I
do my best to deliver factual information. The "Documents"
pages are there for you to look and see for yourself. An innocent man is
in prison for crimes committed by the corrupt, who run the reservation
the way a criminal organization would run a city if they had all levels
of government supporting and protecting them.
There are many more Good People in Spirit Lake than there are corrupt, evil people there. It is the system that is corrupt, evil and I expose here all that I can.
I can be reached at this email: Contact Cat . I respond to most of my emails, however, I reserve the right to not rspond to whack jobs. I keep all information confidential. For those who wish to attack, you'll either be ignored, or, if you are really clever, you'll end up on the Moron Squad page. Some insults are more entertaining than others. I share with the class.
For those interested: The 13th Mandated Report is out. No government Agency has yet to properly reply to any of them.
March 31, 2014 --- Printer Version (4)
Toothless Laws
For half a minute, we all got excited about Senators Hoeven & Tester introducing The Native American Children’s Safety Act.
Spirit Lake even endorsed it. It shows the government recognizes (at last!) that Native American Children suffer horrific abuse--- so they are essentially making laws that will ‘ensure’ that the foster care homes and guardian homes don’t have violent or sexual or drug offenders in them.
Yes, that will make it all better! But wait, those laws were already supposed to be on the books, weren’t they? Wasn’t it considered illegal to ‘endanger a child’? Or for a pedophile, Registered Sex Offender to live in the same homes as the children? Or have access to or be around them?
Why, yes, it is already against the law! Several laws in fact. And just like this new, shiny, sparkly one rolled out by Senators Hoeven and Tester, they mean nothing.
We already have laws against child rape. We already have protocols in place for investigating child abuse--- but they are not followed either.
We already have in place, laws and protocols for following up on Mandated Reports… but as we have clearly seen… they are not followed… and there is no consequences to those who do not follow those laws.
There are no consequences to any of those who are supposed to enforce those laws, if they turn their backs on those reports, refuse to investigate the rapes, child rapes, and horrific abuses heaped on these kids.
In fact, Timothy Purdon and the BIA, as well as the Top Level ACF, among others, have strenuously opposed anyone making these reports, or asking for investigations into these unthinkable abuses… and there are no consequences for any of them.
Even after Timothy Purdon ignored or claimed to have investigated all the mandated reports, and took no action on even a single one, and a little girl, not yet three-years old, who had already endured daily and nightly abuse, both violent and sexual, was murdered, there was no consequence to Timothy Purdon whose office cut a deal with the killer just so there would not be a murder trial and he would not have to risk being investigated as an ‘accessory before the fact’.
This new, shiny law of Hoeven & Tester also comes complete with strong terms, but no consequences, no means of enforcement, no downside for anyone in government or law enforcement that chooses to ignore the reports and the crimes committed against these children. None.
As noted, several times, we are still waiting for all these ‘responsible agencies’ to begin to investigate even a single child rape on Spirit Lake Rez. Oh, wait! That’s right! Tim Purdon has investigated exactly ONE. Cue the canned applause.
Meanwhile, we all are horrified, stunned, brought to tears and angered beyond anything we’ve seen before when the Grand Forks Herald breaks a story that tells only a small portion of the horrors endured by children in the care of monsters.
Children whose situation was ignored by the very people who wear badges and who wear suits and carry the authority to investigate. We are appalled at the monsters, but those who ignored the reports, repeatedly, and who threatened, retaliated against and harassed those who made the reports--- they get to go to fund raisers and to awards dinners where they get to pat each other on the back.
Until we even begin to enforce the laws already on the books, and until we hold accountable those who are endowed with the authority and the means to enforce those laws but who refuse to act, until there are real consequences for those individuals whose paychecks are written with our tax dollars, nothing will change.
I am still endless stunned at the leap Senator Heitkamp makes when discussing the horrific crimes against children on the rez… immediately going into her theory that what is needed is more language and cultural programs. Also, economic development.
You know, keep the corruption and abuse in place, put more money into already existing language and cultural programs, and of course, economic development which benefits mostly the corrupt who have nothing to fear from anyone in government ever holding them accountable.
In short: Children are being raped, abused, and murdered. What shall we do about it? Send in the police? No. Investigate the crimes? No. Let’s send them all, the victims and their abusers to language classes and cultural events… oh, and bring in corporations for some economic development!
You or your child has been raped. Do you really think what is needed is language classes? Cultural programs? Or for some corporation to come in and find ways to exploit the Indian Tax Loopholes? Or would you rather have someone say: “We need to investigated the crimes and corruption and start putting these perpetrators in jail!” Remember: Heidi Heitkamp received $4 MILLION dollars and so far, she’s come up with ‘language classes, cultural events and Corporate loophole exploitation’ as her solution to the problem.
Am I the only one that sees this as a major disconnect from the facts of the crisis at hand?
“Oh sweetie! I know you’ve been brutally raped and forced to dwell in the same home as your abuser… here, have a language class.”
Give me a break!
Not one single government official has admitted that these crimes must be investigated. Not one, except Thomas Sullivan of the ACF, and his superiors have shoved him so far out of the loop he may as well move his office into the broom closet.
So many of these high positions with the most authority have been gifted to political players as party favors, that the entire system is corrupt, from top to bottom, in every agency, and it shows when children are murdered, raped, tortured and abused.
It also shows when bridges collapse, oil spills pile up, buildings fall down, and our military chain of command misplaces 7 nuclear warheads for over 36 hours without anyone in high command knowing about it.
It shows when there are floods and slides that could have been avoided if the permits had not been granted for the sale of property as dwellings in places where the ground is unstable.
It shows when we don’t have enough firefighters to put out forest fires or even in neighborhoods.
It shows when our schools fall the lower and lower ratings in the world, behind many countries we think of as ‘Third World’.
The ‘cuts’ are showing. The political payoffs are showing. It’s time we started holding government accountable for doing the job of enforcing the laws and arresting the corrupt instead of inviting them to fundraisers. It’s time we demanded that those who rape and abuse children are jailed and the children are not threatened and harassed or retaliated against for speaking out, by the very agencies that are supposed to be protecting them.
If you want more horror stories, then, by all means, do nothing. What was revealed in the Grand Forks Herald and in that gut wrenching series “Innocents Lost” being done by the Miami Herald, is just the very tip of the iceberg. I can guarantee you there are many more stories just as bad, many even worse, on the reservation and throughout the nation, because of this culture of corruption and political payoffs and for the myth that government needs to be run like a business. Government needs to be run like a government, for ALL of us, and for our future.
We must hold government accountable for the damage they do and the damage they allow. We must hold these agencies accountable, from the top on down, for their failures and their outright disregard for the safety and well-being of these children.
And when a concerned citizen phones and asks a civil question, “Who is accountable for the safety of these children?” That person needs to be given an honest straightforward answer, and not accused of ‘hassling’ and being hung up on.
When Marrianne McMullen refused to answer the question that by all accounts should be in her wheelhouse, and she hung up on Betty Jo Krenz, it showed the highest level of disdain for both the question and the crisis behind that question being asked.
Government jobs should not be gifts to donors and fundraisers and cronies. Government jobs should be awarded to those who know how to run those agencies and how to get the job done, and how to honor the mission of those agencies.
Presently, they are all little fiefdoms, small kingdoms, and their agency heads are Royalty, above the laws and without care nor concern for the people whose lives are affected or ruined by their inactions.
When children are being murdered and raped, trafficked wholesale, slaved into pornography; when abuse is so horrendous that children are not just traumatized, but afflicted, we deserve better than being hung up on when we ask “To whom do I give this report?” We deserve to know what will be done and when.
The children suffering and dying; being tortured and raped, they too, deserve to know that there are laws that apply and that those laws will be enforced.
We can do those language classes, cultural events AFTER the children are removed from their abusers.
We can hold the awards events for these politicians who have failed these children AFTER the children are safe.
We can investigate and prosecute the abusers and the corrupt now, and remove their ability to buy off politicians and authorities, agents and agencies, NOW.
We rescue the children, take out the garbage, clean the house and then we hold whatever self-congratulating events the politicians who have failed repeatedly want to hold.
Until then, for the love of all that is supposed to be Human and Decent in us all, rescue these children! Don’t wait for the Grand Forks Herald to tell you about one case, or the Miami Herald to tell you about hundreds… KNOW they are there and start fixing this NOW.
We don’t need any more grand sounding laws with absolutely no consequence for either breaking them or refusing to enforce them. The Children need to be found and rescued NOW.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
Additional links to Miami Herald's Series: Innocents Lost:
Irresponsible Parenting, Bureaucratic Inaction
Protecting Kids with Hollow Promises
March 26, 2014 ---Printer Version (3)
Doesn’t Know, Doesn’t Care
Marrianne McMullen doesn’t want to be bothered
Email from Betty Jo Krenz:
From: Betty Krenz
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 1:25 PM To: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF) Subject: rude woman
To Whom It May Concern:
I am completely taken back by the phone conversation I just Marrianne Mcmullen. Ultimately the conversation ended rudely but her hanging up on me!
I called the number 202-401-9216 at 1;15 central time today and she answered the phone. I told her my name and asked if she was aware of who I was or not, and she replied she knew who I was.
I then told her I was sick after reading the article in the grand forks herald about the children from spirit lake. She told me she thought it was a horrible tragedy.
I then asked her a very clear and direct question " Can you please tell me who is ultimately responsible for the safety and well being of the children of spirit Lake so I can make sure they are aware of the OTHER children that are on the initial list of children I was concerned about?"
She told me to talk to the tribe. I informed her the tribe, BIA,FBI, state of ND and ACF all have direct knowledge and nobody has helped any of them.
She then told me " I don't have to take this from you, I don't have to listen to you hassle me about this. We are trying to have an independent study done out there and it keeps falling apart, we (the ACF) do not do direct care for children and we do not know who needs to do what."
I than asked her "So if I can make sure I am clear on this: The ACF does not know who are in charge of the safety and well being of the children of Spirit Lake Nation"
She told me……"you better speak your mind fast because I am hanging up in 10 seconds…."
And she did.
Betty Jo Krenz
Amazing as that is, wait until you see the next thread of emails between Thomas Sullivan and McMullen… It’s summarized by Sullivan. In his email he included the entire article from the Grand Forks Herald.
From: "Sullivan, Thomas (ACF)" <thomas.sullivan@acf.hhs.gov>
Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 11:36 AM
To: "Mcmullen, Marrianne (ACF)" <Marrianne.McMullen@acf.hhs.gov>
Cc: "Murray, James (ACF)" <james.murray@acf.hhs.gov>
Subject: RE: Emailing: grand-forks-woman-charged-felony-abuse-grandchildren.htmAs I wrote in my email to you dated March 25, 2014 in the fifth paragraph, “More than twenty one months ago when I filed my First Mandated Report with the US Attorney and the BIA I cited the cases of approximately 40 children who Tribal Chair Roger Yankton had ordered removed from safe off-reservation foster homes and returned to their own families or to the homes of relatives immediately. Four of the six children included in the Grand Forks Herald report were part of the group of 40. Those four were placed in the care of this grandmother who, even at that time, had a long record of child abuse.”
From: Mcmullen, Marrianne (ACF) Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 10:16 AM To: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF) Cc: Murray, James (ACF) Subject: RE: Emailing: grand-forks-woman-charged-felony-abuse-grandchildren.htm
Now I see why I wasn’t able to find this (horrible) story when searching on Spirit Lake, which isn’t mentioned in the story. What is the connection between this and Spirit Lake?
NOTE: I have NO idea why she put “horrible” in parenthesis. Was it a subconscious device to lower her voice, like one would when at a dinner table and not wanting others to overhear? It’s a very weird way to express any ‘horror’ she would have supposedly felt.
