| (Continued from page 2) whom
Ms. Morrissey retained, and I met with Herbert Lambert, who'd been representing the
department, for the mandatory pre-hearing conference. We reached stipulations, wich are
agreements that certain facts are deemed true. There were 18 stipulations. One stipulation
was that neither Mr. Gomez nor Ms. Morissey was directlyor indirectly responsible as
supervisors for the Tyresha J. case once it went from Region III to RegionII. Other
stipulations were that there were no drugs involved at the time of William J's birth and
that there had been 15 visits to the home of the parents of Tyresha J. between Jan. and
April 1997. We stipulated that the appellants had "examplary" work histories and
no prior discipline except for the suspensions at issue. We stipulated that no one else in
DCFS who had handled the Tyresha J. case had been disciplined. |
During the hearing on Sept. 16, Mr.
Goldstein said he would show that the minor was murdered by the parents whom he described
as "animals." That was an odd statement. After all, DCFS spends a ton of the
public's money on "family reunification" for parents who place their children at
risk of harm and who have an array of parental rights under state law. Nowhere, the last
time we checked, does the law describe parents as "animals." After 5 days of civil service commission hearings - and no end in sight - the department has put on 3 witnesses. Three more days are already set for Feb. 1999. The lunchbox has landed indeed. The first witness was Joyce Francisco of the Office of Human Righrs, who investigated the death of Tyresha J. She testified, on cross-examination that she is a "theoretical" manager - since she doesn't supervise anyone but earns a manager's salary and perks - who did not attach documentation about how Region II had handled the case because she was not instructed to include attachments "supporting the positives." According to Ms. Francisco, there were no lapses by anyone except the appellants. Although she compelled Mr. Gomez, Ms. Morrissey and Mr. Villalobos to provide her with declarations, she did not demand a declaration from Ms. Pedersen, the CSW who had made an unannounced visit to the minor's home about a day and a half before the minor's death. To explain what she would have done as a social worker or supervisor, the hearing officer allowed Ms. Francisco to restify as an expert. But later, under cross- examination by Mr. Lloyd, who would respectfully refer to her as " Madam Expert," she exploded and said, " I wish you'd stop saying that!" She added, "I personally have never considered myself a true expert in anything." Under Mr. Lloyd's cross-examination, she began to suffer from what we might call, "Battered Witness Syndrome." |
On Nov. 25, Charles Tadlock, a
Regional Administrator in Region VII, testified for the department. He said he'd been the Skelly
officer for Mr. Gomez. The Skelly officer, by the way, is supposed to be a
neutral party who weighs the evidence presented. Logically, Mr. Tadlock testified,
"The people responsible for the death of the child were the parents." Still, he
recommended suspending Mr. Gomez and did not consider it appropriate to judge Ms.
Pedersen's performance in Region II. Asked if he was aware that there'd been 15 visits to
the minor's home before her death, he said no. He admitted, though, his analysis was
Monday morning quarterbacking. Oddly, the department's next witness,Vivian Godina, testified that she had Goldstein said he would show the minor was murdered by the parents, whom he described as "animals." been the Skelly officer at Mr. Gomez's hearing. |
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