Boy in foster care after dad allegedly tried to sell him
Engle, Meagan. Dayton Daily News, March 29, 2007.
MIDDLETOWN — A 2-year-old boy has been removed from his parents' custody after his father was accused of trying to sell him in the parking lot of a Walgreens, officials said Wednesday.
"The child is safe and in foster care," Butler County Children Services spokeswoman Denise Winkler said.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
After surviving foster care, Toni was murdered while in college
Sinclair students to memorialize giving spirit
McCarty, Mary. Dayton Daily News, March 27, 2007, pg. A4.
Toni Hollingsworth's friends at Sinclair Community College want people to know she was more than a murder victim.She was more, even, than a Dayton Job Corps Center participant and Sinclair Community College student, although those accomplishments spoke to the woman she was on the verge of becoming.
"Toni was a young lady who got great satisfaction from helping people, especially children," says her friend and Sinclair classmate Charles Hammond of Dayton.
Antoinette Hollingsworth was on track to obtain her associate's degree from Sinclair in June 2006, and she planned to enroll at Wright State University to pursue a bachelor degree in education.
But she was shot in the forehead in an alley in the 800 block of Burwood Avenue after leaving the Family Dollar Store on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 27, 2005. In 24-year-old Reginald Tucker's murder trial last month, a witness described her last words to her assailants: "Take what you want, just leave me alone."
More than most of us, perhaps, Hollingsworth understood that her true value lay not in anything that she owned but on what she carried inside her. The Toledo native had been raised by a great-grandmother after her own mother attempted to shoot her father. After the great-grandmother died, she was raised by foster parents.
"I was so impressed with her, because I never heard her bad-mouth any of her past experiences, or speak ill of her family," said Susan Redmond, academic adviser for Sinclair's student support services program. "She didn't act like she had been victimized by society."
Hammond, 54, became something of a father figure to the 22-year-old woman he met in the math lab when both were struggling with the subject. He works full time in information technology for the Defense Logistics Agency while studying criminal justice at Sinclair. "I was ready to drop the class, but then she tutored me," Hammond recalls.
Hammond will never forget the moment when a fellow student called to tell him about the shooting: "I sat in my car in my driveway for hours, thinking how and why could this happen?" It's impossible for Hammond to comprehend — how all that vivacity could be silenced in an instant by two men she had never met.
Tucker, who was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison, had been released from prison five months before Hollingsworth's death after serving five years on a rape conviction. A second co-defendant, 17-yearold Sean Rutledge, pleaded guilty March 16 to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery, and is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.
While her death demands justice, her life deserves to be celebrated. "Here was somebody who was putting the past behind them, not blaming anybody, but just grabbing what she could and going with it," Redmond said.
That's why Hollingsworth's friends are raising funds to commemorate her with a brick at the memorial park on the Sinclair campus. Sculptor and quilter Roxie Fambro, another Sinclair student, is donating a quilted doll to be raffled for the cause.
The park is called "Pathways to Learning."
What a fitting name for a tribute to Toni Hollingsworth.
McCarty, Mary. Dayton Daily News, March 27, 2007, pg. A4.
Toni Hollingsworth's friends at Sinclair Community College want people to know she was more than a murder victim.She was more, even, than a Dayton Job Corps Center participant and Sinclair Community College student, although those accomplishments spoke to the woman she was on the verge of becoming.
"Toni was a young lady who got great satisfaction from helping people, especially children," says her friend and Sinclair classmate Charles Hammond of Dayton.
Antoinette Hollingsworth was on track to obtain her associate's degree from Sinclair in June 2006, and she planned to enroll at Wright State University to pursue a bachelor degree in education.
But she was shot in the forehead in an alley in the 800 block of Burwood Avenue after leaving the Family Dollar Store on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 27, 2005. In 24-year-old Reginald Tucker's murder trial last month, a witness described her last words to her assailants: "Take what you want, just leave me alone."
More than most of us, perhaps, Hollingsworth understood that her true value lay not in anything that she owned but on what she carried inside her. The Toledo native had been raised by a great-grandmother after her own mother attempted to shoot her father. After the great-grandmother died, she was raised by foster parents.
"I was so impressed with her, because I never heard her bad-mouth any of her past experiences, or speak ill of her family," said Susan Redmond, academic adviser for Sinclair's student support services program. "She didn't act like she had been victimized by society."
Hammond, 54, became something of a father figure to the 22-year-old woman he met in the math lab when both were struggling with the subject. He works full time in information technology for the Defense Logistics Agency while studying criminal justice at Sinclair. "I was ready to drop the class, but then she tutored me," Hammond recalls.
Hammond will never forget the moment when a fellow student called to tell him about the shooting: "I sat in my car in my driveway for hours, thinking how and why could this happen?" It's impossible for Hammond to comprehend — how all that vivacity could be silenced in an instant by two men she had never met.
Tucker, who was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison, had been released from prison five months before Hollingsworth's death after serving five years on a rape conviction. A second co-defendant, 17-yearold Sean Rutledge, pleaded guilty March 16 to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery, and is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.
While her death demands justice, her life deserves to be celebrated. "Here was somebody who was putting the past behind them, not blaming anybody, but just grabbing what she could and going with it," Redmond said.
That's why Hollingsworth's friends are raising funds to commemorate her with a brick at the memorial park on the Sinclair campus. Sculptor and quilter Roxie Fambro, another Sinclair student, is donating a quilted doll to be raffled for the cause.
The park is called "Pathways to Learning."
What a fitting name for a tribute to Toni Hollingsworth.
Jeannette Walls author tour includes Dayton, Ohio
Writing 'The Glass Castle'
Was 'such an eye opener for me'
Moss, Meredith. Dayton Daily News, March 26, 2007, pg. D8.
The beautiful glass castle she was promised in her childhood was shattered, but that didn't keep a feisty Jeannette Walls from constructing a solid glass castle of her own.
Her structure — built on honesty, rather than pipe dreams — now commands a remarkable kingdom that stretches from appearances on Oprah and Good Morning America to movie potential — with the rights to her book optioned by Brad Pitt for Paramount. Walls is regularly invited to cities — including Dayton — as the focus of a community's Big Read. Recently, folks in Middletown, Conn., fashioned ice sculptures of glass castles in her honor.
Walls will make two public appearances this weekend as the guest of Dayton's Big Read. She'll also meet privately with foster parents, social workers and the children's services division of the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services.
Walls candidly admits she could never have imagined that a whole town would someday be reading and discussing her memoir. On the contrary, she expected very few to be interested in her life, and was certain the publication of her family's dysfunctional past would result in a loss of job and friends. Imagine her surprise when readers instead responded with love and concern.
"It was such an eye-opener for me.... Mostly about how good and smart and compassionate people are," she says. "And they're not judging. Writing the book has transformed the world from a place filled with potential enemies to one filled with potential friends."
Those friends often arrived bearing gifts: tiny glass castles, colorful rocks and geodes, and, most importantly, secrets they've revealed to no one else.
"I can't tell you how many people tell me their own story," says Walls, 46. " I will have these astonishingly intimate conversations with complete strangers and we both end up hugging."
Sonia Martin of Beavercreek says she and her husband found the book hard to put down.
"My father was a dreamer and gambler who always thought he was going to hit the jackpot and be an entrepreneur," says Martin. "My husband grew up in a small town in southwest Virginia and can relate to the West Virginia setting. During the Depression, his mother fed the family on beans and cornbread for 50 cents a day."
Walls says sharing troubling secrets is freeing.
"Shame is such an isolating emotion," she says. "We're all weird and different. That's OK. It's even wonderful."
How to go
What: Talk and book signing with Jeannette Walls, author of this year's Big Read selection, 'The Glass Castle' (Scribner, $14).
When: 7 p.m. Friday.
Where: Books & Co. at The Greene, 4453 Walnut St., Beavercreek.
More information: (937) 429-2169. How to go
What: An Evening With Jeannette Walls: The Big Read Celebration.
When: 6 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Webster Street Market Banquet Center, 32 Webster St., Dayton.
Includes: Light dinner, one complimentary drink, discussion and book signing with Jeannette Walls, entertainment by WildWater and a presentation of the 2007 Big Read Humanitarian Awards.
Tickets: $11 presale, $15 at the door. Available at Books & Co. (both locations), Dayton Metro Library (Main Library Downtown and Huber Heights), Troy Public Library, Xenia Community Library, Wright Memorial Library (Oakwood), Washington-Centerville Library and Project READ (Building 12, Sinclair Community College).
Major sponsors: Books & Co., Dayton Daily News.
Author: Meredith Moss Staff Writer
Section: Life
Page: D8
Copyright, 2007, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.
Was 'such an eye opener for me'
Moss, Meredith. Dayton Daily News, March 26, 2007, pg. D8.
The beautiful glass castle she was promised in her childhood was shattered, but that didn't keep a feisty Jeannette Walls from constructing a solid glass castle of her own.
Her structure — built on honesty, rather than pipe dreams — now commands a remarkable kingdom that stretches from appearances on Oprah and Good Morning America to movie potential — with the rights to her book optioned by Brad Pitt for Paramount. Walls is regularly invited to cities — including Dayton — as the focus of a community's Big Read. Recently, folks in Middletown, Conn., fashioned ice sculptures of glass castles in her honor.
Walls will make two public appearances this weekend as the guest of Dayton's Big Read. She'll also meet privately with foster parents, social workers and the children's services division of the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services.
Walls candidly admits she could never have imagined that a whole town would someday be reading and discussing her memoir. On the contrary, she expected very few to be interested in her life, and was certain the publication of her family's dysfunctional past would result in a loss of job and friends. Imagine her surprise when readers instead responded with love and concern.
"It was such an eye-opener for me.... Mostly about how good and smart and compassionate people are," she says. "And they're not judging. Writing the book has transformed the world from a place filled with potential enemies to one filled with potential friends."
Those friends often arrived bearing gifts: tiny glass castles, colorful rocks and geodes, and, most importantly, secrets they've revealed to no one else.
"I can't tell you how many people tell me their own story," says Walls, 46. " I will have these astonishingly intimate conversations with complete strangers and we both end up hugging."
Sonia Martin of Beavercreek says she and her husband found the book hard to put down.
"My father was a dreamer and gambler who always thought he was going to hit the jackpot and be an entrepreneur," says Martin. "My husband grew up in a small town in southwest Virginia and can relate to the West Virginia setting. During the Depression, his mother fed the family on beans and cornbread for 50 cents a day."
Walls says sharing troubling secrets is freeing.
"Shame is such an isolating emotion," she says. "We're all weird and different. That's OK. It's even wonderful."
How to go
What: Talk and book signing with Jeannette Walls, author of this year's Big Read selection, 'The Glass Castle' (Scribner, $14).
When: 7 p.m. Friday.
Where: Books & Co. at The Greene, 4453 Walnut St., Beavercreek.
More information: (937) 429-2169. How to go
What: An Evening With Jeannette Walls: The Big Read Celebration.
When: 6 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Webster Street Market Banquet Center, 32 Webster St., Dayton.
Includes: Light dinner, one complimentary drink, discussion and book signing with Jeannette Walls, entertainment by WildWater and a presentation of the 2007 Big Read Humanitarian Awards.
Tickets: $11 presale, $15 at the door. Available at Books & Co. (both locations), Dayton Metro Library (Main Library Downtown and Huber Heights), Troy Public Library, Xenia Community Library, Wright Memorial Library (Oakwood), Washington-Centerville Library and Project READ (Building 12, Sinclair Community College).
Major sponsors: Books & Co., Dayton Daily News.
Author: Meredith Moss Staff Writer
Section: Life
Page: D8
Copyright, 2007, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.
Lawyers request gag article after article concerned about welfare of Carroll and Baker children
Media appeal gag rule request
Baker's lawyer motion opposed
Brunsman, Barrett. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 27, 2007, pg. B2.
BATAVIA - If a Clermont County judge bars the parents of Amy Baker from speaking to the press about a custody case involving her three children it would violate the First Amendment, The Enquirer and other local news organizations have claimed in court filings.
Anita Bechmann, the Clermont County public defender appointed to represent the legal interests of Baker's children, has asked Judge Stephanie Wyler to impose such a gag order.
"Bechmann's motion presents an unconstitutional prior restraint on the media and has already chilled the media's ability to gather the news," according to a court filing by attorneys Jill P. Meyer and Monica L. Dias on behalf of six news organizations.
The Enquirer stated the same objections in a separate court filing Monday in the juvenile division of the Clermont County Common Pleas Court.
Bechmann's request for the gag order "apparently was prompted by an article in The Cincinnati Enquirer published on March 18," which delved into who might win custody of Baker's children as well as the four children of Liz and David Carroll Jr., the attorneys for the news organizations said.
That story included comments from Tracy Ramsey, Baker's stepmother, that her grandchildren have had a horrible experience in foster care since being taken from their mother Aug. 29. That was the day after Baker and her children were left homeless because of the arrest of the Carrolls, who have since been convicted of the murder of their foster son, 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel.
After Bechmann made the request March 19, Ramsey and her husband, Bob, told The Enquirer they feared discussing the case further because the judge might hold it against them.
Several attorneys even refused to talk about the case, apparently because they mistakenly thought a gag order was in place, according to the court filings.
"Even without a hearing and any findings of fact or order from this court, Ms. Bechmann's motion has had the immediate result of restricting the media's access to information about a case of great public interest," the attorneys for the news organizations said.
Wyler is expected to consider the request for a gag order May 7, the same day she is to hear the Baker and Carroll custody cases.
Baker's lawyer motion opposed
Brunsman, Barrett. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 27, 2007, pg. B2.
BATAVIA - If a Clermont County judge bars the parents of Amy Baker from speaking to the press about a custody case involving her three children it would violate the First Amendment, The Enquirer and other local news organizations have claimed in court filings.
Anita Bechmann, the Clermont County public defender appointed to represent the legal interests of Baker's children, has asked Judge Stephanie Wyler to impose such a gag order.
"Bechmann's motion presents an unconstitutional prior restraint on the media and has already chilled the media's ability to gather the news," according to a court filing by attorneys Jill P. Meyer and Monica L. Dias on behalf of six news organizations.
The Enquirer stated the same objections in a separate court filing Monday in the juvenile division of the Clermont County Common Pleas Court.
Bechmann's request for the gag order "apparently was prompted by an article in The Cincinnati Enquirer published on March 18," which delved into who might win custody of Baker's children as well as the four children of Liz and David Carroll Jr., the attorneys for the news organizations said.
That story included comments from Tracy Ramsey, Baker's stepmother, that her grandchildren have had a horrible experience in foster care since being taken from their mother Aug. 29. That was the day after Baker and her children were left homeless because of the arrest of the Carrolls, who have since been convicted of the murder of their foster son, 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel.
After Bechmann made the request March 19, Ramsey and her husband, Bob, told The Enquirer they feared discussing the case further because the judge might hold it against them.
Several attorneys even refused to talk about the case, apparently because they mistakenly thought a gag order was in place, according to the court filings.
"Even without a hearing and any findings of fact or order from this court, Ms. Bechmann's motion has had the immediate result of restricting the media's access to information about a case of great public interest," the attorneys for the news organizations said.
Wyler is expected to consider the request for a gag order May 7, the same day she is to hear the Baker and Carroll custody cases.
Event to honor youth advocates in Akron, Ohio
Event honors advocates for kids
Akron Beacon Journal, March 25, 2007, pg. B3.
The Alliance of Summit County Child Caring Providers will host a breakfast to honor 10 local workers.
The event will be from 7 to 9 a.m. April 4 at the Radisson Hotel, 20 W. Mill St., Akron.The alliance is made up of 26 groups that provide contracted foster care and substance-abuse and mental-health treatment.
