Social Services launches new approach

 Sharon Roznik, Action Reporter Media 6:21 p.m. CDT June 3, 2015



Starting this week, Fond du Lac County Social Services is taking a new approach to child protective services.
Alternative Response, launched June 1, is an initiative directed at providing immediate resources to families involved in cases of child neglect and mistreatment.
For as long as the Fond du Lac community can remember, child protection has been done one way and one way only, which professionals in the field call traditional response. This includes investigation, followed by a substantive case decision, said Kay Metty-Reinhard, social services supervisor.
And while that standard approach remains critical in some cases, in others, families need services, support and assistance that will resolve concerns and stressors often associated with allegations of child mistreatment.
“We see that across the board, the work we do as caseworkers, we have a bad rap,” said Erika Winterfeldt, who, along with Metty-Reinhard, supervises a unit of 10 initial assessment caseworkers.
“For us to show up at someone’s door can be very traumatic and scary for a child,” Winterfeldt said. “We hope this will change the perception people have about child protection, because we are trying to build families up.”
Social Services held an informational community meeting about the new initiative May 12, attended by law enforcement officials, school personnel, mental health providers and in-home providers. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, Metty-Reinhard said.
“We all agreed that it takes a community, that it is everyone’s responsibility to help families in need,” she said.
The county’s assessment unit is responsible for taking all reports of alleged abuse or neglect in the community and gathering information through an interview process. Mandated callers may be teachers or guidance counselors, doctors, law enforcement officials or social workers. Non-mandated calls come in from family members, neighbors, friends and co-workers.
In 2014, Fond du Lac County received 1,441 intake calls to the assessment unit for reports of alleged child abuse or neglect. Of those calls, 538 initial assessments were completed.
Typically, during an investigation involving children, a social worker would meet and interview the child at school, for example, without a parent’s knowledge. A School Resource Officer may also be present in the room. Now, a social worker will be contacting parents or caregivers and scheduling visits.
“There were many times traditional methods created an immediate barrier between us and the family,” Winterfeldt said. “Imagine a 5-year-old coming home from school and telling their parents that they were questioned about their own family.”
Interrogations place families “in a negative space” and much time is spent de-escalating a situation, Metty-Reinhard said. Alternative Response is based on the belief that families can keep children safe and remain together if they receive assistance they need when child protection concerns are identified.
The new plan brings together caseworkers and families to jointly assess child safety, family strengths, needs and risks. Support services can include family counseling, child care classes, and connections with community resources, like a food pantry or The Family Resource Center.
“Children are more likely to be protected by parents who are engaged with our agency helping them make sustainable changes,” Metty-Reinhard said. “If we work together, they are going to have a buy-in to that plan.”
Examples of family situations that would fit the criteria for a non-traditional approach include lack of necessary care because of poverty, lack of supervision or necessary medical care, emotional damage or substance exposure.
“I think there is a hesitation for people to reach out for help if they feel it will shed a negative light on them,” Winterfeldt said. “We want families to realize that it is safe to reach out, and it is a strength to try and meet the needs of your family.”
Fond du Lac County was chosen among 22 counties in the state to participate in the Phase IV rollout of Alternative Response to Child Protective Services. Local staff went through a year-long training program. Fond du Lac County’s plan will be used as a model to assist other counties in the state.
The first phases were implemented in 2010, and now include 16 counties, including Dodge County.
“We are still complying with all the standards,” Winterfeldt said. “The difference is in how we approach families. We see this benefiting the community as a whole in reducing repeat reports of concern or maltreatment.”
Reach Sharon Roznik at sroznik@fdlreporter.com or 920-907-7936; on Twitter:




http://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/local/2015/06/03/fond-du-lac-county-social-services-launches-new-approach-child-neglect-abuse-cases/28441283/

Appalling failure in children's services

The Virginian-Pilot
© May 29, 2015

The phone messages went unretrieved for months, accumulating in a voice mailbox at the Verona office of Child Protective Services.
When they finally were discovered, staffers didn't follow up on any of the messages left by people calling a number reserved for reports of child abuse and neglect.
Instead, as the Staunton News Leader reported, a staff member listened to a few, deleted them, and then deleted the rest - in all, more than 200 messages - without listening to them.
Augusta County officials learned of the action in October, and county and social services officials have told the newspaper that corrective actions - including a letter in the employment file of a supervisor who permitted a worker to delete the messages - were taken. The director of the Shenandoah Valley Department of Social Services has announced she's leaving this summer for a similar position in Orange County.
The episode, which went undisclosed to the public until the News Leader's report this month, presents an outrageous breach of trust and a colossal failure for a department that exists to protect children from violence and neglect.
A spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police confirmed that the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Appomattox field office is reviewing a request from Augusta County's chief prosecutor to investigate whether any laws related to receipt or review of messages were broken.
Such a criminal investigation may be a longshot, at least in terms of holding anyone accountable.
And, beyond the local department's boundaries, there appears little recourse for the public. Local social services departments enjoy great autonomy, despite receiving substantial funding from the state.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has asked state social services officials to look into the matter and to determine during a broader review whether more policies and procedures need to be changed beyond what was done in response to the News Leader's report, a spokesman said.
That's an inadequate level of oversight, and it falls woefully short of providing the accountability made necessary by the amount of money funneled annually to local social services departments.
This year, more than $400 million - about a quarter of it from Virginia's general fund - will flow to those local offices, which draw even more funds directly from their respective municipalities.
Three years ago, it took the death of a child in foster care to produce overdue change in Virginia Beach's social services department. The state conducted an extensive review of the department and, in 2012, two years after Braxton Taylor's death, issued a damning report that detailed terrible morale and ineffectual leadership, spurring Beach officials to take serious action.
Some officials in municipalities served by the Shenandoah Valley department, however, appear insufficiently concerned about the gravity of their department's failures.
As the News Leader reported, "Staunton Deputy City Manager Steve Rosenberg, who this year serves as the head of the DSS board, took... the news organization to task for sensationalism, saying that it's not possible to know what was in the voice mails since they were wiped from the CPS voice mail system."
Of course, that's the point.
Nobody knows what information the callers tried to provide to staff members charged with looking out for society's most vulnerable.
Nobody knows how many children might have been affected, or how many callers called again, or how many simply gave up.
It is a horrifying failure, compounded by opacity and the absence of a mechanism that assures the public that the error won't be repeated.

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/05/appalling-failure-childrens-services

Families Fight Native American Adoption Rules

by AMANDA LOVIZA-VICKERY

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) - The Indian Child Welfare Act prevents Native Americans from choosing the best adoptive family for their children, parents and adoption agencies claim in Federal Court.      The lawsuit from the National Council for Adoption et al. is not the first to challenge the constitutionality of the 1978 law and its enforcement by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.      At one time, the federal government went out of its way to remove children from reservations, under its so-called assimilation policy.      Now the law takes children such as 10-month-old plaintiff T.W., who has never lived on a reservation and has no tangible ties to his tribal roots, and narrows his choices for an adoptive family. His plaintiff guardian calls that an unconstitutional violation of the baby's and his parents' due process rights.      The two plaintiff children and their families present different facts.      T.W. is Navajo. His non-Indian foster parents want to adopt him. His guardian sues on behalf of the child.      Co-plaintiffs D.V. and N.L. are birth parents of a child whose father, D.V., is a Yaqui. They do not live on a reservation and they do not want the Pascua Yaqui tribe to have a say in the adoption process. They are suing on their own behalf.      T.W. was born in 2014. On Nov. 4, when he was 3 months old, he was left unattended on a sofa while in the care of his uncle. He fell and his two young cousins climbed on top of him, according to the May 27 lawsuit. He suffered severe brain damage, hemorrhages in his eyes and fractured ribs.      While he was hospitalized, his mother told a social worker she would not be able to give him the 24-hour care he required. T.W. was placed in a foster home.      A neurologist predicted that T.W. will never walk, talk, eat on his own or use the bathroom on his own, but he has made steady progress in the care of his foster parents. They can provide 24-hour care, and allow his mother to visit him, his guardian says.      His foster parents want to adopt him, and his mother wants them to adopt him, but as an "Indian child," his foster placement and adoption are subject to Indian Child Welfare Act regulations.      The ICWA states that absent "good cause to the contrary," a state court must give preference to foster placement with a member of an Indian child's extended family, a foster home licensed or approved by the Indian child's tribe, an Indian foster home, or an institution approved by an Indian tribe.      T.W.'s foster parents meet none of those requirements, so the Arizona Department of Child Services must search for a Native American family, even though the agency supports adoption by his non-Indian foster parents.      The child's best interests and his bonding with his foster parents are not factors to be considered in the "good cause" determination under the ICWA, according to the lawsuit. Rather, adherence to ICWA regulations and good-cause requirements will delay his adoption, if not remove him from his foster parents.      The ICWA thereby violates constitutional rights of due process and equal protection to Indian children, their birth parents, and their would-be adoptive parents. It denies birth parents' the ability to direct the upbringing of their children and limits the children's adoption options based on their ancestry, according to the 54-page complaint.      Also, the ICWA's 2015 Guidelines violate the Administrative Procedure Act because they did not adhere to notice and comment regulations, they tell states what they cannot do, and they diverged drastically from earlier ICWA guidelines, according to the lawsuit.      In South Carolina in 2013, several birth mothers of Native American children put up for adoption filed their own lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ICWA, alleging that the law violates their right to choose adoptive parents who will provide a stable environment for their children.      The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the Indian Child Welfare Act does not require that a Cherokee child be taken from her adoptive family and given to a Cherokee father she never knew. Justice Samuel Alito wrote that ruling for a 5-4 court.      The mother in that case then sued the Cherokee Nation , which supported the child's placement with her Indian father. Lead plaintiff Christinna Maldonado also challenged the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.      The families in the new case are represented by Jacob Siler with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, of Washington, D.C. Building Arizona Families is also a plaintiff in the Virginia case, on behalf of its clients D.V. and N.L.

