Being a foster parent is hard work.
Mark Allen Peterson. Cincinnati Post, Sept. 8, 2006, Editorial pg. A13.
Like others, I watched with growing horror as the case of Marcus Fiesel unfolded. But I watched with special interest because I am a foster parent for the Butler County Department of Children's Services, in whose custody Marcus was.
The county, we are told, is putting the department and the agency that placed Marcus under scrutiny to find out how they slipped up in assigning an autistic out-of-control child to a family who would deal with his behavior by encasing him in a blanket and putting him in a closet for two days.
The assumption seems to be that something is wrong with their practices of scrutinizing foster parents.
My fostering license from the county required several months of training, with 20 additional training hours every year, Red Cross first aid and CPR certifications (kept up to date), a detailed family assessment interview, including interviews with all our biological children, scrutiny of our household budget and income, fingerprinting and background checks, an annual home visit and occasional unscheduled "drop-in" visits to check on the child and on our home safety.
If the foster child has a bruising fall, gets hit by another child (at home or at school) or we lose self-control and spank them, we have to file a report. Every visible scratch or welt, including those self-inflicted, has to be accounted for.
What more can they do?
Don't get me wrong. Butler County failed Marcus Fiesel. But while the county commissioners are putting the agency's policies and practices under a microscope, they might take a gander at the beam in their own eye: resources.
The most terrible thing about Butler County Children's Services is its inability to deal with the most emotionally and psychologically damaged of the children they receive.
My wife and I believe many of the children in foster care are suffering from serious mental health problems, some stemming from their families of origin, others from the trauma of moving from home to home for years.
Marcus Fiesel was a case in point. According to the media, he was taken from his mother because she could not restrain him sufficiently to keep him from being a danger to himself and others.
His first foster family returned him as beyond their capacity to care for.
I'm not defending the Carrolls. If they did what they are accused of, they need to be held accountable by the law.
What I am saying is that a child with problems like Marcus' should probably have been dealt with in a different way than merely placing him with a foster family.
But dealing with cases like this properly -- through individual and institutional therapy -- is expensive.
How will it be paid for? A hike in the sales tax? Gas tax? Property tax?
It's no wonder if the agency sometimes seems to pretend not to notice how damaged some of these kids are. It's no wonder so many staff leave after only a few years.
But it isn't just money that's missing. It's you.
If you have never been a foster parent, or never volunteered and been turned down, then you are partly responsible for what happened to Marcus Fiesel.
It is a shame on this county that Children's Services cannot place even half of the children for whom it is responsible in the homes of people who live in this county, that it has to subcontract to private, non-profit organizations like the one that found the Carroll family.
Foster parenting is hard work.
Mine is a busy family. We have four biological children. My wife and I and two of our children have jobs, and we seem to be endlessly driving our children to ballet lessons, Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics, soccer games and other activities.
Fitting in a foster child means hectic schedules. It means extra shopping for school, clothes and toys. It means letting your kids know you don't love them any less, while letting your foster child know he's not a second class citizen in your family. It means dealing with Medicare.
For this we get about $400 to $600 per month. Enough to cover most of the expenses, and to help with gas. That's all it is designed to do.
Nobody is making a profit at this, folks.
And if anything happens to the child on our watch, if we incur any legal liabilities or costs, we are on our own.
So why do it? I do it because I was raised to believe that we are all called to contribute to the public good: feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead. And I like kids.
So the county commission will look into the children's services agency. It can't hurt. They'll probably fire some people, add another layer of regulations and promise the public greater scrutiny.
But regardless of what they do, the real problem of too many children, with too many problems, and not enough professional and volunteer resources to deal with them is not going to go away.
-Mark Allen Peterson teaches anthropology and international studies at Miami University. He and his wife have been foster parents in Butler County since 2004.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Running for office
Raise funding to protect kids better.
Karen J. Adams. Cincinnati Enquirer. Sept. 8, 2006. Editorial, pg 7B.
The tortured death of Marcus Fiesel offers a dramatic illustration of what happens when a state shortchanges the protective services it provides to its most vulnerable residents.
In Ohio, the Republican-dominated General Assembly has consistently cut the critical programs designed to assure the health, safety and welfare of children.
Why? Perhaps because children do not have a PAC and cannot give huge campaign contributions. Whatever the reason, this GOP administration and General Assembly have never given children, the elderly or the afflicted a high priority.
Privatizing government services and underfunding agencies weaken the state's oversight. We need to make sure that the state agencies that oversee children are fully funded and fully staffed with experienced personnel.
Currently, the caseloads are too heavy and the salaries low, so there is tremendous employee turnover. These children need continuity of care.
We must ensure that private agencies are competent and qualif! ied to screen and monitor foster and adoptive parents.
We have seen cases in state after state of children misplaced or lost in a labyrinth because there are not enough experienced caseworkers.
It is not enough to utter platitudes after this child's suffering and death.
I believe government can and should be a force for good to provide for the health, safety, welfare and protection of all citizens. I know that funding programs that protect, nurture and educate Ohio's children is the best investment we can make. We can't afford not to provide for and protect the next generation in our state.
Once I am serving in the General Assembly, I will consider it my duty to see that we do that.
-Karen J. Adams, Kings Mills
Karen J. Adams. Cincinnati Enquirer. Sept. 8, 2006. Editorial, pg 7B.
The tortured death of Marcus Fiesel offers a dramatic illustration of what happens when a state shortchanges the protective services it provides to its most vulnerable residents.
In Ohio, the Republican-dominated General Assembly has consistently cut the critical programs designed to assure the health, safety and welfare of children.
Why? Perhaps because children do not have a PAC and cannot give huge campaign contributions. Whatever the reason, this GOP administration and General Assembly have never given children, the elderly or the afflicted a high priority.
Privatizing government services and underfunding agencies weaken the state's oversight. We need to make sure that the state agencies that oversee children are fully funded and fully staffed with experienced personnel.
Currently, the caseloads are too heavy and the salaries low, so there is tremendous employee turnover. These children need continuity of care.
We must ensure that private agencies are competent and qualif! ied to screen and monitor foster and adoptive parents.
We have seen cases in state after state of children misplaced or lost in a labyrinth because there are not enough experienced caseworkers.
It is not enough to utter platitudes after this child's suffering and death.
I believe government can and should be a force for good to provide for the health, safety, welfare and protection of all citizens. I know that funding programs that protect, nurture and educate Ohio's children is the best investment we can make. We can't afford not to provide for and protect the next generation in our state.
Once I am serving in the General Assembly, I will consider it my duty to see that we do that.
-Karen J. Adams, Kings Mills
Foster families often loving, supportive
BUILDING A BOND OF LOVE
Peggy Kreimer, The Kentucky Post, September 6, 2006
When Raenon and Jim Justice met their youngest son, he was an abused infant who doctors predicted would live only a few months because of a brain injury he'd suffered in utero when someone beat his pregnant mother.
The Justices decided to make sure the tiny boy didn't die without experiencing love.
They took him into their Fort Thomas, Ky., home and into their hearts, first as a foster child, then adopted him.
"He's almost 3 now, and he's sitting up," said Raenon Justice. "They said he wouldn't live. You never know what's going to happen."
When the Justices married, they wanted a big family. After their first son was born, however, they learned Raenon wouldn't be able to have any more children.
But there's more than one way to build a family, said Jim Justice, who teaches at Northern Kentucky University.
The Justices signed up for the state of Kentucky foster care training in 2003.
"Then we purchased a house that was the largest we could afford, in a good school district," Jim Justice said.
They got their first foster placement two weeks after moving in -- a 3-year-old boy and 9-month-old girl.
Those children stayed two weeks, but others followed.
In the past three years, the Justices have fostered 11 children and adopted two of them.
While foster children are living under the Justices' roof, they are part of the Justice family, said Jim Justice. It's a bond of love and trust that hasn't always been easy to forge.
"We've had kids who were sexually abused, physically abused, emotionally abused. We've had kids with severe medical conditions," he said.
He and his wife have dealt with hyperactive kids, children who were angry, hurt, confused.
Being a foster parent isn't easy, Jim Justice said. He believes most of the people who open their homes to troubled children are meeting the challenges with patience, love and a hefty amount of supervision.
That's why the news of the Clermont County couple accused of killing Marcus Fiesel, their 3-year-old autistic foster child, has hit the Justices and other local foster families especially hard.
Children with severe emotional, mental or physical needs can be difficult to handle, but nothing justifies abusing a child, said Raenon Justice.
"He couldn't help how he was," she said of Marcus.
Adults have free choice about foster care, she said.
"If you can't handle it, don't do it," she said.
"Sometimes the emotional problems are harder to deal with than the medical problems. But you say, 'I need a break.' You say 'I need a psychologist.' You always have options, even if you have to look for them on your own. There was no reason for that to happen to that child."
Patience is the key, said Jim Justice -- with the kids, with social workers, with biological families.
"You have to be willing to cooperate with all of those people. And you have to be cooperative with the state while still advocating for the child. The state doesn't always do what you think is the right thing," he said.
"You have to be willing to work with anyone involved because it takes all of those people to undo the damage that's been done."
Justice said every child in foster care carries scars from the problems that made it impossible for him to remain with his birth family.
"You've got to be willing to give the kids time to heal. They're recovering from abuse and neglect. You've got to love them and teach them what it means to love someone," he said.
Sometimes that requires a particularly difficult kind of patience.
"You can't force them to hug you, to give you a kiss," he said. "You just have to constantly be there to express your feelings. Eventually they learn to trust you."
Building a family through fostering and adoption has honed the Justices' parenting skills.
"We've had to deal with some situations that are fairly extreme," Jim Justice said. "This has helped be to become a better father, a more patient father."
Their eldest son has also matured in his big brother role, Justice said.
"He sees the effects of people's actions," Justice said. "We can say to him, the reason your brother is the way he is, is there is an adult out there who can't control his anger."
Gene Blair, a minister at Cornerstone Church of God in Erlanger, Ky., trains new foster parents for the state of Kentucky. He and his wife, Shellie, have been foster parents for 13 years and know the frustration of dealing with troubled children first hand.
"A lot of these kids, if you try to do it by yourself, it can be overwhelming," Gene Blair said.
"We always tell people you have to take advantage of the resources out there."
The Blairs have fostered 28 children and adopted three of them.
"This has been the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life," he said.
Their biological daughter was 2 when they decided to open their home to other children who needed someone to care.
"We started with infants," he said. "We felt we needed to keep children younger than our daughter, Kayla. As she grew, we got older kids."
Their oldest adopted child is a son, 9, who first came to the Blairs' home as an infant.
"We thought he went home (to his birth family) but we found out years later he was still floating around. He was 6 then and he had been bounced around in four or five previous placements," Blair said.
When they brought the boy home again, he had a huge case file that documented medical and behavior problems.
"It scared us to death," Gene Blair said.
"He had a genetic disorder that affected his liver. He was mildly mentally retarded. I read the school reports and said 'I don't know if we can do this.'
"We took it a step at a time. We found out you just can't judge a kid by his file," he said. "He's doing super now."
Their social worker helped them make connections with Children's Hospital Medical Center, therapists and support networks.
Blair said Marcus Fiesel's death has shined a light on the importance of finding caring families to open their homes to foster children.
"Everybody wants to be able to blame the agency or the workers," he said. "They have a certain responsibility, but this sounds like you had people fostering who shouldn't have been fostering.
"When we train, you work so hard to make sure this is the right fit for the family and the kids."
Blair has been training foster families for four years. The screening includes home studies, background checks, financial information and some gut assessment.
"We've had situations where we don't feel comfortable with the family and we ask them to drop out," he said.
"The majority of the families we see are good people who just want to make a difference in a child's life."
Peggy Kreimer, The Kentucky Post, September 6, 2006
When Raenon and Jim Justice met their youngest son, he was an abused infant who doctors predicted would live only a few months because of a brain injury he'd suffered in utero when someone beat his pregnant mother.
The Justices decided to make sure the tiny boy didn't die without experiencing love.
They took him into their Fort Thomas, Ky., home and into their hearts, first as a foster child, then adopted him.
"He's almost 3 now, and he's sitting up," said Raenon Justice. "They said he wouldn't live. You never know what's going to happen."
When the Justices married, they wanted a big family. After their first son was born, however, they learned Raenon wouldn't be able to have any more children.
But there's more than one way to build a family, said Jim Justice, who teaches at Northern Kentucky University.
The Justices signed up for the state of Kentucky foster care training in 2003.
"Then we purchased a house that was the largest we could afford, in a good school district," Jim Justice said.
They got their first foster placement two weeks after moving in -- a 3-year-old boy and 9-month-old girl.
Those children stayed two weeks, but others followed.
In the past three years, the Justices have fostered 11 children and adopted two of them.
While foster children are living under the Justices' roof, they are part of the Justice family, said Jim Justice. It's a bond of love and trust that hasn't always been easy to forge.
"We've had kids who were sexually abused, physically abused, emotionally abused. We've had kids with severe medical conditions," he said.
He and his wife have dealt with hyperactive kids, children who were angry, hurt, confused.
Being a foster parent isn't easy, Jim Justice said. He believes most of the people who open their homes to troubled children are meeting the challenges with patience, love and a hefty amount of supervision.
That's why the news of the Clermont County couple accused of killing Marcus Fiesel, their 3-year-old autistic foster child, has hit the Justices and other local foster families especially hard.
Children with severe emotional, mental or physical needs can be difficult to handle, but nothing justifies abusing a child, said Raenon Justice.
"He couldn't help how he was," she said of Marcus.
Adults have free choice about foster care, she said.
"If you can't handle it, don't do it," she said.
"Sometimes the emotional problems are harder to deal with than the medical problems. But you say, 'I need a break.' You say 'I need a psychologist.' You always have options, even if you have to look for them on your own. There was no reason for that to happen to that child."
Patience is the key, said Jim Justice -- with the kids, with social workers, with biological families.
"You have to be willing to cooperate with all of those people. And you have to be cooperative with the state while still advocating for the child. The state doesn't always do what you think is the right thing," he said.
"You have to be willing to work with anyone involved because it takes all of those people to undo the damage that's been done."
Justice said every child in foster care carries scars from the problems that made it impossible for him to remain with his birth family.
"You've got to be willing to give the kids time to heal. They're recovering from abuse and neglect. You've got to love them and teach them what it means to love someone," he said.
Sometimes that requires a particularly difficult kind of patience.
"You can't force them to hug you, to give you a kiss," he said. "You just have to constantly be there to express your feelings. Eventually they learn to trust you."
Building a family through fostering and adoption has honed the Justices' parenting skills.
"We've had to deal with some situations that are fairly extreme," Jim Justice said. "This has helped be to become a better father, a more patient father."
Their eldest son has also matured in his big brother role, Justice said.
"He sees the effects of people's actions," Justice said. "We can say to him, the reason your brother is the way he is, is there is an adult out there who can't control his anger."
