Bureaucratic failings put childrens' lives at risk

In their continuing series on child welfare in Wisconsin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Gina Barton and Crocker Stephenson focused on the case of Will Robert Johnson who died at five months of age.  After reviewing hundreds of pages of documents about the case — many of which are not public and were obtained from outside sources — the two provided a look at how decision are made within the troubled child-welfare system. In the case of Will Johnson, officials approved unsupervised visits between the boy and his severely troubled mother despite opposition by the child's caseworker.  It was during an unsupervised visit that the child drowned in a tub while the mother attempted suicide.

After facing roadblocks from the state-run Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, reporters Gina Barton and Crocker Stephenson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gathered thousands of pages of public records to create their own database of deaths within the system. They found that 22 children had died despite the bureau having clear warning signs that they were at risk.  They also found that many of the highly-touted agency reforms were window dressing and a bill aimed at providing more transparency would allow the bureau to avoid releasing key information.

An enormous backlog of disability claims have left millions waiting for their benefits leading to "splintered families, foreclosed homes and suicides," reports Clark Kauffman of The Des Moines Register. "During the past year, the number of people waiting to have their claims processed has increased more than 30 percent, from 556,000 to more than 736,000...Nationally, applicants for benefits are waiting an average of 505 days to bring their cases before a Social Security judge for a hearing."

"For at least 18 years, Los Angeles County has repeatedly received urgent and sometimes gruesome reminders that its agencies don't share vital information about potentially abused or neglected children, according to a Times investigation. There have been numerous calls for reform—but little action. In the passing years, an unknown number of children have been harmed or killed." Earlier, the Times reported that 14 out of 32 deaths by abuse and neglect in 2008 were linked to homes "well-known" to welfare officials.

Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register follows up on the newspaper's initial, exclusive stories about mentally retarded processing plant workers who spent 40 years living in an aging Iowa bunkhouse run by a Texas labor broker. The latest installment, "The Last Bunkhouse," focuses on a licensed care facility on a rural Texas farm where some of the workers have spent their final days. The owner of this care facility once paid $40,000 to settle allegations that he forced his elderly, disabled residents to perform hard physical labor on his farm. One of the men collapsed and died after loading cattle feed into a truck. Video of the Texas bunkhouse, and all of the newspaper's coverage of the issue, can be found at www.desmoinesregister.com/atalissa.

An investigation by Ruth Teichroeb of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer explored the case of a profoundly developmentally disabled woman who was raped and impregnated in her own home. A nursing assistant was charged with rape. The investigation found that it was the second time in two years a male nursing assistant was suspected of sexually assaulting her, but no safety measures were introduced after the incident in 2006. Some have questioned whether male nursing assistants should be responsible for the care of non-verbal, vulnerable female patients. A recent ballot initiative passed calling for increased training for nursing assistants.

The Salt Lake Tribune looked at the federal resettlement system that provides financial and social support for refugees relocating in Utah and throughout the U.S.  The Tribune found the system quickly abandons refugees soon after their arrival.  People coming from poor African nations and some parts of Asia, particularly those who have lived for a generation or more in refugee camps, are most vulnerable.  Many live in abject poverty in America with little hope for a better life.

The Columbus Dispatch, in a four-part investigative series, explores the consequences in communities across the nation as states pass anti-immigration laws. The newspaper teamed with its Spanish-language weekly newspaper to produce the series, American Divide/The Immigration Crackdown.  The report is available in both English and Spanish.

An FBI raid at three Southern California hospitals uncovered "a massive scheme to defraud taxpayer-funded healthcare programs of millions of dollars by recruiting homeless patients for unnecessary medical services," according to a report in The Los Angeles Times. The chief executive at one hospital faces criminal charges, while executives from two other facilities have been named in a civil suit filed by the City of Los Angeles. Additional charges are expected as the investigation continues.