Courthouse News Service

 http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/06/05/families-fight-native-american-adoption-rules.htm

Report: Children in group homes on rise in Arizona

A brief history of Arizona's child-welfare woes

  Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic | azcentral.com 10:31 p.m. MST May 28, 2015


More than one out of every five children removed from their family home because of abuse or neglect is sent to a group home, the highest percentage in recent history and a reflection of the growing number of Arizona children in out-of-home care.
The latest statistics from Arizona's child-welfare agency show more than 17,623 children were living outside their home at the end of 2014, according to a report released Thursday to a state panel charged with overseeing the Department of Child Safety.
Of those 17,623 children, 21.4 percent are sent directly to group homes, either because the state agency can't find relatives to take in the children or because there aren't enough foster families.
The numbers show a steady increase in the number of children in out-of-home care — 71 percent higher than five years ago.
The sobering report comes as the state fights a lawsuit, filed earlier this year in federal court, charging that Arizona's foster-care system is woefully failing children. And it follows the release last week of a national study that highlighted ways to reduce the number of kids in group-home settings, the most expensive and least stable situation for kids removed from their family homes, according to the Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Joe Jacober, a member of the Child Safety Oversight Committee, said the 21.4 percent figure is shocking, up from 16 percent five years ago. Yet, he said, the committee has never talked about what DCS needs to do to reduce the rate at which kids are sent to group homes. He asked DCS Director Greg McKay to bring the committee ideas.
The Kids Count report noted that group homes are far more costly to taxpayers than foster families. In Arizona, congregate care costs about $123 a day while foster homes cost $23 a day, according to the Children's Action Alliance.
McKay asked the panel for patience as he works to address the agency's many issues. Gov. Doug Ducey appointed him director in February, removing Charles Flanagan, who had been the new agency's director for only eight months.
Thursday's meeting found McKay on the hot seat, as panel members grilled him on everything from turnover and agency morale to the need for more timely statistics on how the new agency — a year old today — is faring.
Rep. Debbie McCune Davis, D-Phoenix, said McKay needs to provide more data sooner than the semiannual reports the agency favors. She and fellow Democrats in the House have been stymied in their attempts to get monthly data, such as how many calls come into the state's child-abuse hotline, how many children are removed from their homes each month and how many are sleeping in state offices or other emergency placements for lack of anywhere else to put them.
"It's important that we know this agency is progressing," McCune Davis said.
Panel member Bill Owsley, who runs the dependency unit in Maricopa County's Office of the Legal Advocate, said morale is at rock bottom.
"I don't think I've seen the morale any lower than it is today," said Owsley, adding he's been able to hire many of the well-qualified social workers who have left DCS in recent months.
McKay conceded morale has been an issue. The agency has seen near-weekly firings and departures, and said "it might get worse before it gets better" as he tries to change the agency's culture.
There was one bright spot for McKay: Rep. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, praised him for going above and beyond the legal reporting requirements for child fatalities in which DCS is involved. McKay provided details on the case of Alexandra Velazco-Tercerro, a 3-year-old Surprise girl whose parents have now been charged with murder in her death.
"Less than a week following this poor little baby's tragic death, from the information released by DCS, it becomes very clear that multiple jurisdictions and agencies were involved with this family," Brophy McGee said.
That kind of transparency makes it clear DCS is not the "punching bag" for failing children, she said, adding that other agencies, from courts to local and federal law enforcement to the state Attorney General's Office likely had some degree of interaction with the child and her family.
Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-444-8963.

 http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2015/05/29/report-kids-group-homes-rise/28135327/

