DEDICATION:

This blog is dedicated to "The Children Left Behind." We will not rest until the safety of our children and those that are entrusted with their mental health care are held accountable for abusing the children's God given rights, those rights upheld by our constitution, and those that have been complicit in obfuscating the truth!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

BREAKING NEWS: PARENTS, ADVOCATES, AND CHILDREN FIND VINDICATION, SUBSTANTIATION, SOLACE IN THE GEORGIA ADVOCACY OFFICE INVESTIGATIVE FINDINGS REGARDING THE FORMER RIDGE CREEK SCHOOL FACILITY AND GEORGIA'S DHS ORCC AGENCY FAILURE TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE OVERSIGHT


To all those children and their families that were harmed due the State of Georgia’s agencies’ continued obfuscation of the truth, negligence, and incompetence with regard to their oversight of the former Ridge Creek School facility, its former affiliate entities such as Hidden Lake Academy and Ridge Creek Wilderness, this is for you.
To those citizen advocates, one teacher,  an admission’s administrator, a counselor, and only one DFCS employee, decent human beings, tirelessly fighting to expose the truth and ensure the safety and welfare of the children at the Ridge Creek School facility, while being continually vilified by Ridge Creek School, Inc.'s hierarchy - a machine of spineless attorneys, staff lackey’s,  incompetent clergy, town groupies, and the like, this is for you.

To those individuals at the State level that were contacted by families for help, only to have their pleas fall on your insensitive, lying, condescending, placating, deaf ears and stone hearts, for over a decade - ignoring children's rights - this is for you.
For those individuals that ignored the safety and well-being of our children, and to those parties that did not take personal responsibility for their own egregious behavior as mandated reporters, this is for you.

For those in power within the State of Georgia that ignored our cries, the cries of our children, and did not take needed divisive action to remedy the imminent disaster and debacle of the Ridge Creek School facility, take a bow with your co-horts:



All staff under the Ridge Creek School, Inc. corporate entity as mandated reporters; Georgia’s ORS/ORCC under DHS, including DFCS, DBHDD, and the DJJ; ADVANC-ED-SACS, Lumpkin County Police Department, Local, State, and Federal Judges, the GBI, the FBI, Gov. Nathan Deal, Gov. Deal’s Office of the Child Advocate, Children and Youth Committee, the State Attorney General’s Office, Lumpkin County District Attorney, Secretary of State Kemp, ORCC Commissioner Clyde Reese, and lastly, the pathetic Georgia Board of Examiners of Psychologists – this is for you.

Special recognition to NATSAP, the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs and IECA, Independent Educational Consultants Association, trade associations, both of which continued to be blinded by their own greed and  totally incompetent when it comes to understanding that they, too, are mandated reporters. Educational Consultants continued to send children to this facility, in
spite of damning, documented state evidence. NATSAP ignored complaints. Take a bow. This is for you.
Recalling the first conversation in the Spring of 2011 with the GAO Director of Investigations, the conversation moved to the number of  children that attempted suicides by hanging at the Ridge Creek School facility. He replied, “A hanging?” Response,“No, Sir, at last count six.”  Shocked, he repeated, "Six, you say?” Reply, “Yes, Sir.”  He responded, “One is enough.” Apparently, it was not enough for the State of Georgia to intercede.  But, hey, after all, “He is politically connected in downtown Atlanta.” Our final count before closure of this facility, within one year, was in the double digits.
 
Below is a summary of the findings stemming from the investigation in 2011 of the former Ridge Creek School facility in Georgia, the ORCC, and State of Georgia agencies by the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO), Protection and Advocacy for the State of Georgia which is mandated by Congress.  *Note: Permission was given by the GAO to share this document.  It has been formatted for this article.  The addressed individual has been deleted; Mr. McDaniel's signature did not transfer in formatting.

