• The unregulated use of aversive techniques in behavior modifications; 
• Mazik's own involvement with the school;
• The lack of staffing and training 

• The State brought in three independent experts, two from the Princeton Child Development Institute and one from Johns Hopkins,  to review the school.  Each concluded that the use of painful aversive without controlled conditions was a critical deficiency. Within the autism field opinions on the use of punishment to teach children with this disorder were beginning to sway.  Longitudinal data revealed that painful aversive techniques were seldom effective. The conventional wisdom of the time was that such techniques needed to be used under carefully controlled conditions. Au Clair did not have these conditions in place nor any documentation supporting them.
• Investigators could not find any Individual Treatment Plans for the use of punishment for Au Clair's residents. (There was one exception of the 30 students living at Au Clair.)
• At least twice in 1978 social service workers were called to Au Clair to investigate cases of child abuse. While no charges had been filed by 1979, the workers findings were the catalyst by Social Services, jointly with the Office of the Attorney General.

• Both the state and the News Journal independently determined that Mazik's  Masters Degree in Clinical Psyschology from Temple University was a lie.  Mazik fired back that he had only claimed to have similar credentials.  But, that didn't stop him from signing internal Au Clair documents with MA after his name.
• Former staffers accused Mazik of manipulating the computer and video recording equipment he had at the school.  They claimed that he would have students put on multiple outfits during the course of the day, taping after each wardrobe change.  When parents came to visit and review the tapes, he portended that these were recordings made over multiple days.
• In May 1978, a social worker arrived at Au Clair to investigate an abuse allegations that 8 or 9 children had been excessively beaten.  It was determined that there existed evidence of abuse, but not enough to close the school.
• Officials were called to the school the following November to check on a child who had allegedly been beaten by Mazik over the weekend. The reporter determined that a belt or similar object had been used against the child's back. The child's face was also badly beaten.
• The state's reported also accused Mazik of failing to fulfill his duties as Executive Director due to frequent absences and failure to communicate with staff.
• Findings included a lack of staff from 12:30 am to 8:30 am when only one staff member was present at the school to monitor the students. This deficiency lasted for more than a year.
• The school was also cited for not having enough day-time staffing and when those staff came aboard, they received little training
• Au Clair was cited for failing to have a person knowledgeable about nutrition planning the facility's menus.
• Parental consent forms related to care and treatment of children were found unsigned.
• While each childcare facility is required to provide a single bed for each child, Au Clair was found to have at least one room containing four beds and housing six students.

Kanner's syndrome

Etymology: Leo Kanner, Austrian-born American child psychiatrist, 1896-1981

a form of infantile psychosis with an onset in the first 30 months of life. It is characterized by infantile autism, with signs of lack of attachment, avoidance of eye contact, and general failure to develop social relationships; rituals and compulsive behavior manifested by a resistance to change and repetitive acts; general intellectual retardation; and language disorders, which may range from muteness to echolalia. Treatment may include psychotherapy and special education, depending on the child's intelligence level. (Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 9th edition. © 2009, Elsevier.)

The lifetime works of Charles Cropper Parks are a Delaware treasure. Just as Frederic Remington reminds us of the American West, Charles Parks represented Delaware, its people, its landscape and its values. Parks had always hoped that one day his vast collection would be housed in a space that would be available to the public. In 2011, that hope became a reality when the Parks family donated approximately 290 of Charles Parks' works of art to the State of Delaware. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/delawareonline/obituary.aspx?pid=160668101#sthash.9GUDLIgT.dpuf

Thomas and her lawyer, Julia Arfaa, say that Delaware officials have stymied their efforts to secure basic information. The state attorney general’s office told Arfaa that, while a police investigation was ongoing, it would not allow release of a recording of workers’ call to 911. “Releasing the 911 tape at this time could potentially jeopardize the investigation, because the call contains potentially sensitive information,” said Carl Kanefsky, spokesman for the attorney general’s office. The office will decide whether to file criminal charges after law enforcement agencies have finished their investigations, he said. A Delaware medical examiner refused Arfaa’s request for initial autopsy findings. Last week, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said it has not completed the autopsy and will notify Janaia’s family when it does. Delaware state police won’t elaborate on the circumstances of the girl’s death or even release her name.
“We’re blocked,” Arfaa said.  https://www.propublica.org/article/camera-shoving-match-group-home-worker-before-teenager-heart-stopped

