An afternoon at the lab

Okay, so I'm well past the 24 hour mark of living in my contact lenses. Most of the time, I don't notice I have them, but my eyes feel a bit dry. I'll add eye drops to my list of things to pick up tonight.

So I have to harvest tissue for an experiment to be setup either tomorrow or Friday. First I have some trash to autoclave. I check the autoclave room. The small one's in use, so I get to work harvesting tissue for cultures. I had completely forgotten that I was quite used to the fact that my glasses would sit on the stereo scope lenses. Which was not fesible when you're not wearing glasses.

(So that's why geeky scientists have glasses?)

During a time I could take a break, I check the autoclave again. Still in use, so I investigate further. Some idiot set the cycle for no exhaust time along with an absurd length of time of exposure. The problem with no exhaust cycle is that when exposure time is done, it's still too hot to access items. If you don't force a timetable for the exhaust to cool things off, it takes it own sweet time.

So I go back and finish setting up tissue for cultures. Trying to get used to the stereo microscope without glasses took a while, but think I started to get the hang of it.

Go back to the autoclave room. Still trying to cool off. Checked the sign-in sheet. If the time was correct, it took 2.5 hours for a 40 minute exposure. If you set the damn machine for 20 minutes exposure and exhaust, it's done in an hour. I'm going to try and find out why she set the machine the way she did. I find that most people set things that seem screwy to others because "that's the way I was told" but can't tell you why to save their life.

Homeland Security hard at work

I just read an interesting story about a visit by Homeland Security. While I'm glad that potential threats are being investigated, the target is all wrong.

(Plus the bit about blog is funny.)

It's my right to cheat!

We have a grad student in our lab that works as a teacher's assistant (TA). Basically in charge of running a couple of the biology labs, assists test grading, etc. She told me this AM she had to meet with a couple students because their lab reports were identical.

First rule of cheating - copy off a lab report from a different lab section. TA's don't have the time to compare each student's report.

Second rule of cheating - copy off someone who has the correct answers. If you manage to get away with cheating, you'll at least have the grade to show for it. The copied reports were both wrong!

Anyway, she met with the student who copied the report. There was a reference to the other lab report. (For the record, copying word for word is not a reference.) She told me the student was very defensive. First saying that she procrastinated doing the report. Then said that she thought that several sections weren't important and could be copied. She didn't have much to say about the fact that the report was wrong anyway. THEN she started a tirade about how the school is out to get her and kick her out.

Final piece of advice is to stick to one story.

My biggest problem with her last argument is with a student population over 30,000, they're not out to get anyone (they don't give a damn). Besides, the University WANTS your tuition money, and doesn't want to kick you out unless you did something terrible (copying a lab report will not probably not get you kicked out).

She meets with the student who's incorrect report was copied. Should be interesting what her story (stories) is/are.

Good parents only in AZ (part 7)

I'm going to have to end it here. I found these articles here.

I wanted to post articles because they asked for a demographic survey and email address (you can use a dummy email address - I did) to see the articles. There's just too many!!

Okay, so I proved CPS drops the ball and children die. Governor is trying to help. Here's a good summary of a years investment into improving CPS:

Fortified CPS still in crisis
Case overload persists year after state pours in millions
Amanda J. Crawford
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 16, 2005 12:00 AM

Workloads remain at crisis level at Child Protective Services more than a year after state leaders pumped millions of new dollars into the agency and authorized the hiring of more than 200 workers.

With CPS investigating more complaints and taking more children from dangerous homes than ever, case managers are struggling to keep up. For example: 3,364 children in foster care did not get their legally required monthly CPS visit in September, up from 2,645 kids in September 2003.

Meanwhile, recent high-profile cases such as the February murder of Mesa toddler Angelene Plummer after several visits to her home by CPS continue to raise questions about the agency's focus on child safety. A family friend is suspected in that case.

Although authorities point to significant progress at CPS since the fall 2003 special legislative session to address problems at the agency, they say the work to fix CPS is far from complete.

"We didn't get into this situation in a year, and we are not going to get out of it in a year," said Carol Kamin, executive director of watchdog group Children's Action Alliance, who said she is concerned about the high workloads of case managers.

"We can have as many bells and whistles or as many committees as we want, but if workers don't have the time to do what needs to be done, the horrors we read about in the paper will continue," she said.

Among the progress:

• CPS now investigates all reports of abuse, 5,000 more in the past fiscal year than previously.

• About 600 cases since July have been jointly investigated with law enforcement.

• Using improved risk- and safety-assessment tools, case managers are removing more children from homes, about 600 a month, up from 400.

But progress is tempered by other consequences:

• With 8,575 children in out-of-home care at the end of December, Arizona continues to lead the nation in the number of children per capita in group or shelter care, according to CPS officials.

• The workloads of CPS case managers remain as high as before the special session and higher than national standards.

