Arkansas Blog

Thanks for putting the heat on Max.

If they don't do some real in-depth and 20 year previous investigation of the grandfather in question, the same mistakes are likely to be made all over again. If the LR press back in 2002 had been worth the ink they wrote with, possibly this could have come to light then. But no, that wasn't the issue, was it...

Tks Max and Leslie. Education will certainly help and better laws, but how does one teach a community when one has vested one's life trying to correct the abuse experienced all the way into the institution of family, church and state? You might wish to look at or pull up Irving Goffman's works Asylums, Stigma, and Presentation of Self. Though dated and in someways written with a different level of concious awareness, the read will be an orientatioin to some of the issues and struggles people face but are forced to keep "within the family". Yet how does the family become stronger if not to learn how to have the courage to face problems with love, foregivenss and assistance to make things right. There is nothing shameless about healing and wanting to become whole.

Big difference between Governor and Legislator. You must run the beauracracy. You gotta crack some heads when needed, set an agenda, and expect it to be followed. Let you pals hob nob and work the crowd. This is a different job.

We were foster parents and the abuse and lack of care is rampant throughout DHS. When we complained about the lack of management, we were told we were racisits, becuase most of the case workers where african american. We could have buried our foster kids in the back yard for months (and we told DHS so) before the caseworkers would check in on the kids. We finally had enough and had to get out of the foster program, but not before we adopted our last foster kid (a beautiful 11 yr old girl). Put the program under federal control, clean it up. It is obvious the State can't do it.!!

"Gov. Beebe, can we trouble you to give a damn?"

Yes, Max, I think we can. As long as the A-T and this blog keep up the pressure by exposing the incompetence underlying this and other child abuse tragedies, and those at the top who are derelict in their responsibilities and culpability . . . yes, we can.

The old guard still doesn't get it -- about the internet. They've no idea how immediately and widely cases like this, or of Lu Hardin, for instance, go viral and won't let up or go away.

If Governor Beebe doesn't get it yet, he will in a few days. So will DHS, Child Services Division, its leaders and administrators and case workers who are all directly responsible for these appalling child abuses.

Keep holding their feet to the fire here, bloggers. If the A-T blog is primarily responsible for exposing and getting rid of Lu Hardin (and the Board members who went along with Lu's lying extortion) and ultimately replacing them with administrators of openness and integrity at UCA (and it is), this blog will also provide the impetus for solving this hideous problem too . . . and lead to the firing of those incompetents at DHS who maintain-the-good-ol'-boy status-quo, and their replacements by people of integrity who can actually do their jobs.

If that includes Gov. Beebe, so be it.

I hope Beebe realizes what a narrow window of time he has to jump in PUBLICLY and take strong corrective action rather than make excuses.

Beebe only has to look at the example of Lu Hardin's downfall to learn the lessons of 21st Century politics and the power of the internet.

Beebe has but a small window of time to recognize the influence and power of this and other blogs around our state, our country and the world.

Walter Hussman and the D-G and their network of GOBs don't realize that people -- REAL people -- have a hugely effective collective voice. As in the case of Lu Hardin, old-stream media lag far behind the rest of us. They are old news before they go to print, and advertisers are catching on.

"The fish rots from the head," they say. And this situation, Governor, already stinks to high heaven.

Oh, yeah. One more thing. The adult perpetrators in these tragedies, the direct child abusers and the indirect child abusers at DHS, are all heterosexuals.

Thank you for continuing to address this issue. I just contacted the governor's office, and will continue to do so. While everyone knows DHS is broken, we cannot let the deaths of 4 innocent children slide. As a clinical social worker, I am reminded that many esteemed colleagues refuse to work at DHS for these very reasons...and so it goes.

I dislike the slap at Beebe. I know he is on top of this. Government has a duty to act carefully and deliberately. You should know Beebe will get to the bottom of this and make changes for the better.

