Veterans Heading To North Dakota To Protect Citizens From Criminal Cops

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The Top 5: Most Secretive Child Welfare System's in the United State

From the desk of Legally Kidnapped...

The Top 5: Most Secretive Child Welfare System's in the United States

So this past Sunday, I took sort of a snap shot of the US Child Welfare Systems, and what they had been up to or what the people have been concerned with over the last few months.  Based on the information I collected in my notebook, I have uncovered certain trends.  The first of those trends Iwrote about on this past Sunday.  Not everybody agrees with my findings, but they are subject to change at any time and are only a reflection of the most recent information.

Today I would like to bring your attention to another trend I noticed in the data I collected.  That would be the opposite extreme, the quiet or more secretive states.  All Child Welfare systems should have some level of transparency so that the public knows what's going on.  Many of these systems however, have systematically been able to avoid public scrutiny for years.  Some more than others and the Top 5 will be listed here now.


Number 5: Idaho

We haven't actually heard very much from this state as of late and when we do it's usually an opinion piece or somebody getting arrested for abusing a foster child.  I'm not saying that this state doesn't have it's share of problems, just that they are really good at sweeping them under the rug.

Number 4: North Dakota

North Dakota was having some issues with child welfare on an Indian reservation and turnover rates a couple years back but that has faded into the past.  We haven't heard much from them since.  

Number 3: Delaware

Because I'm running a news blog, I can only work with what CPS gives me.  I try to give every state or country the opportunity to make this blog with their fraud, failures and fuck-ups and I do so as fairly as I can.  Delaware comes in at Number 3 because in the last 5 years, there has been nothing to come out of that state in terms of news.  Nothing.  With the exception of a ban on spanking back in 2012, a case where a CPS Agent said, give me sex or I'll take your kid, and a couple of foster care abuse cases, we wouldn't know the states child welfare system even exists.

Number 2: New Hampshire

New Hampshire could be compared to a trap door spider, waiting for his prey or a cop hiding on a dark road waiting for a speeder to go buy.  The New Hampshire child welfare system is a state of pure evil that hides in the shadows and pounces on it's victims leaving a trail of heartbreak and anger.  Thanks to the work of Unhappy Grammy we know this, but you can forget about staying informed via any major news paper.

And the Number 1 most secretive child welfare system in the country is...

Number 1: Wyoming 

Wyoming's CPS has flown under the radar for as long as I've been at this.  Making Legally Kidnapped a whopping 17 times, since the beginning, the state keeps it's secrets well.

The First Amendment of the Constitution is put into place so that the government would be subject to checks and balances.  The people need to know.  If they aren't aware of what a mess Child Welfare in the United States really is then the agencies will continue to get away with it for a good long time.

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Audit says tracking of Medicaid fraud not sufficient

By REBECCA BEITSCH Bismarck Tribune | Posted: Thursday, October 21, 2010 5:11 pm | (3) Comments

The Department of Human Services isn’t doing an adequate job of dealing with fraud in the Medicaid system, according a new report released by the state auditor’s office.

“It was apparent to us that central Medicaid provider and recipient fraud and abuse was not a high priority for the department,” Gordy Smith, audit manager for the auditor’s office, said in his report to legislators. “Rather it seems that DHS when they found potential cases of fraud or abuse they treated them as errors rather than as potential fraud and abuse that should be investigated further.”

The 23-page report reviewed the system over a three year period. Maggie Anderson, director of medical services for the department, said the audit gave the department a lot of good feedback, and DHS agreed with most of the recommendations in the report. Many of those interviewed blamed a lack of resources for the problems identified,

In presenting the report to legislators, Smith said the department did not promote an environment that encouraged employees to look for fraud and in interviews, some DHS employees said “they did not believe a fraud or abuse unit existed within DHS.”

While the unit does exist, Smith questioned the qualifications of the person leading the unit and said they have yet to do a full fraud investigation.

Smith said the individual did not meet federal requirements set out for the position and lacked much of the training and licensure necessary to head up a fraud unit.

While the unit does investigate claims, Smith said they are not referring cases for further investigation and prosecution.

When asked by state legislators about the extent of the fraud, Smith said he didn’t have an estimate as that was not the point of the audit.

“I’m confident in saying a lot of the errors Human Services says are errors, are errors. They’re billing errors,” Smith said. “However I do think there are indications where if we had followed them through, if that were our job, I would’ve been pretty confident out front that you’d have a case.”

Smith pointed to an ambulance group that was overpaid by more than $3,000 but said there were other instances where the department was working to recoup $160,000 in inappropriate billings.

Some legislators were skeptical as to the amount of fraud and blamed the problem on a complicated paper-based billing system, which the department is working to transition to going online.

