Failure to Protect: The Caseworker Files Produced b Barak Goodman Rachel Dretzin Muriel Soenens

Written by Barak Goodman

ANNOUNCER: Last week on FRONTLINE, the story of the death of a little girl while in the custody of the state of Maine.

NEWSCASTER: Five-year old Logan was killed after her foster mother allegedly tied her to a high chair and put duct tape over her nose and mouth.

ANNOUNCER: The death of Logan Marr focused outrage on a normally secretive child protective system.

MAN AT HEARING: Who holds these people accountable? The answer is nobody.

ANNOUNCER: Why was Logan removed from a mother who had never abused her and given to a foster mother who killed her?

NEWSCASTER: The agency did not follow up on a complaint Logan made that Schofield had hurt her.

ANNOUNCER: Who should have kept her safe?

KEITH CONCANNON, Commissioner of Maine Department of Human Services: The Department of Human Services did not kill this child.

DISCUSSION:

There is not much else to say that isn’t said in the statement that THIS CHILD WAS REMOVED FROM A MOTHER WHO NEVER ABUSED HER AND GIVEN TO A FOSTER MOTHER WHO KILLED HER… that is followed by a statement from the COMMISSIONER of DHS that “THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES DID NOT KILL THIS CHILD.

This reminds me of my highschool algebra classes. I never did master those math classes, not because they were too difficult for me but because they required me to wrap my brain around hypothetical theories of trains leaving stations at different times and speeds and figuring out who would end up where … I had no interest in memorizing rules that applied to these idiotic word problems that I didn’t think I would ever use in “real life” (being a teenager who knew it all) so I answered C. BUT - one thing I DID grasp was a mathematical certainty that IF A=B and B=C then A=C

• Had the child not been removed from the home the child was not abused in, the child would not have been murdered. Who removed the child from the home? The caseworker.

• Who does the caseworker answer to? DHS.
  

• DHS KILLED THIS CHILD.

If a parent gave their child to a caregiver and that caregiver murdered the child, you can bet your butt that CPS will find a way to charge that parent with failure to protect or placing the child in a situation or care of a person that they should have known would cause harm to the child.

MAN AT HEARING: No way! No way should any court in this country of ours ever take a child from a parent based on “possible,” “probable” or “maybe”! What is the proper balance between saving a child and destroying a family?

DHS CASEWORKER: He is a real threat to this child, with the substance abuse and the battering.

When should parents lose the right to raise their own children? They’re supposed to try to keep families together, not pull them apart. And who gets to decide?

NARRATOR: Every year, some 200,000 children are removed from their homes after allegations of abuse or neglect.

3rd CASEWORKER: [on the phone] That’s why when you asked me if you could visit with Mom again, I said no, because Mom, you know, isn’t going to be a part of your life anymore.

NARRATOR: When FRONTLINE arrived in Bangor, the office was still haunted by the death in foster care of 5-year old Logan Marr. Now it had happened again. A child had died, this time in the parents’ home. [unit meeting]

BOBBI AMES, Unit Supervisor: I’m not sure if you guys all were aware or not, but we had a child death on Sunday night.

1st CASEWORKER: Huh?

BOBBI AMES: We had a child death on Sunday night.

1st CASEWORKER: You don’t have any idea–

BOBBIE AMES: Our office had a child death on an open safety assessment.

2nd CASEWORKER: What happened? Are you allowed to say? BOBBI AMES: I don’t know.

[crosstalk] NARRATOR: We were not allowed to follow this case. When a child dies, the child protective system is thrown into turmoil, and it is caseworkers who must bear the brunt.

1st CASEWORKER: I’m having just seeing flashbacks, where we just were painted- -we were just slammed last year for having a kid in custody that died. And now there’s not one that’s in custody, we’re going to get slammed, “Well, this kid should have been in custody, and that’s why the child died.

” BOBBI AMES: They’re definitely going to be looking at what we did in that process, and–

1st CASEWORKER: I mean, we can’t win.

MELISSA DUMONT, Caseworker: Every time we send a kid home, it’s very scary that maybe- -maybe you didn’t do enough. Maybe–you know, maybe things aren’t as safe as they could be because a kid could end up–you know, a kid that you say, “OK, this is safe for you to go home”–I mean, we put our relationships with these kids on the line and say, “OK, it’s safe for you to go home now. You can go home to your–your parents.” And then they get re-abused or–you know, the worst thing that could happen would be they would get killed. And that has happened before, where kids have gotten killed after we sent them home. And then it’s–it feels like it’s your responsibility that that happened to that child because you made a decision and you said it was OK.

NARRATOR: It is the morning after caseworker David Greeley took 10-year-old Matthew from his home. He is calling the boy’s father, Keith, for the first time since then. DAVID GREELEY: [on the phone] David Greeley calling.Here’s the way I’d like to have things happen this morning. And I know you’ve got questions and so forth, so let’s try to conduct some business here. It’s our position, Keith, that the child needs to remain away from the home and you need to get involved in services. As far as contact with Matthew goes, we don’t want to have any contact until after court next week. Is that OK? All right. I tell you– how about if we do this? I think it would be important to Matthew to hear your voice and to know that you’re OK and for you to be able to reassure him. OK. OK. Well, what we don’t want, Keith, is a long conversation about the details of what’s going on. OK.

