Tag Archives: CPS Agenda

Child Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, Coverup, Indifference, LIES, Neglect

Overworked And Under Paid, But Still Dumping Case Files

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.jpg photo of child abuse graphic
How Can CPS Be Above The Law? This is an on-going thing, deleted answering machines, active case files never investigated, manufactured court documents, kidnapped Children, and 90,000 immigrant Children given over to slavers, and to this day, not one has ever been found.

A ‘horrific’ crisis. Hundreds of California Child Abuse reports intentionally
discarded

MADERA COUNTY, CA  –  Children faced “incredible pain and suffering” when a Madera County social worker intentionally discarded hundreds of child abuse reports last year, according to government emails uncovered in a Fresno Bee investigation.

Department emails examined by The Bee indicate at least some of the 357 reports may have been neglected for up to two months.  The emails, obtained through a public records request, reveal a behind-the-scenes crisis in the fall of 2019 with Madera County Social Services workers scrambling to investigate hundreds of abandoned abuse referrals.

While sources said there is no known evidence that any child died as a result, emails show workers feared children suffered more abuse while reports were stuffed in waste bins and gathered dust around the social worker’s desk between September and November last year.

Deborah Martinez, the county’s social services director, outlined her dread in a Nov. 7 email to the county’s chief administrative officer at the time.

“There is no doubt that at a minimum, her actions placed children in danger,” Martinez wrote.  “The ultimate impact to children and families (in) our community can’t be known but based upon some of the allegations that were made this social worker likely caused incredible pain and suffering.”

Dozens of the dumped cases were emergency reports — cases involving allegations of physical or sexual abuse, the emails show.

Multiple children later were removed from their homes days or weeks after their alleged abuse initially was reported, according to two department sources.

“Some were investigated and found substantiated — those kids would have been abused for that time,” one employee said in an interview.  Two department employees were interviewed on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation for speaking with The Bee.

Officials have not released the name of the social worker at the center of the controversy, but have confirmed she no longer is employed at the department.

The Madera County Sheriff’s Office in November launched a criminal investigation that remained open, more than four months after the case came to light.

Meanwhile, state officials said the Madera department never notified the California Department of Social Services.  State authorities only learned of the case when The Bee contacted them for comment.  State officials are scheduled to be in Madera this week.

The consequences and scope of the crisis remain unclear — and ongoing.

‘VERY DISTURBING’

At least 75 of the 357 reports involved possible sexual or other physical abuse, requiring social workers to respond within 24 hours.  Another 248 reports involved allegations of neglect and required a 10-day response, according to the emails.

Some of the cases may have been ignored for up to two months.

The outcomes of the remaining 34 reports are unclear, but may have ultimately been determined unfounded.  Martinez, the county’s social services director, declined to say specifically, but noted that not every report leads to an investigation.

It’s unclear exactly how many children were involved in the 357 reports.  Officials wouldn’t say whether each report is made for an individual child or whether reports group siblings together.

Martinez also refused to say how many children were removed from their homes in connection with the reports, saying those details were part of the ongoing criminal inquiry.

Two employees told The Bee some children would have been removed sooner had reports been investigated properly.

“All those reports could have led to a child’s death,” one employee said.  “You don’t want a child to die on your watch.  It’s the biggest fear for a department — a child’s death.”

Managers and supervisors were outraged when the problem finally surfaced in early November, according to the emails.

“They also state what was found puts children of Madera County at risk and in harm’s way,” Chris Aguirre, an eligibility supervisor, wrote in a Nov. 14 email to Martinez.  “The story I was told is very disturbing and I am appalled at what the worker did.  Any person would find the story horrifying.”

Martinez responded, acknowledging the department was “in crisis” and described it as “pretty horrific.”

“Something I never imagined we would be facing and we are working on safeguards to ensure that it can never happen again,” she replied to Aguirre.

Martinez learned of the deserted cases late in the day on Nov. 6.

The employee was placed on leave the following day and escorted from the building. Martinez initially declined to comment on the issue, including the worker’s status. But after The Bee obtained the department’s emails, Martinez confirmed the worker’s employment formally ended Nov. 12.  She declined to say whether the worker was fired or quit.

