North America & Oceania

74 Foster Children Missing in Kansas

By Sarah Purtill
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

KANSAS, United States – More than 70 children are missing from Kansas’ privatized foster care system. In total, there are 74 children missing from the Kansas foster care system. KVC Kansas, the contractor for the cases in eastern Kansas has 38 of the missing children under its supervision and 36 more are under the supervision of Saint Francis Community Service’s in the western part of the state.

Three sisters, under the care of their great aunt, have not been seen since late August. Phyllis Gilmore, the head of the Kansas Department for Children and Families was not aware of the sisters’ disappearance before the Kansas City Star first reported it. Gilmore claims that tracking children in foster care is just one of the department’s responsibilities. She says the department has policies in place to attempt to find missing children and return them to their foster homes. “These children who run away are not under lock and key; they are generally in family foster homes, older youth, who attend school and activities, and they often miss their biological families,” she said.

Phyllis Gilmore, head of the Kansas Department of Children and Families was not aware three sisters in foster care have been missing since August. Photo Courtesy of HPPR.

Kansas has approximately 7,100 children in foster care as of August 2017. The missing 74 are 1% of the total children in the foster care system. That number is on par with the national average. The United States Department of Health and Human Services reported that during the 2015 federal government’s fiscal year, approximately 4,600 foster care children were listed as runaways which is about 1.1% of the almost 428,000 total.

Rep. Linda Gallagher said even if the number of missing children is on par with the national average, it is still too many. Chad Anderson, chief clinic officer at KVC Kansas, acknowledged to the child welfare task force that contractors can do a better job. “I don’t know that we as contractors have shared as much in terms of missing youth and the day to day as we probably should,” Anderson said. He added that contractors update the Department of Children and Families every 30 days on missing children.

During a meeting of an oversight panel at the Statehouse in Topeka, foster care contractors provided the information in response to questions about the disappearance of the three sisters. Rep. Steve Alford, chair of the task force, said he really was not surprised by the number of kids missing after the meeting. “There’s a break between DCF and the contracting,” he said. “Once the children … [go from the court] into the possession of the secretary, she hands them off to the contractors and it’s their responsibility, you know, it’s kind of like out of sight, out of mind in a lot of aspects.”

For more information, please see:

Fox News – More Than 20 Kids Missing From Kansas Foster Care System – 12 October 2017

HPPR – More Than 70 Kids Missing From Kansas’ Foster Care System – 11 October 2017

Time – ‘Flabbergasted.’ More Than 70 Children are Missing From Foster Care – 11 October 2017

US News – 70 Plus Children Missing From Kansas Foster Care System – 11 October 2017

Death Toll Rises to 12 at Florida Nursing Home

By Sarah Purtill
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MIAMI, Florida – On September 10th, hurricane Irma tore through Florida, causing the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center to lose some of its power. The home maintained some electricity, but lost the power to its air conditioning units when a tree knocked out a transformer. Three days after the hurricane hit, the nursing home called 911. Many of their patients had begun exhibiting cardiac arrest and respiratory failure. On September 13th, nearly 150 patients were evacuated. . Of the 150 patients that were evacuated on September 13th, a number of them were treated for heat-related issues.  As of September 18th, eight patients had died. That number has since risen to twelve.

Dolores Biamonte, 57, died September 28th according to a statement from the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office. Biamonte was the youngest of the residents who died as a result of the heat exposure. Currently, the dead range in age from 57 – 99. Some of those who died had body temperatures that reached 109.9 degrees Fahrenheit. CNN obtained a video that showed one woman sitting naked in a hallway on what looks like a hospital bed next to fans and spot coolers.

Across the street from the home is one of the largest hospitals in Florida. Investigators want to know why so many patients died even though the hospital was only across the street. The twelve deaths at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills are now being treated as part of a criminal investigation, according to Hollywood police spokesman, Miranda Grossman. Federal and State agencies are also conducting administrative investigations.

The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is under investigation following the deaths of 12 residents from heat exposure after Hurricane Irma. Photo Courtesy of the Daily News.

Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office reported, even though the nursing home had multiple calls with state authorities, they never reported that the patients were in danger or needed to be evacuated.  That report also stated that the state advisors told the nursing home managers multiple times to call 911 if the patients were in danger or needed to be evacuated. The 159-page state report said that was “something [the nursing home] failed to do.”