GAO FINDINGS:

 GAO
 
  GEORGIA
  ADVOCACY  The Protection and  Advocacy System for People  with Disabilities in Georgia
  OFFICE
 
November 15, 2012
Re:  Ridge Creek School, Dahlonega, Georgia
Dear -
 
 
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the findings of the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO) with regard to the facility formerly operated by Ridge Creek School in Dahlonega, Georgia.  As you know, Ridge Creek School provided what has been described as a therapeutic school to incorporate both education and counseling in a residential program for children experiencing emotional disturbances. Multiple state human services agencies utilized this program, including the Department of Human Services/Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).  Oversight was the responsibility of these agencies, in addition to the licensing responsibility exercised by the Department of Human Services/Office of Residential Child Care (ORCC) and the Department of Education.  The school was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
 
Over the course of several years, ORCC identified multiple and serious deficiencies in performance at the school in the course of investigating complaints and incidents and during annual reviews of the facility. Ridge Creek School was cited by ORCC repeatedly for multiple regulatory violations including insufficient staffing, medications not administered accurately, failure to provide protective care and oversight and failure to report incidents. Often there were multiple and repeated citations for the same deficiency, thereby demonstrating Ridge Creek's failure to identify, correct, and maintain improvements. ORCC failed to follow through to ensure that the documented deficiencies were ultimately remedied and the children confined there were protected from harm.
 
Many of the children at Ridge Creek were in the custody of DFCS or DJJ and were confined to Ridge Creek under the authority of those agencies.  It is unclear to what extent DFCS and DJJ were made aware of the multiple and repeated deficiencies of the facility.  In some cases, DFCS and DJJ were made aware of incidents at the facility along with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. In some cases, investigations were carried out, yet no agency focused on the pattern of ongoing issues that contributed to the unsafe environment which led to abuse and neglect of children who were in the care of Ridge Creek School.
 
Ridge Creek School also frequently requested assistance from Lumpkin County Police for multiple incidents including property destruction, elopement, fights, sexual assault, and riots.  In one instance in January 2011, Lumpkin County Police reported that approximately 11 students were causing damage to the school buildings by breaking out windows, setting off fire
             1SO East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Suite 430, Decatur, Georgia  30030
TEL  404.885.1234  VOICE and TDD 800.537.2329 FAX 404.378.0031  WEB www.thegao.org

   November 15, 2012
   Page 2

 
extinguishers, making entry into a building without permission, and knocking over office equipment.

Although it is clear that oversight was inadequate, the diffusion of responsibility across agencies also raises significant concerns for the continuing oversight of other residential programs similar to that of Ridge Creek.  We will be conducting additional inquiries into similar programs in Georgia to identify ongoing problems and opportunities for improvement. According to information provided by the Georgia Department of Human Services, there are approximately ten other facilities that operate similar programs - residential treatment services with an onsite school operated by the provider - with similar competing oversight agencies,  within Georgia.

Problems with Ridge Creek School are emblematic of the multiple oversight agencies that have jurisdiction, and the lack of coordination among the agencies.  This lack of coordination has resulted in multiple incidents that posed a threat to the health and safety of children as well as incomplete records and could repeat in other circumstances.

If you have any additional information that would expedite further investigation, please contact us as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

 
Tobin McDaniel
   Director of Investigations

ADVOCATES :

We remain hopeful that this will be a wake-up call for the State of Georgia, although their record is well-known to be less than stellar in child care and transparency.  Perhaps the State of Georgia will look at these findings in a positive light, as grace given, from those that were given none.  It's a stretch, but miracles happen. 
 
Documents attest to the fact that this is a systemic problem. Change has to come from the top down, instead of promoting incompetence and  nepotism. The mandate held that investigative reports and documents can be subjectively altered by supervisors under the DHS needs to cease immediately.

What was allowed to transpire at the Ridge Creek School facility and the harm it brought could have been stopped years back by the State of Georgia. If their leaders had any backbone, it would have saved far too many hardships. The State was complicit and therefore, culpable, with or without state immunity, which they utilize to shelter themselves. An image of our forefather's tear droplets comes to mind ... Thankfully, we have something they apparently do not have or lost - heart.

We expect reforms from the State of Georgia's DHS and its sister agencies as documents currently reflect systemic troubles in other like residential facilities for children currently operating in Georgia.

To date, there still has been no responsibility taken; state employees, who were mandated reporters, were promoted, no charges. Former staff that were mandated reporters have not been charged and continue to operate with their professional licenses  intact - with children. 

We are eternally grateful to the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO) who truly believe that everyone has the right to live their life surrounded by hope, aspirations, respect, love, and community, despite their developmental disabilities.  The GAO faces each day that dawns with new challenges; committed, professional, and forever in  heart-felt service, they fight for the oppressed and vulnerable who have no voice such as our children. They mentor citizen advocates in their stature, honesty, and dedication.  A trait that was quite refreshing after a  decade of eye-opening cover-ups and incompetence.

