Update: Things we learned today about how government work...

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

And sometimes you hit a wall that you can't get over, under, or through... There's this wall that I have yet to conquer - FOIA DENIED. Yet, where there's a will there is a way:

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

Time to reach out to Julie Arfaa.

-----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

----------------------------------------------------
Remember when I told you that the Au Clair/AdvoServ story was more complicated than I ever imagined? That it splits into 42 different directions? And maybe more... For each lead, I have a million documents to dig through.

Have you ever done a Media Freedom of information Request from the State of Delaware for an Autopsy? While it sounds morbid, it's less so, when you contextualize it.

I have filed my first - for the Janaia Barnhart's autopsy. Janaia died in September in an AdvoServ residence. To date, other than the initial reports, the News Journal - basically Delaware's only resource for local news - has not followed up on her story. That might have to do with their firing of all their experienced journalists in the months after Janiai died (no relation, just correlative.) Or maybe the Journal doesn't care that a 15-year-old with a disability, placed in a Delaware facility by the State of Maryland who had since put the provider on probation and was ending its contract with said provider due to the results of a surprise visit by state officials, might have been murdered by her for-profit caregivers. Or maybe this is the Howard High story all over again - a young lady is attacked and the manner of death is an undiagnosed heart condition that just happened to be triggered by the brutality but causation is not the actual violence perpetrated on her.

Or perhaps, the jury is still out.

What do I know? That some excellent questions may be answered by what the pathologist found while performing Janaia's autopsy.

This is the initial response I received:

-----Original Message-----
From: DGIC (MailBox Resources)
To: montagnebeau
Cc: Hudson, Wendy L (DSHS) (DSHS)
Sent: Mon, Dec 19, 2016 8:44 am
Subject: Re: FOIA request

I’ll forward your email to the FOIA coordinator for the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Safety and Homeland Security? I think I just put myself on the no fly list. It's ok. I am terrified of planes anyway.

Elizabeth Scheinberg is a full-time mom, frequent autism advocate, and sometimes freelance writer who often is consumed by her passion for those without a voice.

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