Judge: Patronage led to Philly neglect death

Source: AP

PHILADELPHIA - Political patronage contributed to the starvation death of a disabled Philadelphia girl under the city's watch, a federal judge said Thursday in sentencing a social-services contractor to 171/2 years in prison.
(snip)
Company workers assigned to the chaotic home where 14-year-old Danieal Kelly was wasting away in a wheelchair were supposed to ensure she and her siblings had proper housing, schooling and medical care.

But after 10 months of supposed twice-weekly visits, Danieal, who had cerebral palsy, was still not enrolled in school and had not been seen by a doctor. By the time she died in the sweltering home in August 2006, she weighed 42 pounds and had maggot-infested bedsores.
(snip)
Even after Danieal died, the judge said Thursday, Kamuvaka visited an ally at City Hall, a DHS program director, in an effort to keep and even extend the $3.7 million, multiyear contract.

Read more: http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/StoryAP/06-11-2010-StarvationDeath-Charges

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So sad...

I work with the developmentally and physically disabled and it's a travesty that this kind of crap still goes on today. Those monsters need to be put away for life....not just the contractor but the supposed care givers. This makes my blood boil.

government. Here's a company that took over what most state departments of human services or children's services do. Social workers don't make great salaries and I just can't understand why it would save the state money.

why do I say tax payer/consumer? Because as consumers of such services we tax payers pay more. Since that service has been privatized, have tax payers received a tax break? Probably not. They allocate that money to other things...

We pay double, maybe even triple since this causes problems that need to be fixed with more tax payer money.

It is a matter of someone that cares.

I have seen many cases where the social workers don't get to the homes for months on end. I am not a fan of Child Abductive Services at either the county or state level. Granted that anecdotal information is only singe stories, they present trends I cannot condone. I have personally witnessed cases where children should have been taken but were not, and others where innocent parents went through hell to get their kids back. Rather than bureaucrats taking the kids, I would rather judges make the decisions. Even that is no guarantee, witness the case of http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2742873/lemkau_sacrificed_baby_wyatt_to_psycho.html in Victorville CA recently.

I simply takes someone who is only making the motions, not doing the work.

never the clients.

and make them small enought to drown in a bathtub. Government IS NOT the problem. Ignorant republicans are the problem.

That Gulf of Mexico is a BIG bathtub.

RIP Danieal Kelly.

why is anyone surprised?

shameful...

Source: Associated Press

Philadelphia social workers get prison terms in death of teenager by starvation
Saturday, June 12, 2010

Social workers get prison for girl's death


A Philadelphia caseworker was sentenced Friday to 11 years in prison for failing to visit a disabled teenager who starved to death while under her mother's care.

U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell handed down the sentence to Julius Juma Murray, 52. He also sentenced Mariam Coulibaly, 41, another employee of a social services contractor, to 11 years in prison for fraud and obstruction, saying that the case reminded him of the "banality of evil" seen in Europe during the Holocaust.

The social workers routinely skipped home visits to Philadelphia's most troubled families, leading to the slow, painful death of Danieal Kelly, 14.

The girl was one of eight children being raised by her mother in a squalid two-bedroom home. By the time Danieal died in August 2006, she weighed 42 pounds and had not been to school or seen a doctor in the previous 10 months, despite being on the city's radar.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/11/AR2010061106264.html?wprss=rss_world

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20100612_Final_2_defendants_given_long_terms_in_Danieal_Kelly_case.html#axzz0qcah07Xd

"The scheme lasted 6 1/2 years and cost the city $3.6 million. MultiEthnic originally assured the city that the money would go to the 500 families who needed the extra support, according to the case's sentencing memo.

Kelly's mother, Andrea, was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in state prison after pleading guilty last year to third-degree murder and child endangerment.

Another manager at MultiEthnic, Solomon Manamela, was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in jail."

I wondered if the mother got jail time

:grr: