BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

CANTON – Nearly a dozen letters have been submitted to St. Lawrence County legislators calling for investigations into a variety of alleged misconducts in the Department of Social Services.

The letters were submitted Monday, June 7 and shared with North Country This Week by the Law Office of Michael Phillips, Clinton County, which is working to help several biological parents, foster parents and grandparents who say they have struggled to get positive outcomes from the department.

Phillips said in his 30 years as an attorney practicing in Essex, Lewis, Clinton and Franklin counties, he has never seen instances where DSS employees worked to remove children from safe, secure fostering homes.

“There is some agenda or culture going on over there that I haven’t been able to figure out and haven’t gotten to the bottom of yet and I do mean yet,” he said in an interview.

“It’s heartening to see that some folks, including you and some county legislators, are taking interest in this and we are hopeful it will bring about a sea change or a culture change. In the meantime, I’ve got a number of cases both in fair hearings and in family court that we are going to continue to prosecute to see that fair and just outcomes prevail,” he said.

Allegations cited

Allegations in the letters include ethical concerns such as DSS employees and agents 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 employees seeking to foster them instead.

North Country This Week has independently verified at least one DSS employee fostering at least two children at this time, but have heard from multiple sources that other instances exist. 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.

One letter alludes to an incident in which a DSS employee allegedly admitted to destroying evidence that a DSS attorney alleged he had reviewed.

In July of 2020, a protest was held outside of St. Lawrence County DSS offices in Canton in the wake of the murder of Treyanna Summerville, a black 18-year-old,who killed. Initially, police charged her 13-year-old sister for the crime but later charged the mother, Lashanna Charlton, for the crime.

At the rally, many people alleged that reports of abuse at Summerville’s home were reported to DSS on numerous occasions, and many blamed the teen’s death on the failure of DSS to act on the complaints.

‘Horrific and traumatic’

Among those attending the protest was Courtney Fantone, a two-time Clarkson University graduate and director of Community Helping Individuals Living in Distress (CHILD). She formed the group following a “horrific and traumatic ordeal” she experienced as a foster parent in St. Lawrence County.

Fantone is also the author of one of the letters submitted to St. Lawrence County calling for ethical changes at the department. As far back as the 2020 protest, Fantone has been working to collect evidence to prove misconduct at DSS and help others who have struggled to keep their children or get help from the department.

In her letter to the county, she outlined some of what she’s obtained.

“From the data that we have collected, we are seeing (that) not only are children being moved from safe, loving homes like ours, but children are also being left in unsafe homes, despite numerous calls to DSS from concerned citizens,” she said in her letter to the county.

“We are seeing caseworkers going outside of the scope of their responsibilities and trying to act as medical, mental health, and legal professionals, acting in a manner that is contrary to the best interest of a child. We are seeing caseworkers picking and choosing which recommendations to follow and which to bury. We are seeing people’s fundamental rights being trampled on and we are seeing unethical conflict of DSS employees foster the very children in their care and custody,” her letter continued.

“CHILD’s mission is to give every child failed by St. Lawrence County’s child welfare system a voice by providing support, information and advocacy to families, while holding agencies accountable when arbitrary decisions are made contrary to the child’s best interest,” she said.

Fantone notes that she’s working with an attorney in an attempt to stop children from falling through the cracks in the future.

The Law Firm of Michael Phillips is working with Fantone as well as several other families including those that submitted letters to the county.

The law firm alleges systemic issues in St. Lawrence County DSS and Child Protective Services from employees, to attorneys and even alleges inappropriate actions from at least one judge.

Although the depth of what St. Lawrence County Legislators know or don’t know regarding the allegations remains unclear, they are certainly aware of dysfunction within DSS and have made efforts to address some issues within the department.

DSS Director Cynthia Ackerman has spoken recently at several county meetings as legislators have pushed for her to help clean up the department and get it in a more functional state. Some have alluded to a lack of funding and staff, though on June 7 the county agreed to fill 11 positions in the department.

Legal Staffing Dismantled

In recent months, the county also dismantled DSS legal staffing, giving control over to St. Lawrence County Attorney Stephen Button. The decision was made in a narrow 8-7 vote with those against the change labeling it politically motivated.

Proponents, however, said legal help was needed as it was prompted by a backlog of custody cases keeping more than 350 children in county care.

At the time, former county Legislator David Haggard had been chief DSS attorney. Following the vote, all DSS attorney positions were dissolved as part of the changeover, but Haggard and the other attorneys were offered the opportunity to reapply for positions as assistant county attorneys assigned to DSS.

Although details regarding the matter are limited, Button confirmed that Haggard is no longer employed by the county. Some complaints made to North Country This Week were directly related to Haggard, though all those who spoke to the paper noted that the problems predated both Haggard and Ackerman.

Button said he could not speak on specifics of the allegations because they originated from party opponents in ongoing litigation, but did offer a comment.

“The county is aware that there are some rather serious allegations that have been leveled against the Department of Social Services. The board of legislators and the county take the allegations very seriously,” he said.

“We are undertaking an effort to review these matters and determine an appropriate course of conduct for future activities and behaviors. As an organization we will continue to strive to be better than we were before and tomorrow we will strive to be better than we are today,” he said.

North Country This Week will be continuing to investigate this matter.

Fantone is urging anyone who wishes to share a story or provide further evidence to email childhelp.director@gmail.com with their complaints or call 1-518-572-8169.