CPS reports [Jan. 2001]

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REPORTS

January 2001
Answering your Questions about Special Investigations

CPS Reports recently sat down with D' Anna Liber to talk about the new Special Investigations unit in DFCS. Liber, formerly a consultant in the state CPS unit, was named SI unit chief in November and heads a staff of 14 investigators, a Grady Hospital liaison and two state office consultants.
Q. Why was this unit formed? A. Serious i!!)wy and fatality cases have a Jot oj urgency to them and take a Jot oftime to investigate thoroughly. The division saw tfie need for a team ofpeople with advanced skills who wou[d be available to go to counties whenever a serious incident has occurred, so SIU was set up. We see our involvement as working in concert with the county. There are skilled case managers in the counties, but these serious events require so
much time that if they are handled
by county staff, other new and active cases have to be set aside. With our unit involved the county can continue to work its other cases at the standard ofpractice required.
Q. How does it work with state CPS? A. The protective services unit still sets policy and procedures; SIU investigates cases in the field.

Q. What types of cases do you investigate? A. At this time, we are only working on situations in which a child whose family has an open CPS case has been seriously injured or has died under suspicious circumstances. We investigate incidents that occurred in family homes, foster homes or any place where the suspected maltreatment occurred.

Q. Who decides when a special investigator enters a case?

A. We're like the GB! in that the county has to call us in. We will take a request

from anyone in management, for example, the program director or social

services supervisor, but we ask that you clear it with the county director before

calling us. DFCS state management staffhas the option to send an investigator

without a requestfrom the county in certain high-profile cases. This is judged

on a case-by-case basis.

Continued on page 2

The Special Investigation unit (front row 1-r) Glenda Welborn, area XII: Cecelia Jordan, area X; Gwendolyn Lee, area VI; Ann Kreuger, area I; Peggy Woodard. Area II; Glenda Culpepper, area III-B; Genie Nolan, consultant. (back row 1-r) Gloria White, secretary; Krista Kendrick, area VII; Cathy Bitterman, area ~ D'Anna Liber, unit chief; Julie Slater, consultant; and Christine Copley, Grady Hospital liaison. Not pictured, Teri Amendola, area XI.

Looking Ahead....2001

Inside

Findings from Case Stafjings

"Special Investigations," Cont. from page I
Q. What kind of time frame do you work in? A. We can have an investigator in any county within two hours of receiving your call. He or she then stays as long as needed to complete the investigation.
Q. How does using a special investigator help the county? A. In anumber ofways. It allows the rest ofyour CPS staffto junction as they usually do, while you have an experienced investigator in the office who is able to devote his or her sole time to the one case. The investigator does it. all-readil!S the case records, attendmg the stajjmgs, completing the forms, interviewing-he or she even
goes to court, if necessary. With no
other reports or responsibilities to handle, the investigator can concentrate on this one case. In other words this is a caseyou don 'thave to work ' and you have a specially trained person handling it. That's why I think that although counties are not ~equir~d to r~quest our help, it's really m the1r best mterest to call us in.
Q. How does SIU work in judicial districts that have a multidisciplinary team in place for these kinds of cases? A. Ideally, the unit's special investigator would be a member of that team. But, since six judicial districts formed teams before our unit got started we want to leave them as they are with the CPS investigator each team has currently. If that person leaves for any reason, one of our investigators can step in. In fact, right now we're looking for a person to work with the Middle Georgia judicial district team. This investigator would be based in Swainsboro with Emanuel County DFCS. As more circuits add multidisciplinary teams, our investigators wm be assigned to work with tnem.
Q. Who should be called when an event occurs? A. Call me at the office (404-6573413) or on Radio 92. For an after-hours emergency you can page me at 404-655-3336. You can reach the investigators' pagers by calling
1-800-406-0152.

