FDLE: Child welfare worker falsified home visit records for Rachel Fryer's children

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla —A child welfare worker who was responsible for checking on Rachel Fryer's children lied in his home visit reports, Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials said Friday.

Fryer is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Tariji Gordon, and burying her in a shallow grave on Feb. 11.

Jonathan Irizarry, 27, of Altamonte Springs, was a case manager for the Children's Home Society of Central Florida, and was assigned to supervise Fryer's three children.
FDLE officials said Irizarry wrote that the children were free from bruises, but investigators said they found a photo on Fryer's phone that showed Tariji with a bruised and swollen eye and one arm in a sling.
Video: New video from Rachel Fryer hearing shows DCF's role in case
A postmortem examination on Tariji also showed multiple healing injuries including cuts, bruises, cigarette burns and bite marks, officials said.
"These charges should serve to remind those responsible for protecting our children of how important that duty is," said State Attorney Phil Archer, who will prosecute the case.
Irizarry was charged with two counts of falsifying an official record that contributes to the great bodily harm or death of an individual in the care and custody of a state agency.
Because great bodily harm resulted from the alleged falsification of home visit records, Irizarry could face 15 years in prison on each of two counts charged.
The Florida Department of Children and Families is the agency responsible for checking on children's welfare. DCF contracted Children's Home Society of Central Florida, who contracted Irizarry.

 http://www.wesh.com/news/fdle-dcf-contractor-falsified-home-visit-records-for-rachel-fryers-children/27683922#ixzz3BAnzHyFT

Action News Investigates Changes At DCF

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Florida is one of the few states that puts the majority of its federal dollars toward providing services to keep Florida families together instead of spending the money on fostering children and removing the children from the home permanently.

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

Did DCF The State Fail These Children?

ORLANDO, Fla. —

9 Investigates combed through 10 years' worth of state records and found a deadly problem with Florida's child care system.
State Department of Children & Families records show 16 children in central Florida died during that time period after the agency created to protect them reunited the children with parents who had previous problems identified by DCF.

WFTV's Tim Barber asked DCF officials what, if anything, can be done to prevent at-risk children from being placed back inside dangerous homes?
But first, Barber visited the gravesite of Tariji Gordon, nestled beneath the shade of a large tree at Restlawn Cemetery in Sanford. The memorial is made up with fake flowers and a tin plate bearing the dates that book end a life cut short: "Born in 2011. Died in 2014."
Sanford Police said Tariji was beaten to death by her mother, Rachel Fryer, a parent with a lengthy history with DCF and other child welfare organizations.
Just three months before her death, Tariji was safe and happy in a foster home, so 9 Investigates asked DCF Regional Director Bill D’Aiuto how things could go so wrong?
"If Tariji Gordon never went back to Rachel Fryer, would she be dead today?" Barber asked.
"You know, that's, that's a, you know, tough question, you know, and to speculate on that, ah, you know, certainly looking back, possibly," D’Aiuto responded.
The 2-year old was placed with a loving foster mother after investigators determined Fryer accidentally killed Tariji's twin, Tavontae Gordon, in 2011.
In November, however, the state decided the 32-year-old mother of eight was ready to get her kids back.
But Barber discovered the decision to return Tariji to a deadly home environment was not the only one DCF, other child-care agencies and the courts have made through the years.
After sifting through 10 years of records, Barber found 15 other central Florida children died after they were returned to their parents.
Some were accidents, but others like the deaths of Ja’Quez Baker in Marion, Aurelia Juarez in Seminole, and the four Johnson children -- Joel, Jazlyn, Jaxs and Pebbles -- in Brevard were murders.
Since 2008, hundreds of other children died under DCF’s watch across Florida.
Gov. Rick Scott recently pushed to give DCF more than $30 million in new funding, which will likely provide the central Florida area with 145 new investigators, checking up on child abuse and neglect cases.
“That will allow us to bring our caseloads down and allow investigators to spend more time with the families,” D’Aiuto said.
Despite clear warning signs indicating that Fryer could not handle the stress of parenthood, D'Aiuto said no one who worked on Fryer's case has been disciplined in the aftermath of Tariji’s death.
D’Aiuto places blame elsewhere.The death of Tavontae Gordon, Tariji's twin brother, was originally ruled an accident, but since Tariji's death, the Sanford Police Department has reopened that case.
“Who failed or what failed Tariji Gordon?” Barber asked him.
“Rachel Fryer failed Tariji Gordon,” D’Aiuto said.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/9-investigates-did-dcf-fail-these-children/nfpqr/