Gene Blair, a minister at Cornerstone Church of God in Erlanger, Ky., trains new foster parents for the state of Kentucky. He and his wife, Shellie, have been foster parents for 13 years and know the frustration of dealing with troubled children first hand.
"A lot of these kids, if you try to do it by yourself, it can be overwhelming," Gene Blair said.
"We always tell people you have to take advantage of the resources out there."
The Blairs have fostered 28 children and adopted three of them.
"This has been the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life," he said.
Their biological daughter was 2 when they decided to open their home to other children who needed someone to care.
"We started with infants," he said. "We felt we needed to keep children younger than our daughter, Kayla. As she grew, we got older kids."
Their oldest adopted child is a son, 9, who first came to the Blairs' home as an infant.
"We thought he went home (to his birth family) but we found out years later he was still floating around. He was 6 then and he had been bounced around in four or five previous placements," Blair said.
When they brought the boy home again, he had a huge case file that documented medical and behavior problems.
"It scared us to death," Gene Blair said.
"He had a genetic disorder that affected his liver. He was mildly mentally retarded. I read the school reports and said 'I don't know if we can do this.'
"We took it a step at a time. We found out you just can't judge a kid by his file," he said. "He's doing super now."
Their social worker helped them make connections with Children's Hospital Medical Center, therapists and support networks.
Blair said Marcus Fiesel's death has shined a light on the importance of finding caring families to open their homes to foster children.
"Everybody wants to be able to blame the agency or the workers," he said. "They have a certain responsibility, but this sounds like you had people fostering who shouldn't have been fostering.
"When we train, you work so hard to make sure this is the right fit for the family and the kids."
Blair has been training foster families for four years. The screening includes home studies, background checks, financial information and some gut assessment.
"We've had situations where we don't feel comfortable with the family and we ask them to drop out," he said.
"The majority of the families we see are good people who just want to make a difference in a child's life."
Show me the money
JUVENILE COURTS' ROLE DEBATED
Placing kids out of homes means more funding
By Encarnacion Pyle, Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 11, 2006, News pg 1B.
Juvenile-court judges in some Ohio counties have tapped millions of dollars in federal money for nearly a decade by sending children who are on probation into foster care, group homes or treatment centers.
But the practice could be in jeopardy because of questions about whether it is appropriate and ethical for court officials to be both legal officers and child-welfare workers.
The Ohio Judicial Conference, a judges association created by state law, is investigating the matter based on concerns raised by Butler County officials.
The group's decision would affect at least 25 county juvenile courts that have taken over the children-services role for teens deemed unruly or delinquent. That would include courts in Fairfield, Licking and Pickaway counties.
For Franklin County, the decision could determine whether officials pursue the federal reimbursements.
"The problem is the more kids that are placed out of their homes, the more money the court gets, which might lead some people to question the court's motivation: helping the youngsters or getting the money?" said James W. Mason, administrative judge for Franklin County Juvenile Court. "We want to be cautious and not do anything that will hamstring us later."
Similar concerns led legislators to change state law last year so that Ohio's 18 minimum-security jails are governed by a board of local people who are not judges, said Mark Schweikert, the Ohio Judicial Conference's executive director.
An Ohio Supreme Court disciplinary committee ruled in 2003 that having judges on correctional boards "casts doubt on impartiality, demeans the judicial office and interferes with the performance of judicial duties," said Schweikert, who served as a judge in Hamilton County for 11 years before taking over the Judicial Conference.
Before the change, a 24-year-old state law allowed judges to help run the jails.
State officials said they don't think the courts will have to make changes in this case.
"Ohio law allows it. Other states such as California and Texas have done it for years. And the federal government encourages it and has even asked us to help other states start similar programs," said Dennis Evans, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
"While we don't see any imminent threat, we'll review and consider any recommendations by the Judicial Conference."
Many of the courts involved say they're also taking a wait-and-see approach.
"The issue has been discussed ... for years, but I didn't know the concerns had reared their ugly head again," said Cheri Shaw, director of the Fairfield County Juvenile Court.
The Fairfield County court kicked off its Title IV-E program in July 2005 and received its first payment last week, Shaw said. The federal government has partially reimbursed local governments for providing foster care to poor children since 1980.
Child-welfare agencies have taken advantage of the program since the beginning. Ohio courts started being certified in the mid-1990s.
Shaw predicts the federal program will result in an extra $520,000 a year for troubled children in Fairfield County who need counseling or treatment for mental illness, physical abuse or sex offenses.
Every little bit helps, said Dianne Hopkins, administrator for Pickaway County's juvenile court. "We're a small county, and our county is broke. The treatment centers for these kids are there, but they are so ungodly expensive. This helps us pay for it."
The federal reimbursements give the courts options other than sending kids to detention, said David Edelblute, who oversees the Licking County Juvenile Court.
"The bottom line is kids commit offenses and come into our system," Edelblute said. "We have a responsibility to seek solutions."
Officials in Butler County hope to do the same, even though they opened the debate when they asked the Ohio Supreme Court in March whether it would be unethical for the court to become essentially the "child-placing" agency for its delinquent and unruly kids.
"We've tried to find ways to stretch the dollar but we've had to cut our probation staff from 21 to 15 and do away with most of our prevention services," said Rob Clevenger Jr., director of the Butler County Juvenile Justice Center. "By becoming a Title IV-E court, we could bring in an additional $400,000 to $500,000 a year."
The Supreme Court referred the matter to the Ohio Judicial Conference.
Franklin County Children Services has custody of about 300 kids on probation, Director John Saros said. "We've essentially become the court's diversion program.
"In fact, the court has become so dependent on Children Services it has accumulated a $7 million reserve in state funding intended to be used to rehabilitate juvenile offenders."
Saros said every juvenile court in the other major metropolitan counties has become a Title IV-E court. If Franklin County court officials did so, too, the county could receive an additional $3 million a year in federal funding.
But court officials say they can barely handle the work they have and are worried about probation officers becoming social workers.
"We have the highest number of cases but the lowest number of judges in the state," said Karen Casey, Juvenile Court director. "We had a 4 percent budget reduction last year, an 8 percent cut this year and are facing flat-line funding at best for '07. How are we going to take on any new responsibilities?"
Becoming a Title IV-E court would help, said Crystal Ward Allen, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.
"Last year, counties pulled in $5.2 million in federal funds for their administrative management alone," Allen said. "At minimum, Franklin County could bring in $1 million, and $3 million is certainly possible."
Placing kids out of homes means more funding
By Encarnacion Pyle, Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 11, 2006, News pg 1B.
Juvenile-court judges in some Ohio counties have tapped millions of dollars in federal money for nearly a decade by sending children who are on probation into foster care, group homes or treatment centers.
But the practice could be in jeopardy because of questions about whether it is appropriate and ethical for court officials to be both legal officers and child-welfare workers.
The Ohio Judicial Conference, a judges association created by state law, is investigating the matter based on concerns raised by Butler County officials.
The group's decision would affect at least 25 county juvenile courts that have taken over the children-services role for teens deemed unruly or delinquent. That would include courts in Fairfield, Licking and Pickaway counties.
For Franklin County, the decision could determine whether officials pursue the federal reimbursements.
"The problem is the more kids that are placed out of their homes, the more money the court gets, which might lead some people to question the court's motivation: helping the youngsters or getting the money?" said James W. Mason, administrative judge for Franklin County Juvenile Court. "We want to be cautious and not do anything that will hamstring us later."
Similar concerns led legislators to change state law last year so that Ohio's 18 minimum-security jails are governed by a board of local people who are not judges, said Mark Schweikert, the Ohio Judicial Conference's executive director.
An Ohio Supreme Court disciplinary committee ruled in 2003 that having judges on correctional boards "casts doubt on impartiality, demeans the judicial office and interferes with the performance of judicial duties," said Schweikert, who served as a judge in Hamilton County for 11 years before taking over the Judicial Conference.
Before the change, a 24-year-old state law allowed judges to help run the jails.
State officials said they don't think the courts will have to make changes in this case.
"Ohio law allows it. Other states such as California and Texas have done it for years. And the federal government encourages it and has even asked us to help other states start similar programs," said Dennis Evans, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
"While we don't see any imminent threat, we'll review and consider any recommendations by the Judicial Conference."
Many of the courts involved say they're also taking a wait-and-see approach.
"The issue has been discussed ... for years, but I didn't know the concerns had reared their ugly head again," said Cheri Shaw, director of the Fairfield County Juvenile Court.
The Fairfield County court kicked off its Title IV-E program in July 2005 and received its first payment last week, Shaw said. The federal government has partially reimbursed local governments for providing foster care to poor children since 1980.
Child-welfare agencies have taken advantage of the program since the beginning. Ohio courts started being certified in the mid-1990s.
Shaw predicts the federal program will result in an extra $520,000 a year for troubled children in Fairfield County who need counseling or treatment for mental illness, physical abuse or sex offenses.
Every little bit helps, said Dianne Hopkins, administrator for Pickaway County's juvenile court. "We're a small county, and our county is broke. The treatment centers for these kids are there, but they are so ungodly expensive. This helps us pay for it."
The federal reimbursements give the courts options other than sending kids to detention, said David Edelblute, who oversees the Licking County Juvenile Court.
"The bottom line is kids commit offenses and come into our system," Edelblute said. "We have a responsibility to seek solutions."
Officials in Butler County hope to do the same, even though they opened the debate when they asked the Ohio Supreme Court in March whether it would be unethical for the court to become essentially the "child-placing" agency for its delinquent and unruly kids.
"We've tried to find ways to stretch the dollar but we've had to cut our probation staff from 21 to 15 and do away with most of our prevention services," said Rob Clevenger Jr., director of the Butler County Juvenile Justice Center. "By becoming a Title IV-E court, we could bring in an additional $400,000 to $500,000 a year."
The Supreme Court referred the matter to the Ohio Judicial Conference.
Franklin County Children Services has custody of about 300 kids on probation, Director John Saros said. "We've essentially become the court's diversion program.
"In fact, the court has become so dependent on Children Services it has accumulated a $7 million reserve in state funding intended to be used to rehabilitate juvenile offenders."
Saros said every juvenile court in the other major metropolitan counties has become a Title IV-E court. If Franklin County court officials did so, too, the county could receive an additional $3 million a year in federal funding.
But court officials say they can barely handle the work they have and are worried about probation officers becoming social workers.
"We have the highest number of cases but the lowest number of judges in the state," said Karen Casey, Juvenile Court director. "We had a 4 percent budget reduction last year, an 8 percent cut this year and are facing flat-line funding at best for '07. How are we going to take on any new responsibilities?"
Becoming a Title IV-E court would help, said Crystal Ward Allen, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.
"Last year, counties pulled in $5.2 million in federal funds for their administrative management alone," Allen said. "At minimum, Franklin County could bring in $1 million, and $3 million is certainly possible."
Fragments of Marcus' broken life
Bone pieces may belong to slain boy, coroner
Dayton Daily News, September 8, 2006, News pg A1
CINCINNATI — Bone fragments found near a crumbling chimney are from a 2- to 4-yearold child, but do not conclusively identify 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel, whose foster parents are charged in his murder, the Hamilton County coroner said Thursday.
Dr. O'dell Owens said the 18 fragments, the largest not even an inch long, were found near an old chimney in Brown County. Forensic scientists determined their age from growth plates in the bones, he said.
Owens called the evidence "pretty solid" that the fragments are from the body of the autistic Middletown boy who was reported missing in August.
But DNA samples cannot be retrieved from the bones. "The DNA that is being processed came from a small piece of tissue that was found," said Owens, who declined to describe the tissue or elaborate on other possible clues — a button and piece of fabric — found at the chimney.
Foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. left Fiesel in a closet, bound in a blanket, when they left their Clermont County home for a family reunion in Kentucky last month, prosecutors contend.
The boy was dead when the Carrolls returned two days later, prosecutors said, and David Carroll went to neighboring Brown County repeatedly to try to burn the body.
Owens said traces of gasoline were found among bags of soil from the chimney area. He believes some remains were dumped in the Ohio River, which runs along Brown County's southern border.
The Carrolls entered not guilty pleas in Clermont County Common Pleas Court to numerous charges, including murder. A judge set bond at $10.1 million each.
In another development, William Morrison, ombudsman of the Butler County Children Services Board, said there was no information in the case file that indicated problems were developing in Marcus' placement in the Carrolls' home.
Dayton Daily News, September 8, 2006, News pg A1
CINCINNATI — Bone fragments found near a crumbling chimney are from a 2- to 4-yearold child, but do not conclusively identify 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel, whose foster parents are charged in his murder, the Hamilton County coroner said Thursday.
Dr. O'dell Owens said the 18 fragments, the largest not even an inch long, were found near an old chimney in Brown County. Forensic scientists determined their age from growth plates in the bones, he said.
Owens called the evidence "pretty solid" that the fragments are from the body of the autistic Middletown boy who was reported missing in August.
But DNA samples cannot be retrieved from the bones. "The DNA that is being processed came from a small piece of tissue that was found," said Owens, who declined to describe the tissue or elaborate on other possible clues — a button and piece of fabric — found at the chimney.
Foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. left Fiesel in a closet, bound in a blanket, when they left their Clermont County home for a family reunion in Kentucky last month, prosecutors contend.
The boy was dead when the Carrolls returned two days later, prosecutors said, and David Carroll went to neighboring Brown County repeatedly to try to burn the body.
Owens said traces of gasoline were found among bags of soil from the chimney area. He believes some remains were dumped in the Ohio River, which runs along Brown County's southern border.
The Carrolls entered not guilty pleas in Clermont County Common Pleas Court to numerous charges, including murder. A judge set bond at $10.1 million each.
In another development, William Morrison, ombudsman of the Butler County Children Services Board, said there was no information in the case file that indicated problems were developing in Marcus' placement in the Carrolls' home.
Concern over separating siblings
High Court Removes 4 kids from foster home:
Summit judge's decision trumped. Children likely to be placed for adoption.
Phil Trexler, Akron Beacon Journal, September 7, 2006, pg B1
Four children will be uprooted from their foster home and likely placed for adoption after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Summit County judge should not have placed them indefinitely in foster care.
In a 5-2 ruling, the Supreme Court found that a judge didn't have the authority to place the children with a foster parent without the approval of the county Children Services Board.
The ruling overturned an Ohio 9th District Court of Appeals decision, which had allowed the children to stay at the home without being adopted. CSB attorneys had appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. "
"This is a horrible decision, not just for these kids, it's horrible for kids across the state," said Akron attorney Charles Altwies, who represented the children. "In this case, the kids will be broken up as a family and put in the wind forever and will probably never see each other again. This was a situation where a judge heard the case and made a decision based on what he believed was in the best interest of the children, not the best interest of the state or the CSB. And the Supreme Court said he couldn't do it."
Attorneys for the children and their natural father wanted the children to remain together with a foster mother. They feared an adoption would likely separate the siblings.
In 2005, visiting Juvenile Court Judge K. William Bailey agreed and placed them with the foster mother in western Cuyahoga County.
CSB officials wanted custody in order to have the children placed for adoption.