A DEPARTMENT IN CHAOS

How the issue was uncovered remains unclear, and Martinez refused to say during a recent interview with The Bee.

All of the reports appear to have come through the department’s telephone hotline number, the emails reveal.

In the emails, workers describe “pieces of paper” and “post its” that “added up to referrals” found “on and around her desk.”  Reports also were hidden in special locked waste baskets, typically used for shredded documents, employees told The Bee.

Workers described to The Bee seeing the locked blue waste bins taken into a conference room where they were dumped out.  Workers searched for “blue sheets,” the form workers are supposed to fill out when reports come in through the department’s hotline.

Emails describe social workers racing to catch up with the backlogged caseload as the department conducted its internal review.  Employees believed it would take up to a full month just to enter each case into the department’s system for review.  On Nov. 15, an email was sent to all social workers interested in working overtime to help with the backlog.

Some of the referrals didn’t have a time or date indicating when the report came in. Employees in mid-November were instructed to enter “today’s date” in the appropriate field if they couldn’t find the proper date, emails show.

Supervisors and managers worried that some abuse reports may have fallen through the cracks altogether.

“Remember that this backlog dates back to September (maybe August but there is no evidence of that),” Danny Morris, deputy director of the Madera County Department of Social Service, wrote on Nov. 20.

The emails also reveal the challenges department supervisors faced sorting through the pile of abandoned reports, including questioning whether overtime pay was available, the effect on other cases, and the strain on workers.

“Social work supervisors would like OT (overtime) to process the backlog of CPS referrals that were just recently discovered,” a department supervisor wrote to Martinez in a Nov. 13 email.  “Is this something you would be willing to discuss?”

Martinez responds to Aguirre saying “I can’t pay OT and going through the lengthy process to request authorization for straight time pay has not proven to be beneficial in accomplishing the goal.”

Eventually, social workers were paid overtime, but not social work supervisors, the emails show.

Supervisors also feared falling behind on other cases while the department worked through the backlog.

“I guess I am having a hard time figuring out which areas we can sacrifice and have lack of attention in order to meet the needs referenced,” Shanel Moore, a program manager, wrote in a Nov. 20 email.

It’s not clear when the department finally cleared those cases, but as of Jan. 2, the department still had 27 referrals to complete.

“Could we encourage our (social workers) to get them done as we would like to get these wrapped up soon so we can move on with our lives,” Heidi Sonzena, a program manager, wrote in a Jan. 2 email.

STATE LEFT IN THE DARK AMID CRIMINAL PROBE

The Madera County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 7 opened a criminal investigation, the same day the social worker was suspended.

Kayla Serratto, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed the investigation continues.  She declined to release any details.  The Sheriff’s Office denied a public records request seeking case documents, citing a need to protect the now months-long investigation.

“Upon the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office,” Serratto said.

A state official said the California Department of Social Services was unaware of the case until contacted for comment by The Bee.

“We were not informed by the county and made contact after (The Bee’s) referral about this,” said Scott Murray, spokesman for the California Department of Social Services.  Murray confirmed the state now is looking into the matter.

State officials also acknowledged the county department was not legally required to alert the state.  Murray on Tuesday said state officials are scheduled to be in Madera County this week.

Martinez refused to answer questions about why the state did not know about the case.

Emails show at least some of the department’s top people wanted to keep the episode quiet, even within the office. Supervisors discussed concerns over specific employees learning of the incident.

Officials also discussed the possible ramifications of The Bee’s investigation. Martinez on Dec. 11 wrote it was “unfortunate for there to be an article on this topic,” saying “the county could use a break.”

The following day, Martinez sent another email saying the department would “just deal with the aftermath.”

‘RED FLAGS’ MISSED?

Employees interviewed by The Bee said the department likely missed “red flags” in the weeks before the disaster unfolded.

Child abuse reports typically spike in the fall, from August to around October, when schools resume after the summer break, Martinez acknowledged.

“The largest segment (of reports) are from educators — teachers,” Martinez said.

