CHRISTIANA GLENN - 8 yo/ Accused: Venette Ovilde (Mother) and Myriam Janvier - Irvington NJ

Police Discover Dead 8-Year-Old In NJ Mom's Home

By PIX11 NEWSROOM pix11.com

May 23, 2011


IRVINGTON, NJ (PIX11) -- Police arrested a New Jersey mom and her friend Sunday afternoon after they called 9-1-1 to report a child not breathing; leading officers to the discovery of a horrendous case of alleged child abuse, authorities announced Monday.

Venette Ovilde, 30, is under arrest on charges of aggravated manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child after police found her deceased 8-year-old daughter in the 706 Chancellor Ave. home. The girl was severely malnourished and suffering from an untreated fracture of the femur, according to police.

They also found two siblings, a 7-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, suffering from fractures and other physical injuries. Both children are being held at an area hospital for observation.

None of the children were registered in New Jersey schools, according to officials. Ovilde is from Haiti, and police are reportedly investigating possible religious reasons for the abuse.

Police also arrested a friend and roommate of Ovilde, 23-year-old Myriam Janvier, who is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Janvier’s role in the alleged abuse case is not completely clear.

A police investigation is ongoing.

NJ mom accused of starving child pleads not guilty

By SAMANTHA HENRY, Associated Press

– June 1, 2011

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two women pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of child endangerment a week after an 8-year-old was found dead in their apartment from severe malnutrition and an untreated broken leg and her injured and emaciated siblings were removed alive.

The children's 30-year-old mother, Venette Ovilde, stared blankly and answered a judge's questions in a barely audible whisper as she entered her plea through a court-appointed attorney. She remains held on $500,000 bail on aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment charges.

Her 23-year-old roommate, Myriam Janvier, also pleaded not guilty through a court-appointed attorney to child endangerment charges. Her bail was continued at $100,000.

Christiana Glenn died May 22 from severe malnutrition and a fractured femur that authorities said had never been treated. Her 7-year-old sister and 6-year-old brother remained hospitalized for treatment of malnutrition and other injuries after being removed from Ovilde's Irvington apartment.

The children were discovered after the police were called to the home on a report of a child not breathing.

The women, who were both born in Haiti but came to the U.S. at a young age, radically altered their lifestyles about two years ago when they came under the sway of a man they described as their religious leader, according to friends and acquaintances.

They started dressing in head-to-toe white clothing and white headdresses, dressed the children all in white, removed all their furniture and belongings and piled them in a heap on the front sidewalk, and covered the floors and doorways of the apartment with white material, according to landlord William Weathers. He often heard loud chanting or prayers in Creole and French coming from the apartment, he said.

The children, once friendly and rambunctious, stopped interacting with family and neighbors and were not attending school. Ovilde legally changed her name to Krisla Rezireksyon Kris and changed the children's last names to Rezireksyon, after their leader, said Weathers and authorities. Rezireksyon was the name she used in court Wednesday.

The women frequently fasted and restricted the children's food intake to the point that friends, such as Chanel Fields, the daughter of Christiana's godmother, became alarmed at how thin they had become.

"The children weren't allowed to swallow their own spit. They'd spit in napkins or tissues or on the ground," Fields said. "They said it was because they were fasting."

Fields said her family, who had adored Christiana and sometimes cared for her, was heartbroken over her death.

"She exuded joy," Fields said. "From day one, she was a sweet, compassionate, caring child, always sharing with her siblings. She was a smart little girl, and such a good baby."

Fields and her mother, Mary McCoy, became alarmed at the children's condition, and McCoy said she unsuccessfully petitioned the courts to take custody of Christiana.

McCoy said she first met Ovilde at church when she was pregnant with Christiana.

Describing Ovilde as a young, inexperienced single woman frightened by impending motherhood, McCoy said she and her husband took her under their wing, often caring for Christiana or her siblings for weeks at a time and lavishing them with gifts, a trip to Disney World and pony rides. When Ovilde left their church and McCoy started pressing her about the children's declining health, Ovilde cut off contact.

"I wish I had been a little more aggressive," McCoy said. "I wish I could have disobeyed the judge or the family and done something for Christiana."

Assistant Essex County Prosecutor William Neafsey said the children had suffered extreme disciplinary measures in Ovilde's home, such as being chained to a radiator, if they didn't comply with their religious studies.

