Apr
16
Man fighting for child says caseworker moved in
Filed Under single stories, social services | Comments Off
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A father who lost his daughter to the foster care system became upset in dependency court one day and blurted out an unusual allegation.
During a Jan. 11 hearing before Juvenile Court Judge Roger Colton, the man said his caseworker from the Children’s Home Society showed up on his doorstep late one night with her two kids and a pet rabbit. Linette Pierce had been evicted from her apartment in 2005, the father alleged, and asked whether she could move in.
At the time, the man and his wife were hoping to get their daughter back from the state Department of Children and Families, and Pierce was supposed to be monitoring their home life.
The man and his wife say Pierce stayed with them for at least six weeks, hiding her living arrangements from bosses until she left her job to be with family in Iowa.
Soon after that court hearing, Children’s Home Society Executive Director Judith Warren called Pierce at her home in Waterloo, Iowa. Her private agency provides caseworkers in Palm Beach County under state contract.
Pierce “denied all the allegations and stated she never moved in with the family in question. When asked why the parents of the child would make such an allegation, she stated that they were ‘crazy,’ ” according to a memo.
Warren said she is greatly concerned by documents The Palm Beach Post found more recently on the case. She has forwarded the issue to the Department of Children and Families inspector general for review.
If the allegations are true, Pierce’s actions would be a major ethical breach. Children’s Home Society ethical guidelines strictly prohibit caseworkers from having any type of personal or social relationships with the families they serve. The workers are not allowed to take favors or money from clients.
Pierce did not return messages left with relatives and on her own phone seeking comment for this story.
The couple’s daughter was removed in August 2003, for “substance exposure, neglect, allegations of school absenteeism, and filthy, hazardous living conditions,” according to documents the parents provided.
Pierce, 35, was hired to start work in March 2004 and was assigned to the couple’s case three months later. Her starting salary was $30,000 a year.
The parents say Pierce’s life was in crisis when she came to live with them. She was desperate, they say, and out of money. They say they were taken aback by her request to move in but agreed to let her do so because they knew the reports she wrote could affect their fight to keep their daughter.
Palm Beach County court records show that a judge signed an eviction order to remove Pierce from the Arbor Oaks apartment complex in Boca Raton on Jan. 24, 2005. She had failed to pay her $1,200 rent for three consecutive months, according to court documents.
Caseworkers are supposed to submit an official change of address form if they move, supervisors said. But there is no evidence in Pierce’s personnel file that she did so. She took medical leave on March 10 that year and never returned to work.
The couple say that, from the time Pierce was evicted in January, they cooked for her, baby-sat her children, and cleaned up after her floppy-eared rabbit. They also say when she allowed insurance to lapse on the vehicle she used to transport state foster children, they picked up the bill. And they agreed to buy her car for $1,200 in cash to help her pay off a debt.
On March 15, five days after Pierce took medical leave, the registration of Pierce’s 1995 Ford Contour was changed to the mother, according to the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles.
DCF records show that the family was officially assigned to another caseworker in April 2005. Pierce filed for bankruptcy in Iowa on Sept. 1, according to federal court records.
Linda Jones, a Palm Tran driver who lives two doors down from the apartment that the couple allegedly shared with Pierce, said the caseworker did live with the couple.
Jones said she often chatted with Pierce, who talked about her stressful job as a state caseworker. Jones knew that the couple had lost their daughter to state foster care, and said she found it strange that their caseworker had moved in.
“I’m not one to ask too many questions,” Jones said. “But I did think the whole thing was a little over the top, you know, ethically.”
Warren took over as head of the Children’s Home Society’s South Coastal Division in September and never met Pierce.
But the former caseworker’s file doesn’t show any disciplinary action, and her only job review in September 2004 was solid. Pierce met or was close to meeting expectations in every category, a supervisor said at the time.
The couple say they didn’t tell anyone that Pierce had lived with them until the January court hearing before Judge Colton. The father brought the story to The Post last month, in advance of a trial that could terminate their parental rights. In a private trial set to begin Monday, Colton will decide whether to remove the couple’s rights, which would allow another family to adopt their daughter.
In general, those decisions are based on whether the parents have met the goals outlined in their case plan and the best interest of the child, DCF spokeswoman Marilyn Munoz said.
Social service leaders hope the couple’s story won’t reflect on other professionals who work hard to help troubled families.
“This is an isolated incident,” Munoz said, “if it even occurred.”
Staff Researchers Michelle Quigley and Amy Hanaway contributed to this story.
Copyright 2006 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
April 16, 2006 Sunday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1C
LENGTH: 912 words