Alaska -- Boys abused in foster care sue state, They witnessed anotherchild being beaten to death.

Boys abused in foster care sue state

TRIAL BEGINS: They witnessed another child being beaten to death.

By LISA DEMER

ldemer@adn.com | ldemer@adn.com

Published: January 11th, 2008 12:11 AM

Last Modified: January 11th, 2008 05:21 AM

The two boys were born into families messed up by drinking and drug

abuse, by violence and neglect.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/261415.html

Then the state agency that is supposed to protect children put the boys

with a foster mother who routinely hit and tormented them and things

only got worse. Before it was over, the foster mother beat another boy

to death in front of them.

Now the state of Alaska is on trial, defending itself against charges it

repeatedly failed A.J. and D.D., children in state custody whose lives

intersected during the horrific months they spent in the Anchorage

foster home of Melissa and Douglas Falgoust.

Advocates for the boys, now 17 and 18 and still in state custody, are

asking jurors to award them $10 million each to repair their broken

lives. Their lawyers say they are so damaged by years of mistreatment

that they can't live on their own or even hold a job in a pizza joint.

The disturbing story started unfolding Thursday in Anchorage Superior

Court. Lawyers gave opening statements and the first witnesses were

called: A.J.'s second-grade teacher, and one of the two boys, D.D., who

was brought to Anchorage from his group home in Fairbanks to testify.

Because the boys have been abused, and because their lawyers say seeing

their names in the newspaper would excessively traumatize them, the

Daily News is using initials instead of names for this story.

"We're suing the state of Alaska because it failed to protect these

children. It failed to follow its own regulations and policies when it

was required to do so," Christine Schleuss, an attorney for the boys,

told the jury. Many of the jurors, picked over three days from a pool of

dozens, are parents.

THE STATE'S DEFENSE

The state's defense boils down to this: It didn't know the whole story

and wasn't alone in making decisions. It relied on many others,

including therapists, case managers with a nonprofit agency, and

advocates known as guardians ad litem, Gail Voigtlander, an assistant

attorney general, told jurors.

"The evidence will show that OCS's decisions were reasonable and

appropriate given the information that they had at the time and their

objective, as well, of finding permanent placements," Voigtlander said.

The state had no idea how conniving the Falgousts were, or that Melissa

assaulted her husband with a baseball bat not long before she killed her

foster son, Steven Murray, in July 1999, Voigtlander said.

"Even when they did terrible things, they knew how to work the system

and cover their tracks so they didn't get caught," she said.

Melissa Falgoust, now 42, was convicted in 2001 of manslaughter. She

served more than 6 1/2 years and is out of prison on probation.

This is an unusual public trial that may open a window into what was so

wrong with the Division of Family and Youth Services, apparently for so

long.

DFYS now is called the Office of Children's Services, or OCS, but its

duties are still the same, and so are the complaints that it either does

too little to protect kids or is too zealous and rips families apart.

Schleuss went through the boys' sad history with jurors. A.J. was only 6

months old when his father stabbed his mother multiple times and went to

prison. His grandmother, who had a drinking problem, was supposed to

take care of him. But she liked him to stay outside while she partied,

no matter the weather, Schleuss said.

At age 6, A.J. was suicidal and hospitalized, where he revealed one of

his grandmother's friends had molested him. DFYS never investigated

that, Schleuss said. The state only took custody when the grandmother

said she didn't want him anymore, a month after his seventh birthday.

As a second-grader at Lake Otis Elementary, he had behavior problems but

flourished at school, his teacher, Kristina Peterson, told jurors. Once,

he was scared to go home because his shirt tail got a little wet when he

went to the bathroom. He told her that Melissa Falgoust would make him

eat baby food and crawl on his knees like a baby until they bled. The

teacher made a report to DFYS. The state left him in Falgoust's home.

D.D. was born cocaine positive and taken from his mother. Over the years

he bounced back and forth between his mother and foster care.

D.D. is a young man now. His dark hair is cut close and he has a

mustache. His voice was almost a monotone.