The Governor said in a statement, “this facility is failing to take responsibility for the fact that they delayed calling 911 and made the decision not to evacuate their patients to one of the largest hospitals in Florida, which is directly across the street.” The nursing home said it is “fully cooperating with all authorities and regulators to assess what went wrong.” The nursing home has also expressed their sympathy for the families of those who died.

Several families have filed lawsuits. Pedro Franco, whose father, Miguel, died following Irma, said, “this is something that could have been prevented.” Franco is among those who filed a lawsuit against the nursing home. The lawsuit also alleges that the nursing home failed to provide proper care to Pedro’s mother, Cecilia Franco, who survived but was hospitalized in serious conditions.

The State Agency for Health Care Administration revoked the nursing home’s license and shut them down earlier this month. In addition, Governor Scott gave all Florida nursing homes and assisted living facilities sixty days to comply with news rules which require them to have generators that can provide backup power for up to four days.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Florida Nursing Home Death Toll Reaches 12 – 29 September 2017

Daily News – Death Toll Reaches 12 at Florida Nursing Home Left Without Power After Hurricane Irma – 29 September 2017

NBC News – Florida Nursing Home Death Toll Rises to Twelve After Hurricane Irma Knocked Out A/C – 29 September 2017

Time – 12th Person Dies After being Taken From Overheated Florida Nursing Home – 29 September 2017

CNN – Video Shows Naked Woman in Sweltering Nursing Home Where 8 Died – 16 September 2017

NY Amends Elder Law to Prevent Elder Abuse

By Sarah Purtill
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

ALBANY, New York – Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law on September 13th that would help increase the protections against elder abuse. Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Binghamton) sponsored the bill which is now law. 11 of her fellow Assemblymen co-sponsored the bill. The new law requires state agencies to develop guidelines to help healthcare providers detect cases of elder abuse, self-neglect and maltreatment.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new bill into law strengthening the protections against elder abuse. Photo courtesy of Biography.

The Office for the Aging, the Department of Health, and the Office of Children and Family Services will develop the guidelines and will have the guidelines available on their websites. Lupardo said, “We want the Department of Health to be a resource for this information for healthcare professionals, where they can find information on signs and symptoms, screening tools, protocols and referrals for appropriate treatment.” Her hope is that by placing all the information in one place on each website will make the information more accessible.

10% of Americans over age 60 have experienced some form of elder abuse according to the National Council on Aging. Elder abuse has many forms including physical, financial and psychological. According to a 2011 study on elder abuse, for each reported incident of abuse, there are 24 unreported incidences.

The bill before the Assembly had included increased protections against financial abuse as well, but Lupardo said it has been difficult to get all the parties to come to an agreement. The suggestion that had been in the bill was to simplify the forms for power of attorney and to have banks offer the option of opening a convenience account when a customer wants a joint account. Governor Cuomo also recognized the financial abuse of our elders, calling it a “national issue.”

Some of the counties in New York have begun to address the issue on their own. The employees of Otsego County Office for the Aging have undergone regular training on elder abuse and will be attending more in the future. Many employees went to a training on September 26th in conjunction with the New York State Office for the Aging and the Broome County Family Violence Prevention Council. The training focused on financial abuse of seniors. Organizer Denise Shukoff said, “Elder abuse is a public health issue, and health professionals are seeing and recognizing this more and more.”

Advocates of the law say that the goal is to assist healthcare workers build relationships with their patients, detect signs of abuse, and report them to the authorities.

For more information, please see:

Daily Star – State Beefs up Laws to Fight Elder Abuse – 26 September 2017

Democrat and Chronicle – NY Installs Stronger Protections Against Elder Abuse – 15 September 2017

New York State Assembly – An act to amend the elder law, in relation to developing guidelines for identifying and reporting elder abuse in healthcare settings – 2 June 2017

Under the Radar – New York Elder Abuse Prevalence Study – May 2011

Deadliest Mass Shooting in Modern US history is the 273rd Mass Shooting in 2017

By: Karina Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — On Sunday night, October 1st, Stephen Paddock opened fire from his room on the 32nd floor upon concert-goers attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival at the Mandalay Bay Hotel.  Police received the first reports of the shooting at 10:08 pm, according to the New York Times, and the shooter was found dead by the time SWAT entered his room.  As of October 2nd, 59 people were killed and 527 people were injured during the shooting.

Dozens of people were killed and hundreds were wounded during Sunday evening’s shooting in Las Vegas. Photo Courtesy of Vox News.