How To File A Complaint Against A CPS caseworker

How To File A Complaint Against A CPS caseworker If you find yourself who is falsely accused of child abuse or child neglect (by CPS own admission 95% of CPS cases are UNFOUNDED aka INNOCENT) here are a few things you need to know:*If a CPS worker comes to your door ask if they have a warrant do not let them in, do not talk to them, through the door tell them to place their business card and to leave immediately, then make a police report, ASAP*Start now to get copies of your files: medical files on each child, medical files on yourself, testing lab reports, any school files on each child, any file you can think of, CPS will block your access to them, legally you have a right to your own files but the children court judges will go along with CPS intercepting, CPS will contact each entity behind your back and demand they not release files to you*Keep a log, get a spiral notebook, when you interact with CPS and any entity write down the date and time and name, write a short summary of the event-staffing-children's visit-court hearings-every event*Now is the time to brainstorm who may have made a report on you, do not speak or say another word to this person or persons, stay away from everyone who is vindictive, your life has now changed*Make a witness list, write down the name of any person who may be for you or against you, write down a summary of what they will say, include their contact information, your attorney is going to need this*Make a list of any evidence that will exonerate you, include where this information can be found with the name of the contact person, address of the entity with it's telephone number, your attorney will need this also*While you are at work CPS will go to the baby sitter or daycare and pick up the children, make changes now and get an attorney ASAP or connect with our LULAC Council we have experience in with dealing with CPS*CPS will hunt you down like a hunted animal and will go to court and claim you can't be found somehow CPS always find the children and never find the parents judges actually believes CPS can't find parents *The CPS worker must close your case if they cannot reach you within 6 months (9 months is better) when they can't reach you with the children*CPS caseworkers must identify themselves, if they do, big if, you may allow the CPS caseworker to see the children through your window to verify the children are fine, video tape and/or take photos, make sure to photograph the CPS worker viewing the children*Always do a paper trail, send the CPS caseworker a short kindly worded letter to confirm visits-appts-staffings-etc, the letter must be dated and include a letterhead with your name, address, and telephone number*Arrive early at least 30 minutes to each hearing-staffing-visit-appt and to CPS 'vendors'*If you are late and you call CPS will instruct the transporter (the person that transports your children to visits) to leave immediately you will not see the children, CPS will then state in court you did not care to visit with them, it is suggested you record this phone call*Any paperwork CPS gives you make 3 copies of every piece of paper, 1 for you, 1 for the court, 1 to be kept in a safe deposit box or a safe location*NEVER sign anything unless your attorney reads any document first*When a CPS worker tells you she will close your case, you are in limbo, they will come after you again, judges allows CPS to do this double jeopardy, including when you finish the first mommy probation-daddy probation aka service plan and a new CPS caseworker is assigned to you, you will have to do the probation all over again, more on double jeopardy later*Always have a witness with you at each and every staffing-visit-hearing-vendor's appt. at every single interaction.*Take pictures of your children at each visit, when they are injured, not if they are injured, WHEN they are injured take close up photos, many children get injured many times, judges are okay with children being injured by CPS will not hold the caregivers or the CPS worker accountable, ever. FYI: your children will be injured, no exceptions the judges will look the other way and the DA and CPS will explain it away, it does not matter if you speak up and notify the judge, more on this later*Take notes on CPS explanations of how the children got injured, you will get more than one story, CPS workers don't remember their statements, *Make a police report on the CPS caseworker when he or she bullies and harasses you*Do a Color of Law on the CPS caseworker and the CPS supervisorThe following is just a few of CPS dirty tricks that judges are on board with*CPS 'loses' paperwork, the paperwork CPS workers 'lose' often are: contact info about you, the list of persons you would like for the children to live with, correspondence you send, anything that exonerates you including clean drug tests*CPS do not do home visits on the children's foster home and/or caregivers*CPS will claim you were unavailable for a visit on your home, this is said often, have a witness with you at all times, the judge will take CPS word so have the witness video tape the home visit you have that right (use your cell phone, CPS will tell you not to, just remember you have a right to videotape your life, just do it and give a copy to the attorney and the boards listed below)*CPS will pressure you to sign over your rights and will make false statements such as "You will go to jail if you don't sign", "You will have an open adoption", etc don't fall for their lies.*CPS will falsely tell you that you do not need an attorney and will bully you by falsely stating they will NOT ask for termination, CPS always asks for termination*CPS will tell you that if you listen and do as your attorney tells you that you will lose custody, truth is CPS IS ALWAYS CONFIDENT that judges will rubber stamp the termination *CPS will falsify documents, judges allow this, CPS caseworkers are not trained investigators, licensed investigators and detectives for instance work at law enforcement. CPS caseworkers are social workers, their CPS training consists of filling out paperwork that satisfies the language judges need to justify terminating your parental rights. For example, when you are in shock that your children were removed for no good reason CPS caseworkers will write down something like "Mother was emotional", which will be interpreted in many different ways and in CPS favor, FYI: CPS despises any and all law enforcement officers*CPS caseworkers will not call or visit you, then go to court and tell the judge you were unavailable*CPS will claim they cannot find you even though they have information on where to find you at your employment and homestead address, CPS has the best equipment that money can buy, for instance after a parent kept calling CPS to confirm their visit with their children and got zero response I then called the CPS office using the call block that ID's the call as unknown-restricted number and within seconds the CPS worker called back and asked who it was, I identified myself and confirmed the visit for the parents this action prevented the CPS worker to say in court that the parents were unavailable and unreachable, this way when the judge ask if they spoke with the parents CPS can say no, judges do know about CPS dirty tricks*CPS will tell you one thing and will get on the stand and tell the judge something else, for instance they will tell you that you are doing great for completing the service plan and will tell the judge they recommend re-unification, on court day they will tell the judge they want termination*Even though you have overwhelming evidence that you are innocent and the evidence presented and allowed by the judge to be entered that exonerates you, you still will lose custody, how is that so? Judges rubber stamp, so what can be done? Read belowWho rubber stamps for CPS?Anyone who is hired by CPS, even if the evidence entities have exonerates you CPS pays them remember that and the entities crave CPS funds, they want government money, they will honor CPS requests and not release your file to you even though you have a constitutional right to have access to it, judges know this too, when they get on the stand they will give 'testimony'-statements that were suggested by CPS, they will not be in your favor, if they say it the judge goes along with it.You have the right to file a complaint here are links to do soIf the entity hired by CPS (entities CPS refers you to) have licenses then their State of Texas Boards are interested in anyone who is committing fraud, abusing their power, ethics violations, and violating your civil rights, please contact themSocial Work Complaint linkhttp://www.naswdc.org,Psychiatrist, Medical Doctors, Nurseshttp://tmb.state.tx.us/consumers/complain/placecomp.phpHospitals and Drug Testing Labshttp://www.dshs.state.tx.us/policy/compact.shtm#customerservice ;Teachershttp://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5758&menu_id=846&menu_id2=794Attorneyshttp://www.texasbar.com/AM/template.cfm?section=Contact_Our_DepartmentsJudgeshttp://www.scjc.state.tx.usTexas Attorney GeneralOffice of the Attorney General 300 W. 15th Street Austin, TX 78701You have a right to have your own team, your own psychiatrist, psychotherapist, visit any hospital, doctor, and medical lab, etc of your choosing, if you were referred by CPS to visit any entity BEWARE!!! Get your own team, you have the right to report anyone to the board who issues their license, individuals and entities care more about their license than about CPS, their license is their bottom line.Truth is an absolute. Items you will need to include are copies of videos, photos, emails, tape recordings, witnesses contact info, documents, etc. Carbon copy and make 4 copies of each, send one copy to the Texas Attorney General, one to the State of Texas Board, keep one copy for yourself, and another to be kept in a safe location. My LULAC Council has over 75 years of helping innocent parents who are facing false allegations by CPS we can help you with the complaint process and CPS process.Even though no warrant will be obtained by CPS just follow the Miranda Rights you have the right to remain silent that anything you say will be used against you what you say will never be in your favor no matter what, CPS will twist this and say that you don't want to comply the truth is you have the right to wait until you have an attorney, CPS hates this constitutional right in fact they despise any police officer, that's another letter. CPS are masters in manipulating judges, the police, parents, children and entities they will twist what you say, anything you do will be twisted anyways and used against you, you have the right to legal counsel CPS will demand you stay away from your attorney you have the right to have a witness with you at all times, you have the right to be heard and not have your civil rights violated it's in the United States Constitution, not only does CPS hate the police they hate civil rights and the Bill of Rights, their bottom line is to bully, they can because there is no oversight, the judges don't do oversight, a good decent police officer who sees through them will stand up to them.FYI: we are in an election cycle, this November it is a good idea to vote out all judges and the District Attorney who rubber stamp for CPS and don't put fire under the feet of CPS and demand they do right. Get involved, attend our meetings we will be discussing children's rights, parent rights, and civil rights soon. We meet often. Attend rallies and together we can make the changes necessary for the children. Respectfully,Julie Marquez, PresidentLULAC Council 4991Belinda Shvetz, ChairLULAC Council 4991 do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers http://www.shoppok.com/odessa/a,12,2157,--How-To-File-A-Complaint-Against-A-CPS-caseworker.htm

When DHHS investigates abuse or neglect of a child, it makes a decision that can have a serious effect on you