How long has he been on the job?

thenaturalstate; please understand when I say that most every one on this blog knows of my feelings but I must say that I will even agree with Normabates on this one.

"Government has a duty to act carefully and deliberately." Just because Our gov. has a duty does not mean that they will fulfill that duty. In fact I must say that most examples of our governments attention to its duties has very very few and far in between.
In 1982 two I know of two children living on race Street who were left out on the door step in the cold all night long because the daddy got too drunk at a new years eve party. He felt they were too young to be a part of the festivities the people who told me about it said they found out what happened the next morning and called the police. The police picked the kids up and was told by DHS to return them to their paternal parent. Red Tape in action. The man had a history of things like this but DHS refused to remove the kids saying that it would be more harmful in the long run.

Only norma would know for sure of their sexual preferences.

Okay, thenaturalstate.

How much thought and effort would it have taken Governor Beebe to INSTANTLY issue a sound-bite statement something to the effect of, "We are heartbroken over the tragedy of these four children and other recent child-abuse cases that have come to our attention and we're IMMEDIATELY working to get at the heart of the issues involving our oversight of the DHS, Child Services Division, and doing whatever it takes to solve them."

Would've taken about five minutes. And maybe the Governor DID! But I haven't heard or seen such a statement yet.

BTW, thenaturalstate, do you REALLY think it appropriate to state, "I dislike the slap at Beebe," when the children involved have been slapped, spanked, beaten with electrical cords, slammed into walls, scalded with boiling water and on and on?

Are you trying to be funny? Or just stupidly, insensitively, Freudian-slippish and defensive for some reason?

"You should know Beebe will get to the bottom of this and make changes for the better. "

What a bunch of boiler-plate claptrap is THAT statement. WHY "should" I know? DHS is stonewalling and Governor Beebe hasn't publicly addressed the issue.

THAT'S what I know, cupcake.

FACTS.

Not, "coulda, woulda, shoulda."

PLEASE tell us you're not going to turn into another know-nothing parrot-poster here, for whom we simply hit "ignore" and move on because you've nothing to say?

Or are you Beebe's PR spokesperson?

So far, moon-pie, that's what you sound like.

I'll believe Beebe's "on top of this," as you say, when he says and does something about it.

from Stephens News today:

"Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe arrived in the Mile High City on Tuesday and he was the guest speaker at a luncheon sponsored by Entergy of Arkansas."

Journalists looking for a quote from Beebe should always remember to just follow the utility logos.

You people act like the Gov. instructed a DHS worker to make sure this child was beaten by his parents.

Let's put blame where blame is due. Who is criminally liable here. The abuser is who you should be directing your anger at first. If the mom was not the abuser - then she surely knew the child was being abused and did nothing. Then the grandmother apparently who allowed the parents to live in her house while the child was being abused ( from what I can tell the grandmother was not connected to the child protection arm of DHS )

So what did the worker do wrong? Let's review: a month before the serious injuries, the aunt noticed "bruises on his buttocks and back." It doesn't say how big, how many, what color etc.

Are you people saying anytime there is a child with "bruises on buttocks and back" we should (1) instantly assume it is child abuse and (2) place that child in foster care ? I bet most of you have raised a child and you know that children get bruises all sorts of ways. While I don't agree with corporal punishment - especially on a 26 month old -- temporary bruises are not necessarily abuse when done for moderate punishment. We aren't talking black eyes - no marks on the face, no marks from switches or cords -- the other injuries came later and were clearly extreme abuse.

When your child is taken into foster care because of a few "bruises on buttocks and back" --- I'm sure the reaction will be "that gestapo DHS" and we will hear all about how you can't even spank your kids any more ( you can of course )

Before you no-nothings start attacking "the system" --- do you even know what the definition of child abuse is? Do you have any clue ? I doubt it -- you probably think we should just "know it when we see it" Who needs definitions right? Of course, that's not how it works.