• Staff turnover is higher than it was before the special session (20 percent, up from 17 percent). The vacancy rate among case managers was 17 percent in December, mostly because of hired staff still in training.

At a crossroads

David Berns, director of the Department of Economic Security, CPS' parent agency, said CPS is again at a crossroads and needs to hire more staff members and develop new programs to live up to its mission of protecting the state's children.

But he said the agency has made marked improvement.

"I can't say the system is perfect yet," he said.

Pointing to increasing investigations and child removals, he said, "The proof is in the pudding."

CPS was in the public spotlight two years ago after a string of deaths or horrendous abuse of children whose homes the agency had visited.

Gov. Janet Napolitano called a special session of the Legislature to address problems ranging from overburdened case managers to a blurry mission in which keeping families together sometimes seemed to supersede efforts to keep children safe.

The policy changes included a clear directive: Child safety is always first.

Some advocates believe that message has sunk in.

"We are doing a heck of a lot more child protection, the system is, than before the reforms," said Becky Ruffner of Prevent Child Abuse Arizona.

But others raise questions about recent cases and wonder if CPS still focuses too much on preserving or reunifying families, to the detriment of children.

Fixing families

Shawn Cox of Arizona Voice for Crime Victims said she thinks the agency is still too focused on fixing troubled families instead of shielding children from abuse. Cox served as lead researcher on a March 2003 report commissioned by former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley on problems in the agency. The report contributed to the call for the special legislative session.

"No matter how much money you put in an agency or how many caseworkers are added to the system, as long as the philosophy does not change, you continue to have children cycle through the agency and be in harm's way," she said.

A CPS investigative-unit supervisor in Phoenix said child safety is always the priority of caseworkers, but there is a direct connection between their workload and their ability to investigate allegations of child abuse or neglect.

Morale is low, said the supervisor, who asked not to be identified. The supervisor said the high workload puts pressure on caseworkers to close files quickly in order to move on to the next crisis.

"It is much quicker to close a case than it is to transfer for services, and there are many staff who take the easy way out in order to save time and no other reason," the supervisor said.

Hiring new staff

Since the special session, CPS has been authorized to hire 154 case managers and 81 supervisors and support staff. Most of the new positions have been filled, but case managers go through at least five months of training before they begin handling cases. With high turnover, the training and rehiring can be constant.

CPS also agreed in the special session to investigate every report of abuse instead of referring some families to a community organization, as the agency did before.

Abuse reports are on the rise, in part because of population growth.

And the number of children in state care is growing at a rate of about 100 per month.

Napolitano has proposed $32.6 million more for CPS next year to hire more staff, expand in-home services and child-abuse prevention programs, and support adoption efforts.

"Our budget is designed to make sure that the reforms contemplated in the special session get completed," she said last week.

Her budget would allow CPS to hire an additional 184.5 case managers and bring workloads for all case managers close to national standards.

But Napolitano faces a tough battle from conservative legislators whose sticker-shock from the $17 million approved in the special session has not waned.

House and Senate budgets unveiled last week propose static funding or millions of dollars in cuts.

Among the proposed cuts in the Senate is $8.7 million from the Healthy Families program.

The child-abuse prevention program for at-risk families was expanded during the special session, and Napolitano is seeking $5.5 million more for the program next year.

Some legislators are calling for the creation of a legislative oversight committee to make sure that CPS is spending money wisely and that the agency is striking the right balance between child safety and family preservation.

"We are not going to waste taxpayer dollars on an agency that is not doing its job," said the House Appropriations Committee chairman, Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who said he worries that children are being taken from homes who don't need to be.

Expanding options

Berns said it is imperative that the state now "invests differently" to care for children already in the system and to try to prevent an increasing number of children and families from entering it.

For too long, CPS caseworkers have had only two options, he says: close a report of child abuse and walk away, or remove children at imminent risk of harm from their families.

The agency is working to bridge the divide between investigations and child removals by providing services such as counseling and substance-abuse treatment to prevent child abuse and intervene in families before children must be removed.

Instead of investigating 19 complaints and removing the child on the 20th visit, the agency should be visiting once, providing services to prevent the next 19 complaints, he said.

"The focus (during the special session) was on safety, appropriately so," Berns said. "We have gotten to the point we absolutely have to maintain that as the ultimate, the paramount, the priority.

"But let's look at ways that we can provide that safety short of always removing and placing the kids."

Good parents only in AZ (part 6)

Leave the kids in cages, but threaten to take the kids who aren't getting rabies shots.

CPS finally swoops in, just not in right case
Oct. 15, 2003 12:00 AM

When the call came in this summer about a 7-year-old boy living in a closet, Child Protective Services was too busy to check it out. A few days later, police found the boy, stripped and starving.

When the call came in about 3-year-old twins in cages, CPS declared it a low priority and tossed it to a social worker who couldn't get past the front door. This summer, police found the boys, now 5, still living in filthy cages.

When the call came in about a mother who decided her kids did not need rabies shots, well, you can imagine what happened.

