For years, I have been passionate about telling the world about what goes on behind the scenes in child welfare.
The original architects of child welfare as well as their proteges have cold, black hearts because children are not just collateral damage when implementing social welfare programming, they are profit margins.
WHEREAS, the damaged water infrastructure and leaching of lead into the
city's water caused damage to public and private water infrastructure, and has
either caused or threatened to cause elevated blood lead levels, especially in the
population of children and pregnant women, and causing a potential immediate
threat to public health and safety and disrupting vital community services; and
'To poison all the children in an historic American city is no small feat'
Calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's ouster—and arrest—are growing after internal emails showed that his high-level staffers were aware of lead poisoning in Flint's public water supply six months before the administration declared a state of emergency.
According to the newly-released emails, which were obtained by NBC News, Snyder's chief of staff at the time, Dennis Muchmore, wrote to an unnamed high-level health department staffer: "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint."
"These folks are scared and worried about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us (as a state we're just not sympathizing with their plight)," Muchmore wrote in the email, according to journalists Stephanie Gosk, Kevin Monahan, Tim Sandler and Hannah Rappleye.
"I really don't think people are getting the benefit of the doubt," wrote Muchmore. "Now they are concerned and rightfully so about the lead level studies they are receiving."
But it was not until this week that Snyder declared a state of emergency, following in the footsteps of the city's mayor. "The health and welfare of Flint residents is a top priority and we're committed to a coordinated approach with resources from state agencies to address all aspects of this situation," Snyder said on Tuesday.
Following the resignation of Michigan's top environmental official, as well as sustained community demands, the Department of Justice announced this week it is launching an investigation into the water crisis.
Many hold Snyder directly culpable for the emergency itself, and note his role in the Detroit water crisis.
"The source of the Flint Water Crisis leads directly to Gov. Rick Snyder and the fiscal austerity policies that he and his Republican colleagues have been pushing for years on Michigan residents," said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan," in a statement released Thursday.
"Families in Flint were forced to drink lead-tainted water while the administration scoffed at their concerns and cries for help. An entire generation of Michiganders now face an uncertain future because of Republican cuts to essential and life-giving services."
The Republican governor appointed Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley who enforced the April 2014 decision to switch from the Detroit system to the Flint River to source water. In an angry letter to Snyder, filmmaker and Flint native Michael Moore wrote:
Your staff and others knew that the water in the Flint River was poison -- but you decided that taking over the city and "cutting costs" to "balance the budget" was more important than the people's health (not to mention their democratic rights to elect their own leaders.) So you cut off the clean, fresh glacial lake water of Lake Huron that the citizens of Flint (including myself) had been drinking for decades and, instead, made them drink water from the industrial cesspool we call the Flint River -- a body of "water" where toxins from a dozen General Motors and DuPont factorieshave been dumped for over a hundred years. And then you decided to put a chemical in this water to "clean" it -- which only ended up stripping the lead off of Flint's aging water pipes, placing that lead in the water and sending it straight into people's taps.
Moore, in fact, is circulating a petition calling on U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to arrest Snyder for "corruption and assault."
While Flint returned to the Detroit water system in October following public concern, the wide-spread lead poisoning can not be undone. According to the World Health Organization, "Young children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead and can suffer profound and permanent adverse health effects, particularly affecting the development of the brain and nervous system."
And there are already signs damage has been done. A study released in September by researchers at the nearby Hurley Children's Hospital identified a "rise in blood lead levels of children less than 5 years old" living within two Flint Zip codes since the city began sourcing drinking water from the Flint River.
In a municipality that is 56 percent black and, according to the latest U.S. Census, one of the poorest cities in the country, community coalitions including "Water You Fighting For" charge that profound injustices lie at the root of the current crisis. As Moore noted, "To poison all the children in an historic American city is no small feat."
Updates and commentary are being posted to Twitter:
Flint — A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water expert testified Wednesday that Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials told him that Flint was not treating its water with anti-corrosion controls as he warned them it wasn't safe.
Miguel Del Toral, the EPA's Region 5 regulations manager, began looking into water quality issues in Flint in February 2015 after a resident called to alert him to high lead levels in her home.
DEQ water treatment engineer Patrick Cook told Del Toral about the water treatment plant issues, the EPA expert said. Del Toral met with then-DEQ official Liane Shekter Smith at the Chicago EPA headquarters to discuss the issue as well — with him saying each time Flint was not meeting federal standards.
And Del Toral said he was "very surprised" at the lack of corrosion controls and no plans to implement them.
"I was informed by Patrick Cook via email that the city of Flint did not continue using corrosive control treatment after they disconnected from Detroit (area water)," Del Toral said. "Because the city of Flint has lead service lines and in the absence of treatment to lower lead levels within lead service lines, they can get very high."
Del Toral was testifying before 67th District Court Judge Jennifer Manley at the preliminary exam hearing for DEQ water regulators Stephen Busch, Michael Prysby, Cook as well as Shekter Smith, the fired head of the DEQ division responsible for overseeing Flint’s water source switch. This is the first Flint preliminary exam where Del Toral has been asked to testify.
The state regulators have been charged with various criminal offenses, including misconduct in office.
Shekter Smith and Busch are each charged with involuntary manslaughter. Attorney General Bill Schuette accused them and four others of failing to alert the public about a 2014-2015 outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area that killed 12 people and sickened another 79 individuals.
