Despite being responsible for keeping the foster children of Kansas safe, the Department for Children and Families managed to fail an astounding 16 safety standards in the past year alone. This is why we, Kathleen and Robert Raskin of Las Vegas, are dedicated to raising awareness of the need for a system of checks and balances within our woefully inept and corrupt child protection agencies.

The DCF is tracked using a reporting system that is rated based upon 30 measurements of performance. That means more than half of these measures were not up to standard, and that is completely unacceptable. The troubled agency has implemented new initiatives they claim will lead to improvements, but this remains to be seen. So far changes in leadership have not led to marked improvements for these vulnerable children.

Here are some sobering facts about what children in Kansas’s foster care system can expect, according to a July 2017 through June 2018 report:

• Children stayed in an average of 8.9 foster homes per 1,000 days in foster care. This number is more than double of the expected standard of just 4.12 days.
• The agency is far from reaching their goal of having children adopted in less than two years. In fact, they only reached their goal 17.6% of the time, compared to a standard of 26.8%.
• Children were only able to remain in the same school 15.7% of the time, compared to a standard of at least 25%.
• The agency aims to assess the needs and strengths of families within a 30-day window, but they have only managed to hit their target 66% of the time.

Kansas DCF clearly has a long way to go, but they have a duty to these children they are obligated to fulfill. With 4,200 children placed in foster care in the state in the last year alone, these improvements are imperative.

We are Kathleen and Robert Raskin of Las Vegas, and it’s stories like these that compel us to continue our crusade against corruption in the institutions that are bound to protect children. St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage first opened in the mid-1800s, but it is only now that the full scope of the horrors and abuse the orphans who were kept there were subjected to is known.

Now grown, children who were held in the facility are coming forward to report shocking abuse, including one account of a nun who was witnessed pushing a small boy out a window. Orphans’ injuries were not treated properly, a child drowned, children were cut and sexually abused, and that is just the beginning of the horrors that have been revealed in the long, detailed report.

In light of recent allegations of abuse involving over 300 members of the Catholic clergy, this report could not have come to light at a worse time for the church, who declined to give a statement in this case outside of confirming that they are doing everything they can to ensure children are protected today. That is simply not enough, and more needs to be done to put these priests behind bars to set an example.

How were these nuns able to abuse children for so many decades and get away with it? In the past it was more difficult to know when vulnerable children were put in harms way, but in today’s modern era we have the internet at our disposal, making it more difficult for would-be abusers to get away with it. Today it is inconceivable that so many thousands of children were put at risk. Let’s keep the heat turned up on organizations like CPS and DHR to make sure nothing like this can happen again in the future!

Foster children have the same health care needs as any other children, and in many cases they have even greater needs due to neglect and abuse. Why haven’t measures to make sure children in the system can access the healthcare they need been put in place? That’s what we, Robert and Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, are asking today.

Many foster parents are faced with the challenge of finding health care for children who suffer from a wide range of issues, from the more run-of-the-mill scrapes and sore throats to complex issues like chronic illnesses and psychological trauma. Foster children are covered by Medicaid, and since the 2010 Affordable Care Act those foster kids are guaranteed coverage until age 26.

Although foster kids technically have access to health care, the problem is there are a shortage of providers who accept it. This is especially problematic when it comes to mental health providers, which is a serious concern for both foster children and parents because approximately one-half of all kids in the system have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

Children in foster care are twice as likely to be diagnosed with developmental delays and learning disorders. The children of opioid addicts have been entering the system in increasing numbers, and this too has resulted in a increased need for medical and psychological intervention.

Foster parents also report finding coordinating decisions about medical treatment between agencies and the biological parents to be difficult. Unstable lifestyles can also make coordinating healthcare difficult, with paperwork often being lost during frequent moves from foster home to foster home or back and forth between foster care and their biological families.

In a handful of states, a separate program has been implemented that has higher reimbursement rates, making it more attractive to providers. These plans also allow children to keep the same coverage when they are moved to different homes, even if they are in completely different parts of the state. We can only hope more states will move to this model. Health care is one of many issues these already vulnerable children should not be burdened with.

We are Robert and Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, and today we would like to ask the State of Kentucky why their foster care numbers are unacceptably high? The average CPS caseworker in the state is handling 19 to 33 cases. There is no way the children involved in those cases are getting the care they need when the workers are stretched so thin, and this puts children who are wards of the state at serious risk.