Honorees are: Darlene Neff, social worker, Summit County Children Services; Gary Nagy, social worker, children services; Linda Gray, auxiliary worker, children services; Heidi Huscroft, auxiliary worker, children services; Steven Tunstall, social worker, Alliance Human Services/Ohio Mentor Inc.; Christine Mastran, lawyer, Summit County Prosecutor's Office; Sgt. Michael Rinn, Akron police; Capt. Hylton Baker, Summit County Sheriff's Office; Iris Meltzer, executive director, Center for Adolescent Health, Akron Children's Hospital; and Linda Bennett, lawyer, court-appointed volunteer, Summit County Juvenile Court.
Tickets are $15. Call 330-379-2055 for details.
Akron Beacon Journal, March 25, 2007, pg. B3.
The Alliance of Summit County Child Caring Providers will host a breakfast to honor 10 local workers.
The event will be from 7 to 9 a.m. April 4 at the Radisson Hotel, 20 W. Mill St., Akron.The alliance is made up of 26 groups that provide contracted foster care and substance-abuse and mental-health treatment.
Honorees are: Darlene Neff, social worker, Summit County Children Services; Gary Nagy, social worker, children services; Linda Gray, auxiliary worker, children services; Heidi Huscroft, auxiliary worker, children services; Steven Tunstall, social worker, Alliance Human Services/Ohio Mentor Inc.; Christine Mastran, lawyer, Summit County Prosecutor's Office; Sgt. Michael Rinn, Akron police; Capt. Hylton Baker, Summit County Sheriff's Office; Iris Meltzer, executive director, Center for Adolescent Health, Akron Children's Hospital; and Linda Bennett, lawyer, court-appointed volunteer, Summit County Juvenile Court.
Tickets are $15. Call 330-379-2055 for details.
Young man entered foster care at 22 months and had 15 placements
Grandson charged in fatal Middletown fire
Police: Accused arsonist admitted setting blaze but said he did not intend to harm his grandfather
Pack, Lauren and Jen Roppel. Dayton Daily News, March 25, 2007, pg. A5.
MIDDLETOWN — Family members are numb after the grandson of a Middletown man who died in an arson fire has been charged with setting the blaze. Adam Collinsworth, 20, was arrested Friday afternoon by Middletown police and charged with aggravated arson.
Detectives say Collinsworth set the March 4 fire at 4916 Ronald Drive. Clarence Collinsworth, 70, died of smoke inhalation after being trapped inside the house.
"It's just such a shock," said Jeff Collinsworth Jr., the eldest grandson and brother of Collinsworth. "I never imagined anything like this would happen."
Collinsworth, who had been living with his grandfather, was housed in the Middletown City Jail Friday without bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Monday in Middletown Municipal Court.
The retired steelworker and past president of the Concerned Armco/AK Steel Retired Employees became trapped in his home just after 2 a.m. March 4 and could not be rescued by firefighters as several explosions went off in the home. His death also prompted the Middletown City Council to not move forward with more planned cuts to the fire department's budget, which were blamed for a delay in reaching the Clarence Collinsworth home.
Clarence Collinsworth's sister-in-law, Herma Gayhart, escaped from her upstairs apartment.
Collinsworth, 20, who had been living at the Ronald Drive home for the past eight months, was not at home at the time of the blaze, a family member said.
Jeff Collinsworth said his youngest brother attended his grandfather's funeral, and that the night before, Collinsworth visited his Colerain Twp. home to borrow dress clothes for the funeral.
"He assured us he had nothing to do with it," he said. "He did not seem to be lying.
"Last week, he told us he was cleared as a suspect, that he wasn't a suspect anymore … and then this came about so it was an extreme shock.
"Maybe my judgment was impaired by wanting to believe, him being there about the same time it happened. I think it was probably in the back of everyone's mind."
Jeff Collinsworth described Collinsworth, the youngest of four brothers, as troubled with numerous problems as a juvenile.
All four boys were in the Butler County foster care system, and Collinsworth entered foster care at 22 months and had 15 placements by the time he was 15 or 16, when Jeff Collinsworth at 21 gained legal custody of his brother.
Jeff Collinsworth said he tried to do his best to help his youngest brother, by serving as a kind of father figure and role model, but that when Collinsworth was 18 he chose to not to clean up his act to continue living with his brother's family.
Clarence Collinsworth, known as "Papaw" to his grandsons, took in Collinsworth a little less than a year ago. "He had some problems with Papaw," but no worse than he had with other family members who wanted him to straighten out, Jeff Collinsworth said.
Grieving the loss of "Papaw" is compounded by his brother's criminal charges, he said.
"That's where it gets complicated. He's my brother, I love him, I took care of him for a while. I have a bundle of emotions — anger, hurt, sad. … It's going to be like losing another family member."
Jeff Collinsworth and his father, Jeff Sr., who is in a care facility, plan to visit Collinsworth today in jail, he said.
"The family has so many questions. The only person who can answer them is Adam," he said.
Middletown police Detective David Swartzel said Collinsworth was a suspect early in the investigation and it was a matter of collecting the evidence to make an arrest.
The telltale signs of arson also were apparent at the fire scene, he said.
"I have limited arson training and I could tell it was arson," Swartzel said.
The detective said Collinsworth has admitted to starting the fire on porch, but he says he did not intend to harm his grandfather.
"He is a self-proclaimed fire bug," Swartzel said. "He has a fascination with fire."
Middletown police talked with Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper and further evidence will be presented to a grand jury. Swartzel said he does expect Collinsworth to be indicted on additional charges.
Police: Accused arsonist admitted setting blaze but said he did not intend to harm his grandfather
Pack, Lauren and Jen Roppel. Dayton Daily News, March 25, 2007, pg. A5.
MIDDLETOWN — Family members are numb after the grandson of a Middletown man who died in an arson fire has been charged with setting the blaze. Adam Collinsworth, 20, was arrested Friday afternoon by Middletown police and charged with aggravated arson.
Detectives say Collinsworth set the March 4 fire at 4916 Ronald Drive. Clarence Collinsworth, 70, died of smoke inhalation after being trapped inside the house.
"It's just such a shock," said Jeff Collinsworth Jr., the eldest grandson and brother of Collinsworth. "I never imagined anything like this would happen."
Collinsworth, who had been living with his grandfather, was housed in the Middletown City Jail Friday without bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Monday in Middletown Municipal Court.
The retired steelworker and past president of the Concerned Armco/AK Steel Retired Employees became trapped in his home just after 2 a.m. March 4 and could not be rescued by firefighters as several explosions went off in the home. His death also prompted the Middletown City Council to not move forward with more planned cuts to the fire department's budget, which were blamed for a delay in reaching the Clarence Collinsworth home.
Clarence Collinsworth's sister-in-law, Herma Gayhart, escaped from her upstairs apartment.
Collinsworth, 20, who had been living at the Ronald Drive home for the past eight months, was not at home at the time of the blaze, a family member said.
Jeff Collinsworth said his youngest brother attended his grandfather's funeral, and that the night before, Collinsworth visited his Colerain Twp. home to borrow dress clothes for the funeral.
"He assured us he had nothing to do with it," he said. "He did not seem to be lying.
"Last week, he told us he was cleared as a suspect, that he wasn't a suspect anymore … and then this came about so it was an extreme shock.
"Maybe my judgment was impaired by wanting to believe, him being there about the same time it happened. I think it was probably in the back of everyone's mind."
Jeff Collinsworth described Collinsworth, the youngest of four brothers, as troubled with numerous problems as a juvenile.
All four boys were in the Butler County foster care system, and Collinsworth entered foster care at 22 months and had 15 placements by the time he was 15 or 16, when Jeff Collinsworth at 21 gained legal custody of his brother.
Jeff Collinsworth said he tried to do his best to help his youngest brother, by serving as a kind of father figure and role model, but that when Collinsworth was 18 he chose to not to clean up his act to continue living with his brother's family.
Clarence Collinsworth, known as "Papaw" to his grandsons, took in Collinsworth a little less than a year ago. "He had some problems with Papaw," but no worse than he had with other family members who wanted him to straighten out, Jeff Collinsworth said.
Grieving the loss of "Papaw" is compounded by his brother's criminal charges, he said.
"That's where it gets complicated. He's my brother, I love him, I took care of him for a while. I have a bundle of emotions — anger, hurt, sad. … It's going to be like losing another family member."
Jeff Collinsworth and his father, Jeff Sr., who is in a care facility, plan to visit Collinsworth today in jail, he said.
"The family has so many questions. The only person who can answer them is Adam," he said.
Middletown police Detective David Swartzel said Collinsworth was a suspect early in the investigation and it was a matter of collecting the evidence to make an arrest.
The telltale signs of arson also were apparent at the fire scene, he said.
"I have limited arson training and I could tell it was arson," Swartzel said.
The detective said Collinsworth has admitted to starting the fire on porch, but he says he did not intend to harm his grandfather.
"He is a self-proclaimed fire bug," Swartzel said. "He has a fascination with fire."
Middletown police talked with Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper and further evidence will be presented to a grand jury. Swartzel said he does expect Collinsworth to be indicted on additional charges.
Cleveland foster care alumni receives scholarship
East Tech High's Starr shines in state youth contest
Named youth of the year, gets scholarship
Guillen, Joe. Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 25, 2007, pg. B4.
East Technical High School senior Richard Starr was named Ohio Youth of the Year on Saturday at a Boys & Girls Club in Toledo.Starr, 18, won a $1,000 scholarship, which he'll put toward his education at Ohio University. He will go on to compete this summer against distinguished youths from 12 other states at a Midwest regional competition in Chicago.
"It's great to bring something back home to Cleveland to show that Cleveland does have positive people," said Starr, who faced many hurdles growing up in the King-Kennedy housing project. "Because around my neighborhood, there's been a lot of negative things going around the last couple years."
Starr and seven other contestants gave a speech Saturday to judges who chose the statewide winner on behalf of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Starr had already been named the Cleveland chapter's Youth of the Year.
His 3½-minute oration described the obstacles he overcame to become senior class president, a dedicated student, football captain and a community leader.
Starr endured the incarceration of his father and other family members, placement in foster care with his aunt and temptations to follow the same destructive path of others in his neighborhood.
"You can always fight the obstacle and overcome it and seek the positive," he said. "I feel that wherever I put my mind at, I can achieve it."
Named youth of the year, gets scholarship
Guillen, Joe. Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 25, 2007, pg. B4.
East Technical High School senior Richard Starr was named Ohio Youth of the Year on Saturday at a Boys & Girls Club in Toledo.Starr, 18, won a $1,000 scholarship, which he'll put toward his education at Ohio University. He will go on to compete this summer against distinguished youths from 12 other states at a Midwest regional competition in Chicago.
"It's great to bring something back home to Cleveland to show that Cleveland does have positive people," said Starr, who faced many hurdles growing up in the King-Kennedy housing project. "Because around my neighborhood, there's been a lot of negative things going around the last couple years."
Starr and seven other contestants gave a speech Saturday to judges who chose the statewide winner on behalf of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Starr had already been named the Cleveland chapter's Youth of the Year.
His 3½-minute oration described the obstacles he overcame to become senior class president, a dedicated student, football captain and a community leader.
Starr endured the incarceration of his father and other family members, placement in foster care with his aunt and temptations to follow the same destructive path of others in his neighborhood.
"You can always fight the obstacle and overcome it and seek the positive," he said. "I feel that wherever I put my mind at, I can achieve it."
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Unable to save her grandson from abuse - why didn't authorities remove Aden sooner?
Police investigating baby's death
Grandma says she had called authorities after finding bruises
Ludlow, Randy. Columbus Dispatch, March 23, 2007, pg. B3.
Worried for her "little fellow," Barbara Blosser called authorities to sound the alarm about the suspected abuse of her 7-month-old grandson.
She said there were bruises on his buttocks that resembled handprints and a "goose egg" in the middle of his forehead.
A Perry County Children Services caseworker visited Sierra Milburn and her baby, Aden Levering-Ruff, to check on the infant's welfare, Blosser said.
Shortly after noon Tuesday, an ambulance was summoned to 418 W. Broadway in New Lexington. Aden was dead.
Police Chief Jeff Newlon called the baby's death "suspicious," pending autopsy results.
Blosser blames Children Services officials for failing to remove Aden and place him in foster care. During her calls, Blosser said she expressed fears that Aden could die.
"Because they didn't do their job, I lost my grandchild," said the Corning woman. "I knew something bad was going to happen to the little fellow. I knew it in my heart."
Rick Glass, executive director of Perry County Children Services, said state confidentiality laws prohibit him from discussing what his agency did in Aden's case. - HIDING BEHIND CONFIDENTIALITY
The agency is assisting police in the investigation of the baby's death, Glass said.
Blosser said her son, Thomas Ruff, never saw his baby. Aden was born after Ruff went to prison for violating his probation on charges of breaking and entering, theft and escape.
"He's never held him and never will be able to," she said.
Aden's mother told WBNS-TV (Channel 10) that she did not harm her son. "I swear to God on everything I love, I would never do this to a child," Milburn said.
Blosser said she can accept Aden's death if he succumbed from a natural cause, such as sudden infant death syndrome.
"But if somebody did something to him, I want them to be punished. I want justice for my grandson. That is all I ask."
Caption: Seven-month-old Aden Levering-Ruff died Tuesday at his home. New Lexington police say the baby's death is "suspicious."
Grandma says she had called authorities after finding bruises
Ludlow, Randy. Columbus Dispatch, March 23, 2007, pg. B3.
Worried for her "little fellow," Barbara Blosser called authorities to sound the alarm about the suspected abuse of her 7-month-old grandson.
She said there were bruises on his buttocks that resembled handprints and a "goose egg" in the middle of his forehead.
A Perry County Children Services caseworker visited Sierra Milburn and her baby, Aden Levering-Ruff, to check on the infant's welfare, Blosser said.
Shortly after noon Tuesday, an ambulance was summoned to 418 W. Broadway in New Lexington. Aden was dead.
Police Chief Jeff Newlon called the baby's death "suspicious," pending autopsy results.
Blosser blames Children Services officials for failing to remove Aden and place him in foster care. During her calls, Blosser said she expressed fears that Aden could die.
"Because they didn't do their job, I lost my grandchild," said the Corning woman. "I knew something bad was going to happen to the little fellow. I knew it in my heart."
Rick Glass, executive director of Perry County Children Services, said state confidentiality laws prohibit him from discussing what his agency did in Aden's case. - HIDING BEHIND CONFIDENTIALITY
The agency is assisting police in the investigation of the baby's death, Glass said.
Blosser said her son, Thomas Ruff, never saw his baby. Aden was born after Ruff went to prison for violating his probation on charges of breaking and entering, theft and escape.
"He's never held him and never will be able to," she said.
Aden's mother told WBNS-TV (Channel 10) that she did not harm her son. "I swear to God on everything I love, I would never do this to a child," Milburn said.
Blosser said she can accept Aden's death if he succumbed from a natural cause, such as sudden infant death syndrome.
"But if somebody did something to him, I want them to be punished. I want justice for my grandson. That is all I ask."
Caption: Seven-month-old Aden Levering-Ruff died Tuesday at his home. New Lexington police say the baby's death is "suspicious."
Monday, March 26, 2007
PCSAO Factbook
New report shows progress in child protection
Coshocton Tribune, March 2007, Briefs.
COLUMBUS - A report recently released reveals a child protection system with fewer children in foster care and waiting for adoption. While calling the numbers promising, Coshocton County Job and Family Services and child and family advocates are calling the system "ready for reform."
"Although we are pleased with the results we have provided to Coshocton County, our commitment to making services to families a priority will not wane. Our focus is to increase our staff skill levels in working with families and increase services to families in order for children to safely remain in their own homes," said Terry W. Miller, Director, in a press release.
PCSAO Executive Director Crystal Ward Allen says that while the new factbook shows progress in overall safety and permanency outcomes for children, more must be done.
"Recent events have focused policymakers, the media and advocates on ensuring a safe foster care system for children removed from their homes," Allen said. "But, fixing foster care is only half the job. We must be bold, and invest in safe, permanent families for our children."
