Response from Lifeway director

Lifeway Director: 'Nothing else we could have done' - but death may spark changes.
Cincinnati Post, The (OH)
August 30, 2006
Author: Candice Brooks, Hamilton JournalNews

Lifeway for Youth said all it can do is rely on the foster parents to report truthful information about themselves.

The state said it relies on the agency's recommendation for licensing foster parents.
That's a lot of trust in people -- such as Liz and David Carroll Jr., whom Lifeway now calls "duplicitous."

The Carrolls are charged with leaving their 3-year-old foster child, Marcus Fiesel, locked up in a closet to die and burning his body to cover their tracks.

The Carrolls had domestic violence issues, and there have been reports that David Carroll might have a bipolar disorder. And Amy Baker, described by some sources as his girlfriend, was living with the couple at the time Marcus died.

"They were living a duplicitous life," said Michael Berner, executive director of Lifeway, with which Butler County Children Services contracted in April to take care of Marcus after he was removed from his mother's home in Middletown.

"They were projecting one thing in public and a very different thing in private."

The couple never told Lifeway about a June domestic violence charge that Liz Carroll later dropped or about any medical conditions like the heart problem she claimed caused her to pass out and lose track of Marcus in an Anderson Township park on Aug. 15, Berner said.

"The domestic violence charge would have had to be reported to us by Mr. or Mrs. Carroll," Berner said.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which licenses foster care families and provider agencies, was at the mercy of Lifeway's information.

"We license foster homes based on the recommendation of the placement agency," said Dennis Evans, an agency spokesman. "We make sure (the application) is complete, but we do rely on the agency to have followed all of the requirements."

The couple's alleged medical problems would not have shown up in the general physical exam foster parents are required to complete before becoming licensed, Berner said.

"The physical form signed by a physician confirms that they are in adequate health to do foster care," Berner said. "It really doesn't amount to much more than that -- a general health check-up."

Since Marcus was placed with the Carrolls, Lifeway made 25 visits and no concerns emerged, he said.

"They came to us as certified day-care providers," Berner said. "They lived in a respectable home -- a clean and attractive home in a middle-class neighborhood. There is nothing else we could have done to know that this was going to happen."

But state Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester Township, doesn't buy that.

He has called for a state investigation of Marcus' death and the agencies responsible for his care.
Before recommending potential changes in law, Cates said he will wait the six to eight weeks the state is estimating it will take to complete the investigation.

Action needs to happen locally because the state's action has been limited and Children Services has made only "marginal progress" on reforms, said Butler County Commissioner Michael Fox, a longtime critic of that agency.

Fox said he plans to call for a top-down evaluation of the agency, its contractors, and the handling of Marcus' case.

He said Children Services needs to take back the responsibility of visiting foster homes monthly, rather than contracting that responsibility as it did with Lifeway.

Berner said Marcus' death might be the catalyst for statewide changes, but the system will never be perfect because people aren't.

"It's unfair to try to blame the system or Lifeway," Berner said. "Sometimes people do bad things. I don't know what people are looking for here. I just don't understand this mentality that a system is going to be fail safe."

What could help is more foster homes in Butler County, said Dawn Grady, community relations director for Children Services.

"We desperately need foster homes up here," Grady said. "We want to keep our kids close to home, in their communities and minimize the disruption."

There were 112 Butler County foster homes while there were 401 children in the county's care as of July 31, Grady said.

About 87 children were placed in county homes, while 257 children were in private foster care networks like Lifeway, she said.

At the end of July, Lifeway had 116 Butler County children in its supervision, Grady said. Since Marcus was reported missing, the county has removed 11 children from Lifeway placements as of Monday. It also suspended placements at Lifeway on Aug. 18 and is checking all remaining placements.

The agency also will pay for Marcus' funeral, but arrangements are not complete.

"We do that for any child that dies in our care," Grady said.