It’s been a little over a month since House Bill 1 went into effect, which was meant to overhaul the foster care and adoption system. The average time it takes to reunite families who have been torn apart by the system has doubled in recent years, and this delay is causing psychological harm to children, especially when reunification therapy proves to not be nearly enough to undo the damage that has been done.

House Bill 1 established the Child Welfare Oversight and Advisory Committee, which is designed to give grandparents and other relatives who are caring for children who have been removed from their homes more rights. Under this bill, foster parents would also have more input into the process. With so many providers who aren’t qualified, it remains to be seen whether this move will help or harm children.

Recent budget increases of $14M are expected to allow the department to hire more workers and other personnel. Currently there are 230 new positions and 100 existing ones that need to be filled. With retention being a problem, simply filling the seats will not be enough. The department will have to improve conditions and policies if they want to attract new workers and keep them.

We are Kathleen and Robert Raskin of Las Vegas, and today we are happy to bring you a bit of good news about the future of foster children in America. Kentucky children who are placed into foster care together as sibling groups may have a better alternative in the near future, because Sunset Children’s Services of Louisville has plans to open a new foster care facility that is based upon a visionary model that will keep vulnerable children together with their siblings.

Sunrise is the state’s largest private foster care provider, housing a total of 9,000+ foster kids. The president of the organization, Dale Shuttles, said, “We often see sibling groups broken apart physically and emotionally by separate foster placements because homes aren’t large enough to house them together.”

Splitting sibling groups apart during a time when these children need each other more than ever is a common practice in foster care due to a lack of available space. Sunrise is addressing this issue by developing a portion of a 130-acre farm so it will have two five-bedroom foster care facilities on the grounds. This was made possible thanks to a generous land donation from educator Judy Huls Singleton.

Solid Rock Children’s Ranch will provide a safe and nurturing environment for children in need. The children will be introduced to cutting-edge animal and plant therapies that can help ground them while they are in transition and improve their outcomes. We need more innovative, generous, and forward-thinking people like these who are willing to step-up to the plate for these kids, and we are glad to see Kentucky has so many good people who are doing just that.

When 21-month-old Sadence “Sadee” Willot died on September 7, 2015, her mother was charged in her death, later pleading guilty to second-degree murder. However, as far as the child’s father Christopher Willott is concerned, justice has not been served because the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth, and Families is also complicit in the crime because their negligence contributed to her death. We, Kathleen Raskin and Robert Raskin of Las Vegas, Nevada, agree that the department is partially responsible, and it’s time to hold them accountable.

A Young Life Cut Tragically Short

Before Sadee was found unresponsive at her mother’s Manchester home, the child had been subjected to a great deal of abuse. The toddler had been the victim of emotional abuse, neglect, and numerous serious beatings that resulted in contusions and broken bones. In the final attack that claimed her life before she ever really even had a chance to live, the child’s mother, 23-year-old Katlin Paquette, pushed her into a bathtub, inflicting fatal head injuries.

Paquette is serving a sentence of 21 to 42 years, but what of the caseworkers who were charged with protecting this child yet failed time and again to intervene despite numerous complaints? Sadee’s father, Christopher Willott, wants to make sure they are also charged in the child’s death. Concerned calls about Sadee’s well-being began shortly after the girl’s birth, and workers had visited the home multiple times, yet they failed to adequately investigate or to take any measures that would have spared the child’s life.

This is the second suspicious death involving DCYF in the past two years, and it’s time to step in to do something about this problem before a third New Hampshire child perishes. We wish Mr. Willott success in his court battle, and we hope to see justice done not just for Sadee, but also for the many other children who are harmed each year when the system fails them.

How were a ten-year-old boy’s mother and her boyfriend allowed to torture him to death after the abuse had been reported multiple times? That’s what we, Robert and Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, would like to know. We started our website StopDHR so we can raise awareness of corruption and incompetence in the child protective services organizations that too often harm the very children they are charged with protecting.

California state officials plan to conduct an audit of DCFS in Los Angeles after the child, Anthony Avalos, was tortured to death because his mother and her boyfriend believed he was gay. The details of what this little boy endured are heartbreaking, and there were numerous opportunities for agencies from DCFS to the police to step in and protect him, but the system broke down and failed to stop the abuse. Thirteen times the authorities were notified, and thirteen times they did nothing.