When DHHS investigates abuse or neglect of a child, it makes a decision that can have a serious effect on you. There are three things DHHS can do: go to court to get an Order removing the child from your care; "substantiate" you for abuse or neglect; or "indicate" you for abuse or neglect. A "substantiation" decision means DHHS found you were responsible for a child who was severely abused or neglected. DHHS keeps a list of people who have been "substantiated." If you are on this list, you are considered a risk for abusing or neglecting children in the future. The list is used for background checks for jobs (such as child care centers and schools) and state agencies (such as foster care licensing). If you are on the "substantiation" list, you can lose a job or a license. A DHHS investigation can also find that child abuse or neglect was "indicated." This is for less severe cases of abuse or neglect. An "indicated" person is not considered a risk for abusing or neglecting children. Usually, this information is not given out for background checks to employers or for licenses. However, DHHS is sometimes required by law to report that you have been "indicated" to potential employers of state agencies. This information explains how this system works. If DHHS puts you on the list, they have to mail you a written notice within 10 business days (about 2 weeks). The notice must include: Specific findings of abuse or neglect A summary of the evidence used to "substantiate" or "indicate" you Information about your right to appeal and how and when to do that. Information about legal help with your appeal from Pine Tree Legal Assistance or other legal services To challenge the decision, you must appeal. Your deadline to appeal is 30 days after the day you get the notice. If DHHS sent you the notice by certified mail and you refused delivery, your deadline is 30 days after the day you refused delivery. If DHHS sent you the notice by regular mail to your last known address, the appeal period ends 33 days after the notice was mailed, unless the notice was returned to DHHS as "undeliverable." If you miss the appeal deadline, it is possible to file a late appeal if you can show "good cause." You must show "good cause" within 90 days of when DHHS sent the notice to you. You must appeal in writing. The notice gives you a DHHS address in Augusta, to mail or hand deliver your appeal. Your appeal can be a simple letter that says you disagree with DHHS's decision and that you are appealing. DHHS must get your letter within 30 days after you get the notice. Get a sample appeal letter here. (Step 1: Paper Review) If your appeal is late, DHHS will refuse your appeal. In that case, you can try to appeal DHHS's refusal based on "good cause," but it is best to mail your appeal in plenty of time in the first place. (If it is too late to mail your letter, you can try faxing it to DHHS at 287-5282. Keep a record of when the fax was sent. You may also want to call DHHS, to make sure they received your letter.) If you miss your appeal deadline, and you do not have "good cause" for being late, you have no right to any appeal in the future. You will remain on the list forever. Exception: If you are under 18 when you are "substantiated," you can appeal at any time before you turn 25, if you have not already had your appeal earlier. What will happen after I file my appeal? Step #1 Paper Review First a DHHS "reviewer" will look over your record to decide if DHHS made a mistake. The reviewer must be someone who has not been involved in your case. The "reviewer" must consider any new information you provide. You have 30 days from the day DHHS got your appeal letter to send in new information. This can be your own statements of fact, statements of others, and written arguments. Your statement should be a short, direct response to the facts DHHS gives in the notice, especially if you have not looked at the DHHS case file. After you look at the case file, you should have a better idea of the claims being made against you. Looking at the case file will help you prepare more specific, relevant responses. (More about reviewing your file.) The reviewer must send you a decision within 65 days after DHHS got your appeal letter. The review can uphold a "substantiation" or "indicated" decision. The reviewer can change a "substantiation" to "indicated." The reviewer can find no abuse or neglect. Step #2 Administrative Hearing For people who are "substantiated": If you are still "substantiated" after the paper review and you disagree with the reviewer's decision, you can ask for an administrative hearing. You must file your appeal, in writing 30 days after you got the reviewer's decision. If you expected to suffer "imminent legal harm" (like losing your job) before the hearing can be held, you can ask the Hearing Office to speed up your appeal. Include with your appeal facts supporting your request to speed up your appeal, such as information that: you are about to be fired or refused a job, you are losing or being denied a license or government benefit, you are being expelled or denied admission to an educational program you are being deprived of "life, liberty, or property" Get a sample substantiation hearing request letter here. You will get a notice from DHHS giving the date, time and place of your hearing. For people who are "indicated" If the paper review finds that you are "indicated," you cannot appeal. DHHS is not allowed to tell anyone that you are "indicated." But if DHHS gives out information about you, and you are harmed or may be harmed (lose a job or license, get expelled from school, or are deprived of "life, liberty or property") you can then have a hearing to appeal the "indicated" decision. For example, if DHHS told your employer you were "indicated" and you think you will lose your job, you can appeal the "indicated" decision. You must file your appeal, in writing, within 60 days after you learn or should have learned about potential harm to you. If you do not file an appeal within 60 days, you will lose your right to appeal. Get a sample hearing request letter for harm due to indication here. If DHHS finds that your information may have been released and you are at risk of losing your job or other harm, they will hear your appeal and could overturn your "indication. You will get a notice from DHHS giving the date, time and place of your hearing. How do I know what evidence is being used against me? The notice DHHS sends to you is only a summary of DHHS's findings. The notice is based on your case record. You have a right to see your case record, so that you know what is being said about you and your case. But DHHS can withhold "privileged records." These records that DHHS "reasonably believes would increase the risk of harm to a child" if you saw them, or are private under other laws. Contact DHHS to set up a time to look at your record as soon as you get notice you have been "substantiated" or "indicated." You should do this before you file reasons for your appeal so that you know exactly what information is being used against you. If you can't look at your record before the appeal deadline, you can send a short letter of appeal, without stating any reasons. Then look at your record before your hearing so that you can be well-prepared to respond to the charges. Set aside plenty of time to look at your record and to take notes. If you run out of time, you can set up another time to finish looking at your record. You can also ask DHHS, in writing, to send you a copy of your record. You should ask for a copy of your record in your appeal letter. You can also ask for a copy of your record up to 10 days before your hearing. DHHS must send you what it beleives are the important parts of your record 3 days before the hearing. But DHHS does not have to send you the whole record. If you do not get these records at least 72 hours (3 days) before your hearing, you can ask the Hearing Officer for a "continuance" of the hearing. This delays the hearing until you have had the chance to review the DHHS records and prepare a defense. What happens at the hearing? At the hearing, you can testify and present relevant evidence. You can have witnesses with first-hand knowledge of the facts. You can ask a witness to come, or you can ask the hearing officer to force someone to come by giving a subpoena for a witness. If you think you need to have any witnesses subpoenaed, contact the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer as soon as you know you need a subpoena. It can take weeks to get the subpoena approved and served on the witness. If you want a caseworker or DHHS officer to testify on your behalf, you must request their presence in writing at least 10 days prior to the hearing. Children are not allowed to testify (except for a child who has been "substantiated"). However, you can use oral or written statements of a child, including the sworn affidavit of a child, as long as the child did not make the statements just for use in your appeal. Also an adult can testify to what he has heard a child say or seen a child do. If you want to know more about hearing procedures, or the "substantiation" notice and appeal rules, ask DHHS and they must give it to you. If you have papers you want the hearing officer to read--such as a child affidavit or a doctor's statement--you must give copies to DHHS 72 hours before the hearing, and you must bring extra copies of the papers to the hearing. Any other papers you plan to use in your appeal must also be given to the DHHS representative handling your case before the hearing. The hearing notice may set the deadline for giving DHHS your papers. If not, you have to give DHHS your papers at least 72 hours before the hearing. It is a good idea to make an outline of the things you want to say and evidence you want to present. Include questions you want to ask your own and DHHS's witnesses. Include points you want to make to prove to the Hearing Officer that you did not abuse or neglect a child. This will help you to remember all of the facts and points you want to make. (If you file a court appeal later on, the court will rely only on this hearing record.) After the hearing, the DHHS hearing officer will mail you a copy of her decision. What if I lose the administrative hearing? You can appeal to the Maine Superior Court. You must file your appeal with the court within 30 days of getting the decision. This would be difficult to do without a lawyer. Seek legal help right away. What if I have a Court case about the same issues? If you have a Court case in Maine or any other state about the same issues, DHHS will not decide your appeal. Even though they will not decide your appeal, you must file the appeal! You have 60 days after the Court case ends to tell DHHS that you now want your appeal with them to go forward. If you do not tell DHHS within 60 days, you lose your right to a paper review or an administrative hearing. If the Court found you abused or neglected a child, or put a child in jeopardy, you might not have a right to a paper review or administrative hearing. Can I get help with any of this? You have the right to have a lawyer at any time during the DHHS appeal process. If you cannot afford a lawyer, Pine Tree Legal Assistance may be able to help you. Although we cannot take all of these cases, we will consider taking your case if: you are the victim of domestic violence and you were substantiated for failure to protect your child; you are a parent with a mental illness; or you stand to lose a professional license or job due to substantiation Updated August 2009 http://ptla.org/child-abuse-and-neglect-substantiation-and-indication-maine# Pine tree legal Assistance

Arizona Family Court, CPS, and Doctors on Trial in 9th Circuit Court

Arizona Family Court, CPS, and Doctors on Trial in 9th Circuit Court

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Rape

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It’s normal for survivors of sexual violence to experience feelings of anxiety, stress, or fear. If these feelings become severe, last more than a few weeks, or interrupt your day-to-day life, it might be a condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that can result from a traumatic event. You may have heard the term used in relation to the military, but it can apply to survivors of any type of trauma, including sexual violence. Survivors might experience uncharacteristic feelings of stress, fear, anxiety, and nervousness—and this is perfectly normal. With PTSD, these feelings are extreme, can cause you to feel constantly in danger, and make it difficult to function in everyday life.

While all survivors react differently, there are three main symptoms of PTSD:

1. Re-experiencing: feeling like you are reliving the event through flashbacks, dreams, or intrusive thoughts
2. Avoidance: intentionally or subconsciously changing your behavior to avoid scenarios associated with the event or losing interest in activities you used to enjoy
3. Hyper-arousal: feeling “on edge” all of the time, having difficulty sleeping, being easily startled, or prone to sudden outbursts

Where can I get help and more information?
Living with PTSD can be challenging, but learning more about the condition can encourage you to ask questions and find the help you need. You can learn more about PTSD at theNational Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) or Mayo Clinic.

If you are currently a member of the military or have family members in the military, you can Call the DoD Telephone Hotline at 877.995.5247 or visit the DoD Safe Helpline online chat platform.

To speak with someone who is trained to help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE(4673) or chat online at online.rainn.org.