That's right. CPS was on her in an instant. Within hours of getting a complaint, no less than a unit supervisor showed up on Anita Masse's doorstep in Strawberry, threatening to immediately seize her three children. This, because Masse wouldn't agree to get the painful shots to guard against a disease she felt they had no chance of contracting.

Neighbors were shocked to hear that CPS was knocking on the Masses' door. "This is an exemplary family here," said Dee Cox, who lives across from the Masses, on Peach Lane. "Every kid should be so lucky to live in a home like this. It's the last home in Arizona where you would expect CPS to come."

Apparently, no longer. Comes now the inevitable other end of the spectrum of child protection, the ultimate result that you knew would come when CPS began taking heat for all the times it didn't do enough to protect children. Comes now the next swing of the CPS pendulum: overreaction in all the wrong cases.

The Masses live in a trim home tucked into the woods of Strawberry, just a ride through the pines up from Payson. Dominic works in construction while Anita takes care of the kids: Rebecca, 11, Cody, 10, and Emily, 8.

Their problems began in July when bats got into the house. At first, it was one or two at a time, sightings that would send the parents running for a broom and a dustpan and the kids running for cover. Dominic tore out the ridge of the roof to find out how the bats were getting in and fix it. Unfortunately, he didn't build in an escape route for the bats already in the rafters. The family was watching TV the evening of July 27, when six bats suddenly swept into the living room.

The Masses stayed at the Coxes that night and the next, after five more bats were found. Meanwhile, Anita called Gila County Rabies Control for help. She got it - and more.

County workers told her that state health guidelines say you should get rabies shots if you've been bitten, scratched or slept in a room with a bat that has not been tested. But Anita says none of those things happened with her children. After doing some research - talking to her pediatrician, state biologists and the local hospital - Anita decided the shots weren't necessary. Meanwhile, two of the bats were tested and came up clean.

Still, the county continued to insist, so Masse called a reporter and appeared on TV, suggesting that if the state wanted her to get shots, the state should pay for them.

Within 24 hours, Mary Meyers, a CPS supervisor, was at her door with an ultimatum: agree to the shots or lose your kids tonight.

In the eyes of CPS - eyes that see no immediate danger in parents who closet or cage their kids - Masse was providing an unsafe home. So unsafe, according to CPS records, as to require that the children be immediately taken and parceled out into foster care.

Of course, Masse couldn't let that happen so she agreed to force her children to endure the painful shots. Shots which, by the way, are recommended by the state, not mandated.

CPS wouldn't discuss the case, employing the usual confidentiality dodge. Craig Levy, the bat expert at DHS, acknowledged that the recommendations are advisory only. "You'd hope that parents would make the appropriate decision to protect their kids," he added.

But the thing is, Anita Masse thought she had made the appropriate decision. She knows the disease is fatal. She also contends her kids were never near the bats. "I go out of my way to protect my children," she said. "If I had ever thought they were in danger they would have gotten the shots. It's not up to the state. I think that it is my decision as a parent."

Apparently not. Not anymore.

Good parents only in AZ (part 5)

If CPS looks into a case, the child still stays with the possible abuser.

Mesa child dies; family on CPS list
Boy, 2, covered with bruises
Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 20, 2003 12:00 AM

Two-year-old Charles Joseph Young died Sunday in Mesa, his body covered with so many bruises that emergency workers stopped counting at 30.

For more than a decade, sources said, the toddler's family has been under the scrutiny of Child Protective Services with as many as eight substantiated reports of neglect, sexual and physical abuse. An investigation was ongoing at the time of C.J.'s death.

No arrests have been made, said Mesa Police Detective Tim Gaffney, pending the results of an autopsy scheduled for today.

CPS officials could not comment on the case because of confidentiality laws. CPS records of dead children become public only if the death resulted from abuse or neglect. Because C.J.'s cause of death is not yet determined, his file remains sealed.

"Like any person, we are horrified and angered to hear that a child has died violently," said Liz Barker, spokeswoman for the Department of Economic Security, which oversees CPS.

She said that the agency reviews all cases involving one of their charges to determine if the agency was at fault and to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

Safety of kids first

But Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said the case raises more questions about CPS, and repeated his plea that the safety of children, not keeping families together, be the first priority of agency caseworkers.

"Why are we still seeing this?" he asked. "We have to stop the kids from dying."

Romley wants CPS to become a stand-alone agency, separate from DES. In a March report, he suggested parents be held accountable for hurting or neglecting their children and, when appropriate, face prosecution.

Gov. Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that she has asked CPS officials for a report on the case.

On Sunday about 10:30 a.m., paramedics were called to the Mesa apartment at North Country Club Drive where the toddler lived with his mother, her boyfriend and three brothers.

C.J. was not breathing; his body cold and bruised across his eyes, ears, legs and stomach. His sheets were covered in vomit.

He was taken to Desert Samaritan Hospital where he was pronounced dead. All hospital staff could do was call a pastor to pray over the boy.