"It's a very sad case," Neafsey said. "There's still a lot of work to be done, and it'll be ongoing.

"New Jersey's Department of Children and Families received two calls about the family in 2006 and two more in 2008. There were allegations of neglect and abuse, including that Ovilde beat Christiana for wetting the bed and left all three children unattended.

All four instances were determined to be unfounded and the family's file was closed on May 1, 2008. Family and acquaintances who described Ovilde's religious conversion said it started taking place around 2009.

Both DCF and Judith Meltzer, the federally appointed monitor for the agency, say they are investigating. Meltzer has said she plans to explore whether it was appropriate for the department to close the file.


http://www.hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iQ11QVjN9EZ3HdwuRLD-Io55z0hA?docId=d14b6ef6164847478dc7492b4b5a688e

"I wish I had been a little more aggressive," McCoy said. "I wish I could have disobeyed the judge or the family and done something for Christiana."

I wish you could've, too.

They would have arrested her like they did the grandparents who ran away with their grand kids after a sorry ass judge awarded the jailbird mother custody after the GPs had raised the kids. It was posted on Saturday's main blog.

I think these mothers want the state aid and ITC that comes with having these poor children, but they don't want the children.

They just want their men.

If these judges were held accountable for their poor, un-thought out decisions it would vastly improve these situations. Most of the time the media doesn't even identify them so the voters are not aware of their incompetence.

Why did the cops not do anything on their visits when they were called due to violence against Sophia? Why did DCF "investigate" several times and find the home situation suitable?

Our children keep dying horrible deaths and much of it is due to the lack of due diligence of state agencies.

Of course, the ultimate responsibility lies with the POS parents and often, too often, their POS BFs.

I think the names and addys of all the people responsible for these children being in these dangerous environments should be published. They might think twice before making piss poor decisions. Actually, many of their reports aren't poor decisions, they are down right lies, fabricated to make it seem like they are doing their jobs when they are not.

Describing Ovilde as a young, inexperienced single woman frightened
by impending motherhood, McCoy said she and her husband took her under
their wing, often caring for Christiana or her siblings for weeks at a
time and lavishing them with gifts, a trip to Disney World and pony
rides. When Ovilde left their church and McCoy started pressing her
about the children's declining health, Ovilde cut off contact.

This has nothing to do with being young and/or inexperienced. Even animals instinctively know how to nurture their young.

This has to do with a POS parent who wanted custody of the children in order to receive state aid, food stamps and ITC to support sorry ass men who won't work.

They don't deserve children and this judge should lose his job. I'll bet money it's not the first time he has been responsible for a dead child.

JMO.

Four times between March 2006 and April 2008, anonymous tipsters
called the state child abuse hotline to report that a woman in their
Irvington neighborhood was screaming at her three children and beating
them with a belt.

Each time, the Division of Youth and Family Services investigated,
found no injuries or harm and deemed the abuse and neglect allegations
against Venette Ovilde "unfounded," closing the family’s file for the
last time on May 1, 2008.

Now Ovilde’s oldest child, 8-year-old Christiana Glenn, is dead from an
untreated broken leg and malnutrition. Ovilde, 29, is sitting in jail.
And child welfare veterans and advocates are questioning whether
investigators missed any clues that could have foretold the family was
headed for tragedy.

Police have charged Ovilde with aggravated manslaughter and child
endangerment in the death of her daughter, whose body was found inside
the family apartment on May 22. Police say she deprived Christiana and
her surviving son and daughter of food and medical care. Ovilde’s
roommate, Myriam Janvier, 23, is also facing child endangerment charges.

The other children, 7-year-old Christina and 6-year-old Solomon, are at University Hospital in Newark.

The handling of the case is undergoing separate evaluations by
Allison Blake, commissioner for DYFS’ parent agency, the Department of
Children and Families, and Judith Meltzer, a national child welfare
expert appointed by a federal judge to supervise an 8-year-old overhaul
of DYFS functions. Both declined to comment for this story.

'UNFOUNDED' COMPLAINTS'
But at least two child welfare veterans say Blake and Meltzer also
should examine what the agency means when it calls a complaint
"unfounded" and how the agency should deal with a family that has more
than one "unfounded" complaint.

