Responding to Foster Care Series

* Your series on the institutional abuse of children in government-sanctioned foster care was investigative journalism at its best. It should provoke outrage and immediate corrective action.

From my own experience, I can verify that children are being drugged, often inappropriately, as a cheap alternative to safer and more effective interventions.

The sad fact is these troubled children, through no fault of their own, are living under the most difficult circumstances. They are treated as “throwaways,” instead of given the support and resources they deserve as children.

When are our county supervisors and other elected officials going to behave as responsible grown-ups and start investing in the future of our children?

Now is the time to create an emergency committee consisting of leading physicians, health professionals, jurists, social workers, business persons and elected officials who are determined to do whatever it takes--and fund whatever it costs--to end the institutional abuse of our children, once and for all.

PHYLLIS AGRAN, M.D.

Director

UCI Pediatric Injury Prevention

Research Group

* I applaud The Times for its outstanding series about the child welfare system.

The May 21 article, “Despair of the System Kids,” really raised my ire. It’s outrageous that group homes get $4,000 to $5,000 per month per child, yet the children live in substandard conditions. No one knows how that money is being spent, and apparently none of the children are benefiting. We’re talking big-time welfare fraud here.

In the past there have been many articles about individuals who abuse the welfare system by garnishing checks for nonexistent dependents, to the tune of, say, $50,000 or $100,000. But this type of abuse pales in comparison to the welfare fraud being committed by group homes.

Imagine the greed involved in taking in a $30,000 government subsidy each month, with very little given back to the children. It must be incredibly easy to sit back and rake in the government funds if nobody’s watching.

I’m hoping you have a follow-up planned which provides more detail about the management and business practices of the homes; I would enjoy learning how the homes operate fiscally and who oversees their activities.

I would also like to know what Gov. Pete Wilson and the state and federal governments are doing, if anything, about this outrageous situation.

JOSIE McCAUSLAND

Orange

* Your May 21 article hurts children. To print a one-sided view of how the “problem isn’t the money” is misleading without mentioning the required level of care we must provide with that money.

The money we receive from the county, the same amount we have received since 1989, averages out to $6.14 per hour per child.

You failed to mention that each home at Child or Parental Emergency Services, or COPES, employs five full-time and five part-time child care workers, providing care 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

In addition, the money goes to pay for a full-time social worker and house manager in each home, partial salaries of a clinical director, program manager, psychologist, weekend and graveyard shift supervisors and maintenance personnel, not to mention rent, medical, liability and auto insurance, van upkeep and transportation costs, furniture, appliances, clothing, food, recreation and entertainment, allowance for the kids and 12% administrative expenses.

I would be proud to show anyone the home which you bleakly describe as having “mismatched, beat-up tables” and “scarred white dressers.” Also, I would gladly share our planned weekly menus for children, which portray a balanced, nutritious diet and have been approved by a nutritionist for participation in a state-funded reimbursement program.

The children we care for could not be given the same high-quality care we provide without the financial support of the United Way and our caring donors in the community. Children will be hurt if people buy your point of view.

DENISE STEVENS

Executive Director, COPES

* May I compliment you on the excellent articles on the plight of the children in the dependency system in Orange County.

I have been a volunteer child advocate for more than 11 years. In that time I have coined a phrase of sorts that describes how I feel about these kids. I believe they suffer from LCS: Loss of Childhood Syndrome.

There is no pill for it. Therapy is scant. The condition is probably chronic. The biggest frustration I have in dealing with these kids is that at the end of the day, when they’re 18, have I really done anything for them? Keep doing what you’re doing. Perhaps something may come of it.

ROBERT W. VANDERKLISH

Irvine

* The May 23 article, “Caseworkers Share the Pain but Face the Pressure Alone,” made me sick to my stomach. The atrocities committed against the children profiled are gut-wrenching.

Three cheers for social worker Nieves Monge’s blunt opinions.

Anyone who sexually or otherwise abuses children--like those Monge has seen--should be relieved of their right to breathe. Forget family reunification, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and second chances for these parents.

And let’s put our money where it matters most: saving the children from their unfortunate lives. We need to create better foster care facilities and counseling services for these children.

While we’re at it, let’s have a well-deserved increase in staffing and pay for social workers like Monge who surely have the most difficult job of all.

ELLEN GADDIE

San Clemente

* The Times’ series on dependency court will hopefully improve conditions for children in the system.

Disturbing, however, was your attack on professionals working in the courts. Without quoting a source, you state that Superior Court judges are stowed in dependency court because they are “out of favor” or “in need of seasoning.” Public defenders in dependency court are “bad apples” and burn-outs” in your unsubstantiated opinion. Did you check out the allegations regarding these judges and attorneys? If so, you would have discovered [you] distorted the facts.

During the investigation, The Times contacted me on several occasions, complaining that some public defenders and judges were not allowing you complete access to court proceedings. I explained that by law all dependency proceedings are confidential.

Some families simply don’t want the press reporting on their private lives, particularly since allegations being addressed in many cases have not been either admitted or proved.

I would further point out that your review of the Enright case was shallow and incomplete. In that case the parties had agreed to The Times’ presence in the courtroom. You never contacted the public defender for comment on the proceeding.

My office has always endeavored to cooperate with responsible, truthful representatives from the media.

JEFF LUND

Supervisor

O.C. public defender’s office

Child dependency unit