Thursday, April 23, 2009

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Senator Schodorf and Speaker of House Mike O'Neal Request Investigation into Sedgwick County DA's Office and SRS

Child removal inquiry's focus
By Roxana HegemanThe Associated Press
Published Friday, October 31, 2008WICHITA —

A bipartisan Legislative agency soon will begin an investigation into whether social workers are being unduly influenced by prosecutors in child removal cases across Kansas.Deputy post auditor Leo Hafner said Thursday that the investigation into the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services will start in the next two or three weeks.Although the probe originated because of allegations of bullying by the Sedgwick County district attorney's office, the audit will be conducted statewide to give it "the most bang for the buck," Hafner said.The Legislative Post Audit Committee last month approved the SRS probe after statements by SRS Secretary Don Jordan that the Sedgwick County prosecutors "bullied" social workers to put things in affidavits that they didn't truly believe.Jordan since has backed off those statements, and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston has denied the accusation. But lawmakers still pushed for an investigation — saying they had heard such allegations even before Jordan's widely publicized statements."SRS fully intends to cooperate with LPA during the course of the audit and we look forward to seeing any resultant findings," SRS spokeswoman Michelle Ponce said in an e-mail.The committee decided on Sept. 17 to pursue the audit proposal submitted by Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, because it was broad in scope. A similar request for an investigation of SRS also had been submitted by Rep. Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson.Schodorf said she asked for the audit after Kansas Attorney General Stephen Six declined to investigate, citing Jordan's retraction of his statements.In a July 22 letter to the senator, Six wrote that without further evidence he didn't believe an investigation by his office was warranted."I decided to pursue it more because we have had so many complaints and these people are very persuasive," Schodorf said. "They have very specific examples of what they thought was mishandled in their case and I thought we needed to look at it especially because these were cases concerning children."The findings will be forwarded to the Kansas attorney general's office, which is standard procedure, Hafner said. The results will also be forwarded to any oversight committees, like the social services committee, for possible legislative action."If they feel laws need to be changed, legislation may be introduced to do that," Hafner said. "They really do not have a hammer to make things change — unless the budgetary office puts in some provisos to cause the agency to change things."Investigators plan to survey social workers about any concerns over prosecutorial pressure in an effort to identify areas of the state that appear to have potential problems, according to the audit's scope statement. For any specific cases identified, more in-depth interviews would be conducted.The post audit also will examine whether social workers and case managers receive sufficient training to deal with prosecutors and the courts. It also will look at whether there are enough SRS workers to handle caseloads.The simmering suspicions that led to the probe were stoked by statements Jordan made during a March 18 meeting with Citizens for Change in Topeka, in which he said: "But in Sedgwick County oftentimes we end up writing things because it's what our social workers get bullied by the district attorney's office into writing. So they really have no belief in what it says."Later in the meeting, Jordan also said: "I am working on our staff that we do our assessments properly, and we not get bullied into writing things we don't believe. But then the reality comes down to, you send a 25-year-old social worker into a room with a 15-year county ADA (assistant district attorney) who is willing to yell at them, cuss at them, scream at them and threaten them, you know."The investigation is expected to take 15 to 20 weeks to complete.

Youthville Board of Director Member, Larry Dexter Vice President of Engineering for COX, Gives $25,000 To Youthville For The Walk A Mile Art Exhibit

How about walking a mile in the shoes of children and families that have been torn apart needlessly on falsified documents. SRS Secretary of State Don Jordan stated that the DA in Sedgwick County bullies Social Workers into falsifying documents to remove children from their homes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2BhDnnC2x4

Youthville CEO Shelley Duncan made over $155,000 in 2006 plus over $11,000 in benefits.
Youthville wages paid in 2006 cost the tax payers over $14.5 Million alone and that doesn't include services. If Youthville can pay those type of wages, why would anyone think that Youthville needs more funds?
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2007/480/543/2007-480543712-049bd5ef-9.pdf

Cox Communications helps Youthville share
powerful traveling Walk A Mile art exhibit with audiences
(Wichita, Kan., Feb. 17, 2009) – On Thursday, February 19 at 2 pm, Larry Dexter, Vice President of Engineering for Cox Kansas/Arkansas will present a $25,000 check to Youthville’s President and CEO, Shelley Duncan at its corporate location,4505 E. 47th St. South. This gift will allow thousands of people in cities across Kansas to experience the stories of children in the child welfare system by viewing the Walk A Mile art exhibition.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

4/16/09 Deb Farris of KAKE News in Wichita is INVESTIGATING Possible Abuses in KS Foster Care System

Posted 4/16/09 on Senator Julia Lynn website:::
http://www.senatorjulialynn.com/
Deb Farris of KAKE News in Wichita is investigating possible abuses in KS Foster Care system...

STOP Warehousing Our Children

Januray 6, 2009 Residents of Sedgwick County, KS spoke before Legislators in regards to the illegal seizure of children and violations of State, Federal and Constitutional law against families. In 2005 the Legislators were told by Social Workers that they were to ignore laws. In 2008 the Secretary of SRS said that Social Workers in Sedgwick County were being bullied by the DA to falsify documents to remove children from their families. We are asking for an Outside Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute all individuals who have broken the law and violated the rights of children and their families.