Strengthening the Levees

1. Members of the Chisago County, Minnesota Citizen Review Panel Ted Alliegro Carl Andor Bob Gustafson Jessica Hendrickson Brenda Iliff Katy Maier The River Rushes On Seventh Annual National Citizen Review Panel Conference May 22, 2008 St. Paul, Minnesota Keeping children safe from abuse and neglect. Strengthening the Levees

2. Strengthening the Levees Most of us can’t imagine what would make an adult use violence against a child, and the worse the behavior is, the more unimaginable it seems. But the incidence of parents and other caregivers consciously, even willfully, committing acts that harm the very children they’re supposed to be nurturing is a sad fact of human society that cuts across all lines of ethnicity and class. Whether the abuse is rooted in the perpetrator’s mental illness, substance abuse, or inability to cope, the psychological result for each abused child is often the same: deep emotional scars and a feeling of worthlessness.

3. Chisago County, Minnesota Citizen Review Panel

4. Seventh Annual National Citizen Review Panel Conference Each year, tens of thousands of children are traumatized by physical, sexual, and emotional abusers or by caregivers who neglect them, making child abuse as common as it is shocking. The scars can be deep and long-lasting, affecting not just abused children but society. You can learn the signs and symptoms of child abuse and find out where to get help for the children and their caregivers.

5. Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 In a bittersweet ceremony, John and Reve Walsh stood with the President of the United States in the Rose Garden at the White House on the 25th Anniversary of the disappearance of their son Adam Walsh. Reve Walsh shed tears and held hands with John, as the President signed HR 4472, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 into law. Adam Walsh, would be 33 years old this November, he was only 6 years old the day he disappeared from a Sears store in Florida where he had been shopping with his mother Reve Walsh. She had left him, in the toy department where he was playing video games, and was gone less than 10 minutes, but by the time she returned Adam had disappeared. Reve Walsh searched for over two hours by herself before the local police were called in to investigate Adam’s disappearance.

6. Child Protection training for Dentists launched Dentists and their support staff are to be targeted as part of the NSPCC's biggest ever child protection training exercise. From 3 October 2005, dental surgeons across the country will receive complementary copies of EduCare, a child protection awareness distance learning program. The mailing is part of the NSPCC's latest initiative, 'Talk 'til it stops', a campaign designed to mobilize people to take action to end child abuse. The campaign will encourage people to talk to each other if they are worried about a child. EduCare will help dental staff recognize the possible signs of abuse and ensure they know how to act if they have concerns about a child. The program will also help staff act appropriately if a patient approaches them with child protection concerns. NSPCC director and chief executive Mary Marsh said, “Everyone who works for or alongside children and young people must be able to recognize, respond and report any concerns they have about a child. Even professionals who have had child protection training should take this opportunity to remind themselves who the child protection leads are in their organization and what they should do if they are worried about a child being abused.”

7. Boy scalded in alleged 'tub torture': Mom's boyfriend faces child abuse charges. ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- An 8-year-old boy suffered burns in what prosecutors have called "tub torture,“ The boy suffered third-degree burns on his feet and ankles when he was placed in scalding water as an alleged form of punishment by his mother's boyfriend in their Ypsilanti apartment. Washtenaw County Sheriff said the discipline involved placing the child in hot water up to his knees. Washtenaw County Sheriff said this case was child abuse like he has never seen.

8. Boy locked in room for three years by dad JACKSONVILLE, Fla. U.S.A. (AP) -- A man has been charged with torturing his nine-year-old son by keeping him locked in a bedroom for much of the last three years, a surveillance camera tracking his every move, authorities said Thursday.The home was like a prison that had cameras in almost every room, with the father monitoring the boy on television and computer screens, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Lt. Annie Smith said. Relatives told police that the boy was usually allowed to use the bathroom once a day because his father was teaching him to control his body. The child's mother was not charged, but police said they are still investigating her involvement.

9. Mom Smoked Meth While Breast-Feeding Son A Salem, Oregon, U.S.A., meth-addicted mother pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that she endangered her 9-month-old son by smoking the drug while breast-feeding him.Prosecutors say going after mothers who knowingly endanger their children by feeding them drug-tainted breast milk is another way of tackling the state's problem with methamphetamines.Salem police said they were first alerted to the problem when Mom brought her 9-month-old son to a local hospital.The boy was not feeling well, but several staff members at Salem Hospital also noticed that he seemed unusually agitated. They ran some tests and discovered the infant had a high concentration of meth in his system.

10. Convicted of severely abusing her daughter, mother gets eight years in jail A young Gainesville mother received eight years in prison Tuesday for severely abusing her 2-year-old daughter. Mom 24, dabbed at tears as she was sentenced to the maximum 20 years, eight years in confinement and the rest on probation, for aggravated battery. "A 2-year-old child is completely helpless, completely unable to fend off attacks from an adult," Fuller told Mom prior to imposing the sentence. A jury convicted Mom on Jan. 18, finding her guilty of causing numerous bruises and whip marks all over the girl’s body June 2006. The girl, now 4, has fully recovered and is in the permanent custody of the Grandmother, who lives out of state.

11. Microwaved Baby's Father Claims Insanity GALVESTON, Texas -- Complex mental health issues slowed down the process of seating a jury in the trial of a man accused of putting his daughter in a microwave, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday. Dad, 20, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after severely burning his baby daughter in a microwave at a motel on Galveston's Seawall Boulevard in May. "We're definitely dealing with mental health issues and people don't have a good understanding of it," said Sam Cammack III, Dad's attorney. "Mental illness is something people need to face in our society. It's real and it does happen every day."

12. Man charged in sex abuse of local teen Lake County police arrested Michael 23, of Fox Lake, on January 31 for the alleged sexual abuse of a 15-year-old Evanston boy in Wilmette and Fox Lake.

13. Husband, wife charged with child neglect A husband and wife were arrested on warrants Wednesday on child neglect charges after police allege they and their five children were living in a filthy home. Mom and Dad were arrested on child neglect charges and taken to Jail, where they remained Thursday night in lieu of $25,000 each. Police were called to the family's home Dec. 11 for a welfare check and found the couple and their children — an 18 yr old boy, 14 yr-old girl, 12 yr-old boy, 11 & 7 yr old girls living in a house covered with feces and urine, said police spokesman . Police found rotten food in the refrigerator and garbage thrown across the home. “Each room appeared to be worse than the room before it”. Police said

14. Fort Myers couple accused of child neglect A Fort Myers couple was taken into custody Thursday on charges of child cruelty and child neglect. The parents were arrested Thursday and each charged with one count of child cruelty, and six counts of child neglect with great harm, first and third-degree felonies respectively. The Lee County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation on the couple on Feb. 8 after a neighbor made a complaint of child abuse, neglect and sexual assault. Deputies found the home reeking of human feces and urine and full of dirty dishes and half-eaten food, and there was no electricity in the residence. On Feb. 20, the Child Protection Team interviewed one of the children, who said she was forced to eat leftover food, sleep on a cardboard box in a locked room and often had to defecate in her clothes.

15. Citizen Review Panels • The establishment of Citizen Review Panels for all State Child Protection Systems (CPS) was mandated by Federal legislation in 1996. These panels are expected to evaluate State CPS systems and offer recommendations for improvements. CPS liaisons are required to be part of each panel to enhance the collaboration between the two groups. Study results suggest that enhanced collaboration between State CPS systems and Citizen Review Panels will help these panels become truly effective in offering feedback to improve services to children and families.

16. Chisago County Citizen Review Panel Mission Statement: To provide an opportunity for citizens to play a role in insuring children are being protected from abuse and neglect, and to encourage and help build nurturing homes for children of our communities. In 1996, Congress amended the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). This required each state to establish at least three citizen review panels in order to receive Child Abuse and Neglect State Grants Program funding. In Minnesota, panels have been established in Chisago, Ramsey, Winona, and Washington Counties. The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) plans to expand citizen review panels throughout the state.

17. Children’s Justice Initiative The Children’s Justice Initiative (CJI) is a five year project spearheaded by Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz. It was established in 2004 as a joint venture between the Minnesota Supreme Court and the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The purpose of CJI is to timely find safe, permanent homes for abused and neglected children, whether that is through reunification with parents or some other permanent placement options. CJI teams have been formed in all of Minnesota's 87 counties with a common goal of improving the process of child protection cases and the outcomes for abused and neglected children. The overall objective when identifying and implementing improvements, is for all stakeholders to operate “through the eyes of the child.”

18. Minnesota Drug court celebrates its first graduate Minnesota - Like most graduation ceremonies, this one included cake, gifts and a certificate of achievement. Unlike most graduations, the setting was the jury room of the Dakota County District Courthouse in Hastings. And the commencement speaker was Judge Ed Lynch Had the graduate failed her assignments, Lynch also was the judge who might have been forced to terminate custody of her 9-year-old son. On Thursday, Cheryl, a 46-year-old recovering alcoholic and former meth addict, became a celebrity pioneer of sorts within the Minnesota court system. Flanked by friends, family and court workers, she tearfully graduated from the Dakota County Family Dependency Treatment Court, an intensive child-protection program geared toward single mothers in danger of losing their parental rights.

