago said: "an infant in a paper bag on the freeway at rush hour is safer than a child in protective custody there."
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the United States. These numbers come from The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) in Washington.
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
________________________________________________

Physical Abuse: CPS= 160 - Parents = 59

___________________________________________

Sexual Abuse : CPS = 112 - Parents = 13

____________________________________________

Neglect: CPS = 410 - Parents = 241

_____________________________________________

Medical Neglect: CPS = 14 - Parents = 12

_____________________________________________

Fatalities: CPS = 6,4 - Parents = 1,5

_____________________________________________

Sadistic and criminal aren't words usually associated with social workers. But they come to mind while reading the results of a yearlong investigation into a child-protection bureaucracy that was allowed to go rogue. Social workers gave each other nicknames like "The Queen of Removal" and "Terminator" and laughed as they stripped children from their parents!
Too Young and Too Innocent to Die
This page is in memory of children died of neglect or abuse while under the care of the social service agencies : In Memory of.....

We must find a way to stop the “system” from allowing this to happen. How many more children will be sacrificed before we do?"Unfortunately, for many people who haven't learned first hand it is hard to conceive that the very agency entrusted with protecting children would ever turn into the abuser. When my children were taken a long time acquaintance of my father stated "They must have found 'something'. CPS don't take kids away for no reason.". Until they've experienced it themselves, many people don't understand 'the whim complex'." -Rev. Dr. William W. Joslin

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter."

Martin Luther King, Jr.


Please Light a Candle

.........that their light always shine.
Click here

It is very sad to know there are children like these suffering today at the hands of Government Welfare Workers . This must stop before is too late, don't wait for new name on this page.

In Memory of.....

Make every letter a special delivery and send message out with Real U.S. Postage + Postage Pal -"In Memory of Foster Children" -
Please stand up for what is right !
Send message Out Now! Actions speak louder than words !
PLEASE KEEP YOUR MESSAGE SHORT!
keep it short, simple and straightforward.