A Closer Look At The State Requirements

Though consultants are still reviewing the State Manual Of Requirements For Child Care Facilities, here are a few points under current consideration:

Subchapter 2. Approval Procedures
10.127-2.3 Denying, suspending, revoking or refusing to renew a certificate of approval.

A certificate of approval for a Child Care Facility may be denied, suspended or revoked if the facility... "is in violation of serious or imminent hazard to ...the treatment needs of the children...".

In this case, one of the items we can apply as a violation of the "treatment needs of the children" is a documented case where Rainbow Of Hope discharged a child-resident and made no effort to supply psychiatric medications for this child for the period of time wherein this particular subject needed to be placed under the care of another psychiatrist. By law, Rainbow Of Hope is obligated to oversee the care and treatment of this child until other arrangements for care are established.

Under the same heading, Article #6 is of interest:

A certificate for a Child Care Facility may be denied, suspended or revoked for...

"...any activity, policy, or staff conduct that adversely affects or is deemed by the Bureau to be detrimental to the education, health, safety, well-being or treatment needs of children or that otherwise demonstrates unfitness by the director or staff members of the facility to operate a residential facility:

(Including) Failure by the director to secure and maintain on file documentation from the Department showing compliance with criminal conviction disclosures, as specified in N.J. A.C. 10:127-5.1(b1), Criminal History Record Information background checks, as specified in N.J.A.C. 10:127-5.6. or Child Abuse Record Information background checks, as specified in N.J.A.C. 10:127-5.7."

And in light of staff criminal records at Rainbow Of Hope:

Article #12:

A Child Care Facility may have its certificate of approval suspended or revoked for...

"...Refusal by the director to terminate the employment of a staff member convicted of a crime or offense requiring disqualification , as specified in N.J.A.C. 10:127-5.6(e)"

Now lets bounce over to another section...

10:127-3.2 Rights Of Children

We've mentioned the "Consumers Bill Of Rights" in a previous post. What we learned today is that these rights aren't conceived arbitrarily by the facility, these rights are enforced by the State of New Jersey via provision N.J.S.A. 9:6B-1. Therefore, any violation of these rights by a facility or its management or staff constitutes a violation of State policy. The Requirements set forth:

1. Receive Prompt Medical Treatment - though this right must be in serious jeopardy without a full time nurse at the Rainbow Of Hope facility.
2. Have access to an appropriate education. This is interesting in that Rainbow Of Hope management takes it upon themselves to act as censors in regards to what educational library materials the children-residents may or may not have. The banning of books and materials is a fascist practice, not one found in a professional residential care facility.
3. Live in a safe, clean and healthy environment.
4. Be free of physical or sexual harassment or abuse and corporal punishment; - There are numerous documented cases of abuse and neglect currently before several agencies. We have learned to not rely on just one investigative agency and have therefore pursued these complaints with multiple agencies.
   
5. Attend religious services of their choice (However this has been denied due to "budget and staffing issues"); and,
6. Have unimpeded communication with the Division and other professional persons or agencies. - Current Rainbow Of Hope staff members have reported to us that children-residents have asked to call their DYFS workers after hours and were told by other staff, "No! Wait until morning. You had all day to do this. Go to bed!"

Under Article 10:127-3.3, Information To Parents and Staff Members, #5 has spawned a formal complaint against Rainbow Of Hope.

#5 states: Afford parents the opportunity and time to review and discuss with the facility director any questions or concerns about policies, requirements, provisions, or alleged violations of the manual.

The question here is "how much opportunity and time" must pass without return calls from Kevin Cook and Lisa Polite before neglect ensues? Several complainants have obtained copies of their telephone records from Verizon, Comcast & Sprint to verify a plethora of outgoing telephone calls to the Rainbow Of Hope facility and very few being returned. None of which were returned in a timely manner.

This section also details the requirements for an Intake to the facility. A document that the facility MUST POSSESS before admitting a child is a Certificate Of Needs. Through interviews with hospital staff, we were able to ascertain and document that Kevin Cook performed an intake WITHOUT having the necessary Certificate Of Needs.

Article 10:127-3.7 Reporting Requirements

"(a) The director or any staff member shall notify verbally the Office of Child Abuse Control or District Office immediately whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that a child has been or is being abused or neglected by staff members, children or any other person, as required by the New Jersey Child Abuse and Neglect Law, N.J.S.A. 9:6-8.9 , 8.10, 8.13 and 8.14. Copies of the law and information about it are available from the Division, upon request."

Numerous staff members documented their complaints to Lisa Polite and Kevin Cook regarding their coworkers neglecting the children by sleeping, texting, leaving the site, and surfing the internet. These multiple complaints generate reasonable cause. Why didn't Kevin Cook or Lisa Polite report these complaints to the Office of Child Abuse Control as required in the above policy? Why did Kevin Cook decide to handle these matters internally when a specific provision dictates other action? A formal review will determine the answer to this soon enough.