Disabled teen starves in Philadelphia

I know that my mother reads this blog (hi, mom!), but, if she hasn't seen this story already, I think she shouldn't click the link (h/t The Western Confucian):

. . . The report describes a mother, Andrea Kelly, who was embarrassed by her disabled daughter and didn't want to touch her, take her out in public, change her diapers or make sure she had enough fluids. It portrays Daniel Kelly, the father who once had custody of Danieal, as having no interest in raising her.

Institutional indifference:

. . . Agency employee Dana Poindexter, assigned to investigate, also ignored Danieal, authorities say. Already having been suspended after a 3-week-old baby died on his watch in 2002, Poindexter continued his "slovenly, neglectful and dangerously reckless work habits" after being assigned the Kelly case, the grand jury said. He did not file a single report, authorities said.

The Kellys finally were assigned help from a private agency in 2005. Employee Julius Murray was required to visit the family twice a week, but authorities believe he may have come to the house only once — to have Andrea Kelly sign predated forms attesting to future visits.

The grand jury report said Laura Sommerer, a city social worker, failed to hold the now-defunct company accountable when, months later, Danieal still was not enrolled in school or receiving medical care.

And after Danieal died, authorities say, company director Mickal Kamuvaka held a "forgery fest" in her office where she had employees "concoct almost a year's worth of false progress reports."

More in-depth report here.

I tend to think that this editorial makes an error in attributing the agency's systematic neglect to "overwhelmed" case workers. The workloads of Sommerer, Poindexter, and their supervisor Janice Walker, described here, hardly seem overwhelming. The description of Poindexter's office ("...detectives found his file on the family at the bottom of a cardboard box, buried under food wrappers and unopened mail...") seems more telling.

I don't know what it's like among the Philadelphia professionals, but I know plenty of laymen whose attitude towards the agencies that provide services to the disabled is, "It's not like they're very aware of whether they're getting quality services or not. If the agency is overseen by incompetents, what's the worst that could happen?" Now we know.