This is all too often the case, but it still remains to be seen whether or not the investigation will actually uncover anything or if they’ll just sweep the details of their ineptitude under the rug. This is far from an isolated instance, and in fact there was a similar case in 2013, when eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was also brutalized and murdered because his mother and her boyfriend suspected he was gay.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident,” their letter to the audit committee said, referring to the 2013 death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, who was also tortured and abused for months by his mother and her boyfriend, allegedly because he suspected Gabriel was gay. The last audit of LA’s child welfare department was six years ago, so this new audit is overdue.

Specifically the audit will deal with whether or not DCFS has adequate protections in place to serve the LGBTQ youth who may have an especially difficult time in the system and with caretakers due to their sexual orientation. Will the root deficiencies in the system finally be identified and improved? Only time will tell. What we know now is that this absolutely must not happen to another child.

Why was Jacques Edwards, a man with a murder conviction on his record, hired to care for foster children? That’s what we, Robert and Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, are asking the State of New York today. A representative of the ACS claims the safety and well-being of the children in their care is their top priority, but if that were true they’d work harder to keep dangerous criminals away from children.

Edwards, 55, was hired by the Administration for Children’s Services four years ago. Today he has been charged with pushing a six-year-old child up against a door and shoving his head into a filing cabinet at the Nicholas Scoppetta Children’s Center in Kips Bay. The center is a temporary home for children who have recently entered the foster care system. The child suffered an abrasion on his temple which required medical treatment, and the incident was captured on video.

We need a system of checks and balances in place to prevent dangerous offenders like this from being entrusted with our vulnerable foster children. In 1981 Edwards was convicted of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to 15 years to life. This past Monday he was arrested on felony assault and child endangerment charges, and he is currently being held on $15,000 bail.

When a normal person wants a child to finish their dinner, complete their chores, or lower their voice, they foster an environment of respect so they will be listened to. This is what children need and deserve, but thanks to the corrupt foster care system too often this is not what they get. We, Kathleen and Robert Raskin, are here to fight to put an end to this, and we need your help.

When foster parent Ogilvia Pineda and her son Kyle Edgar Macias wanted the foster children who were placed in their household to do those things, they allegedly punched them in the stomach, shoved socks in their mouths and made them bleed, and forced them to eat food out of the garbage. And this is just the beginning of the charges that have been levied against them, which include causing a gash that required stitches to one child when she hit him in the head with a Mason jar. This injury was listed on the search warrant the Jefferson County Sherriff’s Department used to gain entry to the home.

Foster siblings who included a seven-year-old boy and four- and three-year-old girls were warned against telling their grandmothers or caseworkers about the abuse, but the brave children spoke up anyway. Now this woman, an anger management counselor who seems to have trouble managing her own anger, have been formally charged. The pair were arraigned on Monday on felony child abuse charges, and they are currently in custody in the Jefferson County Jail. So far Pineda has given plenty of excuses for the injuries, but whether or not those hold up in court remains to be seen next week when the cases go before a grand jury.

When foster kids decide to shepherd their own bills through legislation, great things can happen. We are Kathleen and Robert Raskin, and we are happy to be bringing you a bit of good news for foster children. The Foster Children’s Bill of Rights was co-sponsored by state representatives Jerry Relph and Ron Kresha, and this reform effort is going to be a game-changer for siblings who are caught in the system.

The Foster Children’s Bill of Rights states that foster siblings have a right to be together, and it will enable them to be placed together whenever possible, to visit each other, and to stay in contact. Being placed into the system can be frightening for children, and losing contact with their sibling group can make it especially traumatic. These children are innocent victims of the system and sometimes of their parents as well, and they deserve better than to be separated when they are at their most vulnerable.

Going forward, when a child or sibling group enters foster care in Minnesota they will be handed a copy of this Bill of Rights, but there is more to the bill than that. It also includes a review of the MAPCY program, which assesses parenting challenges in communities of color. It will also include training requirements for how fetal alcohol syndrome should be handled.

The new law is set to go into effect Wednesday, and we just couldn’t be more pleased about it. This is a huge step for foster children and for families. It is also a testament to what can be achieved when adults step in and help these kids to help themselves. The positive impact felt from this bill will be felt for generations to come, but it is just one of many steps that need to be taken in the right direction before the system is finally free from corruption. We can only hope more states decide to follow their example.