From what I see child abuse includes: Doing any other act that is likely to cause, and which does cause, bodily harm greater than transient pain or minor temporary marks. (12-12-503)

So from what we know from this article ---- do we know if the child's original bruises were more than "minor temporary marks." No we don't. Maybe they were - there are photos so clearly someone knows -

Someone who is so appalled with DHS explain to me why, based on the information we know, this was such a horrendous mistake to refrain from putting this child in foster care because of a few bruises on the child's backside. If we are going to demand that every child with the exact same set of injuries needs to go into foster care --- show me how this state \ can accommodate a few thousand more children a year.

Ok....I'm done ranting now. Back to "The Hills" on tivo. Lauren is having a huge party - bet there will be drama.

"You people act like the Gov. instructed a DHS worker to make sure this child was beaten by his parents."

No, missarkansas, nobody here has said anything like that. Just you.

Nor are we thrilled that you set up your lying straw dogs and spend paragraph upon paragraph deconstructing your own lies.

When a grocery store worker instantly recognizes child abuse when seen, and calls authorities, rescuing a child from torture, that's a good thing.

It was investigated and the "parents" are in jail on huge bonds. Thankfully.

You, on the other hand, quibble here about "how big, how many, what color etc." were the physical signs of abuse on this child.

You ask, furthering your straw man "argument,", "We should (1) instantly assume it is child abuse and (2) place that child in foster care?"

Your statement is a flat lie. It's not at ALL what's happened in this case. Nor has anybody, but you, said so on this blog nor in the news reports.

"Doctors said it was as if he'd hit a brick wall at 65 miles per hour." That's the factual report.

Not "because of a few bruises on the child's backside," missarkansas, as you lie again.

Freddie Bradford was diagnosed with "a fractured skull, detached gallbladder, internal bleeding and bruises all over his body."

Anne Orsi Smith, attorney for Tanya Bradford and Randall Bradford, said she's handled child abuse cases for the past 15 years and that she'd seen "some pretty bad cases. This one ranks way up there."

Little Freddy's grandfather, Randall Bradford of Solvang, Calif., is seeking custody. Not some anonymous "foster family" as you would have us believe.

"If we are going to demand that every child with the exact same set of injuries needs to go into foster care --- show me how this state \ can accommodate a few thousand more children a year."

That statement is another lie. NOBODY is "demanding" that, nor does it apply in this case.

"While I don't agree with corporal punishment - especially on a 26 month old -- temporary bruises are not necessarily abuse when done for moderate punishment."

Exactly how old must babies BE, missarkansas, before you approve of assault and battery and fractured skulls and detached gall bladders?

Those aren't "temporary bruises," as you LIE AGAIN!

27 months work for you? Three years? Is that okay by you?

Do you think we're idiots, here?

"Freddie Bradford was diagnosed with a fractured skull, detached gallbladder, internal bleeding and bruises all over his body," at Childrens' Hospital.

Yours, missarkansas, is the single most ugly lying hateful post I remember reading anywhere. Ever.

I've never said this about anybody before, but I'm saying it about you. Now.

You are human scum.

As for Beebe and DHS and my earlier post, I'll only reiterate it.

And I'll reiterate THIS:

You are lying human scum.

You can blame the mess that is DHS (DCFS) on the legislature. They have assisted in the mismanagement of the organization for MANY years. Creating plain stupid rules that contradict each other, cause needless cost and do nothing but make the life of a DHS file worker pure hell.

You can also put a lot of blame on the appointees by Governor Huckabee (and past governor's). The administrator who ran DCFS during much of the Hucksters rule (Kendall?) really f'ed up DCFS. I'm not sure what Bebe has done. He has not had the time to even start fixing DHS.

Another issue with DCFS is the pay. Many (most) of the social workers that work in the field for DHS make very low pay (mid 20's last time I checked), have to drive all over the county they are in, fight tooth and nail to get reimbursed for milage, have to put up with plain stupid administrative rules, have to use an outdated and poorly developed application (CHRIS) for tracking all cases, have to deal with a computer network that is antiquated (extremely slow and trouble prone) and have a case load that is just plain impossible to manage.