Thank you to Director McDaniel and the entire staff at the GAO.


"For the Children Left Behind" and those to come ...

 I am, Jill Ryan
 Citizen Advocate

* A true copy of this document can be obtained by contacting jilliestake@live.com.

http://thegao.org/who-we-are/
http://thegao.org/

Please comment below by hitting "comments." A box will open. 
 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

NATSAP TESTIMONY TO CONGRESS IN 2007




Lest we forget ...  NATSAP never investigated any program.  Letters of complaints by unsuspecting novices thinking NATSAP will/would help them, still go unanswered; "we don't police our programs."

"One death is more than should be tolerated." Congressman McKeon

"What the Hell do you do?" Congressman Miller.

"We are a trade organization..."  Jan Moss
"We do not do our own investigations..." Jan Moss

WARNING :  A MEMEBER OF NATSAP STILL MEANS NOTHING.  THEY ARE A TRADE ORGANIZATION WITH NO "GOOD HOUSEKEEPING STAMP OF APPROVAL."

SUPPORT H.R. 3126

Friday, October 26, 2012

BENGHAZI NAVY SEAL FATHER OF TYRONE WOODS WANTS ANSWERS - WHO DENIED BACK UP OF CIA OPERATIVES DURING ATTACK ?

... and who can blame Mr. Woods ... enough of this garbage from the administration. It's not about being left or right; a Democrat or Republican. This is an embarrassment, not to mention egregious!

Our fallen  heroes and their families deserve better as the administration blames every anomaly beyond mankind. What is next? "Honey Boo Boo" was incompetent. It's time for the administration to "stand-up." It appears they are all too good at "standing down."

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1926876746001/

Monday, October 22, 2012

BENGHAZI 166 PAGE DUMP BY DARRELL ISSA (R-CA)



House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) released 166 pages
of sensitive but unclassified State Department cables related to Libya. The committee is attempting to piece together the inconsistencies of the Obama administration and the failures associated with protecting our embassy in Libya; relating to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that resulted in the death of Amb. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. 

What no one is mentioning, while talking about taking responsibility - While initially blaming the attack and attributing Amb. Stevens death, along with three other Americans to a little known video, the Obama Administrations egregious error in judgement caused demonstrations in the Islamist world that took more lives. History has shown how extremist Muslims react - duh.

Who is the Obama administration going to blame next? Honey Boo Boo?

Abbott and Costello couldn't have asked it better, "Who's on first?"

To view the cables:

http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/DEI-to-BHO-10-19-2012-attachments.pdf

BOY SCOUT PERVERSION FILES - 1965-1985 BOY SCOUT INELIGIBLE VOLUNTEER FILES



The information contained in the ineligible volunteer ("IV") files is being made public pursuant to a court order from The Honorable John Wittmayer, Multnomah County Circuit Judge for the State of Oregon, in the case of Lewis vs. Boy Scouts of America, Case No. 0710-11294. The Oregon Supreme Court upheld the ruling on June 14th, 2012. 
TO READ THE FILES:
http://www.kellyclarkattorney.com/files/


 

Monday, October 15, 2012

Malala Yousufzai: Pakistani Girl, Nearly Killed by Taliban, Rushed to UK for Treatment - ABC News

Malala Yousufzai: Pakistani Girl, Nearly Killed by Taliban, Rushed to UK for Treatment - ABC News

Malala Yousufzai, 12, is seen at her home in the Swat Valley, March 26, 2009, in Peshawar, Pakistan. (Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images)

By (@muhammadlila) and (@nickschifrin)
Oct. 15, 2012


The 14-year-old Pakistani girl who was targeted and nearly killed by the Taliban for supporting education for girls has been flown to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.
Malala Yousufzai, the schoolgirl whose shooting galvanized an unprecedented wave of condemnation against the Taliban, was transported on an air ambulance donated by the United Arab Emirates early this morning. The flight took off from a military air base in Rawalpindi and made a refueling stop in the UAE before continuing on to the United Kingdom, according to Pakistani military officials. READ MORE:http://abcnews.go.com/International/malala-yousufzai-pakistani-girl-killed-taliban-rushed-uk/story?id=17479249
 