Del Toral, who manages water regulations for the EPA based in Chicago, was the latest witness to testify for Special Prosecutor Todd Flood against them. Much of Del Toral's testimony was technical and often interrupted by objections from defense counsel.
The EPA water expert was considered the agency's Midwest whistle-blower on Flint's lead-contaminated water. In a June 2015 email, he pleaded with superiors to protect Flint residents from lead contamination and even asked for permission to do additional water testing in Flint on his own dime to prove his assertions of widespread lead contamination.
“I understand that this is not a comfortable situation, but the State is complicit in this and the public has a right to know what they are doing because it is their children that are being harmed,” Del Toral wrote in a June 2015 memo to EPA officials. “At a MINIMUM, the city should be warning residents about the high lead, not hiding it telling them there is no lead in the water.”
EPA District 5 Director Susan Hedman asked for a legal opinion about whether the agency could intervene in Flint and didn't receive an answer until November 2015 — after Michigan recognized the crisis in October 2015. Hedman retired after The Detroit News published a January 2016 story about her delay in seeking action.
Under questioning in court, Del Toral said he first became aware of the Flint situation from resident LeAnne Walters, not from DEQ officials. Busch told Del Toral that the lead problem wasn't with the city's service line but with Walters' pipes and that she needed to call a plumber.
But Del Toral said Busch's assertion was "misleading" because she had all plastic pipes in her home.
Walters reached out to Del Toral because lead levels in her home were high and he and another colleague were set to visit her home in April.
"When I see numbers that high, usually they're indicative of lead service lines," he said. "And so my concern was that she had high lead coming off her services lines."
Del Toral will continue his testimony from Flood and then under cross examination on Sept. 19.Del Toral was testifying before 67th District Court Judge Jennifer Manley at the preliminary exam hearing for DEQ water regulators Stephen Busch, Michael Prysby, Cook as well as Shekter Smith, the fired head of the DEQ division responsible for overseeing Flint’s water source switch. This is the first Flint preliminary exam where Del Toral has been asked to testify.
The state regulators have been charged with various criminal offenses, including misconduct in office.
Shekter Smith and Busch are each charged with involuntary manslaughter. Attorney General Bill Schuette accused them and four others of failing to alert the public about a 2014-2015 outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area that killed 12 people and sickened another 79 individuals.
Del Toral, who manages water regulations for the EPA based in Chicago, was the latest witness to testify for Special Prosecutor Todd Flood against them. Much of Del Toral's testimony was technical and often interrupted by objections from defense counsel.
The EPA water expert was considered the agency's Midwest whistle-blower on Flint's lead-contaminated water. In a June 2015 email, he pleaded with superiors to protect Flint residents from lead contamination and even asked for permission to do additional water testing in Flint on his own dime to prove his assertions of widespread lead contamination.
“I understand that this is not a comfortable situation, but the State is complicit in this and the public has a right to know what they are doing because it is their children that are being harmed,” Del Toral wrote in a June 2015 memo to EPA officials. “At a MINIMUM, the city should be warning residents about the high lead, not hiding it telling them there is no lead in the water.”
EPA District 5 Director Susan Hedman asked for a legal opinion about whether the agency could intervene in Flint and didn't receive an answer until November 2015 — after Michigan recognized the crisis in October 2015. Hedman retired after The Detroit News published a January 2016 story about her delay in seeking action.
Under questioning in court, Del Toral said he first became aware of the Flint situation from resident LeAnne Walters, not from DEQ officials. Busch told Del Toral that the lead problem wasn't with the city's service line but with Walters' pipes and that she needed to call a plumber.
But Del Toral said Busch's assertion was "misleading" because she had all plastic pipes in her home.
Walters reached out to Del Toral because lead levels in her home were high and he and another colleague were set to visit her home in April.
"When I see numbers that high, usually they're indicative of lead service lines," he said. "And so my concern was that she had high lead coming off her services lines."
Del Toral will continue his testimony from Flood and then under cross examination on Sept. 19.
Yes, Michigan child welfare was so horrific, it was placed under a court monitor.
I have an entire book I can write, with specific times and places, where this woman lied in public to promote the privatization of child welfare at the expense of poor children.
She led a campaign to silence children, their families and friends, in state care who were drugged, raped, murdered, committed and attempted suicide.
My disgust of this woman's work is strictly personal.
If the plot were to get any thicker, you’d think they were swimming in molten lead—actually, metaphorically some of those responsible for the Flint Water Crisis probably currently think that they are doing so. This morning we released another tranche of e-mails from DHHS, and while we are still waiting for a few more, based on what we have read we still mostly blame 3-5 employees at MDEQ for creating the Flint Water Crisis.
What is also increasingly clear, is that these same MDEQ employees further abused their power and trust, to derail other well-intentioned attempts by state officials to intervene and protect Flint Residents. MDEQ even initiated a “Flint Water Communications Plan” campaign at DHHS, to promote how safe Flint water was to drink, as a direct response to work by Virginia Tech (Flintwaterstudy.org) and Flint residents that were showing otherwise.
Interested readers and reporters can decide for themselves with the FOIA documents we have provided.
