Stop DHR Corruption!

What is the Integrated Child Protection Scheme

This proposal by the Indian Government’s Ministry of Women and Child Development was enacted to protect children while providing them with a safe environment in which they will be able to flourish and to develop. Many children in India are vulnerable to abuse and are thus at-risk through abandonment, exploitation, abuse, neglect, or separation from children. The scheme set out to institutionalize essential services, to create important databases, to strengthen protections at both the family and the government level, and to coordinate with institutions both governmental and private to ensure effective implementation.

How the Shutdowns Will Affect At-Risk Children

Prior to the recent shut-downs-the Tamil Nadu welfare department had already closed over 550 unregistered homes. The children who were rescued were sent to other homes that are registered, and many were returned to their parents, leaving their fates uncertain and potentially exposing them to the risk of further abuse. Many of the children who were in care did not have parents, or their parents cannot be located, which creates an extra level of difficulty where their next placements are concerned.

What Will Happen in the Future?

The commissioner of the welfare department wants to improve inspections and monitoring of these homes, including providing extra training for staff members. Educational and health facilities will also need extra supervision and monitoring to make sure the children are getting the tools they will need for improved future outcomes. Another task of the organization is to raise awareness of children’s rights, and she has suggested the government train organizations regarding these rights and legislation that will take place in 32 districts. Such an organized effort and a rapid response is admirable, and we, Robert Raskin and Kathey Raskin, wish our own government here at home would act this quickly to protect children here.

We, Kathleen Raskin and Robert Raskin, are sad to report that yet another child has died due to corruption within the organizations that are meant to protect them. On Oct.25, 2015, a woman named Samantha Nacole Bryant lost custody of her toddler son, Rylan Ott, after she and her boyfriend were in a drunken fist-fight in her Carthage-area home. This fight involved both alcohol and guns, so the system stepped in to protect the boy, but unfortunately for Rylan, they did not do nearly enough to ensure his continuing safety. Both Rylan and his sister were placed in temporary custody, only to eventually be returned to a mother who remained unfit to parent.

Rylan’s Story

In Moore County in April of 2016, a child who drowned after he was returned to his mother’s custody. Rylan, who was just 23 months old when he died, was able to slip out from his house and wander a half-mile to this pond. He was reunited with his mother without any prior observation by child protection agencies, so there was no attempt to make sure she was fit to parent or that her parenting skills had improved since he was initially removed from her care. He had only been in her care for four months when tragedy struck.

The DSS Response

A caseworker claimed in her report that Rylan’s mother visited the child while he was in care three times a week, but his guardians say this is not true. Rylan’s Guardian Ad Litem, Pam Reed, and the boy’s kinship parents, Shane and Amanda Mills, had attempted to argue in court that Samantha Bryant was still an unfit mother, and they were proven correct too late. His mother is now being charged with child abuse and involuntary manslaughter, but the caseworker who was involved has not been penalized or charged with any wrongdoing. His case has undergone a second investigation, but the results of this are not public. The Moore County DSS director resigned as a result of this case.

Rylan’s Law

As a response to Rylan’s senseless death, Rylan’s Law was enacted. This bill requires social workers to document and observe two successful visits between children who are in state care and the parents they were removed from before they can be reunited. Until this law was passed, this was considered to be a “best practice,” for obvious reasons, but why it was not a requirement is less clear. This law is intended to close this loophole in an effort to strengthen this broken system, and it will help other children to be spared from Rylan’s fate in the future. We are Kathleen Raskin and Robert Raskin, and we won’t stop fighting to protect families and children until this corruption has been stopped.