 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Shame on Lea Black of RHOM | Jewish Journal

Shame on Lea Black of RHOM | Jewish Journal
by Ilana Angel

Roy and Lea Black


Roy and Lea Black
"On a recent episode of the Real Housewives of Miami, Lea Black was watching her ancient lawyer husband on television as he was doing closing arguments for a case he was working on. She says her husband is on a case that involves a terrible accident where someone was killed.
Lea explains to her young son, who is watching with her, that the man accused of drinking and driving was in fact not drunk, he simply had a head injury and was in a lot of pain. She refers to the man being charged as a wonderful and well known guy who is being hung by the media.
She tells her son he is presumed innocent and seems truly upset the man is being drug through the mud by the media. I am one of the media that hung him out to dry. John Goodman is a cold hearted and reckless killer and Roy Black should be ashamed of himself, as should his wife."
 
To read more:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/keepingitreal/item/shame_on_lea_black_of_rhom/

 

Friday, September 21, 2012

A Tribe's Epidemic of Child Sex Abuse, Minimized for Years

The New York Times



September 19, 2012

A Tribe’s Epidemic of Child Sex Abuse, Minimized for Years

Matthew Staver for The New York Times

 

SPIRIT LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION, N.D. — The man who plays Santa Claus here is a registered child sex offender and a convicted rapist. One of the brothers of the tribal chairman raped a child, and a second brother sexually abused a 12-year-old girl. They are among a number of men convicted of sex crimes against children on this remote home of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe, which has among the highest proportion of sex offenders in the country.
Federal officials are now moving to take over the tribe’s social service programs, according to members of the tribe, government officials and documents. The action comes after years of failure by government and tribal law enforcement officials to conduct proper investigations of dozens of cases of child sexual abuse, including rape.
While members of the tribe say that sexual violence against children on the reservation is common and barely concealed, the reasons for the abuse here are poorly understood, though poverty and alcohol are thought to be factors. The crimes are rarely prosecuted, few arrests are made, and people say that because of safety fears and law enforcement’s lack of interest, they no longer report even the most sadistic violence against children. In May 2011, a 9-year-old girl and her 6-year-old brother were killed on the reservation after being raped and sodomized.
“It bothers me that it is so accepted, that it is considered so normal. It’s lawless,” said Molly McDonald, who was a tribal judge until March, handling juvenile cases.
The reservation has 38 registered sex offenders among its 6,200 residents, a rate of one offender for every 163 residents. By contrast, Grand Forks, N.D., about 85 miles away, has 13 sex offenders out of a population of 53,000 — a rate of about one in 4,000. In one home on the reservation, nine children are under the care of the father, an uncle and a grandfather, each a convicted sex offender, a federal official said. Two of the children, brothers who are 6 and 8, were recently observed engaging in public sex, residents said.
“Those little boys are crying out for help,” said a neighbor, who called the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police but said that officers declined to take a report or notify child welfare officials.
Another member of the tribe said that police officers and social workers failed to act after a 9-year-old girl described giving oral sex to a man.
Neither the tribe nor the federal government provided current figures on abuse, but in 2007 there were 26 confirmed cases of child sexual abuse and nearly 10 times as many allegations of abuse or neglect. Ms. McDonald said she presided over 20 to 30 cases of child sexual abuse each year. In 2011, fewer than a dozen cases of sex crimes against children were prosecuted by either the tribe or the federal government, which has jurisdiction, according to federal and tribal records.
Betty Jo Krenz, a former tribal social worker, said she oversaw 131 children — 100 more than the state’s average caseload. In some instances, members of the tribe say, there are generations of victims from the same family who have been preyed upon by generations of child rapists from other families. Others abuse their own children, including one tribal government employee who publicly complained that his young daughter had bitten his penis, according to a relative of the man and a federal official.
Federal agencies, however, have sought to minimize the extent of the problem, including disciplining employees who have spoken publicly about sexual abuse and questioning the competence of others, according to federal and tribal officials.
Thomas F. Sullivan, a director of the federal Administration for Children and Families, who has emerged as a crucial whistle-blower, is among those who have been prevented from speaking to reporters, he said. Still, his periodic reports to his superiors in Washington have been blistering.
“If we fail in our role as leaders, we will deserve the same condemnation society so correctly applied to those leaders at Penn State and in the Catholic Church who, knowing of the abuse being inflicted on children by their colleagues, did nothing, failing in their basic obligation to protect children,” Mr. Sullivan wrote last month to his supervisors.
And weeks before the scheduled federal takeover on Oct. 1 of the reservation’s social service system, which is responsible for the care of the tribe’s sexually abused children, senior staff members at the Bureau of Indian Affairs continued to play down the issue.
Hankie Ortiz, deputy bureau director of the Office of Indian Services, said the news media and whistle-blowers had exaggerated the problem. “Their social service program has made steady progress,” Ms. Ortiz said, adding that she was unable to discuss specific cases under privacy laws or because she was unaware of them.
Roger Yankton, the tribe’s chairman, did not respond to requests for interviews.
But in a letter published last month in The Devils Lake Journal, a local newspaper, tribal officials cast blame on whistle-blowers and a lack of federal money.
“The tribe’s elected leaders and its people are well aware of the gravity and difficult nature of these problems,” the letter said, “particularly because we live with their consequences every day.”
But members of the tribe say their leadership has often sought to hide abuse.
Ms. McDonald said that the police investigated sex crimes against children only if a victim requested hospitalization, and that tribal leaders frequently sought to sway judges’ opinions improperly. She said she was forced to dismiss many cases because social workers forgot to submit required paperwork.
“The perpetrators know they can get away with it because the authorities don’t do anything,” said Joanne Streifel, a tribal elder.
Among the sex offenders is Quentin Yankton, 61, who stands 6 feet 5 inches and is a brother of the tribe’s chairman. He was first convicted of raping a child in 1976, state records show. In 1992, he was convicted of a similar crime after he forced his 15-year-old niece into sex. The girl became pregnant with twins, and DNA analysis showed that he was the father.
Mr. Yankton told the police, according to court documents, that he thought he was entitled to have sex with his niece because she told him that she had previously been sexually abused by her father.
Mr. Yankton was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The girl’s father was never prosecuted, but Alfred Longie, 67, a half-brother of the men, was convicted in 2008 for undressing and rubbing the genitals of a 12-year-old who had passed out after he had given her alcohol.
Joseph Alberts, 59, who plays Santa Claus for the tribe, was convicted of rape in 1983, and in 1986 was found guilty of committing lewd acts with a child under 14 on four different occasions. He served one year in jail for that crime and 18 months for the rape.
In another case, after a woman tried to burn down her house with her 5-year-old daughter inside, the girl was put in a foster home where a sex offender was living, according to Mr. Sullivan and a member of the tribe. Once the foster parent’s criminal record was discovered, the tribe removed the child and put her back in her mother’s home.
But when the child proved too much for the mother to care for, Mr. Sullivan said, she sold her daughter back to the family of the registered sex offender for $50 and a ride to Grand Forks.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

