No Washington caseworkers disciplined after violating policies in child abuse case
In the state of Washington when a foster child is abused to the point of nearly dying, there are steps in place to get to the bottom of what went wrong.
In 2015 Governor Jay Inslee signed “Aiden’s Act” into law. It mandates that after a near-fatality in the foster care system, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is to conduct a review of the files of caseworkers assigned to the child. If it’s found that the caseworkers violated a policy, rules, or state statute, “the department is to conduct a formal employee investigation.”
Last year DCYF, formerly the Children’s Administration at the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), paid a record-breaking settlement in the case of a foster child who almost died while in state care. The Thurston County child, known as M.D., received $19.3 million, the biggest DSHS settlement ever paid.
Born perfectly healthy, M.D. was beaten by her father at the age of 18 months old. She survived but can no longer walk, talk, feed herself, or see.
M.D.’s case is exactly what lawmakers had in mind when they passed Aiden’s Act. But the KING 5 Investigators found despite legal documents showing the caseworkers did violate several policies, there was no formal employee investigation conducted. No one was held accountable.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/no-washington-caseworkers-disciplined-after-violating-policies-in-child-abuse-case/ar-AAB200l