"To me, ‘unfounded’ means nothing happened," said Cecilia Zalkind,
executive director of the Advocates for Children of New Jersey, a family
policy and advocacy group. "There needs to be an examination of how
investigations are conducted. These were very serious allegations of
abuse."

According to a confidential document obtained by The Star-Ledger,
anonymous tipsters claimed they could hear Christiana’s mother beating
her and her younger brother and sister with a belt on numerous
occasions. One caller said she left the children alone to visit a
boyfriend.

DYFS changed the meaning of the term "unfounded" in 2004, when the
agency was undergoing a top-to-bottom overhaul to settle a class-action
lawsuit over the agency’s poor supervision of foster children.

Before 2004, investigators could deem a complaint "substantiated,"
"unsubstantiated with concerns" or "unfounded." DYFS eliminated the
"unsubstantiated" category out of concern that investigators were not
trying hard enough to gather the facts.

"Many of these unsubstantiated cases should have been substantiated
and weren’t. (Investigators) were sitting on the fence," said Susan
Lambiase, associate director of Children’s Rights, the national advocacy
group whose lawsuit led to DYFS’ court-supervised reform. The state
made the right call, she said.

DUAL MEANINGS

The term "unfounded" now can mean one of two things: There was no
evidence the abuse happened, or there was some evidence but not enough
to make a finding of abuse or neglect.

Christiana’s case suggests the dual meaning isn’t serving children
well, said Jesse Moskowitz, who was DYFS’ in-house counsel and assistant
director from 1989 to 1993.

The department "changed the common and legal definition to one which
embraced not only false or erroneous allegations, but those in which it
was clear there was some reason for concern, but the investigator, due
to time or witness or other constraints, including skill levels and
caseload pressures, was unable to substantiate," he said.

Moskowitz recalled a case in 2009, when 9-year-old Jamarr Cruz of
Camden died from a beating delivered by his mother’s boyfriend who had a
history of physically abusing a child. Two months earlier, DYFS had
investigated an abuse complaint against him and declared it to be
unfounded.

"If there is any chance that the confusion between the plain meaning
of words, and the tortured technical meaning applied by DYFS led to
misunderstanding, case closing and to Christiana’s death, the law and
policy must be changed," Moskowitz said.
New Jersey is like most states that use only two categories to
identify whether a child abuse claim was proved, said Linda Spears,
public policy director for the Child Welfare League of America, a
research and lobbying organization.

More important than the terms is how a caseworker uses the
information each time a new complaint arises, Spears said. It’s up to
the caseworker to go beyond a case’s final determination and delve into
the file to find out what was happening in the home. "I would want to
know what were the allegations last time and the seriousness of them,
and what level of risk did you identify last time?’’

The thoroughness of these prior investigations is what the court
monitor will evaluate, Lambiase said. It’s too early to judge DYFS,
especially because the agency had no contact with the family for three
years, she added.

The results of the monitor’s review should be made public, Lambiase said, so the system is accountable to the public.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/irvington_girls_death_calls_in.html

The results of the monitor’s review should be made public, Lambiase said, so the system is accountable to the public.

Tom, that's exactly what I said about another child murdered by his mother.

I think if the names of the incompetent workers were made public AND they were held accountable for their actions, non-actions, falsified reports, etc it would cut down on the number of child murders and abuses.

In many of these cases, the judge is at fault.

Thanks Tom. I think the explanations in that article were enlightening.

Siblings of 8-year-old Irvington girl who died say they were beaten, tied to radiator, starved

Published: Sunday, June 05, 2011


Courtesy of the familyCopy
photo from 2008 of Christiana Glenn, the 8-year-old Irvington girl who
died of an untreated broken femur and malnourishment.


IRVINGTON — From their beds at a Newark hospital, the little boy and his sister described an existence defined by routine.

There were prayers four times a day.

There were beatings, some delivered with open hands, others with a cord, a stick or a block of wood.

Mornings and afternoons, they were tied to a radiator in a lightless pantry, the only toilet a bucket.

At night, they slept on the floor.

And always, there was hunger, so painful and profound they cried aloud for food.

Six-year-old Solomon Glenn and his 7-year-old sister, Christina, gave the account to child welfare workers May 24, two days after their older sister was found dead, a victim of the same wretched conditions that left all three children too brittle-boned and feeble to walk.

Their story, told for the first time in their own voices, is found in a court petition filed late last month by the state Division of Youth and Family Services.

