DOJ Takes Down International Trafficking Tiny Humans Adoption Operation In Strongsville, Ohio

Strongsville seems to be the focus, de jour.

I wonder what Lisa Page has to say since Russia banned the U.S. from international adoptions.

I should twat her.

The same thing goes on in the United States, except it is much more gruesome because no one cares about the horrors of Child Protective Services, Foster Care & Adoption, the oldest form of survival.

Three Individuals Charged with Arranging Adoptions from Uganda and Poland Through Bribery and Fraud

Three women were charged in a 13-count indictment filed on Aug. 14 in the Northern District of Ohio for their alleged roles in schemes to corruptly and fraudulently procure adoptions of Ugandan and Polish children through bribing Ugandan officials and defrauding U.S. adoptive parents, U.S. authorities, and a Polish regulatory authority.

Margaret Cole, 73, of Strongsville, Ohio, Debra Parris, 68, of Lake Dallas, Texas, and Dorah Mirembe, 41, of Kampala, Uganda, were charged in the indictment.  In relation to the Uganda scheme, Parris and Mirembe were each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and commit visa fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, three substantive FCPA counts and three substantive counts of money laundering.  Parris was also charged with one count of mail fraud.  In relation to the Poland scheme, Parris and Cole were each charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.  Cole was further charged with one count of making a false statement to a U.S. accrediting entity and one count of making a false statement to a Polish authority.

“The defendants allegedly resorted to bribery and fraud to engage in an international criminal adoption scheme that took children from their home countries in Uganda and Poland without properly determining whether they were actually orphaned.  The defendants sought to profit from their alleged criminal activity at the expense of families and  vulnerable children,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “These charges clearly show that the Department of Justice is committed to protecting children worldwide, including those involved in the international adoption process.”

“These defendants are accused of orchestrating an alleged scheme that bribed Ugandan officials, defrauded the United States and manipulated parents inside and outside of the country,” said U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman of the Northern District of Ohio.  “As a result of this alleged conduct, prospective parents were deceived, hundreds of thousands of dollars were misused and innocent children were displaced from their homes.”

“These three defendants preyed on the emotions of parents, those wanting the best for their child, and those wishing to give what they thought was an orphaned child a family to love,” said Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office.  “These defendants allegedly lied to both sides of the adoption process, and bribed Ugandan officials who were responsible for the welfare of children.  Parents, prospective parents and children were emotionally vested and were heartbroken when they learned of the selfishness and greed in which these three engaged.  The FBI will never cease in its efforts to protect the innocent and unwitting from those who prey on that trust and confidence and we will vigorously pursue and hold those responsible accountable.”

With respect to the Uganda scheme, the indictment alleges that Parris and Mirembe, together with others, engaged in a scheme to pay bribes to Ugandan officials to corruptly procure the adoption of Ugandan children by families in the United States, including the adoption of children who were not properly determined to be orphaned and who had to be ultimately returned to their birth parents.

Specifically, Parris, Mirembe, and their co-conspirators allegedly (1) paid bribes to social welfare officers in exchange for them issuing welfare reports recommending that certain children be placed into orphanages without first ensuring that the children were actually orphaned or that putting them up for adoption was in the children’s best interest; (2) paid bribes to Ugandan magistrate judges to obtain court orders placing those children in an orphanage that was willing to accept the children without inquiring into whether they were actually orphans; (3) paid bribes to court registrars to cause the court registrars to assign the cases of these children to two corrupt “adoption-friendly” judges; and (4) paid bribes to the corrupt Ugandan judges to obtain orders to permit their clients to bring the children to the United States for adoption.

Parris, Mirembe, and others also allegedly lied to, and concealed material information from, adoptive parents, including lying about the bribe payments and whether the children were properly determined to be eligible for adoption, and concealing other material information about the children’s history.  The indictment also alleges that Parris, Mirembe, and others agreed to cause false documents to be submitted to the U.S. Department of State to hide the corrupt and fraudulent scheme and to mislead it in its adjudication of visa applications for the Ugandan children being considered for adoption.  The co-conspirators and the entities they worked for received more than $900,000 in connection with these adoptions.