But that didn’t appear to happen in the fall of 2019 — until the rest of the reports were unearthed and the catastrophe erupted, employees told The Bee.

Martinez wouldn’t comment on what may have motivated the worker to discard the referrals.

“That’s a terrible thing to happen,” said Michael S. Wald, an emeritus professor of law at Stanford, who has drafted major federal and state legislation regarding child welfare.

Wald said the larger question is whether the department had any safeguards in place and, if so, why they apparently failed.

“That’s the bigger issue,” he said.

Martinez also said she couldn’t comment on what actions have been taken to prevent similar situations in the future because her department was still discussing preventive measures.

One employee said they were not aware of any new policies or safeguards, but said at least some steps have been taken, including the addition of a new group of hotline workers who screen calls.

“They completely brought in a new team,” an employee said.

NOT THE FIRST – OR WORST – BACKLOG EVER

News of the neglected abuse reports comes about two years after a 2018 Madera County Grand Jury report revealed a backlog of more than 1,000 cases in the department.

That unrelated backlog was linked to an “exodus of social workers” from the department between 2014 and 2016, the report found.

“During the period when DSS (Department of Social Services) was lacking social workers, a large number of client cases were left open, and services were not provided for these children,” according to the report.  “There were over 1,000 of these referrals, some up to two years old.”

Martinez inherited the backlog of the more than 1,000 referrals when she took over the department in June 2017.

As the most recent crisis developed in November last year, Martinez reminded her colleagues she helped resolve the prior backlog through “aggressive and continuous recruitment,” hiring more workers, and implementing other accountability measures.  That only came after failed attempts to reduce the backlog by having social work supervisors work extra hours.

2nd Med Opinion, Child Abuse, CPS Tainted Numbers, Indifference, Physical Abuse, StopChildAbuse

Good Information And For My Doubters

.jpg photo graphic included with Mayo Clinic article
How Medical Professionals should address Child Physical Abuse.

Medical Professionals – Trauma: How to address Child Physical Abuse

Arne H. Graff, M.D., is the division chair of Child Abuse Pediatrics at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota.  His desire is to equip providers for potential child physical abuse (CPA) cases, helping them feel as comfortable as possible and removing the fear of reporting.  He offers perspective on CPA and what trauma professionals’ responsibilities are in this scenario.

How did you get into the child abuse field?

While I was working in North Dakota, a physician at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo talked me into working with him in a volunteer clinic.  While there, I ran into enough child abuse cases that I realized I needed to get out of it or get better.  So I did a fellowship in child abuse pediatrics.

Is child abuse common in Minnesota?

Around 84,000 reported cases of child maltreatment are reported each year in Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services and documented in the Child Maltreatment Report for 2017.   Minnesota has as high an incidence as some other states, like California, but doesn’t see as large of numbers due to population differences between Minnesota and the other states.

There are about 1,500 identified maltreatment deaths in Minnesota each year, but this is assumed underreported due to the difficulty in identifying many of the deaths as clearly caused by maltreatment.  In Rochester, Minnesota, and the immediate region, we have around 400 reported maltreatment cases each year.

(1,500÷365=4.1 Child Maltreatment deaths per day just in Minnesota, so how can so many distort the numbers by saying there has ever been 5 Child Maltreatment deaths each day in the last 100 years and possibly the last 150 years)

Which children are at highest risk of abuse?

A young child or infant is at highest risk.

Are any children overlooked for abuse?

Yes — teenagers.  I don’t want us as providers to just focus on little kids.  Teens have a similar CPA pattern as other children.  It’s important you consider whether abuse is occurring if you see a 15-year-old with an injury that doesn’t align with the history. Don’t assume because they’re teenagers, they aren’t experiencing abuse.

Who abuses children?

People who have access to children hurt children: parents, child care providers, grandparents and school personnel.  Anyone has the capacity to hurt children.

That said, it’s important to know that 82% of abusers are ages 18 to 44, and 80% of CPA is inflicted by parents, according to data from Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Is denial of mechanism of injury common in these cases?  If so, any advice?

