Chronically stupid incompetent liars, who no one wants to have anything to DO with- DCF

Newsgroup Leader Katheen · medicine forum Guru Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 654

courant.com
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-dcfrunaways0518.artmay18,0,4480855.story?page=1&coll=hc-headlines-local

Children On The Run

By COLIN POITRAS
Courant Staff Writer

May 18 2006

Last Saturday, three teenage girls who were patients at a state
psychiatric hospital ran away while on a supervised outing to the
movies. Two were returned, but one is still missing.

That 17-year-old, who may have been sexually assaulted over the
weekend, is among dozens of children in state care who are currently
listed as missing, their whereabouts unknown.

One, a 16-year-old boy, has been gone nearly nine months.

As of Wednesday, according to officials at the state Department of
Children and Families, 55 children under the agency's watch, some as
young as 13, remain unaccounted for. Most are gone from state
sanctioned foster homes, group homes and shelters.

DCF officials say they are concerned about the safety of the children
and that the agency is searching for them. But agency critics worry
that these children are not a priority since they represent the tiniest
fraction of the 6,300 kids living in state care.

"Anytime a child runs away, it is cause for concern," said Jeanne
Milstein, Connecticut's child advocate. "It is the role of a
responsible parent to make every effort to locate a child. ... DCF,
given it's role of overseeing kids in congregate care, has a duty to
find ways of preventing kids from running away in the first place."

A DCF study of 31 children missing on May 1 found that their average
age was 15 and that they had been missing an average of 45 days. The
DCF is usually the legal guardian of these children, most of whom are
victims of abuse and neglect and have been taken from their parents.

Up until several weeks ago, DCF officials admitted that they did not
have a clear idea of how many children under its care were missing.

Last month, the central log kept by social workers of those missing
contained more than 400 names. But DCF officials said the list was
badly outdated and contained the names of hundreds who have since been
found but not removed from the list.

After further checking, Fernando Munoz, executive assistant to DCF
Commissioner Darlene Dunbar, said the actual number of missing kids was
more like 135. After a little more checking, Munoz said the number was
really closer to 31. That was on May 1, after he polled the agency's 14
regional offices. But even that number, Munoz said, fluctuates, going
up on Fridays and down the following Monday as the children return
after a weekend away.

On Wednesday, Munoz insisted the log has been cleaned up and is now
accurate.

But the larger questions of why children run away and what can be done
to prevent it remains.

Dunbar has created a 30-member task force to look into the issue this
year. The group's goal is to establish protocols and to make
suggestions for how to best connect with the children before they run
or after their return to reduce the number of kids running away.

"There are different profiles of kids who run," Munoz said. "There are
those who run away from something, like a foster home placement, and
those that run to something, like a family member or friend. ... The
way our staff policies are currently written, we treat them all the
same way."

Although social workers may spend hours looking for an AWOL child, they
often spend just a few minutes with them once they are found. In
general, staff is most concerned about the children being safe and
later discussing why they ran or what could be done to prevent them
from running again, Munoz said.

"One of the things we've seen nationally that we're not doing really
well is how we prepare kids when they return," Munoz said.

Most runaways return on their own, according to Munoz' preliminary
research. Many are gone for only a few hours - such as a 17-year-old
who misses a Friday curfew - yet they are listed as runaways, he said.
It's rare that children younger than 12 run, Munoz said, adding that
those who do usually run back to their families.

The still-missing teenage girl who ran away from Riverview Hospital
during a trip to the movies in Middletown Saturday was at Riverview
under a voluntary commitment and had run away twice before, hospital
sources said. The girl was part of a group of four teens - three girls
and a boy - who were taken off grounds by a new hospital worker.

Authorities believe the boy distracted the worker, enabling the three
girls to flee. Later that night, the three showed up at Hartford-area
hospitals and reported that they had been sexually assaulted. Two were
seen by a doctor and returned to Riverview. The third girl walked out
of the emergency room before being seen and has been missing since,
although, sources said, she called her mother Tuesday but wouldn't say
where she was.

Several Riverview workers, speaking Wednesday on condition that their
names be withheld by The Courant out of fear of retribution by hospital
officials, said the incident is evidence of mismanagement at Riverview.
Working alone with a group of troubled youths is just asking for
trouble, they said. Workers would have trouble defending themselves
against accusations of misconduct, and there is no one to assist in an
emergency.

"This was a gross, gross, gross error in judgment," a veteran employee
said, referring to the decision that allowed the four-to-one situation.

Most of the missing, however, run away alone.

Carlos, 16, has been missing the longest, according to DCF records. He
has been gone nearly nine months after running from his aunt's foster
home last summer after learning that he was wanted for violating
probation.

LaTosha, 16, has been missing for 31 days. She sometimes thinks about
killing herself, a source told The Courant. She had run away from a DCF
facility four times previously and often speaks about wanting to be
home with her mom. Social workers are trying to make it happen, but it
won't if they cannot find her.

Barbara Cooper's daughter, Diane, has been missing since Monday, when
she failed to return from school and was reported missing from her
Windsor foster home.

Cooper, 29, of Hartford, is furious that the agency she entrusted to
keep her daughter safe doesn't know where she is, and Cooper believes
DCF isn't working hard enough to find Diane.

"She's 14 years old; she's a very young girl," Cooper said. "She
doesn't know the streets of Hartford well. I'm not getting anything
from DCF. They're giving me the runaround."

Cooper said she has been circulating fliers bearing her daughter's
picture since DCF called. She said she had spoken to police in Hartford
and Windsor and had no assurances that anyone was looking for Diane.

"It makes me feel like they're not doing any better than I could have
done," Cooper said.

Munoz said the agency takes every runaway seriously, but its options
are limited. Most foster homes, group homes and treatment centers are
not locked and secure facilities. Once kids run, Munoz said, the DCF
has limited powers to get them to come back. Most of the time, Munoz
said, it becomes a matter of trying to convince them to change their
minds and keep getting help. In extreme cases, social workers can
obtain a court order to take a child into custody if they have violated
a judge's order or are considered a danger to themselves or others.

Barbara M. Quinn, chief administrative judge of the state's juvenile
court system, said her judges know of the problem and might be able to
help. Quinn said family members or others involved in a child's life
are sometimes more willing to divulge information to a judge in court
than to a social worker for DCF.

Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant

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