With respect to the Poland scheme, the indictment alleges that after clients of their adoption agency determined they could not care for one of the two Polish children they were set to adopt, Cole and Parris took steps to transfer the child to Parris’s relatives, who were not eligible for intercountry adoption and one of whom had a criminal arrest record.  After the child was physically abused, Cole and Parris took steps to conceal their improper conduct from the entity responsible for accrediting U.S. intercountry adoption agencies—and from the Polish authority responsible for intercountry adoptions—in an attempt to continue profiting from these adoptions. 

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 

If you believe you are a victim of this offense, please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/victim-witness-program or call (888) 549-3945.

The FBI’s Cleveland Field Office is investigating the case.  Trial Attorneys Jason Manning and Alexander Kramer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Rice of the Northern District of Ohio are prosecuting the case.  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs assisted in the investigation.

The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting all FCPA matters.  Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice.  Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

Cole Et Al Indictment - Strongsville Ohio Adoptions by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Chelsea Clinton: The New Face of the Clinton Foundation - Happy Child Abuse Propaganda Month

What better way to give back to the communities raided by The Privateers of the Clinton Foundation who steal the children, the land and the votes, than with few buckets of paint and some overstocked books you write off as a tax donation.

Chelsea, precious, a video is not going to rebrand your family legacy but I do have a strong feeling that you shall rightfully inherit the amorials of your parents.

Moving the Clinton Foundation to relocate in San Diego does not make this better.

Perhaps, it is time for you to bear witness.

Happy Child Abuse Propaganda Month!

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

George Sheldon Is A Person Of Interest In Privatized Child Welfare Fraud & Trafficking Tiny Haitians

I just absolutely adore my #Superfans.

Look what they unearthed, George Sheldon, Florida's former head of Department of Children and Family Services, who just so happened to have been over Haitian foster care and adoption.

That is a really fancy watch for a Director over services for children of "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).  I shall assume he profited from privatizing foster care and adoption services by "coordinating" with the pharmaceutical industry.

George never got back to me, but now I know why; I guess he say through my congratulatory castigation.

In early 2010, George worked closely with federal partners at HHS and ACF in the aftermath of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake.  Together, Florida and ACF met the needs of over 27,000 American citizens, 700 medical evacuees, and 600 Haitian children moving through the adoption process with American families.  Before his service at DCF, George was Associate Dean for Student and Alumni Services at St. Thomas University School of Law.  In 1975, George was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, where he built an eight-year record focusing on the environment and children.  

Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: George Sheldon joins Obama administration http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2011/05/george-sheldon-joins-obama.html#ixzz56Tacs1BP
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 

It would be extremely uncomfortable if I had found out about the operations of trafficking tiny humans our of Haiti.

If feel intellectually violated for not catching this early, but, thank goodness for my #Superfans.

Here is a background on the wonderful work of George Sheldon:

Florida Fails Drugging Children Legislation

Florida Is Under Pressure To Send Kids Home

SAMHSA Liability Disclaimer Explains Child Welfare Fraud

The Child Was Loved Until The State Stepped In

Iowa Busted In $2.6 Million Child Care Fraud

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

FBI Hits Human Trafficking In The U.S.: Same Fraud, Different Funding Sources

Drats!

I was meaning to do a piece on adult adoptions.

Anyway, allow me to fill in the blanks.

Before there was "gay marriage", there was adult adoption, where one would adopt their partner in order to share the benefits of "straight marriage".

I always said this was the best way to circumvent deportation laws and get citizenship because this is what they do with children in international adoptions.

If the FBI is going after adult adoption schemes, then the next stage is to go after child adoption schemes because the only difference is that child adoptions use federal funding.

Human trafficking in the U.S. same fraud scheme, different funding sources.

Heads up, #FBI, corporations are now running complex adoption schemes, too..

Get 'em.

Elk Grove Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for $1M Adult Adoption Immigration Fraud Scheme

Americans Helping America Chamber of Commerce Promised Citizenship to Members of Its “Migration Program” for a Price

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Helaman Hansen, 65, of Elk Grove, was sentenced today to 20 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. for operating an elaborate adult-adoption fraud scheme that targeted undocumented aliens, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. Judge England also ordered Hansen to pay $576,264 in restitution.