His mother drank and did drugs and hit him, he testified. If he and his

little brother asked for food, she would ignore them or tell them to

play video games. Then she sold the game system for drugs and alcohol,

he said.

He was maybe 7 when the state put him in the Falgoust foster home.

'THINGS GOT A LITTLE CRAZY'

At first, the woman he called Melissa was nice, he said.

"Then things got a little crazy." She hit him a lot, he said. She made

the boys exercise "more than you would imagine," 2,000 jumping jacks,

and if they quit, she would grab their arms or hit them, he said.

She put alarms on the boys' rooms and if they tried to get out to go to

the bathroom, she would make them "do lines," writing pages and pages

for punishment.

One time, he didn't want to do lines so when he wet the bed he hid his

soaked underwear. But she numbered their underwear so she knew it was

missing.

"She got really mad and ended up choking me, putting me against the

wall," D.D. said.

As for Douglas Falgoust, he sometimes just sat there when the boys were

being hurt and sometimes got hit himself, D.D. said.

Steven Murray, the boy Melissa Falgoust killed, was treated the worst,

D.D. told jurors, because she figured he'd never go back to his "real

family."

Once Steven ran away and told police Melissa beat him. Schleuss showed

jurors pictures that police took of his bottom with belt marks on it.

But DFYS and others believed Melissa when she said Steven hurt himself.

The day Steven was killed, Melissa told D.D. to put on boxing gloves and

hit him, the boy said. Steven wasn't doing exercises like she wanted.

But D.D. couldn't hit him hard enough, he said, so Melissa took over,

hitting and slamming him against the wall until he went into seizures.

D.D. still has nightmares. He thought it was his fault Steven got killed.

Another defendant in the trial is Alternatives Community Mental Health

Center Inc., which provided a case manager as well as workers called

activity therapists to socialize the boys. The state is suing Alternatives.

Alternatives lawyer Bill Ingaldson said the agency, now called Denali

Family Services, did nothing wrong. The boys already were disturbed and

suffered from an attachment disorder before Alternatives got involved,

Ingaldson told the jury.

The boys have settled their claims with the Falgousts, he told jurors.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.

CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A

DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL

SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS....

CPS Does not protect children...

It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even

killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from

connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US

These numbers come from The National Center on

Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)

Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

Perpetrators of Maltreatment

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59

Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13

Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241

Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12

Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that

are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per

100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse

and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the

citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold

parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY

government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and

death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more

human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which

they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that

they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when

children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a

bunch of social workers.

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT

FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF

REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES

TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY

ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...

"fx" <fx@starband.net> wrote in message

news:ad105$478857c2$944e2002$31033@STARBAND.NET...

> Boys abused in foster care sue state

>

> TRIAL BEGINS: They witnessed another child being beaten to death.

>

> By LISA DEMER

> ldemer@adn.com | ldemer@adn.com

>

> Published: January 11th, 2008 12:11 AM

> Last Modified: January 11th, 2008 05:21 AM

>

> The two boys were born into families messed up by drinking and drug abuse,

> by violence and neglect.

>

> http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/261415.html

>

> Then the state agency that is supposed to protect children put the boys

> with a foster mother who routinely hit and tormented them and things only

> got worse. Before it was over, the foster mother beat another boy to death

> in front of them.

>

> Now the state of Alaska is on trial, defending itself against charges it

> repeatedly failed A.J. and D.D., children in state custody whose lives

> intersected during the horrific months they spent in the Anchorage foster

> home of Melissa and Douglas Falgoust.

>

> Advocates for the boys, now 17 and 18 and still in state custody, are

> asking jurors to award them $10 million each to repair their broken lives.

> Their lawyers say they are so damaged by years of mistreatment that they

> can't live on their own or even hold a job in a pizza joint.

>

If they are THAT damaged, then how will they funcion with 10 million

dollars? Look at what happened to Britney Spears. No, if thye are unable to

function in society due to their abusive pasts, then they should be

institutionalized so they may be cared for.