TONYA BOGA RESIGNS AS GEORGIA'S DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF THE CHILD ADVOCATE

Tonya Boga

Georgia - Tonya Boga has resigned as Director of the Office of the Child Advocate. An attorney in her own right, perhaps Ms. Boga will return to practice, as her license to practice law is active.

 

In 2012, Ms. Boga stated in an interview with Channel 2 News investigative reporter Aaron Diamant, "I see us as a voice for the children of the state of Georgia." Ms. Boga went on to say, "I think there needs to be more training, and DFCS is working on that training." [1] [2]

 

These statements indicate more smoke and mirrors. Blame the work force, not  the upper echelon of supervisors and directors. How proactive is it to train more DFCS/CPS investigators/agents, if it is the supervisors, who are afforded carte blanche in subjective editing of final survey reports? 

 

In  a 2011 interview, a DFCS/CPS/ORCC investigator disclosed, off the record for fear of reprisal, that a report the investigator submitted was ignored, and this was not the first time.  "You stay in line. You don't ask questions; not if you wish to keep your job." There was no question the fear factor was overwhelming. 

 

As 'real' child advocates, we found that several of our complaints filed with the ORCC under DHS, including DFCS and the subsequent finalized survey reports generated by those entities, were either missing in the final survey report, changed, or the original complaint was not addressed in the final survey report with coinciding complaint identifiers.

 

As 'real' child advocates, we met with Tonya Boga in the Fall of 2011. On our own time, we went to the Governor's Office. We offered documented evidence and testimony to the Governor's Office, along with Ms. Boga and her entourage at the OCA -- including recommended oversight reforms and regulations based on our experience with the  "kid gloves" handling of a facility.  We found nepotism, ineptitude, and apparent corruption-rampant. All of which, indicated the problems are systemic as other facilities generate reports with the same failures and 'nothing' is done. "We are not in the business to shut these facilities down," as one Director stated. 

 "We the People" thought the creed for agencies under the arm of  DHS, such as DFCS, the ORCC,  and CPS, was to protect the children, not the facility. Think again.

 

We found the directors to be incompetent, not the investigators/agents. If the directors and supervisors are not incompetent, then their plight of containment, an insular quest, shines a worse light toward their embracement of corruption.

Governor Deal: “It is one of those oversight areas, where I think any time we have an extra set of eyes that are looking at a situation, perhaps we can avoid bad things happening,” he said of the office. [1]

Governor Deal's politics and rhetoric aside, in our advocacy for the safety of children and transparency, obviously his 'blanket' statement did not apply. "DEAL would not deal with Ryan and Dunne and get the deal done," retorts a child advocate.

 

When the Georgia Bureau of Investigation raided the Muscogee County DFCS alleging "false statements and writings, concealment of facts, fraudulent documents in matters within jurisdiction of state or political subdivisions, and subornation of false swearing," industry people were shocked.  Georgia goes after one of their own?  Why Muscogee?  Our postion, "they raided the wrong office." [3]

 

Two years later, "We are still investigating."  Now, Ms. Boga is gone.

 

If one is hopeful that a new Director of the Office of the Child Advocate will be a visionary, do not hold ones breath.

Oversight with no accountability, simply will not work.



[1] http://wabe.org/post/deal-expand-office-child-advocate-agency-head-resgines

 

[2] http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/child-advocate-puts-pressure-dfcs-over-child-cruel/nLMfC/

[3] http://www.wtvm.com/story/19460720/2012/09/05/dfcs-employees-arrested-for-allegedly-falsifying-child-abuse-reports

DHS -    Department of Human Services
DFCS -  Department of Family and Children's Services
CPS   -   Child Protective Services
ORCC - Office of Regulatory Child Care
OCA -   Office of the Child Advocate