Checkpoint_Case_Study_Cjs_240

Case Study CheckPoint LeeAnn Selchow CJS/240 Introduction to Juvenile Justice May 25, 2011 Psonya Wilson 1. What are some of the possible reasons caseworkers were not aware of the conditions in the Jackson home' 2. From the information presented in the case study, should the nine members of the Division of Youth and Family Services staff have been fired' Why or why not' 3. Do you believe justice was served in this case' Why or why not' 4. Could this situation have been prevented' If so, how' If not, why' In the case of the Jackson boys, I believe there were several reasons why the abuse was not discovered earlier and the majority of the blame should be placed right on the Youth Services Agency and the workers that had previously visited the home. According to the article in Appendix “C”, the boys were home schooled and not in the community’s view very often and then their malnourished state was explained away as eating disorders by the Jacksons, without proof from any medical professionals. The Jacksons never took the boys in for any medical care either, where a medical professional would most assuredly turn them in. The neighbors and the people of their church, along with the pastor believed the parents’ explanation because they had been foster parents and had a history of being sent children to care for, in foster care, which had many issues with health and other things. The issue with the caseworkers that came to the home and saw the abysmal conditions all the children were living in, including no electricity or food, I tend to agree with their firing. Any one of them could have taken action at any one of the 38 home visits, but none of them did a thing, except deny them another female foster-child. I believe because there were so many different caseworkers involved, each sympathetic of the struggling family, there was grave injustice done. They all deserved to be fired for not following up with proper investigation of medical conditions, at the least, of the children. I do not blame the church or pastor because they could only act on what the family was telling them about the boys’ medical condition. I do not believe that justice was served in the punishment of the mother either. She had a great deal of help and resources available from both the community and the state to help with these children that they could not handle. They were in it for the money, period. Could this have been prevented' Absolutely, any one of the caseworkers could have ended it with follow-up and more common sense.