As you can see by McMullen’s response, she obviously never read a single one of the Mandated Reports, nor did anyone investigate them as she claimed they had. She could not see the connection between the abuse in the article, which for some unknown reason, did not mention that the family was FROM Spirit Lake and only recently living in Grand Forks. I guess that was her out, even though the names should have rung alarm bells and red flags.
Well, they would have rung bells and flags if the person at the top of the heap had bothered even once, to do her job.
McMullen’s “study” keeps falling apart? How sad. The kids keep being raped, tortured and abused. But she thinks ‘studying’ whether or not these are crimes and law enforcement officials should intervene, is the path to pursue? And it keeps ‘falling apart’? Oh those darn murdered & raped kids! Such a bother!
I wonder if McMullen can, at any level, define what her job is? What the Agency’s mission is? She seems unable to grasp that “ACF” stands for “Administration FOR Children & Families”. She’s obviously annoyed about the ‘Children’ & the ‘Family’ part. What exactly does she see her job as??? I think people should call her, daily, until she picks up the phone and gives a civil and truthful answer. Again, that number is: 202-401-9216 .
I’m sure that if you leave her a voice message, she will get back to you. But just in case, keep calling. She’s a very busy woman. She’s doing a ‘study’ that ‘keeps falling apart’. Perhaps because the premise is so illogical? Immoral? Ridiculous?
Children, little babies even, are being tortured and murdered and that woman wants to know nothing about it. She wants nothing to be done about it. She wants to ‘study’ it, like a bug under a microscope to see if there is anything there she might find interesting.
It keeps falling apart. Now, if those kids would just hold still and stop being murdered or making the news…. She might be able to enjoy her job, eh?
You know where to find me.
~Cat
March 25, 2014 ---Printer Version (6)
The Most Guilty Never Have To Answer
The latest email from Thomas Sullivan, summarizing the torture endured by the children in the Grand Forks Article, and including a summary of what he has done to attempt to inform those agencies and heads of agencies, including his own – ACF, to prevent these crimes for the past 20+ months, and their rebuffs of his reports, ridicule and smearing of him and his sources for daring to report these crimes.
We will see the women named in the Grand Forks Herald article tried for their crimes against these children. We will never see any of these agency individuals investigated, nor arrested much less tried for their failure to follow protocol, simple basic protocols, to end the abuses and to prevent further abuses to these children and others.
Government is a great place to reward the inept, the incompetent, the corrupt for their political fund raising, and other politically connected activities. They are given positions of extreme importance, but never have to fulfill their duties.
When the heat is on, they can instantly jump from one government position to another, either within the same agency or in another agency, and never even miss a paycheck.
We have seen these individuals conspire and work together to shut down the reports of horrid, extreme abuse, and take no action to prevent or stop it. They praise themselves for their good work, and praise one another. But they never have to answer for their failures to protect these children or investigate the crimes against these children, or for the abuses heaped on those whose efforts to bring this to the light, are met with outright hostility.
They never have to answer when the crisis and the crimes become tragedies. They whirl around in an atmosphere of complete immunity and absolute authority.
The Public is appalled at the abuse these little children endured. They should be appalled that these top agencies and their leaders, knew about it for over a year, and did nothing to stop it. But those agencies, their heads, their leaders, including the USAG and the FBI, never ever have to answer for any of this, and they alone could have stopped it or even prevented it. They knew.
Their actions protected, outright, the abusers and the rapists.
They never have to answer, but you can be assured, they will claim they had no idea or knowledge, and take credit for any prosecution of the monsters they enabled and protected. There is no penalty nor consequences to those who fail or who protect the corrupt and the abusers. They are often rewarded with higher positions, better pay, and never have to answer for a single tragedy they created or enabled. Never.
They are still protecting the abusers and the rapists you haven’t seen hit the newspapers. They never have to answer. .. Unless we make them answer. We must demand they be held accountable.
Thomas Sullivan’s Letter to McMullen, et al:
From: "Sullivan, Thomas (ACF)" <thomas.sullivan@acf.hhs.gov>
Date: March 25, 2014 at 10:41:34 AM CDT
To: "Mcmullen, Marrianne (ACF)" <Marrianne.McMullen@acf.hhs.gov>
Cc: "Greenberg, Mark (ACF)" <Mark.Greenberg@ACF.hhs.gov>, "Murray, James (ACF)" <james.murray@acf.hhs.gov>, "McCauley, Mike (ACF)" <Mike.McCauley@acf.hhs.gov>, "Chang,
Joo Yeun (ACF)"<JooYeun.Chang@acf.hhs.gov>
Subject: FW: Spirit Lake
Ms. Mcmullen:
The Grand Forks Herald posted an online report on Thursday evening (March 20, 2014) describing the arrest of three women, a grandmother, her daughter and a female friend of the daughter, charged with multiple counts of felony abuse of six children between the ages of 4 and 9.
The specific abuse cited in this report included:
1. Beating the children with a wooden stick and belts;
2. “When Grandma gets mad she would hit us” one of the older children told forensic interviewers;
3. Taping the four-year old child’s eyes shut when he was put to bed to force him to sleep;
4. Taping the same child’s eyes open during the day so that he could not sleep;
5. Taping dirty diapers over the children’s heads;
6. Keeping the children from eating or drinking;
7. Videotape showing the grandmother swearing, yelling and beating her grandchildren;
8. Forcing the children to eat spoonfuls of hot sauce;
9. Forcing the children to eat two scoops of hot sauce if they ran away, spit it out or cried and that the four year old boy ”would get it the most”;
10. Picking up one child, a girl, by her hair and lifting her off the floor;
11. Stitching up a cut on a five year old child’s head “with a needle and thread because she refused to take the child to the hospital”;
12. Withholding food and water from her grandchildren, forcing them all to drink out of one water bottle;
13. One little boy got so thirsty he drank from the toilet and developed unspecified health problems, and;
14. Holding a boy’s mouth shut so that his screams could not be heard when she was beating him with a stick.
No children should ever be subjected to torture like this.
The younger women are charged with several felony counts, one of which is the failure to intervene to stop the abuse.
More than twenty one months ago when I filed my First Mandated Report with the US Attorney for North Dakota and the BIA I cited the cases of approximately 40 children who Tribal Chair Roger Yankton had ordered removed from safe off-reservation foster homes and returned to their own families or to the homes of relatives immediately. Four of the six children included in the Grand Forks Herald report were part of the group of 40. Those four were placed in the care of this grandmother who, even at that time, had a long record of child abuse. I have been told Mr. Yankton issued this order to reduce the Tribal cost for these off-reservation placements. Money was saved and continues to be saved. Spirit Lake children have been sacrificed and continue to be sacrificed.
My reports were greeted by the Tribe, state, BIA, DOJ as well as the leadership of my own agency with libel and slander directed at my sources and I. No one defended us. More importantly, no one defended the American Indian children whose lives were so adversely affected. Do any of you understand the long-term harm done to children who are abused or the public cost to society for the services these children will require as adults?
These children were part of a lengthy list of children in the Spirit Lake Social Services system who were listed under two different names allowing billing to be made twice for the same child. This information was provided:
· To the BIA twice in 2011, once at Ft Totten to the then BIA Superintendent who shredded the documents given to him and once in Aberdeen to Randeen Fitzpatrick;
· To Ms. Olson, the former Director of the North Dakota Department of Human Services and Ms. Tara Muhlhauser, Child Welfare Director for the state of North Dakota in January, 2012;
· To the BIA’s Ms. Settles in June, 2012;
· To the FBI in October, 2012;
· To the two US Senators for the state of North Dakota in February, 2013, and;
· To the newly elected Spirit Lake Tribal Chair shortly after he was sworn into office in 2013.
As of this date there is no indication that an investigation of these allegations of double billing has even been initiated by any of these senior officials.
The BIA and DOJ have publicly claimed that all of our allegations have been investigated and that most, if not all of them, have been proven false. Where are their reports on the investigations into these allegations?
Who are the liars now?
The fourteen items listed above give all of us a snapshot into the lives these children have been forced to endure since Mr. Yankton ordered their return.
Four of these children, I have been told, were removed from the home of their biological parents when the oldest child, a little girl, was 5 or 6. The cause of removal was neglect and sexual abuse of the two little girls. Even though the sexual abuse was confirmed on Forensic Interview, no charges have been filed against their rapist and no services have been provided to help these kids overcome the trauma of the hell they experienced in their own home.
The entire leadership of ACF, including the Acting Assistant Secretaries, heads of the Children’s Bureau and you have swallowed the lies emanating from BIA, DOJ and the Children’s Bureau. Your unwillingness to change your minds despite the overwhelming amount of detailed, factual evidence placed before you suggests you have an agenda far removed from the safety of children.
These children and the hundreds of other Spirit Lake children being housed in comparable circumstances have suffered and continue to suffer because of your unwillingness to speak out on their behalf or to allow me to do so.
As Dr. Martin Luther King wrote, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”
Unfortunately, you were not just a passive participant in this process. Without any substantiation that you are willing to reveal to me or my sources, you have endorsed the lies of the BIA and the US Attorney. At the same time you have dismissed the detailed, factual reports we have provided, again refusing to provide any rationale for that position. Despite our repeated requests for that information, you have remained silent, non-responsive.
It is my understanding that finally the suicidal young boy whose placement with abusive, drug dealing foster parents I have been complaining about, has been moved off the reservation to a town close to the Canadian border. I raised the safety of this suicidal child with you on September 23, 2013 and you did nothing for five months, except falsely claim his safety was assured. Moving a suicidal child so far away from his siblings and their support may not have been the best move for him.
I understand this little boy’s siblings who were subjected to the same physical and sexual abuse from their biological father remain in the full time care and custody of those abusive, drug dealing foster parents. If these siblings have not yet become suicidal, one has to wonder how much additional abuse they can absorb before they begin thinking in those terms.
In my January 15, 2014 email to you I cited the abusive foster home placement of two little girls where the foster mother’s method of disciplining them has been to strip them to their panties, duct tape their hands in front of them and force them to sit on a stool in an uninsulated attic for hours at a time. Nothing has been done to remove these children from such abuse.
In my December 19, 2013 email I cited the case of the 13 year old girl who was being raped, in her grandmother’s home by a Level Three Sex Offender, a man who has a reputation for violent sexual attacks on young women. When reported to BIA Law Enforcement, they reported it would take at least 30 days to “initiate” an investigation of this young girl’s allegations. It is my understanding that, as of this date, more than 90 days later, no such investigation has been “initiated”.
I believe a quote from an article, entitled, “A Tribe’s Epidemic of Child Sex Abuse, Minimized for Years”, by Timothy Williams, writing in the New York Times about Spirit Lake is relevant here, “The action comes after years of failure by government and tribal law enforcement officials to conduct proper investigations of dozens of cases of child sexual abuse, including rape….members of the tribe say that sexual violence against children on the reservation is common and barely concealed……The crimes are rarely prosecuted, few arrests are made and people say that because of safety fears and law enforcement’s lack of interest, they no longer report even the most sadistic violence against children…..members of the tribe say that leadership has often sought to hide abuse.” This article appeared in the New York Times on September 19, 2012, more than 18 months ago. There has been no improvement in conditions at Spirit Lake in the interim, despite your claims to the contrary.
Children at Spirit Lake continue to be raped, abused and neglected because of the intransigence of a few in tribal, state and federal leadership positions who are unwilling/unable to recognize what the facts are and act on them.
Thomas F. Sullivan
Regional Administrator, ACF, Denver
_________________________________________________________
Demand They Be Held Accountable
You know where to find me.