Early E-mail Purportedly from Governor’s Office
One of the our FOIA’d e-mails widely reported in the press came from someone named (or at least an alias of) “Nancy Grijalva.” The email was sent July 22nd, around the time that Michigan Radio and Curt Guyette of ACLU-Michigan were reporting on the Del Toral Memo/Virginia Tech’s sampling of very high lead in Lee-Anne Walters home.
MDEQ was starting to come under fire. The e-mail directs DHHS resources to “take a look at this <the lead in water problem>,”because people in Flint “are basically getting blown off by us.”NBC News is reporting that this e-mail actually came from Dennis Muchmore, then chief of staff at the Governor’s office.
Obviously, there is more to this story, and we are trying to get to the bottom of it, but the e-mail prompted an effort at DHHS to look at what was happening to the blood lead in Flint children. That quick look revealed a scientifically conclusive and concerning “spike” in children’s blood lead occurring in summer 2014 immediately after the switch to Flint River water. E-mails are clear that DHHS staff, ultimately convinced themselves at least, that this spike was probably NOT related to the water, and there is no evidence (so far) that serious alarms about potential public health concerns went back to the Governor’s office.
Do we blame DHHS staff for missing the implications of this first blood lead spike? Not really. As we said earlier, at the start of the work, DHHS reached out to MDEQ for background information, and they were clearly provided misinformation that skewed their interpretation of the health analysis. With the benefit of hindsight we do think it was a missed opportunity, but the reason it was missed was because of MDEQ claims that everything was fine with Flint water as illustrated below.
Separate “Flint Water Lead Communications Plan” at DHHS was Also Prompted by MDEQ
In what appears to be a completely separate effort, MDEQ co-opted DHHS resources to back up their misinformation campaign immediately after the now infamous August 4confrontation between Flint residents and MDEQ in Lansing. Liane Shekter-Smith (MDEQ) reached out to DHHS for help with “Flint Lead Outreach,”and between early August through November 2015 various versions of a “Flint Water Lead Communication Plan” were developed at DHHS. The goal? To deal with“unsubstantiated” problems with lead in Flint water that“meets the federal drinking water standards and is safe for public consumption.” Moreover, “The aesthetic quality of the water, which may make the water unappealing to drink or use, does not make the water unsafe.”
The top of one plan clearly indicates “Talking points for DEQ” in handwritten notes. Another key part of the “campaign” which was tentatively titled: “Lead us to Water: Flint Clean Water,” was to talk up dangers of lead paint and lead dust. In our experience, this is a common ploy to draw public attention away from lead in water hazards.
Clearly, the intent of this whole plan was to directly counter “Wateryoufighting4” and “Flintwaterstudy,” because the planning kicked into high gear after Flintwaterstudy issued public health warnings that the water was not safe in late August and early September. One email said “Flint Lead is blowing up- may want to push meeting if we’re going to do something” and “if we’re going to take action it needs to be soon before the Virginia Tech University folks scandalize us all. In DC, it took them 6 years to respond. That’s not good.”
We do believe that elements of this (epically bad) plan were effectively guiding DHHS attitudes and actions from at least late August to late September. We stand by our criticism of DHHS actions during that relatively short time-frame. But we mainly fault them for being overly trusting of MDEQ—which is something that the Governor’s office can also be criticized for. Assuming the NBC report about the origins of our FOIA’d e-mail are accurate, it is clear that the Governor’s office was showing legitimate concern about the health dangers of the water to Flint children in mid-July.
Public Thanks to Eden Wells and Governor’s Task Force
We want to publicly acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Eden Wells (DHHS) in helping to get access to these e-mails-- all of which were initially and wrongly withheld from us. Also, for the continued assistance and great work of the Governor’s After Action Task Force.
Michigan DHHS lies so badly that it was the inspiration for my mission and this blog.
Of course, Michigan DHHS Lies
This particular post just so happens to be a favorite of mine because Maura Corrigan is the one who perfected the culture of lying for the State of Michigan, only for the purposes of maximizing revenue for the state, privatized child welfare contractors, of course.
Unfortunalty for Michigan, the federally appointed court monitor for child welfare forced the state to find alternative means of maximizing revenue for it privately contracted service providers.
But, of course, there are alternative means to identify manipulation of DHHS records.
In order to generate such a pitch, one would have to review relevant data on the well-being of children.
Michigan knew there was a rate increase in Flint for children of Genesee County who tested positive for lead in 2015, where 42.5%, (4,196), compared to the state rate of 37.9%.
Michigan knew there was a rate increase in Flint for children of Genesee County, who were receiving Special Needs services, where 14.1%, (9,470), compared to the state rate of 13.8%.
It must be noted that there is at least a 2 year lag in SACWIS reporting, so these rates may be even higher, but, of course, no one can verify my claim if the state continues to lie, I mean, of course, manipulate records.
It must, also, be noted, of course, that the aforementioned rates are for the County of Genesee, are not stratified for the City of Flint, where I am just going to go all out there and lay claim that the rates are much higher than "ensconcely reported".
Remember, we are dealing with Medicaid cost reimbursements, another database which is becoming privatized, meaning, that FOIA and civil rights laws do not apply to private corporations, which will probably be Michigan's defense, of course.
I am going to take this a step further.
The Flint water crisis is directly connected to the sordid history of the Detroit water crisis.