The foster mother, identified in court papers as a woman in her late 50s, did not want to adopt the children because of her age.
The four children, who range in age from 8 to 13, were removed from their home in the spring of 2003 and placed with CSB.
According to court papers, their parents were drug addicted, their home was without utilities and they had very little food to eat. The children had been living with the foster parent for about 2 1/2 years.
"This is a great decision for children because no longer will they be in a 'foster care drift' for extended periods of time. Instead, they will get into a permanent home as soon as possible," said Philip Bogdanoff, an assistant county prosecutor who argued CSB's case before the Supreme Court.
In their ruling, the Supreme Court cited a 1988 state law designed to protect children from drifting, or being moved indefinitely between foster families.
" . . . Although life with the foster mother in this case appears to be a loving and enriching one, the relationship lacks the permanency envisioned by the legislature," Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton wrote.
Justice Paul E. Pfeifer was joined by Justice Alice Robie Resnick in dissenting. The justices found that part of Ohio law allows a judge to place a child without a request from child service agencies.
"When a child is originally adjudicated abused, dependent or neglected . . . a children services agency is often in the best position to determine whether a permanent placement is necessary. By the time modifications or terminations of initial orders are necessary . . . (a judge) is in the best position to determine whether a permanent placement is in the best interests of the child."
Summit judge's decision trumped. Children likely to be placed for adoption.
Phil Trexler, Akron Beacon Journal, September 7, 2006, pg B1
Four children will be uprooted from their foster home and likely placed for adoption after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Summit County judge should not have placed them indefinitely in foster care.
In a 5-2 ruling, the Supreme Court found that a judge didn't have the authority to place the children with a foster parent without the approval of the county Children Services Board.
The ruling overturned an Ohio 9th District Court of Appeals decision, which had allowed the children to stay at the home without being adopted. CSB attorneys had appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. "
"This is a horrible decision, not just for these kids, it's horrible for kids across the state," said Akron attorney Charles Altwies, who represented the children. "In this case, the kids will be broken up as a family and put in the wind forever and will probably never see each other again. This was a situation where a judge heard the case and made a decision based on what he believed was in the best interest of the children, not the best interest of the state or the CSB. And the Supreme Court said he couldn't do it."
Attorneys for the children and their natural father wanted the children to remain together with a foster mother. They feared an adoption would likely separate the siblings.
In 2005, visiting Juvenile Court Judge K. William Bailey agreed and placed them with the foster mother in western Cuyahoga County.
CSB officials wanted custody in order to have the children placed for adoption.
The foster mother, identified in court papers as a woman in her late 50s, did not want to adopt the children because of her age.
The four children, who range in age from 8 to 13, were removed from their home in the spring of 2003 and placed with CSB.
According to court papers, their parents were drug addicted, their home was without utilities and they had very little food to eat. The children had been living with the foster parent for about 2 1/2 years.
"This is a great decision for children because no longer will they be in a 'foster care drift' for extended periods of time. Instead, they will get into a permanent home as soon as possible," said Philip Bogdanoff, an assistant county prosecutor who argued CSB's case before the Supreme Court.
In their ruling, the Supreme Court cited a 1988 state law designed to protect children from drifting, or being moved indefinitely between foster families.
" . . . Although life with the foster mother in this case appears to be a loving and enriching one, the relationship lacks the permanency envisioned by the legislature," Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton wrote.
Justice Paul E. Pfeifer was joined by Justice Alice Robie Resnick in dissenting. The justices found that part of Ohio law allows a judge to place a child without a request from child service agencies.
"When a child is originally adjudicated abused, dependent or neglected . . . a children services agency is often in the best position to determine whether a permanent placement is necessary. By the time modifications or terminations of initial orders are necessary . . . (a judge) is in the best position to determine whether a permanent placement is in the best interests of the child."
Readers' Opinions of Donna Trevino
Paper: Cincinnati Enquirer, The (OH) Title: Hold Marcus' birth mom accountable as well Date: September 7, 2006 Section: Editorial Page: 13C More letters: Lawsuit in the Marcus Fiesel caseIn response to "Mom sues for $5M in death" (Sept. 6),
Donna Trevino's attorney, Kevin D. Hughes, has stressed that the lawsuit filed is not about money, but accountability. Am I missing something here?
What about Donna Trevino's accountability? Trevino had three little children living in a feces/flea-ridden home that the police said wasn't fit for an animal. Was she held accountable? Did she get fined or have the threat of serving jail time?
The reason Marcus was with the Carrolls in the first place is because Trevino failed him first and foremost. When will she be held accountable? I hope this lawsuit gets thrown out before too much of my taxpayer's money is spent; and if it does move forward and any amount of money is awarded, I would certainly hope the court will assign the money to be put into a trust for the siblings of Marcus.
That would be the only positive that might possibly come from this whole debacle.
-Becky Howard, Liberty Township.
Shame on lawyers for taking this case
My God, is there any limit to the depths a few lawyers are willing to sink to for the almighty dollar?
This isn't about making the next "boat payment;" it's about a tormented little boy who slowly died, afraid, alone and abandoned. This is about no one taking responsibility and helping this poor child and how to make sure it never happens again.
It is not about how much money we can extract to make our lives better in the name of teaching some one else a lesson.
Shame on you.
-Hank Mayberry, Springfield Township.
There's no price on life of a child
Is $5 million the price of a child? Why not go for $500 million?
Yet she claims to be a "real mother." She was a real mother who never cleaned the home her children lived in. She was a real mother who has three children by three fathers. She was a real mother who only comes out of hiding when something as tragic as this occurs. She was a real mother who, I believe, has made absolutely no attempt to get her children back after they were taken.
Hopefully the $5 million makes your pitiful life better. Had you been a "real mother" you would know there is no price that can be put on the life of a child.
-Jay Ledonne, Covedale.
Better care at outset would've avoided this
Perhaps if Marcus' mother had been a "mother" from the start, he wouldn't have had to be removed from her home which was "filthy, full of fleas and feces, and lacked food."
Marcus being handicapped in any manner has nothing to do with the squalor this child had to endure in his short life with his "mother" before children's services removed him.
I'm very sure, however, a $5 million settlement will help her come to terms with her grief.
-Carol Reinhardt, Union, Ky.
Here's hoping system works against Trevino
Inevitable but appalling - how else can we view the $5 million suit by the birth mother of Marcus Fiesel?
Donna Trevino seeks compensation for the loss of the child she evidentially put at risk, with her life choices. This is the same child she was willing to give up to make the responsibility for his life someone else's job. Now she claims the system failed her.
Let's hope that the system works when it is time for the jury to return a verdict on this case.
-Patricia Hogan, Milford.
Put winnings toward improving system
Having just watched Donna Trevino's "act" on TV, I have to comment. She and her lawyer stated it was not about money but accountability.
Yeah, right. If you win $5 million, put it toward hiring more people to check out the foster homes, or better yet, to do a decent background check on potential foster parents.
As Marcus was being taken from the birth mother, she said, "He's your problem now."
Yeah, he was, and we let him down.
Don't reward a woman that couldn't be bothered with the children she brought into this world.
I don't understand what kind of lawyer would take a case like this.
Yes, it is about the money.
-Larry L. McMillin, New Richmond.
Our legal system also being abused
Does Marcus Fiesel's birth mother have the right to sue?
Sadly, even criminals can find a bottom-feeding attorney to represent them.
Her $5 million assault upon our legal system proves that this little boy is not the only victim being abused.
-Rod Huron, White Oak
Donna Trevino's attorney, Kevin D. Hughes, has stressed that the lawsuit filed is not about money, but accountability. Am I missing something here?
What about Donna Trevino's accountability? Trevino had three little children living in a feces/flea-ridden home that the police said wasn't fit for an animal. Was she held accountable? Did she get fined or have the threat of serving jail time?
The reason Marcus was with the Carrolls in the first place is because Trevino failed him first and foremost. When will she be held accountable? I hope this lawsuit gets thrown out before too much of my taxpayer's money is spent; and if it does move forward and any amount of money is awarded, I would certainly hope the court will assign the money to be put into a trust for the siblings of Marcus.
That would be the only positive that might possibly come from this whole debacle.
-Becky Howard, Liberty Township.
Shame on lawyers for taking this case
My God, is there any limit to the depths a few lawyers are willing to sink to for the almighty dollar?
This isn't about making the next "boat payment;" it's about a tormented little boy who slowly died, afraid, alone and abandoned. This is about no one taking responsibility and helping this poor child and how to make sure it never happens again.
It is not about how much money we can extract to make our lives better in the name of teaching some one else a lesson.
Shame on you.
-Hank Mayberry, Springfield Township.
There's no price on life of a child
Is $5 million the price of a child? Why not go for $500 million?
Yet she claims to be a "real mother." She was a real mother who never cleaned the home her children lived in. She was a real mother who has three children by three fathers. She was a real mother who only comes out of hiding when something as tragic as this occurs. She was a real mother who, I believe, has made absolutely no attempt to get her children back after they were taken.
Hopefully the $5 million makes your pitiful life better. Had you been a "real mother" you would know there is no price that can be put on the life of a child.
-Jay Ledonne, Covedale.
Better care at outset would've avoided this
Perhaps if Marcus' mother had been a "mother" from the start, he wouldn't have had to be removed from her home which was "filthy, full of fleas and feces, and lacked food."
Marcus being handicapped in any manner has nothing to do with the squalor this child had to endure in his short life with his "mother" before children's services removed him.
I'm very sure, however, a $5 million settlement will help her come to terms with her grief.
-Carol Reinhardt, Union, Ky.
Here's hoping system works against Trevino
Inevitable but appalling - how else can we view the $5 million suit by the birth mother of Marcus Fiesel?
Donna Trevino seeks compensation for the loss of the child she evidentially put at risk, with her life choices. This is the same child she was willing to give up to make the responsibility for his life someone else's job. Now she claims the system failed her.
Let's hope that the system works when it is time for the jury to return a verdict on this case.
-Patricia Hogan, Milford.
Put winnings toward improving system
Having just watched Donna Trevino's "act" on TV, I have to comment. She and her lawyer stated it was not about money but accountability.
Yeah, right. If you win $5 million, put it toward hiring more people to check out the foster homes, or better yet, to do a decent background check on potential foster parents.
As Marcus was being taken from the birth mother, she said, "He's your problem now."
Yeah, he was, and we let him down.
Don't reward a woman that couldn't be bothered with the children she brought into this world.
I don't understand what kind of lawyer would take a case like this.
Yes, it is about the money.
-Larry L. McMillin, New Richmond.
Our legal system also being abused
Does Marcus Fiesel's birth mother have the right to sue?
Sadly, even criminals can find a bottom-feeding attorney to represent them.
Her $5 million assault upon our legal system proves that this little boy is not the only victim being abused.
-Rod Huron, White Oak
Does Donna Trevino deserve 5 million?
She can sue, but the jury can say no way
News Journal (Mansfield, OH): September 8, 2006 Page: A9
The Issue: The birth mother, who lost custody of her 3-year-old autistic child, wants $5 million for the child's wrongful death.
Our Opinion: Donna Trevino has the right to sue, but jurors should listen carefully to all testimony before they award her anything.
Angry protests started rising almost as soon as the lawsuit was announced. The messages were all the same: It's outrageous that Donna Trevino, birth mother to Marcus Fiesel, is trying to profit from the horrible death of her 3-year-old autistic son in southwest Ohio.
David and Liz Carroll, Marcus' foster parents, are charged in his death, accused of binding the boy up in a blanket and leaving him to die in a sweltering closet last month while they left town for a few days.
It's horrible, and people should be held accountable -- the killers and the social service agencies officials who put Marcus in the hands of such people.
But should anyone pay Donna Trevino? This is a woman whose parenting skills were so wretched that Marcus -- bruised, filthy and neglected -- was taken away from her. So were her other two children.
Had she been a fit mother, Marcus never would have ended up with the Carrolls. And now she wants $5 million. On Tuesday, she sued almost everyone who had a role in Marcus' care: the Carrolls; the couple's live-in girlfriend, Amy Baker; Lifeway for Youth, the agency that placed Marcus with the Carrolls; Butler County Children Services, which contracted with Lifeway; and the Butler County Commission.
"We feel Marcus Fiesel was let down," said Kevin D. Hughes, Trevino's attorney.
The only "caregiver" left off the list of defendants was Trevino. But nothing said in the suit, or in the press conference she and her attorneys held in announcing the price tag they put on her grief, indicates she sees any connection between her own behavior and what happened to her son.
She had kept her children in filthy, flea-ridden squalor. Police were called to her Middletown home several times. Their reports said there was little food in the apartment, the children slept on dirty floor mats and feces were smeared about.
Some of Trevino's critics say she should not be allowed to sue. That's wrong. Our legal system gives anyone the right to claim they have been wronged. Whether Trevino has the "right" to collect from Marcus' death is another story. Butler County should let the case go to trial and let a jury decide exactly how much Donna Trevino deserves. We'll be curious to hear the birth mother's testimony regarding her own "care" of Marcus.
News Journal (Mansfield, OH): September 8, 2006 Page: A9
The Issue: The birth mother, who lost custody of her 3-year-old autistic child, wants $5 million for the child's wrongful death.
Our Opinion: Donna Trevino has the right to sue, but jurors should listen carefully to all testimony before they award her anything.
Angry protests started rising almost as soon as the lawsuit was announced. The messages were all the same: It's outrageous that Donna Trevino, birth mother to Marcus Fiesel, is trying to profit from the horrible death of her 3-year-old autistic son in southwest Ohio.
David and Liz Carroll, Marcus' foster parents, are charged in his death, accused of binding the boy up in a blanket and leaving him to die in a sweltering closet last month while they left town for a few days.
It's horrible, and people should be held accountable -- the killers and the social service agencies officials who put Marcus in the hands of such people.
But should anyone pay Donna Trevino? This is a woman whose parenting skills were so wretched that Marcus -- bruised, filthy and neglected -- was taken away from her. So were her other two children.
Had she been a fit mother, Marcus never would have ended up with the Carrolls. And now she wants $5 million. On Tuesday, she sued almost everyone who had a role in Marcus' care: the Carrolls; the couple's live-in girlfriend, Amy Baker; Lifeway for Youth, the agency that placed Marcus with the Carrolls; Butler County Children Services, which contracted with Lifeway; and the Butler County Commission.
"We feel Marcus Fiesel was let down," said Kevin D. Hughes, Trevino's attorney.
The only "caregiver" left off the list of defendants was Trevino. But nothing said in the suit, or in the press conference she and her attorneys held in announcing the price tag they put on her grief, indicates she sees any connection between her own behavior and what happened to her son.
She had kept her children in filthy, flea-ridden squalor. Police were called to her Middletown home several times. Their reports said there was little food in the apartment, the children slept on dirty floor mats and feces were smeared about.
