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Kidjacked | Jacked Up
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On September 30, 2006, there were an estimated 510,000 children in foster care. (Child Welfare Information Gateway 2009) Wisconsin CPS News Archive
Wisconsin News Coverage
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Child's injuries go unnoticed
by Crocker Stephenson
Last month, a Milwaukee County Children's Court judge lifted an order to protect twin boys born in the fall of 2008 to a woman then imprisoned for child abuse.
The decision by Judge Glenn H. Yamahiro was contrary to a recommendation by an assistant district attorney, who wanted the order extended for another year. It was contrary to a recommendation by an attorney representing the children's interests, called a guardian ad litem, who also wanted it extended.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
February 6, 2010
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2009 stories helped change public policy - JSOnline
by Martin Kaiser
The best journalism makes a community a better place. When I look back at 2009, there are more stories that changed public policy than any year in my 13 years as editor, thanks in large part to reaction from readers.
The stories this year by Crocker Stephenson and Gina Barton, which we called "Fatal Care," not only reported on the children who died, but also revealed chronic mistakes in the child welfare system. The Journal Sentinel launched the investigation after the November 2008 death of 13-month-old Christopher Thomas...
Journal Sentinel
December 27, 2009
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Judge foster parents fairly
by Ralph Gundrum
As a foster father, I cannot and would not defend foster parents who neglect or abuse foster children. Like you, I am sickened by the thought of this happening.
My wife and I became foster parents knowing the sad truth that another foster parent might do something despicable while we were foster parents. Something that we could not and would not defend. Something that could make us guilty by association in some people's eyes.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
November 23, 2009
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Doyle signs mandatory state kindergarten law
by Kelly Schlicht
Governor Jim Doyle signed the bill into law today, but the principal of Longfellow Elementary School in Eau Claire says this law won't affect their classroom enrollment because most kids in the state already go to kindergarten.
Fisher says the new law will make it easier for schools to crack down on parents who aren't bringing their kids to school on a regular basis, but it won't increase class sizes. Teachers say this new law will make sure parents keep their kids going to school, and to stop them from using kindergarten as a another form of day care.
WEAU
October 14, 2009
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How battle to save endangered infant was lost
by Gina Barton and Crocker Stephenson
During the time Will Robert Johnson spent in the child welfare system, newly minted case manager Johanna Barkei fought to keep him safe.
In the end, Barkei was second-guessed by senior social workers, her supervisor, the mother's therapist and more than one attorney. The caseworker and the boy she was trying to protect fell victim to an entrenched, bureaucratic culture that has been failing for decades. On Oct. 3, 2007, Barkei lost her fight, and Will's mother was given permission to spend short periods of time alone with the baby. He was dead 23 days later.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
October 12, 2009
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Private fortune, public cash
by Raquel Rutledge
A Jaguar sits in the driveway of Latasha Jackson's million-dollar mansion in Menomonee Falls. Built on a hill with a sprawling back deck overlooking a pond, the 7,600-square-foot home features an indoor swimming pool and indoor basketball court.
Jackson is not an Olympic swimmer, a professional basketball player or a celebrity of any sort. She is a day care provider in the city of Milwaukee. She built her fortune with taxpayer funding from the Wisconsin Shares program.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
September 2, 2009
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Woman Says She Got Pregnant By Social Worker; He Has Child
State Representative Calls For Investigation -- A social worker who was supposed to be helping a Milwaukee woman got her pregnant instead, the woman said. Now, she's fighting to get her daughter back.
The baby's father was assigned to investigate a child neglect complaint about the woman's other children. The agency said the social worker broke rules by having sex with a client and but then placed the child with him after they removed the baby from her mother's home.
WISN Milwaukee
August 29, 2009
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Social worker's conduct went unreported
by Crocker Stephenson
Officials responsible for reporting to the state that a Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare social worker had impregnated a bureau client did not report the incident until months later than required by law.