~Cat
*March 24, 2014 ---Printer Version (6)
Predatory System
(Note: Additional links added to bottom of posting)
For years now, we have been asking for Justice. For years we have been pointing out crimes. For years we have been demanding investigations into profound child abuse, neglect, torture, rape and murder. For years the system has been protecting the predators, threatening, harassing, slandering and libeling as well as retaliating against those who have been speaking up: Both the victims and those filing Urgent Statements of Crises and Mandated Reporters.
Throughout it all, children have been enduring unspeakable crimes of rape, torture, abuse, trafficking and being murdered while those in charge at every level of government, from Tribal Social Services to Department Heads in Washington, DC, have been dismissing the cries for investigations.
Tim Purdon outright stated that he had investigated all mandated reports and found them to be false, but would never say which cases he found false. He said he had the utmost confidence in the BIA and their Strike Team as they were professionals like himself, and they had already investigated all these cases…
Then comes the Grand Forks Herald and the In Forum with a stunning report on one family, and the horrendous abuse and torture heaped onto the children in their custody, with special torture reserved for the four-year old boy, and the community is outraged.
These children were given to their torturer, Jaqueline Brown Peltier, by Tribal Social Services back in 2011, just after they fired Betty Jo Krenz, who had removed them from a previous relative’s care because of forensic reports detailing felony abuse, and had placed them in a secure care placement designed to help children with their level of trauma.
It was Kevin Dauphinais and Kris Wishinsky who decided, after Kris mucked up the paperwork and the tribe could not be reimbursed for the financial side, to retrieve those babies from that safe and secure placement and hand them over to a woman who was known to be extremely abusive to children, Jackie Brown-Peltier. It was ‘cheaper’ that way.
As soon as they got rid of Betty Jo Krenz, they begin pulling children out of safe homes across the board and stuffing these kids into horrifically abusive homes, to get them off the books. The horror stories are waiting to be told. They will never be investigated unless, like this case, the family moves off the rez.
Betty Jo detailed this and the other cases immediately to the State and to the Feds in hopes that something could be done to stop it or rectify it. For that she has been ridiculed by the very agency heads that should have been working with her to prevent these crimes and the subsequent murders/tortures of these and the other children listed in those Mandated Reports the government is so fond of dismissing.
Let’s Blame Betty Jo!
Gotta love Facebook. No sooner does the Grand Forks Herald story break than some bimbo decides it’s all Betty Jo’s fault. Meada Jetty, not a brain in her head, responded to another woman who was saying how horrific this was:
“Ya Betty Jo ur heart should break ur the stupid bitch that placed these kids with her if u would have left them with their grandma she would still be alive and this would not have happen” She’s neither a thinker nor a speller, but wow, that mouth is all over FB with the libel!
Again, I reiterate: Betty Jo removed the children from a felony abusive situation, based on a forensic report, and placed them in a safe, secure home. The children were yanked from that home, as were other children from other safe homes, AFTER Kevin Brownshield Dauphinais and Kris Wishinsky fired Betty Jo. They were then placed with the monsters that tortured them and abused them just as bad or worse than the home Betty Jo had removed them from in the first place.
But you see how the plan works? If you make reports, or try to protect the children you are fired, and you are smeared, libeled and slandered and when the crimes against these children become apparent, despite the facts to the contrary, you are blamed for them as well!
(Now, tell me again Melissa Merrick-Brady how it is you can’t find good, qualified social workers to come and work on the rez? Bad publicity? Or the truth about the corruption coming out and the good, decent and qualified are forewarned and steer clear? )
The care of the children was not important. Getting the money was. Making a dangerous placement was the ‘cheapest’ route, and Kevin was ripping off the Tribal Social Services accounts pretty fast so all the money he could take away from the care of the children, he could pocket himself.
That little four-year old boy you read about in that article, was just an infant then. He has only known violence and abuse his entire life. Think about that. What do you think he will grow into? An addict? A violent felon? A sexual abuser himself? Perhaps he will suicide by the time he’s in high school? Or maybe before? Perhaps, like Baby Laurynn, who was also placed in the home of a dangerous adult, he would have been murdered before anyone got the story of his abuse?
None of this was unknown to Tribal Social Services. These abuses and worse have been ongoing unabated for years on the rez, and law enforcement at every level refuses to look or even investigate.
The only reason this horrific case saw the light of day is because that abusive family moved off the rez and into Grand Forks. I guarantee you, what is going on now, on the rez, is as bad or worse, and Tim Purdon has staked his professional reputation on the quality of work done by the BIA throughout this whole ordeal.
What Can $4 Million Taxpayer Dollars Buy These Days?
Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D ND) has heard the concerns about the children and the violence and the abuse and she formed a ‘committee’ to study the problem. She did not insist on an investigation into the ongoing claims of rape and abuse, she obtained $4Million Taxpayer cash to set up her ‘committee’.
So far, she’s had Purdon ‘testify’ that nothing has changed but that he will look into issues… laughable at best, but now, she’s really taking a bow on a great accomplishment of her work in this area. She’s come up with a big solution: Better fund the languages and culture classes so that people on the rez can learn their language and culture….
Nowhere does she ask for investigations into crimes against children, rapes, or violence. Nowhere.
Yes, rapes are not being investigated, children are being brutalized, violently tortured and killed, let’s talk about funding languages (which they already have) and culture projects (which they already have), and … applause.
If anyone thinks for a minute that Heitkamp or Purdon, or the BIA or any of the other agencies that have been repeatedly notified of these issues and crimes against children takes them seriously, you’d have to provide me with proof. All I have seen is dog an pony shows, and a complete mockery of all that is decent or courageous in people who are, every day, every single day, struggling to get law enforcement to do their jobs.
It’s not complicated and it has nothing to do with sovereignty. The protocols for handling these felony abuses are clearly laid out by the Federal Government and have been for years.
Culture of Corruption
The entire system, ACF, BIA, HHS, IHS, FBI… all of them have been led by the inept and the corrupt for so many decades that only the corrupt and the inept can climb the ladders or be appointed to leadership positions, leaving those who can do the work, subject to restrictions applied politically, by the corrupt and the inept.
This family in Grand Forks was also listed in those 13 Mandated Reports filed by Thomas Sullivan. Purdon blithely dismissed the concerns over this family, and over the family that murdered baby Laurynn, as ‘taken care of’ or ‘false’. Hard to tell which because he would never say which cases he deemed were false and which were investigated or what those findings were.
This isn’t just happening on the rez… it was perfected in Indian Country, this callous disregard for the safety of Indian Children, children who were raped, tortured, murdered or worse, but who never were counted among the statistics of death by disregard… it was perfected there, and is being carried out wholesale throughout Social Services all over the country.
Top echelon management and administrators, politically appointed as ‘Party Favors’ generally for successful political fundraising, affiliating with politically powerful foundations and organizations who masquerade as charities or child welfare outfits, but which are nothing more than political machines, using tax deductible status to hide billions of dollars transacted, these people take these jobs and fail, but never miss a paycheck.
They fail out of one agency, such as George Sheldon did when in 2010 he was tapped by Marrianne McMullen to be her Under Secretary, despite his having put policies in place when head of the DCF in Florida, that led to the highest mortality rate for children in the system, in the entire nation. In fact, the dead babies in Florida stacked up to more than the sum total of dead children in all the other states combined!
He also created a system whereby records could not be kept, histories were deleted, and files were closed after each contact, with no follow up, and everyone act shocked if a child was raped, murdered, stuffed into a barrel and had caustic solution poured on her until she died. “Slipped through the cracks”.
He also ignored reports, as did all the Law Enforcement and heads of all the agencies in Florida, the blatant danger to children from the Pill Mills that were operating as open air drug marts. The agencies said they didn’t have to investigate those pill mills, were under no obligation to investigate those pill mills because they were a ‘cash only’ business and were not using government checks or payments to buy those drugs.
That, my friends, is the clear definition of a drug dealer: “Cash Only”. The cops would bust them, but they would be open again within hours… because those in government who should have been sounding the alarms, were silencing them.
Children who were killed as the result of their parent or caretaker’s addictions, violence, neglect or carelessness in leaving pills out where hungry children can grab them to eat them… those children ‘were not counted’.
That kept the statistics low. Yet, even with that, more than half the deaths of children in government care in the entire USA, were in Florida.
What did Sheldon get for that? Promoted to the national level.
Now that it is coming out about George Sheldon’s and others’ neglect to address the crimes and crisis, Sheldon is on the record recently stating: “I was never fully aware of the depth of it.” (Read the entire article here: Miami Herald ) The research, the charts, the numbers will stun you. The team that compiled the investigative series is top notch. I will list additional links at the bottom of this posting. It’s the most in-depth articles on the failures to date that I have seen. They are talking about Florida, but the problem is national and many of the players you see showing up in Florida crises are the same as the ones in North Dakota, Spirit Lake Nation issues and crimes that I have been blogging about.
Having seen how hard Mr. Sheldon worked to stifle reporting from Thomas Sullivan, I am sure he practiced the same restrictions on those working for him in DCF at the time. So, by ignoring and ridiculing reports and those who make them; and by preventing further reports from being issued, one COULD say they were never fully aware of the depth of any problem, could they not?
It’s a Numbers Game
George Sheldon, in his campaign literature claims that “Everywhere he goes, he makes things better!” And then he touts that during 2009 he reduced the number of children in Foster care from 81 – 21. Wow! Yes, 69 of those missing 60 were horrifically murdered, so that does essentially ‘cut that number way down’.
One of the ‘talents’ politicians look for in themselves is the ability to turn a negative into a positive. So, if you don’t know that the majority of that reduction was due to children being murdered, you could possibly think of it as ‘making things better wherever he goes’.
A Reminder: George Sheldon bailed out of ACF to cover his tracks in Florida when the person who replaced him in Florida abruptly jumped ship. The interim head of the DCF, a woman named Jacobo, actually said that :
“The trauma of removal, many times, is more traumatic than the abuse,” Jacobo said. “So if you are able to not traumatize the children and keep them safe, obviously this is the best way to go.”
(Read entire article Here: Miami Herald )
Yes, taking a child away from their rapist is heart rending, isn’t it?
Any excuse to not provide care, safety or rescue for children is acceptable. It ‘saves money’ for that department to better spend on other things: Junkets, bonuses, political activity in the form of grants and donations to politically connected organizations/foundations masquerading as ‘Charities’ and 501(c)3’s and allows the government higher up to grant even more and greater ‘Tax Breaks’ for the billionaires who already offshore their money and pay no taxes. It’s a numbers game.
Of course, it costs more shortly down the line as we deal with the Human Wreckage that survives the abuse and becomes addicted, abusers themselves, violent, suicides, or other law enforcement issues that fill up our prisons making the USA Number ONE in incarceration of its citizens, out of the entire World. We pay for that. There should be a trophy in there somewhere.
You and I, we lock our doors, cars, even in the daytime. So much crime out there. Gee, I wonder where it comes from? *scratches head*
You know where to find me.
~Cat
Links to articles:
ND Grand Forks The horrific abuse of Children from Spirit Lake Nation Reserve uncovered only when the abuse continued, off rez, in Grand Forks.
Florida : Miami Herald Series “Innocents Lost” Series
“Preserving Families But losing Children” (This is where that outrageous quote, and other even more logic defying quotes from Esther Jacobo is taken from.)
Op Ed: Who Speaks For the Voiceless? Leonard Pitts Jr., Herald Sun
Radio show (7 min podcast) OPB.Org One of the team of reporters of the Innocents Lost Series discusses how and why the series was important to do.
