Investigator: Move boys' group home from drug-ridden Lauderhill area
With crime and drugs, neighborhood said to be unsafe for troubled teen
boys
By Jon Burstein | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 17, 2008
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbimpact0517sbmay17,0,3232252.story
A Lauderhill group home for troubled teenage boys is not safe and needs
to be moved out of its troubled neighborhood, according to the
preliminary findings of a court-ordered investigation.
"The mix of children and the surrounding crime-ridden, drug-infested
neighborhood create insurmountable safety concerns for the children
admitted," a child welfare analyst wrote about Impact Community
Services' group home. "The residents also pose a risk to the surrounding
neighborhood."
A Broward judge approved the inquiry into the group home at 5631 NW 27th
Court after the county's guardian ad litem program raised concerns last
month about the well-being of teenagers there.
From March 2007 to March 2008, there were more than 140 police re****ts
involving the facility. Although the vast majority of those re****ts
involved residents running away, there were at least five re****ts
detailing allegations of violence and one of child-on-child ***ual
activity.
Impact's director, Paul Schauber, said the group home houses deeply
troubled teenagers who often have criminal records. The facility legally
has little ability to stop children from running away, he said.
In a 14-page draft re****t released Friday, the court-appointed
investigator wrote that former and current residents at Impact's
facility — also known as Quest Group Home — have admitted they began
dealing drugs while living there.
The home is in the high-crime Cannon Point neighborhood, "a prime
location" for the sale of a cheap form of crack cocaine, wrote child
welfare analyst Cheleene Schembera, who once was acting head of the
state Department of Children & Families' Miami-Dade office.
One former resident said drugs were being passed through bedroom windows
at the group home, Schembera wrote.
The draft re****t describes the group home as "barren and institutional"
with broken computers, shabby furniture and threadbare bedsheets.
Former residents have said staff members encouraged the teenagers to
fight and failed to intervene when fights broke out, Schembera wrote.
Schauber said the group home is acting on the recommendations it can.
But under state law, such state-licensed group homes cannot be locked
facilities, meaning staff members can do little to stop teenagers from
leaving when they want, Schauber said.
Schembera acknowledged that issue in her draft re****t, recommending DCF
seek legislative approval for developing secured facilities for troubled
teenagers.
Schauber said he has been looking for a new location for years but
hasn't found an appropriate building in an area zoned for such a facility.
Impact is licensed to house as many as 14 boys, between ages 13 and 18.
They are not the type of teenagers people are eager to have next door,
Schauber said.
He said the allegations of drug-dealing stem from one resident caught
with drugs in his room who was arrested by police. The group home has
been through 60 computers over the years because they have been
destroyed or stolen, Schauber said.
The facility recently added three security cameras and is purchasing new
furniture, Schauber said.
He denied that staff members ever encouraged residents to fight.
"We have said we have nothing to hide here, and if we have issues, we
are more than willing to work on them if they are reasonable and
realistic," Schauber said.
Patty Walker, director of Broward County's guardian ad litem program,
said Friday the recent changes at Impact have been "mostly cosmetic."
It's clear that the group home needs to be moved out of the Cannon Point
neighborhood, she said.
"We're taking children out of what we consider risky home situations and
then we put them there; it doesn't make sense," she said.
In addition to Impact, the Agape Group Home, licensed to house 15
teenage girls, is in the Cannon Point neighborhood. Schembera
recommended that it be moved too.
DCF Southeast Regional Director Jack Moss said the state is "moving
forward aggressively to see that the [draft] recommendations are being
implemented."
DCF licenses Impact, while the group home is contracted to provide
services through ChildNet, the nonprofit agency responsible for managing
foster care in Broward County.
Larry Rein, ChildNet's vice president of network development, said the
agency has started discussions with Impact and Agape about moving.
He said, though, that it's difficult to find locations for such group
homes. An attempt to open a similar program for teenagers failed a
couple of years ago because no one could find a suitable site, he said.
ChildNet has not placed any teenagers at Impact since a court hearing
April 18, when Broward Circuit Judge David Krathen appointed Schembera
to investigate the group home.
Schembera declined Friday to discuss the re****t. She said she expects it
will be completed next week.
Jon Burstein can be reached at jburstein@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or 954-356-4491.
An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and
the Child Protection "INDUSTRY"
Child Protective Services Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of CPS.
every parent should read the free handbook from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Wa****ngton. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59
***ual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13
Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12
Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and ***ual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST
Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally
guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other
agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central
intelligence agency wiretaping programs…
THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia
http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/articles.php?filter=6
This is Child Protection?
By Gregory A. Hession, J.D.
http://www.jbs.org/node/4632
Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-callahan16oct16,0,5019944.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILURE:. A Brief Analysis of the Casey
Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler
http://www.nccpr.org/re****ts/cfpanalysis.doc
HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN
http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html
Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families
By Nev Moore Massachusetts News
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
2% receive a college degree
50% were unemployed
Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children
not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems,
including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and
impaired social relation****ps. Some experts estimate that about 30% of
the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various
studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care
tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school
compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their
education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment
than the general population.
*Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Sup****t
80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.
The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn
of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child
psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should
just be blown up.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991
Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s
foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent
housing.
This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would
have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in
the first place.
Front-page story in USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm?csp=34#Close
Read the studies online.
Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Care: Findings from the
Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study,"
www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm
MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects
of Foster Care,"
www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf
Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" re****ts:
www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren
The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system
for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than
walking wreckage...
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY
GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER
AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS....
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLI****NG CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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