Since we don’t know how often abuse is missed, we can’t guess at how often it’s denied.  Personal experience is that even with serious injuries, denial is common. Considering that one of the caregivers may not have knowledge of events that occurred with his or her partner, denial can be a normal answer.  Therefore, asking about domestic as well as pet violence is important, and also interviewing caregivers separately.  By emphasizing mandated reporting requirements and indicating concern about their child, we hopefully will maintain a working relationship with the family.

Any tips for assessing a child’s injury?

Every injury presented must be consistent with the child’s medical history and developmental ability.  If it doesn’t line up, ask why.  It doesn’t mean there’s abuse occurring, but it does mean something’s going on that doesn’t make sense.

Our job is to consider the injury’s cause — medical, accidental and then nonaccidental trauma — as well as medical history and mechanics.  It’s not our job to immediately assume, if we don’t like how it looks, that somebody’s abused the child. We have to start with ruling out other options, especially with a nonverbal child.

In 30% to 40% of cases we see, we have to say we can’t determine if an injury was abuse or accidental, and we need to consider potential options for the injury.

How should I determine which tests are needed?

First, it’s important to know that exams have limits.  You can’t determine abuse simply by physical exam.  However, being financially responsible means to not shotgun and do every test available.

If you need to consult on a potential CPA case, my colleague Donald (Chris) C. Derauf, M.D., and I are available 24/7 every day for curbside consults at no cost.  We do 300 to 400 of these a year.  You may call us through the MATC to discuss what you’re seeing in a case, and we can advise on screening.  We are your resource and encourage people to call and bounce things off us.

How do I figure out who did it?

You and I don’t care.  It’s not our job.  Our primary role is to prove it’s not abuse and look at accidental injuries or other conditions that may have caused the injury.  Also, our job is not to rule out people who may have abused the child, or determine reason or intent — leave that to the legal system.

How can I help stop CPA?

If you can recognize CPA early through a sentinel event — a case where injuries in children nonmobile or under age 4 can’t be explained by a simple accident, such as significant bruising to the head or neck — you can make a difference.  For these children, consider the injury to be caused by someone.  Bruising in a nonmobile child should be a red flag if not immediately explained by multiple people.

Sentinel injuries, without witnessed accident, carry high risk of further injury or death.  According to an article by Sheets and others in the April 2013 issue of Pediatrics, 27% of kids who’ve been seen by a provider and demonstrated to have had a sentinel event will return with serious injuries or dead.

What’s my responsibility?

 These are critical steps for providers in potential CPA cases:

  • Identify other possible injury causes.
  • Recognize these things are serious.  Once considering CPA as a potential cause, you are a mandated reporter.  It doesn’t have to be proved, just suspected.  You can’t simply write in your notes that you’re concerned and not report.  You must contact child protective services about a safety plan and tell them why there’s concern.
  • Conduct testing in a timely manner; it’s important for safety and complete diagnosis.
  • Remember multiple types of abuse can coexist.  Do a complete exam for neglect; don’t just focus on a bruise.
  • Don’t send the family home until all test results come through, or the child potentially may be going into an unsafe environment.  While you’re doing your work, child protective services (CPS) will develop a safety plan.  We can’t send the family out until this plan is finished and documented by the physician.
  • Make a complete description of the injury, including photos.

Any suggested approach with the family if CPA is suspected?

Since it’s not our role to decide who did it, I usually use this approach and advise providers to consider it.  I say to the caregiver present: “With this type of injury, without a known medical problem causing it or a witnessed accident, I am concerned someone may have hurt your child.  Because of this, I am a mandated reporter and have already spoken with child protective services.  They will want to talk with you about safety plans for your child.  I also want to recommend some tests that may better tell us why the injury occurred and if there are other injuries present we cannot see on the exam.”

It’s important to help families understand that just because the child looks happy and OK, it doesn’t rule out other injuries.

Any pitfalls you’d suggest avoiding with CPA?