His mother, Danielle Young, 34, of Mesa, has five children, all of them boys. A 10-year-old was removed from her care in June and placed in a group home.

The most recent CPS report in July was about a 4-year-old who had bruising on his face. C.J. was not the subject of any of the CPS reports.

Father still at large

Tempe police are looking for the children's father, William Young, 33, in a 2002 molestation case that has been forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. Tempe police Sgt. Dan Masters said officers believe he has fled the state.

Ursula Price, who knows the Young family, said C.J. was an adorable boy, chubby with brown hair and eyes. He laughed often and was very loving: "No matter who reached for him, he would go to them."

Both Young and her boyfriend, Todd Stockon, 32, are hearing impaired. None of the children has hearing problems.

They are now in the care of CPS. Young and Stockon declined a request for an interview.

CPS' tumultuous years

It has been a tumultuous two years for CPS, which has been accused of failing to protect children after the 2001 deaths of Liana Sandoval, a toddler who was beaten to death, and Anndreah Robertson, who died of exposure to crack cocaine at 10 days old.

In June, 7-year-old Isaac Loubriel was found half-starved in a filthy closet in his parents' Phoenix apartment. Like C.J., all three children's families had prior contact with CPS.

A commission appointed in January by the governor to study ways to reform CPS recently finished its work, issuing 25 recommendations. Public forums are being held statewide on the report.

All the talk about reform, prevention programs and caseworker training means nothing if children aren't safe, Romley said.

"This doesn't require training," he said. "This requires somebody who cares."

Carol Kamin, director of Children's Action Alliance and a member of the governor's CPS commission, agreed, saying, "It's time to stop and to figure out how to help kids today."

Her group has advocated for improved wages, training and manageable workloads for caseworkers, among other things.

She said, "You can't go and point fingers until you fix the system, a system we've been saying is in desperate need of reform."

Good parents only in AZ (part 4)

Apparently, being a drug addict isn't enough to have your children taken from you in Arizona.

CPS couldn't save infant from crack addicts
Carlos Miller
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 22, 2002 12:00 PM

Child Protective Services knew Demitres Robertson was a crack addict who had used cocaine the morning she gave birth last year.

It knew the baby, Anndreah, was born with cocaine in her system and had to stay in the hospital three days until the drugs cleared her system. And it already was investigating allegations that Robertson and her mother smoked crack cocaine every day in front of her other two children, both boys.

Despite all this, CPS said it had no legal authority to keep Anndreah from going home with her mother and grandmother.

Anndreah died a week later after she was exposed to a steady stream of secondhand crack cocaine smoke, police said. She was 10 days old.

On Wednesday, after a nine-month investigation, Robertson was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse. Butler was charged with two counts of child abuse.

"We cannot take children away based on parents using crack cocaine or any drug," said Dolores Reid, deputy assistant director for the state Division of Children, Youth and Families, the agency that oversees CPS. "We have to have evidence that the parent is not feeding the child, not keeping the child clean or not supervising the child."

CPS had been referred to the family's cramped apartment on Oct. 4, 2001, less than a month before Anndreah was born, after Phoenix police saw conditions at the apartment, according to court records.

CPS learned that Demitres Robertson, 23, and her mother, Lillian Ann Butler, 44, were smoking crack cocaine almost daily.

On Oct. 19, 2001, Solomon Butler, Lillian Ann Butler's husband, told a CPS investigator that he believed "the boys were inhaling the smoke because their behavior changed after the women started smoking," court records state.

Anndreah was born Oct. 30, 2001, and three days later was handed over to Butler and taken to their central Phoenix apartment. She died Nov. 8, 2001, her intestines destroyed by the secondhand crack cocaine smoke. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Good parents only in AZ (part 3)

More of the same:

Rise in child deaths reveals CPS' plight
Nearly half had prior contact with state agency
Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 12, 2003 12:00 AM

Two-year-old Emily Smith was shot by her mother. Jerrad Neal, 3, was beaten to death. And 5-year-old Alecia Putrow was raped and drowned in a bathtub.

The children are among 28 in the past five years who had prior cases with state Child Protective Services but died of abuse or neglect anyway.

In all, 74 Arizona children died of mistreatment. Of those, 38 percent had some sort of contact with CPS, more than double the 2000 national figure of 15 percent.

Dead children with CPS files are piling up, worse now than ever.

In each of the past two years, CPS knew half of the children who died of abuse or neglect, compared with just 15 percent in 1998.

And the agency charged with protecting children sits at a crossroads, chewed up in the headlines and facing budget cuts that could strip it bare.

Gov. Janet Napolitano this week promised a complete review of CPS.

Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley is so fed up that, in one 1999 CPS case, he even considered charging the caseworkers with negligence. "We just can't allow this to continue," he said.

Relatives of children hurt or killed on the state's watch have accused the agency of negligence in civil lawsuits, 13 since 1998. Of those, five have been dismissed or settled, with settlements totaling nearly $2.4 million.