Please note that content on this site does not constitute medical advice and RAINN is not a medical expert. If after reading this information you have further questions, please contact a local healthcare professional or hospital.

https://www.rainn.org/effects-of-sexual-assault/post-traumatic-stress-disorder

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - KidsHealth

 

A couple of months ago, a guy who'd been harassing and threatening Jake for a while pulled a gun on him as he was walking home. Luckily, the police arrived and no one was hurt, but soon after that Jake started feeling jittery and easily irritated, he had trouble sleeping and concentrating, and he couldn't stop thinking about it, even when he was trying to do something else. He even had nightmares about it.

The things Jake was going through are normal after a traumatic event. They usually run their course and go away within a few days or weeks. But for Jake and other people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), things are different. When someone has PTSD, the symptoms of stress are intense and last for longer than a month.

What Is PTSD?

Posttraumatic stress disorder is a set of symptoms — feeling jittery, sleeping problems, trouble concentrating — that someone develops after they experience something harmful, terrifying, or upsetting.

Any kind of extreme stress can lead to PTSD. It often develops after a direct experience in which someone is seriously injured or threatened with injury or death. It also can happen to people who witness stressful events or learn about an unexpected or violent death or injury to a family member or close friend.

In some cases, PTSD can develop after repeated or extreme exposure to traumatic events. This can be the case with people such as policemen, firemen, and EMTs.

What Causes PTSD?

When you're in a stressful or dangerous situation, your body responds by producing hormones and chemicals as part of the "fight-or-flight" reaction (so named because that's exactly what the body is preparing itself to do — to either fight off the danger or run from it). Usually, when the danger is over, the body goes back to normal.

But when someone has PTSD, his or her stress response system doesn't switch off as it should.

Traumatic events that can cause PTSD include:

• violent assaults, including rape
• fire
• physical or sexual abuse
• acts of violence (such as school or neighborhood shootings)
• natural or man-made disasters
• car accidents
• military combat (this form of PTSD is sometimes called "shell shock")
• witnessing another person go through these kinds of traumatic events
• being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness

• For Teens

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

• When Depression Is Severe
• Why Do People Get Depressed?
• 5 Ways to Deal With Anxiety
• Going to a Therapist
• Teens Talk About Stress (Video)
• Suicide
• Anxiety Disorders
• Date Rape
• Rape
• Stress & Coping Center
• About Stressful Situations
• About Serious Stress
• Finding Low-Cost Mental Health Care
• Death and Grief

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/mental_health/ptsd.html

Post traumatic stress disorder

What is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

When in danger, it’s natural to feel afraid. This fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or-flight” response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm. But in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this reaction is changed or damaged. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger.

PTSD develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm. The person who develops PTSD may have been the one who was harmed, the harm may have happened to a loved one, or the person may have witnessed a harmful event that happened to loved ones or strangers.

PTSD was first brought to public attention in relation to war veterans, but it can result from a variety of traumatic incidents, such as mugging, rape, torture, being kidnapped or held captive, child abuse, car accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, bombings, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.

 

Causes

Genes. Currently, many scientists are focusing on genes that play a role in creating fear memories. Understanding how fear memories are created may help to refine or find new interventions for reducing the symptoms of PTSD. For example, PTSD researchers have pinpointed genes that make:

Stathmin, a protein needed to form fear memories. In one study, mice that did not make stathmin were less likely than normal mice to “freeze,” a natural, protective response to danger, after being exposed to a fearful experience. They also showed less innate fear by exploring open spaces more willingly than normal mice.

GRP (gastrin-releasing peptide), a signaling chemical in the brain released during emotional events. In mice, GRP seems to help control the fear response, and lack of GRP may lead to the creation of greater and more lasting memories of fear.

Researchers have also found a version of the 5-HTTLPR gene, which controls levels of serotonin — a brain chemical related to mood-that appears to fuel the fear response. Like other mental disorders, it is likely that many genes with small effects are at work in PTSD.

Brain Areas. Studying parts of the brain involved in dealing with fear and stress also helps researchers to better understand possible causes of PTSD. One such brain structure is the amygdala, known for its role in emotion, learning, and memory. The amygdala appears to be active in fear acquisition, or learning to fear an event (such as touching a hot stove), as well as in the early stages of fear extinction, or learning not to fear.

Storing extinction memories and dampening the original fear response appears to involve the prefrontal cortex (PFC) area of the brain, involved in tasks such as decision-making, problem-solving, and judgment. Certain areas of the PFC play slightly different roles. For example, when it deems a source of stress controllable, the medial PFC suppresses the amygdala an alarm center deep in the brainstem and controls the stress response.5The ventromedial PFC helps sustain long-term extinction of fearful memories, and the size of this brain area may affect its ability to do so.

Individual differences in these genes or brain areas may only set the stage for PTSD without actually causing symptoms. Environmental factors, such as childhood trauma, head injury, or a history of mental illness, may further increase a person's risk by affecting the early growth of the brain. Also, personality and cognitive factors, such as optimism and the tendency to view challenges in a positive or negative way, as well as social factors, such as the availability and use of social support, appear to influence how people adjust to trauma. More research may show what combinations of these or perhaps other factors could be used someday to predict who will develop PTSD following a traumatic event.

The Next Steps for PTSD Research

In the last decade, rapid progress in research on the mental and biological foundations of PTSD has lead scientists to focus on prevention as a realistic and important goal.

For example, NIMH-funded researchers are exploring new and orphan medications thought to target underlying causes of PTSD in an effort to prevent the disorder. Other research is attempting to enhance cognitive, personality, and social protective factors and to minimize risk factors to ward off full-blown PTSD after trauma. Still other research is attempting to identify what factors determine whether someone with PTSD will respond well to one type of intervention or another, aiming to develop more personalized, effective and efficient treatments.

As gene research and brain imaging technologies continue to improve, scientists are more likely to be able to pinpoint when and where in the brain PTSD begins. This understanding may then lead to better targeted treatments to suit each person's own needs or even prevent the disorder before it causes harm.

Signs & Symptoms

PTSD can cause many symptoms. These symptoms can be grouped into three categories:

1. Re-experiencing symptoms

• Flashbacks—reliving the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating
• Bad dreams
• Frightening thoughts.

Re-experiencing symptoms may cause problems in a person’s everyday routine. They can start from the person’s own thoughts and feelings. Words, objects, or situations that are reminders of the event can also trigger re-experiencing.

2. Avoidance symptoms

• Staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the experience
• Feeling emotionally numb
• Feeling strong guilt, depression, or worry
• Losing interest in activities that were enjoyable in the past
• Having trouble remembering the dangerous event.

Things that remind a person of the traumatic event can trigger avoidance symptoms. These symptoms may cause a person to change his or her personal routine. For example, after a bad car accident, a person who usually drives may avoid driving or riding in a car.

3. Hyperarousal symptoms

• Being easily startled
• Feeling tense or “on edge”
• Having difficulty sleeping, and/or having angry outbursts.

Hyperarousal symptoms are usually constant, instead of being triggered by things that remind one of the traumatic event. They can make the person feel stressed and angry. These symptoms may make it hard to do daily tasks, such as sleeping, eating, or concentrating.

It’s natural to have some of these symptoms after a dangerous event. Sometimes people have very serious symptoms that go away after a few weeks. This is called acute stress disorder, or ASD. When the symptoms last more than a few weeks and become an ongoing problem, they might be PTSD. Some people with PTSD don’t show any symptoms for weeks or months.

Do children react differently than adults?

Children and teens can have extreme reactions to trauma, but their symptoms may not be the same as adults. In very young children, these symptoms can include:

• Bedwetting, when they’d learned how to use the toilet before
• Forgetting how or being unable to talk
• Acting out the scary event during playtime
• Being unusually clingy with a parent or other adult.

Older children and teens usually show symptoms more like those seen in adults. They may also develop disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive behaviors. Older children and teens may feel guilty for not preventing injury or deaths. They may also have thoughts of revenge. For more information, see the NIMH booklets on helping children cope with violence and disasters. (from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) )

Who Is At Risk?

PTSD can occur at any age, including childhood. Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, and there is some evidence that susceptibility to the disorder may run in families.

Anyone can get PTSD at any age. This includes war veterans and survivors of physical and sexual assault, abuse, accidents, disasters, and many other serious events.

Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event. Some people get PTSD after a friend or family member experiences danger or is harmed. The sudden, unexpected death of a loved one can also cause PTSD.

