Inordinate scrutiny might discourage foster-parenting

Agency vows to make changes
Higgins, Candace Brooks, Cincinnati Post, Dec. 14, 2006, News pg. A2.

The agency that placed 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel with the foster parents charged in his death vowed to intensify screening and supervision, but warned Wednesday there is a fine line between foster care reform and foster parent deterrence.

"If foster care comes under an inordinate degree of regulatory oversight, it could have a negative effect on Ohio's ability to develop foster care resources -- the number of families that are willing to work with foster kids," said Michael Berner, founder and executive director of Lifeway for Youth, a private foster care provider in six states.Lifeway's certification to provide foster care services in Ohio expires on Jan. 18. The state will consider the agency's reform plan in deciding whether to renew that certification.

Lifeway was issued 17 citations by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services for the handling of Marcus' case. He died in August after being bound in a closet for nearly two days in his foster parents' home, prosecutors says, and his burned remains were thrown into the Ohio River.

The foster parents entrusted with the developmentally disabled boy's care by Lifeway, Liz and David Carroll Jr., are both jailed on murder charges.

Lifeway failed to see red flags such as the Carrolls' use of a relative as a reference, a live-in girl-friend at their home, a domestic violence call to police and inaccurate financial information, according to the state's investigation.

Under the reform plan, the agency has pledged to call employers and references, interview at least one neighbor, talk with teachers if school-age children are in the home, interview adult children able to be contacted and obtain two credit references.

Berner said the new measures should be more effective, but ultimately no amount of screening can weed out all potential wrongdoing. To be sure the job is done, the agency promised supervisors will conduct random audits, the plan said.

There were other paperwork infractions noted in the state's report that Lifeway pledged to fix within 30 days after the plan is approved.

Berner added that the Carrolls' licensing specialist has been reassigned and a foster-parenting trainer who ended sessions early by practice resigned.

No disciplinary action has been taken against any employee, but several reassignments are being made in the Cincinnati office to get a "fresh start," he said.