Target 5 Investigates Alleged Adoption Abuse, Neglect

Caseworker: State Ordered Her To Overlook Abuse Allegations

The following is a transcript of Jesse Jones' report, shown exactly the way it appeared on WLWT News 5 at 11 p.m. on May 3, 2005.

Anchor: Did the State of Kentucky approve an adoption despite allegations of abuse and neglect? Documents obtained exclusively by Target 5 show the answer is yes. Jesse Jones has more on this disturbing case.

Jesse Jones: It's all spelled out in a lawsuit against the state. It claims managers are putting money ahead of children's safety. And that the state had more than 1 million reasons to make troubled adoptions work. From the outside, this home looked almost perfect for an adoption.

Foster parent: "When they brought him to me, they said I was his last hope -- that if it didn't work out here that he's have to go to an institution."

Jones: Two foster children -- a young, disabled boy and a teenaged girl -- were about to become brother and sister, daughter and son.

Foster parent: "She fit right in -- a tomboy."

Jones: But there were troubling allegations inside that home, from sexual abuse to a felon supervising the children. And even knowing that, the state moved forward with the adoption of these children.

Jones: "Do you think the state put kids in harm's way?"

Tom Beiting, court appointed attorney: "Absolutely. No hesitation whatsoever. In this case, absolutely."

Jones: This was Pat Moore's case. She's a former caseworker who is now suing the state. The Elsmere native claims she was ordered by her superiors to overlook allegations of child abuse and molestation in some adoption cases.

Moore: "I did what I felt like I had to do. It was the right thing to do and I stand by the complaint."

Jones: Pat Moore's not talking about just one case. Shane Sidebottom is Pat Moore's attorney.

Sidebottom: "As a result of reporting this and bringing these allegations of potential abuse and neglect and, in some cases, possible molestation issues, she was penalized at work. We feel she was retaliated against."

Jones: Was millions in federal dollars the motivation?

Beiting: "So this is about money. This about money and numbers, I believe. That's sad. That's criminal."

Jones: Attorney Tom Beiting was hired by Campbell County to represent the children in one of Moore's cases.

Beiting: "In this case, I am critical of the Cabinet. They did not do their job."

Jones: One of the examples in the lawsuit begins here in that Verona home last summer. The foster parent decided to adopt those two children. Holly Hill Children's Services was contracted by the state to work much of this case. And what its caseworkers found was troubling. One inspection found a case of beer in a child's play room. The house was dirty and infested with flies. Stale food was found in the living room and a child's bedroom. We've hidden the foster parent's identity to maintain the children's privacy.

Foster parent: "I don't want to say the whole thing is all made up, but it's blowed all out of proportion."

Jones: There's a report noting that the foster parent's own son was supervising the children. The problem? He's a felon with drug and burglary convictions.

Jones: "Did he ever watch the kids?"

Foster parent: "No. They kept saying I was doing that and he was not watching the kids."

Jones: However, documents show two Holly Hill caseworkers saw the felon with the kids. And according to the state's own report, another family member was charged with sexual abuse. The charges against the family member were dropped. However, three allegations of sexual abuse in that home would follow. Each was unsubstantiated by state caseworkers. But Kenton County Prosecutor Ken Easterling has had his doubts about the Cabinet's unsubstantiated findings.

Jones: "Have you pulled a child, even though the paperwork says the case was unsubstantiated?"

Easterling: "The prosecutor's office has pulled children where the Cabinet has found that the allegations are unsubstantiated."

Jones: The foster parent also hadn't taken one of the children to therapy for two months, was a no-show for several state-required meetings, and failed to return almost a dozen phone calls to case workers. Pat Moore meets with Holly Hill workers and fires off this memo to her bosses, saying that Holly Hill could not guarantee the safety of the children and it will be closing down the home. Pat Moore's bosses in the Cabinet responded with this -- a memo recommending that the adoption should proceed quickly while building the greatest safety net possible.

So how did this happen? According to Pat Moore's lawsuit, money. According to several sources, if the adoption went through, the foster mother would receive $1,800 a month for both children. More than $1,100 of that would be given to the foster mother every month for the life of the disabled child.

The money trail doesn't end there. The State of Kentucky gets thousands of dollars for each adoption. However, Target 5 has learned the state was under pressure, facing a $1.7 million fine from the federal government in part for not completing enough adoptions.

Sidebottom: "Our theory is that the basis for this is the tie to the federal money that, every time a child is not placed in the home, the State of Kentucky, through its Cabinet, is losing money."

Jones: According to her lawsuit, Pat Moore and a Holly Hill manager filed a custody report in Campbell County family court. Moore says her bosses told her not to give the case files to Tom Beiting, the court appointed attorney handling the case.

Jones: "The state did not want you to see those records."

Beiting: "Absolutely not, not the local representatives."

Jones: Beiting subpoenaed the records and filed his report. And Judge Michael Folleger wasted no time in removing the children from the home.

Jones: "Do you think it was the right decision?"

Beiting: "It was the only decision. Judge Foellger did a very good job in immediately removing those children."

Jones: Prosecutor Ken Easterling says this is nothing new. He's removed children against the Cabinet's wishes before.

Easterling: "There are occasions that we thing a child should be removed, that the Cabinet doesn't remove them, so we remove them without the Cabinet's consent."

Jones: Shane Sidebottom, Pat Moore's attorney, said his client was called on the carpet by supervisors for stopping the adoption.

Sidebottom: "Despite the judges ruling, Ms. Moore was called into two separate meetings where she was verbally chastised for not agreeing with her supervisors."

Jones: In court documents, Moore says she stood up to management in two other similar cases. The bosses wrote her up and she quit. But her attorney says now more caseworkers are coming forward with an even larger number of children.

Sidebottom: "I see a bigger problem. Like I said, I have been contacted by other people who are coming forward now."

Jones: The state declilned to respond to the allegations made in this report. The foster mother strongly maintains that many of the court's findings were wrong and the kids should not have been taken away. Finally, we do not know the whereabouts of these children. That information is private. In the start of the show, we mentioned children adopted into home with sex offenders and drug dealers. These are allegations and proposed adoptions -- not finalized adoptions. Jesse Jones, Target 5.