Flint — The involuntary manslaughter hearing for Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon restarts Wednesday with the expected continuation of testimony by Gov. Rick Snyder’s urban affairs aide that previously created a national controversy.
In October, urban initiatives director Harvey Hollins told the 67th District Court that he informed the governor about the Flint area’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in December 2015, contradicting the governor’s testimony to Congress that he first learned of it in January 2016.
In 2014-15, a Genesee County outbreak of the deadly form of pneumonia ended up killing 12 and sickening 79 residents. Snyder informed the public about the respiratory disease outbreak at a hastily arranged Jan. 13, 2016, press conference in Detroit.
When the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked the Republican governor whether he wanted to clarify his testimony, Snyder stood by his comments.
“My testimony was truthful and I stand by it,” Snyder wrote on Oct. 13 to House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland.
Cummings wants to subpoena Snyder for more records, something the Snyder administration has called playing politics by press release. The administration says it has released all pertinent Flint-related state documents.
Earlier this month, Cummings said he was thankful to Gowdy for agreeing to reopen the Flint investigation — a claim a Gowdy spokeswoman declined to comment on.
Hollins testified that he gave Snyder information pertaining to Legionnaires’ in late 2015 from his own six-member task force.
The aide did not indicate what he specifically told Snyder about the Legionnaires’ cases.
Special Prosecutor Todd Flood played Snyder’s congressional testimony in court. Last week, Lyon’s attorneys asked Genesee County Judge David Goggins to strike video of Snyder’s congressional committee testimony from the court record, calling it “irrelevant” to the case and a political “sideshow.”
They got their Medicaid expansion plan implemented.
They increased their Special Needs population, which is an automatic default to the corporate parent who provides aid and shelter to the savages who must forfeit assets of their souls in foreign corporate legal guardianship.
Operation Reanimation of the Peculiar Institution is a roaring success.
Someone should interview Maura Corrigan to find out how proud she is of her passionate work to reanimate the Peculiar Institution of the Michigan Department of Human Services.
Years after reports surfaced of alarmingly high lead levels in the water system, the toll of the crisis is becoming clear: At least 1 in 5 students in Flint's public schools are eligible for special education—and the school system is buckling under the weight of federal requirements and costs for providing programs and services.
The percentage of special education students has increased by 56 percent, rising from 13.1 percent in 2012-13, the school year before the water crisis began, to 20.5 percent last school year.
Schools are understaffed. Teachers are overwhelmed. Parents are frustrated.
"It's been a fight," said Maxine Onstott, a leader of a citywide special education parent-advocate group. Her autistic 6-year-old son, Maximilliano, began kindergarten this month. "There [are] a lot of children right now that are not getting the services they need and that are not getting the support they deserve to get from the schools."
The fallout in Flint could foreshadow problems in other districts. Schools across the country have found elevated lead levels in drinking water.
In a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, the Education Law Center, and the New York-based firm of White & Case, lawyers representing Flint families have sued the school system, the Michigan education department, and the Genesee County Intermediate school district, alleging systematic failure to meet the needs of special education students. The Genesee district helps oversee special education services in Flint and other county districts.
While the lawsuit does not pin the increased need for special education services solely on the prolonged lead exposure, research has linked lead toxicity to learning disabilities, poor classroom performance, and increased aggression.
"Any amount of lead is damaging to a child's brain development, and clearly a number of children in Flint were overexposed," said epidemiologist and pediatrician Philip Landrigan, whose research in the 1970s in El Paso, Texas, was among the first to show that lead can cause brain damage to children at levels too low to cause clinically evident signs and symptoms.
In Flint, families drank, bathed, and cooked in their homes with lead-laced water from the Flint River for 17 months before the problem was discovered and the water supply was shut off. The contamination occurred when the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron as a cost-cutting measure.
Still more children have suffered lead exposure because of lead-based paint in the city's older, deteriorated housing stock, said Landrigan, a professor of biology and the director of the Global Public Health Program and the Global Observatory on Pollution and Health at the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society at Boston College.
"The combination of lead in paint and lead in water is a double whammy," Landrigan said.
City officials say the water is safe to drink now, but the water fountains and faucets in the schools remain off-limits for students. Even so, the percentage of special education students in Flint could continue to rise as children born during the water crisis begin to enroll in the city's schools.
A System in Stress
In an interview with television station WJRT, Flint schools Superintendent Derrick Lopez said that 28 percent of the district's students have individualized education programs this school year. That's more than double the national average of 13 percent.
Lopez did not respond to interview requests from Education Week. But, in a prepared statement from the district's public relations firm, he responds by saying: "The Flint Community schools district is deeply committed to the well-being and success of all students."
For Onstott, though, trying to secure educational support for her son has been one big waiting game: waiting months for an updated individualized education program or IEP, waiting weeks for special education staff to return her calls, waiting hours in district offices to plead her case for help.
"I should be able to walk into my child's school and know and trust that everybody that has interaction with him is doing the best things for him," Onstott said. "You're supposed to be able to trust your child's school, and I don't."
The water crisis has further eroded trust in a city and school system already decimated by deindustrialization and urban decay.
Flint was a city once fueled by General Motors jobs. Many of those jobs are gone, poverty is pervasive, and few cities report more violence per capita.
At the peak of the city's manufacturing boom in the 1960s, Flint had 54 school buildings and close to 50,000 students. Four decades later, enrollment has dropped to less than 4,500, declining 35 percent since the water crisis began.