On May 9, 2017, after an 11-day trial, a federal jury found Hansen guilty of 12 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and two counts of encouraging and inducing illegal immigration for private financial gain.

U.S. Attorney Talbert stated: “The sentence today acknowledges the vast number of people victimized by the defendant. He preyed upon hundreds of people who wanted to find a pathway to American citizenship and exploited their hopes and dreams for his own financial gain. The defendant’s lies and false promises caused many to part with substantial amounts of money, and in some instances, a lifetime’s worth of savings. I want to thank our federal partners at ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI for their hard work in bringing the defendant justice.”

“Today’s decision should send a clear message to anyone who chooses to take advantage of innocent victims who are only trying to make a better life for themselves,” said Ryan L. Spradlin, special agent in charge of HSI San Francisco. “HSI continues to work closely with our law enforcement partners to seek out and arrest opportunistic swindlers who misrepresent our nation’s immigration laws for their own personal gain.”

“The FBI is committed to identifying and investigating fraud, especially when such crimes prey upon the most vulnerable people in our community. Legitimate pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants exist but adult adoption is not one of them. Unfortunately, Hansen knowingly accepted funds for adult adoption processes despite being informed that such would not aid his victims with obtaining citizenship,” said Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Sacramento Field Office.

According to evidence presented at trial, between October 2012 and January 2016, Hansen and others used various entities such as Americans Helping America (AHA) to sell memberships in what he called a “Migration Program.” A central feature of the program was the fraudulent claim that immigrant adults could achieve U.S. citizenship by being legally adopted by an American citizen and completing a list of additional tasks. At first, memberships were sold for an annual fee of $150, but that fee grew and eventually was as high as $10,000.

Although some victims completed the adoption stage of the “Migration Program,” not one person obtained citizenship. As early as October 2012, Hansen had been informed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that aliens adopted after their 16th birthday could not obtain citizenship in the manner Hansen was promoting. Despite that notification, Hansen and others acting at his direction induced approximately 500 victims to pay more than $1 million to join the fraudulent program.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorneys André M. Espinosa and Katherine T. Lydon prosecuted the case.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Day 44.5 Lisa Page - EB5 "Family" Visas?

Strongsville international adoption agency raided by FBI

International Adoptions: The Importation of Tax Credits

State Department Takes First Step To Stop Human Trafficking & Child Welfare Fraud

U.S. Completely Shut Down In International Adoptions

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

U.S. Completely Shut Down In International Adoptions

Top Nations that got sick of U.S. human trafficking

Did the Council on Accreditation (COA) get busted for blackmailing private contracted child organizations to pay them to cover up human trafficking by submitting false claims to Medicaid, in order to launder the money through the U.S. State Department to eventually funnel into the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's campaign?

Here is a bit of COA background on that possibility.

International adoption is not just a great way of running an international human trafficking network, for the right price, it becomes a great tax haven and property acquisition scheme, but, hey, what do I know?

Tension Between State Department, Accreditor Over Intercountry Adoption

The Council on Accreditation (COA), the lone firm handling accreditation for international adoption agencies, has announced that it will break its contract with State due to recent changes in regulations.

From a statement by the State Department:

On October 6 … the Council on Accreditation (COA), the agency responsible to accrediting intercountry adoption agencies, informed the Department that it would be unable to perform its duties as an accrediting entity (AE) due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Under the terms of COA’s Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Department, both parties will consult and make an effort to find a solution that will enable COA to continue its duties until the end of the Agreement period, if possible.

If an agreement cannot be reached, the two entities can terminate the contract on a mutually agreed upon date, or it ends after 14 months.

Since 2008, when the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (The Convention) entered into force in the United States, agencies facilitating adoptions from other Hague countries have been required to be accredited by an accrediting entity, which is currently COA.

The Colorado Department of Human Services also served as an accrediting entity when the Convention was first implemented, but as the number of agencies facilitating intercountry adoptions decreased, CDHS exited the accreditation arena. Since then, COA has been the sole accrediting entity.

Now COA is highlighting challenges to ensuring the agencies are properly accredited due to some changing guidelines from the State Department, which serves as the Central Authority for the Convention, overseeing all Convention adoptions.

The central source of contention appears to be over foreign employees and partners of the adoption agencies. Agencies have long been required to show formal, supervisory agreements with foreign service providers (FSP), the people on the ground in other countries working to finalize adoptions for American families.

Recently, the State Department has instructed COA to require agencies to have other partners, such as a state-run orphanage, enter a supervisory agreement as well, according to Light of Day Stories, a blog on international adoptions.

“Some of them are prohibited by their own government from entering that agreement,” said Chuck Johnson, CEO of the National Council For Adoption (NCFA).

In other cases, he said, the perception is that the agreement flips reality on its head. “Their view is, ‘You aren’t supervising us, we are supervising you.’”

The Council on Accreditation did not comment for this story.

Some in the adoption community have expressed concern that in the event the MOA between the Department and COA terminates, intercountry adoption will be negatively impacted.  However, should COA cease to act as an accrediting entity, responsibility for all accredited agencies or approved persons under COA’s oversight will transfer to another accrediting entity.

In August, shortly before COA publicly announced it was possibly leaving the space, the State Department announced the designation of a new accrediting agency. Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME) is a newly formed nonprofit that will be operated by the Partnership for Strong Families, which is a lead child welfare services provider for two regions in of Florida.

“We really think these are legitimate concerns and we’ve been expressing that for the better part of a year,” Johnson said. “The COA announcement, from my perspective, cemented what we said would happen.”

The State Department, in its statement on the matter, disputed this notion, and said the updates on foreign workers just reinforce existing regulations.

“It’s our opinion these are not new requirements,” said Suzanne Lawrence, the special advisor for the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues. “IAAME is coming in knowing what our expectations are.”

Increased scrutiny of foreign partners was included in proposed new rules that the State Department promulgated last year. But the rules were scrapped after receiving vehement opposition from the adoption community, Johnson said.

One of NCFA’s concerns, he said, was that the inclusion of more foreign workers under supervisory agreements might cause accreditation and liability insurance costs to explode for adoption agencies. COA, in its statement about the decision, expressed the same concerns. From its statement to colleagues:

We have serious concerns regarding the impact of these changes in terms of (a) the potential further reduction in the number of children who are afforded the opportunity of finding permanent homes in the United States by virtue of their countries of origin having found the activities underlying those changes to be an infringement of their sovereign rights or unduly burdensome; (b) the sustainability of small ASPs given the anticipated significantly increased accreditation fees and costs; and, (c) the capacity of prospective adoptive parents to pursue intercountry adoptions due to the pass through of these costs.

Johnson estimates the number of agencies working in the space is down about 40 percent from eight years ago since the Convention went into effect, and these changes could bring the number to zero. Since the Convention was implemented, intercountry adoptions have declined from 17,449 in 2008 to just 5,370 in 2016. However, intercountry adoptions had already started to decline prior to the Convention implementation after hitting their peak at 22,989 in 2004.

“I think unless these things are changed, we could be at the end of intercountry adoption,” Johnson said. “If we’re right, and this falls apart, who will take responsibility at that point?”

Lawrence said that the State Department is in favor of intercountry adoption where appropriate and that parties who are interested in seeing intercountry adoption should come together on common goals.

“We need to find the areas where we share goals and work together on a mutually beneficial relationship,” Lawrence said. “You can focus on the areas where people don’t get along, but that doesn’t get you to where you want to be.”

Council on Accreditation Announces Intent to Terminate Their Role as a National Accrediting Entity by Beverly Tran on Scribd

And the moral of the story is...."Do not be mean to my Sweetie, period."

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

State Department Takes First Step To Stop Human Trafficking & Child Welfare Fraud

Tagging a U.S. Passport with a child sex offender designation is just a start because you have to catch and prosecute them, first.

The next phase should be for the DOJ and HHS OIG to start taking down these child welfare fraud organizations because the accrediation comes out the State Department.

What many do not understand is the the Council on Accreditation, the organization which gives the stamp of approval on child welfare organization operations, is warehoused in the U.S. Department of State.

Taken from the U.S. State Department website"

Adoption Service Provider Search

The Council on Accreditation (COA) accredits adoption service providers and approved persons for intercountry adoption. Information on accredited adoption service providers and approved persons can be found on the COA website.