Q. Any final comments? A. I realize there's a lot of anxiety out there now about this unit's role but I believe that in time county staff will feel our impact in a positive way. nust 1s eamed and we are working hard to eam it from the counties. After all, we are all on the same team.
"I just went into it with an open mind. The team is here to help us, not second
guess us."
Susan Redding
Tie report came in to Butts County DFCS one early Sunday morning in October. A child had been severely injured and taken to the hospital, could DFCS respond? With most of her staff headed for a meeting in Savannah and her experienced on-call person unavailable, county director Susan Redding didn't hesitate; she contacted the special investigator assigned to her area and requested that she go to the hospital.
Within an hour and a half, Cathy Bitterman was on the case. For the next month she belonged to Butts County. She interviewed relatives and physicians, completed home evaluations, met with the local district attorney and testified in court.
Since Butts has just one investigator, having somewhere else to turn for help was a real benefit. "Otherwise I'd have had to pull another staff person off of her other work to concentrate on this one case," Redding explained.
Redding commented that everything ran smoothly. Bitterman was available to her and the service supervisor at all times via pager, and there was real teamwork. "Cathy always ran everything by one of us and it was never like 'this is my case and I'm running it'."
An unexpected side benefit of having SIU in the county was the opportunity it gave a county case manager to work with a CPS veteran. Redding asked Bitterman
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at the outset of the case if she could have a new staff person shadow her while she worked the case.
"These workers need mentors but we don't have that capability in most offices," Redding said. "In this investigation our worker learned from a very skilled former supervisor and got to see investigative skills and social work skills in action."
From being one of the first directors to use the expertise of SIU, Redding has become a real booster.
"It's just a wonderful tool to have for my county," she said. "And Cathy was so knowledgeable. She saved us a lot of worry and heartache."
Special Investigations Unit
Area I
Anne Krueger ............ .404-717-1062
Area II
Peggy Woodard .. .. ...... .404-717-1064
Area Ill-A and Fulton-Vacant
Area 111-B
Glenda Culpepper.......404-717-1059
Area IV
Cathy Bitterman...... ....404-717-1060
Area V-Vacant
Area VI
Gwendolyn Lee ....... ....404-717-1065
Area VII
Krista Kendrick .......... .404-717-1056
Area VIII and Area IX-Vacant
Areax
Cecelia Jordan........... ..404-717-1066
Area XI
Teri Amendola ............404-717-1061
Area XII
Glenda Welborn ........ ..404-717-1072
HELP WANTED
Be part of the new Special Investigations unit.
Now hiring investigators for these areas: 3-A, 5, 8, 9, Fulton County and the Middle Georgia Judicial Circuit
Send your resume to Linda Hernandez, Two Peachtree St. NW, 28-255, Atlanta GA 30303 or fax it to D'Anna Uber at 404-657-3486.

Dr. Nancy Fajman leads a workshop on the severe consequences ofneglect.

Building Successful Teams
Conference Doubles
Attendance
More than 600 people attended the second DFCSsponsored conference on investigating and prosecuting severe child abuse and death. A distinguished array of local and national presenters lectured to packed workshops, and special guest speakers, including Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, promised ongoing support for CPS. This year, in addition to increased attendance over last year's conference, more people came from other agencies, particularly law enforcement.

Keynote sp~aker Lt. ~o~. Mark Taylor receives a warm welcome from members of the Special Invest1gat10ns unit.

Looking
Ahead....2l>O I
A message from David Hellwig
The last year has certainly been tumultuous. There have been times when we felt we were being battered from all corners. As hard as it has been, I believe we are going to experience real, lasting benefits as a result of the pressures and scrutiny we've faced.
The division has strong, able leadership under Juanita BlountClark. Wilfred Hamm understands our issues and is committed to ~aking Social Services as strong as rt can be. Also, the CPS unit has become the proud parent of a new offspring-the Special Investigations unit-that will help ensure that severe cases of child abuse and neglect are investigated thoroughly and in a timely manner.
Since the county office is still responsible for the majority of investigations, I'm really pleased that we have been able to develop a new intensive training course for field staff.
We ~orked closely with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GB!) to develop this week-long advanced investigation training package. The first one will be offered at .the Public Safety Training Academy m Forsyth beginning April 2. The GBI-DFCS partnership wilf provide practical skill-based training by experts in CPS and law enforcement.
We also plan to offer a second week follow-up training on advanced intervention and treatment skills. We have a lot of good training and events planned for this year and all of them have one goal-to teach us how to better protect o~r children. May you have a productive 200 I, and let's work together to make it safe to be a child in Georgia.

Keeping busy at the regis.trGalt.JO~ d~ikt~r~n(1d-r)anndewSIUCPcSosntsauteltaunntitJucloiensSulalttaern.t Na'Cole
Young-Oka, SIU secretary ona ,
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Findings from Case Staffings

Between May and mid-December of 2000, seven staffings were held at the state office to gather facts and determine accountability in the death or serious injury of a child. Social Services Director Wilfred Hamm attends every staffing along with people from the county involved and state staffers who are familiar with the case.
"We've learned of a number of common policy violations through these sessions which tells me that we must pay closer attention when we're working a case, it may save a child," Hamm said. Among the findings found in case reviews are the following:
Failures
to identify serious physical abuse, to make collateral contacts as required, to communicate case information between involved counties, and to remove children at risk from the home.

Cases closed
without checking for family's previous CPS history, doing an adequate investiga-

Wilfred Hamm speaking at the DFCS tion, verifying medical information or

manager's conference.

obtaining information from sources who

had specific concerns.

Hamm notes that these and other" s rious policy errors seem to occur in
a minority of cases. "Of the 148 fatalities reported to us this year we had just four staffings. We received 85 serious injury reports and held three staffings," he said.
The staffings have resulted in policy and practice changes and personnel actions, which were necessary if DFCS is to maintain accountability and
sound practice, according to Hamm. "We like to think that these seven cases are an aberration," he said.
"Basically, I believe the majority of the field staff is following policy, and I want to encourage them to keep up the good work."

REMEMBER
Always check a family's history.
Ifyou don't, you're messing with dynamiter

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REPORTS
Published by the Georgia Department of Human Resources Office of Communications Tell us your story. What, or whom do you want to read about? Fax your ideas and the name and number of a contact person to Renee Huie, editor, CPS Reports
Cd 404-651-6815.
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DHR