You Tube 7 min. Miami Herald Reporter discusses a few of the particular cases & the difficulty in getting information from the government. Statements from Judges, Social Workers included.
“How can Florida learn lessons from Alabama?” More from the "Innocents Lost" series. The question is also "What can North Dakota Learn?" in my thinking.
Carl Hiaasen "How Many Babies Must Be Buried?" Modesto Bee (California) As you can see, the story is having national impact.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp and her Indian Intern “Indian Country Today” Media. She does an article that is head-spinning as she literally jumps from discussing how important it is to resolve the issue of violence and child abuse on the rez to “The importance of Language and cultural teachings” to resolve this. Yes, you’ve been raped, now, take a language class? Read for yourself.
March 20, 2014 --- Printer Version (2)
Down She Goes
Mardell Lewis was a rising star and we all had a lot of our hopes pinned to her integrity. I championed her in this blog, relentlessly. When there was a recall, you all turned out, in an amazing show of support, to vote her recall into a tie, allowing her to keep her seat.
We have all been betrayed. My ego is wounded because I was wrong about her and what she was. That’s okay. I’ve been wrong before. But, The Good People of Spirit Lake have suffered yet another betrayal of their hopes, and their trust.
I have been delaying posting this part of the story because there were, and still are, so many more important issues to be posted and dealt with. So, I decided, at last, to put it on the record, as it’s own special posting.
There will be another posting before the week is out to discuss the horror story that is still unfolding in Grand Forks, where the told and untold abuse on little children is being revealed. Children that were betrayed by Tribal Council, Tribal Social Services, and everyone else in the system.
It will turn your stomach and break your heart. I am still gathering the details on that and I want to do it as right and clear as I can.
For now, Mardell Lewis. Mardell has, for some time, possibly since she stepped into the roll of Tribal Councilor, been having an affair with Joel Redfox. I had heard the whisperings of it, but they all came from people I did not know and I could not get them backed up by anyone that I knew, so I dismissed them. I would still dismiss them if I had not had it all backed up by several known and reliable sources these past 6 weeks or so.
She is now openly living with Joel Redfox, having not only split from her husband, but having him fired from his position at the college, and banned from the rez so that he can have no contact with his own children.
Yeah, she’s that special.
She and Joel have been using all these ‘away trips’ to romp on Tribal Dollars, and live like royalty, First Class, best food, and of course, expensive wine, while many of you froze in your shabby little homes, unable to get heating for the winter, one of the coldest and most brutal on record.
Mardell is as bad in her behaviors as any of the worst before her. I see no good choices for the tribe. I see no person of integrity holding office, or wanting to. The corruption on the rez has left only the corrupt in charge. The elections are nothing more than the corrupt competing for the prize package.
If you can find someone of integrity, good luck and back them up. But never, ever, EVER take your eye off them.
Mardell’s behavior is a disgrace and a sinking disappointment for those who supported her and counted on her. I feel sorry for her husband, who obviously got the worst of this by being denied access to his own children, who are now living with a sex-offender, predator.
Whatever is driving Mardell down this muddy road, is hurting a lot of people, her own children among them, the tribe taken for a ride by a woman who lacks integrity and morals. She’s romping with a sexual predator, and denying her children access to their own father.
I have had disappointments before, but she tops them all right now. If there is a recall vote, and she goes down, that’s fine. You can replace her with someone just as bad, and then vote them out.
Meanwhile, it’s time to start looking at how it got this way and why there are no decent leaders in any of the seats that control millions of dollars of money intended for the tribe, but going only to a few who get their hands on it.
It’s because the children are being eaten alive by corruption. They have been for decades. Children who could have grown into leaders in their own community, are only part of the Human Wreckage in the wake of corruption that feeds monsters who are visible and who hide in the shadows, as well as the monsters in those very high places who only show up to pat themselves on the back for doing such a great job… of screwing Indians.
I’m sure that when the door is closed on Joel’s office, Mardell is on her knees, doing what she does best.
I’m sorry I supported her. I’m sorry you all came out and stood up for her. But I am proud of you for trying. I know there are good people out there. I’ve heard you and I have seen you do your best, despite the odds and despite the outcomes.
Don’t let this discourage you. Continue to unite. Continue to find a way. Don’t quit.
Don’t let Mardell’s trampy behavior stop you from doing what you can to make things better out there. You have to keep trying. Not for her. Not for anyone like her… but for those kids. Kids who deserve much better than the abuse and corruption that is being revealed, and more that is being hidden.
THE CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE. Mardell is the past.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
*March 19, 20014 ---Printer Version (4)
Strange Days
When two high-level Law Enforcement officials with more than 20 years of service each, commit suicide on the same day, someone’s ears should perk up. When they are both in North Dakota, one should take a hard look at who and what they had in common. When an incredibly stupid cover story is used to explain one of the suicides, we should all be smelling a rat.
Former North Dakota Attorney General, Nicolas Spaeth’s suicide is written up here, in the GFH and Lieutenant Jeff Skuza, also a 23 yr veteran, walked out to the cemetery, phoned in for police officers to be sent to the cemetery he was standing in at 4:30 AM, and then shot himself. KXNET has the story here.
Now for the cover story on Skuza that requires we all put on our Dunce Caps and pretend it makes sense: The story they are going with, and if you have not heard it already, you will see it by tomorrow, is that Skuza killed himself because he was under investigation for an event where, in his office, with no one else around, his taser was accidentally fired--- and then he tried to cover that up.
If ANYONE is so dense that that story is even plausible, allow me to also inform you that I have found the Missing Plane, and it is in Disneyland and it’s getting an oil change.
Tie a Bow On It
Now, the next question--- and there should be several in a chain of “next questions”—should come to mind is “Who is and why are they concocting such a lame cover story?” No one goes to the trouble of covering up a messy suicide with a really stupid story, unless there was something even uglier they were trying to cover up.
For the record, I do believe he committed suicide, and I do believe he was under investigation--- but I find it laughable that 1.) there would be an ‘investigation’ over a taser accidentally or improperly firing in his office when no one was hurt and in fact, no one else was present. And 2.) that if there were any inquiry into the taser incident, that someone with Skuza’s spotless record, more than 20 years of service, would suddenly decide to blow his brains out over it.
Whatever that inquiry was, it had to be about something far more serious and far reaching, to the point that that man felt the only way to escape it, or the consequences from it, was suicide.
Whomever is attempting to tie a petty ribbon on this tragedy with that pathetic cover story, is someone that probably has something to lose if that investigation, the one that is going on, continues.
There will be a political bulldozer come in and try to both stop the investigation and using the sympathy for Spaeth’s and Skuza’s surviving family members as justification for stopping an investigation that can no longer hurt Spaeth, but can possibly hurt those involved to where that investigation would lead.
Now, I wonder about Spaeth’s suicide. Did he know and work with the same people as Skuza? Most likely.
If we don’t look further into these two cases, and if we allow some lame cover story to gloss over these two separate events before we can find or rule out any links, whatever is very, very wrong and ugly will continue to hang over the heads of people in positions of power and authority, bending them to its will, forcing sacrifice plays when the light comes too close.
The reason I insist there was an investigation is this: The cover story involved an investigation, but minimized it to the point of being ludicrous. That means that the suicide was to prevent the investigation from coming to close and the cover story is intended to kill any impetus for the investigation to continue.
I believe the cover story is a lie, but that it contains that one tiny grain of truth, about there being an investigation, in order to quell any curiosity when it does come out that there was ‘an investigation of some sort’. It is designed to plant in the minds of those hearing about an investigation, to think it was something really innocuous, minor, frivolous…
But it should be raising big RED FLAGS to anyone that hears it.
Don’t let the cover story shut your eyes. Keep your eyes open. Look for the connections and look at who plays with who in that sandbox. This is not the last of this. It will come out. Whatever it is, will come out.
And if those in power were not certain it is going to come out, they never would have tried to pass off that lame taser investigation story as the ‘reason’. We’re smarter than that.
In Other News
Another huge kiddie porn club has been busted. More than 248 kids were rescued from their abusers in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado and North Dakota with a handful of the victims being from other countries. The victims ages range from age 3 years to 17 years old. Yes, it is still happening in North Dakota.
Also, the dumping of toxic and seriously radioactive byproduct of the fracking industry in North Dakota has shown up in Fort Berthold, among other places. It would cost millions for the Oil Companies to dump these wastes legally, so they hire out contractors who have access to the reservations, and poison those communities in ways that will be monstrous as the effects start showing up in cancer clusters, birth defects and worse.
Because North Dakota has no interest in actually regulating how these toxic and radioactive wastes are disposed of, these practices both save millions for Oil Companies and make under-the-table fortunes for those providing “energy services” or whatever they call themselves. Call it ‘Free Market’ rules. Whatever hurts people but helps Corporations to expand their already bloated profits, is what drives politics on every level.
Without regulation, and enforcement, these toxic, radioactive illegal dumpings are always a ‘Surprise!’.
Don’t worry. It will eventually be cleaned up. Taxpayers will foot that bill, too. At least those who are not already dead from the effects of the radioactive wastes, or those not bankrupted by medical bills trying to deal with the health effects of these illegal dumps showing up, literally, in their backyard.
Just a thought: Since no one is looking because it would somehow cramp the style of Corporations and the Politicians they own, what is to stop them from dumping this into our waterways, lakes, ponds?
None of this would be going on if people were doing their jobs in government. Children being raped and government protecting the rapists leads to ….
Illegal dumping and allowing both the Corporations to pocket the profits and the illegal contractors to become wealthy leads to…
Well, leads to nothing unless there’s an investigation.
They won’t investigate reports of child rape, don’t expect they will investigate someone driving a flatbed of toxic wastes and dumping it into your backyard.
If there is any investigation, I’m sure those involved will find a way to make it stop, or cover it up with an innocuous cover story…
Still Waiting…
I want to know the details on the real cause of Budine Alberts. The cover story on that is that she had a massive stroke and fell on her face, and that is why her face was all beat up. It’s possible, but I have my doubts. She was only 47.
What is different this time is that her case is being investigated by a coroner. BIA used to prevent autopsy or coroner’s reports. Now it seems, death on the rez is not always defined by those who don’t want investigations.
Whatever the conclusions, we really need to know what is killing people on the rez. People matter. They can’t just be dismissed when they die as if neither their life nor their death mattered.
The same as we need to know what elements were at play in the dual suicides of Spaeth and Skuza.
As in all the cases I’ve talked about in this posting, let the families grieve, but seek the truth. There is no comfort in lies.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
NOTE: This is the corrected version from the earlier posting where I transposed Spaeth and Skuza, and incorrectly named Budine Alberts as Budine Dunn.
March 17, 2014
The High Cost of Corruption Printer Version (4)
It’s the one thing no candidate, no politician and no elected official will talk about fixing. Corruption.
Corruption means that every dollar that goes into every program is less efficient, less effective and those for whom the program is intended see little or no benefit from tax dollars dumped into a toilet.
Russ McDonald blithely tells a tribal member than he can’t have heating assistance because all that money is going to make up for the $3 Million+ that was stolen by Roger Yankton and Duane Jackson.
No one is talking about investigating grand theft, felony, embezzlement or corruption… they only talk about what programs they have to rob to make up the deficit caused by the corruption.
If someone steals $40 from a store, the police are out in force, arrests are made, and there is a jail sentence handed down in court. But if they steal millions, from Federal Programs, nothing is done.
Can you see why it is so hard to teach young people to respect the law? Steal $40, go to prison. Steal a few million, enjoy it! We’ll rob some other program, say, the LIHEAP or Meals on Wheels, or any other program to make up for the ‘shortfall’.
