Only because the cashier where I get the Globe engaged me in conversation about the screaming front page article (I was a little surprised because previous conversations revolved only around the New England Patriots).
As she was telling me the story of her own relatives being harassed by DSS for child abuse it began to occur to me that this agenda is not about protecting children at all. If it were the schools (and other official institutions) wouldn't be infested with perverts, the kids wouldn't be taught indoctrinating and inculcating lies, they wouldn't be sent to wars based on lies, the social programs wouldn't be getting cut while corporations line up for even more tax breaks and subsidy checks while the real poisons and pollution in the environment are ignored by the propaganda pre$$, and the kids wouldn't be enslaved with the debt of student loans, etc, etc, etc.
No, what this is really about is the state getting its spying and prying eyes into your life even more. As she was relating the story it became apparent to me that the state has enlisted the schools and doctor's offices as spies. That's not to excuse child abuse in any form, a horrible violation of humanity, but as we have seen the most prolific sex operations almost inevitably involve the elite and are thus quickly hushed up or some lower-level scapegoat is hung out to take the fall.
The point I'm making is it became clear to me as she related her experience was that the state was looking for trouble where none existed while ignoring this horrendously shocking case in the town next door. She was a little ticked-off at the ever-benevolent and protective state even as I told her I didn't know much about it (if it was in the Globe earlier I didn't note or read it, sorry).
"State family agency fires two in case of boy feared dead; Failure to visit troubled Fitchburg home cited; long-missing child’s mother, boyfriend held" by Michael Levenson, Peter Schworm and Patricia Wen | Globe Staff, December 17, 2013
FITCHBURG — State officials acknowledged Tuesday there was a “serious failure” in their handling of the case of a 5-year-old boy, firing the social worker and supervisor who, despite reports of abuse, let months pass without visiting him. The boy is now feared dead.
Jeremiah Oliver was last seen by a relative Sept. 14, according to officials, but, improbably, no one from the state’s social services agency noticed that he was missing until nearly three months later, on Dec. 2. That was when his 7-year-old sister told staff at her school that her mother’s boyfriend had been brutally beating her, her mother, and her two brothers.
Is it that improbable?
On Tuesday, the Department of Children and Families said the social worker assigned to the boy’s case failed to make monthly, in-person visits to Jeremiah’s home, as required by agency rules. The supervisor failed to enforce that policy, the agency said.
“This case represents a serious failure on the part of the social worker and supervisor assigned to the family,” Olga I. Roche, the DCF commissioner, said in a telephone interview during which she read from a prepared statement.
Jeremiah’s mother, Elsa Oliver, 28, and her boyfriend, Alberto Sierra, 22, have been charged in connection with the case, which is being treated as a potential homicide.
The sister told police that Sierra punched and whipped Jeremiah and his brother with a belt.
In one instance, one of the boys may have had his pinky finger cut off, she said.
The alleged abuse occurred even though the family has been under the supervision of DCF since September 2011, when the agency first received a report of neglect in the home.
The agency’s failure to supervise Jeremiah and his family is particularly troubling in light of the fact that DCF officials had ordered intensive reviews of all cases involving infants and children under age 5 this year.
The review was done after they learned of two brutal assaults on infants within weeks of each other in July when a 3-month-old Lynn infant died, and a Martha’s Vineyard baby nearly died.
Related: Maury Povich Murder in Massachusetts
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On Tuesday, the union representing DCF workers denounced the firing of the social worker and supervisor.
“We’re incredibly disappointed that Commissioner Roche is more interested in finger-pointing than accepting responsibility for yet another tragedy under her watch,” said Jason Stephany, a spokesman for Services Employees International Union Local 509.
You unions!
Though the first report of abuse in the family came in 2011, the most recent trouble appeared to begin in May, when Elsa Oliver started a relationship with Sierra.
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It is unclear what took place in the months that followed, but the last time Jeremiah was seen alive by a relative was on Sept. 14, police said.
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Sierra has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault and battery on a child causing bodily injury. He is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing set for Thursday.
Oliver was arraigned Tuesday on charges of being an accessory after the fact to attacks on her children and two counts of reckless endangerment of a child.
Authorities say she took no steps to care for her children and that evidence suggests she tried to conceal the abuse and to help Sierra avoid arrest.
When Oliver was led into Fitchburg District Court, she looked panicked and distraught and cried, “I can’t,” to the court officers holding her arms.
The psychologist who evaluated her, Hanya Bluestone, said Oliver had a history of psychiatric treatment and substance abuse and had recently taken a turn for the worse, becoming more irritable and paranoid and relying on her children to care for her. Bluestone said Oliver also feared she was being poisoned.