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hudson, Wendy L (DSHS) (DSHS)
To: montagnebeau
Cc: Ivory, Sharon L (DSHS) (DSHS)
Sent: Tue, Dec 20, 2016 10:42 am
Subject: FOIA request - Division of Forensic Science Request for the Autopsy Report of Janaia Barnhart

Good Day –

 

This email is to acknowledge that the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security (DSHS), received your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Monday, December 19, 2016.  You requested:   The Autopsy Report of Janaia Barnhart Death was September 14, 2016.  Autopsy reports are handled by the Division of Forensic Science, under the Department of Safety and Homeland Security (DSHS).  Please note that FOIA allows access to “public records,” unless the public record requested falls within one of the enumerated statutory exemptions. See 29 Del. C. §10002 (definition of “public record” and specific exemptions); 29 Del. C. § 10003 (setting forth FOIA request procedures).

 

The autopsy report that you have requested is not a “public record” within the meaning of Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. §§ 10001-10007 (“FOIA”).  Delaware law is clear that post-mortem reports prepared by the Division of Forensic Science pursuant to statute are investigative files that are exempt from the definition of a public record under FOIA.  See Att’y Gen. Op. 15-IB13; Del. Op. Atty. Gen. 05-IB16.  The Medical Examiner is not required to disclose information regarding death investigations to the  public.  See Op. Att’y Gen. 15-IB13; 29 Del. C. §10002(l)(3) (exempting from disclosure “[i]nvestigatory files compiled for civil or criminal law-enforcement purposes including pending investigative files . . . .”).  Upon completion of any criminal investigation, the statute permits the release of reports solely to the next of kin.  See 29 Del. C. §4707(e).

 

The Department considers your FOIA closed, 12/20/16.

 

Thank you.

 

Wendy

 

Wendy Hudson

Chief of Communications

Delaware Department of Safety & Homeland Security

Office of the Secretary

Office: 302-744-2680

 

Fax: 302-736-9184

 

 

Senator Robert Kennedy toured the institution in 1965 and proclaimed that individuals in the overcrowded facility were "living in filth and dirt, their clothing in rags, in rooms less comfortable and cheerful than the cages in which we put animals in a zoo".   Staff (September 10, 1965). "Excerpts From Statement by Kennedy". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2010.

• $20,000 from 1970 with a 4.07% annual inflation rate would equate to $125,477.45 in 2016.
• $14,000 in annual tuition per child until age 18 with the same inflation rate equates to $87,834.22 per year in 2016.
• $694,894 from 1975 with an annual inflation rate of 3.77% equates to $3,166,855.56 in 2016.

Camera Catches Shoving Match with Group Home Worker Before Teenager’s Heart Stopped

A video shows a healthy 15-year-old going into her bedroom at a for-profit AdvoServ facility. Thirty-two minutes later, she had no pulse. Nobody’s saying what happened.

by Heather Vogell, ProPublica, Nov. 2, 2016, 7 a.m.

One worker who was in the home that day, Tosha Skinner, told ProPublica in a brief interview that Janaia was subjected to a “wrap-up behavior” intervention shortly before she stopped breathing. Skinner was present but didn’t participate, she said. It’s not clear what Skinner meant by “wrap-up behavior.” For years, AdvoServ has used “wrap mats,” which resemble full-body straitjackets, on some of its clients. Critics say such mechanical restraints traumatize patients, and most residential programs no longer use them. Delaware bans such tactics in most cases, and Maryland officials have instructed AdvoServ for years not to mechanically restrain children or teens.

