The Department of Children and Family Services calls it the family redesign program.
According to DCF, in Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties the redesign program is working. They say just 10 percent of families reunited lead to new charges of abuse or neglect.
However we found the program does not always work.
It has been more than two months since 2-year-old Tariji Gordon was found dead in a suitcase in Putnam County.
Her mother, Rachel Fryer is charged with aggravated child neglect. The toddler had been in foster care 3 months earlier after her brother was killed in an apparent "co-sleeping" accident.
Gordon was reunited with her mother through DCF’s redesign program.
It is a program DCF’s John Harrell says has helped keep thousands of families together since its’ implementation back in 2007.
"The percentage of children who are re-abused within six months of those services provided is only about 6 percent,” said DCF Communications Director John Harrell.
"I am actually thankful for them stepping in the way they did,” said Stephanie Beams.
After an anonymous tip was put into DCF, Stephanie Beams almost lost Kelsey and her four other children last year.
"I wanted to find a job and everything but I could not really do so because I was sitting here with three kids all day,” said Stephanie Beams.
"They did have electric or water for a month with five kids in the summer time. On top of that the youngest child has disabilities and the middle two were not in school,” said Family and Support Services caseworker Allyson Kidd.
DCF stepped in and a judge decided rather than rip five kids from their mother who was struggling financially, they enrolled Beams and her children in the redesign program.
"I have the youngest one with medical disabilities in a medical daycare. I made sure that the mom is in mental health services, the father is getting treatment, the family really needed budgeting services,” said Kidd.
But what about that small percentage of kids like Tariji Gordon who are re-abused?
"Would you consider that a failure of the redesign,” asked Action News Reporter Jessie McDonough.
"A judge may decide on reunification. It does not guarantee that there might be further issues down the line,” said Harrell.
According to DCF, they have no evidence to suggest any child deaths for kids they oversee in Clay or Nassau County last year.
There were six child deaths in Duval County. Four were homicides. Two were determined to be neglect.
None of those children had previously been in foster care.
DCF says the Casey Family Programs has provided funding and technical assistance with the redesign project.
http://www.fox30jax.com/content/topstories/story/Action-News-Investigates-changes-at-DCF/ID9CTny-uUuSucmxj1fonQ.cspx
The Neurotoxicity of Stress in the Classroom - By Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed. The realities of standardized tests and increasingly structured, if not synchronized, curriculum continue to build the levels of classroom stress. Neuroimaging research reveals the disturbances in the brain’s learning circuits and neurotransmitters that accompany stressful learning environments. The neuroscientific research about learning has revealed the negative brain impact of stress and anxiety and the qualitative improvement of the brain circuitry involved in memory and executive function that accompanies positive motivation and engagement.
ReplyDeleteStrategies to Prevent the Neurotoxic Impact of School Stress - Public high school students in large U.S. cities are more likely to drop out than ever before. Almost 80 percent of the students report that the main problem is boredom. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/neurotoxic-impact-of-school-stress-judy-willis?fb_action_ids=10203748259050233&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
THE LAST GREAT BIGOTRY: The last, deepest, hardest to address source of bigotry on the planet, after having dealt with race, religions, ethnicities, nationalities... disabled, disadvantaged, the Evidence? - That the system sees an increase in children seeking help, and increases funding to the police and to prisons as a response - is ironic, but... funny... ha-ha... -not-so-much. Ref.: Topic Index: Bigotries: Sexual: Sexual Preference: Children: Child Heroin Addicts: Empathy (lack of) - RE: 211 Broward Phone Support Number:
Wounds That Time Won’t Heal: The Neurobiology of *Stress in our Schools* and Child Abuse by Martin H. Teicher – Also published in Scientific American.
Neuropsychologist Teicher reveals the alarming connections scientists are discovering between child abuse—even when it is psychological, not physical—and permanent debilitating changes in the brain that may lead to psychiatric problems. The discoveries are a wake-up call for our society, but they may also hold hope for new treatments for abused children and the adults that they become.
A Proposed Big-Strategy for Big-Education like Big-Tobacco:
What of widening the bond discussion to cover the need of a legal set-aside for possible school-neurotoxicity lawsuits in the future? What of also covering the (minimal) cost to pursue and hopefully secure a covering agreement with the State and Federal governments whereby Browards takes prompt and appropriate action in fixing the neurotoxicity problem and putting our children's needs first with this bond issuance - and in exchange will secure protection from future class-action litigation stemming from the (former) neurotoxicity of big-education Broward schools.
To an ever brighter future, Michael
https://www.facebook.com/zerotoleranceforzerotolerance?ref=hl
http://outskirtspress.com/thedarksideofcps
ReplyDeleteAn in depth look at CPS and it's potential harmful effects upon children, families, and others.
http://outskirtspress.com/thedarksideofcps
ReplyDeleteAn in depth look at CPS and it's potential harmful effects upon children, families, and others.