[ad_1]
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — We continue to follow the case of the five Lackawanna County youth and family services employees that were arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
Amy Helcoski, Bryan Walker a supervisor, Sadie O’Day another supervisor, Erik Krauser, and Randy Ramik are all being charged with endangering the welfare of a child and failure to report abuse.
The district attorney claims the employees knew the children were living in deplorable or dangerous conditions, ignored it or the DA claims tried to falsify reports about it.
According to child protective services law, the Pennsylvania State Welfare Resource Center requires child welfare training for each caseworker in the state of Pennsylvania. The training differentiates risk factors vs. safety factors when assessing a home.
The in-home safety assessment worksheet lists 14 safety threats that must be identified by the caseworker by answering yes, it meets the safety threshold or no, it does not.
These safety threats are explained and given criteria for each number in the training. If the safety threshold is met the caseworker is advised to select yes for the respective safety threat.
For example, number one reads caregiver intended to cause serious physical harm to the child. If the safety threshold is met, the caseworker should put yes. The safety threshold is the point at which a negative condition goes beyond being concerning and becomes a danger to the child’s safety.
If the child is not ordered to be removed from the home, the caseworker must complete a safety plan with actions to be taken and how these actions will be monitored.
In each affidavit, there were instances of safety threats such as poor living conditions.
It is important to note however assessments can only be completed on the date of face-to-face contact. It is also important to note, a caseworker needs a court order to physically remove a child from a home.
[ad_2]