The agency is seeking custody of Solomon and Christina from their mother, Venette Ovilde, charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of 8-year-old Christiana Glenn. A roommate, Myriam Janvier, is charged with child endangerment.

The document, reviewed by The Star-Ledger, amounts to a catalog of misery set against a backdrop of cultlike religious zealotry.

The petition details the children’s litany of injuries past and present, from scars to broken bones. It recounts the hours after police and paramedics arrived at the Irvington apartment, a scene so grim the responding medical examiner broke down in tears for the first time in his career.

It suggests Janvier played a larger role in the abuse than authorities have let on, allegedly taking part in the beatings.

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerKrisla
Rezireksyon Kris (Venette Ovilde), 29, left, and Myriam Janvier, 23,
made their first court appearances in connection with the death of an
8-year-old Irvington girl.


And it includes DYFS’ history with the family, raising new questions about the agency’s decision to close its case on Ovilde in 2008 after receiving four separate complaints over two years. In each instance, allegations of physical abuse and neglect were deemed unfounded.

To Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of the Newark-based group Advocates for Children of New Jersey, the DYFS investigations into
Ovilde were not nearly aggressive enough, given the nature and specificity of the complaints.

"These were serious allegations of physical abuse," said Zalkind, who was briefed on the petition’s contents. "It sounds like the DYFS worker went out, spoke to the mother, found no signs of visible abuse, and that was it. How else could it be unfounded? ... How many times does the division need to get a referral from the neighbors and not link them?"

A spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, DYFS’ parent agency, declined to address the document’s details.

DYFS officials previously have said they completed a medical history on everyone in the home, ordered Ovilde to undergo a psychiatric assessment and provided furniture for the family.

"Every allegation of child abuse and neglect is taken very seriously by the Division of Youth and Family Services and receives a thorough investigation and assessment," said the spokeswoman, Lauren Kidd. "Our investigation into this tragedy is ongoing."

Ovilde, 29, and Janvier, 23, pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday. They remain in the Essex County jail.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray declined to say if she will seek to add or upgrade the charges against Janvier based on the court petition’s allegations. She also declined to discuss whether her office will seek to charge the mysterious pastor who led Ovilde and Janvier in a tiny, self-styled religious sect he called "Walking With Christ."

Snip

Very lengthy article, but interesting.


http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/siblings_of_irvington_girl_who.html

More from the same article:

She was asked about her other children. Ovilde said they were at an
apartment on Elmora Avenue in Elizabeth — the apartment rented by
Rezireksyon Kris.

That was the second lie.

One of the emergency responders — whom the petition does not name — noticed a set of doors off the main room. An unclasped padlock hung from the handles. Ovilde, threatened with a court order, opened them.



Video of a neighbor describing Pastor Emanyel Rezireksyson Kris apartment
Tom Piotrowcz, who lives in the same apartment building as Pastor Emanyel
Rezireksyson Kris, describes the praying and other activities that take place
in the Elizabeth apartment. (video by John O'Boyle)
Watch video

Inside the small pantry, Solomon and Christina, "tiny and malnourished," lay next to an empty breadbox. Like their dead sister, they wore diapers and were dressed in white.

On the shelves, investigators found white plastic ties "that the mother was using to tie the children’s hands and legs up, to keep them in one place," the document states. To investigators, the ties explained the ligature marks on the children’s arms and ankles.

A yellow rope had been fastened to the pantry’s radiator. Ovilde told police she tethered the children to the radiator for their "safety."

Neither child could walk, according to the petition, and Solomon told investigators his neck hurt. He asked for bread.

Later, at the hospital, doctors would determine Solomon had a fractured arm, three broken toes and "old healed loop marks" on the backof his thighs.

Christina had a broken bone in her hand. Scars and dark marks, indicating previous beatings, were found on her back, buttocks and leg, the document states.

The apartment, without gas or electricity and swathed in white sheets and blankets, contained an altar and a poster board filled with writing in Creole. Among the words were "people" and "full moon," according to the petition.

DYFS employees and police found scant evidence of food: onions, flour, salt and rolls gone hard with age.

To the medical examiner who responded to the apartment, the children’s conditions were almost too much to bear.

In a phone conversation with a DYFS screener, the doctor became too emotional to continue.