Arizona could find itself in even bigger legal trouble.

Children's Rights of New York, a non-profit group that uses litigation to force change in child welfare systems, has 27 states under some sort of federal court order for violating children's rights.

"I think we could make a convincing case that children in Arizona have had their due process rights denied," said Richard Gelles, part of Children's Rights and author of The Book of David: How Preserving Families Can Cost Children's Lives.

Gelles said such a lawsuit against Arizona could cost as much as $50 million.

Dr. Mary Rimsza, head of the Child Fatality Review Team, which reviews all child deaths in Arizona, says putting additional pressure on CPS caseworkers won't prevent deaths.

She points to the larger number of children who die without having had contact with CPS. She blames relatives, teachers, neighbors and even doctors who often know about the mistreatment yet do nothing.

But the family of Liana Sandoval, 20 months old, did report the bruises and missing clumps of hair to CPS. A caseworker closed the case as unsubstantiated on Sept. 27, 2001, the same day the girl's body was found in a canal. She had been beaten to death by her mother's boyfriend.

"We called CPS, asking for their help, wanting to do the right thing," said Liana's father, Anthony Sandoval. "I thought they would protect my daughter."

CPS 'severely understaffed'

For every dead child, there's an explanation for what went wrong. In some cases, CPS did what it was supposed to do, and the child still died. In others, the agency might have done more.

In interviews with social workers, police, judges, prosecutors and child advocates, one indisputable problem arises: not enough caseworkers.

"That's an understatement," said Cindi Nannetti, chief of the sex crimes bureau in the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. "They are severely understaffed."

Caseworkers investigating abuse and neglect carry an average of 15 cases a month, compared with the 12 recommended by the Washington, D.C.-based Child Welfare League of America. Each case involves an average of 2.7 kids.

Ongoing caseworkers, those who deal with kids in the state's care, including foster care and group homes, average 30 children each, compared with the national standard of 23 set by the welfare league.

With 671 caseworkers, CPS would need an additional 80 to meet league standards. Making things worse, 70 of the 671 caseworker jobs are vacant. The agency is short 16 supervisors and 24 clerical staff. The job is stressful - the annual turnover rate is 20 percent - and doesn't pay well. A caseworker with a master's degree starts at $26,526.

"We're asking people to go into some pretty horrendous situations for not a lot of pay," said Russ Huber, director of the Childhelp Children's Center in Phoenix.

CPS has never been fully staffed, but the shortage of caseworkers is having deadly repercussions. Since 2001, there has been a 21 percent rise in cases and a 5 percent increase in workers.

"What this really means is that people don't have enough time to do a thorough job," said Anna Arnold, retiring head of the state Division for Children, Youth and Families, which includes CPS.

And, sometimes, children end up dead.

Anndreah Robertson died 10 days after she was born to a crack-addicted mother. At the time, CPS was investigating charges that the mother and grandmother smoked crack cocaine at the family's Phoenix apartment.

On the day Anndreah was released from the hospital, caseworker Caroline Stott was at a school with a little girl who had been sexually abused, trying to finish an investigation before school let out.

She told hospital staff to give the baby to her mother. A week later, Anndreah was dead, her intestines destroyed by exposure to crack cocaine.

A dozen caseworkers resigned after Anndreah's death, fearful they would find themselves in the headlines.

"We have a lot of inexperienced people out there who are without social work backgrounds and new to the job," said Beth Rosenberg of the Children's Action Alliance, a Phoenix non-profit advocacy group.

Caseworkers inexperienced

CPS is asking the Department of Administration to raise the minimum criteria for caseworkers. "We should have people with degrees in social work and counseling," Rosenberg said, "not art history."

So Anndreah Robertson's name was added to the list of the 74 dead, a finding of abuse or neglect made after they were buried. Most were shaken to death. Others were beaten. Some were even shot.

Three other crack babies are on the list, but none lived a day. A Tucson baby born this year was buried alive.

A finding of neglect is made when a caretakers' action, or inaction, contributes to a death. Abuse findings are easier to make, with obvious physical injuries or a pattern of abuse.

If a child had prior CPS contact, it means there was a report that may or may not have been found valid.

For the past five years, caseworkers have investigated reports involving 450,000 children. There is no way to measure how many children weren't hurt because of CPS, spokeswoman Karin Kline said.

Judge Maurice Portley of Maricopa County Superior Court said CPS can't be blamed for an abuse death if the reason the agency was called wasn't directly connected to what killed the child.

"We need to know how they died, if that death was in any way attributable to the reason CPS went out there in the first place," he said.

A former presiding Juvenile Court judge, Portley asks tough questions: Can CPS guard against a mother's poor choice in boyfriends? Should drug-using parents lose their kids, even if there are no signs of abuse or neglect? Does an empty refrigerator mean a child will die?

