|
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, The (GA) September 17, 2003
Gov. Sonny Perdue on Tuesday
removed the head of the troubled, $2.6 billion-a-year Department of Human
Resources, most recently rocked by the deaths of two toddlers who had been
under the agency's protection.
Jim Martin, a former Democratic legislator who has been DHR
commissioner for two years, will remain in the post until a replacement is
found, Perdue said.
Child advocates have been clamoring for heads to roll since the
deaths of Kyshawn Punter and Caleb Woods, both 2-year-olds from metro
Atlanta, within a month of each other.
In his announcement, Perdue did not mention the furor or the
deaths. Nor did he cite a reason for accepting the resignation that Martin
submitted after the newly elected Republican governor demanded them from
all state department heads 10 months ago.
"Jim has a heart for children and has worked tirelessly on their
behalf," Perdue said Tuesday.
Martin, 58, is the second head of a major state agency to exit in
two weeks. Rebecca Paul, head of the state lottery, resigned last week to
run the new Tennessee lottery.
Martin's departure had been long expected at the state Capitol,
because of his strongly Democratic resume -- he represented the
Morningside area of Atlanta for 18 years in the Legislature -- and the
disturbing track record of the 20,000-employee department that oversees
the welfare of 100,000 children.
Exit decision 'mutual'
A spokesman for the governor said Perdue and Martin met Monday
after Martin returned from vacation. They "mutually agreed" that Martin
should bow out now, given the swearing-in today of seven new members to
the DHR board, Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan said. The board, now dominated
by Perdue appointees, is expected to elect a chairman today.
In addition to the Department of Family and Children Services, the
DHR includes the Aging Services, Public Health, Mental Health,
Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases agencies. The department
also includes the Office of Regulatory Services, the Office of Adoptions
and the Office of Child Support Enforcement.
Martin declined comment Tuesday.
Employee groups and some child welfare advocates last month
demanded the ouster of Martin and Juanita Blount-Clark, DFCS director. As
recently as Aug. 28, Martin said he would not resign.
Nearly 15,000 children are in DFCS custody in any given month,
about half in foster care. In an interview last month, Martin said changes
were in the works even before the two deaths this summer.
"Every time a child dies, it troubles us," Martin said at the time.
"If I thought the resignation of two people would fix the system, then
Juanita and I would resign. But I don't believe that is the solution."
Efforts to contact Blount-Clark on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
State Rep. Tom Bordeaux (D-Savannah), a friend of Martin's,
disputed the governor's claim that Martin went willingly. "He'd have to
have a stroke to give it up voluntarily," Bordeaux said. "For him, it is a
calling."
In July, toddler Caleb Woods of Douglas County was beaten to death
by his mother's live-in boyfriend, police say. Prior to the 2-year-old's
death, DFCS had received seven complaints about the treatment of children
in the home. A DFCS case manager resigned over the handling of Caleb's
case. The boyfriend, Daniel Brian Appleby, 23, has been charged with
murder.
Last month, two DFCS caseworkers were fired after 2-year-old
Kyshawn Punter was returned -- twice -- to his home in DeKalb County after
his stepfather had been accused of beating him. Shaun Stewart, 25, has
been charged with murder in his stepson's death Aug. 14.
DFCS woes date years
The supervision of children under state custody has been a matter
of controversy for years in Georgia. The 1998 death of 5-year-old Terrell
Peterson, starved and beaten to death by his aunt in Fulton County, led
the Legislature to adopt a state law giving doctors the power to take
temporary custody of at-risk children.
DFCS created a special unit to investigate deaths and serious
injuries to children, and the agency began holding case workers and
supervisors more accountable for the results of their actions. But DFCS
continued to experience trouble tracking the thousands of children under
its wing.
State officials expect to go to trial next year as defendants in a
lawsuit filed in 2002 by New York-based Children's Rights Inc. and
Keenan's Kids Law Center of Atlanta. The lawsuit claims the state's child
protection system is out of control, overburdened and putting thousands of
children at risk.
The class-action lawsuit, filed on behalf of more than 3,000
children in the Atlanta area, cites specific histories of nine children
who were allegedly harmed while in state care.
Martin faced challenge
Martin resigned his legislative seat in 2001 when then-Gov. Roy
Barnes, a fellow Democrat, tapped him to turn DHR around.
Republicans on Tuesday acknowledged the scope of the challenge
Martin faced. ''Hopefully a new team can challenge the status quo where
the old team may not have been able to, even if the desire had been
there,'' said Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah, president pro tem and the No.
1 ranking Republican in the state Senate.
"That's one out of two," said lawyer Don Keenan, a vocal critic of
DHR and an instigator of the 2002 lawsuit. He welcomed Martin's
resignation, but wants Blount-Clark out, too. "I don't think anything's
going to get done until we see a new face in the DFCS, too," Keenan said.
He said Blount-Clark has had four years to clean up the child
welfare agency. "Clearly, during her reign, we have seen deterioration
unprecedented across the board," he said.
The sincerity of the two officials was never in question, Keenan
said. "However, you would never get on a 747 airplane with a pilot who has
never flown before no matter how nice or well-intentioned they were," he
said.
State Rep. Mack Crawford (R-Zebulon) said the DHR commissioner was
probably in an unwinnable situation: "I don't know who could take that
agency and straighten it out. It's probably the toughest agency in state
government."
Marcia Lowry, executive director of Children's Rights Inc.,, said:
"The state makes a very big mistake if they think switching people in the
commissioner's chair is going to improve the child welfare system in
Georgia."
-- Staff writer Jill Young Miller and The Associated Press
contributed to this article.
ON AJC.COM
> Comprehensive background on DFCS' handling of the cases of two
dead toddlers.
|