Why do some people get PTSD and other people do not?

It is important to remember that not everyone who lives through a dangerous event gets PTSD. In fact, most will not get the disorder.

Many factors play a part in whether a person will get PTSD. Some of these are risk factors that make a person more likely to get PTSD. Other factors, called resilience factors, can help reduce the risk of the disorder. Some of these risk and resilience factors are present before the trauma and others become important during and after a traumatic event.

Risk factors for PTSD include:

• Living through dangerous events and traumas
• Having a history of mental illness
• Getting hurt
• Seeing people hurt or killed
• Feeling horror, helplessness, or extreme fear
• Having little or no social support after the event
• Dealing with extra stress after the event, such as loss of a loved one, pain and injury, or loss of a job or home.

Resilience factors that may reduce the risk of PTSD include:

• Seeking out support from other people, such as friends and family
• Finding a support group after a traumatic event
• Feeling good about one’s own actions in the face of danger
• Having a coping strategy, or a way of getting through the bad event and learning from it
• Being able to act and respond effectively despite feeling fear.

Researchers are studying the importance of various risk and resilience factors. With more study, it may be possible someday to predict who is likely to get PTSD and prevent it.

Diagnosis

Not every traumatized person develops full-blown or even minor PTSD. Symptoms usually begin within 3 months of the incident but occasionally emerge years afterward. They must last more than a month to be considered PTSD. The course of the illness varies. Some people recover within 6 months, while others have symptoms that last much longer. In some people, the condition becomes chronic.

A doctor who has experience helping people with mental illnesses, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist, can diagnose PTSD. The diagnosis is made after the doctor talks with the person who has symptoms of PTSD.

To be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have all of the following for at least 1 month:

• At least one re-experiencing symptom
• At least three avoidance symptoms
• At least two hyperarousal symptoms

Symptoms that make it hard to go about daily life, go to school or work, be with friends, and take care of important tasks.

PTSD is often accompanied by depression, substance abuse, or one or more of the other anxiety disorders.

Treatments

The main treatments for people with PTSD are psychotherapy (“talk” therapy), medications, or both. Everyone is different, so a treatment that works for one person may not work for another. It is important for anyone with PTSD to be treated by a mental health care provider who is experienced with PTSD. Some people with PTSD need to try different treatments to find what works for their symptoms.

If someone with PTSD is going through an ongoing trauma, such as being in an abusive relationship, both of the problems need to be treated. Other ongoing problems can include panic disorder, depression, substance abuse, and feeling suicidal.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is “talk” therapy. It involves talking with a mental health professional to treat a mental illness. Psychotherapy can occur one-on-one or in a group. Talk therapy treatment for PTSD usually lasts 6 to 12 weeks, but can take more time. Research shows that support from family and friends can be an important part of therapy.

Many types of psychotherapy can help people with PTSD. Some types target the symptoms of PTSD directly. Other therapies focus on social, family, or job-related problems. The doctor or therapist may combine different therapies depending on each person’s needs.

One helpful therapy is called cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT. There are several parts to CBT, including:

• Exposure therapy. This therapy helps people face and control their fear. It exposes them to the trauma they experienced in a safe way. It uses mental imagery, writing, or visits to the place where the event happened. The therapist uses these tools to help people with PTSD cope with their feelings.
• Cognitive restructuring. This therapy helps people make sense of the bad memories. Sometimes people remember the event differently than how it happened. They may feel guilt or shame about what is not their fault. The therapist helps people with PTSD look at what happened in a realistic way.
• Stress inoculation training. This therapy tries to reduce PTSD symptoms by teaching a person how to reduce anxiety. Like cognitive restructuring, this treatment helps people look at their memories in a healthy way.

Other types of treatment can also help people with PTSD. People with PTSD should talk about all treatment options with their therapist.

How Talk Therapies Help People Overcome PTSD

Talk therapies teach people helpful ways to react to frightening events that trigger their PTSD symptoms. Based on this general goal, different types of therapy may:

• Teach about trauma and its effects.
• Use relaxation and anger control skills.
• Provide tips for better sleep, diet, and exercise habits.
• Help people identify and deal with guilt, shame, and other feelings about the event.
• Focus on changing how people react to their PTSD symptoms. For example, therapy helps people visit places and people that are reminders of the trauma.

Medications

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two medications for treating adults with PTSD:

• sertraline (Zoloft)
• paroxetine (Paxil)

Both of these medications are antidepressants, which are also used to treat depression. They may help control PTSD symptoms such as sadness, worry, anger, and feeling numb inside. Taking these medications may make it easier to go through psychotherapy.

Sometimes people taking these medications have side effects. The effects can be annoying, but they usually go away. However, medications affect everyone differently. Any side effects or unusual reactions should be reported to a doctor immediately.

The most common side effects of antidepressants like sertraline and paroxetine are:

• Headache, which usually goes away within a few days.
• Nausea (feeling sick to your stomach), which usually goes away within a few days.
• Sleeplessness or drowsiness, which may occur during the first few weeks but then goes away.
• Agitation (feeling jittery).
• Sexual problems, which can affect both men and women, including reduced sex drive, and problems having and enjoying sex.

Sometimes the medication dose needs to be reduced or the time of day it is taken needs to be adjusted to help lessen these side effects.

FDA Warning on Antidepressants

Despite the relative safety and popularity of SSRIs and other antidepressants, some studies have suggested that they may have unintentional effects on some people, especially adolescents and young adults. In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a thorough review of published and unpublished controlled clinical trials of antidepressants that involved nearly 4,400 children and adolescents. The review revealed that 4 percent of those taking antidepressants thought about or attempted suicide (although no suicides occurred), compared to 2 percent of those receiving placebos.

This information prompted the FDA, in 2005, to adopt a “black box” warning label on all antidepressant medications to alert the public about the potential increased risk of suicidal thinking or attempts in children and adolescents taking antidepressants. In 2007, the FDA proposed that makers of all antidepressant medications extend the warning to include young adults up through age 24. A “black box” warning is the most serious type of warning on prescription drug labeling.

The warning emphasizes that patients of all ages taking antidepressants should be closely monitored, especially during the initial weeks of treatment. Possible side effects to look for are worsening depression, suicidal thinking or behavior, or any unusual changes in behavior such as sleeplessness, agitation, or withdrawal from normal social situations. The warning adds that families and caregivers should also be told of the need for close monitoring and report any changes to the physician. The latest information can be found on the FDA website.

Results of a comprehensive review of pediatric trials conducted between 1988 and 2006 suggested that the benefits of antidepressant medications likely outweigh their risks to children and adolescents with major depression and anxiety disorders. The study was funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Other Medications

Doctors may also prescribe other types of medications, such as the ones listed below. There is little information on how well these work for people with PTSD.

1. Benzodiazepines. These medications may be given to help people relax and sleep. People who take benzodiazepines may have memory problems or become dependent on the medication.
2. Antipsychotics. These medications are usually given to people with other mental disorders, like schizophrenia. People who take antipsychotics may gain weight and have a higher chance of getting heart disease and diabetes.
3. Other antidepressants. Like sertraline and paroxetine, the antidepressants fluoxetine (Prozac) and citalopram (Celexa) can help people with PTSD feel less tense or sad. For people with PTSD who also have other anxiety disorders or depression, antidepressants may be useful in reducing symptoms of these co-occurring illnesses.

Treatment After Mass Trauma

Sometimes large numbers of people are affected by the same event. For example, a lot of people needed help after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Most people will have some PTSD symptoms in the first few weeks after events like these. This is a normal and expected response to serious trauma, and for most people, symptoms generally lessen with time. Most people can be helped with basic support, such as:

• Getting to a safe place
• Seeing a doctor if injured
• Getting food and water
• Contacting loved ones or friends
• Learning what is being done to help.

But some people do not get better on their own. A study of Hurricane Katrina survivors found that, over time, more people were having problems with PTSD, depression, and related mental disorders. This pattern is unlike the recovery from other natural disasters, where the number of people who have mental health problems gradually lessens. As communities try to rebuild after a mass trauma, people may experience ongoing stress from loss of jobs and schools, and trouble paying bills, finding housing, and getting health care. This delay in community recovery may in turn delay recovery from PTSD.