A state lawmaker, alleging that child welfare officials may have been involved in a coverup, called on Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to investigate. Peter J. Nelsen, 56, was sent by the bureau to investigate an allegation of child abuse and later impregnated the child's emotionally troubled mother, Theola Nealy. Nelsen kept the pregnancy secret, even as the bureau investigated allegations that Nealy abused her 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 29, 2009
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Report: Problems stand in the way of foster care recruitment
by Gina Barton
Foster parents in Milwaukee County "do not feel valued, supported or appreciated" by the agency contracted to work most closely with them, according to a report released Wednesday.
What's more, foster parents chosen to help with recruitment efforts by the agency, Children's Service Society of Wisconsin, are not eager to do so because they have not been treated with respect, the report says.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 12, 2009
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Investigators tried to visit home of baby who later died
by Crocker Stephenson
Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare investigators made repeated but unsuccessful efforts to visit a north side home where, three months later, an emaciated 16-month-boy born with a host of medical complications died of alleged neglect.
Parion Williams was one of a set of twins born March 12, 2008, to 21-year-old Mandisa Randolph, who was already the mother of two. Among the child's medical complications: congenital syphilis, neonatal hypocalcemia, meconium plug syndrome, abdominal distension, apnea and bradycardia.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
July 18, 2009
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Bureau Meets To Discuss Foster Care Reform
The Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare huddled over the issues of foster child safety Friday. Part of the discussion involved an initiative that was prompted by the death of baby who was in foster care late last year.
Eight months after 1-year-old Christopher Thomas was beaten to death by his foster mother. Friday they heard the results of medical examinations, which were ordered for all children in foster care under the age of 5 after Christopher's death. The Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare said it's looking at 520 children.
WISN Milwaukee
July 17, 2009
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Is 'disruption' illegal?
by Ed Morrissey
The controversy over flag-burning has fueled a debate for decades, but what about flag flying? It depends on how it's done, as an Iraq war veteran embroiled in a local licensing dispute discovered.
An American flag flown upside down as a protest in a northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July parade and the businessman who flew it - an Iraq war veteran - claims the officers trespassed and stole his property.
Hot Air
July 11, 2009
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Child-care providers with criminal past getting licenses, state funds
by Raquel Rutledge
Child abusers and people who have committed other serious crimes are becoming licensed child-care providers and are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars through the Wisconsin Shares system.
Johnson, now 42, was charged with felony child abuse and in 1997 pleaded guilty to battery and domestic abuse. Her foster license was revoked. Yet three years later, she opened a certified day care center in Milwaukee County called Planting Seeds. And as of April 2009, she had taken in more than $430,000 from the taxpayer-supported Wisconsin Shares child-care program.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
June 13, 2009
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State audit finds nearly $20 million in fraud
by Raquel Rutledge
State regulators misspent nearly $20 million in taxpayer-supported child-care funds in 2008, according to estimates in a state audit released Friday.
The Legislative Audit Bureau's examination of the Wisconsin Shares child-care program found fraud and other problems in dozens of cases. Auditors examined 400 randomly selected cases and found tens of thousands of dollars went to providers when parents weren't eligible for child-care assistance.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
June 12, 2009
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Foster care needs in county continue to grow
by Megan VerHelst
An average of 30 children were placed in foster care in Jackson County last year, and although the county has 20 homes for children to go to, foster care needs are continuing to grow.
Meyer said the county also plays a role in keeping families together and assisting them with specific needs. But if they feel a child or family is at risk, it is their job to intervene. The county makes the decision if a child is at risk. If that is determined, the child then needs to be placed in the system.
Jackson County Chronicle
June 10, 2009
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New child welfare agency will hire almost all of La Causa staff
by Crocker Stephenson
Integrated Family Services, the agency that will replace La Causa and provide services for abused or neglected children, has hired the entire La Causa staff, including the supervisor who was in charge of the Christopher Thomas case.
La Causa, which provided ongoing case management and safety services, shouldered much of the blame for mishandling the Christopher Thomas case. Police say 13-month-old Christopher Thomas was beaten to death, and his two-year-old sister tortured, while in the kinship foster care of their aunt, Crystal Keith.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
May 1, 2009
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No arrest yet in OD of child, 4
by Hillary Gavan
Children overdosing on illegal or prescription drugs happens once in awhile in Beloit, according to Michelle Tyler, clinical manager of the emergency department at Beloit Memorial Hospital.
