Abuse Or Neglect

State officials placed at least 32 children in foster homes despite credible evidence that the care providers had abused or neglected children, according to a General Assembly audit released Friday. Auditors found that officials with the Social Services Administration also failed to follow up on 159 children born to parents who had had their parental rights terminated for abuse or neglect. The auditors blamed the computer system that the Maryland agency uses to monitor child services and said many of the deficiencies had not been corrected.

When children are abused, the human costs are high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : Children who were physically, sexually or psychologically abused are more likely to have poorer health, social and emotional difficulties and lower economic productivity. But the abuse also substantially impacts the nation's health care, education, criminal justice and welfare systems - the costs from abuse and neglect are approximately $124 million just from one year's worth of cases over the abused lifetimes, the CDC says in a new report.

Parents Anonymous knows being a parent isn't easy. And this statewide organization lends a hand, too -- specifically to those families dealing with abuse or neglect.It provides services to teen parents, homeless families, victims of child abuse and parents who fear they may abuse or neglect their youngsters.Help is available through the Parents Anonymous Stressline, 243-7337.

Elie Wiesel once famously wrote, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. " Sadly, as we learned again this week at Penn State University, silence among leadership and those in authority empowered an alleged child abuser. Certainly the crime of sexual child abuse turns our community and causes outrage that continues to make us question whom we leave our vulnerable loved ones with. At Baltimore Child Abuse Center we see over 900 children annually right here in Baltimore.

When children are abused, the human costs are high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : Children who were physically, sexually or psychologically abused are more likely to have poorer health, social and emotional difficulties and lower economic productivity. But the abuse also substantially impacts the nation's health care, education, criminal justice and welfare systems - the costs from abuse and neglect are approximately $124 million just from one year's worth of cases over the abused lifetimes, the CDC says in a new report.

Thirty-six Maryland children died between 1998 and 1999 because of abuse or neglect, according to state estimates -- a sharp increase that has led advocates to question the state's ability to remove children from dangerous situations before they turn deadly. That death toll, from July 1998 to July 1999, was 50 percent higher than the 24 children who died from abuse or neglect during the same period in 1997-1998. Since 1994, the percentage of cases in which child welfare workers found abuse or neglect has been on the decline, while the number of investigations increased.

Two Westminster residents who say they have been wrongly suspected of child abuse argued yesterday for changes in a state Department of Human Resources policy that requires their names to be kept on file for five years, even after they have been cleared.David R. Hodge and Elliott Burgher testified for the second consecutive year on a billthat would require local social services departments to expunge reports of suspected abuse or neglect within 120 days after the date of the referral if the report is "ruled out" and no further reports are received during that period.

Roy Monroe Robertson -- a Westminster man who says he is a suspect in the February shooting death of a Carroll fisherman -- is expected to be questioned about the slaying today before a county grand jury.And, in an unusual move, Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. yesterday ordered the recording of Mr. Robertson's testimony. His lawyers had sought to bar Mr. Robertson's testimony unless a court reporter was allowed to attend the normally unrecorded proceedings.Mr. Robertson first said he was a suspect in the death of Westminster fisherman William C. Prodoehl -- whose body was found along the Monocacy River in northwestern Carroll County on Feb. 18 -- after claiming in May that Carroll State's Attorney Thomas E. Hickman deceitfully obtained his private mental health records from the Springfield Hospital Center.

Last month was the 50th anniversary of "the pill." In the 1960's the pill was heralded as a development that would liberate women from male dominance and lead to fewer divorces, fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer abortions. It is now clear, however, that things did not turn out that way. As the pill became more widespread, the number of divorces and abortions soared. We saw a lowering of moral standards and a rise in infidelity and promiscuity. In addition, the well-being of children declined by a variety of measures, from depression to diet to the number living in poverty and the number experiencing child abuse or neglect.

The Carroll County Republican Central Committee will sponsor its annual Legislative Wrap-up Dinner April 11 at Friendly Farm Restaurant, Route 140.The event features Republican members to the Maryland General Assembly who will report on accomplishments of the session.The chairman of the Carroll delegation, Delegate Richard C. Matthews, will provide an overview of the session and its impact on countyresidents.Sen. Larry E. Haines, R, Carroll, Baltimore County, will describe his experiences as a freshman senator.

