The 'state' is ok with employees raping developmentally disabled women

[Liberal_in_LA]

Abused and Used
At State-Run Homes, Abuse and Impunity
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: March 12, 2011

Nearly 40 years after New York emptied its scandal-ridden warehouses for the developmentally disabled, the far-flung network of small group homes that replaced them operates with scant oversight and few consequences for employees who abuse the vulnerable population.

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At a home upstate in Hudson Falls, two days before Christmas in 2006, an employee discovered her supervisor, Ricky W. Sousie, in the bedroom of a severely disabled, 54-year-old woman. Mr. Sousie, a stocky man with wispy hair, was standing between the woman’s legs. His pants were around his ankles, his hand was on her knee and her diaper was pulled down.

The police were called, and semen was found on the victim. But the state did not seek to discipline Mr. Sousie. Instead, it transferred him to work at another home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/nyregion/13homes.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all


Mr. Sousie

:mad:

[Beaverhausen]

1. link?

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. sorry. added

[WatsonT]

2. If you must remove a diaper first

then chances are you're doing something horribly wrong.

[CountAllVotes]

4. subject needs to read "developmentally disabled"

just FYI.

Thanks for the story in any event and I hope that Mr. Sousie rots in hell!

:grr: :mad:

:kick:

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. thanks. Change made

[Snoutport]

11. ooops...I forget too....

[HockeyMom]

6. I have worked in private group homes and day hab

First, two things struck me immediately. In Day Hab, no male employee was allowed to bathroom a female client. I cannot tell you how many times I had to leave what I was doing to take a female client to the bathroom (change her diaper) because some rooms had only male staff.

Second, this particular agency grouped male clients in one house and female clients in different houses. Male employees worked the "male houses" and female employees the "female houses". The few mixed gender houses were generally of the highest mentally functioning clients and these homes HAD to have both male and female staff.

In addition, before hire we had to take a class on abuse. Part of that course also lectured on REPORTING abuse. We were told that if we saw anything that might be absuse and didn't report it, WE would be fired also. We had inservice every month going over and over all these issues.

Incidentially, I worked in private agencies on LI. Many of our clients were the children of Willowbrook and all staff went into a panic over the State coming in to inspect, both the IEP's, Progress Reports, Facilities, and the CLIENTS.

That New York is so thorough in investigating the PRIVATE agencies, is infuriating. "Physician Heal YOURSELF"

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. Thanks for info. glad some institutions are doing it right, protecting clients from abuse

[Rage for Order]

8. So New York state covers up sexual abuse, transferring offenders to other locations?

Imagine the outrage that would ensue if this were a story about the Catholic Church. At this point I think I'll have to tell the state of New York to STFU on any moral or ethical issue from this point forward. They have no leg to stand on, and anyone who supports or works in New York's Office for People With Developmental Disabilities deserves as much scorn and ridicule as can be heaped on them. After all, look at what they covered up and condoned:

A New York Times investigation over the past year has found widespread problems in the more than 2,000 state-run homes. In hundreds of cases reviewed by The Times, employees who sexually abused, beat or taunted residents were rarely fired, even after repeated offenses, and in many cases, were simply transferred to other group homes run by the state.

And, despite a state law requiring that incidents in which a crime may have been committed be reported to law enforcement, such referrals are rare: State records show that of some 13,000 allegations of abuse in 2009 within state-operated and licensed homes, fewer than 5 percent were referred to law enforcement. The hundreds of files examined by The Times contained shocking examples of abuse of residents with conditions like Down syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy.

But they have acknowledged that it had been the practice of the agency to handle most accusations of abuse internally, despite the office’s lack of forensic capacity. It does not use a crime lab or standard evidence-gathering techniques, and its investigators generally lack law enforcement training; sometimes, they are simply the supervisors of the accused employees.

The Times reviewed 399 disciplinary cases involving 233 state workers who were accused of one of seven serious offenses, including physical abuse and neglect, since 2008. In each of the cases examined, the agency had substantiated the charges, and the worker had been previously disciplined at least once. In 25 percent of the cases involving physical, sexual or psychological abuse, the state employees were transferred to other homes.

[madrchsod]

9. where my wife works anything like this is turned over to the local police.

the appropriate state agencies are notified and they send their investigators. at no time in this process does her union become involved in the process. they may become involved if the person is found guiltless and there`s a problem with reinstatement. of course she works for a private/state funded facility. both the union and the company take client safety as their first concern.

illinois just closed a state facility that had similar problems as new york.

[Snoutport]

10. NOT OK.... a society is judged by how they take care of their weakest members...

poor lady. I teach special ed and I fear for my student's futures because of guys like this!!!

[cali]

12. This is rape. pure and simple and those who transfered the rapist pig

are guilty of obstructing justice- at the very least. They are mandated reporters.

[Scuba]

13. This man should be in prison, along with the people who...

... didn't punish him. This is unforgivable on so many levels it defies description.