Some of Trevino's critics say she should not be allowed to sue. That's wrong. Our legal system gives anyone the right to claim they have been wronged. Whether Trevino has the "right" to collect from Marcus' death is another story. Butler County should let the case go to trial and let a jury decide exactly how much Donna Trevino deserves. We'll be curious to hear the birth mother's testimony regarding her own "care" of Marcus.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
How can Ohio foster care be improved?
County revises foster-care rules
Better communication, more background checks planned
By Howard Wilkinson, Cincinnati Enquirer staff writer
Hamilton County Job and Family Services officials are upgrading their procedures for placing children in foster care in light of the death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel.
Department officials said last week that until the state and the county finish their investigations, the county will place no more children with Lifeway for Youth. That private agency put Marcus in the Clermont County home of Liz and David Carroll Jr., who are charged in the death of the boy.
In a written report Tuesday to Hamilton County commissioners, Job and Family Services Director Rick Roberts said his agency would:
-Require private agencies under contract to provide documentation for state licensing of a foster home within 10 days of a child being placed in a home.
-Require private agencies to conduct quarterly criminal, civil and credit background checks for all foster parents.
-Seek increased communication with law enforcement agencies so that the department is alerted to situations where crimes have occurred in households containing children.
-Ask the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to alert the county department when the state is investigating a home managed by a private agency under contract with the county.
Commissioner Pat DeWine said the measures proposed by Roberts will be discussed by the commissioners at Monday's meeting.
Better communication, more background checks planned
By Howard Wilkinson, Cincinnati Enquirer staff writer
Hamilton County Job and Family Services officials are upgrading their procedures for placing children in foster care in light of the death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel.
Department officials said last week that until the state and the county finish their investigations, the county will place no more children with Lifeway for Youth. That private agency put Marcus in the Clermont County home of Liz and David Carroll Jr., who are charged in the death of the boy.
In a written report Tuesday to Hamilton County commissioners, Job and Family Services Director Rick Roberts said his agency would:
-Require private agencies under contract to provide documentation for state licensing of a foster home within 10 days of a child being placed in a home.
-Require private agencies to conduct quarterly criminal, civil and credit background checks for all foster parents.
-Seek increased communication with law enforcement agencies so that the department is alerted to situations where crimes have occurred in households containing children.
-Ask the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to alert the county department when the state is investigating a home managed by a private agency under contract with the county.
Commissioner Pat DeWine said the measures proposed by Roberts will be discussed by the commissioners at Monday's meeting.
Looking at foster care from the inside out
Local mom calls foster care 'worst experience of my life' ; However, a Greene Co. woman, who fostered 150 kids, has a positive experience with the system.
Dave Greber Staff Writer. Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio:Sep 3, 2006. p. A10
Arlene Jones was born 22 years ago in Miami, Fla., addicted to drugs.
The oldest of seven, Jones would be forced to care for the household because her mother abused crack cocaine. She was fostered out to other families at 12, pregnant by 14, a high school dropout by 15 and was employed full-time by 16 in order to support her siblings and her mother's habit.
Her stay in foster care was brief but tumultuous, she said: Seven months, five homes, separated from the only biological connection she had.
"It was the worst experience of my life," Jones said of her foster care through Montgomery County Children Services.
But given the opportunity, she wouldn't change a thing.
Jones said she has finally come to understand who she is -- an educated wife, sister and mother of three with a chance to succeed.
Marcus Fiesel, the 3-year-old Middletown boy who was left for dead in his foster parents' closet, never had that chance, Jones said.
"It made me angry at first," Jones said. "I was angry because it reminded me of what I was in. I was thinking, 'Why don't they screen these people better?' And then I wasn't surprised because I could see something like that happening in the foster system," Jones added.
Marcus' foster parents, Liz and David Carroll, Jr. of Union Twp., are being held in Hamilton County on charges related to a two-week cover-up of his death.
After being given back to her birth mother the same year she was placed into foster care, Jones and her brothers and sisters spent the next five years faking a happy home in order to stay together.
"We did a very good job of hiding everything" from children's services workers who checked on their well-being, she said. "We pretty much took care of the house so we could hide" her mother's worsening addiction.
The story of Jones -- and most recently Marcus -- are the exception rather than the rule, said Ann Stevens, spokeswoman for Montgomery County Children Services.
Rules for foster and adoption networks statewide are intended to curtail the opportunity for problems, Stevens said, and they have been created in the best interests of abused and neglected children.
Stevens is concerned the recent media onslaught over the Fiesel case will discourage potential foster and adoptive parents.
"One of the things that disturbs me is that this limelight is giving good parents a bad name," Stevens said. "Finding foster parents is always a challenge. You have to be into it wholeheartedly."
Minnie Fisher is one of those good parents: In the past 42 years she has cared for more than 150 children. The longestserving foster parent in Greene County, Fisher, 75, said her faith and patience have provided strength during infrequent difficult times.
"My experience has been excellent," Fisher said. "I've always had people cooperate with me and we always seem to be working in the best interests of the children. There have been times where I've wanted to stop and I'd get overwhelmed, and (Greene County Children Services) would call and say, 'We have this kid.' I just rely on God, and every time, He said 'yes.' "
Fisher said she was shocked after hearing about Marcus. She said the incident should remind foster parents of the ability to return children to a foster network if things don't work out.
"It's just so hard to believe that anyone would do something like that to a child," Fisher said. "No one forced them to take the child, they did that willingly."
"Some days I think I could be traveling the world, but I just can't be alone. That's not me. The children are my priority."
Caption: Arlene Jones spent part of her own childhood in foster care. Now, with husband Shawn Jones Sr., she's raising her own children, 8-month-old Nicholas Jones (left), Emmanuel Kendrick, 7, and Shawn Jones Jr., 3. Staff photo by Chris Stewart
Dave Greber Staff Writer. Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio:Sep 3, 2006. p. A10
Arlene Jones was born 22 years ago in Miami, Fla., addicted to drugs.
The oldest of seven, Jones would be forced to care for the household because her mother abused crack cocaine. She was fostered out to other families at 12, pregnant by 14, a high school dropout by 15 and was employed full-time by 16 in order to support her siblings and her mother's habit.
Her stay in foster care was brief but tumultuous, she said: Seven months, five homes, separated from the only biological connection she had.
"It was the worst experience of my life," Jones said of her foster care through Montgomery County Children Services.
But given the opportunity, she wouldn't change a thing.
Jones said she has finally come to understand who she is -- an educated wife, sister and mother of three with a chance to succeed.
Marcus Fiesel, the 3-year-old Middletown boy who was left for dead in his foster parents' closet, never had that chance, Jones said.
"It made me angry at first," Jones said. "I was angry because it reminded me of what I was in. I was thinking, 'Why don't they screen these people better?' And then I wasn't surprised because I could see something like that happening in the foster system," Jones added.
Marcus' foster parents, Liz and David Carroll, Jr. of Union Twp., are being held in Hamilton County on charges related to a two-week cover-up of his death.
After being given back to her birth mother the same year she was placed into foster care, Jones and her brothers and sisters spent the next five years faking a happy home in order to stay together.
"We did a very good job of hiding everything" from children's services workers who checked on their well-being, she said. "We pretty much took care of the house so we could hide" her mother's worsening addiction.
The story of Jones -- and most recently Marcus -- are the exception rather than the rule, said Ann Stevens, spokeswoman for Montgomery County Children Services.
Rules for foster and adoption networks statewide are intended to curtail the opportunity for problems, Stevens said, and they have been created in the best interests of abused and neglected children.
Stevens is concerned the recent media onslaught over the Fiesel case will discourage potential foster and adoptive parents.
"One of the things that disturbs me is that this limelight is giving good parents a bad name," Stevens said. "Finding foster parents is always a challenge. You have to be into it wholeheartedly."
Minnie Fisher is one of those good parents: In the past 42 years she has cared for more than 150 children. The longestserving foster parent in Greene County, Fisher, 75, said her faith and patience have provided strength during infrequent difficult times.
"My experience has been excellent," Fisher said. "I've always had people cooperate with me and we always seem to be working in the best interests of the children. There have been times where I've wanted to stop and I'd get overwhelmed, and (Greene County Children Services) would call and say, 'We have this kid.' I just rely on God, and every time, He said 'yes.' "
Fisher said she was shocked after hearing about Marcus. She said the incident should remind foster parents of the ability to return children to a foster network if things don't work out.
"It's just so hard to believe that anyone would do something like that to a child," Fisher said. "No one forced them to take the child, they did that willingly."
"Some days I think I could be traveling the world, but I just can't be alone. That's not me. The children are my priority."
Caption: Arlene Jones spent part of her own childhood in foster care. Now, with husband Shawn Jones Sr., she's raising her own children, 8-month-old Nicholas Jones (left), Emmanuel Kendrick, 7, and Shawn Jones Jr., 3. Staff photo by Chris Stewart
Marcus' death was an isolated incident
Ohio's foster care system under scrutiny after 3-year-old's death ; Industry insiders say improvements could be made but the state's public and private agencies function well.
Lou Grieco Staff Writer. Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio:Sep 3, 2006. p. A10
When he was placed with the foster parents now accused of killing him, Marcus Fiesel was one of the more than 10,000 foster children across Ohio.
Roughly 5,000 of those children are placed with foster families by private agencies. Threeyear-old Marcus was placed with his foster family by Lifeway for Youth, a nonprofit company based in New Carlisle.
"Lifeway was viewed as a pretty good agency," said Crystal Ward Allen, executive director of Public Children Services Agencies of Ohio, a private nonprofit association. "I think they must have a decent reputation."
But Marcus' death and the criminal charges against foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. have brought statewide attention, both to Lifeway and to the foster family system, which blends both private and public organizations.
"When something like this happens, it really hurts us all deeply," said Penny Wyman, executive director with the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies, a group that represents nearly 90 of the approximately 100 private agencies operating in Ohio.
But Wyman said there should be no rush to judgment against private agencies, noting that the Carrolls had passed criminal background checks and had been certified day care providers for two years.
"This family appears to have been quite good at looking good while not being that good," Wyman said.
The trade association was formed in 1973 by a dozen agencies, including some that date back to the Civil War, Wyman said.
In Ohio, private foster care agencies are required to have licensed mental health professionals on staff, so private agencies have gravitated toward providing services for children with the most serious problems.
Some sparsely populated counties might have a shortage of those professionals, and public budgets can be tight, so county officials turn to the private agencies, Wyman said.
But kids who are placed by private agencies often see more oversight, as caseworkers from both the county and the private agency check on them, Wyman said.
In the 14 weeks Marcus was with the Carrolls, he was seen more than 20 times by Butler County Children Services and Lifeway case workers, according to Lifeway and Butler CSB officials.
Allen, representing the public agencies, said private agencies are a necessary part of the system. There is a natural tension, as private agencies tend to look at immediate needs and public agencies focus on long-term needs, she said.
Allen said that Marcus' case showed some systemic failures that should be addressed, including more frequent criminal background checks, since the state currently relies on foster families to self- report encounters with law enforcement. The Carrolls did not report a domestic violence charge, later dropped, against David Carroll.
"Domestic violence has a very high correlation with child abuse," Allen said.
Credit checks could also be useful, and county officials should have a greater ability to get foster parents' licenses revoked, she said.
"There are sociopaths in this world," Wyman said. "We may find that everybody did exactly what they were supposed to do and these people were too slick."
Lou Grieco Staff Writer. Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio:Sep 3, 2006. p. A10
When he was placed with the foster parents now accused of killing him, Marcus Fiesel was one of the more than 10,000 foster children across Ohio.
Roughly 5,000 of those children are placed with foster families by private agencies. Threeyear-old Marcus was placed with his foster family by Lifeway for Youth, a nonprofit company based in New Carlisle.
"Lifeway was viewed as a pretty good agency," said Crystal Ward Allen, executive director of Public Children Services Agencies of Ohio, a private nonprofit association. "I think they must have a decent reputation."
But Marcus' death and the criminal charges against foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. have brought statewide attention, both to Lifeway and to the foster family system, which blends both private and public organizations.
"When something like this happens, it really hurts us all deeply," said Penny Wyman, executive director with the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies, a group that represents nearly 90 of the approximately 100 private agencies operating in Ohio.
But Wyman said there should be no rush to judgment against private agencies, noting that the Carrolls had passed criminal background checks and had been certified day care providers for two years.
"This family appears to have been quite good at looking good while not being that good," Wyman said.
The trade association was formed in 1973 by a dozen agencies, including some that date back to the Civil War, Wyman said.
In Ohio, private foster care agencies are required to have licensed mental health professionals on staff, so private agencies have gravitated toward providing services for children with the most serious problems.
Some sparsely populated counties might have a shortage of those professionals, and public budgets can be tight, so county officials turn to the private agencies, Wyman said.
But kids who are placed by private agencies often see more oversight, as caseworkers from both the county and the private agency check on them, Wyman said.
In the 14 weeks Marcus was with the Carrolls, he was seen more than 20 times by Butler County Children Services and Lifeway case workers, according to Lifeway and Butler CSB officials.
Allen, representing the public agencies, said private agencies are a necessary part of the system. There is a natural tension, as private agencies tend to look at immediate needs and public agencies focus on long-term needs, she said.
Allen said that Marcus' case showed some systemic failures that should be addressed, including more frequent criminal background checks, since the state currently relies on foster families to self- report encounters with law enforcement. The Carrolls did not report a domestic violence charge, later dropped, against David Carroll.
"Domestic violence has a very high correlation with child abuse," Allen said.
Credit checks could also be useful, and county officials should have a greater ability to get foster parents' licenses revoked, she said.
"There are sociopaths in this world," Wyman said. "We may find that everybody did exactly what they were supposed to do and these people were too slick."
Friday, September 08, 2006
Oh, the irony
Foster-care provider running out of money
Group loses county funds when it sends children home
Columbus Dispatch, Thursday, September 07, 2006
Encarnacion Pyle
A private agency’s practice of helping troubled families keep their children out of foster homes has threatened its very existence.
Ohio Youth Advocate Program in Hilliard, one of the state’s largest foster-care providers, is reuniting children with their families more quickly, reducing the money it receives from counties. Child-welfare agencies also have been sending fewer children to the group.
"What’s best for children and families isn’t always good for us," Executive Director Joan Wilson said.
Franklin County Children Services thinks the group and its parent company, National Youth Advocate Program, also based in Hilliard, need as much as $3 million to pay bills.
Children Services and the state are reviewing the groups’ books to determine the extent of their financial problems and whether children in their care might be affected.
"We’re obviously concerned, but it might be what you call a good problem," Children Services’ Executive Director John Saros said.
Children Services is returning nearly 87 percent of the youths in its care to their families, finding adoptive homes for many others and providing more services to parents who need help dealing with their children’s behavioral, emotional or mental problems, he said. "Unfortunately, our successes are leading to unintended consequences to some of our providers because we’re sending fewer kids for shorter lengths of stay into foster care."
Children Services pays the groups $43 to $92 a day for children in foster homes, depending on the child’s needs. Ohio Youth Advocate has 152 kids in its homes now.