GEORGIA DHS JUNE PROMOTIONS - ANTITHESIS OF RESTRUCTURING A WORTHY DHS PLUS - FEDS RAID GEORGIA DFCS OFFICE - ARREST WARRANTS ISSUED

 
Well, well, well ...  Instead of scouring the stench from the walls of the far from transparent Department of Human Services (DHS) and its sister agencies (including, but not limited to the ORCC/RCC, DFCS, DBHDD, CPS,  and DJJ)  that offer the appearance of being drenched in nepotism, chicanery, and ineptitude (after too numerous to list botched oversights including the infamous, now defunct,  Downing Clark Center (now Downing Clark Hope Center and Academy, Inc.) and the Hidden Lake Academy/Ridge Creek School facilities, Clyde Reese, Commissioner of the DHS rewarded those current and former directors in June with promotions ... a round of applause is hardly in order.  Reward those who were complicit in containment and keeping the former Department of Human Resources(DHR) currently the Department of Human Services(DHS),  and its sister agencies  a "Protected Empire."(Ga. Sen. Nancy Schaefer) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TcDTJlPWbE

One would think since Georgia ranked in first place as the most corrupt state in the US (*see below) a thousand Dyson's would hardly make a dent.  *http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/03/16/8427/georgia-worst-score-country

“It is not the goal to put people out of business,” said Keith Bostick, (former)*director of the state Office of Residential Child Care. “We want to do as much as we can to try to keep kids safe. But it is a balancing act.”

