Six local families, advocacy group You Are the Power and Brunswick attorney Kevin Gough gathered at the Camden County Juvenile Justice Court Building, leveling allegations of abuse, unjust separation of families and dangerous levels of mismanagement at the Division of Family and Children Services in Camden County. They’ve requested a state investigation.
In one case, Corey and Diana Sullivan took their infant daughter to the hospital for a swollen leg, and doctors determined the leg had multiple fractures. That kicked off a series of events that led to the Sullivans losing custody of their children.
They maintain there’s a medical reason for their daughter’s condition, but say DFCS continues to allege abuse. They said in a news conference Monday that they’ve spent around $80,000 trying to regain custody of their three children.
“My biggest complaint is that we have so much medical proof in our favor, from the time that she was pregnant with our daughter, to now, and they don’t want to hear it,” Corey Sullivan said. “They have an agenda, and it seems like every time we present something, they have three or four other medical experts that want to come and combat it.”
Among the statistics cited at the event was that Camden County DFCS has one of the lowest reunification rates in the state — around 10%, while the state average is about 33% and national average is closer to 50%.
Gough argued the system is designed in such a way as to discourage family reunification.
“We set up these perverse incentives, where the agency is better off, and the employees do better, by stripping children from their families when they didn’t need to be removed, by keeping them removed and in foster care and by placing them for adoption,” Gough said.
A 15-year-old who spoke said that while he was in DFCS custody at a hotel for three months, he never went to school and instead spent days watching television and playing video games.
Gough and Sullivan also alleged a DFCS worker, who hasn’t been charged with a crime, is known for inappropriate interactions with children. Another worker, Donnelle Hill, was charged with aggravated sodomy in April following a report from a woman to police, detailing what she said transpired between them after he made a visit to the motel room in which she was staying with her children.
As she walked him back to his car, she said he propositioned her, and she felt pressured to accept to make sure her children wouldn’t be taken away.
He met his $115,100 bond and went on pre-trial release May 6.
“A lack of supervision and a lack of control — these employees do whatever they want,” Gough said. “It’s a cult of personality, not of fact.”
DFCS, through the state Department of Human Services, issued a statement explaining the agency doesn’t comment on specific allegations against staff, but that they take such allegations seriously.
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Several families voice concerns about the Camden County DCFS.