When elected officials in Washington, DC hear about the missing millions, they try to figure out how to get MORE money into the programs--- they never demand an accounting, nor do they consider any kind of law enforcement to retrieve the missing money, or to discourage further corruption.
Finding out about it gives a feeling of outrage. Reporting it or any other crime on the rez, one would think, would be the first step to fixing the problem. But it isn’t. Reporting any crimes committed by those politically connected, (and by “Politically Connected” I mean those who have enough money or influence to reach the pockets of other elected or appointed officials at different levels of government) the person reporting the crimes ends up being threatened, harassed, ridiculed and smeared by the very officials and agents who are supposed to be enforcing the law.
Now what?
Millions of dollars go missing and nothing is done. Children are being raped by registered sex offenders and they are told that there will not even be the beginning of an investigation for another 30-40 days… and now, it’s been 5 months, and still no investigation started.
There is no Justice. There is only corruption. We have seen the corrupt get away with everything from assault, rape, child rape, grand theft, larceny, and murder… we have not seen anyone from the FBI, or USAG’s office willing to begin to investigate any of it, if it happens on Spirit Lake Reservation.
That tells me that the FBI and the USAG are themselves, corrupt. And no one in congress is willing to even begin looking at that level of corruption, obvious as it is, for fear that it will touch them personally, or their campaigns, or their donors…
Silence is Gold
Corruption is so obvious and what is even more obvious is that those who ignore it, are involved in it. And if we ignore that, or think it’s not important, or that it can’t be fixed, we become the reason it continues. Our silence is their gold.
Corruption, unabated, plus the harassment and abuse of victims of violent and sexual crimes, is why those growing up on the rez don’t see life as having options beyond violence, addiction, alcoholism, suicide.
There is no help if no one is willing to rid the system of corruption, even in that one small place.
When Tim Purdon refused to investigate Mandated Reports of sexual abuse, child rapes, and dismissed it as ‘there are two sides to every story’… when he did that and there was not a huge public outcry, he knew he would never have to do his job.
He can, in ways obvious and covert, protect the corrupt, the abusers, the child rapists, and his career is assured.
Channell Wilkins career was and continues to be assured. When he worked for the ACF, he also refused to investigate rampant drug abuse, child suicides and lax law enforcement for crimes against children on the rez.
You would think that his career would sink on his incompetence. His career soared.
After leaving ACF, he also ended up in Florida, same as George Sheldon. (What is it about Florida??? It’s where the corrupt go to get their next job to fail at?)
According to the Sun Sentinel, April 22, 2013 (Read the story HERE), as the head of a Palm Beach County Department, he just handed a no bid contract to a friend of his. $118K+. You know, what’s a hundred grand or so of taxpayer money among friends, right?
It’s clear that his past work in government was all about helping friends, or he never would have thought this would fly. No one really believes he had not done this before, do they? Or do they think that for some reason, after years in government work, for some unexplained reason, he abruptly decided to break all the rules and give $118K to his pal?
No, this is a man who was accustomed to breaking the law, ignoring the law, and getting away with it. Wanna bet he learned that by working in the ACF? Why not? He clearly wasn’t there to provide assistance or investigate crimes against children.
No. The ACF, with the exception of Thomas Sullivan, sees it’s job as that of supporting the agencies that are corrupt, not investigating the corruption and not offering support to the victims of crimes against children.
That makes the ACF a completely redundant agency. Pouring money into the corrupt BIA, which refuses to investigate most crimes, especially rapes and child rapes, is bad enough. Pouring money into the ACF who then backs up and supports the abusers in the BIA, is, well, costly redundancy.
Add to that, the Children’s Bureau, a sub-agency of the ACF, which itself has a budget of over $8 Billion (taxpayer) dollars, which also refuses to investigate either the crimes against the children or the corruption in the bureaus and agencies that are in theory, supposed to be protecting those same children and investigating crimes against them.
How many billions of tax dollars are we pouring into multiple levels of failure to act? The Children’s Bureau is $8 Billion, how much is the ACF? The BIA?
If their only position, their only stand is to back up the corrupt, support and protect the rapists, why don’t we safe ourselves about $50 Billion and do away with these agencies that are, at best, redundant corruption?
If they are only here to help rob us, not to help the children, they should go. If all they are is a training ground for corrupt government workers who then move on to other states (well, Florida for sure), and hand over tax payer money to their pals, why not just eliminate those agencies that seem to do nothing more than protect and breed corruption?
Remember, if we are silent, they take our gold: All of it. And then tell us we need to give them more.
Sad Note
The death of Zephron Jetty, 22 this weekend, is another tragedy. Eleven years old should not be considered “Middle Age”, but on the rez, more and more, it is. This young man was struggling and there was no help available for him. None. I guess that’s because Roger Yankton and Duane Jackson took $3 Million from Tribal funds for themselves, so programs that would have helped… but why even think about the theft of millions from the tribe as part of the problem?
The problem, clearly, is that the corrupt are running everything, from top to bottom and Washington, DC cannot give them enough money fast enough to make any of it work.
Babies die. Babies are murdered. Children are raped. Millions are stolen. And yet another young person is tragically lost to the community that has already suffered from the worst ravages of corruption, addiction, violence, child rapes, suicides and murder.
If we want anything in our world to get better, we must start by standing with The Good People of Spirit Lake and demanding an end to corruption. If we can’t end corruption in that one small place, that less-than-a-dot-on-the-map place, then we must just accept corruption everywhere and just give up even trying.
It will make it easier on the corrupt. We’ll suffer, pay more, be less secure, but at least we won’t have to pretend to care what happens to the kids; not now, and not when they grow up, and certainly not when they give up.
We can stop it in that one place. But it will take work. It will take effort and constant vigilance and not accepting the platitudes and worn out clichés of ‘falling through the cracks’, and so forth.
We have to demand more from our government at all levels. We will have to demand an end to agencies that see their only job as covering the behinds of corrupt officials and agencies engaging in criminal negligence at best, outright corruption most-likely.
This is the one place we can start. We can see if it is working or not. And when we get it working there, you know it will start working everywhere.
Maybe that is what the corrupt in all those agencies, and in all those elected officials fear the most: That we will change the way things are done. That we will force them to face the corruption and deal with it, or be replaced by someone who will.
We start by holding them accountable for their incompetence, their negligence, their complicity. It’s our tax dollars paying them (overpaying most of them) and they should be accountable to us. If we don’t demand accountability, then we are just too lazy for either Democracy or Justice and deserve neither.
Neither do we deserve a future. We’ll see that as our own children are stolen from us, murdered, destroyed, lost and addicted. The Children ARE the Future. Save them now, or lose the Future.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
*March 10, 2014 ---Printer Version (15)
For the Past Seven Years…
Thomas Sullivan has been battling the apathy and incompetence at the ACF for well over 7 years now, with regards to the crisis of child abuse, child suicides in Indian Country.
I am including a thread of emails in this posting that will point out that the stall and delay tactics have been going on in the same way, same manner, the entire time.
For those who thought that this was a recent revelation about the child rapes, and the suicides in Indian Country and were specific to Spirit Lake Nation, the evidence is clear that the ACF has been key to thwarting any investigations, for at least 7 years.
You can tell by the tone of the responses he receives that the supervisors and administrators he has had to deal with, this entire time, subscribe to the same playbook: “Do Nothing, Act Indignant When Lack of Response is Questioned.”
Meanwhile, how many more children have been raped, suicided, become addicted, or grown into violent adults themselves, while the agency plays the same slow dance tune, over and over again?
It is worthwhile to note here that the Tribal Social Services has given up all pretense of even trying to assist any of the children in danger or rectifying the wrongs committed by previous Directors.
When O’Keefe quit his position, there was no one qualified to take his place. Instead of the BIA sending in their ‘Strike Farce’ again, which did nothing to improve anything last time, and in fact made it worse, the Tribal Council just picked a name out of the hat of yet another unqualified person to head that department.
Melissa Brady, nee Merrick, who incompetently runs Victims’ Assistance, and helps herself to the funds intended for clients, was also appointed to run Tribal Social Services. I guess both are considered ‘not full time concerns’ by the tribe.
Melissa, bless her greedy lying heart, issued a Twitter want ad in her Twitter Timeline saying:
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spiritlakenation.com In need of 2 licensed social workers. Please share. #lovemycommunity #childrenaresacred |
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So, there you have it. She ‘loves’ her community and ‘children are sacred’.
So, if there are two social workers out there that can’t get a job anywhere else, and who understand that if they file a Mandated Report about Child Rape, they will be fired, please, by all means, put in your application!
Until there is Justice, and those who have committed crimes are held accountable, all the money being poured into the programs on the reservation, are going into the toilet.
Nothing is fixed, nothing can be fixed, until there is Justice. Justice is the foundation for ALL communities. Imagine what your community would be like if the criminals ran it, and if those who reported the crimes were harassed, threatened and intimidated by the authorities and the agencies.
Indian Country deserves better. The children deserve better. WE deserve better.
Melissa Brady has no qualifications and her track record of self promotion and extreme exaggerations of ‘being attacked by Congressman Cramer’ makes me doubt how truthful her accounts of being a victim of abuse as a child, really are. When someone lies to the point she does, to claim victimhood where none existed, it makes me wonder if any of her stories are true or if she exaggerated them as well, or if she merely took the tragic stories of others to claim as her own, in the same way she uses funds intended for victims, to serve herself.
Sure, go ahead all you qualified Social Workers. Step into that snake pit. “Children are sacred”… they just aren’t worth rescuing? The crimes against them not worth charging?
Now, read through the correspondence between Thomas Sullivan and his superiors from 2007:
2007
November 9, 2007
From: Thomas Sullivan
To: Daniel Schneider
From: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF)
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 2:23 PM
To: Schneider, Daniel (ACF)
Cc: Wilkins, Channell (ACF)
Subject: Recommended Strategy for ACF's Native Youth Task Force
Dan:
Attached is the paper I promised some time ago. As I met and spoke with Child Welfare and Domestic Violence leaders from the Tribes in this Region, the task of preparing this became much more complex. I asked many of those I met with to review this to make sure I did not misstate their concerns. Most have responded that this is an accurate depiction of what they said and what is occurring in Indian Country today.
In the last week two young men, each 18 years old, committed suicide on the Rosebud Reservation in SD and a middle-aged woman was murdered at a Meth party on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in ND. Yesterday a young man from the Spirit Lake Reservation in ND jumped off a bridge in Mandan, ND into the path of a passing automobile. Today the newspapers in Montana are filled with stories about the high level of alcohol consumption by the young people in that state. This follows reports about the heavy use of Meth on the seven reservations in that state.
I call your special attention to the following website: http://www.walkingsky.com/restless/thistles.html. This website has been posted for many years by an anonymous blogger who despises the leadership of the Spirit Lake Reservation for what he/she believes is their role in the murder of Eddie Peltier in 1983. The link listed should take you to two pages of pictures of young people from that Reservation (the Child Welfare Director for that Tribe confirmed to me that those pictures are of kids from his Reservation) drinking beer and hard liquor and doing drugs. With a few exceptions all seem under the legal age of 21. This is a well-known site in Indian Country and, I understand, in local law enforcement. Thus far, there has been no attempt to shut down this clearly illegal behavior. (*NOTE: I have always signed my name to this blog. Why people assumed it was 'anonymous' puzzles me to this day.)
I am copying Channell on this email as well.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Thomas F. Sullivan
Regional Administrator, Denver
_________________________________
December 10, 2007
Thomas Sullivan to Dan Schneider:
From: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF)
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 1:24 PM
To: Schneider, Daniel (ACF)
Cc: Wilkins, Channell (ACF)
Subject: FW: Recommended Strategy for ACF's Native Youth Task Force
Dan:
A month ago I sent the attached email and paper to you and Channell as a recommended strategy for ACF to follow in addressing the twin epidemics of child sexual abuse and suicide in Indian Country.