To search for accredited and approved providers by program country, type the name of the country from which you wish to adopt in the top field and check the box for Hague adoption service provider to search on the middle left-hand side of the page. Please note that agencies provide information to COA for this purpose on a voluntary basis. 

This is just more fodder for the DOJ to continue its investigation into the U.S. Department of State in its child welfare fraud operations.

Oh, I am so sorry, the DOJ has yet to issue a press release of investigation into the U.S. Department of State international child welfare fraud operations.

But hey, what do I know?

Stay tuned.

I bet this action is going to upset lots of international child welfare organizations.

Child sex offenders to be named as such in US passports

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s registered child sex offenders will now have to use passports identifying them for their past crimes when traveling overseas.

 The State Department said Wednesday it would begin revoking passports of registered child sex offenders and will require them to apply for a new one that carries a “unique identifier” of their status.

Those applying for a passport for the first time will not be issued one without the identifier, which will be a notice printed inside the back cover of the passport book that reads:

“The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and is a covered sex offender pursuant to (U.S. law).”

The department said in a statement posted to its travel.state.gov website that registered child sex offenders will no longer be issued smaller travel documents known as passport cards because they do not have enough room to fit the notice.

 The changes come in response to last year’s “International Megan’s Law,” which aims to curb child exploitation and child sex tourism, but also has been criticized by civil libertarians for being overly broad and targeting only one category of convicted felon.

The law is named for Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old girl murdered by a convicted child sex offender in New Jersey in 1994.

The case drew widespread attention and led to the creation of several state sex offender registries. Government agencies notified Congress on Wednesday the passport requirement of the law had taken effect.

 The State Department, which issues U.S. passports, said it will start notifying those affected as soon as it receives their names from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security.

That agency is charged with identifying child sex offenders and is the sole agency that can add or remove someone from the list.

 Affected passport holders will be able to travel abroad on their current passports until the revocations are formalized, the department said, and it wasn’t immediately clear when immigration and homeland security officials would provide that list.

 A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency was “exercising additional vetting procedures” to produce those names and that it is a “priority,” but could not say when they would be sent to the State Department. Critics say the passport requirement will limit the ability of those affected to lawfully travel abroad.

The State Department said the language in the passports “will not prevent covered sex offenders from departing the United States, nor will it affect the validity of their passports.”

 However, it also noted that American citizens, like those of other nations, are subject to the entry laws, rules and requirements of countries they wish to visit.

Many countries prohibit or place strict restrictions on the travel of convicted felons. State Department officials said they weren’t aware of any other group of felons who’ll be identified as offenders in their passports.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Rhode Island: A Day Late, A Dollar Short On Oversight

I suppose these youth can be enjoined in the class action law suit against the state. Rhode Island just cannot seem to get it right when it comes to oversight of its contracts and operations.

Perhaps it has something to do with the status quo of the nation's child welfare accreditation system...

R.I. shuts down group home for teen boys in Johnston

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 14, 2010

By Lynn Arditi

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — State officials have shut down a group home for teenage boys in Johnston pending an investigation into allegations that the toilets and showers were not working and that some of the boys had been confined for hours inside a sweltering common room last week following a report that clothing was being stolen.

The problems were reported to the state Department of Children, Youth and Families by Rhode Island Child Advocate Jametta O. Alston after her office’s investigators received a tip and visited the group home, The Johnston House, on Greenville Avenue, last Thursday.

The investigators reported that in the middle of last week’s heat wave, five of the seven boys had been confined to a common room with no air conditioning — a claim that the group home’s chief executive denies —– in an effort to get the boys to confess about the theft of some clothing.

Toilets at the home also couldn’t be flushed and the bathrooms stank of backed-up waste, the child advocate’s office reported. And the showers were not functioning properly, so staff had been taking the boys to a local YMCA to shower.

The DCYF has placed the group home’s license on probation, as is done during any abuse and neglect investigation, and has moved all the boys into other group homes, the agency’s deputy director, Jorge Garcia, said Tuesday.

