Placement agency under fire

The agency that placed a 2-year-old El Paso County girl who died while in foster care has fought to keep its license in good standing in recent years.

Kids Crossing is a private nonprofit company that provides foster care services through a contract with the El Paso County Department of Human Services, and it operates dozens of foster homes across the Front Range.

The agency placed Alizé Vick in the home of Jules Lynn Cuneo in March 2007. On Oct. 10, Alizé died from a severe head injury police say was caused by Cuneo, who is jailed on charges of first-degree murder. The Colorado Department of Human Services is conducting a child-welfare fatality review expected to be completed in mid-March.

Before Alizé’s death, Kids Crossing foster families were under fire at times, including one instance in Pueblo in which a 12-year-old foster child, a boy, had sex with a 5-year-old girl in January 2005.

According to licensing records from the Colorado Department of Human Services’ Division of Child Care, state officials have recommended action four times against Kids Crossing’s license since April 2003. In three cases, state officials wanted to put the agency on probation, and in another instance issue a fine.

Kids Crossing has avoided such penalties, although in a 2003 case it reached a settlement. Details of that arrangement or the circumstances that led to it were not available Monday.

In each case of an attempted action on its license, Kids Crossing satisfied Child Care Division officials with additional information or evidence of improvements.

In a case in which an adult son had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl in foster care in December 2005, Kids Crossing’s attorney wrote a letter to officials condemning a proposed six-month probationary license and requesting a hearing before a judge if the matter wasn’t dropped. It was.

According to Kids Crossing’s licensing history, there have been 12 complaints of child abuse in Kids Crossing’s homes since 1998, three of them founded.

In the Pueblo case, according to a recommendation for adverse licensing action, the foster family had a 12-year-old foster child with a documented sexual history and instructions that he was to be supervised at all times around younger children. When the family went to visit friends, the boy was left alone in the basement with the 5-year-old girl and had sex with her.

The family was faulted by the state for lack of supervision, and the agency was accused of not providing adequate supervision and training.

Kids Crossing denied responsibility, blaming what happened on the parents and a home supervisor, a Kids Crossing employee, who “did not meet agency expectations.”

The agency supported its assertions by detailing procedures before and after the incident, and the state later agreed they were appropriate.

In the case in which an attorney was hired, Kids Crossing maintained that there was no way to anticipate the adult son would sexually assault the girl, and that it could not be held responsible.

“The proposed stipulation for a probationary license is an impermissible attempt to punish Kids Crossing for the actions of others,” wrote attorney Ian D. Kalmanowitz in his April 23, 2007, letter to a licensing administrator.

Lee Oesterle, executive director of Kids Crossing, declined to be interviewed for this article but responded in an e-mail:

“Kids Crossing and its employees are subject to a number of laws, regulations and policies about confidentiality with respect to the foster children, foster families and biological families with whom Kids Crossing works in both El Paso County and elsewhere in the state. As a result, I can only tell you that Kids Crossing is proud of the work it has done, and continues to do, with families across Colorado.”

Colorado DHS spokeswoman Liz McDonough said it’s not unusual for DHS to work with agencies facing licensing actions.

“We take licensing regulations very seriously and enforce those, but as far as working with a licensee to make corrections, that is something we will do,” she said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0198 or bnewsome@gazette.com

FULL TIME AT DHS

The El Paso County Department of Human Services will soon replace temporary workers with 24 full-time employees in an effort to reduce training time and respond to referrals quicker and more efficiently, director Barbara Drake said.

El Paso County commissioners approved the additional staff Monday, saying despite the county’s ongoing budget “crisis,” DHS’s growing caseload and, as of late, the number of high-profile cases, justify the expense, which was built into the department’s 2008 budget.

Drake said the department is asking the state for funding for another 27 full-time employees.

Despite county growth, the department has not added fulltime employees since 2000.

THE GAZETTE