Faith Finley’s death at Parmadale Family Services

Faith Finley’s death at Parmadale Family Services while being restrained has not led to charges nearly 8 months later

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Rachel Dissell
Plain Dealer Reporter

Pictures taken by the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office show Faith Finley’s body sprawled on grungy linoleum at Parmadale Family Services, her baby-blue hooded sweatshirt dappled with vomit.

The photos show Faith’s face, her eyes still slightly open, the skin of her hand already turning blue.

Those pictures of Faith’s body were taken in December after she died while being restrained by the center’s staff.

Nearly eight months later, Faith’s family is waiting to find out if anyone is going to be held responsible for the 17-year-old’s death, which the coroner ruled a homicide.

A Parma police investigation was finished months ago and turned over to county prosecutors.

The coroner’s investigation, also completed, raised questions about the version of events given by Parmadale staff. So did a sworn statement by a 12-year-old witness who apparently was not, at least initially, questioned by authorities.

“They have had plenty of time to investigate,” said Jill Flagg, attorney for Faith’s mother. “As a lawyer who practices criminal law on a regular basis, I believe there is evidence of wrongdoing that the prosecutor should present to a grand jury.”

Prosecutor’s office spokesman Ryan Miday said the Finley case is very complex.

“This office takes all homicide cases seriously,” Miday said Monday in an e-mail. “A team of experienced homicide prosecutors has been independently reviewing this matter. That review is nearing its completion.”

Antionette Finley, Faith’s mother, is demanding answers and wants prosecutors to explain to her what is going on.

They have not returned calls to her or her lawyer.

“Something must be done,” Finley said. “I just feel like they are ignoring Faith’s death, like she was nothing more than an ant squashed under someone’s shoe.”

A coroner’s report, completed shortly after Faith died, noted that members of the Parmadale staff were giving inconsistent stories about how and when Faith stopped breathing.

Coroner’s investigators would not even pinpoint when Faith was last seen alive.

Parmadale staff told a 9-1-1 dispatcher that Faith had been breathing shallowly for about 20 minutes before becoming unresponsive.

An ambulance arrived within minutes of the call.

But emergency workers noted Faith was already cold to the touch when they arrived, according to the coroner investigator’s report, which included the photos.

Stories about how Faith was restrained before dying also differ. Staff told the coroner’s office that they held Faith down by her legs, arms and shoulders.

Coroner Frank Miller ruled in January that Faith died from “near traumatic asphyxia,” which means there was compression on her abdomen and that she also choked on her vomit while being restrained.

At least one youth, who was a roommate of Faith’s, said staff sat on Faith’s stomach, chest and legs, according to a transcript of a sworn interview between the 12-year-old and an attorney hired by Faith’s mother.

Flagg said in January or February she sent a transcript of her interview with the girl to Parma police and the prosecutor’s office when she found out they had not questioned the child.

The girl told her that Parmadale staff ushered them into a recreation room and closed the door when police arrived. Flagg does not know if anyone ever contacted or interviewed the girl after she sent her interview to police and prosecutors.

Flagg said she independently sought out accounts of what happened the day Faith died, while researching for a civil lawsuit against Parmadale and the parties involved. Parmadale is run by Catholic Charities.

According to a transcript of the 12-year-old’s interview, the confrontation between Faith and Parmadale workers began after they took a CD player away from Faith and she swore at one of the workers.

The girl, who was upset and crying during the interview, said Faith was telling the staff who were restraining her that she couldn’t breathe. One of the workers told Faith to “shut up because if she couldn’t breathe she wouldn’t be talking,” the girl said.

The child, who said she was watching in the hallway, said Faith told them seven to eight more times that she could not breathe. And after a little bit, she got quiet, stopped talking.

The girl said the staff then ushered the girls who had been nearby downstairs. The girl said that about 20 or 30 minutes later, she went upstairs to use the bathroom and saw Faith still on the floor.

“But this time her lips were blue,” the girl said, and a staff member was dozing in a nearby chair.