19. A young life taken far too soon (1996 – 2006)

20. Stepmom tearfully admitted that she didn't seek help after she said Dad forced his daughter to spend up to 7 minutes in a bathtub of water so hot that the girl bled. Stepmom said when she went to check on her, she found the girl's skin floating in the water. That night the daughter was sent to bed, where the medical examiner determined that she died. Stepmom called 911 a couple of hours later. Stepmom, a trained medical assistant, said they gave her Tylenol and treated her with a sunburn spray to soothe her ... Dad and stepmom are now in prison. Birth Mom is now remarried to an alleged child abuser and has two additional children with him.

21. Child saw fatal beating of 4-year-old, police say The Child , whose mother had given parental rights to his father, was in the cousin's care when the father was ordered to the Hennepin County workhouse for a probation violation in a fifth-degree felony drug charge. Within 24 hours, police say, the cousin -- a known drug user who had been investigated in 2006 after a baby in her care ended up burned and with broken bones -- had beaten the boy to death in front of one of her own children, shoved his crumpled body into a plastic garbage bag and stashed it in a closet in her duplex under piles of junk and a Christmas tree. The child who saw the beating gave police a statement that led to her arrest, police said Monday. Murder charges are expected to be filed against her today. The 37-year-old cousin, who reported the boy missing to police on Wednesday night, now sits in jail. Her own four children, who range in age from 4 to 11, are in protective custody.

22. Mother culpable in death of girl shaken by boyfriend A Columbia Heights woman, has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in connection with the shaking death of her 23-month-old daughter a year ago. Mom, whose family was being supervised by child protection officials, told police that she watched as her boyfriend slapped the toddler in her apartment on Dec. 5, 2006, then shook her violently. Mom said she went shopping, leaving her boyfriend to watch the girl, who was still walking. He also was to watch her four other children, including the couple's 4-month-old son. Police found the girl dead a few hours later in Mom’s apartment on Tyler Street. The coroner's autopsy found the toddler died from massive internal injuries and might have survived 20 to 30 minutes after she was injured. Doctors found that some of her ribs were freshly broken or healing and that she suffered non-accidental, blunt-force internal injuries, including a torn liver. Mom's four other children were placed in protective custody.

23. Newborn dropped off at St. Paul hospital; child advocates relieved A newborn baby was dropped off early Saturday at Children's Hospital in St. Paul, left behind at the apparent request of its mother. But there was no condemnation of the act -- far from it. On Monday, the mother apparently decided to turn over the baby under the state's "safe haven" law, which allows a mother to safely and anonymously give up her unwanted newborn with no legal consequences. The baby, which was healthy, unharmed and just 3 days old, was turned over to Ramsey County child protection services, authorities say. "The main thing mothers want to know is that the law is really true," Krupp said. "And they really want us to understand," she added, "that they're not a bad person."

24. Sex Offender Sentenced To 60 Years A Minnesota sex offender has been sentenced to 60-years in prison on charges of sexually assaulting several children. 35-year old Stephen was sentenced in Dakota County Court after he pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct. The Dakota County Attorney says Stephen was previously convicted of molesting a 12-year old girl in 1994. Stephen pled guilty in October of last year to repeatedly molesting two of his children over many years.

25. Local parent found guilty of educational neglect An Isanti County woman has been found guilty of Educational Neglect for failing to see that her child attended school regularly and without unexcused absences. This is the second such charge against a parent for failing to keep a child from being truant. She appeared for sentencing before Judge P. Hunter Anderson and is to pay a $200 fine, $140 in court costs, a $35 surcharge. A 60-day jail sentence was stayed on the condition that she provide proof of her child's school attendance to Court Services and her child has no unexcused absences.

26. Judge denies motions in baby's death Tenth District Judge Krista Martin  last week denied three defense motions in the first degree murder case against an East Bethel man accused of killing his 6-week-old son last September, clearing the way for a jury trial Nov. 5.Dad 26, was caring for his son, in the rural Isanti home of the child’s mother, while she was at work, on September 14, 2006, when the child quit breathing.Other relatives in the residence attempted CPR until ambulance personnel arrived but efforts to revive the infant were unsuccessful. The indictments followed a forensic pathologist’s report that revealed the presence of two separate skull fractures, three broken ribs that appeared to have been healed and three rib fractures on the left side that appeared to be new injuries.