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National Children's Commissioner 'very concerned' by figures showing hundreds of kids in foster care abused

Several hundred children in foster care were abused in the last year, new figures have revealed, prompting deep concern from National Children's Commissioner Megan Mitchell.

In an annual report on the efficiency and effectiveness of government services, the Productivity Commission notes hundreds of cases in which children in care were victims of substantiated sexual or physical abuse or neglect.

Ms Mitchell said the 41,000 Australian children in care have suffered enough.

"It is very concerning that the most vulnerable children in our community are subject to abuse at a time when the state is charged with looking after them and removing them from abusive situations," she said.

Missing and Forgotten: Thousands of foster kids kicked out of the system

Missing and Forgotten: Thousands of foster kids kicked out of the system.

Child welfare workers across the country have kicked thousands of missing foster care children out of the system – including one child as young as 9-years-old, a review by 25 Investigates uncovered.

Since 2000, federal records show child welfare agencies across the country closed the cases of more than 53,000 foster kids listed as “runaway” and at least another 61,000 children listed as “missing.”

A nationwide investigation with Atlanta sister station WSB also uncovered a patchwork of policies with some states able to close a missing child’s case after just a few months, while others have policies on the books to keep missing cases open until the child turns 21.

The review found:

  • Arizona and New Jersey allow child welfare workers to close a case if the child has been missing for at least six months.
  • Illinois closed the case of a missing 9-year-old foster child in 2016. State officials said the case was closed after six months with court approval. Illinois said it opened a new investigation nearly a year later and found the child, who is now in foster care.
  • Georgia eliminated its policy in 2016 that allowed the state to close the cases of children who are missing for a prolonged period. But officials there now admit to WSB that more than 50 cases of missing foster kids have been closed since that policy was eliminated.
  • Many states have policies for what to do when a missing foster child returns to state care, but a vast number don't specifically address what steps to take when a child remains missing.

For years, Massachusetts DCF has been telling the feds it hasn’t closed a single case of a foster kid who’s missing, but researchers, child advocates and a review by 25 Investigates found otherwise.

The other child tragedy: The tens of thousands of children the foster system has lost

More than 60,000 kids across the country are unaccounted for by the child welfare system that is supposed to protect them.

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Children hold posters of Rilya Wilson, a 4-year-old in foster care in Florida who was missing for months before authorities noticed. Her foster parent is in prison for her killing.(Marice Cohn Band / The Associated Press)

The public has exploded in outrage at American immigration authorities' treatment of children in recent months, but meanwhile there are tens of thousands of other children who are unaccounted for in this country: the more than 60,000 foster children who have gone missing.

Krakouer and Georgatos: Billions of dollars spent to remove more children

Megan Krakouer and Gerry Georgatos work extensively in the suicide prevention space. Here they share their experiences supporting children on the run from child protection, reuniting families and discuss the catastrophe of Australia’s world record high rate of child removals.

“I think of eight young children, now orphans, who found their dad after his suicide and a year later would come home again to find their mother after her suicide – they are all in the care of child protection but just about all have run away,” Megan Krakouer.

“I remember two sisters who fled out-of-homecare, aged 11 and 12, invisible to Australia because legislation prohibited their stories being told – they roughed the streets and transient with kin – the 11 year-old when 17 took her life – her sister at 18 gave birth to a daughter who she named after her sister,” Gerry Georgatos

Complaints fell on deaf ears at state agency ahead of foster parent's arrest, sources tell WBRZ

Editors notes: Why did they let a single man who's never been married, who requested only girls of a certain age, allow this to happen? How is that not a red flag?" Anderson. https://www.wafb.com/2019/02/14/volunteer-religion-teacher-accused-indecent-behavior-with-juveniles-sexual-battery/ https://www.wbrz.com/news/after-foster-parent-s-arrest-and-wbrz-report-lawmaker-calls-for-investigation/ https://www.wbrz.com/news/neighbors-on-edge-as-accused-child-molester-released-from-jail/ https://www.wbrz.com/news/former-foster-dad-accused-of-inappropriate-contact-with-children-released-from-jail/
Abusers job or title:: Foster carer male

GONZALES – Once again, the state agency overseeing the welfare and safety of children, finds itself at the center of allegations of not doing enough to protect the most innocent.