NARRATOR: Matthew and his father, Keith, live alone. His parents split up when he was a baby, and his mother is no longer a part of his life. KEITH, Matthew’s Father: I’d come home from work, she’d be drinking. And we argued all the time, so I–we split up. So I hired a lawyer and went to court, and he came to live with me. And it’s been seven-and-a-half years now.

KEITH: Hi, Matt! MATTHEW: Hi! KEITH: How are you, dear? NARRATOR: Two days after his removal, Keith is permitted to speak to Matthew by telephone. He recorded their conversation.

MATTHEW: They tied me–absolutely tied me to a bed, face-down!

KEITH: Why?

MATTHEW: Because I was upset!

KEITH: What? You were going–

MATTHEW: Because I was so upset!

KEITH: Oh, God! Dear! That’s abuse. That’s an abuse, and I know it is! He was so upset. Because he’s upset, they tie him to a bed. Let’s be serious, people! Think good things, OK, honey? Would you try to think some good things?

MATTHEW: Yes.

KEITH: You know, let me see. What can we think of?

MATTHEW: Coming home.

KEITH: Coming home. OK, that’s a good thing.

MATTHEW: I love you so much. I want to come home! Dad, I love you! KEITH: Oh, I love you, and you are coming home.You think about that, OK, honey? You think, “My daddy is coming after me, and I am coming home. ” You think that, OK, dear? Because that’s what’s going to happen, OK? OK.

NARRATOR: Two decades ago, the child welfare system was focused on preserving families first. Before losing custody of their children, parents were often given years to turn their lives around. But today the pendulum has swung. Caseworkers place the safety of children above all other considerations, including parents’ rights.

NARRATOR: Under this pressure, caseworkers are now intervening in families earlier and more aggressively, taking on cases they might once have passed over.

CINDY POST: Let me ask you, what is neglect? What do you think?

3rd TEACHER: What about the child that just nobody pays attention to? They don’t listen to the child. They don’t hear him. The child doesn’t exist, other than the fact that there’s a picture on the mantle. NARRATOR: Twice as many cases now involve neglect rather than abuse, a definition that is often much more ambiguous.

3rd TEACHER: The laundry may be done. This child may be clean. But the child’s alone.

CINDY POST: I agree. I personally feel that neglect is one of the most damaging forms of abuse because it doesn’t damage the body so much, unless you’re starved or something, but it damages the soul.

[to Robin Whitney] OK. So what do you think it means that she–that there’s no affect?

NARRATOR: A neglect case has come in. Supervisor Cindy Post and her caseworker, Robin Whitney, are creating a narrative of the case on paper.

CINDY POST: [Reading form] OK, “What are the compelling facts that required our continued involvement?”

Compelling facts–

NARRATOR: A woman is accused of failing to recognize a danger posed to herchildren by an ex-boyfriend.

CINDY POST: And the fact is that Shirley Mitchell continues to deny that her daughter was sexually abused, in spite of the fact that her daughter has disclosed this to her. So that’s a fact.

NARRATOR: Cindy has never met the client. Her name is Shirley Mitchell.

SHIRLEY MITCHELL: Do you want a Nutty Buddy, a half a donut, the Devil Dog or a brownie? Excuse me! Could you put it on the counter, please? Thank you.

NARRATOR: Shirley lives in a mobile home with her three sons.

SHIRLEY MITCHELL: Patrick’s, like, my Socrates. He likes to read books and play computers. Last year, he was a 63 average, and this year he’s come up to an 85. [to Derek] Excuse me. We’re not discussing Pat, we’re discussing you. Derek’s my agitator. He’s, like, a little leprechaun, just picking [unintelligible] and bouncing around. And he thinks his smile and his big eyes and his dimples gets him out of everything. [to Derek] Why you so mad that you have to go to bed at 7:00 o’clock, when you earned it? Dustin, no, please! Dustin is my mischief. He’s like a sponge, just yearning and stuff. And his intellect is way beyond his age. [to Dustin] Dustin, no, no! One. Sit. Excuse me. Wait a minute. Down, where you’re safe. Thank you.

NARRATOR: Shirley has led a hard life. She’s had two long-term relationships with men, the first with her ex-husband, who battered both her and their son, Patrick, the other with her boyfriend, Dan. That relationship ended when Shirley’s 14-year-old daughter accused Dan of molesting her and was taken into DHS custody. Though Dan has always denied the accusation, Patrick has said that he saw Dan enter his sister’s room at night.

SHIRLEY MITCHELL: [to Patrick] So don’t sit so close to the TV, OK?

NARRATOR: So far, Shirley has chosen to believe Dan, the father of her youngest son, over the sometimes inconsistent stories of her children.

SHIRLEY MITCHELL: When my daughter was getting her own way, it didn’t happen. She told me many times, “No, it didn’t happen.” And then when she was angry with me, if I didn’t let her boyfriend sleep here, she couldn’t go see her boyfriend, or she cou