According to multiple law enforcement officials, 23 guns were recovered from the hotel room and an additional 19 guns and explosives were recovered from Paddock’s home in Mesquite, NV, 90 miles north of Las Vegas.  Stephen Paddock was a 64-year-old wealthy white man with “no significant criminal history.”

In a statement to The New York Times, FBI Special Agent Aaron Rouse dismissed claims that Paddock was associated with ISIS and stated that “[Paddock had] no connection to an international terrorist group.”

Sunday night’s tragic shooting, categorized by many as an act of domestic terrorism, has surpassed the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida as well as the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre as the deadliest shooting since 1949.

Mass shootings do not have a consistent definition: organizations may categorize a mass shooting by number of people injured, number of people killed, and may exclude certain kinds of violence.  These definitions may exclude the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 or the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, both incidents with a death toll in the hundreds. Under Vox News and the Gun Violence Archive’s definition of mass shootings (any incident where “four or more people were shot, but not necessarily killed, at the same general time and location”), this incident is the 273rd mass shooting in the US in 2017.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Las Vegas shooter named as Stephen Paddock – 2 October 2017

Al Jazeera – The deadliest mass shootings in the US – 2 October 2017

The Guardian – 1,516 mass shootings in 1,735 days: America’s gun crisis – in one chart – 2 October 2017

The Guardian – Mandalay Bay attack: at least 59 killed in deadliest US shooting – 2 October 2017

The New York Times – Las Vegas Shooting Live Updates: Multiple Weapons Found in Gunman’s Hotel Room – 2 October 2017

NPR – Las Vegas Shooting Update: At Least 59 People Are Dead After Gunman Attacks Concert – 2 October 2017

Vox – Is Las Vegas the worst mass shooting in US history? It’s surprisingly complicated – 2 October 2017

Reveal – Charlottesville underscores how homegrown hate is going unchecked – 21 June 2017

97-year-old Shipping Regulation Limiting Post-Hurricane Relief to Puerto Rico

By: Karina Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — On Wednesday, September 20, Category 4 Hurricane ‘Maria’ made landfall in Puerto Rico with winds reaching 155 miles per hour and covering parts of the island in over 10 feet of water.  It was the strongest hurricane to affect Puerto Rico since San Felipe Segundo in 1928.

The sun sets on a devastated neighborhood in Yabucoa in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Photo Courtesy of The Guardian.

As of September 27, 97% of the population did not have access to electricity and over 50% do not have access to drinking water with the daily temperature reaching over 90°.  Puerto Rico’s hospitals are dependent on diesel fuel to power their emergency generators, and despite their stringent fuel rationing, the majority of the hospitals are on the verge of running out.  Diesel is a necessary good imported to Puerto Rico from the mainland United States.

The existing poor infrastructure and the current difficulty in getting aid to Puerto Rico post-Maria have been blamed in a large part on the Jones Act.

The Jones Act—also known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920—requires that the transportation of goods between points in the US be done in a ship (1) bearing the US flag, (2) built in the United States, (3) owned by US citizens, and (4) operated by US citizens or legal permanent residents.  This means that basic shipments of necessary goods must be imported to Puerto Rico from the US on Jones Act-compliant ships that tend to run four times more expensive than non-compliant ships.  This results in the cost of living in Puerto Rico is about 13% higher on average than in the contiguous United States.

Precedents for Jones Act waivers in the last 15 years have included exceptional situations of humanitarian need—Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Sandy in 2012, and Harvey and Irma in 2017—and have spanned three administrations: Bush, Obama, and Trump.

President Donald Trump has been hesitant to waive the Jones Act for Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, and told reporters on Wednesday: “We’re thinking about that, but we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people, a lot of people who work in the shipping industry, that don’t want the Jones Act lifted.”

Puerto Rico has a population of 3.4 million—roughly equivalent to the combined population of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Puerto Ricans still waiting for aid a week after Maria’s devastation – 27 September 2017

NBC News – What is the Jones Act? Opponents to 1920 Law Argue It’s Worsening Puerto Rico’s Crisis – 27 September 2017

The Guardian – Hurricane Maria pushes Puerto Rico’s struggling hospitals to crisis point – 27 September 2017

Vox – The Jones Act, the obscure 1920 shipping regulation strangling Puerto Rico, explained – 27 September 2017

The Washington Post – Feds rush aid to Puerto Rico amid growing pleas for help – 25 September 2017

Al Jazeera – Hurricane Maria strikes US territory of Puerto Rico – 21 September 2017

Department of Homeland Security – DHS Statement on Extending the Jones Act Waiver – 13 September 2017