The silence from you both has been deafening. Neither of you have had any questions. There have been no requests for clarification. There has been no attempt to contact me.
It is not clear to me what your silence means. But it certainly does not suggest a commitment to move quickly to stop the damage being done to so many Native children and youth. However, the damage being done is not restricted to Native children and youth. Let me spell out for you a few examples (in addition to those specified in my attached paper to you both) of the potential for harm due to governmental inaction.
1. When child sexual abusers are not prosecuted they cannot be required to register as sexual predators. Therefore when thy apply to adopt a child, to become a foster parent or for employment in an off-reservation school, Head Start Center or day care program, for all of which they are required to submit to and pass background checks, they will receive a clean bill of health. They will be allowed access to more innocent children to abuse. From this it should be clear that our government's silence and inaction exposes not just children in Indian Country to increased risk of sexual abuse but also it exposes children from every community in this nation to an increased risk of child sexual abuse.
2. Those first line Child Welfare, Domestic Violence and Mental Health staff who spoke with me and whose stories I reported in the paper I submitted to you continue to be subjected to enormous pressure to maintain the silence which protects the predators. Here are a few examples of this pressure: a.) The Mental Health staffer who had the tires on their care slashed several times, whose dogs were killed by unknown parties on several different occasions and who finally moved off that reservation out of concern about how their children would be treated when they went to school; b.) The Child Welfare Director who had the tires on their car slashed several times, who keeps a large dog and lives with loaded firearms placed in key locations around their home for easy access from any location in the home; c.) The Child Welfare Director who spoke of the annual contract under which the director works and which can be revoked at any time without cause; d.) The former Child Welfare Director who visited the Emergency Room at least once a month for anxiety attacks while they held that position.
How long these front-line staff with responsibility for implementing federal Child Welfare statutes, regulations and policies will be able to tolerate this abusive environment without any additional federal support is open to question. Clearly, if they decide they can no longer tolerate the threats to their well-being, leaving their positions because they can no longer tolerate the risks to which they are exposed, the welfare of children in Indian Country as well as throughout this nation will suffer.
I find it hard to believe that either of you endorse such outcomes but you both need to understand that your silence and inaction will inevitably result in these outcomes.
Do you recall, what I considered to be a somewhat cynical reference to the movie, Hotel Rwanda, made by one CW Director who spoke frankly of her belief that nothing would be done? In applying the dialogue from that movie to the Native Youth Task Force the CW Director said, "They consider us dirt. They will not come". Inaction and silence reinforces that perception.
Thomas F. Sullivan
Regional Administrator, Denver
_______________________________
December 10, 2007
Channel Wilkins to Thomas Sullivan
From: Wilkins, Channell (ACF)
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 1:45 PM
To: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF); Schneider, Daniel (ACF)
Subject: RE: Recommended Strategy for ACF's Native Youth Task Force
Tom,
The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution. <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/32858.html>
<http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/32858.html> <http://www.quotationspage.com/myquotations.php?add=32858> <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/32858.html#email> Bertrand Russell
I offer the quote so that you might consider ways to approach your participation as an opportunity for solutions rather than as an antagonist whose form of expressing passion for the issues may be more of a deterrent for your participation than a voice of advocacy for those you wish to help.
As for clarification on your report I don't feel I need any at this time. You reiterated a vast majority of the information we had already discussed or information that had been also discussed with NICWA, NCAI, Native American Boys and Girls Clubs, Urban Indians Association, Indian Health care, et al and the ACF liaisons from each Division. We recognize that these problems are rooted in a long and unjust history, one we will not solve overnight or by playing the blame game. It would have been just as appropriate while the Task Force is making these contacts and having meetings for you to contact us to see if we had questions. If you are truly interested in results reach out rather than grandstand. There is no moral authority for those who only seek to be heard and not actively engage in the solutions.
While I am very pleased that the Task Force is received with some hope, there was an abundance of issues in your report that indicated Tribal Leadership as a major factor in the continuation of the problem. Sovereignty is at the crux of many of the possible solutions to this problem. Few solutions imposed from outside have ever been effective in Indian communities and many of your examples are related to interventionist policies that did not honor sovereignty. We must have by-in from the very Tribal Leaders you mention. Part of our mission is to engage them in these solutions not to castigate them and further diminish our nation to nation relationships. Below is just some of the context we must consider in addressing these issues. Please feel free to contact me at any time.
Sovereignty and historical context we must consider:
The United States defined Indian Nations as "sovereign" in the U.S. Constitution, meaning they had the ability to govern themselves.
The abuse and neglect of American Indian/Alaska Native children must be viewed in the context of the history of abuse and neglect of all children in the United States, as well as in the context of the changing relationship of sovereign American Indian/Alaska Native nations to the United States government. The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 ended the practice of allotment and authorized the federal government to return surplus lands to the tribes. It also authorized tribes to adopt constitutions and governments that followed the U.S. pattern of divided executive, legislative, and judicial branches and allowed for election of leaders. Apart from taking direct action regarding tribal structure and governance, in 1878 the federal government also continued steps to acculturate Indian children by establishing off-reservation boarding schools. Indian children were often forced to attend these schools, where they were punished for practicing their traditional beliefs and customs. Later, in 1958, Indian children were also forcibly removed from their homes and placed for adoption with non-Indian families through the Indian Adoption Project. During the 1950s, the desire to fully assimilate tribes resulted in three additional policies or activities, including: 1) the Termination Act of 1953, which severed tribal ties to the federal government, converted tribal lands to private ownership, and subjected tribal members to state laws; 2) the relocation efforts of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which offered grants to Indians who would seek work in metropolitan centers; and 3) Public Law 83-280, which granted states civil and criminal jurisdiction over all American Indian/Alaska Native people residing there. From the 1960s on, Congress, while recognizing its role in safeguarding the welfare of American Indian/Alaska Native people, has primarily supported the self-determination and viability of tribes. Three major policies-the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, and the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978-are reflective of this support. These policies allowed tribes to reassert jurisdiction and take more control over tribal interests, including tribal children. Several laws that were passed from 1980 to 1997, such as the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, both positively and negatively affect the field of Indian child welfare on a daily basis. The modern era, however, has seen a return of Indian sovereignty benefiting tribal child welfare programs and services.
Because of the direct federal government to tribal government relationship, historically, tribal-state interaction has been limited. The direct tribal relationship with the federal government led to the sense that there was little role for state governments in tribal affairs. Although states have no authority to pass laws that interfere with the federal-tribal relationship, the development of tribal-state relationships is critical to providing appropriate services to Indian children and families. The main federal Indian policies that have affected tribal-state relationships include the Dawes General Allotment Act, Public Law 83-280, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, and tribal self-governance initiatives.
Beyond federal Indian policy, general federal child welfare policy also affects tribal-state relationships in the area of Indian child welfare. The federal government did not recognize state and local government responsibility for child welfare until 1935, when Title IV-B was included in the Social Security Act. Additionally, it was not until the passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974 that the federal government enacted legislation that had a significant impact on child welfare services and child protection (National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, 2003). Several other federal child welfare policies followed CAPTA, including the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978, the Prevention, Adoption, and Family Services Act of 1988, the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act (ICPFVPA) of 1990, and the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997.
Despite their sovereign authority tribal governments have not always had the opportunity to be involved in protecting their children. The complexity of the relationships between tribes, states, and the federal government has contributed to confusion by policymakers and bureaucracies about who is responsible for what services.
Child protection systems in Indian Country are diverse and fragmented into a complex array of service delivery models that leave some children unprotected, some families without the protections of due process, and many agencies in doubt of who is responsible for what activities. While a few tribes have made progress in the child protection arena, major issues remain, including the following:
1. A lack of effective reporting of child abuse and neglect
2. A lack of coordination between agencies pursuing investigations
3. A lack of resources to conduct proper investigations
4. Varying definitions of child abuse and neglect
5. A lack of training and technical assistance for tribal child protection personnel
6. Confusion over jurisdictional matters
7. Confusion over what entities should be involved in investigations
All of these items complicate the task of child protection and must be addressed before appropriate efforts to reduce child abuse and neglect can be fully implemented. Sovereignty recognizes that unique tribal histories and social institutions are sources of strength that can guide the process of knowledge building. Hence, sovereignty assumes that cultural institutions, value orientations, and traditional knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs are sources of strength; they are repositories from which social work professionals can organize theoretical concepts around human development and implement methodologies of intervention.
Some Promising Practices:
In order to address the above-listed complications, many federal jurisdictions are establishing Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) that define the roles of the U.S. attorneys, state child protective services, tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service, and other federal, state, and tribal agencies involved in child sexual abuse in Indian Country. These MOAs have helped to eliminate the hesitation from some law enforcement agencies when there are questions of who has jurisdiction and where to take an Indian child when disclosure occurs.
The Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS) program was aimed at helping grantees design and provide integrated behavioral health services to children and their families. Using service integration principles as a guide, the Tulalip Tribes, with the help of the SESS program, transformed their program into "beda?chelh-a culturally specific, child-focused, family-centered, and strengths-based program. Through "beda?chelh," staff worked creatively to design integrated services promoting family and cultural preservation, health, and resiliency in the community's children and families. This program achieved this goal by 1) promoting recovery from substance abuse and mental health problems in parents, 2) strengthening individual child skills in the social, emotional, and cognitive domains, and 3) strengthening the bonds between children, their families, and their communities. The Tulalip SESS project was successful because it utilized traditional storytelling, play therapy, and integrated behavioral health services for family members such as substance abuse or domestic violence treatment to meet the needs of each family.
We are also looking at promising practices among Native American Boys and Girls clubs which are currently in over 200 locations on Native land.
Channell Wilkins
Chairperson
Native American Children and Youth Task Force
Administration for Children and Families
Aerospace Building
Washington DC 20024
(202) 401 4728
People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character. <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/28935.html>
<http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/28935.html> <http://www.quotationspage.com/myquotations.php?add=28935> <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/28935.html#email> Ralph Waldo Emerson
_________________________
NOTE: Channell likes to throw around quotes that do not apply to the situation. Although using famous quotes is often a sign of pseudo-intellectualism, in this case, it seems to me it is a sign of blithering indifference.
Particularly her last quote, which appears to be in response to Sullivan’s quote from a Child Welfare Worker who was pessimistic about the government’s willingness to assist:
“CW Director who spoke frankly of her belief that nothing would be done? In applying the dialogue from that movie to the Native Youth Task Force the CW Director said, "They consider us dirt. They will not come". Inaction and silence reinforces that perception. “
Channell’s response: “People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character”, seems to lay blame for the ‘perception’ not on the facts at hand, not at the historical facts of non assistance, but rather on the person who dares to speak of it, as if it is their fault they ‘perceive’ the non-assistance, rather than it is a fact that they are stating, based on a history of foundation of non-responsiveness.
I often wonder why people take these high positions when they have either no skill set to deal with the issues of crisis, or they have no concern for how their blasé approach harms those who are in crisis and creates multi-generational damage to the people and the culture as well as to the communities they interact with.
Then of course, I remembered: These are paychecks to them, and political points. No one is graded on how well they do their job or how much they improve the situation. No one is penalized for creating or ignoring crisis. In fact, they are politically rewarded for their lack of concern, to the extreme.
This is what has to change. This is what has been going on for gener
ations, decades and as you can see, Mr. Sullivan has been trying to get this addressed through all the proper channels for over 7 years now.