"How are you supposed to predict that without your classic crystal ball?" Portley asked.

Rosenberg said caseworkers could make better predictions, even without a crystal ball, if they got more information: criminal and employment histories, drug and alcohol use and domestic violence.

"They should look at risk factors in the family," she said, "not just 'Did the child get hit in the face?' "

More ammunition for agency

Caseworkers are testing a new safety assessment, much more comprehensive than the one they used to use.

That should help, Nannetti and Huber agree, along with better use of the state's 11 advocacy centers, where caseworkers work with police, prosecutors, doctors, forensic interviewers and counselors.

"You're talking about the life of a child," said Nannetti, a 20-year veteran prosecutor. "Caseworkers should not have to make these decisions alone."

Then-state Republican Rep. Laura Knaperek introduced legislation in 1998 that would have had police investigate the worst abuse cases.

The bill never made it to the floor for a vote. Law enforcement officers say it would have overwhelmed police, as it has CPS caseworkers. Police investigate all child sexual abuse cases now and are hard pressed to accomplish that.

Arizona is typical. Child welfare agencies across the country are struggling with the same issue: Remove children to protect them or keep families together?

Gelles said leaving them at home means some will die.

"This is one of the more visible results ... of the ongoing bias of child protection systems to support families rather than protect children," he said.

Family preservation became law in 1980, along with federal funding for prevention efforts, and required "reasonable efforts" to keep families together.

The law was rewritten in 1997 to say those efforts, including counseling, parenting classes, drug rehabilitation, should be made only if the home can be made safe. But big state agencies don't change quickly, and some laws, as in Arizona, still require reunification efforts.

At every troubled child welfare agency, there's talk of reorganization, more money, more caseworkers and training. Gelles said it's not enough.

Napolitano wants new focus

"You have to change the culture of the system. At every step of the system, the rights of the parents prevail," Gelles said. "We are not the family support agency. We're not a counseling agency, a welfare agency, a drug rehab center. We're a child protection agency."

On Thursday, Napolitano made it clear (for the first time in years, CPS officials say) that their job is to protect children.

Before, CPS received a muddled message from state lawmakers who control its budget, Judge Portley said. Leave a kid at home and risk he'll be hurt or even killed. Remove a child and face an appeal hearing and the wrath of lawmakers called in by angry parents.

"You have a system where, at least in the last few years, the Legislature has been pushing parental rights," he said.

A few years ago, the news stories were of too many children being taken from their parents by CPS. Now, in the wake of little Anndreah's death, it's too few.

Napolitano has given aide Noreen Sharp six months to come up with ways to improve CPS. Romley wants CPS to be a separate agency, pulled from the massive Department of Economic Security.

In the meantime, Napolitano told caseworkers to use their training, common sense and the best information available to decide whether to remove children, and she will back their efforts.

"Err on the side of protecting the child," she said, "and we'll sort it out later."

Good parents only in AZ (part 2)

I'll also comment that eleven years ago, I worked as a cashier at a hardware store. I had been told a story of a woman who was shopping with her child. The woman lost her temper and physically hit the child on the arm in front of the cashier. Then paid with a check and left. The cashier was so disturbed that she called CPS and was told that nothing would be done because it's an unsubstantiated claim. That store now has video cameras, so such a scene will be on record (videos - not for catching shoplifters anymore).

Here's another sad tale of the father trying to protect his children. Again, thanks to the Arizona Republic:

Phoenix father risks jail to prove CPS wrong, safeguard daughter
Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 22, 2003 12:00 AM

Bill Warren doesn't trust Child Protective Services to protect his daughter and went to jail to do it himself.

In January, he made a report to CPS after his 6-year-old said she was abused by her mother and stepfather in Show Low.

Warren worried she wasn't safe because a CPS caseworker asked the girl about the allegation while her mother and stepfather were there and then left her with them. The girl's mother and stepfather denied any abuse, and CPS later closed the case as unsubstantiated.

But the Phoenix man believed his daughter, and the next time she came to visit, he kept her with him for six weeks in violation of a custody agreement.

"I have absolutely no confidence in the department's ability to protect my daughter," he said.

Warren, 37, said he has read too many horror stories about abused children and about CPS and how a dozen state committees are studying how to reform the agency charged with protecting abused and neglected children. Gov. Janet Napolitano has ordered a review of the department.

So Warren kept his daughter close to him and started his own investigation, talking to the girl's teacher and neighbors in Show Low.

He uncovered court, CPS and police records that show the household where his daughter lives has been rocked by violence. The girl's stepfather lost custody of his two sons in 2000 after abuse allegations were raised.

On Jan. 29, Warren took his little girl to the Childhelp Children's Center in Phoenix, where the state's worst child-abuse cases are handled. She told a forensic interviewer about the alleged abuse. A doctor there examined her but found no signs of trauma.

Custodial interference

Two days later Warren was arrested for custodial interference and taken away in handcuffs. He was released on bail and must appear on March 26 in Navajo County Superior Court.

