From the South Bend Tribune Feb 5, 2012, Reporting “dramatic drops” in child abuse, could be because only half the calls are being answered due to the equally dramatic change in how the reports of abuse are handled (about twice as many calls are screened out under the new centralized call center procedures).
10-year old Tramelle Sturgis had been reported as regularly beaten with two by fours, eyes swelled shut, bruised face, no heat in the home. The caller stated he heard Tramelle say, “you’re killing me”. Indiana is purging records after 120 days if a worker deems them unsubstantiated.
So the case went without further investigation.
When ditching records is made public policy, it will happen more often than not to reduce case loads and accountability.
This case deserves scrutiny and perhaps prosecution. Who represents the rights of a child murdered by his parents?
Tramelle’s story reads just like https://invisiblechildren.org/2011/06/27/the-boy-who-died-locked-in-a-cage-after-12-visits-from-indiana-dcs/ last summer. Many visits, no action, & the brutal death of a child.
Interviewing the beaten child in the presence of the father? Who trained this worker? What processes were in place to insure Tramelle’s safety (life)?
St. Joseph County prosecutor Michael Dvorak was “so frustrated by the lack of older records in the Sturgis case that he urged state Sen. John Broden… to amend the law in the current General Assembly Session”
Bruce Greenberg, CEO of Family & Children’s center wrote this when the region was congratulated for its performance in child protection;
“We have children dying in our region and we are awarded with recognition of system improvement. Really?” he wrote. “The timing of this award is hard to accept given the recent tragic death of 10-year-old Tramelle Sturgis.
“How many more kids will die before we all take a deep look at what is going on with child welfare services in Indiana and reverse the draconian cuts in funding and see how those cuts are negatively affecting the safety net of child welfare?”
As someone who has worked with social workers for many years (as a volunteer guardian ad-Litem), I refuse to blame them for child death on their watch.
The guilt lies with the Governor, Director James Payne, and those that supported shorting the system of resources and process that could have made a difference. The process and resources were a part of Indiana Child Protection until these men made the changes to eliminate them.
I find it difficult to believe that the state’s newborn screening fund, collected from birth fees paid by parents, has been captured by the governor & directed back into the general fund instead of providing services and supplies for infants with birth disorders?
How could Indiana retroactively terminate adoption subsidies to the five hundred families that adopted special needs children based on the promise that they would have assistance for their special needs children?
Ethically and economically, these were terrible decisions that will cost Indiana children & citizens for many years to come.
Before these cuts Indiana Ranked almost last, 49th out of the 50 states in not supporting child welfare, 37th in child mortality, 47th in juvenile incarceration, 32nd in child death from ages 1 to 14, & 33rd In births to teen moms (As listed by Child Well Being, Geography Matters).
Call Mitch Daniels 317-232-4567 & James Payne 317.234.139 & ask them if they can imagine what it’s like to be a 12 year old adopted child with disabilities knowing that you are a burden to your adopted family because the state redirected funds promised your new family for your education, transportation, & well being.
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For the Love of Children: Does boy’s death point to larger problem?
In the wake of a 10-year-old’s abuse, some question how well the system is working
A growing number of those involved in protecting Indiana’s children are alarmed at the quiet revamping of the state’s Department of Child Services — changes they say too often result in a reluctance to act appropriately on reports of abuse and neglect.
A Tribune investigation in the wake of the highly publicized beating death of 10-year-old Tramelle Sturgis in November and the deaths this year of several other Indiana children suggests that centralization, funding cuts and the mandated confidentiality of Child Protective Services is worrying social workers, doctors, program providers and even juvenile court judges.
After reports that Indiana’s record of protecting children was among the worst in the country, Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005 appointed a new DCS director, creating a Cabinet-level position, and pledged more state money toward hiring more case managers in an effort to lower caseloads across the state.
Director James Payne, a former Marion County juvenile court judge for 20 years, has led the overhaul over the last few years, hiring and training 800 new case managers, instituting more consistent policies and creating more systems to review cases. He points to these changes as bringing Indiana’s policies more into line with those of other states.
– The 800 phone hot line used to report suspicions of abuse or neglect now rings in a central call center in Indianapolis rather than a local office.
Using a streamlined set of questions, more calls are “screened out”: In the year the centralized call center has been in effect, the “screen-out” rate — calls determined to not merit further investigation — has risen from 16 percent to 39 percent statewide (calls from September through November 2011, the latest figure available).
Both Elkhart and St. Joseph county juvenile courts report that during 2011, the first year the centralized call center was fully functional, the number of cases of alleged abused or neglected children in those courtrooms dropped dramatically.
– DCS has further emphasized its long-standing philosophy of trying to keep children at home whenever possible, citing the risk of greater emotional damage in removing children from their parents if it is not necessary.
But critics of “Safely Home-Families First,” as the policy is called, say the DCS emphasis on leaving kids in a potentially abusive or neglectful home is dangerous — and a way of saving state money by not paying for the more expensive treatment they might need.
– The state has also taken control of the money for child services and streamlined what it spends across the state, negotiating contracts with agencies and residential treatment facilities and refiguring its pay rates for foster and adoptive parents.
Others in the system point to dire consequences in what has substantially lowered access to programs for children; tied the hands of juvenile judges, who can order only DCS-approved treatment programs unless they find other sources of money for them; and resulted in the scaling back and even shutting down of some group homes and residential treatment facilities.
Director Payne, who returned more than $103 million of unspent dollars to state coffers last summer at the end of the last fiscal year, says in response to a current state Senate bill calling for the establishment of a DCS evaluation committee, “The data is pretty clear. We have more children with fewer dollars and better results; that typically would not indicate you need more oversight.”
But reflecting the growing frustration with state changes, Bruce Greenberg, CEO of the Family and Children’s Center in St. Joseph and Elkhart counties, wrote an angry group e-mail Nov. 21 in response to an announcement that the region had been lauded for performance.
“We have children dying in our region and we are awarded with recognition of system improvement. Really?” he wrote. “The timing of this award is hard to accept given the recent tragic death of 10-year-old Tramelle Sturgis.
“How many more kids will die before we all take a deep look at what is going on with child welfare services in Indiana and reverse the draconian cuts in funding and see how those cuts are negatively affecting the safety net of child welfare?”
How did it happen?
Tramelle’s death and the resulting publicity of more than three years of abuse discovered in the Sturgis family has raised the same sense of incredulity among those who work with children in Michiana.
