Sunday, July 27, 2014
Foster Child dies after being left in car in south Wichita
Foster Child dies after being left in car in south Wichita
http://www.kansas.com/2014/07/24/3567161/child-dies-after-being-left-in.html
One arrested after baby dies in hot car in S. Wichita
http://www.kwch.com/news/local-news/baby-dies-in-hot-car-in-south-wichita/27139842
Wichita Foster Dad of Baby Who Died in Hot Car 'Wants to Die'
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hot-cars-and-kids/wichita-foster-dad-baby-who-died-hot-car-wants-die-n164706
Police, state conducting own investigations into child’s death in hot car
http://www.kansas.com/2014/07/25/3567640/child-who-died-was-in-car-during.html#storylink=cpy
Ten-month-old girl dies after being left in a hot car in Wichita
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/07/25/ten-month-old-girl-dies-after-being-left-in-a-hot-car-in-wichita/
CJOnline, Child abuse reports, foster care placements rising in state, More children in state custody despite high standard for substantiating abuse claims,
http://cjonline.com/news/2014-07-26/child-abuse-reports-foster-care-placements-rising-state
More children in state custody despite high standard for substantiating abuse claims,
Posted: July 26, 2014 - 2:47pm
By Andy Marso
andy.marso@cjonline.com
The number of children in state custody has risen to record levels in Kansas, correlating with a rising number of child abuse and neglect complaints.
As of the beginning of June there were about 7,000 children in the custody of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, including 6,168 in out-of-home foster care placement.
Bruce Linhos, executive director of the Kansas Children's Alliance, said it is a higher number than ever before and child advocates, social workers and government officials are struggling to pinpoint a cause.
“There’s been a lot of discussion, and I don’t think anybody’s come up with any great answers about why the number is growing,” Linhos said.
An in-depth report by the Kansas Health Institute in June included some advocates saying that state policies arestraining and stressing poor families, while a DCF spokeswoman attributed the increase to heightened awareness and reporting of child abuse and neglect.
The state is investigating more abuse and neglect claims compared with five years ago and the percentage of those claims that results in a "substantiated" finding is ticking up. But the vast majority remain "unsubstantiated."
In Fiscal Year 2009 the state investigated 26,543 child-in-need-of-care complaints and 94.8 percent were found "unsubstantiated."
In FY 2013 the Department for Children and Families investigated 32,130 complaints and 93.5 percent were unsubstantiated. Through the first 11 months of FY 2014, the department had assigned 33,052 complaints for investigation. Of those, 29,946 had been declared unsubstantiated and 1,828 had been substantiated. The remaining 1,278 complaints are still open.
Substantiated claims are passed to local county and district attorneys, who decide whether to file a child-in-need-of-care petition with the court. Only judges can decide whether custody of the child in question should be granted to DCF or another person.
As part of a series of reports on child abuse, the Wichita Eagle in June outlined a court case in which a 14-year-old girl who weighed 66 pounds was removed from her home after nine reports of neglect and abuse, eight of which were determined unsubstantiated.
A prosecutor in Sedgwick County, where reports of child abuse and neglect have risen by more than 25 percent in the past five years to over 12,000 a year, told the Eagle his office is sometimes shocked by the number of unsubstantiated complaints in a child's past by the time a case is referred.
Lee McGowan, a spokesman for the Shawnee County District Attorney's Office, said that's familiar to local prosecutors.
"Our office concurs that it is sometimes surprising at how many previous reports may have been made before a case ever reaches our office," McGowan said via email.
McGowan said he also agreed with his counterparts in Sedgwick County that there is sometimes a difference in philosophy between prosecutors, whose "focus is always on safety of the child first and foremost" and social workers, whose approach "may well be to try to keep the child in the home."
"That is not to say, however, that safety is not a priority for the social workers," McGowan said.
Ron Nelson, a prominent family law attorney in Lenexa, said it is no surprise that more than 90 percent of abuse and neglect complaints are determined unsubstantiated. To substantiate a complaint, state law requires "clear and convincing evidence," which Nelson called a "very high standard."
"It is a standard that requires more than a belief that something occurred or that the person who is alleged to have committed the abuse or neglect is the one who committed it," Nelson said. "It is more than that there is some indication that something occurred or that the person alleged to have committed it performed the act. It is less than 'beyond a reasonable doubt.'"
Nelson also said that the list of those whose professions require them to report suspected abuse and neglect is long, and reports may be made "out of an abundance of caution."
Theresa Freed, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, said a substantiated claim is not necessary to temporarily remove a child from a dangerous situation.
"The rate of removal is much higher than the rate of substantiating," Freed said.
The process of removal has been under increased scrutiny recently as well. Craig Gabel, the president of a Wichita-based conservative group called Kansans for Liberty, last year proposed cutting DCF's funding if the agency does not meet family reunification goals.