Many families with the resources to do so have left town. Those left behind are disproportionately poor and in need of extra support.
The lead poisoning has made "an absolutely terrible situation significantly worse," said Gregory Little, the chief trial counsel at the Education Law Center, a Newark, N.J.-based nonprofit that advocates for at-risk students.
The Flint schools "simply do not have the resources to provide these programs and services," Little said.
Ebony Dixon, a mother of two children identified for special education services—a son, 7-year-old Torea, diagnosed with autism, and a daughter, 6-year-old Alexus, deemed to be cognitively impaired—has struggled with that reality for years.
Dissatisfied with the services in Flint schools, Dixon faces a constant dilemma: Should she leave her home in the city behind and head to a more affluent school district?
Tracking the Growth of Special Education in Flint
The percentage of students who qualify for special education services in Flint has grown from 13.1 percent in the school year before the water became contaminated to 20.5 percent last school year.
2012-13: 13.1%
2013-14: 15.1%
2014-15: 15%
2015-16: 16.7%
2016-17: 17.4%
2017-18: 19.8%
2018-19: 20.5%
Source: Michigan Department of Education
Dixon has moved to neighboring school districts more than once, only to return because she was unable to make ends meet.
"It's been a struggle at times," she said.
Dixon said that she doesn't want to leave now that her children have started school, but even if she did, "I'm still stuck here."
Overwhelmed Teachers
Unable to recruit and retain qualified special education teachers, the school district has resorted to filling vacancies with long-term substitutes and hires from temp agencies. As many as 25 percent of special education teaching and support jobs in the Flint schools have been filled that way, the lawsuit against the district alleges.
William Therrien, a special education professor at the University of Virginia Curry School of Education and Human Development, has visited Flint twice since 2017 to interview parents and current and former teachers to evaluate the special education services in place after the water crisis. He provided a declaration of his findings in support of the lawsuit against the Flint schools.
Therrien documented a number of problems, including a glaring shortage of teachers qualified to work with special education students.
"If we don't have effective educators and enough of them, we're identifying [children in need of special education] for no reason," said Therrien, a former K-12 special education teacher.
Part of the challenge for Flint is that teaching candidates can earn tens of thousands of dollars more in neighboring school systems.
But the issues for teachers extend beyond the struggles to find and retain qualified staff members, teachers said.
Classroom sizes and caseloads for support-staff members, such as speech therapists, have swelled as a consequence of the staffing shortages.
And training to help teachers address student anxiety and aggression has missed the mark, making it more difficult to connect with students who are exhibiting problems in class, according to the local teachers' union affiliate.
The lawsuit also seeks to address the Flint schools' increased reliance on suspensions and related discipline measures to deal with student behavior. The district's suspension and expulsion rate for special education students is four times higher than the state average.
One family in the suit had a child suspended from school more than a dozen times in one school year—and even placed in restraints in an attempt to control him. The child, now a 4th grader diagnosed with ADHD, has since left the district and is enrolled in online classes.
Joanna Coselman, a special education teacher at Flint's Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary School, said: Learning has "to come later. You have to feel safe, you have to feel secure."
Union members have reported more student-on-teacher attacks and increased aggression from parents as well. In response, the district has added security in every building to help manage relationships with frustrated parents and to limit in-school confrontations.
"I've had parents come at me," Coselman said."[I say] 'We're not going to do this in front of the kids. Let's go the office. You can yell and scream at me all you want.' "
'Long-Sustaining Disaster'
Flint is not the only school district dealing with lead concerns.
From coast to coast, lead-contaminated water has emerged as a problem aggravated by aging school buildings and plumbing and tight repair budgets.
Hundreds of schools in dozens of districts have identified similar problems. School leaders in big-city districts such as Detroit; Newark, N.J.; and Portland, Ore., have shut off water in buildings for months or years at a time.
A study released earlier this year from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests the problem may be even more widespread. It found that half of students in the United States attend schools in states that do not have programs for testing drinking water for lead.
Among the schools that do test, about 40 percent have yielded samples with elevated lead levels.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 98,000 public schools and a half-million child-care facilities are not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the federal law designed to ensure safe drinking water.
In fact, there is no federal policy that mandates lead testing in schools.
The Genesee Healthy System's Neurodevelopmental Center of Excellence, which provides universal health screening and neurological assessments for families, opened as a result of a $4 million settlement agreement by the lawyers representing Flint children in the ongoing lawsuit against the Flint schools and the state education department.
The current phase of the lawsuit is focused on ensuring that the lead-exposed children receive the special services and resources they are entitled to under federal and state law.
Months after the school district shut off its own water fountains in 2015, the district sent a letter to parents about the water crisis warning that: "It is impossible, at this point, to forecast how it will impact us, our schools, and our children."
Almost four years have passed, and the school district, the state, and the families they serve still don't know the full impact of the lead contamination on the children bearing the brunt of it.
"It's a long-sustaining disaster that society has turned their head away from," said Therrien, the special education professor. "Time really is of the essence here. Years and years are going to go by, and the children that need help the most are going to suffer."
