In Harm's Way: Drug convictions no bar to
working with abused and neglected kids
Sunday, September 18,
2005
Two drug offenders worked in recent years at
group homes for abused and neglected children in
Allegheny County.
Pennsylvania lawmakers have decided that people
who want to work in such homes will be disqualified
only if they've been convicted of certain felonies,
such as murder and rape, or of a couple of
misdemeanors, such as stalking, but not if they have
pleaded to misdemeanor drug offenses.
Pennsylvania even permits those paid to care for
abused children to be child abusers as long as the
state Department of Public Welfare had made the
child abuse determination more than five years
before the person was hired.
Carmen Gaines, of East Liberty, whose son was
punched by a group home worker during a restraint,
couldn't believe drug offenders could work with
children. "Why would you consider a person with
those type of charges?"
A review of records suggests that workers who
have committed misdemeanors such as drunken driving
and disorderly conduct are more likely to end up in
trouble at group homes for children than those with
clean criminal backgrounds.
For example, both drug offenders were criminally
charged with injuring children at their group homes,
one for hurting a boy in a restraint, the other for
sexually assaulting a girl.
Both were acquitted of those charges, but the
state Department of Public Welfare believed that the
worker assaulted the girl and another girl, whose
case did not go to court, and Three Rivers Youth
fired the worker immediately.
The other worker, who pleaded guilty to
possessing heroin in 2000 but who the DPW believed
committed no wrongdoing in the 2003 restraint,
remained on the job at an Auberle facility until
recently.
Another example is Pressley Ridge worker Aaron
Paull, of Uniontown. His conviction in September
2003 on two counts of misdemeanor disorderly conduct
meant he was still eligible to work for the Pressley
Ridge wilderness camp at Ohiopyle, Fayette County.
There, in February, police say, he broke both arms
of a 14-year-old boy in a restraint. He faces felony
aggravated assault charges in that case.
If Pressley Ridge had looked at the court records
for Paull's earlier conviction and the protection
from abuse order against him, it would have found
that he was originally charged with unlawful
restraint and simple assault of a former girlfriend.
She says in her PFA petition that Paull entered her
apartment when he was drunk, threatened her and her
roommate, then threw her over his shoulder and
forced her into his truck.
But Pressley Ridge isn't required to review those
records. And the institution's director wouldn't
discuss the incident, for which it is being sued, so
it's unclear whether it did the research.
Similar detailed public records are available
regarding the drug offenses of the former Three
Rivers and Auberle workers.
Both offenses, one for possession of heroin, the
other for possession of marijuana, were
misdemeanors, so the state permitted the men to work
with children.
Peggy Harris, director of Three Rivers Youth,
said she would never again hire a person like the
drug offender.
"It is a decision that we obviously regret," she
said. "We have become stronger as the result of this
incident and are fortunate to have a nice pool of
candidates, and are not desperate to make choices
that we would later regret."
She said Three Rivers' standards now are higher
than the state's: "We recognize that the state sets
the bar somewhat low on who should and should not be
considered for hire."
-- Barbara White Stack |