"In my opinion, the worst family in the world is better for a child than the best foster home," Gabel said at the time.
During the 2014 session a member of Gabel's group teamed up with other disaffected parents to lobby for changing the state law that instructs courts to act "in the best interests of the child" to one that instructs them to choose the "least detrimental alternative for the child."
The measure, House Bill 2450, died in committee.
Linhos said that in addition to promoting family reunification, Kansans should also be working toward greater adoption rates so children aren't aging out of the foster care system and trying to prevent abuse and neglect from occurring in the first place.
He touted programs like Topeka's Safe Families for Children that help families manage crises before they become damaging to children.
“Those kind of very front end, early interventions are the kind of things I think the system has really struggled to kind of be able to address," Linhos said. "In my mind, those are the kind of hopeful things where we really are able to get the people assistance prior to getting to the point of abuse or neglect.”
Andy Marso can be reached at Capital: (785) 233-7470; Office: (785) 295-5619 or andy.marso@cjonline.com.
Follow Andy on Twitter @andymarso.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Friday, December 20, 2013
Where Is Adam Herrman? $50,000 reward offered in Butler County disappearance of 11-year-old Adam Herrman
December 20
BY AMY RENEE LEIKER
The Wichita Eagle
EL DORADO — A $50,000 cash reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the disappearance of a Towanda boy in 1999, Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet announced Friday.
EL DORADO — A $50,000 cash reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the disappearance of a Towanda boy in 1999, Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet announced Friday.
The reward is being posted by an anonymous donor who “would like to see some closure for the family” of Adam Joseph Herrman, Herzet said at a news conference in El Dorado.
Adam was 11 when he went missing, but authorities didn’t learn he had vanished until late 2008, when his older, adoptive sister shared concerns about him with law enforcement.
The boy’s adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman, did not report him missing. They later were declared suspects in the case by the county’s chief prosecutor, Jan Satterfield, who said the investigation could result in first-degree felony murder charges.
As of Friday, though, Adam’s whereabouts remain unknown to authorities. The last tip, Herzet said, came in months ago.
Adam would be 26 now.
“We’ve not had any contact with anyone who’s called and said, ‘Hey I’m Adam Joseph Herrman. I want to come talk to you,’” Herzet said. “It’s an open case here in Butler County, and we’re still trying to get to where we need to be to on getting some closure – finding him, his whereabouts, his remains, whatever it may be.”
He called the case “very frustrating.”
“We’re hoping with a reward, this might make somebody call.”
Anyone with information about Adam Herrman is asked to call the Butler County Sheriff’s Office at 316-322-4257 or 866-484-5924 or El Dorado Crime Stoppers at 316-321-1080.
Tipsters also can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s hotline at 800-THE-LOST (843-5678).
Doug and Valerie Herrman have not faced charges connected to Adam’s disappearance. They claim he ran away from the family’s Towanda trailer home after Valerie spanked him one night.
The couple have said they did not report him missing out of fear they would lose custody of their other children.
Relatives have said that the Herrmans told family that Adam, a home-schooled child, had been returned to state custody.
After learning of the disappearance, authorities dug for Adam’s body in the Towanda mobile home park where he’d lived but turned up nothing. A search of nearby wooded areas also yielded no clues.
In 2011, Doug and Valerie Herrman pleaded guilty to felony theft for continuing to accept a state subsidy to help them care for their adoptive son after he vanished. They were ordered to pay $15,488 in restitution — the amount they pleaded guilty to wrongly accepting — and a fine of $2,500 each.
The couple received the $700 monthly subsidy until Adam’s 18th birthday, in 2005.
Butler County District Judge David A. Ricke also ordered Doug Herrman to serve nine months in prison for the theft and gave Valerie Herrman a seven-month prison term.
Herzet, who was the lead investigator on the case before becoming sheriff that year, said at the time that he was “focused on working this case as a homicide.”
“The Herrmans still are, in my eyes, suspects,” he said in 2011, “and we’re going to continue to work the case as the leads come in, and I hope we can resolve the case in the very near future and arrests are made.”
On Friday, he echoed similar resolve.
“A lot of my detectives have pictures of Adam hanging in their office. He’s not going to go away, and the case isn’t going to go away.
“ ... Every time we get a lead or something comes up, one of the detectives assigned to the case jumps right on it, and we follow it through to the very end.”
Contributing: Tim Potter of The Eagle.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/12/20/4704909/butler-county-sheriff-expected.html#storylink=cpy
The reward is being posted by an anonymous donor who “would like to see some closure for the family” of Adam Joseph Herrman, Herzet said at a news conference in El Dorado.
Adam was 11 when he went missing, but authorities didn’t learn he had vanished until late 2008, when his older, adoptive sister shared concerns about him with law enforcement.
