Just saw this article about the death of a disabled child through neglect. Its pretty horrific, but this passage caught my eye:
Now I can see how they could be sacked, or even the subject of a civil law suit, but I can’t see how they could be guilty of a criminal offense.
Is there some duty of care that social workers have, that, say, police don’t ? How come you don’t see police (or other public workers) being prosecuted in these kind of cases ?
The police have wide legal protection. Court rulings have held that neither any individual officer or the police department as a whole have a legal obligation to prevent any specific crime, so they cannot be held liable for failing to do so.
I’d guess the they’re not just being prosecuted because they could have prevented neglect over a short-term period, but because they completely failed to do their jobs over the long-term and, after the girl died, they falsified reports to cover up the fact that they didn’t do their jobs. From the link in the OP, my emphasis added:
Would that protection extend to a police officer watching me getting my ass kicked but refused to intervene or call for help or file a report?
In many states, social workers are also mandated reporters when it comes to abuse and neglect for dependent adults as well as any child. In most situations, failure to report to the proper authorities (police, child protection/advocacy, or dependent adult protection/advocacy) can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the charges, plus fines on a personal level.
These social workers had case loads of children that they would usually visit and document on at least quarterly. Some of them falsified their records saying that they saw the child. HAD THEY SEEN THE CHILD, they probably would have seen the pattern of neglect way before the child died, reported the neglect to CPS and then the cops would be brought in if need be, and the child removed if it warranted it (and this definitely warranted it). Those social workers are the extended eyes and ears for the police and they failed to take their job seriously.
Definitely criminal in my book…and I speak as a mandated reporter myself.
Same goes for dependent adults, both elderly and developmentally disabled. It’s a great safety net when people take their jobs seriously.
I would think so. There is a law. There is a person sworn to uphold that law and protect citizens. Makes sense that they would be held accountable.
Except for that blue shield thing…
Also, the Grand Jury Report, (pages 195-214 in the pdf file, or 200-219 in the pdf viewer) pretty much spells out their criminal neglect/failure to care for Danieal.
Police are also mandated reporters. Some do report and others don’t. Of those who don’t report, some get caught, some don’t.
IIRC in Michigan, social workers are exempt from liability. Otherwise, I could have gone after a couple of them that damn near destroyed my family 10 - 15 years ago.
Still not sure how I see the difference in this case, and say the police who returned one of Jeffery Dalmer’s underaged victims to him. They were sacked (and I think sued) but they weren’t prosecuted for his murder or manslaughter.
I understand the whole “mandated reporter” thing but surely that doesn’t reply in this case they didn’t know about the abuse (the should have known but didn’t).
Another installment to add to the mix.
I can find no words for this. The fact that there is a search for excuses to exonerate these people is appalling.
I don’t generally cry myself to sleep, but I don’t see how I can help it after reading this story. Good Christ.
It’s not so much the mandated reporter issue- one of the city workers was a CPS intake worker, the other was apparently also a CPS worker, and the agency seems to have been contracted to provide preventive or protective services because the child was at risk of abuse or neglect. They are the people who get the reports.
The issue is not just that they should have known about the abuse (I’m sure lot’s of people should have known , including the three friends who were only charged with perjury), but why they should have known about the abuse- they would have known if they had been doing the jobs they were paid by the taxpayers to do. Apparently, the grand jury determined that each of these people owed a duty to the child under Pennsylvania law and that their failure to perform that duty was so reckless as to justify charges of involuntary manslaughter in some cases. The friends were only charged with perjury
The police who returned Dahmer’s victim were in a different situation- they had no specific duty to that victim and in fact, they didn’t know he was a victim at the time. Imagine if some police officers were specifically assigned to solve an abduction. They know who the victim is , and they know who the abductor is. They find the victim and the abductor - and then make no effort to rescue the victim or arrest the abductor , but just walk away. Those officers have behaved similarly to the social workers and they might , in fact, be held criminally liable.
I would question just how many cases said person was supposed to do. Was that number so large as to prevent adequate care?
I read the grand jury report, and no, it wasn’t. The intake worker appeared to have something like 90 cases, but that was because he never did the paperwork to either close them or refer them for services, a determination he was required to make within 60 days. He wasn’t actively working on all of them- or perhaps any of them. He had four reports on this family, and the only reason any services were provided was because a fifth report was accidentally assigned to another worker. The other DHS worker had 18 cases- but she didn’t provide direct services, she essentially was to work with the contract agency caseworker and monitor the services. She apparently never even discussed the case with the contract worker, and somehow, didn’t bother to see the at-risk child on her last home visit. The report doesn’t mention how many cases the contracted agency worker had, but the contract required him to visit twice weekly. It appeared he had not visited in at least 2 months (perhaps much longer), although he did have the mother sign forms stating that visits were made which were dated in the future. His supervisor certainly didn’t supervise him or hold him accountable in any way- she mostly seemed to be involved in covering up.
I spent 8 years working in CPS, and oversized caseloads can excuse a lot of things, but not the things that happened in this case. You made 7 visits in 4 weeks instead of 8, because your caseload is too big- fine. I might even excuse weekly visits instead of twice-weekly because of an oversized caseload. No visits in two months -there’s no excuse for that. To have the mother sign forms dated in the future saying that the visits were made- it seems the caseworker never intended to make the visits. You weren’t able to complete the paperwork to either close the case or provide services within 60 days? An oversized caseload might excuse some delay, but not two years. And certainly not when additional reports are being received and needed services are not being provided simply because you didn’t do the paperwork.
Ah thanks for that information. It reminded me of a Law and Order episode. Of course, on TV Jack McCoy was his usual grandstanding-with-no-evidence-and-a-poor-theory-of-the-crime self, and it mostly came down to lady X was supposed to visit Kid Y and hadn’t been doing it because she was rushing around to kids were being actively abused rather than those who were acting up and being obnoxious themselves.
To also add to Doreen’s reply…
My wife worked for the Regional Center system awhile back before we started our own business, where she had a caseload that fluctuated between 60 and 120 developmentally disabled adults and she never missed one of her scheduled visits which were at minimum, quarterly. It does take alot of time to go do site visits to see a client at home and/or at the day program/job, but she actually cared about the clients she was assigned to…these guys though…hmmmm…not so much.