NYS OCFS Forces "Off-the-Books" Litigation in Darryl Thompson Civil Action

NYS OCFS Forces "Off-the-Books" Litigation in Darryl Thompson Civil Action

iReport —

     Defendants and NYS OCFS seek

    to hide their misconduct from the public.

Defendants and NYS OCFS are seeking to hide their misconduct from the public by forcing Plaintiff, Anntwanisha Thompson, to file documents "off-the-books" in the matter of Thompson v. Johnson, et al, a civil action filed by Elmer Robert Keach III, who represents the family of Darryl Thompson.

Darryl Thompson, a 15 year old from the Bronx, died in November 2006 after being restrained by two aides at the state-run Tryon Residential Center in Johnstown. An autopsy conducted by Medical Examiner, Dr. Michael Sikirica, ruled Thompson's death a homicide, yet a Fulton County grand jury declined to indict the two aides involved (John P. Johnson and Robert Murphy).

A letter motion, pursuant to the Court's direction, was filed earlier this month by Keach to The Honorable Andrew T. Baker, federal judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of New York to request the unsealing of all documents submitted to the Court. It states, in part, "...the Plaintiff's efforts to learn the truth about her son's death were used against her, in that in order to gain information about how Darryl died, the Plaintiff was forced to agree to a restrictive protective order that required court sealing. The Plaintiff specifically requested that she be provided with an opportunity to revisit the sealing provisions of the order at the appropriate time, and she does so by this letter motion."

Thompson suggests that all documents submitted to the US District Court for the Northern District of New York are judicial documents. To that end, NYS OCFS forcing "off-the-books" litigation not only does not serve the interests of justice, it also precludes the public from being able to access documents upon which the US District Court for the Northern District of New York will make its decisions.

Thompson is also requesting to take the depositions of Jeffrey Delorme and Robert Hoefs due to the uncertainty amongst the Defendants as to who was present during Thompson's restraint and death. While not Defendants in this action, the depositions of Delorme and Hoefs are said to be "...highly relevant to this litigation..." They are represented by the New York State Attorney General's office, who has refused to allow them to be deposed.

Source: Keach Letter To The Honorable Andrew T. Baxter, federal judge, US District Court for the Northern District of New York

Note: In the latest development, the Court has decided on the letter motion, keeping the documents sealed without prejudice.

(Case 608-cv-01241-DNH-ATB Document 147 filed Nov. 19, 2010)

Be Disgusted With The System, Not The Victims

Here is a video of a father having his daughter tell her story of what happened while in foster care.

There are many who will find this disturbing, faulting the father for having his daughter relive the experience and averring that she has destroyed her credibility as a witness to sue.

Here is the reality.

The incidents took place 3 years ago after Child Protective Services removed his daughter and placed her in foster care.  From the statement posted on the video, the father notes that no one has been prosecuted to this day.  Here is the reason why:

In foster care, sexual abuse of children at the hands of other foster children is a daily event, yet goes unreported.

It is acceptable to report the physical abuse of children in foster care as seen with the sensational articles of foster parents being the abusers, but never other children.

Children in foster care who commit acts of violence or sexual abuse are never prosecuted, and rightfully should not be as they are under the "parenting" of the state.  To prosecute a youth who has committed such acts as described by this little girl in foster care would be a public admission of culpability and liability.  This is why it is a secret.

This father was reunited with his daughter successfully.  From my take, the father has tried to bring to justice those who were in authority, allowing this to happen, but to no avail.

This is a father, who may not be sophisticated in his public approach for justice, but he wants the world to know of what happens in foster care.  This is an act of desperation.  This is an act of free speech.  The father was a victim, too.

A parent will come to his or her breaking point to get someone to listen and to get help for the child, but in situations such as this, nothing happens unless they stand up and speak out on their own so other parents do not have to relive the horror stories their children tell them in screaming fits of night terrors.

Everything in foster care is a secret and society is conditioned to keep it a secret to be taken to the grave.

It is acceptable for children to speak out about 'bullying', for what I consider assault and battery, but it is not acceptable for children to discuss being sexually stimulated by other children in foster care.  It happens more often than one can conceive and it is never reported.

Shhhhh.....it's a secret.

No one reports to the prosecutors or attorney general.  No one is willing, as professional attorneys, to risk losing their law license to bring forth these actions against the state.  There are no national statistics.

This little girl and her father are not victims; they are survivors, heros.  They had the courage to break the social taboos on telling the dirty little secrets behind the iron curtain.

The true victims are the perpetrators, the youth who commit these acts.  Yanking a child out of a home and grinding them through a corrupt and dysfunctional system creates a disturbed child, but what is worse is there will never be any intervention.  The cycle will continue as these perpetrators were probably victims of other foster children sexually abusing them.

Residential institutions are breeding grounds for such behavior yet the only cure is to pump the kids with more psychotropic medication that only exasperates and perpetuates disturbing behavior.  The more a foster youth acts out, the higher the psychotic medication doses.

At least he got his kid back.



Youths in the custody of the State have a constitutional right to be free from physical abuse by staff and assaults inflected by other youth.

U.S. DOJ New York Investigation of Child Abuse in Residential Institutions

The child welfare industry is so desperate to keep their dirty secrets of what happens to children in the system, it is not just willing to keep the public thinking it is an horrific act to force a child to relive the event, but it has no qualms of getting on its knees, begging and groveling to the court to keep even the details of a child murder under lock and key, just so the industry can stay in operation.

Just as a parent who allows a child to needlessly suffer torture and harm under his or her care be held accountable for these actions and inactions, so should a state.

Keach Letter To  Federal Judge Requesting Unsealing Of New York Office Of Children And Family Services Reco...
Be disgusted with the system, not the victims. What would you do if this happened to your child?