Based on data presented in this report, PCSAO makes the following recommendations:
Increase the state investment for child protection from the current 10 percent of the overall cost. At present, Ohio ranks 49th in terms of its proportional contribution. Furthermore, Ohio must continue to build on the successful Access to Better Care initiative.
Reform child welfare federal financing. At present, it primarily supports out of home care, and provides little support to strengthening birth or relative families in order to avoid foster care, or shorten it by restoring a safe environment to get the child back home safely.
PCSAO also recommends proactive foster care reforms such as enhanced matching of children with foster caregivers, increasing the available pool of safe foster caregivers, as well as ensuring proper licensing safeguards.
The eight edition of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio's Factbook features information about foster care, child abuse and neglect, poverty, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, community services and more.
According to the report, Coshocton County has decreased the number of children in custody by over 25 percent since 2001. The agency maintains a caseload size that is within the recommendations of PCSAO and did not have any worker safety incidents in 2005. Since 2003, the agency has decreased the total number of placement days by over 20 percent and decreased the average number of days for adoption finalization from permanent custody by over 40 percent.
The factbook is being distributed to all Ohio public child welfare agencies, the media, the Ohio General Assembly and other members of the community. An electronic version of the book is available at www.pcsao.org
Coshocton County Department of Job and Family Services is considered a quad-combined agency. In addition to providing child protective services for county residents, the agency also provides child support enforcement, public assistance and workforce development services. The agency is one of only two Job and Family Service agencies in the state that also coordinate and provide adult basic and literacy education services for the community.
For information about the services available in Coshocton, go to www.coshoctonjfs.org.
Coshocton Tribune, March 2007, Briefs.
COLUMBUS - A report recently released reveals a child protection system with fewer children in foster care and waiting for adoption. While calling the numbers promising, Coshocton County Job and Family Services and child and family advocates are calling the system "ready for reform."
"Although we are pleased with the results we have provided to Coshocton County, our commitment to making services to families a priority will not wane. Our focus is to increase our staff skill levels in working with families and increase services to families in order for children to safely remain in their own homes," said Terry W. Miller, Director, in a press release.
PCSAO Executive Director Crystal Ward Allen says that while the new factbook shows progress in overall safety and permanency outcomes for children, more must be done.
"Recent events have focused policymakers, the media and advocates on ensuring a safe foster care system for children removed from their homes," Allen said. "But, fixing foster care is only half the job. We must be bold, and invest in safe, permanent families for our children."
Based on data presented in this report, PCSAO makes the following recommendations:
Increase the state investment for child protection from the current 10 percent of the overall cost. At present, Ohio ranks 49th in terms of its proportional contribution. Furthermore, Ohio must continue to build on the successful Access to Better Care initiative.
Reform child welfare federal financing. At present, it primarily supports out of home care, and provides little support to strengthening birth or relative families in order to avoid foster care, or shorten it by restoring a safe environment to get the child back home safely.
PCSAO also recommends proactive foster care reforms such as enhanced matching of children with foster caregivers, increasing the available pool of safe foster caregivers, as well as ensuring proper licensing safeguards.
The eight edition of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio's Factbook features information about foster care, child abuse and neglect, poverty, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, community services and more.
According to the report, Coshocton County has decreased the number of children in custody by over 25 percent since 2001. The agency maintains a caseload size that is within the recommendations of PCSAO and did not have any worker safety incidents in 2005. Since 2003, the agency has decreased the total number of placement days by over 20 percent and decreased the average number of days for adoption finalization from permanent custody by over 40 percent.
The factbook is being distributed to all Ohio public child welfare agencies, the media, the Ohio General Assembly and other members of the community. An electronic version of the book is available at www.pcsao.org
Coshocton County Department of Job and Family Services is considered a quad-combined agency. In addition to providing child protective services for county residents, the agency also provides child support enforcement, public assistance and workforce development services. The agency is one of only two Job and Family Service agencies in the state that also coordinate and provide adult basic and literacy education services for the community.
For information about the services available in Coshocton, go to www.coshoctonjfs.org.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
More about Bruce Maag's past
Foster care
Jasper, Deborah, et al. The Investigative Reporters and Editors Journal, May/June 2000.
Child welfare stories usually have a lot of the ingredients needed to make solid, investigative pieces. If you look hard enough, say those who cover such issues, you can probably find an inept and overwhelmed bureaucracy, money and sympathetic victims who make for great stories.
We turned off the two-lane black top onto a rutted dirt road that wound through the dark pine forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Even though it was August, the land looked tense, as if waiting for the first bite of winter.
We'd spent the last few days criss-crossing the Midwest as we investigated one of the largest foster care agencies in the country: Specialized Alternatives for Family and Youth (SAFY). We'd been told repeatedly that its director, Bruce Maag, a man with more than 1,200 foster children in his agency's care, allegedly had improper sexual contact with one of his own foster children years earlier and gotten away with it.
At the end of the dirt road we hoped to nail down this final, explosive piece of the story.
We had been working on a four-part series on foster care for the past six months and the picture that was emerging was more depressing than we had imagined. We had knocked on doors of foster homes across Ohio, Indiana and Texas and found children living in unimaginable squalor. We found foster programs that left kids unsupervised and engaging in illicit drug use and sex.
We were nearing the end of our research when we obtained state documents that detailed how Maag, the founder and head of SAFY, had acknowledged in 1986 that he had kissed his foster daughter and given her beer. The information was in the form of notes from a state investigator that were maddeningly incomplete. Some names were blanked out. There were references to secret court documents.
At the center of the story was a girl whom we only knew by the first and last letter of her first name "S and a" - the rest was omitted. It was clear we had to find "S."
We holed up in hotel just outside Lima, Ohio, a fraying blue-collar town near where Maag lived, and sifted through documents trying to piece together enough information to track her down. We had little to go on. In addition to two letters in her first name, we had the name of her ex-husband, her birth date, and a tip from a source who said she might have moved to northern Michigan several years ago.
That was it.
We began a computer search using a database called Autotrack to see if we could find a woman in Michigan with the same profile and any possible links to Ohio.
One name popped out. The woman had no listed phone number. She lived on a desolate lake in the backwoods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. With our deadline looming, the pressure was on to find her.
Follow the money
Debra had first met Maag two years earlier at a Florida resort. She was doing a series on foster care in Ohio and had gone to Florida to check out a weeklong seminar SAFY was holding for social workers from around the country.
In his first encounter with Jasper, he wanted to know "what the hell" she was doing there, and later warned her that she was only to interview people he okayed in advance. She left the conference believing Maag deserved a closer look because of what she had learned. SAFY's detractors had complained bitterly about the agency. One teacher described SAFY as "horrible," and told of SAFY foster parents who cared more about the money they could make from taking in foster children than about kids themselves.
Some of these stories made it into the first series describing the wretched conditions of foster children in Ohio. But many details about SAFY did not.
And while the series had an almost immediate impact as legislators passed bills and state investigations began, the Ohio experience raised a larger question: If Ohio's system was this bad, what about the rest of the country?
Jasper lobbied for and won a commitment from the editors at the Dayton Daily News to answer that question. Nationally accredited SAFY loomed large - if for no other reason than it was an agency that was nationally recognized and operated in seven states. It trained social workers from across the nation, and was headed by Maag.
In beginning our investigation, we stuck to the old adage "follow the money." We inspected foster care agencies' IRS form 990s to see how they spent their money, checked salaries, land purchases and how much they received in tax dollars per day per child.
During this examination Jaspin noticed an odd entry in Maag's financial statement: a loan from Maag to SAFY recorded in documents in the Lima courthouse.
After several days spent plowing through land records at the courthouse in Lima, we pieced together several questionable land transactions involving SAFY Basically, Maag and a fellow official bought property and then either sold or leased it to SAFY at very advantageous terms.
Meanwhile, Jasper had talked to a former SAFY official living near Lima, Ohio, who told her about an independent living program for children that had provided little or no supervision, and degenerated into an endless teenage party of sex and drugs. We talked to neighbors, police and former clients in the program who confirmed that account.
Computer and interviews
We pieced together other stories as well by using a variety of databases. We matched names of foster parents with criminal records and found and interviewed criminals the state had licensed to take care of foster children. Sometimes what a database didn't show was crucial. Although hundreds of children die each year while in foster care, a federal database of foster children doesn't require states to report cause of death.
But more important to the story than computers were the interviews with everyone connected to the foster care system. We knocked on as many doors as possible. Many parents were not willing to talk on the phone, but were less reluctant when we arrived at their doors.
Another important note: One of the best ways to find foster parents is to talk with teachers, particularly in schools for children with behavior disorders. In addition, some states will provide you with a list of every foster parent licensed in the state. Also examine state foster care regulations, which are often lax.
And even when stories seem too outlandish to be true, check them out. For example, we repeatedly heard stories about Maag's involvement with a foster child in his own home but they still seemed far-fetched. Then, as we sorted through a stack of old state documents, we found a state investigator's notes that said "Maag admitted to drinking beer and `S' rubbed his back, he rubbed her back and they kissed."
The search for "S" was on.
"S" talks
Standing at her front door, our nervousness showed on our faces. We both braced for those first crucial moments when we expected to have to convince a reluctant if not hostile person to talk to us.
The door swung open and the young mother - once she recovered from her initial shock at our presence - invited us in.
She told us she had been called by others and asked about her contact with Maag, but had refused interviews. Talking to her in person convinced her that the story was meaningful and important to us and we could be trusted.
Our interview with "S" lasted for more than an hour and our initial anxiety gave way to a feeling of relief and later to a sense of outrage as "S" confirmed in detail the state investigator's report.
Eventually we learned through secret court documenu that Maag had been charged in 1986 with two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly giving alcohol to his foster daughter and her friend and one misdemeanor count of abuse relating to his foster daughter. However, because "S" had left town before testifying, Maag had only been convicted in 1987 of one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, for giving alcohol to a friend of "S's." A year after his conviction, Maag had the records expunged.
When Jasper called Maag for an interview to discuss what we had learned, he declined.
After the series ran, Ohio legislators introduced bills that call for stronger oversight of foster agencies and foster homes. Nationally, the organization which accredited SAFY announced that it would start randomly inspecting foster homes before giving foster agencies a seal of approval. In addition, state officials in Ohio announced they are creating a new department focused solely on the welfare of children and the Ohio auditor announced he would audit every foster care agency in the state.
And Maag? He took a leave of absence from the agency he founded. A few months later, nearly half of his board of directors resigned. Then, Maag himself resigned.
Debra Jasper, 35, has worked for the Dayton Daily News for the past eight years, first covering City Hall and then covering the Ohio statehouse. She spent 10 months working on two foster care series and left the newspaper in September to work on a book and pursue her doctorate.
Elliot Jaspin, 54, is Systems Editor for Cox Newspapers. He works in Washington, D. C.
Jasper, Deborah, et al. The Investigative Reporters and Editors Journal, May/June 2000.
Child welfare stories usually have a lot of the ingredients needed to make solid, investigative pieces. If you look hard enough, say those who cover such issues, you can probably find an inept and overwhelmed bureaucracy, money and sympathetic victims who make for great stories.
We turned off the two-lane black top onto a rutted dirt road that wound through the dark pine forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Even though it was August, the land looked tense, as if waiting for the first bite of winter.
We'd spent the last few days criss-crossing the Midwest as we investigated one of the largest foster care agencies in the country: Specialized Alternatives for Family and Youth (SAFY). We'd been told repeatedly that its director, Bruce Maag, a man with more than 1,200 foster children in his agency's care, allegedly had improper sexual contact with one of his own foster children years earlier and gotten away with it.
At the end of the dirt road we hoped to nail down this final, explosive piece of the story.
We had been working on a four-part series on foster care for the past six months and the picture that was emerging was more depressing than we had imagined. We had knocked on doors of foster homes across Ohio, Indiana and Texas and found children living in unimaginable squalor. We found foster programs that left kids unsupervised and engaging in illicit drug use and sex.
We were nearing the end of our research when we obtained state documents that detailed how Maag, the founder and head of SAFY, had acknowledged in 1986 that he had kissed his foster daughter and given her beer. The information was in the form of notes from a state investigator that were maddeningly incomplete. Some names were blanked out. There were references to secret court documents.
At the center of the story was a girl whom we only knew by the first and last letter of her first name "S and a" - the rest was omitted. It was clear we had to find "S."
We holed up in hotel just outside Lima, Ohio, a fraying blue-collar town near where Maag lived, and sifted through documents trying to piece together enough information to track her down. We had little to go on. In addition to two letters in her first name, we had the name of her ex-husband, her birth date, and a tip from a source who said she might have moved to northern Michigan several years ago.
That was it.
We began a computer search using a database called Autotrack to see if we could find a woman in Michigan with the same profile and any possible links to Ohio.
One name popped out. The woman had no listed phone number. She lived on a desolate lake in the backwoods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. With our deadline looming, the pressure was on to find her.
Follow the money
Debra had first met Maag two years earlier at a Florida resort. She was doing a series on foster care in Ohio and had gone to Florida to check out a weeklong seminar SAFY was holding for social workers from around the country.
In his first encounter with Jasper, he wanted to know "what the hell" she was doing there, and later warned her that she was only to interview people he okayed in advance. She left the conference believing Maag deserved a closer look because of what she had learned. SAFY's detractors had complained bitterly about the agency. One teacher described SAFY as "horrible," and told of SAFY foster parents who cared more about the money they could make from taking in foster children than about kids themselves.
Some of these stories made it into the first series describing the wretched conditions of foster children in Ohio. But many details about SAFY did not.
And while the series had an almost immediate impact as legislators passed bills and state investigations began, the Ohio experience raised a larger question: If Ohio's system was this bad, what about the rest of the country?
Jasper lobbied for and won a commitment from the editors at the Dayton Daily News to answer that question. Nationally accredited SAFY loomed large - if for no other reason than it was an agency that was nationally recognized and operated in seven states. It trained social workers from across the nation, and was headed by Maag.
In beginning our investigation, we stuck to the old adage "follow the money." We inspected foster care agencies' IRS form 990s to see how they spent their money, checked salaries, land purchases and how much they received in tax dollars per day per child.
During this examination Jaspin noticed an odd entry in Maag's financial statement: a loan from Maag to SAFY recorded in documents in the Lima courthouse.
After several days spent plowing through land records at the courthouse in Lima, we pieced together several questionable land transactions involving SAFY Basically, Maag and a fellow official bought property and then either sold or leased it to SAFY at very advantageous terms.
Meanwhile, Jasper had talked to a former SAFY official living near Lima, Ohio, who told her about an independent living program for children that had provided little or no supervision, and degenerated into an endless teenage party of sex and drugs. We talked to neighbors, police and former clients in the program who confirmed that account.
Computer and interviews
We pieced together other stories as well by using a variety of databases. We matched names of foster parents with criminal records and found and interviewed criminals the state had licensed to take care of foster children. Sometimes what a database didn't show was crucial. Although hundreds of children die each year while in foster care, a federal database of foster children doesn't require states to report cause of death.
But more important to the story than computers were the interviews with everyone connected to the foster care system. We knocked on as many doors as possible. Many parents were not willing to talk on the phone, but were less reluctant when we arrived at their doors.
Another important note: One of the best ways to find foster parents is to talk with teachers, particularly in schools for children with behavior disorders. In addition, some states will provide you with a list of every foster parent licensed in the state. Also examine state foster care regulations, which are often lax.
And even when stories seem too outlandish to be true, check them out. For example, we repeatedly heard stories about Maag's involvement with a foster child in his own home but they still seemed far-fetched. Then, as we sorted through a stack of old state documents, we found a state investigator's notes that said "Maag admitted to drinking beer and `S' rubbed his back, he rubbed her back and they kissed."
The search for "S" was on.