She said another Parmadale resident came upstairs and started screaming for a nurse when she saw Faith.

Parmadale later fired three workers involved in the restraint.

Tears dampen Antionette Finley’s eyes when she sorts through photos of her daughter — the coroner’s pictures along with pictures of Faith and her twin sister, Jordan, as impish toddlers making faces at each other, dressed up in matching Halloween costumes and later as teens.

She said it is for Jordan that she needs to find out why no one has been punished. “I can’t help but think that if Faith had blond hair and blue eyes . . . that something would have been done about it by now,” Finley said.

This past Sunday, the Finleys spent what was supposed to be a blowout celebration of the twins’ 18th birthday at a cemetery in Warren. They brought a birthday cake, Faith’s favorite stuffed poodle, named Fifi, and a pair of cowboy boots stitched with pink flowers that Faith adored.

“All I want is for the women who did this to have some sort of consequence,” Finley said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

rdissell@plaind.com, 216-999-4121

©2009 Plain Dealer
© 2009 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.

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Financial woes shuts residential care site

Financial woes shuts residential care site

July 3, 2009

By Charles M. Bartholomew, Post-Tribune correspondent

CHESTERTON — Thursday was the last day for office workers at the Pathway Family Center, the residential care and referral facility for teens and their families who face substance abuse problems.

Clinicians will see the last clients next Thursday, according to Pathway CEO and President Terri Nisseley, who described her mission as, “We save kids.”

After that, families seeking help will have to take their troubled teens to the agency’s facilities in Indianapolis as much as several times a week, as they had to before Pathway opened its Porter County location in 2007 at the invitation of the Community Action Drug Coalition.

Among the center’s free services that will stop are a hot line that handled 420 calls last year and a community education program for youths, teachers and health care workers that served 24,320 people, Nisseley said.

“Not having residential care here puts them in a bind. I know first-hand working with kids … the importance of a residential treatment center,” said Portage High School Resource Officer Troy Williams, a member of the local board for Pathway.

Local officials agree with Nisseley’s claim that the center’s adolescent treatment programs are “very successful” in turning young people away from drugs.

On the Web site www.pathwayfamilycenter.org , Porter County Sheriff David Lain says that Pathway “has proven to be successful in this fight. They are having an impact with the most vulnerable victims of addiction; adolescents and their families.”

Nisseley said this week the county still has a “huge” need for this kind of treatment, but the demand necessary to support the center financially never materialized.

“You know the saying, ‘Build it and they will come?’ I now know that idea will not work.”

She said the center had been started with high hopes of those who had asked Pathway to come here. The center sought $1 million in local funding in support. They started with $200,000 from the Porter County Council and the amount from the Drug Coalition, but fundraising and referrals never covered the costs.

In addition to the recently-recession, she blamed ongoing Hoosier insularity.

“I think there was political pressure for people in positions of referring kids for help not to change their referral patterns,” she said.

She said those positions included “anybody working in the justice system, school systems, local treatment programs.”

“I wouldn’t go there,” said Pathway board member Robert Taylor, coordinator of the Porter County Drug Task Force with the county Prosecutor’s Office when asked to comment on her statement.

But he agreed strongly with her about the effects of the economy and the financial obstacles to families seeking treatment.

“Treatment at the center can cost $15,000 to $20,000. Most people have to borrow — it’s like sending your child to college,” he said.

He said he often referred teens to the center and will continue to do so.

Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com

chesterton

Friends’ Fears For ‘Gay Cure Clinic’ Student

2:23pm UK, Monday July 20, 2009

Ruth Barnett

A campaign is under way to locate a gay man who has not contacted his friends since he apparently checked into a clinic to “cure” his sexuality.

Bryce Faulkner

Bryce Faulkner is a medical student from Arkansas, United States

Bryce Faulkner, 23, is believed to have signed up for 14 months of “ex-gay therapy” with a religious group.