In the first couple weeks after a mass trauma, brief versions of CBT may be helpful to some people who are having severe distress. Sometimes other treatments are used, but their effectiveness is not known. For example, there is growing interest in an approach called psychological first aid. The goal of this approach is to make people feel safe and secure, connect people to health care and other resources, and reduce stress reactions. There are guides for carrying out the treatment, but experts do not know yet if it helps prevent or treat PTSD.

In single-session psychological debriefing, another type of mass trauma treatment, survivors talk about the event and express their feelings one-on-one or in a group. Studies show that it is not likely to reduce distress or the risk for PTSD, and may actually increase distress and risk.

Mass Trauma Affects Hospitals and Other Providers

Hospitals, health care systems, and health care providers are also affected by a mass trauma. The number of people who need immediate physical and psychological help may be too much for health systems to handle. Some patients may not find help when they need it because hospitals do not have enough staff or supplies. In some cases, health care providers themselves may be struggling to recover as well.

NIMH scientists are working on this problem. For example, researchers are testing how to give CBT and other treatments using the phone and the Internet. In one study, people with PTSD met with a therapist to learn about the disorder, made a list of things that trigger their symptoms, and learned basic ways to reduce stress. After this meeting, the participants could visit a website with more information about PTSD. Participants could keep a log of their symptoms and practice coping skills. Overall, the researchers found the Internet-based treatment helped reduce symptoms of PTSD and depression. These effects lasted after treatment ended.

Researchers will carry out more studies to find out if other such approaches to therapy can be helpful after mass trauma.

Living With

“I was raped when I was 25 years old. For a long time, I spoke about the rape as though it was something that happened to someone else. I was very aware that it had happened to me, but there was just no feeling.”

“Then I started having flashbacks. They kind of came over me like a splash of water. I would be terrified. Suddenly I was reliving the rape. Every instant was startling. I wasn’t aware of anything around me, I was in a bubble, just kind of floating. And it was scary. Having a flashback can wring you out.”

“The rape happened the week before Thanksgiving, and I can’t believe the anxiety and fear I feel every year around the anniversary date. It’s as though I’ve seen a werewolf. I can’t relax, can’t sleep, don’t want to be with anyone. I wonder whether I’ll ever be free of this terrible problem.”

Clinical Trials

NIMH supports research studies on mental health and disorders. See also: A Participant's Guide to Mental Health Clinical Research.

Participate, refer a patient or learn about results of studies inClinicalTrials.gov , the NIH/National Library of Medicine's registry of federally and privately funded clinical trials for all disease.

Find NIH-funded studies currently recruiting participants with PTSD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

Top Arizona child-welfare official departs

Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic | azcentral.com6:49 p.m. MST April 20, 2015

 

 

Gov. Doug Ducey's handpicked second-in-command at the state's child-welfare agency has moved on after 2 ½ months.

Vicki Mayo's departure from the Department of Child Safety comes as the agency is also losing its two in-house attorneys, and adds to the churn that has characterized its upper ranks since Greg McKay became director in February.

Ducey's office said Mayo is transferring to a position at the state Department of Economic Security after she helped to get DCS off to a "strong start."

"We are pleased that she will be bringing her passion for children and families to a critical division at DES," Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said in a prepared statement.

Ducey's spokesman did not return a phone call seeking comment on why her tenure at the child-welfare agency was so brief. Nor did agency officials answer a similar question. Mayo was not available for comment.

At DES, Mayo will serve as deputy assistant director of the division of Employment and Rehabilitation Services. In that role, she will oversee programs such as child-care assistance, unemployment insurance, employment services and rehabilitation services.

RELATED: Some child-abuse reports won't be probed immediately

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RELATED: Ducey fires head of Arizona child-welfare agency

Ducey tapped Mayo, along with McKay, to lead DCS after firing Director Charles Flanagan in February. In naming her as DCS deputy director, Ducey praised her record of advocacy for children's issues and cited her business background for providing needed managerial skills.

But soon after, McKay moved Mayo into a post that oversees the agency's business operations and contracts.

 

In addition to Mayo's transfer, deputy general counsel Beth Broeker is moving to the Department of Juvenile Corrections, where she will serve as chief hearing officer. DCS general counsel Allister Adel also resigned, effective April 24.

Adel filed a whistle-blower complaint against McKay earlier this year, although the reason for the filing remains unknown. Ducey's office has claimed attorney-client privilege in refusing to disclose the complaint, although Adel was acting as McKay's attorney, not Ducey's.

In her resignation letter, Adel alluded to internal turmoil, citing "the myriad of legal, process related and policy concerns I have raised and observed." She did not elaborate, but said she felt she could be more effective in advancing child safety "from a distance, given current circumstances."

The resignations continue a string of departures as McKay works to revamp the agency.

Last month, he fired all but one of the eight members of the internal-investigations staff, after saying they would be welcome to apply for other positions within the agency. The eighth staffer accepted a lateral transfer.

McKay has also dismissed program managers who lead regional field offices, announced the agency will not immediately investigate every report it receives and issued a detailed dress code intended to project a more professional demeanor in the community.

McKay has made no apologies for his management style, saying he's trying to make it clear it is imperative for the agency to "put eyes on every child" who comes to DCS' attention.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-444-8963.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2015/04/20/top-arizona-child-welfare-official-departs/26104473/

Norway 'seizing children to fight inbreeding'

A Lithuanian talk show has accused Norway of seizing foreign children and fostering them to Norwegian parents in order to combat “the highest inbreeding in the whole world”.

The Lithuanian talk show ‘An Hour with Ruta’, on the independent LNK channel, last week ran a slot on Norway’s controversial Child Protection Service (Barnevernet), arguing that it was deliberately targeting Lithuanian children.

“In Norway, Lithuanian children are taken away from their parents. Lithuanian children in Norway are a sought-after commodity,” the programme began, before interviewing Neringa Ozolina, a Lithuanian based in Ålesund, who has become an authority in the Baltic state on Norway's child protection regime.

“The birth rate is the lowest in Norway,” Ozolina told the show's host Rūta Mikelkevičiūte. “Inbreeding in Norway is the greatest in the world, and the same is true of the percentage of children born with Down syndrome and other birth defects.”

The issue has come to prominence in Lithuanian this year largely on the back of press coverage of the struggle of Gražina Leščinskiene, a Lithuanian whose son Gabrieliaus has been taken into care by Norway's Child Protection Service, to get her son back.

According to Leščinskiene's lawyer, Gabrieliaus was seized after he apparently displayed "sexualised behaviour", including frequent visits to the bathroom and obsessively washing and sniffing his hands.

Dag Halvorsen, Norway’s ambassador to Lithuania, said the controversy over Lithuanian children taken into care in Norway was now taking up more of his time than any other issue.

“This issue has been the biggest news story in Lithuania this year, and has taken up most of our time in recent months,” he told Norway’s NRK channel.

“It is said that there is a history of inbreeding in Norway and that there is a high incidence of Down syndrome among Norwegian children. They argue therefore that it is important for Norwegian authorities to obtain fresh, foreign children, such as Lithuanian ones, to strengthen the genetic material.”

Halvorsen has recently hired a Lithuanian public relations company to try and counteract what he sees as Lithuanian misconceptions about Norway's child protection regime.

Norway's Child Protection Services is the subject of almost non-stop controversy over its decisions to take the children of foreign parents into care.

In February the president of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, accused it of behaving "like the Nazis" by not allowing the mother of two Czech boys seized to talk to her children in Czech.

 

For more stories about Norway, join us on Facebook and Twitter

The Local (news@thelocal.no)

 

http://www.thelocal.no/20150413/norway-child-agency-seizes-children-to-combat-inbreeding

Anti-kidnap child protection in wearable devices

 

MyFamily Mobile select PodsystemM2M multi network SIMs to locate and track family members

San Francisco, CA and London, UK – 14 April 2015.

PodsystemM2M, the expert in multi-network data SIMs for the M2M and IoT industries, has today announced that its Best Signal Multi Network SIM cards have been selected by MyFamily Mobile for their wearable children specific voice & data messaging and smart locator anti-kidnap devices.

MyFamily Mobile offers a range of voice & data messaging and mobile personal emergency response services for families via durable and simple to operate wearable devices, controlled from any mobile, tablet or PC.