State officials placed at least 32 children in foster homes despite credible evidence that the care providers had abused or neglected children, according to a General Assembly audit released Friday. Auditors found that officials with the Social Services Administration also failed to follow up on 159 children born to parents who had had their parental rights terminated for abuse or neglect. The auditors blamed the computer system that the Maryland agency uses to monitor child services and said many of the deficiencies had not been corrected.

No matter how deteriorated the family situation, a child removed from home for abuse or neglect will nearly always tell the courts he wants to return home. A court appointed special advocate or CASA, a trained volunteer, can provide a judge an informed, clear picture of that home situation. "We speak for the child," said Joan T. McGill, 63, a CASA volunteer for 10 years. "We do the research and back it up. We are there for the child and can help others make a decision that is in the child's best interest.

Last month was the 50th anniversary of "the pill." In the 1960's the pill was heralded as a development that would liberate women from male dominance and lead to fewer divorces, fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer abortions. It is now clear, however, that things did not turn out that way. As the pill became more widespread, the number of divorces and abortions soared. We saw a lowering of moral standards and a rise in infidelity and promiscuity. In addition, the well-being of children declined by a variety of measures, from depression to diet to the number living in poverty and the number experiencing child abuse or neglect.

Childhood neglect, abuse linked to adult obesity Childhood neglect and abuse can leave mental and physical scars, but a new study in the journal Obesity suggests there may also be a correlation between abuse and obesity. Researchers looked at court records of 410 children up to age 11 from 1967 to 1971 in a Midwest county who had court-substantiated cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect. They were matched with 303 children of similar ages, sex, race and ethnicity and social class who had no abuse or neglect.

Thirty thousand children. That's how many are investigated by the Maryland Department of Social Services every year in suspected cases of abuse or neglect. About enough to fill Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium. Yet only when children die in the custody of DSS does the public become aware of the plight of those tens of thousands of kids. Unfortunately, the most common reaction is to assign blame without fully understanding this basic fact: Our society does not have a system designed to protect children.

When a Baltimore teenager was charged with murder in the bludgeoning deaths of her twin infant daughters in May 2004, state officials admitted that they had failed to protect not only the young mother, a foster care runaway, but her babies as well. At the time, they reassured elected officials and child advocates that soon they would have a computer system in place that would keep an eagle-eye watch over the state's nearly 10,000 foster children, preventing such a tragedy from ever happening again.

Carroll County followed state and national trends with sharp increases in reports of child abuse during the past 10 years.Child abuse reports in Maryland more than doubled from 1982 to 1991, according to state Department of Human Resources statistics. The number of reports in the county rose from 105 to 182, a 73 percent increase."We are looking at a significant increase," said M. Alexander Jones, director of social services. He attributed the increase to "more reporting or more suspected abuse.

Childhood neglect, abuse linked to adult obesity Childhood neglect and abuse can leave mental and physical scars, but a new study in the journal Obesity suggests there may also be a correlation between abuse and obesity. Researchers looked at court records of 410 children up to age 11 from 1967 to 1971 in a Midwest county who had court-substantiated cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect. They were matched with 303 children of similar ages, sex, race and ethnicity and social class who had no abuse or neglect.

Two juvenile offenders being held at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School required hospital treatment for injuries that the youths allege they received at the hands of staff members, the Department of Juvenile Services confirmed yesterday. State police and child welfare officials are investigating the allegations, which involve separate incidents over the past two weeks, said Edward Hopkins, a department spokesman. He said the staff members have been reassigned to other duties that do not involve contact with children pending the outcome.

Getting detailed information about foster children is difficult. So is finding detailed information about the group homes where they live. All of that makes it very challenging to hold accountable the companies that are entrusted and paid to take care of the children - and the state regulators who are supposed to monitor that care. "Everything right now is done with this shroud of secrecy, and there's no way to oversee the overseers," said Kathleen Hughes, a managing attorney at the Maryland Disability Law Center, a private watchdog group that the state has designated to look after the interests of the disabled.