“Their people are good as what they do,” said Sen. Judy, Lee, R-West Fargo, of in-home care providers, “But to say they’re not accountants is an understatement.”

The audit report also criticized the department for getting a waiver to opt-out of a federal program that would establish a separate Medicaid fraud unit to be housed outside of DHS, something the report recommended for objectivity.

Smith said North Dakota is the only state in the U.S. to not  to participate in the program, which is funded primarily with federal funds and is usually housed in the attorney general’s office to further the opportunities for investigation and prosecution.

While the state got permission to opt out of the program in 1994, Smith said the circumstances surrounding that decision have changed, and the report recommended submitting a new request.

Anderson said a bill that would have created a new fraud unit was introduced last legislative session but it failed in the House.

Anderson said they will confer with federal authorities as to whether there are now enough claims processed to justify having a fraud unit.

“We’ll change if we’re told we have to change,” Anderson said after the hearing, but if not the status quo will remain. She said the cost of the program in South Dakota is about $400,000.

Anderson said the new health care law will be bringing in some of the resources the department needs to deal with some of the recommendations from the state auditor.

The new law will create the same type of fraud review that now exists under Medicare and will establish a unit devoted entirely to fraud.

Anderson said there are ample training opportunities over the next year, and the head of their current fraud unit should have the proper qualifications and licenses by the end of the year,

The department also is going to add a report fraud option to its website and toll free number.

(Reach reporter Rebecca Beitsch at 250-8255 or 223-8482 or rebecca.beitsch@bismarcktribune.com.)

North Dakota Medicaid Auditor General Report 2010

North Dakota Neglects Native Child Welfare

There is a reason why North Dakota is at the forefront of a new trend in the way foster care is administered and it has to do with the fact that the state is at the forefront of a national trend of putting minority children in foster care.

Native American numbers on rise in North Dakota foster care system

Statistics show that minorities are overrepresented in the foster care system in all states.

In North Dakota, Native Americans are the largest minority group represented in the foster system, and their numbers are on the rise. They accounted for 29 percent of the state’s foster children in 2008 and 37 percent in 2009, state child welfare data show.

North Dakota has possesses the nation's lowest unemployment rate yet the largest unemployed segment of the state's population is found on the rural reservations.

The poverty rates seen among Indians on reservations in the district are reflective of the high levels of unemployment. The official U.S. Census figure for unemployment among Indians living on district reservations was 23 percent, compared to 3.7 percent nationally, with as high as 37 percent unemployment for Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Many consider these figures underestimates of true unemployment because the lack of jobs on reservations discourages many from looking for work, thus lowering labor force participation.

The updated approach to foster care should be one of equality in access of resources.  This means that it is time the Tribes step up to the plate and do more for Anishinaabeg.

Since the spread of American Indian casinos and other forms of gambling across the nation, the public perception of reservation life has shifted from one of desperate poverty to windfall riches. That perception is deeply flawed. While gambling has brought substantial wealth to the members of some tribes, they remain in the minority. The fedgazette's March 2003 analysis of 42 district reservations found that the richest five tribes accounted for 54 percent of casino revenue but less than 6 percent of population. (See map of Ninth District Indian Reservations.)

Beyond the most influential tribes investing and improving quality of life for the rest of the Tribes, the issues of child welfare fraud must immediately be addressed, for it happens in Native American child welfare programs, also.

The ACF has monitored the Tribal provisions of the child welfare protections required required by the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, but few Tribal records have been reviewed.

HHS OIG Child Welfare Services and Protections for Native American Children

Even though this report is dated 1994, there are other individual HHS OIG reviews supporting the original findings of the absence of Tribal child welfare program oversight.

North Dakota takes updated approach to foster care

State aims to keep families together

North Dakota is at the forefront of a new trend in the way foster care is administered: Don’t put children in foster care.

The idea is to help families help themselves so they can keep their children, rather than having a judge order them into the foster care system.

When children stay with their families, they typically do better in school, and the odds of them aging out of the foster care system and struggling with adult life – free of the assistance they received before – are diminished, said Gary Wolsky, president and CEO of The Village Family Service Center in Fargo.
“The problems get costlier to fix if left untended,” Wolsky said. “Prevention is always cheaper.”

The effort could save taxpayers a bundle because it’s more expensive to put a child through foster care than it is to help the whole family, Wolsky said.

The family preservation initiative has also grabbed the attention of some North Dakota lawmakers, who say they hope to see the idea take off in the state.

North Dakota lawmakers need to sit down with Tribal leaders and address the issues of fraud, waste and abuse, together, but even more importantly, establish universal systems of transparency and accountability.

Let's see if Wolsky will directly talk to Tribal families who have lost their children and publish his findings.  

More than family preservation, this is cultural preservation.