An investigation by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) after three children died in a fire on Dec, 12, 2022, found some serious issues with the way the Guilford County Division of Social Services checked the household prior to the fire.
In a May 16 letter to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, NCDHHS gave the county a deadline of 30 days to show how it will correct the list of multiple violations.
Some of the issues from the initial investigation were as follows:
- The original Child Protective Services Report was screened improperly.
- All children were not seen and interviewed at initiation.
- Safety was not assessed thoroughly at initiation.
- Ongoing contact was not sufficiently maintained with the family to ensure safety.
- Lack of follow up on reported safety concerns by the mother.
- Structured Decision Making tools were not completed correctly.”
A follow-up investigation found more violations.
On Wednesday, June 14, shortly after the letter became public, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said he could not answer any questions on the situation at this time, however, he said that, at the county commissioners Thursday, June 15 meeting, the board would have a collective statement for the public.
On June 14, the county did release a press release with a prepared statement by Alston. It states:
“The Board of County Commissioners places the highest level of importance on the protection of our county’s most vulnerable residents, especially children.
“Upon receipt of the notification from the state, staff were directed to analyze the findings and prepare a Corrective Action Plan to address those findings and further strengthen child welfare practices in the county. Guilford County will provide the Corrective Action Plan to the NC Dept. of Social Services, at their request and for their approval. We are committed to sharing updates on our progress in enacting the plan.
“The Board of County Commissioners and County government team take this matter very seriously. The Board will be closely monitoring progress to address all of these findings and ensure children are safe and families are supported in Guilford County.”
Sad story. Who gets terminated and sued? Were they even qualified for the job? This is Guilford County and most know how this county works.
“Action Plan”?? Will these action plans include bringing these children back to LIFE?? Will they diminish the continued pain, abuse & devastation that many children continue to endure at the hands of these incompetent, inexperienced, ignorant & calloused Social Workers!? Too many Dealths of children & continued abuse of children, the Social Works & their Supervisors should be prosecuted! How dare they take the lives, mental & emotional state of children as lightly as they do! They are NOTORIOUS for sending children back into deplorable & dangerous conditions. They side with the abuser most of the time. They can not decipher between the lies, gaslighting, threats & overall narrsistic parents & caregivers whom these children FEAR. Despicable this includes the High Point DSS!!!
I suggest that you volunteer as a social worker to address the ” incompetent, inexperienced, ignorant & calloused Social Workers.”
If you think the state will protect you, or innocent children, you’re wrong. The entire “protective” apparatus of the state exists to provide employment for the 57 Varieties of cops, or social workers, or whatever the busybodies call themselves – all with college degrees. As LBJ might say, they’re not worth a bucket of warm spit (but he didn’t say spit).
If you think the state will educate you, you’re wrong. This great country has the worst educational system of the First World. And it’s owned and run by government.
We are only the pretext for the existence of these parasites. 500 years ago the pretext was “The Divine Right of kings”. Now it’s “Democracy”. That is the fig leaf of justification they employ to abuse us.
– If you want protection, buy a 45.
– If you want education, home school your dear children.
Government is useless except for building the roads and defending the border. And they can’t even defend the border.
Police respond to these calls and do everything they can to get a response from agencies like DSS to remove children or do their part of the investigation. I know you do not like police but you need to educate yourself on the DSS process. Police make arrests. They send the people arrested through the court system and other entities like DSS who let people out on bond and put the kids right back in the crap home with abusive parents. The children are the ones with no rights in this situation.
The bigger problem is who places like DSS hire and promote. What kind of supervisors exist? Do they hold workers accountable? Based on other news reports about this fire and how much DSS knew about this monster mother there shouldn’t be “sanctions.” DSS workers should be arrested.
And I know you are police, or ex-police.
As the statisticians say, you are a biased source.
It is not a biased comment-it is a fact. It is fine to be anti police. I believe in holding police accountable. However, the children on Grimsley Street had been reported to DSS 11 times to DSS by police and other people who knew of the situation in a year. That stat was in the regular news like channel 2 or fox 8. DSS is not doing their job in Guilford County. This is not a police issue. Your comments would hold more weight if you would do a little research and make comments based on facts instead of shouting “bias” or “police bad.”
If the county commissioners do not fire the head of social services and their direct underlings they are failing the children of Guilford County.
My comment is only tangentially anti-police. The gist of it is that government as a whole, and all its agencies, are self-serving and incompetent in their assigned roles.