The boy’s adoptive parents, Doug and Valerie Herrman, did not report him missing. They later were declared suspects in the case by the county’s chief prosecutor, Jan Satterfield, who said the investigation could result in first-degree felony murder charges.
As of Friday, though, Adam’s whereabouts remain unknown to authorities. The last tip, Herzet said, came in months ago.
Adam would be 26 now.
“We’ve not had any contact with anyone who’s called and said, ‘Hey I’m Adam Joseph Herrman. I want to come talk to you,’” Herzet said. “It’s an open case here in Butler County, and we’re still trying to get to where we need to be to on getting some closure – finding him, his whereabouts, his remains, whatever it may be.”
He called the case “very frustrating.”
“We’re hoping with a reward, this might make somebody call.”
Anyone with information about Adam Herrman is asked to call the Butler County Sheriff’s Office at 316-322-4257 or 866-484-5924 or El Dorado Crime Stoppers at 316-321-1080.
Tipsters also can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s hotline at 800-THE-LOST (843-5678).
Doug and Valerie Herrman have not faced charges connected to Adam’s disappearance. They claim he ran away from the family’s Towanda trailer home after Valerie spanked him one night.
The couple have said they did not report him missing out of fear they would lose custody of their other children.
Relatives have said that the Herrmans told family that Adam, a home-schooled child, had been returned to state custody.
After learning of the disappearance, authorities dug for Adam’s body in the Towanda mobile home park where he’d lived but turned up nothing. A search of nearby wooded areas also yielded no clues.
In 2011, Doug and Valerie Herrman pleaded guilty to felony theft for continuing to accept a state subsidy to help them care for their adoptive son after he vanished. They were ordered to pay $15,488 in restitution — the amount they pleaded guilty to wrongly accepting — and a fine of $2,500 each.
The couple received the $700 monthly subsidy until Adam’s 18th birthday, in 2005.
Butler County District Judge David A. Ricke also ordered Doug Herrman to serve nine months in prison for the theft and gave Valerie Herrman a seven-month prison term.
Herzet, who was the lead investigator on the case before becoming sheriff that year, said at the time that he was “focused on working this case as a homicide.”
“The Herrmans still are, in my eyes, suspects,” he said in 2011, “and we’re going to continue to work the case as the leads come in, and I hope we can resolve the case in the very near future and arrests are made.”
On Friday, he echoed similar resolve.
“A lot of my detectives have pictures of Adam hanging in their office. He’s not going to go away, and the case isn’t going to go away.
“ ... Every time we get a lead or something comes up, one of the detectives assigned to the case jumps right on it, and we follow it through to the very end.”
Contributing: Tim Potter of The Eagle.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/12/20/4704909/butler-county-sheriff-expected.html#storylink=cpy
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Brandon Blackmon, Court: Man deserves trial over use of restraints
Link to the lawsuit
"The court noted that the Supreme Court had held that the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of due process prohibits any punishment of presumptively innocent individuals awaiting trial. It said there is "ample evidence" in the case that the defendants at least sometimes used the chair to punish the boy"...."The problem is that the evidence also suggests that the boy was shackled to the chair for long stretches when there was no hint he posed a threat of harming himself or anyone else, according to the decision. On one occasion the boy was stripped out of his clothes and forced to wear a paper gown while restrained in the chair."
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/11/08/3104560/court-man-deserves-trial-over.html#storylink=cpy
Previous lawsuit
Kansas Reaches Settlement to Pay for CPS Abuse $875,000 "The Rev. Thomas Campbell, former vice president at St. Francis, predicted Blackmon “would be 'fresh meat’ and the 'target of sexual predators,’” court records say."http://kscpsabuselawsuit.blogspot.com/2009/07/state-agrees-to-pay-875k.html
State agrees to pay $875K "Blackmon, 23, alleged his civil rights were violated by SRS employees who had him sent to a residential facility serving adolescent male juveniles convicted of sex crimes. He also asserted SRS didn’t respond appropriately to abuse he suffered at the center." http://cjonline.com/news/state/2009-07-07/state_agrees_to_pay_875k
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
So What?? Judge Henderson wants the State to review adoption recommendations
Are people really that gullible to believe this story? http://www.kansas.com/2013/11/04/3097090/judge-asks-state-to-review-some.html#emlnl=Morning_Headlines_Newsletter
This looks more like a cover up as the state will investigate itself, it's contractors, the DA's who prosecute the cases for the state and the Judges. Does anyone really expect the state to find wrong doing? After all the state would then be liable.
What about Judge Henderson?
This looks more like a cover up as the state will investigate itself, it's contractors, the DA's who prosecute the cases for the state and the Judges. Does anyone really expect the state to find wrong doing? After all the state would then be liable.
What about Judge Henderson?
Let's not forget the mother that was jailed and her child who was shackled
The family that filed a complaint against Judge Henderson
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
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