“I am concerned about her rational understanding today,” Bluestone said.
A judge ordered Oliver to undergo a mental evaluation.
Oliver’s defense attorney, James G. Reardon Jr., told the judge that Oliver was mentally unable to assist in her defense. “I am unable to effectively communicate with her,” he said. “I can’t get any information from her.’’
During the arraignment, Sandro Oliver, one of Jeremiah’s relatives, shouted at Oliver, calling her a “child killer.’’ As he was being led out of the courtroom, he shouted again: “Where’s my nephew?’’
When Oliver attended a child custody hearing Friday, she “was observed to have bruises, disheveled hair, and appeared to have been assaulted,’’ according to a police report.
She also “refused to cooperate and fled the courthouse,” State Police wrote.
Jose Oliver, the biological father of the three children, lives in New Britain, Conn., and said he has not been in contact with his former wife or three children since she left him a few years ago. He said he had been using drugs.
“I guess she just got tired of it all,” he said. “I don’t blame her for leaving.”
Last year, Elsa Oliver sought a restraining order against Jose Oliver, according to court records.
A divorce proceeding was begun this year but not followed through by either party.
Jose Oliver said he did not know Jeremiah was missing until police contacted him on Monday.
Sandro Oliver, 20, recalled Jeremiah playing with Hot Wheels cars and holding the boy on his own bike as the child clutched the handlebars and steered.
He said he could not figure out how a young boy could disappear for three months without raising questions.
I can. No one cared.
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Related:
"Judge dismisses kidnapping charges against Lynn man" by Maria Sacchetti and John R. Ellement | Globe Staff, December 05, 2013
An Essex Superior Court judge dismissed charges Thursday against a Lynn man who is the last person known to have been with his son before the child disappeared from the North Shore city five years ago.
No trace of Giovanni Gonzalez, then 5, has been found since he went for a weekend visit with his father, Ernesto Gonzalez, in August 2008.
The dismissal infuriated the missing boy’s mother, Daisy Colon, and led her to warn that other parents will now be able to escape full responsibility for kidnapping their own children by claiming to be mentally ill.
“He’s the only person who knows where my son is,’’ Colon said in a telephone interview Thursday. “But they can’t make him talk. Where is my son?”
She added: “Every single time we go to court, it’s all about his rights. But what about my son’s rights?’’
In a Salem courthouse Thursday, Superior Court Judge John T. Lu threw out charges of parental kidnapping and lying to investigators that were first filed against Gonzalez by Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett’s office in 2008.
Lawyers for Gonzalez, 41, argued in court papers that state law calls for the dismissal of criminal charges when defendants are incompetent to stand trial and have served more than half of their potential prison sentences.
Gonzalez was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in October.
In a three-page ruling, Lu said Gonzalez has already spent five years in custody, shuttling between jail and a state mental health hospital. The judge said that, as recently as two days ago, staff members at Bridgewater State Hospital where Gonzalez is being treated, reported he is “experiencing psychosis and delusions.’’
“The motion to dismiss must be allowed,’’ Lu wrote. “. . . This court has examined very recent mental health records. They all support a finding of not competent. . . . The records state that Mr. Gonzalez continues to endorse command auditory hallucinations to kill himself and others.’’
In a prior court hearing, Assistant Essex District Attorney Jean Curran had urged the judge to keep the case open, in case Gonzalez is found competent to stand trial next year. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said Thursday that prosecutors are reviewing the judge’s dismissal and have 30 days to decide whether to appeal it.
Gonzalez’s lawyers have said he is unlikely to get out of jail soon. He has been civilly committed to Bridgewater State Hospital through May, and the hospital has asked that to be extended.
He is also facing additional criminal allegations from his time in jail, including an attack on a fellow inmate and assaulting a prison guard.
In a statement, Blodgett said that his office will continue its search for Giovanni Gonzalez.
“While the charges related to Giovanni’s disappearance have been dismissed, our efforts to locate him will continue,” Blodgett said. “We have and will follow up on any and all leads presented to us.”
According to Lynn police, a person tipped detectives on Monday that they had seen a child they believed to have been Giovanni Gonzalez riding a bike in Brockton. Detectives investigated, and concluded the child in Brockton is not the missing boy, a spokesman said.
Colon said she remains convinced that her son will some day be returned to her.
“I have not lost faith on that at all,’’ Colon said. “I know my son is somewhere. I know my son is going to show up one day with the help of the justice system or without their help.’’
Most likely without if it is in Massachusetts.
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