The agency also pays Youth Advocate and its parent company about $3.1 million a year for children who have been judged delinquent and unruly and need emergency care in a group home. That program also is losing money, Saros said.
Children Services learned of the groups’ struggles in late July when it received a complaint they were behind on their bills.
"We became concerned because there have been problems in the past," Saros said.
In 2003, then-State Auditor Jim Petro found that Ohio Youth Advocate and its parent company had misspent $5 million in taxpayer money on management fees, paintings, travel and finance charges.
In early August, an auditor for Children Services determined the groups had $2 million in cash but owed $7.8 million. They also had used all but $250,000 of a $1.75 million line of credit.
Wilson knew her organization was having trouble but was surprised to learn in August how much it owed. Youth Advocate contracts with 15 childwelfare agencies in the state and is serving 1,222 youngsters.
The group will cut 25 positions, restructure its program and has worked out payment schedules with organizations to which it owes money, Wilson said. It also will merge with the National Youth Advocate Program to save on administrative costs.
Marvena Twigg, head of the national program, said in an e-mail that she couldn’t comment on specifics but trusts that Children Services "will continue to work with us to maintain our quality and successful service to all children and families."
Children Services also sends about 40 cases a month to Ohio Youth Advocate, paying $33,000 a case, as part of an experiment to save taxpayers money.
It has decided to leave its youths in the groups’ care and extend their contracts month by month. The agency also has developed a plan to take over the services if the Youth Advocate programs go under. The plan would cost $21 million a year, $800,000 more than it currently pays the groups.
The state Department of Job and Family Services also is investigating to make sure the groups have enough money to meet licensing requirements, spokesman Dennis Evans said.
If county child-welfare agencies don’t start rewarding foster-care agencies for helping families in their own homes, more agencies will fall into financial holes, said Penny Wyman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies. "After a while, all you can do with less is less."
Group loses county funds when it sends children home
Columbus Dispatch, Thursday, September 07, 2006
Encarnacion Pyle
A private agency’s practice of helping troubled families keep their children out of foster homes has threatened its very existence.
Ohio Youth Advocate Program in Hilliard, one of the state’s largest foster-care providers, is reuniting children with their families more quickly, reducing the money it receives from counties. Child-welfare agencies also have been sending fewer children to the group.
"What’s best for children and families isn’t always good for us," Executive Director Joan Wilson said.
Franklin County Children Services thinks the group and its parent company, National Youth Advocate Program, also based in Hilliard, need as much as $3 million to pay bills.
Children Services and the state are reviewing the groups’ books to determine the extent of their financial problems and whether children in their care might be affected.
"We’re obviously concerned, but it might be what you call a good problem," Children Services’ Executive Director John Saros said.
Children Services is returning nearly 87 percent of the youths in its care to their families, finding adoptive homes for many others and providing more services to parents who need help dealing with their children’s behavioral, emotional or mental problems, he said. "Unfortunately, our successes are leading to unintended consequences to some of our providers because we’re sending fewer kids for shorter lengths of stay into foster care."
Children Services pays the groups $43 to $92 a day for children in foster homes, depending on the child’s needs. Ohio Youth Advocate has 152 kids in its homes now.
The agency also pays Youth Advocate and its parent company about $3.1 million a year for children who have been judged delinquent and unruly and need emergency care in a group home. That program also is losing money, Saros said.
Children Services learned of the groups’ struggles in late July when it received a complaint they were behind on their bills.
"We became concerned because there have been problems in the past," Saros said.
In 2003, then-State Auditor Jim Petro found that Ohio Youth Advocate and its parent company had misspent $5 million in taxpayer money on management fees, paintings, travel and finance charges.
In early August, an auditor for Children Services determined the groups had $2 million in cash but owed $7.8 million. They also had used all but $250,000 of a $1.75 million line of credit.
Wilson knew her organization was having trouble but was surprised to learn in August how much it owed. Youth Advocate contracts with 15 childwelfare agencies in the state and is serving 1,222 youngsters.
The group will cut 25 positions, restructure its program and has worked out payment schedules with organizations to which it owes money, Wilson said. It also will merge with the National Youth Advocate Program to save on administrative costs.
Marvena Twigg, head of the national program, said in an e-mail that she couldn’t comment on specifics but trusts that Children Services "will continue to work with us to maintain our quality and successful service to all children and families."
Children Services also sends about 40 cases a month to Ohio Youth Advocate, paying $33,000 a case, as part of an experiment to save taxpayers money.
It has decided to leave its youths in the groups’ care and extend their contracts month by month. The agency also has developed a plan to take over the services if the Youth Advocate programs go under. The plan would cost $21 million a year, $800,000 more than it currently pays the groups.
The state Department of Job and Family Services also is investigating to make sure the groups have enough money to meet licensing requirements, spokesman Dennis Evans said.
If county child-welfare agencies don’t start rewarding foster-care agencies for helping families in their own homes, more agencies will fall into financial holes, said Penny Wyman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies. "After a while, all you can do with less is less."
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Where was Mom while Marcus was in foster care?
Biological Mother Cleared to File Suit
Mary Lolli
Hamilton Journal; Cincinnati Post
September 2, 2006, News pg. A2
Butler County Probate Court Judge Randy Rogers on Friday approved paperwork naming Marcus Fiesel's biological mother the administrator of the dead toddler's estate, paving the way for a wrongful death lawsuit expected to be filed next week.
Attorney Jennifer Coatney said she and co-counsel Kevin Hughes plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Butler County Common Pleas Court next week on behalf of Donna Trevino.
Prosecutors allege that Marcus, 3, died in the Clermont County home of his foster parents, David and Liz Carroll, after they wrapped him in a blanket, put him in a closet and left town Aug. 4-6.
In April, authorities removed Marcus and two of Trevino's other children -- Michael, 10, and Peaches, 13 months -- from her Middletown home after Marcus was found wandering the streets and police found "very bad living conditions" in the house.
Coatney said the suit will seek an as-yet undetermined amount of punitive and compensatory damages against Butler County Commissioners, Butler County Children Services, Lifeway foster care agency and the Carrolls. Butler County Children Services contracted with Lifeway to place Trevino's children in three foster homes supervised by that agency.
Children's Services spokeswoman Dawn Grady had no comment on the potential lawsuit.
Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said his office, as official legal counsel for the county, "won't know the extent of our involvement in this case unless and until something is filed. Typically ... the county's insurance carrier will assign one or more of its attorneys as defense counsel."
Lifeway officials didn't address the possibility of a lawsuit Friday when they released a statement about their handling of Marcus' placement. They refused to take questions.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said it "sickened" him that people continued to try to make money from Marcus' misfortune. The Carrolls took Marcus into their home "for money," he said. The couple was paid $1,000 a month, because of the boy's multiple problems, to care for him.
Now Trevino is trying to capitalize on her son's death, Deters said. "I'm just sickened that people keep using Marcus for money, to angle this for money. I think it's outrageous," he said. "If she had cared as much about Marcus then as she does now, we wouldn't be here."
Mary Lolli
Hamilton Journal; Cincinnati Post
September 2, 2006, News pg. A2
Butler County Probate Court Judge Randy Rogers on Friday approved paperwork naming Marcus Fiesel's biological mother the administrator of the dead toddler's estate, paving the way for a wrongful death lawsuit expected to be filed next week.
Attorney Jennifer Coatney said she and co-counsel Kevin Hughes plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Butler County Common Pleas Court next week on behalf of Donna Trevino.
Prosecutors allege that Marcus, 3, died in the Clermont County home of his foster parents, David and Liz Carroll, after they wrapped him in a blanket, put him in a closet and left town Aug. 4-6.
In April, authorities removed Marcus and two of Trevino's other children -- Michael, 10, and Peaches, 13 months -- from her Middletown home after Marcus was found wandering the streets and police found "very bad living conditions" in the house.
Coatney said the suit will seek an as-yet undetermined amount of punitive and compensatory damages against Butler County Commissioners, Butler County Children Services, Lifeway foster care agency and the Carrolls. Butler County Children Services contracted with Lifeway to place Trevino's children in three foster homes supervised by that agency.
Children's Services spokeswoman Dawn Grady had no comment on the potential lawsuit.
Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said his office, as official legal counsel for the county, "won't know the extent of our involvement in this case unless and until something is filed. Typically ... the county's insurance carrier will assign one or more of its attorneys as defense counsel."
Lifeway officials didn't address the possibility of a lawsuit Friday when they released a statement about their handling of Marcus' placement. They refused to take questions.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said it "sickened" him that people continued to try to make money from Marcus' misfortune. The Carrolls took Marcus into their home "for money," he said. The couple was paid $1,000 a month, because of the boy's multiple problems, to care for him.
Now Trevino is trying to capitalize on her son's death, Deters said. "I'm just sickened that people keep using Marcus for money, to angle this for money. I think it's outrageous," he said. "If she had cared as much about Marcus then as she does now, we wouldn't be here."
County takes custody of Baker's children
County takes custody of Baker's 3 children
Barrett J. Brunsman Enquirer staff writer
Cincinnati Enquirer, September 2, 2006, News pg.4A
BATAVIA - Amy Baker's three children were taken from her this week after a Clermont County judge was told Baker allowed them to be subjected to domestic violence and remain under the care of Liz and David J. Carroll Jr., despite concerns over the disappearance of their foster son, Marcus Fiesel.
Baker also "reported to law enforcement that she was aware of the abuse to the foster child in the home of Liz and David Carroll," according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in connection with an emergency custody hearing in Clermont County Juvenile Court.
The Carrolls, who have been charged in the death of 3-year-old Marcus, apparently met Baker when she needed a baby sitter.
"They are my day-care providers through Clermont County," Baker told The Enquirer on Aug. 23. "I have known them for about two years. We're also friends."
Baker told The Enquirer she socialized with the Carrolls and had spent some nights at their home, "but I don't live there."
Liz Carroll was certified as a day-care provider in May 2004 by Clermont County. The license was revoked Aug. 17 - two days after Marcus was reported missing - because Liz Carroll had failed to inform the agency about a change in how many people lived in the house, said county spokeswoman Kathy Lehr.
That was because it was determined another foster child lived in the home. "Amy Baker is currently homeless and unemployed," according to the affidavit of Susan Grabowski and Tammie Armstrong, who are investigations supervisors for the Clermont County Department of Children's Protective Services.
Juvenile Court Judge Stephanie Wyler turned over custody of the Baker children to that agency, which typically places such children in foster care. Wyler scheduled a Sept. 18 formal hearing on the custody of the Baker children. On the same day, Wyler is to hold a hearing to determine permanent custody of four of David and Liz Carroll's children.
On Tuesday, Wyler placed them in foster care, after Grabowski and Armstrong swore in affidavits the children had been beaten with belts by the Carrolls.
While previously receiving welfare payments, Baker reported she lived at one residence but was "staying at another," according to the most recent court document. "She has allowed her children to be subjected to domestic violence," the document said. "
She continued to allow her children to be in the care of Liz and David Carroll after concerns arose regarding their foster child." Speaking of her children, Baker previously told The Enquirer: "I don't trust them with anybody else but Liz and David."
Baker's children are ages 7, 5 and 3.
She told The Enquirer she was divorcing her husband, Brian J. Baker, a former resident of Amelia. "Attempts were made to meet with Amy Baker in order to assist her family with securing housing and counseling," the court document said. "Due to a pending criminal investigation, the children needed emergency placement."
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has said Amy Baker is expected to be an important witness against the Carrolls.
Barrett J. Brunsman Enquirer staff writer
Cincinnati Enquirer, September 2, 2006, News pg.4A
BATAVIA - Amy Baker's three children were taken from her this week after a Clermont County judge was told Baker allowed them to be subjected to domestic violence and remain under the care of Liz and David J. Carroll Jr., despite concerns over the disappearance of their foster son, Marcus Fiesel.
Baker also "reported to law enforcement that she was aware of the abuse to the foster child in the home of Liz and David Carroll," according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in connection with an emergency custody hearing in Clermont County Juvenile Court.
The Carrolls, who have been charged in the death of 3-year-old Marcus, apparently met Baker when she needed a baby sitter.
"They are my day-care providers through Clermont County," Baker told The Enquirer on Aug. 23. "I have known them for about two years. We're also friends."
Baker told The Enquirer she socialized with the Carrolls and had spent some nights at their home, "but I don't live there."
Liz Carroll was certified as a day-care provider in May 2004 by Clermont County. The license was revoked Aug. 17 - two days after Marcus was reported missing - because Liz Carroll had failed to inform the agency about a change in how many people lived in the house, said county spokeswoman Kathy Lehr.
That was because it was determined another foster child lived in the home. "Amy Baker is currently homeless and unemployed," according to the affidavit of Susan Grabowski and Tammie Armstrong, who are investigations supervisors for the Clermont County Department of Children's Protective Services.
Juvenile Court Judge Stephanie Wyler turned over custody of the Baker children to that agency, which typically places such children in foster care. Wyler scheduled a Sept. 18 formal hearing on the custody of the Baker children. On the same day, Wyler is to hold a hearing to determine permanent custody of four of David and Liz Carroll's children.
On Tuesday, Wyler placed them in foster care, after Grabowski and Armstrong swore in affidavits the children had been beaten with belts by the Carrolls.
While previously receiving welfare payments, Baker reported she lived at one residence but was "staying at another," according to the most recent court document. "She has allowed her children to be subjected to domestic violence," the document said. "
She continued to allow her children to be in the care of Liz and David Carroll after concerns arose regarding their foster child." Speaking of her children, Baker previously told The Enquirer: "I don't trust them with anybody else but Liz and David."
Baker's children are ages 7, 5 and 3.
She told The Enquirer she was divorcing her husband, Brian J. Baker, a former resident of Amelia. "Attempts were made to meet with Amy Baker in order to assist her family with securing housing and counseling," the court document said. "Due to a pending criminal investigation, the children needed emergency placement."
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has said Amy Baker is expected to be an important witness against the Carrolls.
Lifeway director comes to agency's defense
Lifeway fiercely defends foster placement, calls Carrolls 'evil'
Sheila McLaughlin, staff writer.
Cincinnati Enquirer, News pg.4A
September 2, 2006
SHARONVILLE - The head of the private agency now under investigation in the death of Marcus Fiesel called reporters together but refused to talk about the case during a carefully organized conference at the height of the evening news hour Friday.
Instead, in a rally-like atmosphere with more than 100 foster parents and children standing in the agency's parking lot, Lifeway executive director Mike Berner gave a 15-minute speech defending the agency and the foster system.
Then, he released a 10-page document revealing what his caseworkers knew about the Lifeway foster parents now accused of killing the 3-year-old Middletown boy, supporting his contention that his agency was duped.
It described how, four days after authorities said Marcus died, his foster mother Liz Carroll sat down with a Lifeway caseworker at her kitchen table "for a great deal of time" talking about his progress and chatting about upcoming medical tests. "She appeared perky and unrushed."
When the caseworker asked where Marcus was, Liz Carroll said he was up and down all night sick, and that he was better and finally asleep.