"S" talks
Standing at her front door, our nervousness showed on our faces. We both braced for those first crucial moments when we expected to have to convince a reluctant if not hostile person to talk to us.
The door swung open and the young mother - once she recovered from her initial shock at our presence - invited us in.
She told us she had been called by others and asked about her contact with Maag, but had refused interviews. Talking to her in person convinced her that the story was meaningful and important to us and we could be trusted.
Our interview with "S" lasted for more than an hour and our initial anxiety gave way to a feeling of relief and later to a sense of outrage as "S" confirmed in detail the state investigator's report.
Eventually we learned through secret court documenu that Maag had been charged in 1986 with two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly giving alcohol to his foster daughter and her friend and one misdemeanor count of abuse relating to his foster daughter. However, because "S" had left town before testifying, Maag had only been convicted in 1987 of one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, for giving alcohol to a friend of "S's." A year after his conviction, Maag had the records expunged.
When Jasper called Maag for an interview to discuss what we had learned, he declined.
After the series ran, Ohio legislators introduced bills that call for stronger oversight of foster agencies and foster homes. Nationally, the organization which accredited SAFY announced that it would start randomly inspecting foster homes before giving foster agencies a seal of approval. In addition, state officials in Ohio announced they are creating a new department focused solely on the welfare of children and the Ohio auditor announced he would audit every foster care agency in the state.
And Maag? He took a leave of absence from the agency he founded. A few months later, nearly half of his board of directors resigned. Then, Maag himself resigned.
Debra Jasper, 35, has worked for the Dayton Daily News for the past eight years, first covering City Hall and then covering the Ohio statehouse. She spent 10 months working on two foster care series and left the newspaper in September to work on a book and pursue her doctorate.
Elliot Jaspin, 54, is Systems Editor for Cox Newspapers. He works in Washington, D. C.
Bruce Maag should not control the destiny of vulnerable children
Founder Of Home Used To Help Children Has Alarming Past
WBNS 10-TV, March 15 2007.
The state said it is unlikely they will revoke a license to a company that provides homes for foster children even though its founder has a criminal past.
Last week the state gave Phoenix Homes Inc. a license to operate in Ohio, 10TV's Penny Moore reported. It is located in Delphos, in Allen County.
According to its corporate filings with the Ohio Secretary of State's office, Bruce Maag is the president of Phoenix's parent company, International Phoenix Group, which already operates foster homes in four other states.
Bruce Maag founded and ran a private foster care agency, Specialized Alternatives For Youth in Allen County from 1983 to 1999 until an ugly scandal that led to a criminal conviction. The scandal was exposed by the Dayton Daily News, Moore reported.
Maag not only ran the agency but was a foster parent to a 16-year-old girl.
10TV obtained documents from the files of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. There were notes that a SAFY caseworker was told there had been sexual contact between Maag and the girl.
Since the girl was from Logan County, a children services caseworker there questioned Maag and told the state that he admitted drinking beer and the girl rubbed his back. He rubbed her back and they kissed. The caseworker added that agency files on the incident conclude that more than back rubbing was involved.
Then, a letter from SAFY's board to the state said that Maag was served with a summons to appear in juvenile court on misdemeanor charges. The state began an investigation, Moore reported.
Maag and his wife resigned as foster parents.
The Dayton newspaper investigation revealed that Maag was charged with one count of abuse and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for giving alcohol to the girl and a friend. He pleaded guilty only to the count involving the friend, Moore reported.
10TV obtained an order from an Allen County judge showing the conviction was sealed. It was expunged by the judge a year later with an order the case be "deemed never to have occurred."
The documents proved that the state knew about Maag's history, Moore reported.
When 10 Investigates attempted to talk with Maag, Isaac Palmer, the company's chief executive officer, said that 10TV did not know the truth about Maag's criminal past.
Moore: "Who can tell us the truth about the incident? Obviously you know about the incident."
Palmer: "Yes. Look, I'm not talking here. You can cut that off and I know how you're (going to) make me look silly on the news."
Moore: "I would like to not make you look silly if you'd talk to me."
Palmer: "I'm not talking to you (because) its not relevant to what we're doing here in Ohio. It's not relevant."
It was not relevant because Maag's name is nowhere on the application for a license to place foster children in Ohio.
"Bruce Maag is not technically, for our licensing purposes - he is not involved with the day-to-day operation with any of the Ohio business," said Dennis Evans of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Evans said the state had no legal right to deny Phoenix's license.
Phoenix can now train foster parents and place children in Ohio if county agencies want to use them.
John Holtkamp, who is the director of Logan County Children Services, where the incident involving the 16-year-old girl was investigated, said he is not sure what he would do.
"I would certainly have concerns about this organization," Holtkamp said. "There would be red flags. It would require an exercise in due diligence to examine the organization and any issues in regard to its history and the individuals involved."
10 Investigates attempted to talk to Maag at his Allen County home but received no response. If the Department of Job and Family Services receives a complaint that Maag is involved in the state, there will be an investigation because Phoenix applied for its license without Maag, Moore reported.
Since Maag's criminal record was expunged, the state said it is still unlikely that the license would be revoked.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Note to Mildred: Parents should not discipline children by starving them
Woman gets 4 years for starving son
Dick, Kimberly. The Advocate, March 6, 2007, pg. A1.
NEWARK -- Mildred McMannis admitted to starving her teenage son with cerebral palsy but said she loves him and didn't mean to hurt him.
Judge Jon Spahr sentenced McMannis, 40, of Newark, to four years in prison after she pleaded guilty Monday morning in Licking County Common Pleas Court to one count of child endangering.
The 5-foot, 6-inch teen weighed 76 pounds when Newark school officials notified Children's Services. He looked malnourished and had injuries to his face and body.
The teen gained 20 pounds during a hospital stay after being removed from McMannis' care in late August.
Darrell Faller, the teen's father who is fighting for custody, said the teen is doing well in a group home and attending high school.
"He still loves her," Faller said. "He thinks it's his fault -- that he deserved to be starved and locked in his room. He has a lot of questions to be answered."
While McMannis said her now-17-year-old son's diet was to prevent him from becoming diabetic, her other children claim McMannis fed the teen differently for discipline.
McMannis admitted to striking the boy for refusing to clean the floor after urinating in his pants.
"I love my son," McMannis said. "I hope at some point I am able to be reunited with him and show him I'm really sorry."
J. Tullis Rogers, McMannis' attorney, said McMannis, who struggled with several issues, including alcoholism and depression, tried to seek help for her son, who had a documented history of aggression.
When McMannis was arrested, Rogers said she weighed about 90 pounds and since has gained weight and sought alcohol treatment and counseling.
In a letter to her attorney, McMannis said, "In the end I will blame myself. I asked my family and MRDD for help, and I was unable to get help.
"No punishment can compare to the pain I feel. All I wanted to do is to be a good parent."
Chuck McMannis, Mildred's husband of 11 years, said if the system would have been there to help when the call was made, the situation may not have gotten so out of hand.
Neither he nor his wife have seen the teen since her arrest.
Chuck McMannis said his wife is sorry, but she didn't treat the teen as badly as had been portrayed.
"She was just trying to control him with food," Chuck McMannis said. "She was frustrated."
Rogers asked for less than a five-year sentence so McMannis would be able to apply for judicial release in as early as six months.
While two counts -- a third-degree felony child endangering and a misdemeanor domestic violence -- were dismissed, Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Dave Mallett said it was not a plea agreement.
McMannis pled to a second-degree felony charge, the most serious charge on the indictment, Mallett said.
McMannis received a jail credit of 176 days. Upon her release, she is subject to three years of parole.
Dick, Kimberly. The Advocate, March 6, 2007, pg. A1.
NEWARK -- Mildred McMannis admitted to starving her teenage son with cerebral palsy but said she loves him and didn't mean to hurt him.
Judge Jon Spahr sentenced McMannis, 40, of Newark, to four years in prison after she pleaded guilty Monday morning in Licking County Common Pleas Court to one count of child endangering.
The 5-foot, 6-inch teen weighed 76 pounds when Newark school officials notified Children's Services. He looked malnourished and had injuries to his face and body.
The teen gained 20 pounds during a hospital stay after being removed from McMannis' care in late August.
Darrell Faller, the teen's father who is fighting for custody, said the teen is doing well in a group home and attending high school.
"He still loves her," Faller said. "He thinks it's his fault -- that he deserved to be starved and locked in his room. He has a lot of questions to be answered."
While McMannis said her now-17-year-old son's diet was to prevent him from becoming diabetic, her other children claim McMannis fed the teen differently for discipline.
McMannis admitted to striking the boy for refusing to clean the floor after urinating in his pants.
"I love my son," McMannis said. "I hope at some point I am able to be reunited with him and show him I'm really sorry."
J. Tullis Rogers, McMannis' attorney, said McMannis, who struggled with several issues, including alcoholism and depression, tried to seek help for her son, who had a documented history of aggression.
When McMannis was arrested, Rogers said she weighed about 90 pounds and since has gained weight and sought alcohol treatment and counseling.
In a letter to her attorney, McMannis said, "In the end I will blame myself. I asked my family and MRDD for help, and I was unable to get help.
"No punishment can compare to the pain I feel. All I wanted to do is to be a good parent."
Chuck McMannis, Mildred's husband of 11 years, said if the system would have been there to help when the call was made, the situation may not have gotten so out of hand.
Neither he nor his wife have seen the teen since her arrest.
Chuck McMannis said his wife is sorry, but she didn't treat the teen as badly as had been portrayed.
"She was just trying to control him with food," Chuck McMannis said. "She was frustrated."
Rogers asked for less than a five-year sentence so McMannis would be able to apply for judicial release in as early as six months.
While two counts -- a third-degree felony child endangering and a misdemeanor domestic violence -- were dismissed, Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Dave Mallett said it was not a plea agreement.
McMannis pled to a second-degree felony charge, the most serious charge on the indictment, Mallett said.
McMannis received a jail credit of 176 days. Upon her release, she is subject to three years of parole.
Hamilton Co. criminal background check system a model for other Ohio counties
Opinion: Ongoing foster care checks
Toledo Blade, March 13, 2007, pg. A8.
FOSTER children need all the protection authorities can provide them, considering the serious problems that have come to light in Ohio in recent months.
Now, as Hamilton County foster agency officials have learned, it's not enough to only conduct initial background checks on foster parents. These days, ongoing checks are necessary, and if parents refuse to consent to the checks, the children should be removed from the home.
The Hamilton County agency, which includes Cincinnati, has come under scrutiny because it didn't know about six of 27 arrests uncovered in background checks.
The reason for the failure: the agency only looked for convictions, not arrests. The six cases did not result in convictions. Hamilton County court officials discovered the arrests as they were setting up a system to provide immediate notification when arrests do occur.
It's true that an arrest does not always mean guilt, and innocence must be presumed. But when the care of children is involved, the agency ultimately responsible for their safety should be informed.
Not surprisingly, the Hamilton County agency has been criticized. Especially worrisome is that one parent was arrested on child endangering charges. That should have been enough to alert the foster care system that the children in that home might no longer be safe and prompt an immediate investigation. Hamilton officials now plan to make periodic background checks and remove children from homes where foster parents refuse to consent to the checks.
Terrible things can happen to foster children, as northwest Ohioans learned recently when children were forced to sleep in cages by Huron County foster parents who were convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Another tragedy involved a Clermont County woman who left a developmentally disabled preschooler bound in a blanket in a closet while she went to a weekend family reunion last summer. The child died.
The Hamilton County criminal background check system that alerts authorities when foster parents are arrested is believed to be the first of its kind in Ohio. If that's so, other counties should follow their lead - for the children's sake.
Toledo Blade, March 13, 2007, pg. A8.
FOSTER children need all the protection authorities can provide them, considering the serious problems that have come to light in Ohio in recent months.
Now, as Hamilton County foster agency officials have learned, it's not enough to only conduct initial background checks on foster parents. These days, ongoing checks are necessary, and if parents refuse to consent to the checks, the children should be removed from the home.
The Hamilton County agency, which includes Cincinnati, has come under scrutiny because it didn't know about six of 27 arrests uncovered in background checks.
The reason for the failure: the agency only looked for convictions, not arrests. The six cases did not result in convictions. Hamilton County court officials discovered the arrests as they were setting up a system to provide immediate notification when arrests do occur.
It's true that an arrest does not always mean guilt, and innocence must be presumed. But when the care of children is involved, the agency ultimately responsible for their safety should be informed.
Not surprisingly, the Hamilton County agency has been criticized. Especially worrisome is that one parent was arrested on child endangering charges. That should have been enough to alert the foster care system that the children in that home might no longer be safe and prompt an immediate investigation. Hamilton officials now plan to make periodic background checks and remove children from homes where foster parents refuse to consent to the checks.
Terrible things can happen to foster children, as northwest Ohioans learned recently when children were forced to sleep in cages by Huron County foster parents who were convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Another tragedy involved a Clermont County woman who left a developmentally disabled preschooler bound in a blanket in a closet while she went to a weekend family reunion last summer. The child died.
The Hamilton County criminal background check system that alerts authorities when foster parents are arrested is believed to be the first of its kind in Ohio. If that's so, other counties should follow their lead - for the children's sake.
Mobile park residents picket Amy Baker
In Baker's old neighborhood, signs express anger she's free
Truong, Quan. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 22, 2007, pg. C2.
AMELIA - Four weeks after the trial that sent a Union Township couple to prison for killing their 3-year-old foster son, some residents here are lashing out against the prosecution's key witness.
At least half a dozen signs saying "Amelia wants U 2 leave Amy," and "Put Amy Baker behind bars," were posted this week on poles and fences at the Eastgate mobile home park on Ohio 125, where Baker used to live.
Baker was the chief prosecution witness against Liz and David Carroll, foster parents of Marcus Fiesel, a developmentally disabled boy placed in their care.
Baker, the Carrolls' live-in girlfriend, and her children had been living with the Carrolls before the couple were arrested. They have since been convicted of murder.
Prosecutors granted Baker immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony against the Carrolls. She admitted being involved in the disposal of Marcus' body, not in his death.
The signs were clear evidence that Baker's freedom has angered many residents here, Pierce Township resident Mike Valentine, 39, said.
"The mood is total disgust and discouragement in the system" he said. "She's involved to a lot greater degree than many people believe. It (the signs) satisfies a lot of people's pent-up frustration."
Cherice Adkins, David Carroll Jr.'s stepsister who lives in the park, has publicly criticized the Carrolls and Baker.
She saw the signs posted Monday night.
"I was shocked but I laughed," Adkins said. "Honestly, I don't think enough was said (about Baker). As long as her children aren't subjected to it but I think that a lot of people are just so angry."
The signs were removed by Wednesday afternoon.
Several residents of the mobile home park said they did not know who posted the signs.
Truong, Quan. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 22, 2007, pg. C2.
AMELIA - Four weeks after the trial that sent a Union Township couple to prison for killing their 3-year-old foster son, some residents here are lashing out against the prosecution's key witness.
At least half a dozen signs saying "Amelia wants U 2 leave Amy," and "Put Amy Baker behind bars," were posted this week on poles and fences at the Eastgate mobile home park on Ohio 125, where Baker used to live.
Baker was the chief prosecution witness against Liz and David Carroll, foster parents of Marcus Fiesel, a developmentally disabled boy placed in their care.
Baker, the Carrolls' live-in girlfriend, and her children had been living with the Carrolls before the couple were arrested. They have since been convicted of murder.
Prosecutors granted Baker immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony against the Carrolls. She admitted being involved in the disposal of Marcus' body, not in his death.
The signs were clear evidence that Baker's freedom has angered many residents here, Pierce Township resident Mike Valentine, 39, said.
"The mood is total disgust and discouragement in the system" he said. "She's involved to a lot greater degree than many people believe. It (the signs) satisfies a lot of people's pent-up frustration."