REALLY, WELL BALANCE THIS:

Applying a partial text quote from a recent interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, "I think the people who say this set a new standard for human stupidity" - aptly sums things up. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that children's well-being and safety have determined those facilities need to not only be put out of business, but held accountable for their actions.  The DHS Mission statement does not include teaching these "Hell-hole" facilities how to treat children with dignity, respect, and humanity.

DHS Mission statement:
 
"Strengthen Georgia by providing individuals and families access to services that promote self-sufficiency, independence, and protect Georgia's vulnerable children and adults."

NO WHERE DOES THE DHS MISSION STATE IT WAS CREATED TO PROTECT THE BUSINESSES THAT HARM CHILDREN.
 
The most politically correct statement is laughable:

"Promote accountability, transparency and quality in all services we deliver and programs we administer."

Since when?

Parents and advocates state that as far back as 2002, accessing information from the DHR/DHS and its sister agencies was like pulling teeth - they were frequently being sent through a maze, involving hours of telephone calls to different departments in order to answer one simple question that never got answered.  In the mid to later 2000's, not one director EVER informed a parent or advocate of the existence of the OFFICE OF THE CHILD ADVOCATE. 

To make matters worse, DHS/ORCC/DFCS supervisors and their legal counsel do not follow their state's redaction statutes on documents requested through Georgia's Sunshine Act, Open Records Act, or FOIA. "If we left in the dates, you might figure out who it is."(2011) [See Reference Guide below]
 
This redaction  insanity, culminated in thousands of dollars spent by child advocates (citizens) for blank pages, subjectively redacted per specifications/directives from immediate supervisors over  redactors. 

http://dhs.georgia.gov/mission-core-values


Apparently Georgia's DHS doesn't get that "those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."  A little trip down memory lane appears in order.
 
One would think when Georgia elatedly sent former Chicago bureaucrat DHR Commissioner BJ Walker(hired in2004) back to Chicago, the Governor's Office would wake up.  Afterall, Ms. Walker replaced DHR Commissioner Jim Martin who was reportedly forced to resign by Governor Sonny Perdue:
"Martin, a lawyer, resigned from his position as DHR commissioner in 2003 following the deaths of two toddlers whose families were being supervised by the state's Division of Family and Children Services, which is part of DHR." http://savannahnow.com/stories/052505/3056434.shtml

Governor Deal's office did manage to move the Office of the Child Advocate, er, not create it.


What was the DHS motto in 2011?  According to the Office of Residential Child Care (ORCC) legal advisor,  Ms. Pamela Carr Cosby and other supervisors,  "Supervisors are allowed to subjectively change reports."  Is that the same as "falsify?" "Falsifying records is a felony..." **[see article below - "DFCS OFFICE RAIDED IN COLUMBUS"]

Mr. Dave Statton, former Director of the ORCC, cleared out his desk  last May of 2011 (officially a RIF) the morning after a conference call with parents/advocates, only to be replaced by Ms. LaMarva Ivory, who also participated in the conference call.  Ms. Ivory is now - drum roll - DHS Deputy Inspector General.

It just doesn't get any better than this

Under former DHR Commissioner BJ Walker,  Ms. Carol Winstead was the former Director of the Office of Regulatory Services (ORS) before the ORS became the Office of Residential Child Care (ORCC) under the DHS.  In dealings with Ms. Winstead, it appeared she continually shirked her duties (DHR/DHS MISSION) by blatantly obfuscating the truth in dealing with complaints of families of those attending the now defunct Hidden Lake Academy ( "I've never heard of any complaints or concerns regarding Hidden Lake Academy or Ridge Creek Wilderness")(2004 -2006).  Documents between Ms. Winstead, the Law Office of Quirk and Quirk,  along with emails between families, and Ms. Winstead prove this was not the case.  Prior to Ms. Winstead's tenure as Director, emails between Ms. Jo Cato (former Director of DHR's Child Care Licensing Division) and parent complaints exhibited more of the same.  One parent stated the requested documents never arrived. 

Ms. Winstead's position was then given to an interim director, then to another individual, Mr. Keith Bostick,  who appeared clueless, (better than another apparent liar),  and whom plead the fifth re: Creekside Wilderness program/facility, the unlicensed sister part of the Hidden Lake Academy/Ridge Creek School facility.