Boyfriend Travis Swanson told Sky News Online he has not heard from the Christian medical student since a tearful phone call on June 15.

Mr Faulkner, from Arkansas, had told friends he planned to be open about his relationship and move closer to his partner who lives in Wisconsin.

They believe the student could instead be at an Exodus International centre in Florida.

One of the biggest organisations offering “recovery” therapy, it has 230 ministries across the US and Canada.

Its centres are often run by non-professional Christian ministers and some offer “intensive live-in” courses, according to its website.

Treatment is believed to include no speaking for three days, no phone or email access and no physical contact.

Travis Swanson

Travis Swanson

Although the Exodus site features testimonials from Christians who “recovered” from their attraction to same-sex partners, there are several support groups for those who say the treatment does not work.

Peterson Toscano, from the support group Beyond Ex-Gay, spent 17 years battling with his sexuality.

He told Sky News Online the “therapy” can lead to “depression, confusion and suicidal tendencies”.

Hundreds of people in the US have taken part in residential programmes in the last decade and many more have had informal interventions from family or church groups, according to Mr Toscano.

“It’s not getting less common, it’s going underground more,” he said.

His friends have created a ‘Save Bryce’ web campaign to find out where the student is.

It is being maintained by gay rights activist Reverend Brett Harris.

He said they hope to “bring attention to the plight of all the ‘Bryce Faulkners’ in the world” – a reference to other men and women struggling with their sexual orientation.

Since the online campaign to find him began, more than 1,600 people have joined a Facebook group raising awareness.

Rev Harris told Sky News Online it has received comments from all over the world.

“It’s become a grassroots movement,” he explained.

The campaign has gathered such momentum the Facebook group will be turned into a non-profit organisation to help others in the same situation.

Former S.D. Boot Camp Remembers Teen Death Ten Years Ago

By CHET BROKAW
and CARSON WALKER

Associated Press Writers

Published: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:20 AM CDT

PLANKINTON — The changes are noticeable at the former State Training School since 14-year-old Gina Score died 10 years ago Tuesday of heat exhaustion after a mandatory run.

The razor wire and bars on the windows are gone. The detention cell is hidden by a new wall. A private company runs the facility. And instead of getting in a kid’s face, the goal is to get into his or her head.

“I think we’re reaching kids a lot deeper now,” said Fred Bettner, executive director of what is now the Aurora Plains Academy, a private operation that contracts with the state to treat some juvenile offenders. “We’re not locking them up. We’re not secluding them. We’re not doing more trauma to them. We’re trying to help them get through the trauma that’s happened in the past.”

In July 1999, Score was overweight and had just arrived in the program days before taking part in the 2.7-mile run that was a part of the girls boot camp routine. It was hot that day and the staff members thought she was faking symptoms.

A jury acquitted two state employees of wrongdoing in Score’s death, but it prompted the state to close the reform school in 2001, 113 years after it opened.

Clinicare of West Allis, Wis., opened the academy in January 2007 to help juveniles with extreme verbal, physical and sexual aggression.

The private operation is part of a big change made in the past decade in South Dakota’s juvenile corrections program. Facilities also have moved away from a military style to focus more intensively on what treatment each juvenile needs.

Doug Herrmann, juvenile services director for the state Corrections Department, said the agency now uses proven methods to assess each kid’s problems and provide treatment that fixes those problems.

Positive reinforcement is used in state-run programs and the private facilities that treat some juveniles because that approach works better than punishment, he said.

“I think philosophically we’ve really taken an approach to individualize the services to youth,” Herrmann said.

A decade ago, the Corrections Department had 1,165 juveniles in its care. At the end of last month, there were 856, the lowest number since the juvenile program started more than three decades ago, Herrmann said.

He said 157 boys and girls were in programs in Custer in June and the department paid private facilities to care for another 239 who needed specialized care. Most of the rest were living at home or other facilities while receiving services that are provided after release from institutions.

