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Old May 28th 07, 09:57 AM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking,alt.support.foster-parents
Greegor
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Default CPS Caseworker Charged

Kane wrote
The story below has to be a lie. According to my sources, here in this
ng, CPS workers are not caught doing these things. CPS covers up for
them.
How could this be then?


From the article:
The charge follows a yearlong investigation by the Office of the
Inspector General and comes on the heels of a Tampa Tribune
story Sunday that looked at workers falsifying child welfare records.


CPS didn't police themselves until this scandal blew up
beyond their control. In Florida the Child Protection INDUSTRY
doesn't carry the political clout they once did.

Remember how years ago they hired an honest man, Jerry Regier,
to clean up DCYF, but rather than clean it up he actually
JOINED in the corruption!

The Child Protection INDUSTRY in Florida
has fallen smack on it's face IN PUBLIC.
It's a bit late for PR spin in Florida!




Fired Caseworker Charged Over Records


By SHERRI ACKERMAN The Tampa Tribune


Published: Apr 28, 2007


TAMPA - A former child welfare worker fired for lying about visiting
children in her care was arrested Friday and charged with a third-degree
felony.


Margaret "Peggy" Haq, 55, of 3719 W. Wisconsin Ave., faces up to five
years in jail and $5,000 in fines for falsifying state records.


She is the second Tampa caseworker in little more than a month to be
charged with a felony by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.


The charge follows a yearlong investigation by the Office of the
Inspector General and comes on the heels of a Tampa Tribune story Sunday
that looked at workers falsifying child welfare records.


Haq was featured in the story, in which state officials are calling for
more convictions.


Haq was once a supervisor for The Children's Home Inc., a private
contractor that provided local oversight of foster children for the
state. She later became a caseworker and said she juggled as many as 48
cases at a time.


The inspector general's investigation uncovered 12 false entries by Haq
in a computer system designed to monitor children's care.


One of the children, who had not been seen by a caseworker in three
months, landed in juvenile detention for 21 days. A month later, he ran
away from his sister's home.


Haq told the Tribune that she was fired for speaking out against a
supervisor during a court proceeding. She also described a system that
relied on falsehoods and pressured workers to rush to close cases.


She got bogged down in paperwork, she said, and didn't have time to file
mileage reports. When she couldn't visit children, her supervisor told
her to report that she had, Haq said.


About a month after The Children's Home dismissed Haq, she was hired to
do similar work at another child welfare agency, Directions for Mental
Health. Haq was fired again, for falsifying records.


She said she was doing what she was told.


Robin Melissa Schofield, 31, of Tampa, was charged last month with two
counts of falsifying official records. Her time sheets at The Children's
Home showed that the caseworker wasn't working on days she claimed to
visit children. She also failed to file mileage reports - a red flag to
supervisors.


Schofield posted $5,000 bail and was released from jail. Haq was
released Friday on $2,000 bail.


Gerard Veneman, president and chief operating officer of The Children's
Home, said Haq's arrest confirms the agency's findings.


Both arrests send a message to other employees, he said. Lying at the
risk of children's lives won't be tolerated.