* Forwarded from "LEGAL_LAW"
 * Originally by Richard Donovan
 * Originally to All
 * Originally dated 17 Feb 1996, 23:52
from the NYT, Sat, 2/17/96 pg 25
A Failure to Teach and Protect
How A School for Child Welfare Workers Fell Apart
Nearly a decade ago, at a moment when NYC was seized with anguish
about  child abuse,  an academy was opened in Queens to train workers
responsible for investigating cases of neglect and abuse. The new school
had its own multimillion dollar budget and was expected to be a model
for the rest of the country.
  "There was a great deal of excitement and hope," recalled Susan Notkin,
who had drawn up the city's plan for the school, the James B, Satterwhite
Academy in Jamaica. [ part of Queens ] " There was a sense that within
the walls of that school something serious was going to happen."
  But caseworkers, city officials and foster care providers say that the
Child Welfare Administration's academy quickly became a victim itself.
The spotlight faded, administrations changed, budgets were cut, union
concerns intruded, and as a result meaningful training standards were
never enforced.
  " The history of the training academy is a classic case of a government
response to a problem, a response that was allowed to degrade because
of negligence after the heat disappeared," said Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi,
whose office has conducted several critial audits of the academy.
" The academy was allowed to fade into oblivion."
  Its staff of 76 trainers shrank over a decade to just half a dozen
last year. Something trainers said that teaching new recruits about handling
paperwork grew to be emphasized over diagnosing abuse. Entire classes of
caseworkers were hired, even though many failed the academy's nonbinding
test at the end of training. Training was limited to 20 days, and the
initial aim of having caseworkers and their supervisors return for
additional instruction was effectively abandoned.
  2 recent cases of child abuse have again put the school in the spotlight.
The beating deathy of 6 y.o. Elisa Izquierdo and the apparently botched
casework involving a badly abused 11 y.o. Brooklyn boy have contributed to
the scramble to repair the city's child protection system.
  Early this month, Guiliani administration officials quietly met with
members of Mr. Hevesi's office to address the question of training.
  The effort could well result in formal legislation, Mr. Hevesi's staff 
aid.
And under the legislative proposals now being discussed, the school could
finally be required to undergo indepedent accreditation and oversight.
Child protective workers might be required to be certified by examination
at the end of their training and probation.
  The story of the academy, created in the aftermath of Lisa Steinberg's
death at the hands of Joel Steinberg, is one of crisis-driven policy,
good ideas, bad planning and mized messages.
  The potential prrice of the failed project, many child protection
professionals say, is obvious: poorly trained caseworkers ,aking mistakes
in delicate but often life-decising investigations.
  A recent study of the city's foster care system by a women's advocacy
group found that from 1990 to 1994 reports of abuse or neglect that
became active cases fell to 12,000 from 25,000. The number of cases in
Family Court in which the city tried to have a child removed from a family
tumbled to 9,50 from 18,000 during those years, and experts agree that
only a portion of the decline could be attributed to the elimination of
the state mandate requiring children born with drugs in their system
automatically come under the city's care.
  The numbers have caused critics to question the competence of the
academy-trained caseworkers, people who for many years were not screened,
needed only a college degre and did not have to take a bidning test at
the end of their training. 1 former supervisor, who spent years working in
the agency's Bronx field office, said the caliber of graduates varied
wildly.
  " The worst of the caseworkers was extraordinarily bad - unable to spell,
to write sentences, : said Cathy Gross, who spent a decade at the CWA.
" And there were some seriously troubled, dysfunctional people. They
were the people knocking on the doors of others and asking how they were
treating their children. You had to ask yourself: What is this madness?"
  Few dispute that academy trainers were often qualified and dedicated,
and that the training was effective for at least some caseworkers. Guiliani
administration officials, while acknowledging their own budget cuts
and buyout retirement packages had exacted a toll on the academy's staff,
said that improvements had been made.
  In the last several months the training staff has grown to 18, and city
officials say prospective caseworkers are now being screened more carefully.
In fact, in the last month the previously nonbinding test has been used
to fail several recruits.
  " I don't think the deterioration of the academy was something consciously
allowed to happen," said Barbara Blum, a former head of the CWA and a current
member of Gov. George E. Pataki's Commission on Child Abuse. " But training
is always inadequately funded. The academy came to be perceived as not
being critical to protecting children. It is hard to believe that could
be so."
   ...
   " It was started as a political answer to a scandal - it was public
relations," said Linda Schleicher, a spokewoman for the union that represents
the Child Welfare Administration's caseworkers and supervisors. " From the
outset, the place was buffeted by budget cuts, experienced people leaving,
a lack of interest on the part of the child welfare agency itself."
   ... In November 1994, the average score on the multiple choice exam
- 1 that had been purged of its most difficult questions - was 66.
  One particular exam question underscores the problem. Asked before their
training began to indetify the best techniques to be used in interviewing
children, 75 % of the Nov. 1994 class answered the basic question
correctly. After 20 days of training, varely 50 % of the class answered
the same question correctly.
                         *************
A SAMPLING OF TEST QUESTIONS given to caseworker recruits at the CWA
Training Cener ( nonbinding):
1. A 10 year old child's injurt requires a thorough assessment to determine
   if it is accidental or non-accidental. Which of the following is
   MOST LIKELY to be an indicator of non-accidental abuse?
   a. A patch of scaly red skin on the hand.
   b. Bruises on both sides of the face.
   c. Fracture of a wrist.
   d. Black and blue marks on knees and sjins.
2. In interviwing a child, it is most important to:
   a. Engage the child by being warm and empathetic.
   b. Be at eye level with the child.
   c. Use plain, simpl language and ask the child if he/she understood.
   d. All of the above.
3. A family that has recently experienced a sexual abuse incident may
   typically exhibit all of the following EXCEPT:
   a. Denial behavior
   b. Disntegration of the family system.
   c. Feelings of shame or guilt.
   d. The perpetrator acnowledging and accepting responsibility for the act.
ANSWERS:
1 - b
2 - d
3 - d
... Injustice fights with 2 weapons - force & fraud. --Cicero
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