Judges are sending the same number of juveniles to the Corrections Department, but the number under the agency’s supervision has dropped because of programs better at helping kids avoid more trouble after they are released, Herrmann said.

The department tries to keep the recidivism rate, which measures those who get into trouble the first year after being released from an institution, at less than 30 percent, he said.

Treatment for juvenile offenders includes services to their families and cooperation with other agencies to help kids deal with mental health, drugs, alcohol and other problems, Herrmann said. In addition to the state facilities, the department uses up to 20 private programs that can treat specific problems.

“We obviously use private care, residential care, much greater than we did 10 years ago. Oftentimes, those types of programs are a little more individualized or more specific as targeted to the needs of that youth,” Herrmann said.

Copyright © 2009 – Yankton Press & Dakotan

Source: http://yankton.net/articles/2009/07/21/news/doc4a654f287d44c318760108.txt

Warning Signs of Potentially Abusive Facilities

1.) The facility is not licensed.

2.) Verbal and/or written communication between the child and his parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. is prohibited, restricted, or monitored on any level.

3.) The facility requires that the parents and/or child sign a form releasing the program of liability in the event of injury to the child.

4.) The program requests/demands/recommends that they have legal custody of children.

5.) The program requires that children live in foster or “host” homes instead of allowing them to reside with their parents.

6.) The child or parent or forbidden from discussing the daily happenings at the facility. Often this policy is called “confidentiality.”

7.) The child is denied access to a telephone.

8.) Phone calls between children and parents are monitored.

9.) The program uses confrontational therapy.

10.) Parents must fulfill requirements of the facility before being permitted to visit their own children.

11.) The facility is located outside the jurisdiction of the United States.

12.) Children are restrained or otherwise physically prevented from leaving the facility.

13.) The staff includes former students/clients of the facility.

14.) Staff members claim that self-injury or cutting/carving on ones body is normal behavior for a child in treatment.

15.) Parents are not allowed to remain with their child during the entire intake/entry process.

16.) The program inflicts physical punishments on children such as exercising for extended periods of time, bizarre cleaning rituals (ie scrubbing floors with a toothbrush) or food restrictions.

17.) The program uses humiliation to “break them down.”

18.) The program forces children to remain in solitary confinement/isolation/time-out for an unspecified amount of time.

19.) The facility considers homosexuality to be a behavioral problem.

20.) The facility claims to be able to “treat” homosexuality.

21.) Reading materials are prohibited or severely limited.

22.) The facility does not have a clearly visible sign outside the building or descriptions of their location are vague.

23.) The facility claims to modify behavior, yet has no licensed therapists on staff.

24.) A licensed doctor or registered nurse is not present at any time during normal operating hours.

25.) Current clients/students participate in the intake/entry process.

26.) Staff members offer to help parents obtain a court order forcing the child into, or keeping the child in, the facility.

27.) Children are observed while bathing, dressing, or using the toilet on any level of the program.

28.) The facility claims to treat drug abuse, but does not conduct a drug screen prior to entry.

29.) The facility does not allow children to follow their religion of choice.

30.) Staff members must “approve” family members, siblings, friends, or employment.

31.) Children are not afforded an education in accordance with state requirements.

32.) Medication is recommended, prescribed, approved, or dispensed by anyone other than a medical doctor (MD).

33.) Children are denied medications that have been prescribed by an MD.

34.) Staff members, admissions personnel, referrers, etc. make statements indicating that “your child will die without” the program.

35.) Children escort/supervise other children.

36.) Children have to “earn” the “right” to speak during group/therapy sessions.

37.) Children are denied outside activities on any level/phase.

38.) Staff members must approve the withdrawal of children from the facility.

39.) The facility expects total and unquestioned support of parents.

40.) Children on any level/phase are forbidden to speak to other children in the facility.

41.) The facility will not disclose the names of any doctors or therapists on staff prior to the child’s admittance into the program.

ISAC will add to this list as necessary.

Source: ISAC Corporation – www.isaccorp.org