CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that John Burke was a Democrat, in fact he is a member of the Republican party, who also ran on the Democratic line. North Country This Week regrets this error.

BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

CANTON – As the St. Lawrence County Department of Social Services faces allegations of misconduct, Legislator John Burke, R-Norfolk, urged his fellow legislators and the county administrator to provide a defense for employees working there.

On June 7, a dozen letters were submitted to legislators alleging unethical, retaliatory and disturbing claims regarding actions by some employees at the Department of Social Services, Child Protective Services and Fostering Futures.

On June 28, Burke asked St. Lawrence County Administrator Ruth Doyle and his fellow legislators if there was a plan in place to offer a response to allegations.

“It certainly seems like DSS is under attack by some of the leadership,” he said. “It’s my understanding and correct me if I’m wrong that finding foster care homes has been an extreme challenge and that some of our staff that have fostered kids has been a real asset to us.”

Burke said that kids come in at all hours of the night and being able to place them is important.

“This series of allegations needs to somehow be answered. Not specifically because I know you can’t do that,” he said to Doyle.

“My view is that we’ve got a tremendous amount of talented staff throughout the organization, but certainly in DSS and we need to speak on their behalf to let the public know we are getting a bargain,” Burke said.

Burke said he believes there is more to the story that needs to be addressed and that the county needs to compile the facts and present it back to the public.

“If we don’t stand up for them, who will?” Burke asked.

Doyle noted that providing a response was a difficult task for the county as it has not had time to investigate all of the allegations.

“It’s a challenge for St. Lawrence County to respond that any of these cases even exist. I think that’s been a challenge over the years when lots of folks can put forward lots of information that we don’t have the ability to respond to and that probably ranks right up there with one of the most frustrating pieces of these kinds of conversations that happen in the public. However, when they do, we take them seriously. We take the information that was provided directly to legislators very seriously,” she said.

Doyle said the county is investigating the claims, before offering comments.

“It would be short sighted to bring something immediately without looking into the concerns,” she said.

Doyle said she provided the legislators with some information regarding rates, but details were not discussed at the meeting. She said more information would be forthcoming and provided to the legislators when it was available.

“One of the areas that we’re looking at we hope to bring you more information on is that level of care. How often is it reviewed? What process does it go through just so there’s a better understanding generally of how that process takes place separate completely from cases I may apply to,” she said.

Doyle said the county has some very talented staff and has struggled with a lack of foster homes. She said “some would argue that our staff are particularly trained and capable of handling more difficult situations but the challenge we face is making sure that everything we do is transparent and refutable and defendable.”

DSS employees and agents from St. Lawrence County Fostering Futures have been accused of fostering children and collecting boarding rates that are disproportionately higher than what many foster parents who do not work for the department receive.

The letters share stories about children being taken from presumably fit and capable relatives who are seeking custody of their family members only to lose them to DSS or Fostering Futures employees seeking to foster them instead.

North Country This Week has been provided with a list of eight DSS employees that have fostered children and eight more from St. Lawrence County Fostering Futures.

It should be noted that such practice is not illegal; however, it raises ethical concerns in regard to oversight.

Allegations made in the letters also allude to retaliatory actions taken against those who have spoken out against issues they’ve seen take place and failure to provide help to families reaching out for safety concerns.

Courtney Fantone, a two-time Clarkson graduate and foster parent, leads an organization called CHILD. The organization aims to help people dealing with issues related to adoption, foster care and social services.

Fantone had multiple children taken from her home after being accused of abuse that proved to be unfounded. The children in her care were split and remain out of her care despite the fact she has been cleared of the allegations against her. She has accrued more than $30,000 in legal fees battling with DSS over the false claims.

Fantone said she was disheartened by Burke’s call to circle the wagons.

“It was extremely disheartening to see Legislator Burke, who is my legislator, jump right to the conclusion that the county should make a comment in defense of SLCDSS prior to any sort of investigation. The comment was made that ‘If we don’t stand up for them (DSS), who will.’ My personal opinion is that if indeed the department's hands are clean and free of wrongdoing, the results of an investigation will speak for themselves. Twelve letters were submitted to the legislators earlier this month, but believe me when I tell you that is just scratching the surface of the problems in this county, and future rounds of letters will continue to shine a light on that. I am glad these allegations are being looked into because there are issues here, issues that are affecting children.”