of questions about how the system attempts to protect children from their
abusive parents.
One-month-old twins died last week, after their 17-year-old mother – whose
first child had been taken away because of abuse – had been allowed to leave
Johns Hopkins Hospital weeks earlier with the girls despite an effort by a
concerned hospital social worker to find information about her past.
The call to Child Protective Services apparently failed to produce
information about either the prior case of abuse or the outstanding warrant
for the young mother for running away from her foster home. A month later, the
teen-ager and her boyfriend were charged with murder for allegedly breaking
the twins’ skulls and ribs.
A spokeswoman for the city Department of Social Services conceded yesterday
that the agency could have handled the case better, and said that officials
are discussing ways to improve their computer system.
Baltimore Health Commissioner Peter L. Beilenson said yesterday that
recommendations he offered more than four months ago to better protect
children from parents with documented histories of abuse have been ignored by
the Social Services Department and the state agency that runs it.
“If these recommendations had been put in place – in particular, following
through with monitoring women and men who have previous abuse histories – I
think they would absolutely prevent a significant number of child abuse
cases,” Beilenson said. “But I can’t even get a response from them.”
The social services spokeswoman, Sue Fitzsimmons, said the agency had not
responded to Beilenson because the copy of his report that they received was
stamped “Draft” and was unsigned, suggesting it was not an official document.
State lawmakers said yesterday that they were appalled by the beating
deaths of Emonney and Emunnea Broadway, whose bodies were found May 11 in an
abandoned Northeast Baltimore basement with no toilet or electricity.
Beilenson’s Jan. 21 report, which was compiled by a panel of experts
including Dr. Allen Walker of Johns Hopkins Hospital, listed 18
recommendations. One was: “Design measures to protect future children of a
parent who has been convicted of abusing previous children.”
Other recommendations were to station child abuse caseworkers in hospitals
24 hours a day, scrutinize the mental health history of foster parents and
guardians, improve the computer technology at the Department of Social
Services, and end the department’s policy of secrecy after the death of a
child.
At the time of the report’s release in January, Henry Fawell, a spokesman
for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said the governor “would welcome the
suggestions, and they will certainly be reviewed at the departmental level, by
the Department of Human Resources.”
After Beilenson heard no response for three months, Mayor Martin O’Malley
wrote a follow-up letter May 3 to Christopher J. McCabe, secretary of the
state Department of Human Resources, which runs the city’s social services
agency. O’Malley asked if Beilenson’s report had been ignored, saying: “I am
anxious to hear your administrative team’s reaction to these ideas.”
Two weeks later, the department is still working on a reply to O’Malley’s
letter, said Fitzsimmons. “We are in the process of responding to the mayor,
and part of our response will be that we never received an official, signed
copy,” Fitzsimmons said.
Children die of abuse in Maryland at a rate that exceeds the national
average, according to federal statistics released last month. Much of the
abuse is concentrated in Baltimore.
Sierra Swann, 17, and Nathaniel Broadway, 24, the parents of the most
recent pair of victims, had been listed in a computer database maintained by
social services.
The agency previously investigated allegations that the couple abused and
neglected their first child, a 2-year-old girl, who was placed by the state in
foster care Dec. 12.
The mother delivered the twins last month, and a social worker at Johns
Hopkins Hospital was troubled enough to call social services to inquire about
Swann’s history.
The social services employee who answered the phone told the hospital
worker that there was no record of “active” child abuse cases concerning
Swann, Fitzsimmons said.
The employee did not mention that Swann was in the system twice – once, as
a missing foster child who had an outstanding warrant for running away; and a
second time, for when her 2-year-old had been taken away because of abuse.
The couple was allowed to leave the hospital with the newborns, and the
babies were found bludgeoned to death a month later.
Fitzsimmons acknowledged that, ideally, her agency would have prevented a
foster care runaway such as Swann, who had abused a child in the past, from
leaving the hospital with twin infants.
“In an ideal world, we would know, we would show up at the hospital, make
sure they get medical care and then return them to a foster home,” Fitzsimmons
said.
The state’s Client Information System has a private database that allows
social services workers to find out if someone has been involved in abuse or
foster care cases, or has received food stamps, medical assistance or other
services.
Fitzsimmons said state officials will discuss ways to possibly improve the
system by issuing an alert when a runaway foster child shows up at a hospital
for care.
Norris West, a spokesman for the state Department of Human Resources, said
yesterday that the agency does not have a policy requiring social workers to
continually monitor parents after their children have been taken away and put
in foster care.
“There are almost 2,200 cases of child abuse in the city a year, and that
would be a lot of monitoring, to monitor everyone with a history of abuse,”
West said.
He added that it’s doubly hard when parents like Swann try to hide from
social workers. “I think it’s a difficult matter when there is an abusive
parent who then has children outside of your purview, and avoids the system
and goes underground to avoid case workers,” said West.
Legislative leaders said yesterday they are unsure whether the case exposes
a defect in the law or whether it was a case of administrative failure.
Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, chairwoman of the state Senate Education, Health
and Environmental Affairs Committee, called the handling of the case
“unbelievable” and said “all the signs were there.”
Hollinger, a nurse, said hospital officials should have been looking at
more than just the physical condition of the mother before releasing her and
the babies.
Sun staff reporter Michael Dresser contributed to this report.