"He noted that this was the first time he ever cried on a scene," the petition states.


She was willing to leave them in the apartment to die also.

Watchdog seeks information on DYFS, dead Irvington girl

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerKrisla
Rezireksyon Kris (Venette Ovilde), 29, left, and Myriam Janvier, 23,
made their first court appearances in connection with the death of an
8-year-old Irvington girl.


TRENTON — The court-appointed monitor for New Jersey’s child welfare agency called on the Christie administration Tuesday to release more details about the agency’s involvement with the family of an 8-year-old girl who died last month of malnutrition and untreated broken leg.

The court monitor as well as the group Advocates for Children also urged the state to determine why investigators for the Division of Youth and Family Services have confirmed far fewer abuse and neglect complaints since 2005.

DYFS investigated the mother of the dead girl, Christiana Glenn, four times from 2006 to 2008 based on accusations that she beat her three children and left them unsupervised, and each time determined the allegations were unfounded.

"Four unfounded complaints are a huge red flag," said Nancy Parello, a spokeswoman for the advocates’ organization, who wrote the report released today that examined trends in DYFS investigations. "If investigations were not properly conducted, the outcome might have been different for these kids."

Judith Meltzer of the Center for Study of Social Policy, a research organizations in Washington, D.C., said she agreed with many of the report’s findings and called on the department to be more forthcoming about its involvement with the family.

"They ought to provide information about when they saw the children, who else they talked to, what services they provided, and most importantly, the condition of the children and family when they last had contact in May 2008," said Meltzer, who was appointed to monitor DYFS operations after the state settled a class-action lawsuit in 2003. "The reason confidentiality laws exist is theoretically to protect the children and family, but in these cases that result in a child’s death, I think the compelling reasons for disclosure outweigh any potential downside."

A spokeswoman for Allison Blake, commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, which oversees DYFS, said she was reviewing the report and had no comment.

The godmother of Christiana Glenn, the 8-year-old Irvington child who died of malnutrition and an untreated injury, says she had strong suspicions the girl was in dangerously poor health. At her home today, Mary McCoy, with her husband Tommie and her daughter Chanell Fields, said she regretted not checking on Christiana Glenn before she died in her mother's care. Glenn's mother, Venette Ovilde, 29, has been charged with aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment in her daughter's death.

(Video by Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger)

Watch video

The department’s own data should compel DYFS to look more closely at a family with a history of unfounded complaints and track it every year, according to the report.

From 2004 to 2008, which includes the most recent data available, the number of children found to have been mistreated by parents cleared of a complaint six months earlier rose from 811 children in 2004 to 1,216 children – "an alarming 50 percent," according to the report.

What’s more, there might have been more confirmed cases of abuse had DYFS not changed how it classifies cases. The percentage of child abuse claims corraborated by DYFS investigators fell from 17 percent in 2005 to 10 percent in 2009, according to the report, since DYFS eliminated a category that had become a catch-all for investigators who suspected foul play but couldn’t prove it.

"It is possible that DYFS, community organizations and other state agencies are doing a better job preventing child abuse," the report said, " ... or it could be investigators are not uncovering enough evidence to prove abuse has occurred. The recent tragic death of 8-year-old Christiana Glenn calls attention to this issue."

New details have emerged about an unsuccessful attempt in 2009 by the girl’s godmother to get court-approved visitation rights.

Christiana, who was 6 at that time, told a court-appointed psychologist, Carla Foster, that her mother sometimes hit her with a belt and a brush, according to a court-ordered evaluation obtained by The Star-Ledger. Judge Siobhan A. Teare of the Essex County Family division later denied the godmother, Mary McCoy, visitation rights.

Foster wrote that Christiana looked her age and was a "friendly, outgoing youngster," noted that the girl’s mother would benefit from counseling, and suggested the state investigate the girl’s home-schooling situation. New Jersey law does not require parents to
notify the school district when they decide to home-school their children.

According to friends, family and neighbors, Christiana and her brother Solomon, 6, and her sister Christina, 7, were taught by Emanyel Rezireksyon Kris, a 37-year-old self-proclaimed pastor who shrouds himself in white and oversees the day-to-day lives of his followers.