Many of the social workers don't have the training for this kind of work and DHS does not really want to spend the time giving the training. DHS simply wants warm bodies out in the field.

Last time I checked the turnover rate for field workers at DHS was massive.

I would welcome Max (or a coworker) to preform an in depth investigation into DHS. Its hiring practices, its management, the caseloads of the workers and the CHRIS documentation system. There are so many skeletons that just a preliminary investigation should make any journalist drool.

Oh where do I start:

Normabates doesn't see the details I'm seeing ( perhaps incorrectly)

There were two different injuries here -- the first set was just bruises -- the second set were the horrific injuries including the skull fracture.

It was the first set of injuries DHS is being accused of not acting properly on -- no one is saying anyone from DHS noticed the second set and failed to act. Am I right? Where did I lie?

I'll go back to my pond of scum now.

Pondscum here again -- just quoting directly from the article we are discussing, bracketed comments are mine:

On the evening of July 20, a concerned aunt drove her 26-month-old nephew to a Department of Human Services office in Little Rock to show caseworkers the bruises on his buttocks and back. [but normabates says 'Not "because of a few bruises on the child's backside," missarkansas, as you lie again. ] The child had been spending the night at his aunt's when she changed his diaper and discovered the marks.

The DHS worker on duty took photos of the boy, but told Amanda Allen, the aunt, to return the child to his mother.

Exactly a month later, Aug. 20, [ a month after first incident that DHS knew about] Freddy Bradford was taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital with a fractured skull, detached gallbladder, internal bleeding and bruises all over his body. Doctors said it was as if he'd hit a brick wall at 65 miles per hour. [where does it say DHS knew anything about this incident of abuse? I'm confused I guess how DHS knew about this incident before the child went to the hospital, but I"m confused frequently]

It is so sad this poor child suffered abuse. I hope those who are directly responsible are held accountable and he never has to be put at risk of injury again.

_________________________
I'll let you know a little secret. The reason I have such clear skin is my daily pondscum baths.

DHS has long portrayed itself as impotent. In my opinion, the caseworkers in "the trenches" have legitimate excuses (most of them). There are lots of excuses and there are merely reasons. Poor leadership is certainly one of the inexcusable ones.

Of course, DHS administrators are limited by the feckless laws our legislators challenge them to operate under. However, I believe that only someone who'll do most anything to get and keep a job is willing to accept the challenge and pretend that it's actually possible to protect all children in our state. When challenged to deal with reality, to respond to public scrutiny, I don't know what the defensive alternative to stonewalling would be for such a person.

Where children, usually the most vulnerable, impressionable and virtually defenseless among us are, in upside down fashion, protected less well than are the adults (even those behind bars), it reflects something untoward about our values for children. Too much, children are regarded as property, with which the owner has the prerogative to deal quite harshly, up to the point of morbid or mortal effect.

We can blame ourselves. We tolerate; support laws that provide parents with loopholes in the child maltreatment laws and the assault/battery laws that permit children to be physically assaulted in the name of correction and control. No adult, regardless of behavior or competency, can be disciplined with corporal punishment.

We don't provide clear direction or support to parents or to the child abuse protection entities... well, we do clearly say that a child may not be beaten to the extent that emergency medical treatment for more-than-transient pain and disfigurement is required. Unfortunately, tragically, this sort of guidance is only valuable in hindsight. Furthermore, the State Supreme Court has interpreted the laws to say that bruising a child, alone, does not substantiate child maltreatment. But, if I wanted to, I wouldn't be allowed to bruise any of the adults in my family.