"If you can't trust the system to do it," said Warren's wife, Kori, 30, "you have to do it yourself."

But that kind of vigilante child welfare work didn't set well with Judge Robert Oberbillig of Maricopa County Superior Court. On Thursday, he ordered the Warrens to return the girl to her mother and stepfather.

While they were in the courtroom, Kori disappeared with the girl overnight.

On Friday, Oberbillig ordered Bill to return his daughter by 1:30 p.m. or go to jail again. He didn't want to give her back but said he couldn't risk losing her forever.

So his little girl went back to Show Low with her mother on Friday afternoon. He will see her next Friday for his regular visitation.

And, on Monday, he says he will file an emergency petition for a new custody hearing.

"I tried the CPS thing. I feel they let my daughter down. I tried the court thing, and I feel Judge Oberbillig let her down," Warren said. "I don't want her to think I'm letting her down, too. I'm her dad."

Kris Mayes, spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano, said the governor has asked to be kept apprised of this case.

Bill and Kori Warren live with their five children in a north Phoenix home with a basketball hoop atop the garage. The 6-year-old is from Bill's first marriage. She lives with them most weekends.

She knows the difference between the truth and a fib, Kori said, and they believe what she says about being abused. On Jan. 12, Bill decided he couldn't send his daughter back, saying, "It's my job to keep her safe."

By then, he had met with his daughter's teacher, who told him she often came to school with dirty clothes and hair. She had few friends and was behind in her schoolwork. She sometimes wet her pants.

'String of complaints'

According to a Maricopa County Superior Court report on Dec. 13, 2000, this is not the first time abuse allegations have been made against the girl's mother and stepfather. The stepfather lost custody of his two sons, then ages 10 and 8, in 2000.

"There is a consistent string of complaints made by the children regarding physical abuse in father's home," Cathi Culek, a court family evaluator, wrote in that case.

"There is also some question as to the timing of father's relocation to Show Low, given the reports to the police and Child Protective Services involving abuse in the family."

The stepfather was the subject of a domestic violence report filed in 1995 with Mesa police. In 1998, a Gilbert police report outlined charges of abuse by the mother and stepfather against her son, then 10. Three children, all belonging to the mother, live with the Show Low couple: two boys and Warren's daughter.

Another Gilbert police report in 1999 alleges the mother slapped her older daughter, then 14, 15 times and that the stepfather pushed her head into a wall and slapped her. The daughter has since run away and lives in another state.

'History of violence'

Court records also reveal two prior CPS reports, including one in 1998 that the mother's son, then 6, was hit with a belt and had bruises on his legs. Again, in 1999, three boys, two belonging to the mother and one to the stepfather, said they were beaten with a belt. Neither CPS report was substantiated.

The mother also told the family evaluator that her husband had choked her.

"Joint custody cannot be recommended in this case due to the family history of violence," the report said.

The court ordered the stepfather to go to anger-management and parenting classes.

Bill Warren says quietly, "This is the house where my daughter lives."

Investigating reports

Karin Kline of CPS says she can't comment on any CPS investigation. However, she did say that when CPS workers investigate a report of abuse, they look for proof that abuse took place, such as bruises, admissions from the victim or perpetrator.

Without that kind of information, a report cannot be substantiated, though families with unsubstantiated reports still can receive state services such as counseling and parenting classes.

And CPS cannot remove a child unless the child is in "imminent danger."

CPS is called into custody cases when abuse allegations are made. And, though it is not common, Kline said, some parents do ask the courts to intervene when CPS cannot.

On Friday morning, Bill jumped every time the phone rang. It was his wife's sister, calling to see if there was any word from Kori.

Child in counseling

On Thursday, she had left court before the judge issued his order, taking her stepdaughter with her. Bill was supposed to take his little girl to her mother by 6:30 p.m., but he could not reach his wife.

Police searched his house.

Since Bill's daughter has lived with him, she sings and skips more, her dad said.

Kori has taught her to write her full name and use scissors, things her teacher reported the girl couldn't do. The child is in counseling, and she hasn't wet her pants once.

Kori pulled into the driveway at 11:30 a.m. She said she ran into traffic and then out of gas. Upset and scared, she decided to stay in a hotel.

'Like camping out'

"It was fun!" the girl said. "It's just like camping out."

Bill dropped to one knee to hug her.

"Hi, Pumpkin," he said.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. This is where she wants to stay, she said, here with her dad.

"He's nice to me," she said. "I really love him."

Good parents only in AZ (part 1)

There have been several incidents like this, but this is the most recent. After several other incidents like this, Arizona department of Child Protective Services (CPS) was supposed to reform. Apparently that is still "in development". And while we wait for an effective CPS, another little girl dies.

