The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Department of Health and Social Services" ...
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"Their Crime, Your Dime"
Following several tips on possible "government waste," and schemes that target Seattle taxpayers, KING-TV produced this series of three stories titled "Their Crime, Your Dime." The team exposed how merchants operated a "broad scheme" that allowed citizens to convert their food stamps into cash. Another story revealed how "welfare recipients" were spending millions of "taxpayer cash in the state's casinos."
Tags: food stamps; taxpayer; welfare; State Department of Social and Health Services; ATM; casino; public records; black market
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Senior Insecurity
One of the most expensive health and human services program in California was designed to help the elderly and disabled afford basic necessities. The program, which costs “almost three billion dollars”, is covered by taxpayers. But when you look on the streets, you will see a number of elderly people living there because they aren’t able to pay for food and shelter. The issue that arises is how the money is being spent and whether the program is working or not.
Tags: Supplemental Security Income (SSI); state budget cuts; money; income; federal government; Department of Social Services
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Abandoning Our Mentally Ill
A year-long investigation of living conditions of the most severely mentally ill patients in the Milwaukee area discovered that those conditions were far from ideal, sometimes filthy and dangerous. Among the discoveries were patients housed in illegal group homes which city building inspectors did not discover or report. In addition, caseworkers were still placing patients in homes despite knowledge of their poor and filthy conditions. At the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, a 33-year-old woman died from dehydration and starvation after doctors allowed her to go nearly four weeks without food or water. Social service and government agencies had also passed up opportunities to accept federal money for construction of better facilities, $3.3 million in the past seven years.
Tags: Mental illness; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex
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Close Proximity
KIRO-TV used mapping software to prove that more than 600 registered sex offenders in Washington state are living within one city block of a licensed daycare, a state law violation. The reporters found an entire household of pedophiles living two doors away from a daycare. The state knew of this situation, but kept it a secret. KIRO-TV cameras also captured a known child molester living at the same address as a licensed home daycare facility.
Tags: mapping software; registered sex offenders; licensed daycare centers; Department of Corrections felony database; Washington State Department of Social and Health Services database; Washington State Patrol database of registered sex offenders.
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Slow to Act
How long does it take Washington state to shut down the day care centers who've time and again violated state standards? KING-TV asked this same question and battled three months for access to records. They found that of 60 day care centers shut down in Western Washington in the last three years, one-third of them were allowed to stay open far too long.
Tags: day care centers; Washington Department of Health and Social Services; day care licenses
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"A crisis in foster care: Hardships prevalent for those raising children's children
This investigation found that nearly a third more New York grandparents are raising their grandchildren than a decade ago, and of those, a disproportionate number have fallen into poverty. An unresponsive child-welfare system has forced these grandparents into making a tough decision: Place their grandchildren into foster care and become foster parents themselves in order to receive government aid, or ignore the foster care system and scrounge to support their families.
Tags: grandparents; grandchildren; foster care; poverty; census; child welfare; adoption; Children and Family Services; Department of Social Services; Department of Health and Human Services; guardianship; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
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A Heavy Burden
An accidental death at a Snohomish County nursing home looked like a simple case of neglect, but on closer inspection it highlighted deeper problems with elder care in Washington state. The company that owns the home was the most-fined care provider in Washington and also among the nation's worst for care deficiencies. At the same time, state regulators were cutting subsidies for the home, while demanding higher performance.
Tags: nursing home; Snohomish Parkway Nursing Center; Washington State Department of Social and Health Services; substandard care; Lynwood Manor Health Care Center; Medicaid; Residential Care Services
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State of Pain
This story provides examples of the confusion new laws and regulations regarding Medicaid have brought to the state of Missouri. Social Workers have become overwhelmed by the process, there are never ending cases, and they are getting too may referrals. Often times the vast number of calls coming in to social workers, force them to close older projects to new clients on several occasions.
Tags: Medicaid; MC + Consumer Advocacy Project; Missouri Department of Social Services; DSS; social worker; Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act; Children's Health Insurance Program; Missouri State Workers Union Local 6355; Medicaid-expansion laws; Reform Organization for Welfare
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Reggie sought home, but found death
The Des Moines Register investigates the tragic death of Reggie Kelsey, an ex-foster-care teenager who lost the state support services as soon as he turned 18. Kelsey had problems adjusting to independence, and the Iowa Department of Human Services failed to address his specific needs, the story reveals. The article summarizes the pitfalls of the foster-care system in Iowa, and sheds light on the state intention to put in use additional money to help the transition of 'aged-out' children.
Tags: homelessness; mental health; social workers; foster care; shelters; children; teenagers; mentally retarded; youth; juvenile offenders; psychology
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Shawn Lowrance Investigation
A News Tribune reporter investigated the death of an adopted ten year old boy "who died under suspicious circumstances while fishing on a creek in Northwest Washington state on Oct. 9, 1999." The story focuses on how this child could be placed with a foster family who had a history of domestic violence and financial problems. In addition, the investigation investigated "the boy's death after detectives learned the parents had taken out $650,000 in life insurance on Shawn about a year before he died." Reporters also "questioned the thoroughness of the police investigation into Shawn's death and the difficulty small police departments sometimes face in handling complex cases."
Tags: Department of Health and Social Services; adoption; physical abuse; Insurance Commissioner