Cherice Adkins, David Carroll Jr.'s stepsister who lives in the park, has publicly criticized the Carrolls and Baker.
She saw the signs posted Monday night.
"I was shocked but I laughed," Adkins said. "Honestly, I don't think enough was said (about Baker). As long as her children aren't subjected to it but I think that a lot of people are just so angry."
The signs were removed by Wednesday afternoon.
Several residents of the mobile home park said they did not know who posted the signs.
Bucyrus appoints new Family Resource Center coordinator
Family center coordinator named
Telegraph-Forum, March 19, 2007, pg. A3.
BUCYRUS -- The Crawford County Family and Children First Council and the Family Resource Center Advisory Committee has selected Bob Dille as the Family Resource Center coordinator.
In this position, Dille will manage and complete fiscal reporting of all grants and donations and funds under the auspices of the FRC. He will supervise and coordinate the volunteers to assist in the operation of the FRC. Dille will also provide information about community resources of assistance, referrals to other agencies for families, individuals and other inquirers.
Other responsibilities include providing programs and training to include "1-2-3 Magic Parenting," which assists in managing difficult behavior in children ages 2-12 years old and encouraging good behavior, independence and self-esteem. Another program is "Surviving Your Adolescents," which helps parents learn how to manage and let go of their 13-18 year olds.
The FRC will maintain an up-to-date lending library to include materials on parenting, child abuse/neglect, child development and other pertinent subjects.
Funding for the FRC come from a variety of sources such as Crawford County Department of Job and Family Services, Bucyrus Elks, Gannett Publishing, ADAMH Board, the Bucyrus Area Community Fund, the Ohio Children's Trust Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Fund and other private donations.
Other programs available from the Crawford County Family and Children First Council include Kinship Care, Family Strengthening, Help Me Grow, Wellness programs and the Wraparound process.
Dille brings a wealth of experience to the position of FRC coordinator. He retired after 30 years of service in the Ohio Air National Guard. Here he gained knowledge and experience as a human resource generalist, customer service supervisor, training manager, career and education manager, family support group coordinator, employee assistance counselor and financial resource adviser.
Since retiring from the Air National Guard, Dille has also been employed by the Crawford County Council on Aging in the transportation department, as a client manager for the Bill Harris Auto Group and as an advertising sales representative for RFD News. He also assists several area schools as a substitute school bus driver.
Dille has served as a coach for a variety of youth and junior high sports and AAU basketball for a number of years. He is a co-leader of the "Walking With the Son" puppet team, which is a ministry of the Bucyrus Nazarene Church. At the church he has also served as a governing board member, youth adviser and usher. Dille and his wife, Rhonda, have three adopted children and have been foster parents.
Dille will be available to speak to groups regarding the FRC and its programs by calling 419-562-2057 or 1-866-562-2057.
The FRC is in the Court House Annex, 117 E. Mansfield St. (lower level).
Telegraph-Forum, March 19, 2007, pg. A3.
BUCYRUS -- The Crawford County Family and Children First Council and the Family Resource Center Advisory Committee has selected Bob Dille as the Family Resource Center coordinator.
In this position, Dille will manage and complete fiscal reporting of all grants and donations and funds under the auspices of the FRC. He will supervise and coordinate the volunteers to assist in the operation of the FRC. Dille will also provide information about community resources of assistance, referrals to other agencies for families, individuals and other inquirers.
Other responsibilities include providing programs and training to include "1-2-3 Magic Parenting," which assists in managing difficult behavior in children ages 2-12 years old and encouraging good behavior, independence and self-esteem. Another program is "Surviving Your Adolescents," which helps parents learn how to manage and let go of their 13-18 year olds.
The FRC will maintain an up-to-date lending library to include materials on parenting, child abuse/neglect, child development and other pertinent subjects.
Funding for the FRC come from a variety of sources such as Crawford County Department of Job and Family Services, Bucyrus Elks, Gannett Publishing, ADAMH Board, the Bucyrus Area Community Fund, the Ohio Children's Trust Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Fund and other private donations.
Other programs available from the Crawford County Family and Children First Council include Kinship Care, Family Strengthening, Help Me Grow, Wellness programs and the Wraparound process.
Dille brings a wealth of experience to the position of FRC coordinator. He retired after 30 years of service in the Ohio Air National Guard. Here he gained knowledge and experience as a human resource generalist, customer service supervisor, training manager, career and education manager, family support group coordinator, employee assistance counselor and financial resource adviser.
Since retiring from the Air National Guard, Dille has also been employed by the Crawford County Council on Aging in the transportation department, as a client manager for the Bill Harris Auto Group and as an advertising sales representative for RFD News. He also assists several area schools as a substitute school bus driver.
Dille has served as a coach for a variety of youth and junior high sports and AAU basketball for a number of years. He is a co-leader of the "Walking With the Son" puppet team, which is a ministry of the Bucyrus Nazarene Church. At the church he has also served as a governing board member, youth adviser and usher. Dille and his wife, Rhonda, have three adopted children and have been foster parents.
Dille will be available to speak to groups regarding the FRC and its programs by calling 419-562-2057 or 1-866-562-2057.
The FRC is in the Court House Annex, 117 E. Mansfield St. (lower level).
Did the Carrolls have a habit of tying up children??
Family claims abuse
Cincinnati Post, March 22, 2007, pg. A2.
The Butler County family of a 1-year-old placed in foster care with convicted killers Liz and David Carroll Jr. has alleged in a federal lawsuit that the boy was tied up and kicked down the stairs by the Union Township couple while staying with them last summer.
Aaron and Sara Leach are suing the Carrolls; their live-in girlfriend, Amy Baker; Butler County; and the foster care placement agency, Lifeway for Youth, claiming their son was subjected to abuse when he lived in the Carrolls' home.The Leaches were forced to give up their sons, ages 5, 4, and 1, in February 2006 after Aaron was convicted of selling drugs. The Leaches have since regained full custody.
Cincinnati Post, March 22, 2007, pg. A2.
The Butler County family of a 1-year-old placed in foster care with convicted killers Liz and David Carroll Jr. has alleged in a federal lawsuit that the boy was tied up and kicked down the stairs by the Union Township couple while staying with them last summer.
Aaron and Sara Leach are suing the Carrolls; their live-in girlfriend, Amy Baker; Butler County; and the foster care placement agency, Lifeway for Youth, claiming their son was subjected to abuse when he lived in the Carrolls' home.The Leaches were forced to give up their sons, ages 5, 4, and 1, in February 2006 after Aaron was convicted of selling drugs. The Leaches have since regained full custody.
Phoenix Homes refuses to absorb Lifeway's children
Lifeway fights to keep license
McLaughlin, Sheila. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 21, 2007, pg. A1.
In reversal, foster care agency appeals Ohio's actionThe private foster care agency that placed 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel with the foster parents who killed him has decided once again to try to stay open in Ohio.
Lifeway For Youth, a $15 million business that oversees more than 300 foster homes in Ohio and operates in five other states, filed an appeal with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Monday to challenge the recommendation to revoke its foster care license in Ohio.
In January, when Ohio started the revocation process, Lifeway founder and director Michael Berner vowed to resist. Then in February, he said the agency would not oppose the revocation.
But since then, Phoenix Homes Inc., a newly licensed nonprofit foster care company, has pulled out of negotiations to absorb Lifeway's Ohio foster homes.
If the appeal decision goes against the New Carlisle-based company, Lifeway can appeal again in court, said Dennis Evans, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
For now, it's business as usual at Lifeway but with a depleted staff.
"We continue to serve the children that are placed with us in our homes and continue to give good service to those children," Lifeway spokeswoman Pearl Cline said Tuesday. About a third of Lifeway's staff has resigned since January, Lifeway officials said, leaving the company with about 100 employees in Ohio.
Lifeway's future has been iffy since Jan. 17, when the state said it would revoke its license following an investigation into Marcus' death at the hands of his foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. of Clermont County.
The state found 147 violations in 40 Lifeway foster care cases, 27 of them in the Marcus case.
Marcus, a developmentally delayed boy from Middletown, died after he was bound in a blanket and strapping tape and left in a closet for two days. The Carrolls are in prison after being convicted of murder.
McLaughlin, Sheila. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 21, 2007, pg. A1.
In reversal, foster care agency appeals Ohio's actionThe private foster care agency that placed 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel with the foster parents who killed him has decided once again to try to stay open in Ohio.
Lifeway For Youth, a $15 million business that oversees more than 300 foster homes in Ohio and operates in five other states, filed an appeal with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Monday to challenge the recommendation to revoke its foster care license in Ohio.
In January, when Ohio started the revocation process, Lifeway founder and director Michael Berner vowed to resist. Then in February, he said the agency would not oppose the revocation.
But since then, Phoenix Homes Inc., a newly licensed nonprofit foster care company, has pulled out of negotiations to absorb Lifeway's Ohio foster homes.
If the appeal decision goes against the New Carlisle-based company, Lifeway can appeal again in court, said Dennis Evans, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
For now, it's business as usual at Lifeway but with a depleted staff.
"We continue to serve the children that are placed with us in our homes and continue to give good service to those children," Lifeway spokeswoman Pearl Cline said Tuesday. About a third of Lifeway's staff has resigned since January, Lifeway officials said, leaving the company with about 100 employees in Ohio.
Lifeway's future has been iffy since Jan. 17, when the state said it would revoke its license following an investigation into Marcus' death at the hands of his foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. of Clermont County.
The state found 147 violations in 40 Lifeway foster care cases, 27 of them in the Marcus case.
Marcus, a developmentally delayed boy from Middletown, died after he was bound in a blanket and strapping tape and left in a closet for two days. The Carrolls are in prison after being convicted of murder.
All children in foster care deserve support, counseling and stability
Editorial
More victims of Carroll case: The surviving children
Cincinnati Enquirer, March 20, 2007, pg. B6.
It is both ironic and tragic that the children of Liz and David Carroll are now forced to rely on the integrity of the very system their parents betrayed.
After the Carrolls were charged with, then convicted in, the death of their foster child, Marcus Fiesel, their own four children were placed in foster care. So, too, were the three children of Amy Baker, the Carrolls' live-in girlfriend who lost custody in the aftermath of the crime.
The plight of these seven children illustrates in dramatic style the terrible dilemma of the foster care system - the horrifying circumstances that put children into it, the vulnerability they face therein and the necessity of a placement option for children who are living in dangerous, unstable or turbulent circumstances.
Until now, 3-year-old Marcus had been the focus of public sympathy and attention. But now, as custody hearings begin, it's clear that there were seven other victims in the unorthodox, explosive, sometimes violent Carroll-Baker home. Monday, a judge postponed a decision in the Baker custody case until May 7, the same day a hearing is scheduled on the custody of the Carroll children.
Foster care providers say there is no use applying special designations for "traumatized" children in foster care - their placement in the system means they all have suffered trauma. The details we know of the Baker and Carroll children's pasts are enough to make clear the need these children have for support, counseling, affection and stability.
Court testimony revealed that Marcus was bound in a blanket and left in a closet while the family went to weekend reunion - left behind, Amy Baker testified, so relatives wouldn't see bruising on Marcus's neck after he was left in a car seat overnight. Just what the other children saw or heard of Marcus' treatment isn't clear, but certainly they lived in a volatile environment and later had to endure the search for Marcus, his death and the upheaval it caused in their daily living circumstances and their psyches.
Through these children's plight we also get some glimpse of the difficulties judges face in determining long-term placement of children caught in traumatic family situations. Two of the Carroll children's grandparents have asked for custody, and another has asked for visiting rights after custody is decided.
Amy Baker wants to regain custody of her children as well - after admitting in court that she recommended where to burn Marcus' body, and recounting how she had watched David Carroll give Marcus cold baths and trip him as he walked by. Baker's father and stepmother have, as a backup, also filed for custody, although they haven't been allowed to see their grandchildren while in foster care, perhaps because the father, Bob Ramsey, has had theft convictions. Amy Baker's estranged husband, Brian Baker, is seeking custody as well.
Baker's stepmother said Baker's children have endured three foster care placements, and subsequent transfers among schools. "They don't think anybody loves them," she told Enquirer reporter Barrett Brunsman.
It will take years to determine if the child welfare system really learned any lessons from the pain-filled life and awful death of Marcus Fiesel. But right now seven traumatized children are waiting on a host of adults to start the healing process for wounds they did not deserve.
What they do deserve is the best the child welfare system, the courts and their own extended families can offer them - stability, tenderness, wide and continuing oversight, and the simple decency at having a shot at regained childhood.
More victims of Carroll case: The surviving children
Cincinnati Enquirer, March 20, 2007, pg. B6.
It is both ironic and tragic that the children of Liz and David Carroll are now forced to rely on the integrity of the very system their parents betrayed.
After the Carrolls were charged with, then convicted in, the death of their foster child, Marcus Fiesel, their own four children were placed in foster care. So, too, were the three children of Amy Baker, the Carrolls' live-in girlfriend who lost custody in the aftermath of the crime.
The plight of these seven children illustrates in dramatic style the terrible dilemma of the foster care system - the horrifying circumstances that put children into it, the vulnerability they face therein and the necessity of a placement option for children who are living in dangerous, unstable or turbulent circumstances.
Until now, 3-year-old Marcus had been the focus of public sympathy and attention. But now, as custody hearings begin, it's clear that there were seven other victims in the unorthodox, explosive, sometimes violent Carroll-Baker home. Monday, a judge postponed a decision in the Baker custody case until May 7, the same day a hearing is scheduled on the custody of the Carroll children.
Foster care providers say there is no use applying special designations for "traumatized" children in foster care - their placement in the system means they all have suffered trauma. The details we know of the Baker and Carroll children's pasts are enough to make clear the need these children have for support, counseling, affection and stability.
Court testimony revealed that Marcus was bound in a blanket and left in a closet while the family went to weekend reunion - left behind, Amy Baker testified, so relatives wouldn't see bruising on Marcus's neck after he was left in a car seat overnight. Just what the other children saw or heard of Marcus' treatment isn't clear, but certainly they lived in a volatile environment and later had to endure the search for Marcus, his death and the upheaval it caused in their daily living circumstances and their psyches.
Through these children's plight we also get some glimpse of the difficulties judges face in determining long-term placement of children caught in traumatic family situations. Two of the Carroll children's grandparents have asked for custody, and another has asked for visiting rights after custody is decided.
Amy Baker wants to regain custody of her children as well - after admitting in court that she recommended where to burn Marcus' body, and recounting how she had watched David Carroll give Marcus cold baths and trip him as he walked by. Baker's father and stepmother have, as a backup, also filed for custody, although they haven't been allowed to see their grandchildren while in foster care, perhaps because the father, Bob Ramsey, has had theft convictions. Amy Baker's estranged husband, Brian Baker, is seeking custody as well.
Baker's stepmother said Baker's children have endured three foster care placements, and subsequent transfers among schools. "They don't think anybody loves them," she told Enquirer reporter Barrett Brunsman.
It will take years to determine if the child welfare system really learned any lessons from the pain-filled life and awful death of Marcus Fiesel. But right now seven traumatized children are waiting on a host of adults to start the healing process for wounds they did not deserve.
What they do deserve is the best the child welfare system, the courts and their own extended families can offer them - stability, tenderness, wide and continuing oversight, and the simple decency at having a shot at regained childhood.
Baker's children witnessed domestic violence in Carroll home
Baker kids' fate up to court
Brunsman, Barrett. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 20, 3007, pg. B2.
In care after mother lost home with CarrollsBATAVIA - Amy Baker didn't dispute in court Monday that Clermont County had the right to take away her three children after the death of Marcus Fiesel, but now she wants them back.
After Baker acknowledged that Children's Protective Services had grounds to intervene last August, Judge Stephanie Wyler of Juvenile Court scheduled a May 7 hearing on who should have custody.