I do not want children....period. I've asked since I was 16 if there was something that could be done for a permanent solution. Now that I'll hit the big 3-0 in March, perhaps they'll start taking me seriously. I guess I never thought I'd have the energy to raise a child, and/or didn't want that responsibility. So part of me feels that CPS doesn't have enough power - bad parents should never be made parents again (take that liberals!) The article below is a classic example in which CPS doesn't have much power to do anything, and the mother should never have children again. Courtsey of Arizona Republic:

Here we go again: The brief life of a girl named Haley
Oct. 5, 2005 12:00 AM

The 911 call came from a day-care center. An "extremely intoxicated" mother had just picked up her children. By the time police caught up with her, she'd already been in a minor accident. Police said she was too drunk to stand.

Child Protective Services took the three kids right out of the van that day. One year later, that van would become a coffin for the youngest of the three.

John Gray drops his head into his hands, wondering why no one would listen. Over and over, he says, he and others called CPS, warning that his children were in danger.

In the end, though, it made no difference. Four-year-old Haley Gray died Sept. 14, four days after being left to wander her apartment complex while her mother slept off the effects of a late night.

"I made so many allegations to them," John Gray said. "They wouldn't even investigate. They blew me off."

CPS spokeswoman Liz Barker says the agency received only two reports of neglect before Haley's death, though she adds, "CPS did receive occasional calls from different sources that did not meet the statutory criteria for a report."

The child's mother, Celene Gray, declined to talk, other than to note that her ex-husband went to prison for stalking her.

"He's a very sick man," she said.

From the here-we-go-again department comes the sad story of Haley Gray and the system that couldn't save her.

For years, John says he has been concerned that his ex-wife's addictions to alcohol and drugs caused her to neglect their three children. Twice, he says, they were taken from her in Florida. So zealous was he, John says, that Celene got a restraining order against him and he went to prison when he violated it. Last year, mother and children came to Arizona and he followed.

According to Glendale police, Celene was arrested for felony DUI on Sept. 23, 2004. Police got a call at 4:30 p.m., as Celene was leaving the day-care center with her kids. Police found her two blocks away, so drunk she couldn't stand. "I had to physically hold her up due to her not being able to keep her balance," the arresting officer wrote.

Celene's blood-alcohol level was .262, police said. CPS took the children that day. Four months later, a Superior Court judge returned them to their mother.

"The court, after receiving information from CPS and treatment and services providers working with the family, decided the children could return home," Barker said.

The case was closed in July, and in August, Celene was again reported, Barker said. But CPS dismissed the complaint. By mid-September, Haley was dead.

She and her brothers, ages 7 and 5, had spent Sept. 9 with their father. Celene, a stripper at a Tempe club, would later tell police that she drank vodka until 3 a.m. She got the kids at 11:30 a.m. and returned to their Scottsdale apartment, where she eventually fell asleep. At 4:30 p.m., a maintenance worker, sent to check on the open front door, awakened her.

Police found Haley just after 6 p.m., lying on the floor inside her mother's van, unconscious and gasping for air. John thinks she'd gone to retrieve the little makeup kit he'd bought her the day before. Four days after she was found, Haley was taken off life support.

Now, Celene, already awaiting trial for felony DUI, waits to see if she'll face charges in Haley's death. Three hours after Haley was found, Celene was still a .044.

John, meanwhile, has his sons now and hopes to raise them, though that'll be up to the system that couldn't save their sister.

As for us, well, we're left with the same old questions. And as usual, no answers.

The mother most definately should be charged with negligent homicide.

Stupid keystrokes

I suppose one of these days, I'll compile a list of keystrokes that can do things to your computer. Here's the story why:

I decided to go walk Sabino Canyon after work last night. I was hoping it would help my spastic lower right leg, and I wanted to enjoy the desert scenery again. I walked the entire 3.7 miles (going there, the last 0.7 miles is uphill). I saw a decent sized trantula, and smelled a pack of javelina (a guy on a bike coming behind me said that he actually saw them and wanted to know if I did too).

After that, I picked up a quick dinner and headed home. I had set my laptop on a table by my couch before I left. I wanted to start my IM program to let boyfriend know I was going to come back. The only problem with this arrangment is that my cats use that table as a jumping off point for accessing the top of my craft cabinet, so they've been know to walk across the keyboard.

I walked in the door, and there's no color on my screen. "WTF" I wonder. I restart, and I saw color until I logged into my OSX machine when the color would go away. Therefore I concluded that it was some screwy system setting that got tripped. I looked into the monitor preferences and when I changed the laptop color profile, it still was in black and white.

So I created a new user, logged in as new user. Setup mail program and IM program just so I could talk to boyfriend for a while. It was past 8, and I knew he'd be going to bed soon. I suppose I could have dealt with the black and white, but my Hubble desktop images looked too warped in the background.

Did a quick Mac Google search and found out one of my furry beasts simultanteously pressed "control-option-command-8" and tripped a Universal Access feature to make it easier to read if you're vision impared.

In the meanwhile, laptop will be asleep with the screen closed to prevent any further discoveries.