An AdvoServ spokesman said last week that no “wrap up” procedure involving mechanical restraints was used on Janaia that day. There were no wrap mats in the house, he said. https://www.propublica.org/article/advoserv-profit-and-abuse-at-homes-for-the-profoundly-disabled. 

While evidence of abuse of the disabled has piled up for decades, one for-profit company has used its deep pockets and influence to bully weak regulators and evade accountability

“Then, one day,” he recalled, “I tested this kid, couldn't quite figure out what was wrong and rescheduled him for the next week. In the meantime, he pulled his eye out. I mean it. He actually reached in and pulled out his own eye.

“Well, I couldn't believe any child could be that self-destructive and my guilt was just enormous. So following My usual pattern, I overcompensated. I threw myself into autism.  (http://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/30/archives/filly-winning-a-fortune-for-a-struggling-school-filly-winning-a-for.html)

Mr. Mazik himself, in the late 1970's, acknowledged beating a mentally retarded boy with a riding crop in front of several staff members. That was one of the incidents at Bear that he defended as therapeutic after staff members complained to the Delaware authorities and the local newspaper that he was abusing children in his care. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/04/us/deletion-of-word-in-welfare-bill-opens-foster-care-to-big-business.html.

Our mission is simple. Our results are compelling. AdvoServ serves the needs of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and severe behavioral challenges...From the northeast to the sunny south, AdvoServ’s clinically-proven treatment programs offer behaviorally challenged children and adults a new start...AdvoServ’s residential, educational, transitional and treatment strategies are customized to help individuals overcome their behavioral challenges and lead a successful, meaningful life.  http://www.advoserv.com/

An examination of news reports by ProPublica shows that at least  145 children died at residential programs across the country in the last 35 years from avoidable causes.

Pastor, no need to respond, but as a concerned special needs parents, i want to remind you that it was Jesus who said bring the children to me. He didn't say bring the perfect children, the easy children, the lesser disabled children. He said bring the children and meant them all. Did he ever turn a leper away? or a whore? No. Yet, you like a false prophet have turned your back on a child who NEEDED you and looked to find our lord's compassion through you and those you entrusted him unto. You have turned him away from the lord. I am certain that Jesus's eyes are filled with tears.