Georgia's Department of Juvenile Justice had a contract with the above facility for juveniles under the phantom illegal, unlicensed Creekside Wilderness program/facility under Ridge Creek, Inc.  Court records revealed Creekside as an unlicensed "half-way" house.  According to DJJ Director Williams, every program facility must be licensed by the ORCC to have a contract with the DJJ. Additionally,  Mr. Bostick stated that he knew of no contract between the DJJ and the facility.  Odd, when under his watch, the Director of the ORS/ORCC, along with DJJ Contracts Director Williams, they must authorize the license for a contract and contracts clearly indicate Mr. Bostick was either misinformed, totally out-to-breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or he, too, obfuscated the truth.  In a telephone call with Ms. Williams in the Fall of 2009,  she stated that Mr. Bostick and herself were going to try to schedule a visit to the facility...? Uh, which one?  Mr. Bostick remains at DFCS. 

In addition, during the conference call noted above, former ORCC Director Statton and other directors/legal counsel never heard of Creekside. 

Note:  At this time, the ORCC statutes allowed several programs on the same compound, but they were to be licensed.

Even better,  according to the DJJ, their stimulus money was used to pay the per diems for the juvenile offenders to attend the unlicensed, mythical Creekside Wilderness program facility (Ridge Creek School facility) via the DJJ. 

Juvenile offenders (including violent offenders) were now commingled with  private pay children/special needs, all the while being told by the Ridge Creek School facility that there were no juvenile offenders.  Medicaid anyone? Let's not forget the out-of-state commingled juvenile offenders either. 

Mr. Bostick's ORS/ORCC was responsible for  rewarding, sanctioning and licensing another facility program on the same compound, Mountain Brook Academy in the midst of a Class Action Lawsuit and hundreds of complaints.  The town of Dahlonega, meantime, shut down a proposal under the corporate veil of Ridge Creek, Inc. to have a lock-down facility for juveniles on separate grounds called Mountain Brook Academy.  Apparently, no one reads or does research either at the DHS and its sister agencies.  Mr. Bostick remains at DFCS.

BJ Walker : http://oig.georgia.gov/sites/oig.georgia.gov/files/imported/OIG/Files/08-080_DHR_roi.pdf
http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia_elections_news/2010/12/03/deal-names-senate-floor-leaders-makes-appointments/


The list goes on: For more -  enjoy the article: 

Welfare Watch - June 4, 2012 - DHS Announces Changes in ORCC
From DHS - Clyde Reese - Announcement about Changes in the Office of Residential Child Care
It is my pleasure to announce several personnel changes today. In accordance with the resignation of current Inspector General Cathy Lynn Craven, Terry Hamrick is being promoted to the position of Department of Human Services (DHS) Inspector General. LaMarva Ivory, currently the Director of the Office of Residential Child Care (ORCC), is being promoted to DHS Deputy Inspector General. Carol Winstead, currently Program Director of ORCC, will be named Acting Director of ORCC. These actions will become effective on June 16, 2012.

Effective July 1, 2012, Rachel King, currently Deputy General Counsel, is being promoted to the position of DHS General Counsel. Shon Momin, currently Associate General Counsel assigned to the Division of Child Support Services, is being promoted to the position of Deputy General Counsel.

Finally, effective July 1, 2012, Keith Horton, Director of the Division of Child Support Services, will also assume the duties of permanent DHS Liaison to the newly created Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA). The GVRA will be administratively attached to DHS.

Please join me in congratulating these individuals. I am confident they will excel in these roles. Thanks to all of you for the work that you do and have a great weekend.
Clyde L. Reese, III, Commissioner
_________________________________An email newsletter of the
Georgia Association of Homes
and Services for Children
as a public service.
Normer Adams, Editor

___________________________________*

http://www.gahsc.org/welfare%20watch/2012/welfarewatch20120604_ORCC.html

Updated: 11:49 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012 | Posted: 11:48 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012
 