The Johnston House is operated by the Windsor, Conn.-based nonprofit operation Community Solutions Inc. The company’s chief executive officer, Robert D. Pidgeon, said Tuesday that his employees are cooperating with the DCYF in the investigation.

The Johnston House is one of 102 licensed residential facilities in the state operated by agencies that have contracts with the DCYF. Rhode Island currently has 324 youths in DCYF custody who are living in group homes, according to Garcia.

The state pays a per diem rate of $215.57 per bed to house up to eight teenage boys at the two-story house in Johnston, which has a staff of 12 to 15 people to care for and provide therapeutic services to boys with behavioral and emotional problems.

The problems at The Johnston House surfaced last Thursday when the state child advocate’s office — an independent agency created to serve as a watchdog over the state child-welfare system — received a call from a social worker who had a scheduled visit at The Johnston House last week. The social worker, Alston said, was accompanied by a DCYF employee.

Two investigators from the child advocate’s office visited the group home, Alston said, and interviewed the boys, who repeated the allegations.

“In order to get a confession, you have the children sitting still in a hot room,” she said. “That’s, to me, disturbing.”

Pidgeon, the group home operator’s chief executive, denied that the children were confined to one room.

“It would be impossible to confine them to a room because we don’t lock the doors,” he said. “They have free access to come and go in the building or on the grounds.”

The staff at The Johnston House had placed all but three newly arrived residents on “house restriction,” Pidgeon said, in hopes that one of them would confess to who was stealing clothing. House restriction means that the boys were confined to the house or the yard, he said, so they couldn’t go on trips to the movies or out for Chinese food. However, he said, they were free to move around the property. Their bedrooms had air conditioning, but not the dining room or living room, he said. The restrictions had been in place for 8½ days, he said.

“It’s not part of our policy to have restrictions that last that long,” Pidgeon said. “It just strikes me that’s a little too long.”

The Johnston House also had been having intermittent problems in recent months with its water pump, but it wasn’t until July 1 that the water pressure became so low that it restricted showering and staff began taking the boys to a local YMCA to shower.

“By July, you couldn’t take back-to-back showers [and] couldn’t flush the toilet,” Pidgeon said. “It’s not like they were ever out of water. They just didn’t have the water pressure they needed.”

The two-story house, built in 1920, has a gabled, clay tile roof and decorative glass doorways, but its original clapboards have been replaced with vinyl siding and the wood façade is worn.

The group home’s operator, Community Solutions, bought the house in 1997 through its real-estate arm, Collins Group Inc., for $210,000. At the time, Pidgeon said, the company owned a number of properties used for residential juvenile care. But since then, the company has moved away from residential services for juveniles to home-based care, and the Johnston house is one of the last three properties it owns. The others are a group home in Coventry and a safe house in Windsor, Conn.

Community Solutions operates in 14 states, including Rhode Island, and is accredited by the national nonprofit Council For the Accreditation of Residential Facilities.  (Actually, it it the Council On Accreditation) The DCYF’s Garcia said he could not recall ever having had a problem with the company’s facilities.

Last Friday, the water pump at the Johnston group home was replaced and the pressure problem resolved, Pidgeon, the company’s CEO, said. By then, the residents had been unable to flush the toilets or use the showers for eight days. The same day, investigators from the DCYF’s child protective services and licensing divisions showed up at the home and interviewed residents and staff. The DCYF ordered that the home be shut down and the boys move out pending completion of their investigation.

The group home’s staff has not been working since Friday, Pidgeon said, and is not being paid pending the results of the investigation.

“What was most disturbing to me was that the DCYF social worker [who visited Thursday] didn’t make the calls” to report the problems, Alston, the state’s child advocate, said.

DCYF social workers are required to conduct monthly on-site visits of all children the agency places in group homes, Garcia, the agency’s deputy director, said. However, he said, the plumbing problems at the Johnston home were not necessarily something that a DCYF employee would notice if he or she didn’t use the facilities during the visit.

“I’m not sure if some of those issues would have been obvious,” he said. 

"I'm not sure if the group home staff were provided proper, mandated, restraint training.  Probably not."

larditi@projo.com

Rhode Island Contracts With CoA For National Cover Up

Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families is seeking national accreditation from the Council on Accreditation (CoA).

Now, why is that.

