Sentenced: Former DCS Worker Facing Charges For Not Making Home Visits, Filing False Reports

[Sugar Cookie]

A former Department of Child Services worker is accused of skipping home visits and filing false documents saying she did.

Melisa Casteel, 39, is charged with a slew of obstruction of justice, official misconduct of a public servant and falsifying child abuse or neglect records while on the job.

An officer with the Indiana Office of the Inspector General launched an investigation into Casteel who was with the Allen County DCS office from February 2016 through September 2018.

DCS fired the Family Case Manager for falsifying electronic records pertaining to child welfare matters in the Management Gateway for Indiana Kids (MaGIK).

DCS policy states that case managers need to have monthly face-to-face meetings with every child under DCS care. A photo of the child needs to be taken during the visit.

Once the visit is complete, the case manager should document what happened during the face-to-face meeting and upload the photo to MaGIK.

An investigator overseeing the case said that family case managers will sometimes make a placeholder entry in the system that says, "more information will be uploaded soon."

This placeholder entry prevents the MaGIK system from automatically sending out a notice to DCS supervisors that a child has not been visited in the 30-day required period.

According to court documents, DCS supervisors have found that entries made by family case managers that are brief and give no detail are often signs of false reports.

That's exactly what happened with some of Casteel's records, prosecutors allege.

The inspector overseeing this case said he found several face-to-face visits in the MaGIK system that didn't happen.

He also found that Casteel submitted 3 reports to the Allen County Juvenile Court that contained some of these falsely reported face-to-face visits.

When investigators spoke with Casteel, she told them she saw her children every month.

She explained that the dates that didn't match in the online reporting system was intentional so as not to alert her supervisors of a missed meeting.

In August 2018, Casteel made an entry reporting a face-to-face visit with a child while taking her to a Richmond, Indiana youth services center.

She stated the visit happened in the online system on July 13, 2018.

However, investigators interviewed the foster parent who would have been involved in the visit, and the foster parent said Casteel canceled the visit due to the death of her stepfather.

She couldn't explain why she entered the July 13 visit when she knew it didn't happen.

Casteel did admit to investigators that a couple of visits didn't happen

Former DCS worker facing slew of charges for not making home visits, filing false reports

A former Department of Child Services worker is accused of skipping home visits and filing false documents saying she did.

wpta21.com

 

[caitierig]

DCS worker not doing their job? Shocker...

 

[hzlb]

I do not know how each state, does their case load But i know the county i reside in They actually give you a weeks notice that they will dropping in > Enough time to clean your shit and learn how to act that you care - then as soon as that door is shut, Back to norm ( for them ) . Rinse and repeat in another 6 month for that visit . She is pathetic woman that held power.

 

[Old Man Metal]

DCS worker not doing their job? Shocker...

Yeah, the real shocker is that she was caught and fired.

 

[The Night Nurse]

This is the kind of shit DCFS does not need. On a good day, they take a beating from the media. A story like this will quickly go national. And all the workers who give it their best, day in and day out, will be painted with the same brush as this lazy bitch.

 

[Old Man Metal]

She has that petulant, half-ashamed-but-I'm-ignoring-you-and-no-I-won't-spit-it-out look that our Rottie gets when she has eaten something she's not supposed to have.

 

[Symmachus]

Damn! I live around there, at least regionally, so it's crazy reading about it here on Dreamin' Demon!

Sloth and corruption, combined together, make an especially disturbing form of mediocrity. (Which reminds me of someone at my work right now, but that's another story...)

 

[Ramona the brave]

This is the kind of shit DCFS does not need. On a good day, they take a beating from the media. A story like this will quickly go national. And all the workers who give it their best, day in and day out, will be painted with the same brush as this lazy bitch.

Great point.

 

[Keepalowprofile]

I wonder what she was doing when she was supposed to be doing those home visits.

 

[GoneWest]

This is the kind of shit DCFS does not need. On a good day, they take a beating from the media. A story like this will quickly go national. And all the workers who give it their best, day in and day out, will be painted with the same brush as this lazy bitch.

Are you fucking kidding me?
Yeah, a story like this is really going to go national. And what if it does-whoopy fucking doo. A lot of good that does. All you have to do is start naming off kids failed miserably by those meant to protect them that have made National Headlines to know it means nothing. Shall we start in California, Kansas, Illinois, New Mexico, ... I’ll stop because there are so many gruesome disgusting failures that can be 100 percent traced backed to falsifying, lying lazy assed CPS workers. Nothing ever changes. So fear not Night Nurse, DCFS awesome reputation shall continue unsullied.[/QUOTE]

 

[Sejanus]

Good now fire another 10,000 or so

 

[Ramona the brave]

Are you fucking kidding me?
Yeah, a story like this is really going to go national. And what if it does-whoopy fucking doo. A lot of good that does. All you have to do is start naming off kids failed miserably by those meant to protect them that have made National Headlines to know it means nothing. Shall we start in California, Kansas, Illinois, New Mexico, ... I’ll stop because there are so many gruesome disgusting failures that can be 100 percent traced backed to falsifying, lying lazy assed CPS workers. Nothing ever changes. So fear not Night Nurse, DCFS awesome reputation shall continue unsullied.

[/QUOTE]
It's hard to attract quality people when departments are woefully underfunded, understaffed, and undersupported. DCFS itself isn't the problem. It's shitty people and shitty funding and a lack of oversight... Caused by shitty people and shitty funding.

Yeah I've had my frustrations with CPS, as most of the reports I've made never amounted to anything. But talking shit doesn't help. It's not any different than saying "fuck the police" because there are bad cops out there.

 

[MildlyMedicated]

I personally know of a Child Services Worker, that did her job for decades, and was "Fired" due to performance, so doing your job and being available to go to court and get kids at all hours, is not preforming??? Yet, these others that could not give a flying flip are still, at it just like the dumbass in this story.
I have also dealt with a CPS worker, that felt like our Adopted son, should not be with us because he is multi racial. We had him from birth, so you think taking him from his "parents" at two is a good thing, because we are white???? (We started adoption proceedings at 2)
I see all sides, and I see what people not doing their jobs, people doing their jobs and people bringing their personal agendas to their jobs, has created. Utter complete distrust of the entire system!

 

[GoneWest]

What is truly amazing is that this was reported at all. Especially when it doesn’t appear that a child was harmed as a result of the falsification.
I can’t even begin to imagine how deep this goes at every level. It sure seems easy enough to bypass the system.
God help our children.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

State of Indiana v. Melisa D Casteel​