Remaining in foster care for now are a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
The former live-in girlfriend of Liz and David Carroll Jr., Baker had her kids taken by the county on Aug. 29, the day after the Union Township couple was arrested in the death of Marcus, their 3-year-old foster son.
Baker and her children had been living in the Valley Wood Drive home of the Carrolls with their four children and Marcus.
Children's Protective Services said in an Aug. 30 court filing that Baker was left homeless and had no job to support her children.
While in the Carroll home, Baker "allowed her children to be subjected to domestic violence," according to an affidavit by investigators for Children's Protective Services.
Baker also reportedly "was aware of the abuse to (Marcus) in the home of Liz and David Carroll," the investigators said.
On Monday, Baker, 25, sat at the same defense table as her estranged husband, Brian Baker, 26. The Brown County man is himself seeking custody of the three children.
Also seeking custody are Amy Baker's father and stepmother, Bob and Tracy Ramsey. The Brown County couple want the kids if the judge rules Amy Baker can't have them back.
The lawyer representing the legal interests of the Baker children, Anita Bechmann, asked that the judge order the Ramseys to not speak publicly about the case.
In a story published Sunday in The Enquirer, Tracy Ramsey, 41, said Baker's kids have had a horrible experience in foster care.
Although the children are together, they have been moved to three different foster homes in Clermont County, she said. The eldest child is upset because she has had to transfer to three schools.
"They have no clue what's going on," Tracy Ramsey previously told The Enquirer. "They don't think anybody loves them.
"It ain't no different than Marcus," Ramsey previously told The Enquirer. "Nobody's checking on my grandkids."
Tresa Gossett York, an attorney hired by the Ramseys, said the gag order requested by Bechmann was "another way to circumvent the system. Why would you be concerned about people talking to the witnesses? Is the issue children? The children already know (details of the case). So why gag people?"
Bechmann asked that the gag order also apply to lawyers and other witnesses in the case.
The lawyers for the Bakers didn't object to a gag order, nor did the office of Clermont County Prosecutor Don White, which is representing Children's Protective Services.
Jack Greiner, attorney for The Enquirer, objected to the proposed gag order during the hearing at the Clermont County Courthouse on Main Street.
He said gagging potential witnesses would raise serious First Amendment issues.
Greiner was present because The Enquirer has objected to a request by Bechmann and Children's Protective Services that all hearings involving custody of the Baker and Carroll children be closed to the public.
The judge said The Enquirer could have until March 26 to file a written objection to the proposed gag order. Bechmann and Assistant Clermont County Prosecutor Tom Flessa were given until April 3 to respond to whatever Greiner files.
While gag order is not in effect, Bob Ramsey, 51, said Monday that he and his wife are now afraid to talk further to the press.
The judge is to decide May 7 whether the Ramseys have a right to join in the custody case.
Wyler also is expected to rule then on whether to bar The Enquirer.
The same day, Wyler is to hold a hearing on custody of the Carroll children. Liz Carroll, 30, and David Carroll, 29, were sentenced last month to life in prison for the murder of Marcus.
Debbie Hounshell, 51, of Union Township, the mother of David Carroll, has applied for custody of those children - a boy and girl who are 8, a 6-year-old boy and a 3-year-old boy.
Liz Carroll's father, Delbert Sims, 54, of Ohio Township, also has asked the court for the Carroll children.
Brunsman, Barrett. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 20, 3007, pg. B2.
In care after mother lost home with CarrollsBATAVIA - Amy Baker didn't dispute in court Monday that Clermont County had the right to take away her three children after the death of Marcus Fiesel, but now she wants them back.
After Baker acknowledged that Children's Protective Services had grounds to intervene last August, Judge Stephanie Wyler of Juvenile Court scheduled a May 7 hearing on who should have custody.
Remaining in foster care for now are a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
The former live-in girlfriend of Liz and David Carroll Jr., Baker had her kids taken by the county on Aug. 29, the day after the Union Township couple was arrested in the death of Marcus, their 3-year-old foster son.
Baker and her children had been living in the Valley Wood Drive home of the Carrolls with their four children and Marcus.
Children's Protective Services said in an Aug. 30 court filing that Baker was left homeless and had no job to support her children.
While in the Carroll home, Baker "allowed her children to be subjected to domestic violence," according to an affidavit by investigators for Children's Protective Services.
Baker also reportedly "was aware of the abuse to (Marcus) in the home of Liz and David Carroll," the investigators said.
On Monday, Baker, 25, sat at the same defense table as her estranged husband, Brian Baker, 26. The Brown County man is himself seeking custody of the three children.
Also seeking custody are Amy Baker's father and stepmother, Bob and Tracy Ramsey. The Brown County couple want the kids if the judge rules Amy Baker can't have them back.
The lawyer representing the legal interests of the Baker children, Anita Bechmann, asked that the judge order the Ramseys to not speak publicly about the case.
In a story published Sunday in The Enquirer, Tracy Ramsey, 41, said Baker's kids have had a horrible experience in foster care.
Although the children are together, they have been moved to three different foster homes in Clermont County, she said. The eldest child is upset because she has had to transfer to three schools.
"They have no clue what's going on," Tracy Ramsey previously told The Enquirer. "They don't think anybody loves them.
"It ain't no different than Marcus," Ramsey previously told The Enquirer. "Nobody's checking on my grandkids."
Tresa Gossett York, an attorney hired by the Ramseys, said the gag order requested by Bechmann was "another way to circumvent the system. Why would you be concerned about people talking to the witnesses? Is the issue children? The children already know (details of the case). So why gag people?"
Bechmann asked that the gag order also apply to lawyers and other witnesses in the case.
The lawyers for the Bakers didn't object to a gag order, nor did the office of Clermont County Prosecutor Don White, which is representing Children's Protective Services.
Jack Greiner, attorney for The Enquirer, objected to the proposed gag order during the hearing at the Clermont County Courthouse on Main Street.
He said gagging potential witnesses would raise serious First Amendment issues.
Greiner was present because The Enquirer has objected to a request by Bechmann and Children's Protective Services that all hearings involving custody of the Baker and Carroll children be closed to the public.
The judge said The Enquirer could have until March 26 to file a written objection to the proposed gag order. Bechmann and Assistant Clermont County Prosecutor Tom Flessa were given until April 3 to respond to whatever Greiner files.
While gag order is not in effect, Bob Ramsey, 51, said Monday that he and his wife are now afraid to talk further to the press.
The judge is to decide May 7 whether the Ramseys have a right to join in the custody case.
Wyler also is expected to rule then on whether to bar The Enquirer.
The same day, Wyler is to hold a hearing on custody of the Carroll children. Liz Carroll, 30, and David Carroll, 29, were sentenced last month to life in prison for the murder of Marcus.
Debbie Hounshell, 51, of Union Township, the mother of David Carroll, has applied for custody of those children - a boy and girl who are 8, a 6-year-old boy and a 3-year-old boy.
Liz Carroll's father, Delbert Sims, 54, of Ohio Township, also has asked the court for the Carroll children.
Monday was deadline for Lifeway to file an appeal
Lifeway won't fight its shutdown
Brooks-Higgins, Candice. Cincinnati Post, March 20, 2007, pg. A2.
The private agency that placed 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel in the care of foster parents now convicted of his murder let the clock run out on its chance to fight its shutdown in Ohio, state officials said Monday.
The state's failure to receive notification from New Carlisle-based Lifeway for Youth leaves more than 400 foster children in limbo, requiring their foster parents to try to get licensed by other agencies or counties.And at least 100 Lifeway employees in Ohio could soon be out of work, according to agency.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services decided to revoke Lifeway's license two months ago following the August murder of Marcus. He was placed by Butler County Children Services through Lifeway with Liz and David Carroll Jr.
They were convicted last month of murder for wrapping the boy in a blanket and leaving him in a playpen inside a closet for two days. He was dead when they returned from a family reunion.
Monday was Lifeway's deadline to file a notice of appeal with the state.
"They have chosen not to request a hearing and we will move forward with the revocation process," Jobs and Family Services spokesman Dennis Evans said Monday. "We generally go on what we have at hand. We have no formal request for a hearing from Lifeway for Youth."
Lifeway Executive Director and Founder Michael Berner said it has always been the agency's intent to appeal and attorneys are handling that. State officials have said Lifeway must first request an appeal hearing with ODJFS before the agency can file a further appeal in court.
Regardless, it appears the agency is preparing for the worst. There have been discussions with other foster care agencies in an effort to ensure a timely transfer of foster homes, Berner said. And at least a third of the agency's workforce has left, leaving about 100 employees to continue operating existing programs, he said.
"We have well over 300 foster homes across the state," Berner said. "It's not easy to think about just in a few days or even in a few weeks moving that size of a program from point A to point B. We are not even sure how it can be done, quite frankly."
In early February, Berner said his agency was calling it quits and would transfer its assets and its 308 Ohio foster homes -- along with the care of 477 children -- to Phoenix Homes International, based in Delphos, Ohio. Lifeway would continue to operate in five other states, including Kentucky and Indiana.
However, the state said a transfer that massive is not so simple. Each foster parent would need to request a transfer to Phoenix and Phoenix would need to have a contract with a public child welfare agency in the county where the foster family lives.
Phoenix was just issued an Ohio license last week. "They are not seeking a transfer of families and it will be a while before they are up and running in Ohio," Evans said.
Lifeway's shutdown, if it happens, will be gradual, but a timeline will soon be set for it, Evans said. Lifeway will continue to operate and monitor its foster placements until foster parents transfer their licenses to other public or private foster care agencies.
The Butler County Children Services Board will accept transfers, but foster parents will need to undergo new background checks, Deputy Director Donna Saunders has said.
Brooks-Higgins, Candice. Cincinnati Post, March 20, 2007, pg. A2.
The private agency that placed 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel in the care of foster parents now convicted of his murder let the clock run out on its chance to fight its shutdown in Ohio, state officials said Monday.
The state's failure to receive notification from New Carlisle-based Lifeway for Youth leaves more than 400 foster children in limbo, requiring their foster parents to try to get licensed by other agencies or counties.And at least 100 Lifeway employees in Ohio could soon be out of work, according to agency.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services decided to revoke Lifeway's license two months ago following the August murder of Marcus. He was placed by Butler County Children Services through Lifeway with Liz and David Carroll Jr.
They were convicted last month of murder for wrapping the boy in a blanket and leaving him in a playpen inside a closet for two days. He was dead when they returned from a family reunion.
Monday was Lifeway's deadline to file a notice of appeal with the state.
"They have chosen not to request a hearing and we will move forward with the revocation process," Jobs and Family Services spokesman Dennis Evans said Monday. "We generally go on what we have at hand. We have no formal request for a hearing from Lifeway for Youth."
Lifeway Executive Director and Founder Michael Berner said it has always been the agency's intent to appeal and attorneys are handling that. State officials have said Lifeway must first request an appeal hearing with ODJFS before the agency can file a further appeal in court.
Regardless, it appears the agency is preparing for the worst. There have been discussions with other foster care agencies in an effort to ensure a timely transfer of foster homes, Berner said. And at least a third of the agency's workforce has left, leaving about 100 employees to continue operating existing programs, he said.
"We have well over 300 foster homes across the state," Berner said. "It's not easy to think about just in a few days or even in a few weeks moving that size of a program from point A to point B. We are not even sure how it can be done, quite frankly."
In early February, Berner said his agency was calling it quits and would transfer its assets and its 308 Ohio foster homes -- along with the care of 477 children -- to Phoenix Homes International, based in Delphos, Ohio. Lifeway would continue to operate in five other states, including Kentucky and Indiana.
However, the state said a transfer that massive is not so simple. Each foster parent would need to request a transfer to Phoenix and Phoenix would need to have a contract with a public child welfare agency in the county where the foster family lives.
Phoenix was just issued an Ohio license last week. "They are not seeking a transfer of families and it will be a while before they are up and running in Ohio," Evans said.
Lifeway's shutdown, if it happens, will be gradual, but a timeline will soon be set for it, Evans said. Lifeway will continue to operate and monitor its foster placements until foster parents transfer their licenses to other public or private foster care agencies.
The Butler County Children Services Board will accept transfers, but foster parents will need to undergo new background checks, Deputy Director Donna Saunders has said.
Foster care reform not 'rocket science' says DeWine
Opinions: Foster care part of protection plan
Dayton Daily News, March 19, 2007, pg. A12.
Children in foster care lost a champion when Mike DeWine left the U.S. Senate after he was defeated for re-election last year.
Federal money makes up as much as half of what Ohio counties devote to protecting children (more in other states), and rules on how that money can be spent shape the destinies of tens of thousands of abused or neglected children.
Mr. DeWine, who now teaches at Miami University and Cedarville University, shrugs at the suggestion that he brought a special expertise to the issue. "It's not rocket science," he says, but a matter of getting the right resources — and enough resources — to the right people.
The idea is to offer intensive, sustained help to families in the hope of keeping kids out of foster care altogether or, failing that, to keep the children's stays brief. If there's no hope of keeping children with their birth families, they must be placed on the fastest possible track to adoption.
This work and attention can happen only if social workers aren't crushed by caseloads; if juvenile court judges are disciplined in how they resolve cases; and if resources are available not just to strangers willing to act as foster parents, but also to family members and potential adoptive parents.
Otherwise tragic breakdowns are inevitable — as this region experienced with the horrifying death of 3-year-old foster child Marcus Fiesel.
As Mr. DeWine was leaving office, another Dayton-area champion for at-risk children was being elevated. Helen Jones-Kelley, longtime director of Montgomery County Children Services, has the portfolio to give the state child protective system the attention it needs.
Ms. Jones-Kelley joined Gov. Ted Strickland's cabinet as head of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. She's a lawyer who got her start in the Montgomery County Juvenile Court. She served on a prestigious national commission on child welfare.
The new governor spent a lot of time in his State of the State speech last week talking about how Ohio must invest in things "that matter." He made clear that children — their health care and their educations — will be among his priorities.
Ms. Jones-Kelley now runs one of the biggest and busiest public agencies in Ohio. But right at the start, she should sit down with the governor and maybe invite former Sen. DeWine to come along. They could talk to Mr. Strickland about what can be done to improve the prospects of children in foster care, and they should review proposals recommended by county managers of Ohio's child-protection system.
Those officials want more money — about $20 million more — to do their work. They also need a hand raising funds from private foundations to help kids in foster care become better advocates for themselves and to ensure that they have a voice in court. County directors also are asking Ohio to lobby Congress (an institution Gov. Strickland knows something about) to make more low-income children eligible for foster-care support and to allow more flexible use of funds.
There's vigorous debate on how best to take care of children whose parents are failing them or who don't know how to be good caregivers. But everyone agrees that protecting children is an investment that matters.
Read the Public Children Services Association's "fact book" and recommendations for the child protection system at www.pcsao.org
Dayton Daily News, March 19, 2007, pg. A12.
Children in foster care lost a champion when Mike DeWine left the U.S. Senate after he was defeated for re-election last year.
Federal money makes up as much as half of what Ohio counties devote to protecting children (more in other states), and rules on how that money can be spent shape the destinies of tens of thousands of abused or neglected children.
Mr. DeWine, who now teaches at Miami University and Cedarville University, shrugs at the suggestion that he brought a special expertise to the issue. "It's not rocket science," he says, but a matter of getting the right resources — and enough resources — to the right people.
The idea is to offer intensive, sustained help to families in the hope of keeping kids out of foster care altogether or, failing that, to keep the children's stays brief. If there's no hope of keeping children with their birth families, they must be placed on the fastest possible track to adoption.
This work and attention can happen only if social workers aren't crushed by caseloads; if juvenile court judges are disciplined in how they resolve cases; and if resources are available not just to strangers willing to act as foster parents, but also to family members and potential adoptive parents.
Otherwise tragic breakdowns are inevitable — as this region experienced with the horrifying death of 3-year-old foster child Marcus Fiesel.