Maura Corrigan, former Michigan Supreme Court Justice who stepped down from the bench to become the Director of the Michigan (former DHS) Department of Health and Human Services, and advisor to Governor Rick Snyder on child welfare, has gone missing since the Flint Water Crisis. If you know where she is, please, contact the #DOJ, immediately, or you can just send me the video of when you ask her about how Michigan is protecting its impoverished children in Flint and Detroit and send it to me.
What this mother and the ACLU may not know is that the response of the State of Michigan leadership is very well planned, callous, financially logical and politically feasible.
This is testimony of Maura Corrigan, former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, former Michigan Director of Department of Human Services, November 2015, to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on the quest to privatization.
Here is a quote from Madame Corrigan, quoting Rick Snyder, her boss, the Governor: What we want, and how we got here
As I have previously alleged, Michigan intentionally poisoned the people of Flint.
The plan was to swoop in with privatized "life coaches", funded through Medicaid, more than likely Targeted Case Management and/or new "Opportunity Grants".
This is just one glimpse into the privatization model for social services, which includes taking over public schools and more corporate subsides of wages.
This was an observation of what was not covered in this report:
Jorgana RansomI called the OIG - this is the OAG .. They already did their investigation it seems. CPS improperly assessed risk to children in 8 sample investigations .. - what does that mean? They already done the investigations. They have tons missing like lying to get a warrant. Or the evidence in court not backin up the actual allegations. Or a judge manipulating a jury to give them jurisdiction. The big cover up is they make the evidence look good by just making statements with no evidence to back it up. The CPS history they dig up on many is false allegations that they could not make stick the first time they take children.
Instead of me enumerating a list of what was not covered in this report, considering the fact that I have been the one and only person who has ever mastered the vast acumen of this subject matter, as the original source, with no one in possession of tools to analyze or testify, and I encourage anyone to find another human, or even a predictive modeling program, that can even come close to challenging me, in a court of law, I will just drop a few links.
Always remember, it takes a judicial determination to turn on the federal funding spigot and that decision relies upon these fake CPS reports and poverty is considered as the crime of abuse and neglect.
Lansing — The Michigan department tasked with investigating allegations of child abuse or neglect has struggled to respond to complaints on time, conduct required background checks, contact victims in a timely fashion and take other steps to ensure safety, according to a scathing new state audit.
Gov. Rick Snyder called the findings “unacceptable” and assigned top aide Rich Baird to lead the administrative response and pull together resources to help the Department of Health and Human Services “accelerate the needed corrective actions.”
The 111-page report, below, released Thursday by the office of Michigan Auditor General Doug Ringler documents 16 “material conditions” and seven other troubling issues identified in a review of Child Protective Services investigations overseen by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
These audits, reviews, federal monitoring, compliance plans, and the lot, have been going on for a decade, yet not one single thing has been done to stop the incompetency of the system because the system was intentionally designed to be incompetent, which is why there are no civil rights in child welfare proceedings. Like I have previously mentioned, it is easier to get off on a murder charge than it is to be accused by an anonymous entity. http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2018/09/michigan-child-protective-services.html#axzz5QGwDyRSR
State Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, a Flint Democrat who has criticized the Snyder administration's handling of his city's water crisis and a false fraud unemployment scandal, called the new audit "heartbreaking" for children who were "neglected by the very people tasked with their safety."
"This isn’t the first time this administration has failed the people of Michigan and it won’t be the last," Ananich said. "This time, the victims are Michigan’s most vulnerable children. The bottom line is that they’re either bad at running government or they just don’t care – I’m not sure which is worse."
Among the findings released Thursday, auditors said that in more than half of the cases they reviewed, CPS investigators failed to conduct required criminal history checks or look for previous complaints against individuals who lived or came in regular contact with an alleged child victim.
Of the 143 individuals who should have been subjected to a criminal background check, 37 had records involving a combined 54 felonies and 119 misdemeanors, according to the audit. One had previously been convicted of felony child abuse. There were also five felony and one misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct convictions.
Of the 262 individuals who should have been subject to a complaint registry clearance check, 25 had a history of child abuse or neglect allegations, including 13 who had been investigated more than once, according to the audit.
The Health and Human Services Department, in an official response to the audit, said it has hired a full-time coordinator and changed to official policy to ensure more consistent background checks.
"It is important to note that a prior criminal conviction is one piece of information used when investigating the complaint allegations and is insufficient alone to reach a conclusion concerning parental capacity to provide a safe home and adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care,” the department said.
Spokesman Bob Wheaton said the Health and Human Services department “takes the findings very seriously” and is already taking actions to “make improvements for the good of children and families.”
“While the department does not agree with all (the) findings, MDHHS agrees that Children’s Protective Services can and must improve,” Wheaton said. “The department shares the concern that the Office of Auditor General has for protecting Michigan children from abuse and neglect. This is a top priority.”
Operating under a federal consent decree since 2006 because of past failures in the child welfare system, the Health and Human Services Department is generally required to complete investigations within 30 days of a complaint unless a supervisor approves an extension.
But of the 160 investigations reviewed by auditors, the state did not complete 47 within the required time frame. Those cases were completed an average of 44 days late, according to the audit, with one case taking 241 extra days.
Prompt completion is designed ‘to ensure prompt evidence collection, conclusions and actions in regard to the safety and well-being of children and families,” auditor said.
Despite the findings, the department said completion of timely investigations is actually “an area of practice strength in Michigan.” In a recent review related to the federal consent agreement, 84.2 percent of investigations were completed and approved by a supervisor within 44 days, the department told auditors.