It is common among experts to consider child abuse as spanking gone awry. They know that abusive parents will typically explain that they were only disciplining their child when confronted with criminal charges. So, as long as we say to parents, from the most supreme institutions, that it is okay to bruise a child's buttocks, back and thighs, we will have child abuse and we will have agencies that can do nothing to prevent more serious injuries. As long as we say to parents that it is legitimate to strike a child for any reason, we will have child abuse. Until we say, as a community, that it is never okay to hit and intentionally hurt a child in the name of discipline, we will continue to provide all the comfort that it takes for a parent to slip down that slope, from what is widely considered legitimate battering to delivering permanent physical and emotional harm to another human being.

We don't need more foster homes. We need to say, unequivocally, that no one may hit, slap, slug, spank, paddle, whoop, whip, flog, punch, kick, shake or, otherwise, cause a child to hurt physically or emotionally, in the name of discipline. And I would expect that to prohibit Arkansas teachers from hitting kids with a piece of lumber over 40,000 times annually.

missarkansas, I understand what you're saying. However -- in this case, we do know that the child's original set of bruises were bad enough that his AUNT drove him straight to a DHS office. That, to me, says they must have been pretty damn severe. The aunt was ratting out her own family, and she acted directly and immediately to try to get someone to intervene -- she didn't just make a concerned phone call after the fact. And from what the article said, DHS hadn't gotten around to following up before the second round of abuse happened. It's abundantly clear to me that the system failed this child. As did his own family -- how anyone could not try to help this child when they most likely heard him screaming, and definitely saw the results of the abuse, I can not fathom. I know how much noise my 1-year-old makes when I just scold him too loudly for his taste, so I can only imagine what you'd hear if a 2-year-old -- who may not even have the words yet to say "no, Mommy, stop" -- was being kicked and punched and whipped with extension cords. It's beyond sad that it was total strangers who finally had to come to his rescue. (And if any of those Harvest Foods employees are reading this: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for what you did. It took guts, and you most likely saved this child's life.)

I don't have any interest in pointing fingers here. It's a fact that caseworkers are underpaid and overworked to the extent that abused babies slip through the cracks all the time. Please, somebody who knows more about it than I do, just tell us what we need to do to fix it.

hillbillyswamp, I know a lot less about a lot of things than other folks but I can't keep it a secret. I just gotta say what I think. I'm not alwasy wrong.

Like I said, if we too casually tolerate the spanking of children, especially (not to mean exclusively) when it's the youngest ones. Almost all of this sort of misery, for the child, the grandparents, the parents and the rest of us, would be avoided if we didn't. A rule that proscribes hurtful hands on children, in and of itself, of course, doesn't stop out-of-control parents. However, if a parent is guided by peer pressure, community sanctions, public education, prohibitive laws (not jail or fines or just spanking the parents) to not think of using physical aggression to try to make a child regret her mistakes, then the trip along the continuum that connects child hitting (euphemistically disguised with words like slapping, spanking, popping, whupping, swatting, pinching or grabbing) with the rougher stuff that is frank, physical, life-threatening pummelling of a little body is much less likely to be taken. Think about it: nobody ever laughs at jokes about, suggests, tolerates, advises, recommends, supports or defends ever hitting a child for any reason.

Anymore, you very, very rarely, if ever, are exposed to some jerk suggesting that what your spouse needs is the back of your hand across the pie hole to get in line. Guess what? The National Crime Victimisation Survey (NCVS) reported that nonfatal violent victimisations committed by current or former spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends of the victims dropped from 5.8 to 3.0 per thousand between 1993 and 2001. More than the spouse abuse laws' punitive purpose, I believe that the community's loud condemnation of spouse assault has had the positive effect. The same effect could be expected from a similar law that protected chidren as much as adults. Better would be one concise law that prohibits people from hitting people. Talk to your neighborhood legislator, your state Congressman or Senator... or even your presidential candidate. Get the U.S. to abandon Somalia so that it becomes the ONLY nation in the U.N. to withold ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits corporal punishment of children.