The child was living with his mother and a 5-year-old sibling in the 2000 block of Wren Drive. Tyler said the child's father was visiting the residence during the time frame of the incident. The parents were interviewed by detectives and investigators have searched the residence.
Beloit Daily News
April 28, 2009
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Three gay-rights bills clear hurdles, make it out of Utah House panel
by Rosemary Winters
Three gay-rights bills, all sponsored by Salt Lake City Democrats, cleared legislative hurdles Friday. The measures, considered long shots, have made it out of the sometimes-bill-blocking House Rules Committee and scored public hearings.
Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck's HB288 -- which would allow unmarried couples, including gay and lesbian partners, to adopt and foster children in Utah -- will be debated Tuesday before the House Health and Human Services Committee.
The Salt Lake Tribune
February 14, 2009
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More Charges in Foster Care Death
MILWAUKEE -- Charges have been filed against the husband of a 24-year-old Milwaukee woman accused of beating her 1-year-old nephew to death and severely abusing her 2-year-old niece.
Crystal Keith is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death last November of Christopher Thomas and physical abuse of his sister.
620 WTMJ
February 13, 2009
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Mother charged with letting infant starve to death
by Crocker Stephenson
A 21-year-old woman with a history of child neglect was charged Thursday with the death of her infant son, who starved to death three months after a family caseworker decided the mother did not require supervision.
Vera Morehouse is the second woman in less than a month to be charged with allowing a child to starve to death while her family was receiving child welfare services. Melody Cole was charged Jan. 20 with the 2006 starvation of her 7-month-old daughter. That child, Layunnia Lewis, perished even as child welfare workers repeatedly visited her home.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
February 5, 2009
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Trials for Parents Who Chose Faith Over Medicine
by Dirk Johnson
WESTON -- Kara Neumann, 11, had grown so weak that she could not walk or speak. Her parents, who believe that God alone has the ability to heal the sick, prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.
After an aunt from California called the sheriff's department here, frantically pleading that the sick child be rescued, an ambulance arrived at the Neumann's rural home on the outskirts of Wausau and rushed Kara to the hospital. She was pronounced dead on arrival.
The New York Times
January 22, 2009
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Agency to study Milwaukee County foster care
by Crocker Stephenson
The safety of children in Milwaukee County's foster care system is the focus of a study to be conducted by the Planning Council for Health and Human Services, Inc., the agency's executive director, Kathleen Pritchard, announced today.
The Nov. 11th beating death of 13-month-old foster child Christopher Thomas has raised questions about the quality and oversight of foster care in Milwaukee County, according to a statement issued by non-profit agency, and points to the need to identify programs that are working in other communities.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
January 15, 2009
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Mother charged in '06 starvation death of 7-month-old daughter
by Crocker Stephenson
A Milwaukee mother of five, who police say spent hundreds of dollars a month on gambling, was charged Tuesday with allowing her 7-onth-ld daughter to starve to death in 2006.
According to the criminal complaint, police found no baby food in the house, just an empty can of infant formula. Police say the parents spent the day after Layunnia's death at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
January 2, 2009
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Lawmaker Proposes Change After 1-Year-Old's Death
MILWAUKEE -- Following the death of 1-year-old Christopher Thomas Jr. last week, a local lawmaker is proposing changes to the child welfare system, from stricter accountability laws to more supervision during infant visits by social workers.
Darline and Robert Logan wanted to adopt Christopher Thomas. They believe more could have been done to protect the boy who was in the care of his aunt and foster mother, Crystal Keith.
WISN Milwaukee
November 19, 2008
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Madison, County 2009 budgets are in, let fighting begin!
by Vikki Kratz
Supvs. Sheila Stubbs and Scott McDonell have also proposed spending another $147,000 to hire three new social workers for the county's Child Protective Services division.
The move comes following an incident in 2007 in which a county social worker sent a six-week-old infant home to her abusive mother, who allegedly murdered the child. The full County Board considers the budget next week.
The Daily Page
November 10, 2008
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