The children’s mother, Venette Ovilde, 29, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment charges; her roommate, Myriam Janvier, 24, pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges.


http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/dyfs_monitor_asks_state_to_rel.html

Child endangerment is not enough. This woman needs to be charged with torturing this poor child to death. Since starvation doesn't occur overnight, it should be an aggravated charge.

The cult leader should also be arrested. If he didn't condone the behavior of these two murders, he ignored it. He didn't do anything about it.

Oh wait, maybe he filed some of the complaints that were ignored or deemed to be "unfounded".

IRVINGTON — Nine days before an
8-year-old girl was found dead in her Irvington home, the state child
abuse hotline received an anonymous call about "the appearance and well
being" of children in the apartment, but the report was never acted on,
state officials confirmed today.

In a stunning admission, Allison Blake, commissioner of the state
Department of Children and Families, said she was investigating whether
operators of the child abuse hotline handled the May 13 call improperly.


Blake said the hotline staff did not link the caller's tip to the
family's history with the Division of Youth and Family Services. She
declined to elaborate on what the hotline operator was told.

From 2006 to 2008, the Division of Youth and Family Services
responded to four separate complaints that the child, Christiana Glenn,
and her brother and sister had been beaten and neglected by their
mother.

DYFS investigated each time but determined the complaints to be "unfounded."

"The case was not linked to the existing history, and I am concerned
that connection was not made," said Blake, who oversees DYFS. The
hotline staff coded the call in the automated system as an "information
and referral" entry, requiring no action by investigators, she said.

The girl was found dead inside the apartment on May 22. Authorities
said she died from malnutrition and complications from a broken leg.

Her mother, Venette Ovilde, 29, is charged with aggravated assault
and child endangerment. A roommate, Myriam Janvier, 23, faces child
endangerment charges.

"We want the public to know we are coming forward with what we have
now learned, and we are doing an investigation," Blake said. "And as we
soon as know what our failures were, we will make this information known
as well."
Blake said the call was not detected on the logged recordings of the
hotline until Wednesday because the caller did not identify the family
by name. Agency officials said they found the call by matching the
family's address to the four previous investigations, she said.

"While the handling of this referral raises concerns, this should not
serve as an indictment of the entire child welfare system, nor does it
reverse the significant progress that has been made to date," Blake
said.

Aside from the disclosure of the fifth call to DYFS, Blake said the
internal review of the case has not revealed any shortcomings in the way
DYFS investigated the four earlier complaints it deemed unfounded.

In addition, she called the caseworker "adequate."

In at least two of the four investigations, DYFS employees said they
verified that the family pediatrician had found the children healthy.

Before the case was closed for the last time on May 1, 2008, "Ms.
Ovilde's three-bedroom home was observed to be clean with all utilities
working and ample food," according to a report Blake released on her
investigation of the case. In addition, a neighbor denied hearing any
shouting or seeing the children being abused.

She said that in 2006, the agency made vast changes in the way it
hired, trained and supervised employees, and was in the process of
implementing a new electronic tracking system.

"My expectations today, and those of the DYFS director, are far
greater," Blake said. "We are hoping the staff have a higher level of
skill now."

She declined to say how many people are under investigation, and that so far no one has been suspended.

Blake is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Stanley
R. Chesler in Newark on Monday to discuss the latest report measuring
the progress of an overhaul of the state’s child welfare system.
Although the Glenn case is not included in the report, Blake said she
plans to explain the agency's involvement in the case.

The state embarked on the reform effort following the death of Faheem
Williams, whose emaciated and beaten body was found by Newark Police in
January 2003. DYFS was the target of public outrage because employees
had closed the family's case nearly a year earlier without investigating
a complaint that his mother was physically abusing him and his
brothers.

Susan Lambiase, associate director of Children's Rights, whose
lawsuit against DYFS prompted the court-ordered supervision and more
than $1 billion in improvements since 2004, said last night she was
"deeply troubled to learn about the recent allegation that was screened
out by the state's hotline staff."

"We intend to work closely with the monitor and the commissioner to
quickly determine what missteps, if any, occurred in this case, and what
else the state must do to prevent it from happening in the future,"
Lambiase said.

Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of Advocates for Children, a
nonprofit family research group, also lamented the missed opportunity to
help the troubled family.