We fail to recognize our blinders.  If you’re homeless or a minority, statistics say CPA cases are overreported, according to a 2011 publication in Journal of the National Medical Association.  However, studies indicate if you’re white middle class and present with an infant to the emergency room, people don’t even think about abuse. Also, if we know members of the family personally, there’s a tendency to say, “They are nice people.  They wouldn’t do this.”

If we think there might be abuse, we need to get CPS involved, period.  Letting our biases influence who we report puts kids at risk.  Remember, reporting may help services be put in place to assist the family.

Which patients who’ve survived potential CPA need transfer for further work-up?

The work-up needs to be completed at the time the concern is raised.  Depending on the child’s age, it may include:

  • A dilated eye exam by an eye expert, to be completed within 48 hours
  • A skeletal survey immediately and again in two to three weeks
  • A head CT if under age 1 or obvious head trauma
  • Abdominal labs

If testing can’t be completed, transfer to a larger center is indicated.  If testing can be done and a safety plan put in place, the child may be evaluated at the local site only and be watched overnight or be sent home, depending on tests and exam.

Resource: MayoClinic.org
This publication can be seen HERE complete with links.

Administration Agenda, Better Laws, Child Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, Death, Good Parenting

Land Of Choosing Who Is Above The Law

2 Comments
.jpg photo of child abuse graphic
How Can CPS Be Above The Law

DA Wants Re-Hearing for Social Workers
in Child Abuse Death of
Gabriel Fernandez

Revised with previously filtered content

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA  –  Los Angeles County prosecutors are asking a state appellate court panel to reconsider its ruling that directed a lower court to dismiss charges against four social workers who were accused of failing to protect an 8-year-old Antelope Valley boy who was killed in May 2013.

.jpg photo of child beat to death in california in 2013
Gabriel Fernandez, 8-years-old.

“An autopsy showed that the boy had a fractured skull, several broken ribs and burns over much of his body. His teacher testified that she called Rodriguez multiple times to report that Gabriel told her that his mother punched him and shot him in the face with a BB gun.”

Prosecutors petitioned the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal to either re-hear or modify its opinion in the case of social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, 34, and Patricia Clement, 69, and two supervisors, Kevin Bom, 40, and Gregory Merritt, 64.  The four were charged in March 2016 with one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying public records in connection with Gabriel Fernandez’s death.

Isauro Aguirre — the boyfriend of the child’s mother — was sentenced to death in June 2018 after being convicted of first-degree murder.  Jurors found true the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture.

LYING IS PART OF WHAT NEEDS TOTAL REALIGNMENT

The boy’s mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading to first-degree murder and admitting the torture allegation.

FOUR SOCIAL WORKERS CHARGED

In September 2018, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli denied a motion to dismiss the charges against the social workers, calling the young boy’s death “foreseeable.”

LA JUDGE WALKING TALL AGAINST 4 CPS EMPLOYEES

In a Jan. 6 ruling, the appellate court panel found that there was no probable cause to hold the two social workers and their supervisors on the charges and ruled that the trial court should have granted the defense’s motion to dismiss the case against them.

Associate Justice Victoria Gerrard Chaney concurred that the four could not be charged with child abuse, but wrote a dissenting opinion arguing that they could be prosecuted as public officers under the relevant government code section.

PROSECUTOR SAYS CPS COVERING UP OWN MISBEHAVIOR

“Allowing a social worker to evade liability for falsifying a public document would incentivize social workers to put their own interests in avoiding liability for their misdeeds above the purpose of the state’s child welfare statutory scheme, which is child safety,” Chaney wrote.

“The petitioners’ actions here prevented the system from working in whatever way it might have had they done their jobs honestly, and offers no incentive for either DCFS or individual social workers to work to reform and repair the parts of the system that may fail the children it is intended to protect,” she added. “We have, in effect, encouraged DCFS and its social workers to cover their tracks if they stumble on the cracks in the system.”

JUSTICE FOR GABRIEL, CPS NEXT

In their petition for reconsideration of the decision on the social workers’ case, prosecutors wrote, “If facts known to petitioners suggested Gabriel’s caretakers would harm him, petitioners had a duty to control Pearl and Isauro, to protect Gabriel and to prevent Pearl and Isauro from murdering him. If petitioners weren’t supposed to protect Gabriel from his killers, who was? …. It was their duty to supervise and control Pearl and Isauro’s conduct when it came to how Pearl and Isauro treated Gabriel.”