The case worker left without seeing Marcus. The caseworker didn't press to see the child, but Liz Carroll didn't discourage her from seeing Marcus. Nothing seemed amiss, the statement said.
She had even asked for permission to take Marcus to Williamstown, Ky., on Aug. 4, a day prosecutors now say Liz and David Carroll bound the child and left him in a closet to die while they went to the family reunion.
Lifeway, along with the Butler County Children Services Board that hired the private foster placement agency, is at the center of a state investigation into how Marcus ended up with the Carrolls.
Berner said no amount of screening could have detected the questionable things that have surfaced about the Carrolls' backgrounds. The agency followed state law and checked everything it was supposed to in certifying the Carrolls to be foster parents in January, after they attended 36 hours of training, the statement said.
Lifeway didn't know that David Carroll Jr. had been charged with domestic violence in June, a month after Marcus was placed in the home, because he didn't report it.
Before Marcus' case, the agency only did criminal background checks every two years when the foster-care license was renewed, but has changed that policy to do it annually, according to the response.
The document included several new details that help build a picture of the Carrolls and some of the lies they told to become foster parents:
The Carrolls represented that they owned the home on Valley Wood Drive in Union Township, indicating to a Lifeway caseworker that they were a stable family. They were really renting.
References told Lifeway the Carrolls had "a long and stable marriage," "a loving relationship" and "provide children with lots of hugs and kisses."
The Carrolls reported that they were the only adults living in the home. David Carroll's girlfriend lived with the couple. Caseworkers found nothing to indicate another adult lived there.
Liz Carroll listed her employment as a day-care provider since 2004. David Carroll said he was a subcontractor for Planes United, a moving company, for eight years. He was unemployed.
They listed their combined monthly income as $4,800 and said they received $489 to $722 in food stamps from Clermont County for food for providing day care.
The Carrolls placed Marcus in respite, or temporary foster care, out of their home twice but not in August. Lifeway's statement did not say why. Respite care is used when foster parents need a break or go on vacation.
In his speech, Berner blasted Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters' remarks Friday that foster parents are in it for the money as "shameless" and "hypocrisy."
He said the Carrolls were "evil" and the only ones responsible for Marcus' death, and that anyone who criticizes his agency are "witch-hunters, spin-sellers and hypocrites" who "will be the ones who lose."
"You will not find a legitimate scapegoat here," Berner said.
Sheila McLaughlin, staff writer.
Cincinnati Enquirer, News pg.4A
September 2, 2006
SHARONVILLE - The head of the private agency now under investigation in the death of Marcus Fiesel called reporters together but refused to talk about the case during a carefully organized conference at the height of the evening news hour Friday.
Instead, in a rally-like atmosphere with more than 100 foster parents and children standing in the agency's parking lot, Lifeway executive director Mike Berner gave a 15-minute speech defending the agency and the foster system.
Then, he released a 10-page document revealing what his caseworkers knew about the Lifeway foster parents now accused of killing the 3-year-old Middletown boy, supporting his contention that his agency was duped.
It described how, four days after authorities said Marcus died, his foster mother Liz Carroll sat down with a Lifeway caseworker at her kitchen table "for a great deal of time" talking about his progress and chatting about upcoming medical tests. "She appeared perky and unrushed."
When the caseworker asked where Marcus was, Liz Carroll said he was up and down all night sick, and that he was better and finally asleep.
The case worker left without seeing Marcus. The caseworker didn't press to see the child, but Liz Carroll didn't discourage her from seeing Marcus. Nothing seemed amiss, the statement said.
She had even asked for permission to take Marcus to Williamstown, Ky., on Aug. 4, a day prosecutors now say Liz and David Carroll bound the child and left him in a closet to die while they went to the family reunion.
Lifeway, along with the Butler County Children Services Board that hired the private foster placement agency, is at the center of a state investigation into how Marcus ended up with the Carrolls.
Berner said no amount of screening could have detected the questionable things that have surfaced about the Carrolls' backgrounds. The agency followed state law and checked everything it was supposed to in certifying the Carrolls to be foster parents in January, after they attended 36 hours of training, the statement said.
Lifeway didn't know that David Carroll Jr. had been charged with domestic violence in June, a month after Marcus was placed in the home, because he didn't report it.
Before Marcus' case, the agency only did criminal background checks every two years when the foster-care license was renewed, but has changed that policy to do it annually, according to the response.
The document included several new details that help build a picture of the Carrolls and some of the lies they told to become foster parents:
The Carrolls represented that they owned the home on Valley Wood Drive in Union Township, indicating to a Lifeway caseworker that they were a stable family. They were really renting.
References told Lifeway the Carrolls had "a long and stable marriage," "a loving relationship" and "provide children with lots of hugs and kisses."
The Carrolls reported that they were the only adults living in the home. David Carroll's girlfriend lived with the couple. Caseworkers found nothing to indicate another adult lived there.
Liz Carroll listed her employment as a day-care provider since 2004. David Carroll said he was a subcontractor for Planes United, a moving company, for eight years. He was unemployed.
They listed their combined monthly income as $4,800 and said they received $489 to $722 in food stamps from Clermont County for food for providing day care.
The Carrolls placed Marcus in respite, or temporary foster care, out of their home twice but not in August. Lifeway's statement did not say why. Respite care is used when foster parents need a break or go on vacation.
In his speech, Berner blasted Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters' remarks Friday that foster parents are in it for the money as "shameless" and "hypocrisy."
He said the Carrolls were "evil" and the only ones responsible for Marcus' death, and that anyone who criticizes his agency are "witch-hunters, spin-sellers and hypocrites" who "will be the ones who lose."
"You will not find a legitimate scapegoat here," Berner said.
No room at the inn for foster children
Good foster homes in demand:[Cincinnati/Kentucky Edition]
Peggy Kreimer, Cincinnati Post.
Cincinnati, Ohio: Sep 4, 2006. pg. A.1.0
When Liz and David Carroll were charged this week with killing their foster child, 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel, officials said the couple's other four children could end up in the foster care system.
That would add four more youngsters to the ever growing number of children who need safe, stable homes.
The need far exceeds the homes available for those children, and Marcus' horrifying end underscores the problem of not only finding homes, but good ones for foster children.
Marcus, autistic and sometimes difficult to handle, was removed from the home of his biological mother this spring by Butler County Children's Services, which then contracted with the Lifeway for Youth agency in Sharonville to place him in the private foster home of the Carrolls in Clermont County.
Lifeway is one of several private agencies that recruit, screen and support foster parents locally. They recruit and supervise foster homes, where children removed from their parents' care are placed. Children are put in foster care because of abuse, neglect or that parents are committed to state care. Those privately administered homes augment foster care programs operated by the state.
So it was not all that unusual that Butler County turned to a private agency like Lifeway for a placement for Marcus, said Joel Griffith, field services director of Northern Kentucky's office of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
In eight Northern Kentucky counties, nearly 800 children need foster care, but the state agency administers only about 137 foster homes in those counties. More than half a dozen private agencies, including the Diocesan Catholic Children's Home, Holly Hill and the Kentucky Baptist Home for Children, administer about 155 additional foster homes, which are all licensed by the state.
Many children who need foster care get sent to homes out of the region or to larger residential facilities because there are not enough private homes and families to meet the need locally, Griffith said.
In Hamilton County, the situation is similar, said Brian Gregg, spokesman for Hamilton County Job and Family Services, which administers foster care programs there.
He said Hamilton County had more than 2,000 children in foster care at various times last year. This month, the number is 730.
The county directly oversees 320 foster care homes and also contracts with several agencies that run their own foster care programs. Gregg said 150 Hamilton County children have been placed in foster homes run by Lifeway, the same agency that contracted with Butler County to place Marcus Fiesel with the Carrolls.
Hamilton County has suspended placement to Lifeway for Youth foster homes and is reviewing the current placements it has through the agency.
"We're re-examining all our placements with them," Gregg said.
On both sides of the river, all foster parents must have background checks, get training and pass a home assessment to be licensed by the state.
Foster families are paid for caring for foster children based on the child's needs, medical condition and behavior. But to be approved by the state, foster families must be able to support themselves independent of the payments, Griffith said.
"The sad part of this will be if the public walks away thinking foster parents are bad people who do this for the money. This is the exception. The vast number of foster parents are good people who are committed to helping kids in need," he said.
Cases like Marcus Fiesel's are horrendous and illustrate the need for good people to step up and help, said Gregg.
"If all the people who showed support and love in this search for Marcus, if only a fraction of them would come forward and say 'I want to be a foster care parent,' we would really see a difference," he said.
There is no question that children with disabilities can be a challenge to care for, but the system includes a network of supports, including respite care that can take a child for hours or days to give a family a break; therapy programs, child care, special education and training programs.
Griffith said foster parent training sessions talk about the importance of asking for help.
"It's not a sign of weakness," he said. "The whole purpose of the foster parent support network and mentoring is to encourage people to ask for help if they get overwhelmed."
In Northern Kentucky, the state pairs new foster families with more experienced families as mentors.
The private agencies that administer foster homes have their own support systems, counseling and training programs.
All of the homes get regular visits by state or county workers. In Northern Kentucky, workers typically must visit the home at least twice a month. In Hamilton County, it's at least once a month. Individual circumstances often dictate more frequent visits.
In Marcus' case, a worker had seen him at the Carrolls Aug. 3. She attempted another visit Aug. 10, but was told he was sick and was turned away. She scheduled another visit, but investigators now know that Marcus was already dead by Aug. 10.
Griffith said if a mother told one of his Kentucky case workers her child was sick and scheduled another visit, that would not necessarily raise a red flag.
"At lot depends on the circumstances," he said. "If it was a one- time incident, not part of a larger pattern, it probably wouldn't raise a red flag. If it happened repeatedly, we'd be concerned."
Gregg said Hamilton County workers must see the child when they pay a home visit.
"Our rule is you do a face-to-face with the child. Even if that means you go into the bedroom and just look in on him. If they are in foster care, they are actually in our custody. If a parent says you can't see the child right now, we say we are going to see the child."
In both states, workers look for red flags including signs of abuse or neglect, and unexplained injuries.
"We look at how frustrated you are, how parents are coping with the child's special needs," Griffith said. "Are they taking advantage of respite? Do they seem overwhelmed?"
Gregg said workers have to assure a child has a safe, clean and healthy environment.
"If an adult who's not approved is living in the home now, that would be of concern; if a criminal conviction comes to our attention," he said.
Foster homes are regularly re-evaluated, with social workers looking for major life changes such as illness or loss of a job. But those wouldn't automatically cause a child's placement to be terminated, said Griffith.
Gregg said most Hamilton County foster children also have court- appointed guardians who make their own regular inspections.
The Court Appointed Special Advocate -- or CASA -- program uses trained volunteers whose only concern is the child's best interest. Pro-Kids in Greater Cincinnati runs one of several CASA programs that serve foster children across Greater Cincinnati, said Mary Carol Melton, a Pro-Kids board member and CASA volunteer.
"I think people are understandably and justifiably horrified that a young child could be found in a situation such as this," said Melton of Marcus Fiesel's death. "At some level people feel helpless, (and ask) what could I have done? My response is there's a lot you can do."
She said volunteer CASA workers typically are assigned to one child or sibling group in a foster family. She watches out for three brothers in one foster family. She makes twice monthly visits, keeps in touch with the foster parents, the children's case manager, therapist and teachers and brings concerns about the youngsters to regular review meetings. The extra scrutiny pays off for foster children, she said.
"Case workers have a huge load, I have one CASA case that I'm working with and paying attention to," she said.
Griffith said several counties in Northern Kentucky have similar CASA programs, which are administered through the court system. But there are not enough CASA workers to assure one for every child.
Melton said she hopes that the tragedy of Marcus Fiesel's death brings greater awareness of the needs of foster children.
"Sometimes out of tragedies come real opportunities," she said. "I'm hoping more people want to get involved and make a difference for a child."
How to help
For information on being a foster parent:
In Northern Kentucky: (859) 292-6632 or www.chfs.ky.gov
Hamilton County: (513) 632-6366 or www.hcfoster.org
Pro-Kids CASA program: (513) 281-2000 or (859) 586-1222.
Compensation
Foster families receive compensation for caring for foster children based on the child's needs, medical condition and behavior.
In Hamilton County, the payment ranges from $16.28 per day for an infant with no special needs to $120 a day for a child with severe disabilities and highly specialized therapeutic needs.
Peggy Kreimer, Cincinnati Post.
Cincinnati, Ohio: Sep 4, 2006. pg. A.1.0
When Liz and David Carroll were charged this week with killing their foster child, 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel, officials said the couple's other four children could end up in the foster care system.
That would add four more youngsters to the ever growing number of children who need safe, stable homes.
The need far exceeds the homes available for those children, and Marcus' horrifying end underscores the problem of not only finding homes, but good ones for foster children.
Marcus, autistic and sometimes difficult to handle, was removed from the home of his biological mother this spring by Butler County Children's Services, which then contracted with the Lifeway for Youth agency in Sharonville to place him in the private foster home of the Carrolls in Clermont County.
Lifeway is one of several private agencies that recruit, screen and support foster parents locally. They recruit and supervise foster homes, where children removed from their parents' care are placed. Children are put in foster care because of abuse, neglect or that parents are committed to state care. Those privately administered homes augment foster care programs operated by the state.
So it was not all that unusual that Butler County turned to a private agency like Lifeway for a placement for Marcus, said Joel Griffith, field services director of Northern Kentucky's office of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
In eight Northern Kentucky counties, nearly 800 children need foster care, but the state agency administers only about 137 foster homes in those counties. More than half a dozen private agencies, including the Diocesan Catholic Children's Home, Holly Hill and the Kentucky Baptist Home for Children, administer about 155 additional foster homes, which are all licensed by the state.
Many children who need foster care get sent to homes out of the region or to larger residential facilities because there are not enough private homes and families to meet the need locally, Griffith said.
In Hamilton County, the situation is similar, said Brian Gregg, spokesman for Hamilton County Job and Family Services, which administers foster care programs there.
He said Hamilton County had more than 2,000 children in foster care at various times last year. This month, the number is 730.
The county directly oversees 320 foster care homes and also contracts with several agencies that run their own foster care programs. Gregg said 150 Hamilton County children have been placed in foster homes run by Lifeway, the same agency that contracted with Butler County to place Marcus Fiesel with the Carrolls.
Hamilton County has suspended placement to Lifeway for Youth foster homes and is reviewing the current placements it has through the agency.
"We're re-examining all our placements with them," Gregg said.
On both sides of the river, all foster parents must have background checks, get training and pass a home assessment to be licensed by the state.
Foster families are paid for caring for foster children based on the child's needs, medical condition and behavior. But to be approved by the state, foster families must be able to support themselves independent of the payments, Griffith said.
"The sad part of this will be if the public walks away thinking foster parents are bad people who do this for the money. This is the exception. The vast number of foster parents are good people who are committed to helping kids in need," he said.