DCYF may seek national accreditation

PROVIDENCE — The state Department of Children, Youth and Families could seek national accreditation beginning in July 2011 if legislation approved by the General Assembly is signed into law by Governor Carcieri this week.
But the effort hinges on whether state lawmakers appropriate the estimated $300,000 the state agency will need to cover the cost of being evaluated to determine whether it’s eligible for the seal of approval from the not-for-profit Council Of Accreditation. And the cost could run higher, agency officials say, if attaining accreditation requires changes such as reducing employee caseloads or raising the professional credentials of its supervisors...more

Well, there are two reasons why Rhode Island is seeking national accreditation.

The first reason, the same reason Missouri went after national accreditation, is that the main requirement to gain the seal of approval from CoA is to give them money. Giving CoA money will cover up the aberrant billing and egregious practices in its child welfare system.

The second reason verifies my suppositions of CoA being nothing more than a glorified fixer organization, willing to cover up administrative mess ups with its national certification scheme. Rhode Island wants national accreditation to reduce its penalties because it is being sued.

First Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion in M v. DONALD L. CARCIERI

Absolutely Omnipotent

More powerful than a federal Judge, more powers than the Governor, more authority than the Attorney General, look, up in the sky!

Is it God?  No.

It's the Michigan Children's Institute Superintendent!  He is absolutely omnipotent.


 THE MICHIGAN CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE SUPERINTENDENT’S DECISION TO DENY CONSENT TO A BLOOD RELATIVE’S ADOPTION PETITION IS NOT ‘ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS’ IF THERE ARE GOOD REASONS TO GRANT CONSENT AND GOOD REASONS TO DENY CONSENT TO THE RELATIVE’S PETITION.  IT IS THE ABSENCE OF ANY GOOD REASON TO WITHHOLD CONSENT, NOT THE PRESENCE OF GOOD REASONS TO GRANT IT, THAT INDICATES THE SUPERINTENDENT WAS ACTING IN AN ‘ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS’ MANNER  By Judge Thomas E. Nelson In re Fenner-Bailey, (Unpublished #279990), 3/13/08

Domestic Relations Review Return to Calhoun County Courts Home Page

This case involves an appeal of the trial court’s ruling that the Michigan Children’s Institute Superintendent’s decision to withhold consent to appellants’ petition for adoption of their blood relative was not “arbitrary and capricious”.

The child involved had been living with the foster parents who were given the MCI Superintendent’s consent to adopt for over ½ of her 4 years of life.  She had formed a strong psychological bond with the foster parents, whom she referred to as mom and dad.  The appellants maintain that they had a similar bond with the child.  However, that does not undermine the child’s attachment with the foster parents.  Psychological attachment is not a zero sum game.

The relatives also challenged the child’s long-term therapist’s conclusions regarding the bond between the foster parents and the prospective adoptee.  They suggested that the therapist never observed the child and foster parents interact.  However, the Court of Appeals indicated that the trial court was correct in relying on the therapist who interacted with the child professionally for a significant portion of her life and at the time the relevant proceedings and placement were occurring.

The appellants also argue that the MCI Superintendent’s decision was arbitrary and capricious and did not follow the Department of Human Services’ policy manual to give preferential treatment or first choice to relatives seeking to adopt. The appellants offered no legal authority to support that argument. Furthermore, the appellants were originally given custody of the child, but they requested she be placed with the foster parents in order to promote the transition to a permanent home.

Bottom line, the Court of Appeals held that “if there are good reasons to grant consent and good reasons to withhold it, it cannot be said that the decision to withhold consent was arbitrary and capricious”.  It is the absence of any good reason to withhold consent, not the presence of good reasons to grant it, that indicates that the representative was acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner”.
Domestic Relations Review
Return to Calhoun County Courts Home Page

---

Last updated 4-2-08
Send your comments, questions and suggestions to Phil Harter at 161 E Michigan Avenue, Battle Creek, Michigan 49014 or e mail to pharter@calhouncountymi.gov

And the court never said anything about the decision being right and wrong.

The reason the appellants could not prove the Superintendent did not follow the policy manual is because the policy manual does not exist.

FOIA Michigan Children's Institute Production of Documents