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It all happened a long time ago, but in A.E. Williams’ mind it is as present as her last breath.
"I will never forget what they did to me and my sister in that foster home, and DYFS put us there," said Williams, the hurt and anger still in her voice.
Williams – now in her 50s – and her sister were removed from their mother because the state found she was not competent to care for them. The Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) did them no favor, she said.
In the home where they were placed they were subjected to years of beatings, deprived of food and denied water, tied up with ropes and subjected to verbal humiliations daily.
"I used to pick the puss out of my sister’s head where the wounds were infected from the beatings," Williams recalled.
The Williams sisters were turned into virtual slaves in the foster home. Referring to her foster mother, Williams states that when a chore was not completed as quickly or the way that the foster mother wanted, she would beat the girls with a closed fist, a two-by-four, and a stick, among other things.
One day, the foster mother beat A.E.’s sister unconscious. It was then that Williams told.
"I don’t know what gave me the courage to tell (she said something to the woman she worked for after school), but I just blurted out to her what had happened to my sister," recounted Williams, "and then they finally did something."
That was many years ago. In the intervening years, Williams married, had children of her own and cared for another 48 foster children.
"I know what it’s like to be in a bad foster home and I didn’t want any child to suffer like me and my sister, that’s why I took in foster children," she said.
Hard work and perseverance allowed her to move from poverty in Wildwood to a home of her own in a nice neighborhood on a single lot just off Route 9 in Burleigh. Because of circumstances arising from a family crisis six years ago, she found herself raising her grandson as well as caring for her teenage son who has a disability and is wheelchair bound with very little mobility.
One day the 5-year-old grandchild touched her son in an inappropriate way.
"It only happened once and I gave him a restriction and scolded him for it," said Williams.
But someone called DYFS and reported that the child had been performing oral sex on the disabled young man.
"That was nothing but a lie," said Williams.
DYFS contacted Williams.
"I told them it was one time. It was childish curiosity and that I had punished him for it. It didn’t matter," said Williams, tearing up.
DYFS agents removed the little boy from his grandmother’s home and placed him in foster care. Williams, who has raised dozens of children through the years, is now required to take parenting lessons from a woman young enough to be her daughter with no comparable experience.
The Final Report of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Protection Services, released Feb. 20, 1998, states, "Standards of practice which appear in DYFS manuals on foster care are good overall, but they are not consistently implemented."
It also makes a recommendation about how a child should be placed into foster care: "Present policy which calls for assessment of the child and family circumstances prior to placement should be implemented, leading to enhanced ability to find an appropriate foster home, appropriate preparation of the child for placement, appropriate preparation of the proposed foster parent, introducing the child to the foster parent prior to the placement, identifying services which will be necessary to successfully maintain the child in the placement and arranging that these services be available."
In the cases investigated by Gazette Leader Publications, this particular recommendation was never followed.
According to federal statistics compiled from data supplied by DYFS to the federal government the median time spent in foster care for a child in that system within New Jersey in the year 2000 was 19.6 months. This is up from previous years and is straining the foster care system.
Linda Kravitz, who is using her maiden name for this article, lives in the Millville area and was a foster mother for more than 12 years.
"I love kids. I came from a big family and when I got married, the first time I decided instead of getting a job outside the home I could do something good for kids," said the mother of three (not including foster children).
During the time Kravitz was a foster parent, she experienced every kind of adversity, she said.
"I had one kid a couple of years ago who was just so emotionally disturbed that I thought somebody was going to die in my house. DYFS never told me he had these problems when they placed him with me. He set fires, he screamed, he threatened, he tried to beat up the other kids. I told them they had to remove him from my home, that he was a danger. He even struck me and told me I couldn’t hit him back or he would report me to DYFS for abuse. That was the last straw," said Kravitz.
She then called the caseworker and asked that the child be removed.
"The case worker begged me to give him another chance citing all of his problems, which is the first time I had heard about them," said a still outraged Kravitz.
It was then that she learned this foster child suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and had a history of behavioral problems.
"When they placed him they told me that his mother had some drug and alcohol issues. They never said it was while she was carrying him. I was not prepared and my household was not prepared for a child with these serious problems," she said.
The Blue Ribbon Panel’s Final Report also recommends: "Foster children should be given more comprehensive and more timely information about children in their care."
After Kravitz refused to reconsider her decision, DYFS asked her to keep him for three more weeks She told them three days was her limit.
"In three days I told them if you do not pick him up I am dropping him off at your office," she recalled.
Although the agency does not provide a formal support network (there is a hotline), many foster parents know each other and network informally or through the Foster Parents Association.
Mark Reichmann, of Villas, has his own complaints about DYFS and their foster care arrangements, which he raised publicly at the first VOCAL meeting he attended Oct. 5, in Wildwood. Calling upon his own Jewish heritage and the Holocaust for reference, he asked, "What is the difference between the Nazis and DYFS?"
When no one in the somewhat surprised group replied, he said, "The Nazis were better dressers and they shot the children in the arms of their mothers instead of taking them away and letting them both suffer slowly."
When another person cautioned that maybe he was overreacting, he replied, "I’m here tonight with my closest friend. Her daughter’s father committed suicide after DYFS took their baby by force using the cops. He said he couldn’t take it any more. He failed his baby. So I don’t think I’m overreacting," Reichmann emphasized, adding he does not want to see government used to hurt people "like the third Reich did."
According to Reichmann, the removed child was abused in the first foster home and had to be placed in another. The child’s mother stood next to him and even after all the intervening years cried and said, "I just wish I could say happy birthday Rachel, but I don’t know where she is."
The 1997-1998 Child Abuse and Neglect in New Jersey report from DYFS stated that the percentage of alleged Institutional Abuse that takes place in foster homes is 25.6 percent for 1998 and 27.7 for 1997 of the total reported which is the highest for all types of Institutional abuse; of this percentage 10.2 percent were substantiated.
The Blue Ribbon Panel recommends: "Foster parents should be evaluated on a regular basis. Formal evaluation of whether standards are being met should occur at least annually."
Kravitz said that after the initial screening and evaluation she was never again evaluated. "I loved the kids and ran what I think was a good home for kids who were hurting, but I can also tell you about some folks who shouldn’t be foster parents," she said. She also alleged that it was a difficult and drawn out process to get children the special psychological and counseling help that they needed once they were placed in her home. "Once they placed these children it was like a big relief for them and they just made their routine calls but didn’t really want to hear about any problems. The whole goal was to look good on paper and make sure that you didn’t spank," added Kravitz.
Andy Willaims, DYFS spokesman, had confirmed that while spanking and physical discipline is legal in New Jersey it is "forbidden under the policy and procedure enacted by the agency."
This policy and procedure is an interpretation of the legislation written by DYFS staff to be used by the agency’s agents. Foster parents as well as prospective adoptive parents must agree not to use physical discipline in order to be considered for the placement of children.
The Blue Ribbon Panel observed in its report that "voluntary agreements are only appropriate when: All information in the possession of DYFS which is relevant to the decision to place a child can be and is shared with the parent being called upon to make the decision to place. DYFS should provide the parent with a written explanation of the reasons for placement (If compelling reasons exist not to share information, this suggests a need to go to court); the parent can be advised in a skilled and articulate way what the different choices are and what the consequences of each choice would be" and it further states, "regular conferences are held with the parents of a child in placement to insure, among other things, that the parent understands and is provided with the means to have the child returned if that is his or her wish."
This is in stark contrast to the methods employed by DYFS agent Jason Ciseck who told "Marvin" that he had no choice but to sign over custody of his four children "voluntarily" or DYFS would go to court and get them anyway. (See series story Part 4.)
To quote from the governor’s report: "The committee endorses the use of voluntary placement agreements only when the parent makes an informed choice in a truly voluntary way."
The report further states: "The committee believes that New Jersey’s foster care system is in serious need of reform and rethinking."
In the meantime, Kravitz has cared for her last foster child.
"I just got remarried six months ago. I kept it a secret from the agency. I want this marriage to work and I don’t need my husband being hassled by seriously damaged kids who try to control by threats or an agency that is crashing," she said.
The couple plans to move out west and "raise cocker spaniels."
And Williams is still taking her parenting lessons and hoping that her grandson will be home soon.
DYFS has begun a public relations campaign to recruit foster parents and improve their image as recommended by the Blue Ribbon Panel: "DYFS should contract with a professional, competent and creative public relations firm for the purpose of devising a comprehensive and financially plausible plan to enhance the image of foster care in the public’s mind."
It is the one recommendation which they did implement.
DYFS spokespersons did not return several phone calls seeking comment for this story.
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