Cases like Marcus Fiesel's are horrendous and illustrate the need for good people to step up and help, said Gregg.
"If all the people who showed support and love in this search for Marcus, if only a fraction of them would come forward and say 'I want to be a foster care parent,' we would really see a difference," he said.
There is no question that children with disabilities can be a challenge to care for, but the system includes a network of supports, including respite care that can take a child for hours or days to give a family a break; therapy programs, child care, special education and training programs.
Griffith said foster parent training sessions talk about the importance of asking for help.
"It's not a sign of weakness," he said. "The whole purpose of the foster parent support network and mentoring is to encourage people to ask for help if they get overwhelmed."
In Northern Kentucky, the state pairs new foster families with more experienced families as mentors.
The private agencies that administer foster homes have their own support systems, counseling and training programs.
All of the homes get regular visits by state or county workers. In Northern Kentucky, workers typically must visit the home at least twice a month. In Hamilton County, it's at least once a month. Individual circumstances often dictate more frequent visits.
In Marcus' case, a worker had seen him at the Carrolls Aug. 3. She attempted another visit Aug. 10, but was told he was sick and was turned away. She scheduled another visit, but investigators now know that Marcus was already dead by Aug. 10.
Griffith said if a mother told one of his Kentucky case workers her child was sick and scheduled another visit, that would not necessarily raise a red flag.
"At lot depends on the circumstances," he said. "If it was a one- time incident, not part of a larger pattern, it probably wouldn't raise a red flag. If it happened repeatedly, we'd be concerned."
Gregg said Hamilton County workers must see the child when they pay a home visit.
"Our rule is you do a face-to-face with the child. Even if that means you go into the bedroom and just look in on him. If they are in foster care, they are actually in our custody. If a parent says you can't see the child right now, we say we are going to see the child."
In both states, workers look for red flags including signs of abuse or neglect, and unexplained injuries.
"We look at how frustrated you are, how parents are coping with the child's special needs," Griffith said. "Are they taking advantage of respite? Do they seem overwhelmed?"
Gregg said workers have to assure a child has a safe, clean and healthy environment.
"If an adult who's not approved is living in the home now, that would be of concern; if a criminal conviction comes to our attention," he said.
Foster homes are regularly re-evaluated, with social workers looking for major life changes such as illness or loss of a job. But those wouldn't automatically cause a child's placement to be terminated, said Griffith.
Gregg said most Hamilton County foster children also have court- appointed guardians who make their own regular inspections.
The Court Appointed Special Advocate -- or CASA -- program uses trained volunteers whose only concern is the child's best interest. Pro-Kids in Greater Cincinnati runs one of several CASA programs that serve foster children across Greater Cincinnati, said Mary Carol Melton, a Pro-Kids board member and CASA volunteer.
"I think people are understandably and justifiably horrified that a young child could be found in a situation such as this," said Melton of Marcus Fiesel's death. "At some level people feel helpless, (and ask) what could I have done? My response is there's a lot you can do."
She said volunteer CASA workers typically are assigned to one child or sibling group in a foster family. She watches out for three brothers in one foster family. She makes twice monthly visits, keeps in touch with the foster parents, the children's case manager, therapist and teachers and brings concerns about the youngsters to regular review meetings. The extra scrutiny pays off for foster children, she said.
"Case workers have a huge load, I have one CASA case that I'm working with and paying attention to," she said.
Griffith said several counties in Northern Kentucky have similar CASA programs, which are administered through the court system. But there are not enough CASA workers to assure one for every child.
Melton said she hopes that the tragedy of Marcus Fiesel's death brings greater awareness of the needs of foster children.
"Sometimes out of tragedies come real opportunities," she said. "I'm hoping more people want to get involved and make a difference for a child."
How to help
For information on being a foster parent:
In Northern Kentucky: (859) 292-6632 or www.chfs.ky.gov
Hamilton County: (513) 632-6366 or www.hcfoster.org
Pro-Kids CASA program: (513) 281-2000 or (859) 586-1222.
Compensation
Foster families receive compensation for caring for foster children based on the child's needs, medical condition and behavior.
In Hamilton County, the payment ranges from $16.28 per day for an infant with no special needs to $120 a day for a child with severe disabilities and highly specialized therapeutic needs.
High profile cases deserve more than a "quick fix"
DEATH SPARKS FOSTER-CARE REVIEW
Official responses, public outcry could turn into needed catalyst for change, experts say
Sunday, September 3, 2006
NEWS 04C
By Dan Sewell
Marcus Fiesel has gotten more attention in death than he did in life.
Hundreds of volunteers searched for the 3-year-old, developmentally disabled boy after his foster parents reported him missing from a suburban park Aug. 15.
And, since the couple were charged Monday in his death, there has been a flurry of official responses amid public outcry over the child's alleged treatment.
"This little boy has touched so many people," said state Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, who said he will introduce legislation that would require any changes recommended by state authorities probing the case.
Foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. are accused of causing the boy's death by leaving him bound in a blanket inside a closet for two days while they went to family reunion in Williamstown, Ky., then concocting the story of his disappearance.
If there is any good to come out of the case, it would be a thorough review of the foster-care system that leads to improvements, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said.
"Unfortunately, it almost always takes a tragedy to get change in the system," Deters said.
National child advocates agree, saying highly publicized abuse cases or legal action usually are catalysts, such as lawsuits that led to reforms to the Alabama and Illinois child-welfare systems.
An American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Chicago involved in the Illinois lawsuit cautioned that child-protection efforts are complex, with strong training, oversight and risk assessment systems needed to determine what's best for a neglected or abused child.
"Sometimes, those high-profile cases will lead to superficial, quick fixes," attorney Benjamin Wolf said. "You really need changes down to the level of the people who are involved in the system everyday."
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has launched an investigation of Marcus' case, and the agency's director on Friday sent a message to all 88 county children's services boards telling them to check on all children placed in foster homes through Lifeway for Youth, the private organization used to place Marcus.
"In this instance, the system failed," Barbara Riley, head of the state agency, said in a statement. "We will conduct an investigation to figure out why, and determine whether any changes in state law or regulation should be recommended. Marcus deserves nothing less."
Adoption reforms came after a similar investigation last year of a Huron County case in which the adoptive parents of 11 special-needs children used cagelike beds. Among the changes are increased scrutiny of multiple adoptions and more information-sharing among agencies.
Butler County Children Services, which removed Marcus from his Middletown home because of reported neglect, has begun visiting all 116 county children placed through Lifeway. Statewide, at least 18 counties have used Lifeway, with 383 licensed homes.
Butler County commissioners said Thursday they will form an independent commission to investigate the case and the county agency, and also press for full public disclosure of the handling of Marcus.
"The only time the public gets an opportunity to look inside the system and see how it works is when you have a tragedy like this," said commissioner Mike Fox, a longtime critic of child-protection agencies.
Marcus was removed from his Middletown home about four months before his death. Middletown police had responded to the home twice before his removal, once after the boy fell from a roof after he climbed through a second-floor window.
Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said "the elephant in the room" in the child-protection debate often is whether the child could have been kept with his family in the first place through stepped-up intervention and help to the home.
Agencies "take away far too many children, needlessly," he said, overwhelming foster-care systems and child-protection efforts and leading to tragedies like Marcus'.
State records showed that on Aug. 4, the day Marcus allegedly was left in the closet, he was one of 10,601 Ohio children in foster homes and 19,135 children in various stages of placement away from their family homes. State records show that the number of children in placement have been about the same each year since 1999.
Wexler and Fox both said Butler County's agency has made improvements in recent years. But Fox said the child-protection system has a culture of secrecy and resisting change.
While businesses can closely monitor their shipments electronically, children in the system can go long periods without checks on their welfare, he said.
"We place more value on tracking packages than protecting children," Fox said.
He and Deters said information databases like those used by law-enforcement agencies could be used to update the backgrounds of foster parents and raise warning flags after events such as a domestic violence allegation made in June against Marcus' foster father.
Prosecutors plan to go before a Clermont County grand jury this week to seek murder charges against the Carrolls, who pleaded not guilty last week to involuntary manslaughter.
Michael Berner, executive director of Lifeway for Youth, lashed out at critics Friday and said the Carrolls had lied and misled his organization about everything from their living arrangements to employment.
"The foster-care system is not perfect, but no system will ever be perfect," he said. "You will not find a legitimate scapegoat here. I'm afraid we're all in this together."
Official responses, public outcry could turn into needed catalyst for change, experts say
Sunday, September 3, 2006
NEWS 04C
By Dan Sewell
Marcus Fiesel has gotten more attention in death than he did in life.
Hundreds of volunteers searched for the 3-year-old, developmentally disabled boy after his foster parents reported him missing from a suburban park Aug. 15.
And, since the couple were charged Monday in his death, there has been a flurry of official responses amid public outcry over the child's alleged treatment.
"This little boy has touched so many people," said state Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, who said he will introduce legislation that would require any changes recommended by state authorities probing the case.
Foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. are accused of causing the boy's death by leaving him bound in a blanket inside a closet for two days while they went to family reunion in Williamstown, Ky., then concocting the story of his disappearance.
If there is any good to come out of the case, it would be a thorough review of the foster-care system that leads to improvements, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said.
"Unfortunately, it almost always takes a tragedy to get change in the system," Deters said.
National child advocates agree, saying highly publicized abuse cases or legal action usually are catalysts, such as lawsuits that led to reforms to the Alabama and Illinois child-welfare systems.
An American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Chicago involved in the Illinois lawsuit cautioned that child-protection efforts are complex, with strong training, oversight and risk assessment systems needed to determine what's best for a neglected or abused child.
"Sometimes, those high-profile cases will lead to superficial, quick fixes," attorney Benjamin Wolf said. "You really need changes down to the level of the people who are involved in the system everyday."
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has launched an investigation of Marcus' case, and the agency's director on Friday sent a message to all 88 county children's services boards telling them to check on all children placed in foster homes through Lifeway for Youth, the private organization used to place Marcus.
"In this instance, the system failed," Barbara Riley, head of the state agency, said in a statement. "We will conduct an investigation to figure out why, and determine whether any changes in state law or regulation should be recommended. Marcus deserves nothing less."
Adoption reforms came after a similar investigation last year of a Huron County case in which the adoptive parents of 11 special-needs children used cagelike beds. Among the changes are increased scrutiny of multiple adoptions and more information-sharing among agencies.
Butler County Children Services, which removed Marcus from his Middletown home because of reported neglect, has begun visiting all 116 county children placed through Lifeway. Statewide, at least 18 counties have used Lifeway, with 383 licensed homes.
Butler County commissioners said Thursday they will form an independent commission to investigate the case and the county agency, and also press for full public disclosure of the handling of Marcus.
"The only time the public gets an opportunity to look inside the system and see how it works is when you have a tragedy like this," said commissioner Mike Fox, a longtime critic of child-protection agencies.
Marcus was removed from his Middletown home about four months before his death. Middletown police had responded to the home twice before his removal, once after the boy fell from a roof after he climbed through a second-floor window.
Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said "the elephant in the room" in the child-protection debate often is whether the child could have been kept with his family in the first place through stepped-up intervention and help to the home.
Agencies "take away far too many children, needlessly," he said, overwhelming foster-care systems and child-protection efforts and leading to tragedies like Marcus'.
State records showed that on Aug. 4, the day Marcus allegedly was left in the closet, he was one of 10,601 Ohio children in foster homes and 19,135 children in various stages of placement away from their family homes. State records show that the number of children in placement have been about the same each year since 1999.
Wexler and Fox both said Butler County's agency has made improvements in recent years. But Fox said the child-protection system has a culture of secrecy and resisting change.
While businesses can closely monitor their shipments electronically, children in the system can go long periods without checks on their welfare, he said.
"We place more value on tracking packages than protecting children," Fox said.
He and Deters said information databases like those used by law-enforcement agencies could be used to update the backgrounds of foster parents and raise warning flags after events such as a domestic violence allegation made in June against Marcus' foster father.
Prosecutors plan to go before a Clermont County grand jury this week to seek murder charges against the Carrolls, who pleaded not guilty last week to involuntary manslaughter.
Michael Berner, executive director of Lifeway for Youth, lashed out at critics Friday and said the Carrolls had lied and misled his organization about everything from their living arrangements to employment.
"The foster-care system is not perfect, but no system will ever be perfect," he said. "You will not find a legitimate scapegoat here. I'm afraid we're all in this together."
Friday, September 01, 2006
Monsters plead not guilty
JUDGE SETS BOND AT $10.1 MILLION FOR FOSTER PARENTS
Couple pleads not guilty in child's death
Thursday, August 31, 2006 NEWS 07D
By Terry Kinney
Bonds were set at $10.1 million yesterday for a couple accused of binding their 3-year-old foster child in a cocoonlike wrapping, leaving him to die in a closet and then burning his body.
Liz and David Carroll Jr. pleaded not guilty to numerous charges, including involuntary manslaughter, in the death of Marcus Fiesel, a developmentally disabled boy who had been placed in their care in May.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters reiterated his intent to upgrade the involuntary manslaughter charge.
"We are going to seek the strongest possible charge that we can prove," Deters said. "I believe, at the least, this is a murder."
The couple were arraigned in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, but Deters said he and the prosecutor in neighboring Clermont County are discussing where they will be tried.
The Carrolls lived in Clermont County, just east of Cincinnati, when Marcus died. The ruse investigators say they concocted to cover up the boy's death took place in Hamilton County, where officials managed a search for the boy.
The Carrolls were arraigned separately; Liz Carroll was first.
When asked for their pleas, Liz Carroll responded a barely audible "not guilty," while David responded firmly. Their attorneys asked for reasonable bonds.
Judge Patrick Dinkelacker set bond at $10 million each on the first set of indictments, handed up Monday. The indictments charge both foster parents with involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, and David Carroll, 35, with gross abuse of a corpse.
Dinkelacker added $100,000 for a second set of indictments released Tuesday, which included two counts each of inducing panic and one count each of making false alarms. Liz Carroll, 30, also was indicted on two counts of perjury related to her testimony Monday to a grand jury.
Liz Carroll told investigators on Aug. 15 that Marcus apparently wandered away from her when a heart condition caused her to faint at Juilfs Park in Anderson Township. She said Marcus had been with her, along with her 2-year-old son, a 1-year-old foster child and a 1-year-old that Carroll was baby-sitting.
Since then, the other foster child has been removed from the Carrolls' custody, and the couple's four children, ages 8, 7, 5 and 2, have been put in foster care.
Affidavits from two supervisors of investigations for Clermont County Children's Protective Services indicated that the Carrolls moved frequently and relied on child-care payments for support.
The couple have lived in at least 10 places since 1998, and neither had steady outside employment. Their sole income came from foster care, day care and government assistance, the affidavits said.
"They have consistently failed to accurately report the number of persons living in their home ... thus falsely receiving thousands of dollars from the government," the statements said.
David Carroll was arrested on domestic-violence charges in June when he held a knife to his wife's throat, threw a knife at a microwave and punched holes in the walls of the couple's rental home, the affidavits said.