I don't let the abuser of that baby off the hook. There were plenty aiding and abetting that crime.
But as long as we include in our blaming the not-so-bright or able bureaucrats at DHS, the governor, or anyone other than ourselves, we get to continue pretending that the only part of the problem that is our own burden is the lamenting.

Neverhitachild, I'm right there with you. I'm just not ready to say that's enough. Child abuse is more complicated than spousal/partner abuse -- adults at least have the ability to take *themselves* to a shelter and/or leave their abuser, and a great deal of the progress that's been made on that front, I think, is due to empowering victims to take back control of their lives. You can't do that with a 2-year-old. I guess what I'm saying is, yes, pass every law you can think of, but also do everything you can -- demand that the folks in charge fix DHS, sign up to be a foster parent or a CASA -- to shore up the safety net.

Neverhitachild, You are right about not hitting a child like with your fist or a bat but a lite limb or a small belt is sometimes the best way to make a child mind you.
A rod is for the back of him that lacks understanding. Since you don't understand means you are a candidate for a rod.

chasv, one day we will enjoy your day in court.

.

eLwood,

I don't really plan to ever enjoy anyone's day in court if it means they damaged a child to get there.

But I still say: Hit a child, go to jail. That simple.

I'm with ya, hillbillyswamp. Lots needs to be fixed. The people we pay should do their jobs as described. We want accountability, all the way up. I agree, too, that change needs to include a failsafe. Very rarely do laws result in immediate change. Hitting kids is still considered "normal" here. When something has been going on for generations, there're going to be some laggers when the rest of us move on. Kids will still need protection.

We want leadership with the courage to tell backward Arkansans that over half of the states in this country and the 100 largest cities here, as well as the biggest part of the industrialized world can teach kids without hitting them with a board. And then they tell them that's how it's going to be here. It probably needs to trickle down from the top, like teacher to disciple. Next, they share the news that a rapidly increasing number of civilized places around the globe tell parents that hitting a kid to correct him problably doesn't teach him anything except that bigger people can get away with mistreating smaller, weaker ones (bully creation). Two known negative side effects of physical punishment are avoidance and anxiety behaviors. We can teach and manage kids well enough without making them afraid and to want to avoid us. That needed to trickle down from the Judge in the First Judicial Circuit to his probation officer who thought that using a belt and a board (like the ones once used on Black slaves here) was a proper way to manage Juvenile Offenders. That needed to trickle down to the DHS workers who attended that court and knew that it was going on but didn't know that it could be stopped. [No CASA, by the way, in that Judicial District]. So, leadership: the governor, the legislature, DHS administration. Yes, hillbillyswamp, like the juvie judge once told me, "when kids get hurt, heads must roll".

Hitting kids is at least as old as agriculture, I figure. The primitive types of farmers of that time probably had trouble getting their fellows to hoe and weed, especially since the result of that labor was months away. It's obviously easier to get somebody to go berry picking or fishing or hunting. So, when it came to survival lessons it must have seemed rational for those parents to force their kids to accept and practice life protecting behaviors by being beaten (hunter/gatherer cultures today mostly don't). Now, an entire mythology revolves around the early idea that we must make people hurt who don't do what we want. But some of our modern types have found that kids will indeed accept and practice any of the important life skills and practices without being forced by a brute using no more than his arm (sans brain). It's just plain primitive to think that every slight needs to be returned with a slight. That's why I wouldn't want to jai parents who hit their kids any more than I want anyone hitting kids. Maybe some adults are not safe to be around kids but prison very rarely produces a good parent. Spanking and jailing are siblings in an eye-for-an-eye mentality and you know what that gets us: blindness for everybody. Spite and retaliation are old and counterproductive ways to relate with one another. Whether it's in the home, the school or tribal rivalries in Iraq... compulsively returning offense for offense just needs to stop at some point. it's the best way to stop chlid abuse and, eventually, to reduce for the mediocre managers at DHS what appears to be tasks beyond their motivations and capacities.