"Had it been investigated, it would have revealed the terrible
condition of these children and perhaps saved Christiana's life,"
Zalkind said. "It would have been far more obvious than the no visible
marks or bruises that appears to be the standard for the prior
investigations."http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/dyfs_hotline_screener_mishandl.html

There were so many opportunities to save this precious little girl. I hope some state workers are prosecuted and others lose their jobs. There is no excuse for this many screw ups when it results in the death of a poor little defenseless girl.

June 13, 2011
Department of Children and Families Commissioner Allison Blake will
appear before a federal judge today to describe how the hotline appears
to have mishandled a call last month, nine days before an 8-year-old
Irvington girl was found dead in her home.

Blake was already scheduled to appear before U.S. District Court
Judge Stanley R. Chesler to discuss the latest progress report on New
Jersey's eight-year-old effort to improve its billion-dollar child
welfare system.

But the report is likely to be overshadowed by the stunning
revelation Friday that a child abuse hotline screener received an
anonymous call May 13 about "the appearance and well being" of children
at the same address, where the Division of Youth and Family Services had
investigated four complaints of abuse and neglect from 2006 to 2008.
Investigators at that time deemed all four reports "unfounded," but
required the mother undergo a psychiatric exam and accept a parental
aide in the home in May 2006.

The recent anonymous caller's tip "was not linked to the existing
history, and I am concerned that connection was not made," said Blake,
who oversees the child welfare system, known as the Division of Youth
and Family Services. The hotline staff coded the call in the automated
system as an "information and referral" entry, requiring no action by
investigators, she said Friday.

Christiana Glenn, 8, was found dead at her Irvington home on May 22 —
the result of an untreated broken leg and malnutrition, authorities
say. Her mother, Venette Ovilde 29, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated
manslaughter and child endangerment charges. Ovilde's roommate, Myriam
Janvier, 23, pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges.


Blake said Friday she planned to inform U.S. District Court Judge
Stanley R. Chesler about the findings of her internal investigation into
the Christiana Glenn case at 1 p.m. today when federal court monitor
Judith Meltzer will present her latest progress report.

NOT ENOUGH PROGRESS

Meltzer, a national child welfare expert from Washington D.C.,
concluded in a 233-page report the state is not making enough progress
in key areas that are critical to keeping kids safe and families stable.
Only half of the 432 children who were in foster care for two full
months had documented visits by their caseworkers twice per month, as
required. The monitor expected 95 percent of all foster children to have
been visited twice a month.

"The Monitor continues to be very concerned by this low performance
given the importance of visitation by caseworkers during the first few
months of placement to assess children and families’ needs and to ensure
stability,'' according to the report.

But she credited the state for making strides from June 2010 to
December in other areas — such as ensuring nearly every foster child is
up-to-date on immunizations and doctor visits, and keeping siblings
together in foster homes.
Courtesy familyChristiana Glenn, the 8-year-old Irvington girl who died last month.


The department "reports that 95 percent of children received
follow-up care for needs identified during their Comprehensive Medical
Exam, exceeding'' expectations, the report said.

"The trend toward positive, lasting change in child welfare practice
continues in New Jersey, despite continued difficulty in meeting some of
the performance benchmarks and outcomes,'' Meltzer summarized in her
ninth report since 2006, when she was named monitor of New Jersey's
required effort to improve its child welfare system.

New Jersey agreed to indefinite court supervision of its efforts to
improve child welfare services as a result of a 2003 lawsuit settlement
with Children's Rights, a national advocacy organization. Children's
Rights sued on behalf of foster children the group said were trapped in
an underfunded and mismanaged system.

The monitoring report does not contain an analysis of the hotline,
known as the Statewide Central Registry. Meltzer last evaluated how it
was running in 2008, and concluded it was doing its job properly.
"Decision-making is sound and the vast majority of screening decisions
are appropriate,'' according to the 2008 report, based on a study team's
evaluations of recorded calls. The team "concurred with the Statewide
Central Registry call classification in 92 percent of the calls
reviewed.''

Since the department caught the anonymous call while reviewing call
logs last week, however, Blake said hotline operations are under
scrutiny. "DYFS has already taken immediate steps to increase
supervisory presence and oversight on all shifts,'' according to a memo
Blake released Friday.

"This case provides yet another opportunity to critically examine our
system and make strategic and meaningful adjustments in the way we
interact with the families we serve,'' according to the memo.

The monitor's latest report may be found after 1 p.m. here.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/hold_report_on_dyfs_report_is.html