As Mr. DeWine was leaving office, another Dayton-area champion for at-risk children was being elevated. Helen Jones-Kelley, longtime director of Montgomery County Children Services, has the portfolio to give the state child protective system the attention it needs.
Ms. Jones-Kelley joined Gov. Ted Strickland's cabinet as head of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. She's a lawyer who got her start in the Montgomery County Juvenile Court. She served on a prestigious national commission on child welfare.
The new governor spent a lot of time in his State of the State speech last week talking about how Ohio must invest in things "that matter." He made clear that children — their health care and their educations — will be among his priorities.
Ms. Jones-Kelley now runs one of the biggest and busiest public agencies in Ohio. But right at the start, she should sit down with the governor and maybe invite former Sen. DeWine to come along. They could talk to Mr. Strickland about what can be done to improve the prospects of children in foster care, and they should review proposals recommended by county managers of Ohio's child-protection system.
Those officials want more money — about $20 million more — to do their work. They also need a hand raising funds from private foundations to help kids in foster care become better advocates for themselves and to ensure that they have a voice in court. County directors also are asking Ohio to lobby Congress (an institution Gov. Strickland knows something about) to make more low-income children eligible for foster-care support and to allow more flexible use of funds.
There's vigorous debate on how best to take care of children whose parents are failing them or who don't know how to be good caregivers. But everyone agrees that protecting children is an investment that matters.
Read the Public Children Services Association's "fact book" and recommendations for the child protection system at www.pcsao.org
Foster care didn't work for Marcus either
Carroll kids' fate in flux
What becomes of 7 children in home?
Brunsman, Barrett. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 18, 2007, pg. B1.
BATAVIA - The future of seven children who lived in the house where Marcus Fiesel died will be decided soon by a judge.
Liz and David Carroll Jr., who were sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty last month in the murder of their 3-year-old foster son, would prefer that their four children be raised by relatives in Clermont County.
Amy Baker, the former live-in girlfriend of the Carrolls who became the key prosecution witness, wants her relatives to care for her own three kids if she can't regain custody of them.
Judge Stephanie Wyler of Juvenile Court will decide that. On Monday, a custody hearing will be held for the Baker kids. A May 7 hearing is scheduled for the Carroll kids.
All seven children were placed in foster care after the couple's Aug. 28 arrest in the death of Marcus. The jailing of the Carrolls left Baker, 25, homeless. She had no job to support her kids.
David Carroll's mother, Debbie Hounshell of Union Township, has applied for custody of his children - a boy and girl who are 8, a 6-year-old boy and a 3-year-old boy. Liz Carroll's father, Delbert Sims of Ohio Township, also has asked the court for the children.
"We're not arguing about who gets custody of them as long as they stay in the family," Sims said. "Me and Debbie have talked. If I get custody of them, I'll drop them off at her house on the way to work and pick them back up on the way home from work. And she would see to it the three oldest get in school."
Sims, 54, who lives in the Mount Pisgah area, said he is a concrete mixer/driver.
He raised Liz Carroll after getting a divorce. His ex-wife, Audrey Sims, 50, has asked the court to be allowed to visit her grandchildren after custody is resolved.
Delbert Sims said he's been allowed to visit his grandchildren for one hour a month since they were placed together in a foster home.
"Most of the time I try to turn the subject real quick (when they ask about their parents)," he said. "You can tell they miss their mom. I think that bothers them more than anything - not being with family."
Hounshell, 51, could not be reached for comment. While separated from his wife, David Carroll lived with Baker in the Mount Carmel area home of Hounshell and her boyfriend, Durl Adkins, 52.
When David Carroll returned to his wife at the house they rented on Valley Wood Drive in Union Township, he took Baker and her kids.
In May, Liz and David Carroll became the foster parents of Marcus, who was placed in the home by Lifeway for Youth, a nonprofit agency based near Dayton, Ohio.
Marcus died after being left in a closet - bound in a blanket with tape - while the couple and Baker attended a reunion of Liz Carroll's family in Grant County, Ky., the weekend of Aug. 4.
Liz Carroll didn't want her relatives to see bruising on Marcus' neck after he was left in a car seat overnight by David Carroll, Baker testified at her murder trial.
The Carrolls were paid about $1,000 a month to care for the developmentally delayed boy.
Unless they become licensed foster parents, relatives granted custody of the Baker or Carroll children won't receive taxpayer money to care for them, according to Clermont County guidelines.
David Carroll, 29, fathered three of the children by Liz, 30, and one by another woman, Christie Lee Adams, 31, of Maryland. Liz Carroll had legal custody of that child.
Clermont officials said Christie Adams has been notified of the custody case. She could not be reached for comment.
Delbert Sims said he and Hounshell want the Carroll kids to stay together.
"I just don't understand why they took the kids to start with," he said of Clermont County Children's Protective Services. "When they picked the kids up, they was at Debbie's house. There shouldn't have been any reason they couldn't have stayed with family through this whole ordeal.
"It's been one hell of a nightmare," he said of the death of Marcus and the consequences for everyone in the family.
Baker's father and stepmother, Bob and Tracy Ramsey of Brown County, have filed for custody of her kids in case she doesn't get them back.
Baker had dropped off the kids at the Ramsey home, just up the road from where David Carroll burned Marcus' body in a chimney amid the ruins of an old house. Clermont County took custody of the kids Aug. 29, the day after the Carrolls were arrested.
Amy Baker is separated from her husband, Brian J. Baker, 26, of Brown County. He works for a gutter company in Mount Orab, according to court records. He could not be reached for comment, and his lawyer, Laura Cogswell, declined to comment.
Both Bakers showed up for an Aug. 30 custody proceeding involving their children, a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
The court-appointed guardian of the legal interests of the children is Anita Bechmann, a lawyer in the county public defender's office. She and Children's Protective Services have requested that the custody hearings be closed to the public.
Bechmann claims scrutiny could "harm the children or endanger the fairness of the adjudication."
Wyler, who has already ordered all records in the two custody cases sealed, is to decide Monday whether to close the Baker hearing.
Amy Baker couldn't be reached for comment, but her family says she will attend the hearing and wants her kids back.
Baker doesn't favor closing the hearing to the press, said lawyer Tresa Gossett York, who is representing the Ramseys.
The Ramseys said Baker told them their grandchildren have had a horrible experience in foster care, so the grandparents also oppose closing the hearing.
"If the press needs to be there to keep Children's (Protective) Services in check, yeah, let them be there," said Tracy Ramsey, 41. "Foster care ain't working."
The Ramseys haven't been allowed to see their grandchildren, she said, perhaps because her husband has two old theft convictions.
He couldn't discuss the matter with The Enquirer because he was sick in bed with a virus - and gets upset talking about the custody case, Tracy Ramsey said.
A 1985 conviction involved the theft of cable TV service by hooking up an unauthorized tuner, she said. A 1998 guilty plea to a grand theft charge stemmed from a dispute over a fee for work her husband, a self-employed contractor, did on a barn in 1992.
Bob Ramsey, 51, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1999 in the grand theft case, but that was suspended and he was placed on probation for three years by Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Ringland, according to Clermont County court records. It was Ringland who sentenced Liz Carroll to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 54 years.
Amy Baker visits her kids every other Monday for about two hours, Tracy Ramsey said.
While the children are together, they have been moved to three different foster homes, Ramsey said. The eldest child is upset because she has had to transfer to three different schools.
"They have no clue what's going on," Ramsey said. "They don't think anybody loves them."
The children were told in detail by Clermont County officials what happened to Marcus, Ramsey said, but the kids haven't been taken to counseling on a regular basis to help them cope with the matter.
"It ain't no different than Marcus," Ramsey said. "Nobody's checking on my grandkids."
About the process
Ohio law requires that no information be revealed about children or families involved with Children's Protective Services, said Clermont County spokeswoman Kathy Lehr.
In custody cases in general, a child may be placed with relatives of the parents if it is determined to be in the best interest of the youth.
Before a child is placed with relatives by Clermont County, checks by Children's Protective Services there or in the county of the prospective caregiver include:
Reviewing records for evidence of child abuse or neglect by adults in the home.
Performing a criminal background check on adults in the home.
Requiring notification of delinquent children in the home between the ages of 12 and 18.
Ensuring that the home is safe and clean.
What becomes of 7 children in home?
Brunsman, Barrett. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 18, 2007, pg. B1.
BATAVIA - The future of seven children who lived in the house where Marcus Fiesel died will be decided soon by a judge.
Liz and David Carroll Jr., who were sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty last month in the murder of their 3-year-old foster son, would prefer that their four children be raised by relatives in Clermont County.
Amy Baker, the former live-in girlfriend of the Carrolls who became the key prosecution witness, wants her relatives to care for her own three kids if she can't regain custody of them.
Judge Stephanie Wyler of Juvenile Court will decide that. On Monday, a custody hearing will be held for the Baker kids. A May 7 hearing is scheduled for the Carroll kids.
All seven children were placed in foster care after the couple's Aug. 28 arrest in the death of Marcus. The jailing of the Carrolls left Baker, 25, homeless. She had no job to support her kids.
David Carroll's mother, Debbie Hounshell of Union Township, has applied for custody of his children - a boy and girl who are 8, a 6-year-old boy and a 3-year-old boy. Liz Carroll's father, Delbert Sims of Ohio Township, also has asked the court for the children.
"We're not arguing about who gets custody of them as long as they stay in the family," Sims said. "Me and Debbie have talked. If I get custody of them, I'll drop them off at her house on the way to work and pick them back up on the way home from work. And she would see to it the three oldest get in school."
Sims, 54, who lives in the Mount Pisgah area, said he is a concrete mixer/driver.
He raised Liz Carroll after getting a divorce. His ex-wife, Audrey Sims, 50, has asked the court to be allowed to visit her grandchildren after custody is resolved.
Delbert Sims said he's been allowed to visit his grandchildren for one hour a month since they were placed together in a foster home.
"Most of the time I try to turn the subject real quick (when they ask about their parents)," he said. "You can tell they miss their mom. I think that bothers them more than anything - not being with family."
Hounshell, 51, could not be reached for comment. While separated from his wife, David Carroll lived with Baker in the Mount Carmel area home of Hounshell and her boyfriend, Durl Adkins, 52.
When David Carroll returned to his wife at the house they rented on Valley Wood Drive in Union Township, he took Baker and her kids.
In May, Liz and David Carroll became the foster parents of Marcus, who was placed in the home by Lifeway for Youth, a nonprofit agency based near Dayton, Ohio.
Marcus died after being left in a closet - bound in a blanket with tape - while the couple and Baker attended a reunion of Liz Carroll's family in Grant County, Ky., the weekend of Aug. 4.
Liz Carroll didn't want her relatives to see bruising on Marcus' neck after he was left in a car seat overnight by David Carroll, Baker testified at her murder trial.
The Carrolls were paid about $1,000 a month to care for the developmentally delayed boy.
Unless they become licensed foster parents, relatives granted custody of the Baker or Carroll children won't receive taxpayer money to care for them, according to Clermont County guidelines.
David Carroll, 29, fathered three of the children by Liz, 30, and one by another woman, Christie Lee Adams, 31, of Maryland. Liz Carroll had legal custody of that child.
Clermont officials said Christie Adams has been notified of the custody case. She could not be reached for comment.
Delbert Sims said he and Hounshell want the Carroll kids to stay together.
"I just don't understand why they took the kids to start with," he said of Clermont County Children's Protective Services. "When they picked the kids up, they was at Debbie's house. There shouldn't have been any reason they couldn't have stayed with family through this whole ordeal.
"It's been one hell of a nightmare," he said of the death of Marcus and the consequences for everyone in the family.
Baker's father and stepmother, Bob and Tracy Ramsey of Brown County, have filed for custody of her kids in case she doesn't get them back.
Baker had dropped off the kids at the Ramsey home, just up the road from where David Carroll burned Marcus' body in a chimney amid the ruins of an old house. Clermont County took custody of the kids Aug. 29, the day after the Carrolls were arrested.
Amy Baker is separated from her husband, Brian J. Baker, 26, of Brown County. He works for a gutter company in Mount Orab, according to court records. He could not be reached for comment, and his lawyer, Laura Cogswell, declined to comment.
Both Bakers showed up for an Aug. 30 custody proceeding involving their children, a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
The court-appointed guardian of the legal interests of the children is Anita Bechmann, a lawyer in the county public defender's office. She and Children's Protective Services have requested that the custody hearings be closed to the public.
Bechmann claims scrutiny could "harm the children or endanger the fairness of the adjudication."
Wyler, who has already ordered all records in the two custody cases sealed, is to decide Monday whether to close the Baker hearing.
Amy Baker couldn't be reached for comment, but her family says she will attend the hearing and wants her kids back.
Baker doesn't favor closing the hearing to the press, said lawyer Tresa Gossett York, who is representing the Ramseys.
The Ramseys said Baker told them their grandchildren have had a horrible experience in foster care, so the grandparents also oppose closing the hearing.
"If the press needs to be there to keep Children's (Protective) Services in check, yeah, let them be there," said Tracy Ramsey, 41. "Foster care ain't working."
The Ramseys haven't been allowed to see their grandchildren, she said, perhaps because her husband has two old theft convictions.
He couldn't discuss the matter with The Enquirer because he was sick in bed with a virus - and gets upset talking about the custody case, Tracy Ramsey said.
A 1985 conviction involved the theft of cable TV service by hooking up an unauthorized tuner, she said. A 1998 guilty plea to a grand theft charge stemmed from a dispute over a fee for work her husband, a self-employed contractor, did on a barn in 1992.
Bob Ramsey, 51, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1999 in the grand theft case, but that was suspended and he was placed on probation for three years by Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Ringland, according to Clermont County court records. It was Ringland who sentenced Liz Carroll to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 54 years.
Amy Baker visits her kids every other Monday for about two hours, Tracy Ramsey said.
While the children are together, they have been moved to three different foster homes, Ramsey said. The eldest child is upset because she has had to transfer to three different schools.
"They have no clue what's going on," Ramsey said. "They don't think anybody loves them."
The children were told in detail by Clermont County officials what happened to Marcus, Ramsey said, but the kids haven't been taken to counseling on a regular basis to help them cope with the matter.
"It ain't no different than Marcus," Ramsey said. "Nobody's checking on my grandkids."
About the process
Ohio law requires that no information be revealed about children or families involved with Children's Protective Services, said Clermont County spokeswoman Kathy Lehr.
In custody cases in general, a child may be placed with relatives of the parents if it is determined to be in the best interest of the youth.
Before a child is placed with relatives by Clermont County, checks by Children's Protective Services there or in the county of the prospective caregiver include:
Reviewing records for evidence of child abuse or neglect by adults in the home.
Performing a criminal background check on adults in the home.
Requiring notification of delinquent children in the home between the ages of 12 and 18.
Ensuring that the home is safe and clean.
Hard-to-place children in Hamilton Co. languish in group homes, foster care
County way behind in adoptions
Report calls 'abysmal' results 'case of public negligence'
Horn, Dan and Sharon Coolidge. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 17, 2007, pg. A1.
Hamilton County lags behind every other large Ohio county in finding parents to adopt children, despite almost five years of federal oversight intended to improve the program.
A scathing report issued this month found that children languish in foster care for months or years because the county does not aggressively recruit parents or match children to good homes.
The county's track record is especially poor for hard-to-place children, such as blacks, children over 10 years of age and kids who have been in the county's custody for more than two years.
"The Hamilton County program has had abysmal results," the report states. "It is not that the agency is ignorant of what it needs to do. What appears lacking is the will and/or resources to seriously undertake this essential work."
The findings are part of a semi-annual report that is required under a federal court settlement in 2002.
The criticism comes as the county's Department of Job and Family Services, which runs the adoption program, is under fire for its oversight of the foster care program. A recent review found that 11 percent of the parents checked had criminal records.
"This is another example of the problems we're finding at JFS," County Commissioner Pat DeWine said. "There is no reason Hamilton County should be so far behind every other county in the state.
"It's deeply, deeply disturbing."
According to the report, 36 percent of eligible children in Hamilton County were adopted in 2005, compared with 52 percent for all other large Ohio counties.
Between 2003 and mid-2006, Hamilton County finalized adoptions for 325 children.
Cuyahoga County, which is home to Cleveland, finalized 2,056 adoptions, while Franklin County, home to Columbus, finalized 991. Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton rank 1-2-3 in population among Ohio counties.
Hamilton County also trailed several smaller counties, including Montgomery, Lucas and Stark.
Job and Family Services officials said they know they can do better and plan to make changes, including expanded recruitment of parents. Currently, 291 children are awaiting adoption.
"This is a persistent problem for us, as it is for all counties," spokesman Brian Gregg said. "Many of our children are difficult to place. They have serious medical and behavioral issues. They are older.
"It is tough finding families."
Cincinnati attorney Frank Wasserman, who wrote the report, was assigned to monitor the county's program as part of the settlement of a 2002 lawsuit over discrimination in the adoption process.
Wasserman said the county now is in compliance with the rules on discrimination, but his report alleges neglect and misplaced priorities throughout the adoption program.
"Unless Hamilton County's commitment on these issues changes, it is hard to see how any progress will be made," Wasserman wrote. "The failure to undertake a diligent search for a permanent home for all children is simply a case of public negligence."
He said the greatest problem involves the handling of hard-to-place kids.
The county found homes for 18 percent of children aged 10 or older in 2005, compared with 26 percent for the rest of the state. Black children were placed in homes 34 percent of the time in Hamilton County, compared with 45 percent in other counties.
Wasserman's report said county officials must develop individualized "action plans" to match hard-to-place kids with parents.
But he said the department's bureaucracy creates delays and other problems that make it difficult to attract and retain potential adoptive parents.
Cathy Lanter, of Green Township, said she's experienced that bureaucracy firsthand. Lanter, 56, said she's been trying for months to get custody of her three grandchildren after her daughter's custody rights were revoked.
She said she is in the process of becoming a licensed foster parent and took parenting classes. But after several delays, she was told someone else would adopt two of the children.
"I've been failed by the county," Lanter said. The children "could be in familiar surroundings. They know me. They love me."
Al Gerhardstein, who filed the lawsuit that led to court oversight, said Wasserman's report reveals a problem much broader than the one targeted by the lawsuit in 2002.
He said children who are not placed through adoption typically remain in the foster care system or in group homes. He said the risk to society is that kids without parents are more likely to get into trouble, use drugs and commit crimes.
"They just don't get the nurturing they need," Gerhardstein said. "It is a critical problem."
Although the federal court oversight is scheduled to end in July, DeWine said commissioners will put the adoption program under more scrutiny.
Gregg said the county is committed to doing better.
"This is a tough task," he said. "But we have taken steps to improve, and we will improve."
Report calls 'abysmal' results 'case of public negligence'
Horn, Dan and Sharon Coolidge. Cincinnati Enquirer, March 17, 2007, pg. A1.
Hamilton County lags behind every other large Ohio county in finding parents to adopt children, despite almost five years of federal oversight intended to improve the program.
A scathing report issued this month found that children languish in foster care for months or years because the county does not aggressively recruit parents or match children to good homes.
The county's track record is especially poor for hard-to-place children, such as blacks, children over 10 years of age and kids who have been in the county's custody for more than two years.
"The Hamilton County program has had abysmal results," the report states. "It is not that the agency is ignorant of what it needs to do. What appears lacking is the will and/or resources to seriously undertake this essential work."
The findings are part of a semi-annual report that is required under a federal court settlement in 2002.
The criticism comes as the county's Department of Job and Family Services, which runs the adoption program, is under fire for its oversight of the foster care program. A recent review found that 11 percent of the parents checked had criminal records.
"This is another example of the problems we're finding at JFS," County Commissioner Pat DeWine said. "There is no reason Hamilton County should be so far behind every other county in the state.
"It's deeply, deeply disturbing."
According to the report, 36 percent of eligible children in Hamilton County were adopted in 2005, compared with 52 percent for all other large Ohio counties.
Between 2003 and mid-2006, Hamilton County finalized adoptions for 325 children.
Cuyahoga County, which is home to Cleveland, finalized 2,056 adoptions, while Franklin County, home to Columbus, finalized 991. Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton rank 1-2-3 in population among Ohio counties.
Hamilton County also trailed several smaller counties, including Montgomery, Lucas and Stark.
Job and Family Services officials said they know they can do better and plan to make changes, including expanded recruitment of parents. Currently, 291 children are awaiting adoption.
"This is a persistent problem for us, as it is for all counties," spokesman Brian Gregg said. "Many of our children are difficult to place. They have serious medical and behavioral issues. They are older.
"It is tough finding families."
Cincinnati attorney Frank Wasserman, who wrote the report, was assigned to monitor the county's program as part of the settlement of a 2002 lawsuit over discrimination in the adoption process.
Wasserman said the county now is in compliance with the rules on discrimination, but his report alleges neglect and misplaced priorities throughout the adoption program.
"Unless Hamilton County's commitment on these issues changes, it is hard to see how any progress will be made," Wasserman wrote. "The failure to undertake a diligent search for a permanent home for all children is simply a case of public negligence."
He said the greatest problem involves the handling of hard-to-place kids.
The county found homes for 18 percent of children aged 10 or older in 2005, compared with 26 percent for the rest of the state. Black children were placed in homes 34 percent of the time in Hamilton County, compared with 45 percent in other counties.
Wasserman's report said county officials must develop individualized "action plans" to match hard-to-place kids with parents.
But he said the department's bureaucracy creates delays and other problems that make it difficult to attract and retain potential adoptive parents.
Cathy Lanter, of Green Township, said she's experienced that bureaucracy firsthand. Lanter, 56, said she's been trying for months to get custody of her three grandchildren after her daughter's custody rights were revoked.
She said she is in the process of becoming a licensed foster parent and took parenting classes. But after several delays, she was told someone else would adopt two of the children.
"I've been failed by the county," Lanter said. The children "could be in familiar surroundings. They know me. They love me."
Al Gerhardstein, who filed the lawsuit that led to court oversight, said Wasserman's report reveals a problem much broader than the one targeted by the lawsuit in 2002.
He said children who are not placed through adoption typically remain in the foster care system or in group homes. He said the risk to society is that kids without parents are more likely to get into trouble, use drugs and commit crimes.
"They just don't get the nurturing they need," Gerhardstein said. "It is a critical problem."
Although the federal court oversight is scheduled to end in July, DeWine said commissioners will put the adoption program under more scrutiny.
Gregg said the county is committed to doing better.
"This is a tough task," he said. "But we have taken steps to improve, and we will improve."
Monday, March 19, 2007
Summit Co. CSB lacks even one member with child welfare experience
Editorial: Fix CSB Board
Akron Beacon Journal, March 15, 2007, pg. A14.
I grieve for all those caught in the dysfunctional trap at the Summit County Children Services Board -- the children, birth parents and families, foster care providers and the agency's employees.
As a retired social worker from the area of public welfare, I know from personal experience how clients and employees are harmed by these disruptive situations. Morale plummets as people are forced into actions that can be destructive and compromising to the best interests of all.
I cannot understand why the CSB does not have at least one member with child-welfare experience. This is a paramount issue for a balanced board. No one would want a doctor to operate on them without having both the textbook education and the experience of having worked in the operating room with live patients. The children and citizens of Summit County deserve better than this situation.
It is time to end the squabbling and get on with a representative and functioning board that, I would hope, can choose a well-qualified director who will be allowed to manage the agency effectively.
Pat Neely
Akron
Akron Beacon Journal, March 15, 2007, pg. A14.
I grieve for all those caught in the dysfunctional trap at the Summit County Children Services Board -- the children, birth parents and families, foster care providers and the agency's employees.
As a retired social worker from the area of public welfare, I know from personal experience how clients and employees are harmed by these disruptive situations. Morale plummets as people are forced into actions that can be destructive and compromising to the best interests of all.
I cannot understand why the CSB does not have at least one member with child-welfare experience. This is a paramount issue for a balanced board. No one would want a doctor to operate on them without having both the textbook education and the experience of having worked in the operating room with live patients. The children and citizens of Summit County deserve better than this situation.
It is time to end the squabbling and get on with a representative and functioning board that, I would hope, can choose a well-qualified director who will be allowed to manage the agency effectively.
Pat Neely
Akron
Hamilton Co. lags behind every other large urban county in Ohio
Hamilton County report criticizes pace of adoptions for foster children
Associated Press, March 18, 2007, pg. C6.
A scathing report blames government negligence for the continued slow rate of adoption for foster children in Hamilton County, which lags every other large urban county in the state in finding permanent homes for abused and neglected children.
A report issued this month, as part of five years of federal court oversight, accused the county of not aggressively recruiting adoptive parents while children spend months or even years in foster care.
"The Hamilton County program has had abysmal results," says the report by Cincinnati lawyer Frank Wasserman. "It is not that the agency is ignorant of what it needs to do. ... What appears lacking is the will and/or resources to seriously undertake this essential work."
The report shows that about one-third of eligible children were adopted in the county each year from 2003 to 2005, compared with an adoption rate greater than 50 percent in every other large Ohio county.
The foster-care and adoption system is run by the county's Department of Job and Family Services, which already is being criticized because recent background checks found that 11 percent of foster parents had criminal records.
"This is another example of the problems we're finding at JFS," County Commissioner Pat DeWine said. "There is no reason Hamilton County should be so far behind every other county in the state. It's deeply, deeply disturbing."
Commissioners will continue to scrutinize adoptions after judicial oversight ends in July, DeWine said.
About 290 children are awaiting adoption. Department officials said they know they can do better but are making improvements.
"This is a persistent problem for us, as it is for all counties," spokesman Brian Gregg said.
The reports are required under a federal court settlement five years ago, which ended a lawsuit accusing the county of refusing to place black children with white adoptive parents in Ohio's third-largest county.
Wasserman said the county no longer discriminates but still has misplaced priorities in its adoption program.
Associated Press, March 18, 2007, pg. C6.
A scathing report blames government negligence for the continued slow rate of adoption for foster children in Hamilton County, which lags every other large urban county in the state in finding permanent homes for abused and neglected children.
A report issued this month, as part of five years of federal court oversight, accused the county of not aggressively recruiting adoptive parents while children spend months or even years in foster care.
"The Hamilton County program has had abysmal results," says the report by Cincinnati lawyer Frank Wasserman. "It is not that the agency is ignorant of what it needs to do. ... What appears lacking is the will and/or resources to seriously undertake this essential work."
The report shows that about one-third of eligible children were adopted in the county each year from 2003 to 2005, compared with an adoption rate greater than 50 percent in every other large Ohio county.
The foster-care and adoption system is run by the county's Department of Job and Family Services, which already is being criticized because recent background checks found that 11 percent of foster parents had criminal records.
"This is another example of the problems we're finding at JFS," County Commissioner Pat DeWine said. "There is no reason Hamilton County should be so far behind every other county in the state. It's deeply, deeply disturbing."
Commissioners will continue to scrutinize adoptions after judicial oversight ends in July, DeWine said.
About 290 children are awaiting adoption. Department officials said they know they can do better but are making improvements.
"This is a persistent problem for us, as it is for all counties," spokesman Brian Gregg said.
The reports are required under a federal court settlement five years ago, which ended a lawsuit accusing the county of refusing to place black children with white adoptive parents in Ohio's third-largest county.
Wasserman said the county no longer discriminates but still has misplaced priorities in its adoption program.
No, Michael Robinson, your parenting skills are only worsening over time
photos from Columbus Dispatch at dispatch.com
Man wanted tough baby, police say
Dad accused of striking infant into coma
Columbus Dispatch, March 18, 2007, pg. C4.
The father of a baby in an irreversible deep coma told investigators that he regularly backhanded and pinched the boy to make him tough, a police officer said.
Michael Robinson and Sue Hutchins are facing trial on abuse allegations, in the third child-welfare investigation involving the couple in a little more than two years.
Dana Robinson, who turns 1 on Tuesday, is expected to be discharged from Columbus Children's Hospital this week and will go either to a nursing home or to a foster home with round-the-clock nursing care. He could live up to 20 years on a feeding tube with no awareness of his existence, Logan County child-welfare authorities said.
"It is hard to believe the extent of damage to this infant," John Holtkamp, executive director of Logan County Children Services, said Friday. "If you or I were in that condition, we would probably not wish to continue to exist."
Robinson, 43, and Hutchins, 35, were jailed in Logan County after Dana was injured in a 2005 child-endangering case involving Hutchins' daughter by another man. Robinson is serving a sentence that initially had been suspended, and Hutchins is jailed on a probation violation.
Once they finish those terms, bond in the case involving Dana is set at $250,000 for the father and $50,000 for the mother. Robinson is charged with felonious assault, child endangering and domestic violence. Hutchins is charged with permitting child abuse. Pleas have not yet been entered.
In all, seven children have been placed with relatives or in foster care: Robinson's three sons, ages 12, 10 and 8, are with an uncle; Hutchins' two daughters by another man, ages 11 and 9, are with their paternal grandparents, who are seeking permanent custody; and Children Services is seeking to revoke custody of Dana Robinson and the couple's 2-year-old son, Draven, and place them for adoption.
At a Feb. 27 court hearing, the day after he called 911 to say Dana Robinson wasn't breathing, his father asked for reconciliation.
"When can I see my kids again?" Robinson told the judge. "I love my kids. I never said I was the best father. Maybe I can get better with time."
A week later, Officer Blake Kenner testified that Robinson told him he hit and pinched the boy to make him tough. The officer saw several bruises on the baby, a bite mark on his lower leg and apparent pinch marks on his neck and the soles of his feet.
At a hearing for Hutchins, detective Scott Sebring testified that Hutchins said she knew her boyfriend was pinching the baby and told him he was playing too rough.
Her attorney, Edwin Dougherty, said yesterday that Hutchins was not at Robinson's home the day Dana was hospitalized, and she denies ever seeing him do anything worse than pinching and roughhousing.
"None of those items are life threatening or would cause serious physical harm," Dougherty said. "She told him to stop it."
Robinson's attorney, Marc Triplett, is out of the state. A message was left yesterday at his office, and messages were left at several listings for Robinsons in Bellefontaine, about 60 miles northwest of Columbus, and nearby Quincy and De Graff, where he has family.
In the 2005 child-endangering convictions against the couple, Robinson's three oldest sons told investigators that Robinson told them to hurt the younger of the two girls to toughen her up.
In December, Children's Services closed a two-year investigation into the couple's care for Draven Robinson, whose thigh bone was broken in three places when he was 1 month old. The spiral fracture is associated with rapid twisting of great force, but the injury alone does not prove abuse, Holtkamp said.
Hutchins followed a court order to no longer live with Robinson and completed counseling programs while she was pregnant with Dana. Draven Robinson was returned to her last May.
"A lot of her life is a struggle," Dougherty said. "She is doing the best she can to care for these children." - BULLSHIT
Three weeks before Dana was hospitalized, someone called Children's Services to complain that the couple were seen together and the children were dirty. The court order covered only living together, not going out in public, and cleanliness is not grounds for an abuse investigation, Holtkamp said.
A flood of people have offered to adopt or foster the two younger boys, and people are volunteering to take shifts holding Dana, who has a mop of reddish-blond hair and deep blue eyes, Holtkamp said.
The boy's broken rib and many bruises are healing, but the worst damage is not visible, he said. He has only involuntary reflexes, such as yawning a lot or grabbing a finger pressed to his palm.
"He looks like he's just waking up from a nap when you hold him," Holtkamp said.
Caption: This is the third child-abuse probe involving Sue Hutchins and Michael Robinson of Bellefontaine. Their youngest child is in an irreversible coma.
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