An autopsy showed that the boy had a fractured skull, several broken ribs and burns over much of his body. His teacher testified that she called Rodriguez multiple times to report that Gabriel told her that his mother punched him and shot him in the face with a BB gun.

Defense attorneys argued that the abuse and torture escalated months after a file on the boy had been closed and that there was insufficient evidence to take him away from his mother.

A Feb. 18 pretrial hearing is scheduled in the case, which was effectively put on hold during the appellate court proceedings.

Administration Agenda, Better Laws, Child Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, Death, Good Parenting

Land Of Choosing Who Is Above The Law

4 Comments
.jpg photo of child abuse graphic
How Can CPS Be Above The Law

DA Wants Re-Hearing for Social Workers
in Child Abuse Death of
Gabriel Fernandez

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA  –  Los Angeles County prosecutors are asking a state appellate court panel to reconsider its ruling that directed a lower court to dismiss charges against four social workers who were accused of failing to protect an 8-year-old Antelope Valley boy who was killed in May 2013.

.jpg photo of child beat to death in california in 2013
Gabriel Fernandez, 8-years-old.

“An autopsy showed that the boy had a fractured skull, several broken ribs and burns over much of his body. His teacher testified that she called Rodriguez multiple times to report that Gabriel told her that his mother punched him and shot him in the face with a BB gun.”

Prosecutors petitioned the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal to either re-hear or modify its opinion in the case of social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, 34, and Patricia Clement, 69, and two supervisors, Kevin Bom, 40, and Gregory Merritt, 64.  The four were charged in March 2016 with one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying public records in connection with Gabriel Fernandez’s death.

Isauro Aguirre — the boyfriend of the child’s mother — was sentenced to death in June 2018 after being convicted of first-degree murder.  Jurors found true the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture.

LYING IS PART OF WHAT NEEDS TOTAL REALIGNMENT

FOUR SOCIAL WORKERS CHARGED

LA JUDGE WALKING TALL AGAINST 4 CPS EMPLOYEES

PROSECUTOR SAYS CPS COVERING UP OWN MISBEHAVIOR

JUSTICE FOR GABRIEL, CPS NEXT

Administration Agenda, Child Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, Coverup, CPS Tainted Numbers, Equal Justice

Recurring Nightmare For Children, Parents In AZ

7 Comments
.jpg photo graphic of corruption within the CPS and HHS
How Can CPS Be Above The Law

Arizona: CPS Worker Defies Gag Order – Exposes Violent Child Sex Ring In
State Foster System

“November 21, 2013, 6,000 uninvestigated Arizona CPS Case Files were found beside a dumpster“.

APPARENTLY CHILDREN DON’T MATTER IN ARIZONA

Arizona House passes bill to limit child abuse investigations from hotline calls

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE EXCEPT CHILDRENS CAGES

As Media Freaks Over 159 Measles Cases, Thousands of Kids Sold as Sex Slaves Out of Foster Care

SIERRA VISTA, AZ  –  While many think that the state taking children from parents is a noble gesture to protect the child, all too often, the state removes kids from a bad situation and throws them into a situation akin to a horror film.  Many times the children are taken from caring parents, who happened to hit a rough patch in their lives, and thrown into torturous and outright sadistic situations where they end up raped, tortured, and even murdered.

Beth Breen, a former employee of Arizona DCS recently broke her gagging order and went on Northwest Liberty News where she detailed the horrifying treatment suffered by a young girl named Devani at the hands of the state foster system.

According to Breen, she is not supposed to speak about the case because of the gag order, but is anyway because the information is vital and the order unconstitutional.

Breene explained that she was a driver for a 5-year-old girl whose stay in foster care ended with her being permanently disfigured and fighting for her life in ICU because of her bureaucratic ‘protection’ within the system.  The child, who is referred to as Jane Doe in a lawsuit, but whose real name is Devani, was taken from her parents because they had substance abuse issues.