Thursday, WBRZ was first to report on the arrest of a foster parent in Ascension Parish. Jerry Oubre was booked into the Ascension Parish jail on sexual battery and indecent behavior with juveniles charges. He is being held without bond.

Oubre, a state foster parent, was able to avoid any “red flags,” the head of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services said in an interview with WBRZ.

Outrage quickly followed, though, from people who are close to Oubre, who said they filed complaints directly to the DCFS.

“...I reported this… almost two years to the date,” a woman wrote in an email to DCFS and obtained by WBRZ. The woman emailed the child advocacy department after learning of Oubre’s arrest from WBRZ.

Abuser Name or Alias:: Jerry Oubre
Type of Abuse:: Sexual
Matter Resolved?: Ongoing

Cherie Westell: The 17-year mystery of the missing Melbourne teenager

 

Cherie Westell: The 17-year mystery of the missing Melbourne teenager
Cherie Westell disappeared without a trace 17 years ago. (Supplied)
Seventeen years is a long time to search for answers.

ACLU of Illinois reacts to 35 DCFS employees accused of falsifying reports and testimony since 2014

The below statement can be attributed to Claire Stewart, Staff Counsel at the ACLU of Illinois:

“The public reporting that 35 employees working for or on behalf of DCFS have been disciplined in recent years for falsifying reports and testimony is appalling. How could the Department fail to address its chronic failure to retain a sufficient workforce, and its inadequate supervisory practices, after uncovering such wrongdoing? The answer is that leadership has careened from one crisis to another rather than doing the hard work to fix its fundamentally broken practices.

ACLU of Illinois reacts to 35 DCFS employees accused of falsifying reports and testimony since 2014

The below statement can be attributed to Claire Stewart, Staff Counsel at the ACLU of Illinois:

“The public reporting that 35 employees working for or on behalf of DCFS have been disciplined in recent years for falsifying reports and testimony is appalling. How could the Department fail to address its chronic failure to retain a sufficient workforce, and its inadequate supervisory practices, after uncovering such wrongdoing? The answer is that leadership has careened from one crisis to another rather than doing the hard work to fix its fundamentally broken practices.

When CPS kidnaps children for money

When CPS Kidnaps Children for Money“If I have it my way, you’ll never see your mommy and daddy again.” These cruel words were reportedly uttered to eight-year-old Jaxon Adams by a Missouri doctor working closely with Child Protective Services. While we don’t know if this statement will prove prophetic, the fact is that some children will never see their parents again — or, at least, not for a very long time — because of CPS.

And it has been alleged that many of these youngsters are essentially kidnapped — for money.

Over 1,200 Minnesota parents are suing to shut down Child Protective Services

(CW) — A group of parents in Minnesota called Stop CPS From Legally Kidnapping Children has filed a request in federal court to “shut down the state’s child protection services, stop serial abuse of families and overturn the unconstitutional laws by which the agency operates,” according to a press release published Tuesday.

The group, led by Dwight Mitchell, a father who says his son was illegally taken from him for 22 months, first filed a civil rights complaint in April, and this week they vocally publicized their call to shut down the child services agency, which they claim engages in systemic lying, withholding information, and fabricating evidence. They are asking the federal court to suspend the state’s agency from enforcing child protection laws, and according to a petition signed by almost 5,000 people, are also demanding changes to the laws themselves.

ACT child protection laws 'well short' of human rights standards, Human Rights Commissioner says

The ACT's child protection laws "fall well short" of human rights standards, a Legislative Assembly inquiry has heard.

The inquiry was sparked by the ACT government's wrongful removal of five Aboriginal children from their mother in 2013. The case was settled in court early last year, ending the mother's five-year battle to have her children returned to her care. 

New child abuse claims about former Families SA staff

New abuse allegations have emerged from the former disgraced Families SA, including claims children in residential care were asked to film sexual activity between peers and staff, and told to have an abortion because of their race.

The allegations are revealed in a report published by Guardian for Children and Young People Penny Wright following interviews her office conducted between 2017 and 2019 with children and young people in state residential care.

According to the report, one young person said she was subjected to “significant and consistent threats to safety by residential care workers, particularly with regard to sexual safety” sometime between 2006 and 2016 when Families SA was the authority in charge of child protection in the state.

“This young person described several incidents of being sexually threatened by workers, including one worker saying he would like to get into bed with her,” the report states.

Abusers Organisation:: Families SA
Type of Abuse:: Sexual

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