Politics & Government
Report Overstates Number of Sex Offenders at Foster Homes, Daycare
The vast majority of the 1,062 sex offenders who share addresses with foster homes and care centers turn out to be cases of outdated addresses.
Of the more than 30 sex offenders found recently to share addresses with Orange County foster homes or care centers, none proved to be a legitimate threat, the California Department of Social Services reported Thursday.
An independent review by the State Auditor found more than 1,000 registered sex offenders shared an address with foster children, daycare centers or adult care facilities in California. Thirty-three of the shared addresses were in Orange County.
The alarming findings set off a flurry of investigations by state and county agencies in recent weeks, but the vast majority of the of the 1,062 shared addresses turned out to be the result of outdated information rather than dangerous situations for children.
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In one case, a foster parent had the same post office box address as a sex offender, said Terry Lynn Fisher, spokeswoman for the Orange County Social Services Agency. In another case, a foster mother’s ex-boyfriend from many years past listed her address as his own even though she remarried and they no longer had contact.
Social workers do background checks of all adults at foster homes, and they conduct follow-up visits to make sure registered sex offenders aren't living in the home, said Fisher.
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“We are annually running reports on every adult in the home of all foster homes and we are also coordinating the addresses with the addresses of sex offenders annually,” said Fisher.
The California Department of Social Services investigated all 1,062 cases and found 44 instances where sex offenders had any contact with foster homes and care facilities, according to the state auditor’s office and the social services department.
Of about 40 cases statewide in which sex offenders were found to have contact with the foster homes, eight foster facilities had their licenses revoked.
“Eight facilities were shut down where we found violations serious enough that we had to shut them down to protect children,” Michael Weston, spokesman California Department of Social Services, said.
In 31 others, sex offenders who were related to foster parents or employed at care facilities, were banned from coming near the facility, said Weston.
The report called “California Can and Must Provide Better Protection and Support for Abused and Neglected Children,” concluded that California’s child protective service agencies have much to do to shore up cracks in their system of oversight.
It criticized county child welfare services departments statewide for the timeliness of their investigations, consistency in ongoing case management, and communication with other agencies. The state auditor additionally urged each county to conduct a death review when a child is murdered, something that already happens in Orange County.
“Whenever a child is killed, it’s something that each county can learn from,” said Margarita Hernandez, spokeswoman for the California State Auditor. “It always helps to look and see if there is anything they could tighten or something they could have done differently.”
Since 2008, no children under the care of Orange County’s child protective services has been murdered by a parent or guardian, said Fisher. So far this year, there have been more than 26,000 reports of child abuse in Orange County.
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