If you rely on government for protection, education, or whatever, you are a fool.
I do not disagree with most of what you’ve said, but I’m not getting caught up in the weeds.
What I enunciated are general principles, which I stand by.
And furthermore, I have no bias. I call it as I see it: those who claim to protect us are useless, as are those who claim to educate us.
Surely this is self-evident?
Aren’t you just as biased the other way? When you consistently make sweeping negative statements about a particular group of people, in this case the police, and ignore any positive impact that group may have, then you are clearly biased. I imagine if we took a vote on your level of bias, it would be unanimous, my friend.
Note that “DTF” does not deny his involvement with law enforcement.
No bias at my end, buddy.
Then point me to two positive comments you have ever made in any article about the police. No? Didn’t think so. You’re biased and it’s ok. Just don’t call others biased the other way when you refuse to admit it about yourself.
More directly related to this article, so what are the kids supposed to do? The police did their part and reported the parents to social services. Repeatedly. The kids can’t help themselves, they can’t arm themselves, the family isn’t going to help them, and the police did all that they were allowed to do. Other than holding Social Services accountable after the fact, how is anything you have touted going to help kids in a similar situation? In this case, the police were the kids’ only advocates. If they hadn’t done all that they had done, then we would all be shrugging our shoulders wondering what had happened.
Austin Morris I agree with you mostly on your view of government. And maybe that view of government is from a position of a previous inside view. However, the five children who have died in fires, one of which the Guilford County DA has said she will prosecute as murder once the forensics comes back, were under the watch of DSS due to neglect and abuse. Both families of children had been reported numerous times. These children could not protect themselves. They could not arm themselves. The people they were trusting to care for them, whether parents, guardians, or the government all failed them and it resulted in their death. The children on Grimsley Street were victims of a mother who had an extensive history of abuse with six or seven children. That was in the regular news. She kept pumping out kids and abusing them. Do we as a society just ignore the abuse of small children? Does the agency whose main task is to protect them be held accountable? I am not being a smart ass-I am asking a serious question. Because the answer cannot be that children must “protect themselves.”
TIMMY:
I didn’t make many positive statements about the USSR either, or Nazi Germany. Does that mean that I was biased?
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DTF :
I think we’re largely on the same page, but please don’t put words in my mouth. I never said that children have to protect themselves. I said that we as citizens have to take responsibility for our own protection and self-defence. If you’re getting mugged, raped, or burgled, the notion of getting on the phone to call the cavalry is absurd. Perhaps we’re supposed to ask the criminal to have a seat and a cup of tea while we wait. I have a faster solution, that actually works. It travels at about 1100 feet per second.
People who believe the police will protect them (or that the government schools will educate their children) are deluding themselves.
PS
OF COURSE the people in the DSS must be held accountable. This whole episode only serves to confirm my assertion that the state, its 57 varieties of agencies, and the whole Public Sector are all grossly incompetent, indifferent, and unfit for purpose.
– And what experience within government do you have? Is it in law enforcement?
Exactly.
A wise man once said “If your at a singles convention, stop and yell ‘taxation!’ The woman who responds ‘is theft’ is a keeper.”
“Highest level of importance of our county’s most vulnerable residents, especially children”.
Empty words better left unspoken…
Excuses and no accountability. That’s what I’m seeing and it’s been that for a LONG TIME. This county and the city of Greensboro are a damn mess. If you’re not black or a Democrat you apparently don’t matter. These fools sure can spend a c**p load of money for nothing.
Just further proof that government shouldn’t be involved in such things to begin with.
Wanna be king skip, maybe you should have hired 5 competent social service professionals and not 5 do good for nothing people for the RACIST mwbe program Your priorities are in the wrong place. I so hope you have nightmares every night about those small children that YOU are personally responsible for. Sleep well skip
Like so many departments in Guilford County…run by incompetent, many non-qualified, family members, overpaid government funded morons! Go by the Maple Street DSS (and other government run agencies in Guilford County) and observe what goes on daily…you will understand how this happened and will probably happen again as long as the “inmates are in charge of the asylum”!!
Why aren’t some heads rolling on the crisis in DSS? Oh, I know. . . .it all about political connections and race. Sadly, John Shore is no longer here to rescue them again. Read the article on his death by Scott Yost, and you’ll see what I mean.
https://www.rhinotimes.com/news/former-guilford-county-leader-john-shore-dies/