Yet, Kevin Ryan has expanded is operations, and still, his oversight reports have failed to mention, just once, anything on the Michigan Children's Institute and has never made one single referral to the State Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General when it comes to false claims. http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2011/01/maura-corrigan-is-brilliant-and-refined.html#axzz5QGwDyRSR
The report also described how Child Protective Services investigators failed to consistently make face-to-face contact with an alleged victim with 24 or 72 hours, as required depending on risk. In 18 of the 160 cases auditors reviewed, investigators did not make in-person contact with 25 alleged victims in a timely fashion.
The first face-to-face contact with one alleged child victim came 128 days late, and the average for the other 22 alleged victims was 6.4 days late, according to the audit.
In one investigation, the complaint alleged a mother had locked her teenage daughter out of the home as a punishment and would not let her back in. An investigator visited the home 16 hours after the complaint but was told the mother had taken the child to the hospital. The investigator did not attempt to contact the child again until four days later, in the hospital.
The department agreed that contact was late in those 18 cases but said its 89 percent compliance rate in the audit shows that “making timely face-to-face contact with the involved children is consistently an area of strength for the department.”
Auditors said an automated computer system the department uses was at least partially responsible for inaccurate assessments of potential risks to children whose alleged abuse prompted a complaint an investigation.
The report highlighted inaccurate risk assessments in 57 of 156 investigations reviewed by auditors, including 46 instances where the alleged child victim was actually at greater risk than the assessment suggested.
Auditors determined that “underlying system coding caused (the Michigan Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System) to provide an inaccurate reponse for 6 of the 7 automatically generated responses, and investigators did not always make the appropriate corrections.”
MDHHS said most of the issues were chiefly the results of user error in scoring the tool. In July 2017, the software system stopped “prefilling” question in the risk assessment, which the department said helps ensure that the worker accurately completes the assessment rather than relying on the system to score the items.
A separate survey conducted by the auditor general’s office showed that a majority of CPS investigators said high caseloads negatively impacted their ability to conduct investigations in compliance with department policy, and 55 percent said that was true in at least half their cases.
Stealin' children for being poor gets a bit depressing after awhile.
Most CPS investigators also said they were concerned about their own physical safety while conducting investigations, including 25 percent who said they feared for their physical safety at least half the time.
Yes, there are some parents who consider it kidnapping when a stranger just snatches your child, and, as a result, are willing to lay down their lives to protect their children. What would you do?
More than 60 percent of investigators said physical safety training provided by the department doesn’t adequately prepare them for unsafe situations, and 37 percent said they’ve considered quitting or transferring because of physical safety concerns.
Sometimes those kids will fight tooth and nail not to be kidnapped.
"A lot of good people are trying to accomplish a lot of good things in protecting Michigan’s most vulnerable populations," Snyder said. "It can be stressful, and I understand the frustration people involved in this area must feel when they are hindered by cumbersome processes and procedures. The focus needs to be on helping the children and we are committed to making improvements."
Child abuse or neglect investigations are sometimes triggered by mandatory reporters, such as teachers, who are required to report allegations by children.
If you are a mandatory reporter and do not report suspected child abuse, you can lose your professional license, be sentenced and face jail time. That most certainly encourages a licensed professional, except for attorneys, judges, administrators, to report child abuse and most definitely ensures a constant, fluid stream of new cases to keep the doors open for all the Child Placing Agencies. http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2018/05/child-abuse-mandatory-reporter-law.html#axzz5QGwDyRSR
Investigators did not always document contact with those mandated reporters confirming they attempted to obtain additional information. In 119 cases initiated by mandated reporters and reviewed by auditors, DPS investigators did not document any attempts to contact tht mandated reporter in 25 cases.
In 82 cases, the investigator did not properly notify the mandated reporter about the investigation’s conclusions, which “is important because a mandated reporter may have established an ongoing relationship with the child victim and could potentially serve as a safety net once CPS is no longer involved with the family. MDHHS said “efforts are underway to amend policy and clarify these requirements,” auditors said.
While the department disputes some of the findings, it also told editors about several changes to practice and policy it is undertaking.
Still, to this day, there are no data on the number of children who have been raped, tortured, attempted or committed suicide in child welfare because CPS does not dare mention child trafficking which goes on in Foster Care, because that would mean it would have to admit that it is jacked up, which is why they are coming up with a corrective action plan to cover it up.
“The corrective actions that we already have implemented and will continue to implement are indicative of MDHHS taking the findings very seriously and understanding the need to make improvements,” Wheaton said.
I have no words, so I am going to tell a lovely tale so everyone can feel all warm and fuzzy inside when it comes to trafficking of tiny humans to death.
Once upon a time, there was a Doctor who came from the land of the Smarty Pants and moved into the Ivory Tower of Lansing to care for the children.
But lots of kids died and lots of people made lots of money for the Children's Trust Funds.
She self-spirited herself away to come back, reincarnated into, with omnipotence of the Michigan Children's Institute Superintendent, a privatized authority, empowered under the laws of the Michigan Emergency Financial Manager Laws, as the legal guardian of the trust for the children of the State of Michigan's posterity so they can send out thoughts and prayers to raise more money to run another Child Welfare Medicaid Fraud scheme, or rather, the trafficking of tiny humans to death.