DFCS office in Columbus raided

By Christopher Seward

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State and federal agents raided a state Division of Family and Children Services office in west Georgia on Wednesday as part of an investigation into whether officials falsified records to get millions of dollars in federal funding.
Arrest warrants were issued for a former acting director and an intake supervisor at the Muscogee County DFCS in Columbus. The former director, Deborah Cobb, and child protective services supervisor, Phyllis Mitchell, are charged with destroying, delaying, changing and falsifying child abuse reports, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
In a statement obtained by The Columbus Ledger-Inquirer, Commissioner Clyde L. Reese III of the state Department of Human Services, which oversees DFCS offices, referred to possible allegations that the Muscogee office may have reduced numbers of abused children entering the state system.
Reece said the state agency stresses to all DHS employees — “in particular the Division of Families and Children Services child welfare and social services’ staff” - that safety of all children is the fundamental guiding principle.
“No DHS employee has any reason or incentive to hide allegations or abuse or neglect in order to lower the number of children and families to be entered into the state system,” Reese said. “DHS will cooperate fully with all federal and state authorities in their investigation.”
Child protective services offices must follow certain guidelines in evaluating and responding to abuse allegations to receive federal funding. The GBI said some of the record-keeping deals with how timely child abuse investigations are launched.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services had withdrawn funding from the DFCS for failure to maintain proper records on child abuse. The west Georgia office, however, later submitted new documents and data showing it had met compliance requirements. Federal funding was then restored.
District Attorney Julia Slater of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit sought the GBI’s assistance in investigating the DFCS office on Aug. 15 after learning that Health and Human Services and the Office of Inspector General had launched an investigation.
The GBI did not say how much money was involved. Falsifying the records is a felony.

 http://www.ajc.com/news/news/dfcs-office-in-columbus-raided/nR3z5/

My Take:

The Feds raided the wrong 'house'. DA in Georgia asks for the GBI's help only after learning of the Federal investigation. The latter speaks volumes.


**In another article:
http://www.ajc.com/news/ap/crime/arrest-sought-of-ga-child-protection-workers/nR36G/
 
"We're looking at Muscogee County," said Kelly McCoy, an assistant special agent-in-charge of the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "I don't know if it's systemic. I don't have any indication that it is at this point."

My Take:

"Systemic" is an understatement.  The alleged fraud is from the top down.  If the DHS/ORCC's own attorney states that the supervisors are allowed to subjectively change DFCS/ORCC investigator reports and the Feds say it is illegal to falsify reports - aside from a case of semantics, there is a serious CONFLICT here. Ms. Mitchell and Ms. Cobb were apparently, simply applying "business as usual." 

For one to ascertain anything different is beyond naive.

In the same article:
 
"Gov. Nathan Deal said through his spokesman, Brian Robinson, that child safety was of "paramount importance" to the administration.

An illusion?   Advocates for child safety have yet to see "the beef," so to speak.  DHS's  apparent clandestine, internal, nepotistic problems have continued through Governor Deal's term.   

At least Governor Sonny Perdue exhibited moxie launching an investigation into the Hidden Lake Academy/Ridge Creek Wilderness debacle.  In the end, the aforementioned facility was required to be licensed after some momentary insanity on the part of the DHR/ORS, (that was hit by a barrage of complaints from child advocates and families forcing the licensing of Hidden Lake Academy) during Mr. Bostick's directorship). 

Licensed?  Why bother if the ORS/ORCC  was to never follow their own directives, other than subjectively change reports.

FEDERAL OIG FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES -  AGENT McCOY - YOU HAVE NO IDEA -
' GOT A "ROUND-THE-CLOCK" WEEK?  "SYSTEMIC" INDEED'!


  And, that's my take
"For the Children Left behind" ... and those to come.

NOTE:
Downing Clark Center((DCC) was shut down, their license taken, their license was reinstated and now licensed under Downing Clark Hope Center.   Unlike DCC, where the facility license was taken for repeated violations Hidden Lake Academy/Ridge Creek School and its manifestations were protected in spite of egregious violations and operations.
http://protectingourchildrenfrombeingsold.wordpress.com/tag/abuse-by-ga-dfcs/

Reference guide:

Georgia's Sunshine Laws:
http://hullbarrett.com/documents/GASunshineLaws.pdf
 http://law.ga.gov/press-releases/2012-04-17/governor-deal-signs-hb-397-revamping-georgias-sunshine-laws

Georgia Open Records Act :
http://sos.georgia.gov/archives/who_are_we/rims/best_practices_resources/open_records_act.htm

FOIA:
http://www.foia.gov/