Interviews with the children revealed that both parents had hit them with belts and their hands, according to the documents.
Marcus had been placed with the Carrolls by Butler County Children's Services through Lifeway for Youth, a private agency Clermont County stopped using in June 2005.
Butler County, northwest of Cincinnati, often places children with foster parents in other counties because it can't fill the need in Butler County alone, a spokeswoman said.
Barbara E. Riley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said Tuesday that she wants an investigation of the handling of Marcus' case by the state, Butler County and Lifeway for Youth.
Prosecutors think that the Carrolls put Marcus in a closet when they left for a family reunion in Kentucky on Aug. 4 and that he was dead when they returned two days later.
They waited nine days to report him missing while they planned their scheme and disposed of the body, Deters said.
Authorities think they have found the place in a remote area of Brown County where the body was burned. They have turned over evidence to the Hamilton County coroner for DNA testing.
Caption: Liz and David Carroll Jr., of Clermont County, are accused of leaving their foster child in a closet to die and then burning his body to cover up his death.
Couple pleads not guilty in child's death
Thursday, August 31, 2006 NEWS 07D
By Terry Kinney
Bonds were set at $10.1 million yesterday for a couple accused of binding their 3-year-old foster child in a cocoonlike wrapping, leaving him to die in a closet and then burning his body.
Liz and David Carroll Jr. pleaded not guilty to numerous charges, including involuntary manslaughter, in the death of Marcus Fiesel, a developmentally disabled boy who had been placed in their care in May.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters reiterated his intent to upgrade the involuntary manslaughter charge.
"We are going to seek the strongest possible charge that we can prove," Deters said. "I believe, at the least, this is a murder."
The couple were arraigned in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, but Deters said he and the prosecutor in neighboring Clermont County are discussing where they will be tried.
The Carrolls lived in Clermont County, just east of Cincinnati, when Marcus died. The ruse investigators say they concocted to cover up the boy's death took place in Hamilton County, where officials managed a search for the boy.
The Carrolls were arraigned separately; Liz Carroll was first.
When asked for their pleas, Liz Carroll responded a barely audible "not guilty," while David responded firmly. Their attorneys asked for reasonable bonds.
Judge Patrick Dinkelacker set bond at $10 million each on the first set of indictments, handed up Monday. The indictments charge both foster parents with involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, and David Carroll, 35, with gross abuse of a corpse.
Dinkelacker added $100,000 for a second set of indictments released Tuesday, which included two counts each of inducing panic and one count each of making false alarms. Liz Carroll, 30, also was indicted on two counts of perjury related to her testimony Monday to a grand jury.
Liz Carroll told investigators on Aug. 15 that Marcus apparently wandered away from her when a heart condition caused her to faint at Juilfs Park in Anderson Township. She said Marcus had been with her, along with her 2-year-old son, a 1-year-old foster child and a 1-year-old that Carroll was baby-sitting.
Since then, the other foster child has been removed from the Carrolls' custody, and the couple's four children, ages 8, 7, 5 and 2, have been put in foster care.
Affidavits from two supervisors of investigations for Clermont County Children's Protective Services indicated that the Carrolls moved frequently and relied on child-care payments for support.
The couple have lived in at least 10 places since 1998, and neither had steady outside employment. Their sole income came from foster care, day care and government assistance, the affidavits said.
"They have consistently failed to accurately report the number of persons living in their home ... thus falsely receiving thousands of dollars from the government," the statements said.
David Carroll was arrested on domestic-violence charges in June when he held a knife to his wife's throat, threw a knife at a microwave and punched holes in the walls of the couple's rental home, the affidavits said.
Interviews with the children revealed that both parents had hit them with belts and their hands, according to the documents.
Marcus had been placed with the Carrolls by Butler County Children's Services through Lifeway for Youth, a private agency Clermont County stopped using in June 2005.
Butler County, northwest of Cincinnati, often places children with foster parents in other counties because it can't fill the need in Butler County alone, a spokeswoman said.
Barbara E. Riley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said Tuesday that she wants an investigation of the handling of Marcus' case by the state, Butler County and Lifeway for Youth.
Prosecutors think that the Carrolls put Marcus in a closet when they left for a family reunion in Kentucky on Aug. 4 and that he was dead when they returned two days later.
They waited nine days to report him missing while they planned their scheme and disposed of the body, Deters said.
Authorities think they have found the place in a remote area of Brown County where the body was burned. They have turned over evidence to the Hamilton County coroner for DNA testing.
Caption: Liz and David Carroll Jr., of Clermont County, are accused of leaving their foster child in a closet to die and then burning his body to cover up his death.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Foster parents react to the Carrolls
Locals react to foster child who died while locked in closet
News Journal (Mansfield, OH)
August 30, 2006
Linda Martz
MANSFIELD -- Richland County foster parents said they were appalled to learn that a 3-year-old developmentally delayed boy died in Cincinnati allegedly after his foster parents left him locked in a closet while they attended a family reunion in Kentucky.
Liz and David Carroll Jr. were indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury Monday on charges of involuntary manslaughter and two charges of child endangering.
Authorities believe the child, left in a crib in a small closet with no food or water, just an electric fan, died Aug. 4 or 5 after temperatures rose to dangerous levels.
Deanna Livingston, of Mansfield, a 2006 Richland County nominee along with her husband Dave for Foster Family of the Year, said she can't see many mitigating circumstances, even if the couple was ignorant of how to work with a handicapped child.
"I'm sorry, but I can't understand somebody that would lock a child in a closet. To me, that's evil. You can't even think that way," she said. "I thought probably that's happened many times in that family, and they've just now gotten caught."
In Richland County, respite care for foster parents who temporarily need to arrange for someone else to take care of a child can be provided by other foster families -- either by calling children services or another foster family, she said.
And "tons of classes" are offered to foster parents on how to improve their skills in dealing with issues that come up with special needs children, Livingston said.
"You don't take a kid if you don't know how to work with them," she said.
Livingston and her husband regard foster parenting as important work. "If we can't take the children (to something) we usually don't go," she said.
Barbara Scott, a foster mother from Lexington who has had 61 children placed in her home, often on an emergency basis, said she believes that children service agencies need to work particularly closely with foster parents who take in special-needs children, to provide help and
support when challenging issues come up.
Many people enter into foster parenting believing that if they give love and a stable home, the children will thrive, Scott said. They don't realize some children need intensive levels of help and attention, she added.
Scott said she'd be cautious of judging others before she knows why something occurred. But the Cincinnati couple may not have realized, going in, how difficult it might be to deal with issues that come up with a child with severe developmental delays, she said.
"Obviously, it's disgusting that they did what they did -- and didn't just call somebody and say 'This is too much for us to handle," she said. "It's very obvious that they were overwhelmed."
Scott said she hopes the Cincinnati child's death won't put an unfair black mark on other foster parents who don't get enough credit for the positive work they do.
"There isn't a lot of positive portrayal of foster parents," she said. And despite public perception, "the money doesn't begin to cover the needs."
Melissa Gray, 18, "aged out" of the foster care system this year, but is still getting help from Richland County Children Services on her goal of going to college to get a degree in counseling.
Gray stayed in eight foster homes. While some of her former foster parents clashed with her over issues of control, she said she couldn't see anything nearly as bad as the Cincinnati incident happening with any family she lived with.
It could be that the Carrolls weren't equipped to take care of a special needs child, or "didn't have the patience" to deal with a challenging 3-year-old, she said.
News Journal (Mansfield, OH)
August 30, 2006
Linda Martz
MANSFIELD -- Richland County foster parents said they were appalled to learn that a 3-year-old developmentally delayed boy died in Cincinnati allegedly after his foster parents left him locked in a closet while they attended a family reunion in Kentucky.
Liz and David Carroll Jr. were indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury Monday on charges of involuntary manslaughter and two charges of child endangering.
Authorities believe the child, left in a crib in a small closet with no food or water, just an electric fan, died Aug. 4 or 5 after temperatures rose to dangerous levels.
Deanna Livingston, of Mansfield, a 2006 Richland County nominee along with her husband Dave for Foster Family of the Year, said she can't see many mitigating circumstances, even if the couple was ignorant of how to work with a handicapped child.
"I'm sorry, but I can't understand somebody that would lock a child in a closet. To me, that's evil. You can't even think that way," she said. "I thought probably that's happened many times in that family, and they've just now gotten caught."
In Richland County, respite care for foster parents who temporarily need to arrange for someone else to take care of a child can be provided by other foster families -- either by calling children services or another foster family, she said.
And "tons of classes" are offered to foster parents on how to improve their skills in dealing with issues that come up with special needs children, Livingston said.
"You don't take a kid if you don't know how to work with them," she said.
Livingston and her husband regard foster parenting as important work. "If we can't take the children (to something) we usually don't go," she said.
Barbara Scott, a foster mother from Lexington who has had 61 children placed in her home, often on an emergency basis, said she believes that children service agencies need to work particularly closely with foster parents who take in special-needs children, to provide help and
support when challenging issues come up.
Many people enter into foster parenting believing that if they give love and a stable home, the children will thrive, Scott said. They don't realize some children need intensive levels of help and attention, she added.
Scott said she'd be cautious of judging others before she knows why something occurred. But the Cincinnati couple may not have realized, going in, how difficult it might be to deal with issues that come up with a child with severe developmental delays, she said.
"Obviously, it's disgusting that they did what they did -- and didn't just call somebody and say 'This is too much for us to handle," she said. "It's very obvious that they were overwhelmed."
Scott said she hopes the Cincinnati child's death won't put an unfair black mark on other foster parents who don't get enough credit for the positive work they do.
"There isn't a lot of positive portrayal of foster parents," she said. And despite public perception, "the money doesn't begin to cover the needs."
Melissa Gray, 18, "aged out" of the foster care system this year, but is still getting help from Richland County Children Services on her goal of going to college to get a degree in counseling.
Gray stayed in eight foster homes. While some of her former foster parents clashed with her over issues of control, she said she couldn't see anything nearly as bad as the Cincinnati incident happening with any family she lived with.
It could be that the Carrolls weren't equipped to take care of a special needs child, or "didn't have the patience" to deal with a challenging 3-year-old, she said.
Responsibility cannot be outsourced
Our opinion: We all share the blame for a child's death
News Journal (Mansfield, OH)
August 30, 2006
The entire community failed this child
Back in April, little Marcus Fiesel was found wandering the streets of Middletown. An investigation of the family home found he was poorly cared for, little food in the house and walls
and furniture smeared with feces. Children's Services got a court order to take custody and placed him in a foster home.
The 3-year-old boy would have been better off had he been left playing in traffic. Marcus was allegedly bound and left in a hot closet for two days in early August while his foster parents, Liz and David Carroll, the people being paid to care for him, attended a family reunion in Kentucky.
The Carrolls are charged with involuntary manslaughter. Investigators believe Marcus was dead when the Carrolls returned to their Clermont County home and that David Carroll then incinerated the body.
What happened to this child provokes a seething outrage. He was the community's responsibility. The community took him from his mother because she wasn't fit. Instead of seeing he was properly cared for, the community passed him on to a contract agency, Lifeway for Youth, which promised to find him a good home, for a daily fee.
It's difficult to imagine a more inappropriate setting for any child, let alone one with Marcus' special needs. In June, David Carroll was accused of domestic violence. He brought a woman described as his girlfriend to live in the house.
The couple had four children of their own, another foster child and other children for whom they provided daycare.
According to accounts, David Carroll didn't like having so many children around. Neither he nor his wife held outside jobs. The family apparently lived on money received from day-care clients and foster care fees, which in the case of Marcus amounted to about $33 per day.
Marcus came to the public's attention Aug. 15, the day Liz Carroll reported him missing in what investigators say was an elaborate set of lies. Liz Carroll had said she had Marcus and three other children with her at a park when she passed out from a heart condition, and that Marcus disappeared in the confusion of her being taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Investigators now believe that by the time Liz Carroll started telling her story, Marcus had probably been dead for at least nine days. But truth be told, he had gone missing from those responsible for his well-being months earlier.
How did the Carrolls ever get approved to be foster parents? What kind of oversight did Butler County exercise over Lifeway to ensure the agency adhered to proper standards? How could caseworkers from Lifeway and the county, who supposedly visited the home, not be concerned about how many children were in the house, about how many adults lived there, about how none of the adults seemed to be employed?
The Carrolls are charged with Marcus' death. Lifeway has lost its contract with Butler County and other agencies.
But the responsibility for what happens to children like Marcus ultimately rests with us -- the community. The responsibility for this cannot be outsourced. This was a helpless child in desperate need of care and we failed him.
News Journal (Mansfield, OH)
August 30, 2006
The entire community failed this child
Back in April, little Marcus Fiesel was found wandering the streets of Middletown. An investigation of the family home found he was poorly cared for, little food in the house and walls
and furniture smeared with feces. Children's Services got a court order to take custody and placed him in a foster home.
The 3-year-old boy would have been better off had he been left playing in traffic. Marcus was allegedly bound and left in a hot closet for two days in early August while his foster parents, Liz and David Carroll, the people being paid to care for him, attended a family reunion in Kentucky.
The Carrolls are charged with involuntary manslaughter. Investigators believe Marcus was dead when the Carrolls returned to their Clermont County home and that David Carroll then incinerated the body.
What happened to this child provokes a seething outrage. He was the community's responsibility. The community took him from his mother because she wasn't fit. Instead of seeing he was properly cared for, the community passed him on to a contract agency, Lifeway for Youth, which promised to find him a good home, for a daily fee.
It's difficult to imagine a more inappropriate setting for any child, let alone one with Marcus' special needs. In June, David Carroll was accused of domestic violence. He brought a woman described as his girlfriend to live in the house.
The couple had four children of their own, another foster child and other children for whom they provided daycare.
According to accounts, David Carroll didn't like having so many children around. Neither he nor his wife held outside jobs. The family apparently lived on money received from day-care clients and foster care fees, which in the case of Marcus amounted to about $33 per day.
Marcus came to the public's attention Aug. 15, the day Liz Carroll reported him missing in what investigators say was an elaborate set of lies. Liz Carroll had said she had Marcus and three other children with her at a park when she passed out from a heart condition, and that Marcus disappeared in the confusion of her being taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Investigators now believe that by the time Liz Carroll started telling her story, Marcus had probably been dead for at least nine days. But truth be told, he had gone missing from those responsible for his well-being months earlier.
How did the Carrolls ever get approved to be foster parents? What kind of oversight did Butler County exercise over Lifeway to ensure the agency adhered to proper standards? How could caseworkers from Lifeway and the county, who supposedly visited the home, not be concerned about how many children were in the house, about how many adults lived there, about how none of the adults seemed to be employed?
The Carrolls are charged with Marcus' death. Lifeway has lost its contract with Butler County and other agencies.
But the responsibility for what happens to children like Marcus ultimately rests with us -- the community. The responsibility for this cannot be outsourced. This was a helpless child in desperate need of care and we failed him.
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