The Echo

• 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.