DSS decisions shameful

Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010
DSS decisions shameful
By Issac Bailey - ibailey@thesunnews.com

South Carolina- Karen Munsey worked as an investigator and treatment worker for Horry County Child Protection Services, an arm of the S.C. Department of Social Services.

She worked as a school psychologist in several South Carolina schools.

She's certified in child protective service and permanency planning.

She has a BA in psychology from Coastal Carolina University, a master's and education specialist degree from the Citadel and worked as a probation counselor with the Department of Youth Service, now known as the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice.

And yet, when she came across a poor father desperately trying to save his daughter from being sexually abused during court-ordered visits after an ugly custody fight, she felt helpless.

"With all that experience, I could not maneuver that system," she said. "Everything that we were able to accomplish was long, tedious and much harder than it ever should have been. It was all-consuming and totally draining. To this day, I cannot imagine the feelings and frustrations [that father] must have felt when all he wanted to do was ensure his child would not continue to be molested."

That's why Munsey is convinced child protective services needs to be taken away from the over-stressed DSS and handled by law enforcement.

"When I resigned from DSS, I did confront the fact that it was a facade that children were being protected," she said.

The over-worked DSS case workers, who sometimes put their lives in danger and make difficult, gut-wrenching decisions involving flawed families, are not the problem, Munsey said.

There are "highly efficient, motivated and dedicated" DSS workers who have saved countless kids from great harm, or prevented further harm, as well as some who "are, frankly, embezzling a paycheck."

"The problem is the system itself," she said.

"Child protective services can never be fixed in its present state. The real issue is that the system is broken and children pay and pay dearly," Munsey said. "This should be a political issue which makes or breaks a candidacy, but it is rarely if ever an issue presented in local or national campaigns. The reality is that our society is turning a blind eye and trusting that our children and the issues of their safety are designated and handled adequately by a very efficient system when it has been designed to be an antiquated and shattered system."  FULL STORY