MyFamily Mobile devices use a blend of GPS, GSM, RFID and WiFi to provide the most accurate location information, indoors and out. Safe zones, or geo-fences, can be defined to alert loved ones if the boundary is crossed. In the event of a kidnap or other emergency, devices are equipped with a panic button that triggers an automatic location beacon and, if necessary, an armed response team to help recover loved ones that are in danger.

 

For MyFamily Mobile, the highest priority is the safety and protection of their customers’ young family members in a dangerous world. With “mission critical” tracking, when a child’s safety is at stake, reliable connectivity is crucial. This is why MyFamily Mobile has selected PodystemM2M’s multi network SIM cards. These SIMs can connect to several networks in each country and will automatically swap networks if the signal is lost. This is essential for the type of situations in which MyFamily Mobile tracking devices are deployed, as the wearable device is much less likely to lose coverage as it roams, even in rural areas.

MyFamily Mobile is headquartered in the UK, with operations in Nigeria, and plans to extend its services to the SADC region by Q4 2015 covering South Africa, Botswana and Malawi.

Seyi Opanubi, Co-Founder and Director of Operations and R&D said, “Podsystem’s Best Signal Multi Network SIM cards are in all the MyFamily Mobile devices our subscribers use. The SIM cards are embedded in the devices so not seen, but form the backbone upon which MyFamily Mobile has built a reliable service for our mission critical applications, from smart messaging, safe zone, breadcrumb and speed alerts to SOS response and global roaming.”

MyFamily Mobile are developing their devices on a new server platform for use in the US and Europe. With Podsystem’s flat rate US and EU data and support from a team of IoT and M2M experts, Opanubi said, “PodsystemM2M’s technical support is key to MyFamily Mobile and Podsystem has never let us down in this area. Our subscribers have never experienced a down time even when travelling abroad. We are very happy with the quick and proactive response to queries and issues and with our mission critical operations we find the 24 hour emergency support invaluable.”

Group MD of Podsystem Ltd Charles Towers-Clark said, “MyFamily Mobile have a really interesting application with the potential to reach a huge marketplace of parents throughout Europe and the US seeking the reassurance of knowing exactly where their children are and that they are safe, even when out of sight.”

Podsystem Inc. CEO Sam Colley added, “We are very pleased to be able to provide the reliable multi network mobile connectivity needed to ensure MyFamily Mobile can continue to provide an invaluable child protection service to families in Nigeria and worldwide.”

-ends-.

Editor’s Notes

• The PodsystemM2M Best Signal Multi Network SIM is available now with flat-rate data across the USA and Europe.
• Case Study about My Family Mobile’s use of Podsystem SIMs
• Further information about MyFamily Mobile(link is external)

About Podsystem M2M

As a division of Podsystem Group Ltd, we form part of an independent MVNO specializing in data connectivity solutions for the M2M and business travel sectors. At Podsystem M2M, we specialise in multi-network and multi-IMSI data solutions, offering reliable coverage worldwide, flexible pricing plans and 24 hour support with our team of M2M experts. For more information please visit our M2M websitewww.podsystemm2m.com

At Podsystem Group, we serve customers throughout Europe, the USA and across the globe from our headquarters in London and Buckingham, UK and our offices Spain (Seville) and the USA (San Francisco, CA). Our mission is to enable our customers to grow by optimizing the value of mobile data through global connectivity. We are obsessed with customer care. We listen.

For more information please visit our group website www.podsystem.com(link is external)

About MyFamily Mobile

MyFamily Mobile offers a range of voice & data messaging, smart locator and mobile personal emergency response services to families across the globe. The services are designed amongst others to permit each family member to monitor each other or alert each other whenever danger is lurking around.

MyFamily Mobile is headquartered at Oxford, UK with presence in London and Lagos, Nigeria.

In-store demos are available for parents to test the capabilities of MyFamily Mobile devices in a safe environment. A tablet device is allocated to a parent and a tracking device is allocated to their child and the parent can relax and experience the functionality of MyFamily Mobile, whilst their child plays in one of the company’s themed play

 

 

http://www.machinetomachinemagazine.com/2015/04/15/anti-kidnap-child-protection-in-wearable-devices/

Case work 'inconsistent' in child protection services: Sask. advocate

Clare Clancy, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, April 20, 2015 7:44PM EDT
Last Updated Monday, April 20, 2015 10:39PM EDT

REGINA -- Saskatchewan's children's advocate says he's concerned about the quality of case work in child protection services and says inconsistency is especially problematic.

Bob Pringle commented Monday on the outcome of a coroner's inquest that finished last week in the death of Lee Bonneau, who was killed by an older child on a reserve.

Six-year-old Lee Bonneau was found with head injuries in a wooded area on the Kahkewistahaw reserve in 2013. He had last been seen walking with an older boy outside a recreation complex while his foster mother was playing bingo.

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RCMP have identified six-year-old Lee Allan Bonneau as the youngster who died after disappearing in an aboriginal community in southeastern Saskatchewan. (RCMP)

On Friday, the jury released 19 recommendations, which ranged from improving mental health supports to funding a facility for children under 12 with complex needs.

Pringle determined in a report last year that the 10-year-old boy who killed Lee had behavioural issues and probably should not have been in the community unsupervised. Because he was under 12, he could not be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Pringle said the inquest made it clear that agencies need to communicate better with each other and social workers are struggling under heavy work loads.

"We know that the (Ministry of Social Services) is in a situation where, when they take a child into care, they are not able to keep up with their case planning and their contact standards," he said.

The jury's recommendations were mainly directed towards the Ministry of Social Services and the Yorkton Tribal Council Child and Family Services. They included addressing communication shortfalls and revising the size of service centres for rural offices.

The jury also recommended that fetal alcohol syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and mental health issues should be addressed as soon as they are identified in children.

Pringle said several witnesses who testified appeared to be absolving themselves of responsibility for children's welfare.

"There were some turning points there."

He said one example is that assessments weren't properly done to determine if Lee's father could offer him a suitable home.

Both children fell through the cracks, he said.

"In both cases the lack of identifying important risk factors are a concern."

Pringle said since the release of his report last year, both the Ministry of Social Services and Yorkton Tribal Council Child and Family Services have made important strides.

This includes improving training methods and quality assurance.

Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer said the government is reviewing the recommendations and will formally respond in two to three weeks.

"A lot of work has been done over the last two years," she said, adding that some of the recommendations from the coroner's inquest overlap with those of the children's advocate.

"It was so obvious in this particular issue that there was a communication breakdown from service providers."

The Yorkton Tribal Council Child and Family Services have since implemented an electronic database system, she added.

NDP social services critic David Forbes said he's "shocked and disappointed" by systemic problems.

"This is happening far too often here in Saskatchewan. We know between 2010 and 2013, 81 kids died in Saskatchewan care. Here we have a circumstance that really calls for immediate action," he said.

He said the recommendations around mental health and fetal alcohol syndrome are particularly important.

"We'd like to see this government bring forward protocols so that kids who are in need ... can access services right away. We can talk about jurisdictions later."

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/case-work-inconsistent-in-child-protection-services-sask-advocate-1.2336666

Jewish Daily Forward See real time coverage 'Free Range' Parents Sue Maryland Police for Seizing Children

 

Jewish Daily Forward - ‎Apr 16, 2015

 

The Maryland parents who are being investigated for allowing their two children to play in a park unsupervised are suing the state’s child protective services and Montgomery County police.

An attorney for Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, in a statement released Tuesday on the Facebook page of Danielle Meitiv, said he would file a lawsuit on behalf of the Meitivs “in their effort to vindicate their parental rights.”

The couple’s children, ages 10 and 6, were picked up on Sunday by police a few blocks from their Silver Spring home. They were walking home from playing in a local park and taken to CPS, where they were held for several hours and not permitted to call their parents.

It was the second time that the Meitivs have been accused of neglecting their children in the past five months — in December the children were picked up by police in a park near their home.

The family is part of the “free-range parenting” movement, which believes in giving children more freedom to make choices without parents hovering nearby.

In February, the Meitivs received a letter from CPS notifying them that they had been found guilty of “unsubstantiated neglect” of their children, a designation the couple is fighting to have overturned.

“The Meitivs are troubled by the county’s discretionary use of power to subject this happy, healthy and independent family to invasive, frightening and unnecessary government oversight, when there are other pressing challenges for county families in need,” their attorney, Matthew Dowd, said in the statement.

Written by

JTA

 

 

 

http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/218696/free-range-parents-sue-maryland-police-for-seizing/