General public consensus is that CYS does everything in its power to keep families together. Indeed, this is one of the tenants of CYS; that the agency is supposed to work to keep families together and to utilize kinship arrangements whenever possible in order to keep families together. However, CYS does not always follow rules and regulations when dealing with families. In some cases, families face an uphill battle when trying to preserve their rights as well as family bonds.
Bella's Story
Bella is a three year old girl living in Berks County. Bella was born to parents who are unable to care for her or her older brother at this time. Her parents are honest about this and asked a family member to care for Bella’s older brother. Bella’s grandmother is taking care of “Ben” and has offered to take Bella as well. Berks County CYS instead placed Bella in what they term “kinship care”.
What is Kinship Care?
Kinship care is an arrangement in which the kin of a child step up to care for that child. There are a number of benefits to kinship care, mostly notably that family ties are preserved. However, Bella is not exactly in kinship care. Bella has been placed with a co-worker of her step-father’s sister. The co-worker is of no relation at all to Bella. CYS has determined that this individual is “safe”.
Thus far, Bella has had over 20 blood relatives volunteer to take care of her. One of those volunteers is her aunt who has a foster care license and has been approved as an adoptive parent. CYS claims that the agency sent out 15 kinship request letters to family when Bella was first placed. They claim that the family never responded. Family asserts that letters were never sent out at that time. Indeed, Bella’s grandmother was never contacted by the agency that Bella had been placed which should have been done according to regulations. Instead, she found out through a friend. When Bella’s grandmother contacted the agency, she was never informed of her rights at all. Because of this, she contacted a local advocacy group for assistance.
Advocacy Groups Can Help
After the meeting with the advocacy group, Bella’s grandmother decided to apply for kinship of Bella. CYS refused her request stating that her paramour had “anger issues”. Bella’s grandmother and partner then went for psychological evaluations on their own in order to refute the accusations. A psychologist did find that the partner was angry, but his anger was only directed at CYS for keeping Bella from her family.
Family Fights For Rights
Bella’s grandmother then filed an appeal with the Bureau of Hearing and Appeals. The Bureau agreed with CYS that it was right to deny the grandmother kinship because her application brief was sent in too late.
Family claims that the kinship brief was not filed late. The paperwork was faxed to the agency on the day it was due. Records show that the agency received the application in addition via postal service a day after the deadline.
Bella’s family has filed for re-consideration which was granted. Currently, the family is waiting for a decision on kinship. Bella’s grandmother also applied for custody of her granddaughter. That was denied by a local judge and the case was appealed to the Superior Court. The family is waiting for an answer on that petition as well.
After Bella’s family appealed the decisions, CYS did send out kinship letters. Twenty relatives responded to the kinship letters which should have been sent out at the start of the process. When relatives called to check on the status of their applications, family members were given the run around. In one case, a family member was asked by a caseworker about her racial status! Family members were told by the caseworker that the agency had sub-contracted out the process to Kids Peace. However, no one from Kids Peace has made any attempt to contact family members on the kinship process. In addition, Sharon Scullin, GAL for Berks County CYS filed a motion in court to block kinship for family members. A custody master was due to hear the arguments why the motion should or should not be granted. At that time, the family requested that a judge hear the arguments instead of a custody master. Sharon Scullin withdrew her petition when the motion was sent to the judge.
Kids Peace is a facility which houses children with discipline and/or mental issues. The facility also made headlines earlier in the year when it was announced that it would begin accepting undocumented immigrant children. No one could explain why the facility, which recently declared bankruptcy and is head quartered in another county, is processing kinship applications for Berks County.
Family Talks to DPW
After over a year without seeing Bella, family members filed complaints with the Department of Public Welfare. The department oversees CYS agencies in Pennsylvania. After the complaint was filed, family members were able to schedule a visit with Bella. Bella arrived to her visit with a black eye and family were informed that “she tripped over some furniture”.
A Hearing Will Be Held
There is a hearing in front of Judge Grim in Berks County on November 21st in order to determine if parental rights should be terminated and Bella should be adopted out. Bella’s family is deeply concerned about the court date. They are also concerned that the court appointed attorney representing Bella’s mother has requested permission to resign from the case. The date for that hearing? November 17th.
One of the biggest questions observers have is why? Why would CYS go to such lengths to keep a child from her biological family? The answers are anything but definite. Some would perhaps cite the fact that there is a significant amount of government funding to be had in adopting out children rather than re-uniting those children with their family. Are choices being made based on finances rather than on what is best for the child? Answers are hard to find.
What Is Happening At Berks County CYS
There are some signs according to analysts that all is not well at Berks County CYS. George Kovarie, the director of the agency for the past 20 plus years, has retired in October. Several families have lodged lawsuits against the agency and numerous complaints have been made to legislators and the Department of Public Welfare about the county agency. A few weeks before his retirement, the county commissioners announced at a meeting that they had approved an audit of the agency. The audit, which will cost about $96,000, will be done by a firm in Pittsburgh and will take approximately 8 to 12 months to conduct. The results of the audit will not be available to the general public according to the commissioners but will be used in order to provide strategic and operational changes that need to be made going forward.
Is Change Coming?
Changes are perhaps coming to Berks County CYS which will mean less stress and turmoil for families in the system. These changes may not come soon enough for Bella’s family however. What will happen to Bella? Her family will no doubt find out those answers very shortly.
For more information on Bella's case, please go to the facebook page the family has set up.