Because her mother struggled with addiction, the state took Devani from her.  Like mentioned before, they took her from a bad situation and threw her into a nightmare where she was repeatedly raped and tortured.

Breene’s job involved driving Devani from her foster home 90 miles away for a 2-hour supervised visit with her parents each week.  Because the round trip was four hours, Breene spent more time with Devani than her parents.

During the interview, Breene states that there were 36 police reports made to the foster home in which Devani lived, but that they were never investigated.  The foster parent, David Frodsham — the deputy commander of the Fort Huachuca Army base, a position he held after being kicked out of Afghanistan for deviant sexual behavior — would only be arrested after this monster became so overtly careless that he went to the foster office drunk to collect his check for fostering children.

Breene said she was perplexed at the fact that only three people were arrested in connection with the child sex trafficking and torture ring Frodsham was running out of his DCS-approved foster home.  Instead of opening a statewide investigation after Frodsham and another sex-trafficking sicko were arrested, the state went after those who tried to expose it.  During the interview, Breene explains how she was arrested for peacefully protesting the abuse of children inside the system.

In 2017, TFTP reported on Devani’s case and a subsequent lawsuit which is nothing short of something out of a horror film.

After having her child taken, Michelle Tremor-Calderon, the girl’s biological mother, began to improve her condition.  With a clearer head, Tremor noticed that her daughter seemed to be deteriorating in the care of her state-appointed foster parent — David Frodsham.

“I did everything DCS wanted me to, and received certificates of completion, and was in full compliance when my rights were severed,” Tremor said.

After only a few weeks in the care of the Frodsham, multiple signs of abuse and neglect began to arise.  However, no action was taken.

Tremor had pointed out, on multiple occasions, that her daughter had continued urinary-tract infections, which can sometimes indicate signs of repeated sexual abuse in children.  Her concerns, however, fell on deaf bureaucratic ears.

“I told my CPS/DCS caseworker on several occasions due to my concerns, and they were all ignored,” Tremor said.

“Instead of investigating Jane Doe’s biological mother’s concerns of abuse, [DCS] and the defendant caseworkers accused her of making false and exaggerated reports to DCS,” the lawsuit states.

Despite jumping through all their hoops, the state refused to give back Tremor her daughter.

The longer she stayed away from her mom, the worst things got for little Devani.

Frodsham had been in the state’s foster program from 2002 until 2015 when he was removed after being caught DUI with children in his car — one of whom was Devani.

It was no ordinary DUI, however.  This monster was so comfy with the statist system that was paying him to rape children that he went to the foster office drunk to get paid!

As the complaint notes, despite her mother’s repeated complaints, the state did not act on behalf of Devani until “David Frodsham, driving drunk, left 3-year-old Jane and another child in his parked car while he was collecting his foster parent check in a state office, while “visibly drunk and acting belligerent.”

Even after they found abused children in his car while drunk at the state office, the DCS did not conduct a review of his home.  It took him getting arrested again — this time with another child rapist.

David Frodsham, the state’s choice for a better environment than her own mother, was arrested along with an active duty soldier for allegations of transferring child porn over the internet.

According to the lawsuit, “Later, David Frodsham was arrested and accused of sexual misconduct with a minor, procuring minors for sex, and possessing and/or manufacturing child pornography.  Law enforcement’s investigation revealed a video made by David Frodsham of a 3- or 4-year-old girl being penetrated by an adult male and screaming for her mommy.  David Frodsham pled guilty rather than face a trial and has been sentenced to 17 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections. David Frodsham was part of a pornography ring involving numerous children in his pornography and the procurement of sex for the ring.”

For more than a decade, this sicko likely preyed on children — all of whom were given to him by the State of Arizona.

Naturally, one would think, that once Tremor’s daughter was found to have been placed in a home and sexually abused because of the negligence of the state, they would give Devani back to her mom who had done everything they asked to improve her situation.  However, one would be wrong.

Instead of reuniting this poor abused girl with her biological mother, she was placed into another horrifying nightmare.