A Special Article For The Longwood Foundation

This article is addressed specifically to the Longwood Foundation, but I am making it public.  So if you have the ability to make sure Longwood sees this, please do so.
My son has Tourette Syndrome which comes with several co-morbidities, which are accompanying disabilities.  Tourette Syndrome is often misunderstood.  It is relatively rare and very tricky.  After sending my son to a Delaware charter school, a traditional school district, and another private school, my wife and I were faced with a decision: homeschool.  As fate would have it, a friend of ours recommended a homeschool/co-op program called Journey located at Glasgow Christian Academy in Bear.  We interviewed and found it would be an excellent choice for our son.  Journey is non-inclusive and caters to children with special needs.  His first year there was awesome.  He felt like he belonged and it showed.  He was happier and more at peace with himself.
In August, I received a call from a woman at the Glasgow Christian Academy/Tall Oaks/Red Lion Christian private school conglomerate.  My son (until today) attended the Journey Program at Glasgow Christian Academy.  The rep from the schools was working on a grant with the Longwood Foundation for the Journey program.  I was recommended as someone to help with the grant based on knowledge of special education in Delaware public education.
I let the woman know that the Journey program was excellent, and it was the first time my son felt like he truly belonged in an educational setting.  Journey is non-inclusive in that it is just for children with disabilities.  Most of these children, for some reason or another, couldn’t make it in public schools.  I’m sure you received the application.  A lot of the information on that grant application came from me.  I pointed the woman in the right direction to look for statistics from the Delaware Dept. of Education.  I advised her of the plethora of lawsuits in Delaware because children with disabilities were having their rights denied.  But I said these children have been through hell but Journey looked like a place where these children could finally flourish and grow.  These are children whose parents can’t afford the $26,000 to send their child to the Pilot School.
I’ve been rough on Longwood in the past due to their funding of charter schools in Delaware.  I have always felt that charters either do not want special needs kids or they don’t know how to accommodate them.  Not all of them, but enough.  One only has to look at their demographics and this is well understood.  But I didn’t want my experiences, and those of thousands of other Delaware school children who have experienced at Delaware charters, to take away from funds for the Journey program.  It began with a woman who cares very deeply for special needs children and has some of her own.
I advised the grant rep for the schools about the problems with Delaware special education.  How a one size fits all mentality in public schools has affected students with disabilities the most.  I let her know about the Delaware DOE’s growth goals for students with disabilities on the Smarter Balanced Assessment and how these students would be expected to “grow” the most on a test that is already flawed to begin with.  I let her know about the issues with charter schools in Delaware and how some seem to cherry-pick the best and brightest students.  But I did advise her she may not want to focus too much on that with a grant to the Longwood Foundation.  She thanked me for my help, and I was really hoping the Journey program would get this grant.
No education setting is perfect.  I always wanted inclusion for my son, but this program worked for him.  It worked for many of the kids involved.  Did it cure them of their disabilities?  No.  Education can’t do that.  Did they manifest those disabilities?  Sure.  That’s like telling the sun not to be so bright in the middle of the day.  But after going through a Delaware charter school, a traditional school district, and a regular “Christian” private school, all in the space of five years, not to mention the homebound during the charter school because they didn’t want to give him an IEP, or the homebound after the school district when he got a concussion after eight other physical assaults, this program worked for my son.
Then this year happened.  Due to medical issues, the woman who began the program was not able to be there.  Teachers and support staff, in and out. my son’s behavior escalating.  The support staff was now the teacher.  Then the new support staff became the teacher.  Then the teacher became support staff when a new teacher was hired.  Someone with all this vast knowledge of special education but didn’t know the first thing about Tourette Syndrome, the disability my son has.  Then the original support staff came back.  Somewhere in the middle of all this, Head of School Dr. Tim Dernlan, the one in charge of these three Christian schools, decided to actually take a look at the program.  He met with parents, listened to their concerns, and promised changes.  Meanwhile, he is meeting with me about a behavior issue with my son.  Which I’ve heard numerous conflicting stories on, but I digress.  I encouraged him to look into Tourette Syndrome and advised him if you treat it like other disabilities, you won’t get the results you think you will.
The weeks went by, things seemed to be getting better.  My son would have issues but nothing was told to me that constituted issues that were outside of the scope of his Tourette Syndrome.  All students in the program had Parent/Teacher Conferences last week and this week.  We had ours last Friday.  It started off okay until the teacher just started rattling off issues with my son.  Things that weren’t told to us earlier in the week, which was always done in the past, but they decided to wait since we were having this conference.  At this point Dr. Dernlan recommended my son leave the room to which we all agreed.  Then the bomb drop: we don’t want your son back.  We can’t service him.  I didn’t hold back.  Neither did my wife.  You have a special needs program, designed for students with disabilities, and you can’t handle my son?  Seriously?  In my son’s class there are now 3 students, a teacher, and support staff.  And you can’t handle my son?  When we asked how much he knows about Tourette Syndrome, after hemming and hawing, he said he took a “cursory” glance at something.  The teacher had not looked at anything.  So you want to sit there and tell me you can’t “service” my son, after we paid their tuition for the whole year, and you aren’t willing to do more than do a “cursory” glance at my son’s disability?  Or see valuable information and recommendations for the classroom, which should be infinitely easier with a student to teacher ratio of 3:2?  Are you kidding me? Furthermore, neither the Head of School or the teacher bothered to even look at his introductory interview profile which would have told them valuable information.  My wife and I were not happy and we spoke loudly and uttered some very not nice words.  Furious parents of special needs children will do this when they are presented with no choice options.
Since this happened, I wrote about what happened with my son on Facebook.  The Pastor of Glasgow Church immediately came on my Facebook page to defend the Head of School vigorously without a care in the world for my son.  In his defense of his Head of School, he never uttered any words about forgiveness or “turning the other cheek”, as I would expect from a Christian pastor.  Instead, I was subjected to numerous and ongoing legal threats coming from this man.  But I will tell my son’s story and what he has gone through.  Pastor Chuck Betters and his employees can cast my son out of their mold, but I find that is not a mold I wouldn’t ever want my son to belong to.  I find all of this ironic given what Betters had to say about the election earlier this year:

Trump: “When someone crosses you, my advice is ‘Get Even!’ That is not typical advice, but it is real life advice. If you do not get even, you are just a schmuck! When people wrong you, go after those people because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it. I love getting even. I get screwed all the time. I go after people, and you know what? People do not play around with me as much as they do with others. They know that if they do, they are in for a big fight.”
Jesus: Matthew 5: 38-40: 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.”

Here is the bottom line: they didn’t want to “service” my son because he doesn’t fit their mold.  They want obedient and subservient kids who listen all the time.  You can’t turn disabilities on and off like a light switch.  You can’t just tell a kid with the disabilities my son has to stop and expect them to listen.  Any special education teacher (if you are truly trained in special education) would know this.  In fact, the greatest recommendation for a child with Tourette Syndrome is to ignore the actions or words and not force a confrontation.  The child won’t get upset and the situation won’t escalate.  There are techniques for these kind of things, but if you aren’t willing to truly understand how to even look for them, then you should not be running a special needs school.  Many of the parents who are making the choice to send their children to this program were promised many things.  Last year, those promises were upheld.  This year?  They evaporated.
Special education has a lot of misconceptions.  Especially when it comes to the parent role and that of special education attorneys.  Many are under this mistaken perception that special education troll parents and can’t wait for them to come to them.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Ask any parent if they would rather sue or have their child have a peaceful experience at school, and you will find they always go for the latter.  Transitioning special needs children from school to school is a very traumatic experience for our kids.  It isn’t an easy thing.  Many assume special education attorneys troll special needs parents and look for a moment to strike at schools.  This is a huge misconception.  And I’m going to tell you a little secret about these attorneys.  Many schools believe complaining about a child’s behavior is their best defense.  It is the complete opposite.  It is their greatest weakness.
My bottom line is I do not recommend granting the Journey program a grant from your organization.  The woman who started this program is no longer there as of today.  She had a great program but for some reason upper management decided to change it into something different.  I fear for the possibility of the program growing, when the people in charge don’t seem to have the ability or even a need to understand the children that are already there.  And to expel students for being who they are goes against the very foundations of a Christian church.  Perhaps their other non-special education classes are superb.  I don’t know enough about that.  And perhaps their head of school is the greatest leader in the world for those schools.  But for this program, it is not what it was.  It is not even close to the spirit of the original intention for this program.
Pastor Betters has chosen to take a stand against me on this.  He is threatening to sue my family for speaking the truth about my son’s experience.  I say let him sue.  He won’t get much.  My family doesn’t have much.  But what I do have is a faith in God that He is looking out for me and my family and he has charged my wife and I with being his voice, and those of other children with special needs.
Disabilities are on the rise in Delaware.  More than we can possibly fathom.  Projections for disabilities in America are astonishingly high with some reports suggesting kids with disabilities will reach 50% in the coming years.  In Delaware, we are well over 15% but that doesn’t include students who are not in the public school system or have needs that prevent them from having any education.  Our public schools can’t handle it, charter and district alike.  It has become a crisis and we are at a tipping point.  I would highly suggest that the Longwood Foundation only sends funds to schools that are willing to help all students, especially those with the highest need.  We may disagree on a great many things, but I’m sure we can agree money should not be given to organizations who do not deserve it.  Private schools are not beholden to any laws around federal IDEA.  They can do what they choose since they don’t receive those funds and rely on tuition.  So for a parent who is promised the world but that world collapses, it puts that child in a very precarious situation.  Thank you. https://exceptionaldelaware.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/a-special-article-for-the-longwood-foundation/