We now resume the antique correspondence threads:
______________________________
From: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF)
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 3:01 PM
To: Wilkins, Channell (ACF); Schneider, Daniel (ACF)
Cc: Nunez, Joe (HHS/OS); Denham, Paul (HHS/OS)
Subject: Recommended Strategy for ACF's Native Youth Task Force
Channell:
I am deeply puzzled by your December 10, 2007 email. You seem more intent on silencing me than in engaging in a dialogue to determine what would be the best way to address and respond to the twin epidemics of child sexual abuse and child suicide raging in Indian Country today. Your hostility is palpable. Clearly, I must have said or written something that upset you. I don't know what it is but I do apologize.
You should understand that my paper submitted on November 9, 2007 as well as my December 10, 2007 email were based almost entirely on stories and information provided by Child Welfare, Domestic Violence and Mental Health leaders from more than two thirds of the Tribes in this Region. I asked them to review that paper before I submitted it to Dan and you. Of those who responded, all said that I had accurately stated their concerns and that they were pleased with my efforts at recording their concerns. If something in that paper is the basis for your anger with me, would you like me to set up a meeting with these Region 8 Tribal Leaders so that you can communicate your displeasure with them directly to them?
You state that I have reiterated a "vast majority of the information we had already discussed or information that had been also discussed with NICWA, NCAI, Native American Boys and Girls Clubs, Urban Indians Association, Indian Health care and the ACF liaisons from each division." Since I have had only one brief discussion with you and since I have never seen any of the material provided by these groups and individuals, I had no idea what information you already have. While I have been working attempting to draw attention to the twin epidemics of child sexual abuse and child suicide in Indian Country for more than three years, I have never seen any interest in these subjects from the groups you mention. Surprising as it may seem, several years ago a prominent elected Board Member of NICWA was forced to resign because his well-known, 40 year history of child sexual abuse became known to an individual of integrity who demanded he step down. (emphasis mine)
I would have responded more promptly to your email but for the last three days I have been on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota at the invitation of the Tribal Chairman for the purpose of meeting with him and his staff, the Tribal Council, the Tribe's CW Director, the CEO of the IHS Hospital in Rosebud and the Acting Chair of their Mental Health Department as well as several community members. The twin epidemics of child sexual abuse and child suicide are raging there as evidenced by the following:
1. For the past three years there have been, on average, two rapes (many have been statutory) per week on Rosebud.
2. In the 68 days between October 1, 2007 and December 7, 2007 there have been 7 suicide completions by young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
3. In these same 68 days there have been 52 attempts by young people from the same age group. This is a count only of those which have come to the attention of authorities, which have been reported.
4. In these same 68 days there have been 112 cases of young people from this same age group with suicide ideation with plans about how to do it.
When I spoke with the Chairman and Council about these twin epidemics, many spoke of the "terror" felt by them as well as by their constituents about the coming weekends and what their children might do. Apparently recent weekends have been the preferred time to make an attempt on your own life.
You were named head of the Native Youth Task Force by Dan with much fanfare on August 15, 2007. In the intervening period I have seen nothing about the makeup of the Task Force, your work plans, objectives or strategies for achieving those objectives. Would it be possible to obtain that information?
You have shown a penchant for picking quotes which you think are applicable to what you write. I would like to conclude with one as well. I had the choice of several from Bertrand Russell, Emerson and several others. But the one I feel is most apropos here is from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland where the Cheshire Cat tells Alice, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will do"
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Thomas F. Sullivan
Regional Administrator, Denver
_________________________________________
Now, note in this next email, Channell blames Tom Sullivan for the ‘perception’ that the ACF doesn’t care. Yes, blame the only person in the entire agency who has put himself on the line and demanded assistance be forthcoming to these tribes that desperately need it, blame HIM for the ‘perception’ that the ACF doesn’t care?
How whacked are the people in that entire agency and for how long have the most incompetent and unskilled been running that agency and the various departments?
Notice throughout all of his indignant reply, he cannot state nor will he, that anything has been done, is being done, or will be done. He’s just mad because he keeps pressing for answers to issues, and he is taking the crisis seriously, only to find that are annoying to him.
*************
From: Wilkins, Channell (ACF)
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 8:04 AM
To: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF); Schneider, Daniel (ACF)
Cc: Nunez, Joe (HHS/OS); Denham, Paul (HHS/OS)
Subject: RE: Recommended Strategy for ACF's Native Youth Task Force
Tom,
First, You need not be puzzled, just read the opening three paragraphs of your December 10 email to Dan and I. Your approach to this crisis seems to be that unless we are in contact with you that nothing is being done and there is 'no commitment to move quickly'. Either you believe our direct contact with Native Americans is unnecessary (because you already have all the answers) or you have set a timeline for us to adhere to which I am not aware of. To indicate that our silence and inaction (according to you) is somehow the cause of future suicides galls me. The insensitivity you have show towards us, may have the same effect you demonize us for based on your perception of our response to you. Dialog to determine the best way to address and respond happens in two directions, if you were unsure of what activities or lack thereof were happening, I know you have my phone number and could have easily inquired before deciding to berate me without making the effort to ensure you were correct in your assumptions.
You insinuate that you are the only one with true concern about these problems and we are sitting on bags of cash and professional reasons that are at our immediate disposal to alleviate the problem. I find it hard to believe that a career federal employee can honestly belief that is the situation and that a problem of this magnitude can be solved overnight or without garnering the support of many federal agencies beyond ACF.
Finally, if indeed Tribal leadership is remarking "They consider us dirt. They will not come" , I wonder if you are reinforcing that perception based on your comments to us or helping to dispel it and create the opportunity for others to acknowledge the issues and work with those Leaders as partners in confronting the problems.
Channell Wilkins
Chairperson
Native American Children and Youth Task Force
Administration for Children and Families
Aerospace Building
Washington DC 20024
(202) 401 4728
People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character. <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/28935.html>
<http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/28935.html> <http://www.quotationspage.com/myquotations.php?add=28935> <http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/28935.html#email> Ralph Waldo Emerson
We Can't Predict the Future, but We Know Who Will Lead it <http://www.ounceofprevention.org/includes/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/Ounce%2025th%20Anniversary%20PDF.pdf>
______________
-----Original Message-----
From: Sullivan, Thomas (ACF)
To: Wilkins, Channell (ACF); Schneider, Daniel (ACF); Nunez, Joe (HHS/OS); Denham, Paul (HHS/OS)
Sent: Tue Dec 18 16:27:46 2007
Subject: Fw: Recommended Strategy for ACF's Native Youth Task Force
Channell:
It is clear to me from all that I have seen as well as to many others who have an interest in this area that both you and Dan have taken a "go slow" approach to begin dealing with and resolving the twin epidemics of child sexual abuse and child suicide in Indian Country.
I have set no timeline for you to achieve progress on these issues. But you were named chairman of the Native Youth Task Force more than four months ago. Is it unreasonable for me to ask what you have accomplished in that time? Would it be unreasonable for an elected Tribal Chairman or Member of Congress to make such a query?
Those of you who travel in the elevated bureaucracy of Washington, DC, as you and Dan do, should not be surprised when one has the expectation in four months you will have made some progress. Inevitably, your failure to make discernable progress in resolving these twin epidemics will cause some to believe these new cases of child sexual abuse and child suicide are your fault, no matter how galling that may be to you.
Your comments on dialogue are illuminating. They do suggest you do understand the basics of communication. Under these circumstances your blatant, hostile efforts to silence me are breathtaking. Even more extraordinary is Dan's silent tolerance of your ham-handed efforts.
Given the "go slow" approach you and Dan are endorsing to the twin epidemics of child sexual abuse and child suicide in Indian Country, I expect you both would have recommended bonuses and awards for those who refused to supply water, food and medicine to those Katrina evacuees stranded on that New Orleans overpass for three days.
It is quite difficult to argue very strongly, given the "go slow" approach you and Dan have adopted, against the view that "they will not come" especially in a community where people are killing themselves at accelerating rates and where the government's response seems to be one of delay. You may not like that but I am a man of integrity and will not argue for a political position simply because you and Dan want me to endorse it. That would be irresponsible.
Thomas F. Sullivan
Regional Administrator, Denver
CORRECTION: 3/10/14 1:34:58 PM: Previous posting referred to Channell Wilkins as a female. My apologies. Channell is a man who cares nothing about the safety and well-being of children, not a woman who cares nothing about the safety and well-being of children.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
March 3, 2014 ----Printer Version (8)
Dead Babies: Redefining the Problem for Political Convenience
I could easily write 200 pages a week on the problems at Spirit Lake Nation, and how the government at all levels is complicit in creating the abuses, protecting the abusers and leading to the rapes and murders of babies, children, women and sometimes even the men.
I try to keep this blog going in one direction at a time, but so many things are happening in so many directions, sometimes I just have to link to other blogs, other stories, and try to bring this all into a focus so that my readers can grasp the shape, size, scope, depth and dynamics of what is wrong and what needs to be changed to fix it.
As we all know by now, Robert O’Keefe has quite his position as Director of Tribal Social Services, and his wife has quite as one of the only qualified/licensed Social Workers… O’Keefe being still wet behind the ears (old ears that they were) when he took the position fresh off graduating from the required courses, with no previous work in Social Services anywhere at any level, that I could find. I could be wrong, but he was clearly unfit for the position, incapable of identifying the problem, as you will see if you read his whine in the Jamestown Sun, last Friday.
He did not file a single Mandated Report the entire time he had the position. That despite the epidemic of child rapes, rapes, domestic assaults, assaults upon children that are commonly known to happen on the rez, every single day.
It was not until he was walking out the door that he decided to finally act and remove several children from the homes they had been placed in, which were illegal placements because of the registered sex offenders that were in those homes. Level Three Sex Offenders, mind you.
Removed some of those children, but not all, and filed not a single charge against any of the offenders, leading to absolutely zero arrests for those offenders.
His take on what is ‘wrong’ in Spirit Lake Nation is not that the children are being raped, assaulted, placed in extremely dangerous homes, being murdered, nor the corruption that has encouraged these abusive placements, nor the lack of oversight or review by the BIA, which continues to be headed by an abusive man, using his position to harass, settle scores with people who have dared to speak up against rape, child rape, and corruption.
Nor does he see the problem as the lack of justice, nor the horrendous libel, slander, threats and harassment that those who work in Social Services have endured because they dared to file Mandated Reports, or speak out against the abusive placements, and the threats to the children’s safety. Even though some of those children have been killed because of the lack of response.
No, his take is that it is hard to recruit people to work on the rez because of ‘dead babies’, essentially.
“I came out here to kind of catch up the social services, clean up some of the areas that hadn’t been taken care of so well, and found out that staff is kind of the No. 1 problem,” he said Friday. (quoting article in the Jamestown Sun, also run by the same consortium that runs the Fargo Forum, Grand Forks Herald, and some of the TV stations out there.)
I wonder what ‘areas’ those were? The safety of the children was never an urgent point of consideration for him, so what was? His next statement took my breath away:
Public scrutiny the tribe has faced after the death of several children is a big reason why social workers aren’t showing interest, O’Keefe said. “You don’t want some little mistake to be caught, and when that happens then the council also gets a little bit concerned.”
“Public Scrutiny” is the problem, not the children being illegally placed with Sex Offenders and violent persons. I wish I knew what qualified as “some little mistake…” in his book. The “little mistakes” that lead to children being raped and murdered? How are those ‘little mistakes’?
So, the problem is not the corruption, not the abuse, not the rapes… but people ‘knowing’ about the corruption, the abuse, the rapes, and oh yes, those darn dead babies!
