Is Child fatality disclosure hindered by Bureaucratic circumventing and ignorance?
Part 2 of a 4 part investigative report
Part 2: Is DSS failure to reply to disclosure requests, breaking the law?
Twenty-six county DSS offices were contacted seeking disclosure about child abuse, neglect and maltreatment fatalities from 2008 to present.
Overall, most counties replied quickly, although there were some issues.
Email addresses for each counties DSS director was obtained from the North Carolina Department of Social Services, Local County Directory, so it could be assumed that these email addresses were correct.
Yet, in two of these disclosure requests, it took 3 to 4 emails in order to obtain a response.
Failure to reply
Several counties did not reply to disclosure requests that were emailed to them.
- Surry County DSS—Wayne Black, Director: Email sent November 5, 2011
- Mecklenburg County DSS—Mary Wilson, Director: Email sent November 5, 2011
- Northampton County DSS—Dr. Al Wentzy, Director: Email sent November 7, 2011
Out of these three counties, later emails copied to other DSS personnel resulted in an email from two County Directors, apologizing for the delay, and explaining that the original emails were sent to the wrong email address.
One response directed the requestor to contact someone:
Surry County Department of Social Services--Wayne Black
A disclosure request was emailed to Surry County DSS Director, Wayne Black, November 7, 2011, requesting disclosure of any findings and information about Kali Bekia Martin, a 4-year-old child, who died March 18, 2009, in Winston-Salem at the hands of the people her mother had entrusted with her care while she was incarcerated.
When Director Black finally responded, December 17, 2011, after 2 previous attempts, and a third that was sent CC to other Surry DSS employees, he stated,
"...Our Department does not have the information that is being requested. You will need to contact Angie Stevenson with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services regarding your request."
Angie Stevenson is an Assistant Attorney General, when the requestor contacted her, Ms. Stevenson could not fathom why Director Black would direct a person seeking disclosure to her.
If Surry County DSS had no record of any reports, accepted or unaccepted, all Director Black legally had to do was inform the requestor that Surry County DSS never had any contact with Kali Martin.
Why Director Black felt the need to direct the requestor to an Assistant Attorney General instead is a mystery.
One County has never responded at all.
Northampton County Department of Social Services—Dr. Al Wentzy
On November 7, 2011, a child fatality disclosure request was sent to Northampton DSS Director, Dr. Al Wentzy, seeking findings and information about Khisha Freeman, a 13 month-old child, who died December 20, 2009.
Since that initial email, four more emails have been sent to Director Wentzy, the last two, emailed November 23, 2011 and December 22, 2011, were also copied to:
- Linda Moody, Administrative Officer/Personnel
- Leta Coleman, Administrative Assistant/Administrative Support Supervisor
- Alice Brunson, Family and Children's Services Supervisor
Strangely, none of these emails has ever generated a response from any of the recipients.
So what exactly can you do, if you feel the very people who are ordered by law to release it are ignoring your disclosure request?
Child abuse fatality and near fatality disclosure is a federally mandated, state law. Since the federal government and state statute require this release of information, failure to obey this law should carry some form of punishment, right?
However, those seeking legally remedies to compel disclosure may find no legal recourse available to make these agencies comply with the law.
While there is a provision within the state law for relief if you feel disclosure was denied without good faith or in the absence of a valid statutory reason, it is silent on punishment for those public agencies who fail to comply at all.
When a law is a noncriminal offense, neither a felony nor misdemeanor, breaking it is called an infraction.
North Carolina General Statute specifically defines infractions as:
§ 14‑3.1. Infraction defined; sanctions.
(a) An infraction is a noncriminal violation of law not punishable by imprisonment. Unless otherwise provided by law, the sanction for a person found responsible for an infraction is a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00). The proceeds of penalties for infractions are payable to the county in which the infraction occurred for the use of the public schools.
(b)The procedure for disposition of infractions is as provided in Article 66 of Chapter 15A of the General Statutes.
Taking this law as it is written, seems to indicate that departments that fail to comply with statutory child abuse fatality and near fatality disclosure can, and should be sanctioned.
Furthermore, DSS directors who fail to perform their duties, according to the law, might face criminal punishment, when they willfully neglect, omit, or refuse to do their legally obligated duties.
Therefore, requestor's may be able to seek criminal charges for directors who fail to observe this law.
But, are these legal remedies really available to the public, when DSS directors work so closely with local district attorney's, police departments, and sheriff offices?
When a reply was not received from Surry County DSS Director, Wayne Black, after a month and nine days, the Surry County District Attorney was contacted.
Ricky Bowman, Surry County District Attorney, never replied to an email describing Director Black's failure to respond to legally required disclosure.
DSS director's and county employees are not immune from the law, yet when they break the law, they are rarely charged.
Failure to perform their duties and follow state and federal laws can and does cost children their lives. If anything, all CPS employees, appointed or hired, should be held to a higher standard than ordinary citizens.
When the cost of failure is the life of a child, why are DSS directors and employees allowed to continually break the law and get away with it?
If the role of DSS is to protect children, why are they failing to release vital information about child fatalities and near fatalities that could help identify issues and problems in CPS cases and repair them, so children are better protected?
Why is DSS failing to respond to disclosure requests?
These questions urgently need an answer.
Up next in this series: Child death disclosure hindered by Bureaucratic circumventing, ignorance?
Part 3: Bureaucratic circumventing; avoiding disclosure by statutory maneuvering?
Is mandatory disclosure, being avoided by Bureaucratic circumventing?
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