So, the moral of the story is, when facing murder charges for lots of tiny humans that you and your prosperity prayer group substantially profited from their nascent demise, just do one of those special legal incantations and you come back as a civil servant to cover up and lie so you can try and capture that Eleventh Amendment immunity having the Attorney General do that contemporaneous "advise and advocate" thing to make it all go away.
FUN FACT! THE MICHIGAN CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE SUPERINTENDENT IS A CIVIL SERVANT
The state's health department has created a nearly $180,000-a-year civil service "advisory physician"job for Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells that starts Jan. 1, which prompted criticism from a prominent Flint Democratic lawmaker.
Eden Wells, the new "Advisory Authority Chief Medical
Executive" for the State of Michigan to oversea the trafficking
of tiny humans who was just indicted for trafficking tiny humans."
On Friday, 67th District Court Judge William Crawford bound over Wells for trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice and lying to a law enforcement officer connect to the 2014-15 Legionnaires' disease outbreak in the Flint area. The pneumonia-like disease killed at least 12 individuals and sickened 79 others.
Crawford ruled that there was sufficient evidence that Wells knew about the Legionnaires' disease outbreak and was slow to warn other state officials and the public. Gov. Rick Snyder didn't issue a public warning until a hastily arranged mid-January 2016 press conference in Detroit.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services posted the job opening from Nov. 5 — the day before the midterm election — and closed it on Nov. 11, a Health and Human Services spokesman said. The new job pays $179,672 a year, the state confirmed, compared with the $184,000 salary Wells earned as Republican Snyder's medical executive in 2017, according to an MLive article.
A civil service job provides safeguards against firing compared with Wells' current appointed position, meaning Democratic Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer couldn't fire her when she takes office Jan. 1.
Instead, civil service workers can be suspended without pay for up to seven days while the state investigates their conduct, and firing them can be difficult. A probe normally can take weeks.
The decision to create Wells' new position was made by Population Health Administration Acting Deputy Director Karen MacMaster, Health and Human Services spokeswoman Angela Minicuci said Tuesday. She confirmed Wells was the only applicant for the job, which became effective last week on Dec. 2.
The state health agency has 49 employees who make $175,000 or more, according to Minicuci.
"MDHHS determined there was a need for an advisory physician to the Population Health Administration, as we already have with other administrations within the department," she said in a Tuesday statement. "This position will advise the administration on public health issues such as HIV, Hepatitis C, environmental health and more given the increasing focus on these and other public health issues in Michigan."
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, criticized the “ridiculous” new position for Wells and said he is skeptical the governor did not know about it.
“They can’t make up an unclassified position like that, with no purpose, no meaning, no real responsibility, here with weeks to go without the governor knowing about it,” Ananich said in a phone call with The Detroit News. “This is part of a legal strategy. It’s not about protecting the citizens of Michigan.”
Ananich, a former history teacher, suggested it may be unprecedented that “someone under a felony indictment, bound over for trial, would be given a classified job, meaning they have protections, with such a cloud hanging over their head.”
Asked about Wells’ new job Tuesday afternoon, Snyder said he “wasn’t even aware of that, in terms of her gaining that position.”
“But I’ve supported Dr. Wells,” the governor added during an end-of-year discussion with reporters, his last before leaving office Jan. 1.
“Dr. Wells has done a lot of great work. Obviously, there’s the criminal issue going on — she has not been found guilty of anything — but if you look, she’s actually won awards from organizations for her work, actually in fact, helping deal with the Flint water crisis.”
Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon also has been bound over for trial on involuntary manslaughter and other criminal charges related to the Flint-area Legionnaires' outbreak.
The Madame Maura Corrigan (always said in a high British accent), the former Michigan Director of the Department of Health & Human Services, the one who heralding in the privatization of child welfare and the brain child of the revenue maximization schemes of the Flint Water Crisis and the conditions for the Detroit infant mortality research industry to thrive.
Six state environmental and health workers were suspended without pay because of their roles in the Flint lead-contaminated water crisis — Stephen Busch, Michael Prysby, Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook from the state Department of Environmental Quality and Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott with the Department of Health and Human Services.
Their pay was reinstated in August 2016 as they awaited preliminary hearings on criminal charges. Rosenthal subsequently reached a plea deal with Special Prosecutor Todd Flood.
Official state investigations were never initiated regarding Wells and Lyon.
Snyder has allowed Wells and Lyon to remain on the job after criminal charges were brought a year and a half ago by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's legal team. Schuette called for their resignations.
Snyder noted the two "are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" and "continue to be instrumental in Flint's recovery."
Wells will lose her chief medical executive post Jan. 1 when Democratic Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer takes office.
Michigan health officials have been grappling with a variety of health challenges in addition to Flint. An outbreak of Hepatitis A that began in 2016 in Southeast Michigan sickened 906 residents as of Dec. 5, with 729 hospitalizations and 28 deaths.
The state had 2,729 overdose deaths in 2017, an increase of 8.7 percent over the prior year. Sexually transmitted diseases also increased in 2017, as part of a national trend. Rates of preterm birth increased statewide in 2017, when Detroit had the high preterm birth and infant mortality rates in the nation.
For years, I have been passionate about telling the world about what goes on behind the scenes in child welfare.