The problem is not qualified people in the field being aware of the extreme abuse and harassment, smear tactics, threats, harassments used against those who actually DO their job and file the reports, and speak out…. It’s those darn dead babies and other ‘little mistakes’ that just get all blown out of proportion. ???
How far up his ass does O’Keefe have his head that he can even make a statement of that level of ignorance?
His inability to perceive the obvious core problem that leads to the rapes, abuse, assaults and murders of these children, is mind numbing.
But, it is right in line with how Tim Purdon, the entire USAG Administration, the BIA, HHS, HIS, and the ACF and others want to see the issue presented to the public: As a problem of ‘technicalities, bad publicity, and too much scrutiny’.
They want to pour more money directly into the hands and pockets of those same corrupt and inept people. They don’t want to hold the corrupt criminally responsible, nor even accountable on any level. They don’t want to fix the problem or make it safer for the children. They just want you to stop looking, stop asking, stop demanding changes for the safety of the children.
If they fix the corruption, bring Justice to the Rez for these crimes committed against these children and right the wrongs being done to the good families that are being harassed and retaliated against for speaking up on behalf of the children, the problems will start to diminish.
When they treat the corruption and abuse as ‘crimes’ rather than as ‘technical issues’, it will make a world of difference on the rez. AND, it will cost taxpayers millions less to do it.
For those in government, including the Senators who are doing this really stupid dance that goes as far away from the problem, not even looking at the crimes being committed against the children and the taxpayers, the idea of actually fixing this problem, stopping these crimes, is somehow abhorrent to them.
They want to continue to pour even millions more into those same pockets with absolutely no corrections being made, except to stop the reporting of crimes against children.
The fact that Thomas Sullivan has had to fight everyone in his agency, right up to the very top, because they refuse to act according to law, to the Mandated Reports, is a signal to all of us that the problems in Spirit Lake Nation, go all the way to the very top of at least one branch of government, possibly all three.
This corruption, these abuses, these rapes of women and children would not be possible at this magnitude if not for several agencies and departments, conspiring to protect the abusers at the cost of the children, at the cost of taxpayers, at the cost to all of us on our safety and security.
Billions of Tax Dollars, BILLIONS, goes into the toilet that is the system that governs Indian Country. The children are living in a snake pit, and the government and officials and administrators from agencies and foundations, are wallowing in piles of money generated both from the crimes committed against these children and the faux programs created to pretend to do something about it.
It keeps getting worse. And it will. For all of us: Those living on the rez, those living nearby, those living far away--- until the obvious, festering, reeking, open sore of Injustice is addressed head-on, with consequences to the criminals, who have been, up until now, protected by every level of government from Tribal to Federal, at our expense.
It should be noted that the Tribe has replaced the incompetent, oblivious O’Keefe with Melissa (Merrick) Brady, who has no business running any agency or department. Not the Victims’ Assistant Program, which I am told she raids the credit cards intended to assist victims of abuse to survive, as her personal cash reserve “I was a victim too, so I qualify to use these cards”, and her inability to control staff in that department, allowing Monique, who had an affair with Bentley GreyBear (and a child by him) to retaliate against his wife when she sought assistance after a particularly brutal beating and rape by him upon her. I guess Melissa needed the financial assistance for herself instead. You know, “shopping therapy” or whatever she does with those cards.
Yes, that is the woman they have now put in charge of Tribal Social Services, where she can access even more funds, with no fear that anything she steals will ever cost her a day in court, much less jail. And, no matter how many children are raped and beaten, she will never have to file a single Mandated Report, nor will she be held accountable for ignoring the warnings.
Things can, as you can see, only get worse and worse for the children and the women on Spirit Lake Rez. The obvious cause is corruption, illegal placements, but let’s just get on the news and say that it’s those ‘little mistakes’ that make the agency look bad. Mistakes like leaving children in the hands of abusers, retaliating against those who try to protect the children, stealing the funds from those children, and… oh yeah, placing the children in homes where there is so much violence and sexual abuse that they end up murdered. “Little Mistakes”, some as young as 6 months old, others barely starting school.
Until there is Justice and the corrupt and the abusers are held accountable, we all pay. We pay now, and we pay down the road, with more violence, more drugs, more addictions, draining our security and tax dollars, while only getting worse.
We need everyone to continue to ‘scrutinize’ what is happening on this rez and make it known that we are looking and that we want real action. Let those who make these ignorant, outrageous statements that ‘scrutiny’ is the problem, know that we KNOW what the source of the poison, the problem, the abuses are out there and that we demand those who are the poison be treated as criminals.
It will be easier to hire qualified people to work on the rez when they see that Justice exists, and that their integrity will not be the cause for their being harassed, threatened, intimidated, or ridiculed.
There is too much history, documented, of people who did do their jobs being abused by our government for it. There is too much documentation out there proving that the Abusers and the Pedophiles have been protected by the very same people that are threatening, harassing, intimidating, libeling and slandering the very people who are doing their job.
You want qualified people to work out there? Show them that you back up, support, those who have done their jobs. Show them that you will act on Mandated Reports. Show them that you will criminally investigate and prosecute those who are reported.
Don’t blame it on “little mistakes” that lead to dead babies.
We all see the message that has been sent, loud and clear by the Tribal Council, Tribal Chair, State, Federal governments and the agencies and foundations that are supposed to be the defenders of the helpless. It’s time to change that message from supporting the corruption, minimizing the crimes, to proactively and directly pursuing JUSTICE.
While you’re at it, there’s a few murders that need to be looked into…
When there is Justice, there will be healing and there will be Peace and Prosperity.
Until then, we have a snake pit. We have seen only gross miscarriages of Justice, from the Murder of Eddie Peltier, to the murder of Children… and there will be more murdered children.
Getting away with murder makes it easy to get away with rape, child rape, embezzlement, corruption of every sort. Bringing Justice to the rez, proving to the Good People of Spirit Lake Nation that they are entitled to equal protection under the law as anyone else in the country, will do more to end the cycle of violence, corruption and rape than all the tax dollars you can throw into the abyss of a system run by the corrupt, the rapists, the Human Traffickers.
Where they can, they will label them as “SIDS” or “Natural Causes” or “Suicides”, but they are all murders, and those responsible are being paid by our taxes, to cover it up, protect the rapists, protect the murderers.
Tim Purdon didn’t dare charge Baby Laurynn’s murder as a murder when he prosecuted the Tomahawk Woman. If he had, he would have had to hold himself accountable as an accessory for having ignored the reports that stated she was in a violent, dangerous home with a serial offender, and even ridiculed the man who issued the report, as well as he lied about having ‘investigated all of those reports and found many of the cases to be untrue…’
And then the baby girl was murdered… and he was by definition an accessory before the fact… and should have been put on trial with the woman who committed the murder, so, he charged her on a lesser offense and patted himself on the back as a hero.
We need people who will treat crimes and injustice as offenses against We The People. Not as a joke. Not as ‘some small mistake’.
Human Wreckage is only recognized when those so destroyed they look like ‘others’ and we can no longer identify them as one of our own, break the law. What we need to see is they are created by the laws broken against them, again, again, again, until they are too blistered, too welted, too bruised, too abandoned to cry. Crying is ridiculed. Speaking out is ridiculed. Filing Mandated Reports is seen as an ‘attack on the system’.
It will serve us all well to recognize that the problem is not ‘too much scrutiny’, but rather TOO MUCH CORRUPTION. Once we face the real source of evil, we can begin to correct it.
It will serve those who are supposed to be serving the public, much better if they address the problem directly, rather than blaming those who do.
Laws are being broken, and those who break those laws are being protected by the very people who should be investigating and criminally charging them. That has to stop.
Additional Reading:
Anything on the http://caicw.org site. They are currently moving to a new web host, but when it is up and running with all the links again, you will find some valuable reading material.
http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/content/forum-discusses-sexual-exploitation-sex-trafficking-bemidji-area Article has some great points, but again, misses the boat entirely when they talk about the violence to women on the rez coming primarily from non-native offenders. The reason the stats all show that native women are attacked primarily by non-native attackers is because the BIA, DOJ, IHS, HHS and the FBI refuse to take reports of rapes/assaults committed against Indian Women by members of their own tribe, but commonly known on every reservation that most of the attacks are not only perpetrated by members of the tribe, but by members of the victims’ own families. Other than that, the article is very well done.
Note: By failing to take reports of abuse, those cases are never investigated, perpetrators allowed to repeat offend, and the statistics remain invisible and government loves statistics that tell the story the way they want to tell it. They don’t want it to be known how dangerous and destructive the violence, stranger, acquaintance, domestic/familial has become in Indian Country.
Many of the perpetrators are connected to politically powerful families that are well-connected to politicians on up the food chain, all the way to the White House. They remain protected because of their connections, reinforced by billions of unaudited dollars stolen from programs and then used to buy favors from politicians to get more funding, lobby against the best interests of the tribe as a whole, for the financial benefit of a few, who then reinforce those political ties with donations and fund raising among other wealthy, influential ‘brokers’. The cycle must be broken if anything is going to change, and the politicians need to show where every dime comes from that goes into their campaigns, foundations and ‘charities’, etc.
From a Reader who sent me links and data:
Exactly. All about the programs and the adults. They never tell the stories about how the kids end up where they are. When they get close, they blame it on the white man and historic trauma. I used to go along with this theory. Now I just say that is a load of crap. The continuing cycle of drinking, drugs and sexual abuse, all allowed because the "leaders" want control of the people to exploit the other natural resources. The kids were the key to all of this.
Did you see this article (attached)? It sums it up nicely. It really comes down to congress creating law(s) to absolve themselves from their real responsibility to protect U.S. citizens. That and the parents who are just products of the same continuing cycle of self-destruction.
The new cry is that you can't punish the adult no matter what they do. The hell with what happens to the kids. They salivate over the thought of another program, which is doublespeak for dollars to plunder and new jobs.
Leech Lake just signed an agreement to simulcast horse racing on the rez, "to fatten the purses for the racing corp." The tribal chairman was quoted as saying there is a big demand for this in northern MN. Really? A big demand for horse racing in a poverty stricken community that can't manage to provide decent food or clothing for its citizens. The money flows in from tax payers and then immediately flows back to the mafia. That's what all of this is really about.
I could not have said it better myself. That reader tracks events on SLN, Leech Lake, and a few other reservations. The story is the same, and worse in those places. So think about it: We can fix the problems on Spirit Lake by demanding Justice for the People and not accepting laws that leave the Good People of Spirit Lake with even less protection, even more at the mercy of the corrupt, the rapists, the abusers and the murderers.
Fix it in that one place, and it can be fixed everywhere else where the poison of corruption is present. Drain the poison from Spirit Lake Nation, and it will drain from every reservation, and we can begin to see real change in our nation in the years and decades to come.
We will see our tax dollars more wisely spent, and people who steal will find at long last, there are consequences. Those who protect those who abuse and who steal, who rape and who murder, will find that they too, must answer to someone… all of us who are watching.
We are that unbearable scrutiny that makes it hard for corrupt Spirit Lake Tribal politics to hire people into Tribal Social Services, only to abuse, harass, threaten and intimidate them if they try to do their job.
Bring Justice to the rez, and you will find some of the most dedicated, gifted, hard-working people in Social Services racing to get in and do the work of protecting the children, mending the broken spirits, broken lives and battered hearts.
Until there is Justice, and those who work there are protected when they do their work the right way, there is no protection for the children, and they remain at the mercy of the cruelty, greed and sexual perversions of a handful of powerful people connected to the rez by blood or money.
As long as the corrupt are protected, none of us are safe. Not now, not ever.
You know where to find me.
~Cat