Devani’s new state-appointed abuser was Samantha Osteraas.  After staying with Osteraas for a few months, this little girl would be nearly killed.

According to the complaint, “Defendant Samantha Osteraas submerged and held down Jane Doe, a 5-year-old, in a bath of scalding hot water.  Jane Doe suffered severe burns over 80 percent of her body.  When police arrived, there was blood on the floor and pieces of Jane Doe’s skin were falling off her body.  There were bruises to her neck and arms along with other signs of trauma.”

Devani was put into a medically induced coma, suffering from organ failure.  She lost her toes to amputation “and will undergo lifelong operations to replace 80 percent of the skin on her body and will need incredible amounts of care for the duration of her life as a result of the abuse she suffered in the Osteraases’ home.”

No one within the agencies involved in placing this little girl in the ‘care’ of sick child abusers has been held accountable.  The only means of accountability will come from this lawsuit which seeks punitive damages for negligence, breach of duty, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery, and constitutional violations.

Sadly, as the Free Thought Project has reported far too many times, this is not an isolated incident.

Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many in the mainstream media and the government refuse to see this very real epidemic of child sex trafficking in the United States.  What’s more, according to the government’s own data, the vast majority of a portion of these trafficked kids are coming from the government system who promises to keep them safe—a horrifying irony indeed. But it appears to be set up this way.

This system is set up to pull children from their families for ridiculous reasons and turn them over to for profit systems—funded by your tax dollars—that use these children as cash cows and have no incentive to keep them safe.

In 1984, the United States Congress established the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and, as part of Missing Children’s Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2013 they receive $40 million to study and track missing and trafficked children in the United States.

In 2017, NCMEC assisted law enforcement with over 27,000 cases of missing children, the majority who were considered endangered runaways.

According to their most recent report compiled from FBI data and their own, of the nearly 25,000 runaways reported to NCMEC in 2017, one in seven were likely victims of child sex trafficking.  Of those, 88 percent were in the care of social services when they went missing.

Showing the scope of the abuse, in 2017 alone, NCMEC’s CyberTipline, a national mechanism for the public and electronic service providers to report instances of suspected child sexual exploitation, received over 10 million reports.  According to NCMEC, most of these tips were related to the following:

  • Apparent child sexual abuse images.
  • Online enticement, including “sextortion.”
  • Child sex trafficking.
  • Child sexual molestation.

Other governmental organizations have corroborated this horrifying trend.  In a 2013 FBI 70-city nationwide raid, 60 percent of the victims came from foster care or group homes.  In 2014, New York authorities estimated that 85 percent of sex trafficking victims were previously in the child welfare system.  In 2012, Connecticut police rescued 88 children from sex trafficking; 86 were from the child welfare system.

Equally as disturbing as the fact that most sex trafficked kids come from within the system is the fact that the FBI discovered in a 2014 nationwide raid that many foster children rescued from sex traffickers, including children as young as 11, were never reported missing by child welfare authorities.

Even high-level government officials have been ensnared in these foster care abuse scandals.  As TFTP previously reported, multiple victims came forward and accused Seattle Mayor Ed Murray of sexually abusing them when they were children in Washington’s foster care system.

The records in that case, dating back to 1984, explicitly noted that Ed Murray should “never again be utilized as a certified CSD resource for children.”  It also showed that a criminal case was brought against Murray by prosecutors but in spite of the multiple accusations, charges were somehow never filed and his records buried.

As Snopes and the mainstream media in general attempts to smear those who try to call attention to alleged and very real child trafficking, the government’s own data shows how irresponsible this is.  While there are certainly some outlandish theories being presented online, the facts are outlandish enough to warrant serious scrutiny. Until this epidemic is taken seriously, the government, the media, and all those who deny it will remain complicit in keeping it going.

As Michael Dolce, who specializes in these horrific child abuse cases, pointed out last year, “we have set up a system to sex traffic American children.”  Indeed, and as the mainstream media continues to sensationalize issues like the non-crisis of vaping or measles or any other fear-mongering content, they are providing perfect cover to keep that system going.