Couple: Agency placed predator (7 year old "sexual abuser and predator")

Times Leader ^ | 7/27/2004 | JON FOX

[Born Conservative]

WILKES-BARRE - A New Jersey couple has filed a federal lawsuit against the Luzerne County Children and Youth Services claiming the agency knowingly placed a 7-year-old "sexual abuser and predator of other children" with the family. The boy sexually abused the couple's 8-year-old son while living with the family in Hudson County, the suit states.

The suit also names foster parents Donald and Mary Pranzoni, the county and three Children and Youth Services case workers as defendants.

The foster child's history of sexually abusing other children was well-known to the foster parents and the three employees, Olga Araujo, Rebecca Glassman and Robin Ritsick, but was withheld so as not to "sabotage" the child's chances of being adopted, the complaint alleges.

After the family assumed custody of the boy in November 2000, the child overpowered and sodomized the couple's older but smaller son as many as 10 times, according to the complaint.

The agency assumed custody of the 7-year-old boy and his sister in May 1999 after it became evident the children's father was sexually abusive to them and their mother was unable to provide proper care, the complaint said.

The two were then placed in foster care with the Pranzonis. When the New Jersey couple learned the two children, to whom they were related, were living with a foster family, they sought custody.

The couple's attorney, Barry Dyller, alleges the boy's history of replicating the abusive behavior he suffered was willfully withheld, an omission that placed the family's two children at risk.

The county, the agency and its employees violated the couple's civil rights by subjecting their children to a danger that had previously not existed, Dyller said.

The suit also claims negligence on the part of the foster parents. "They were foster parents who were told and complied with the instructions, don't tell," Dyller said.

In 2003, Dyller sent a version of the lawsuit to an attorney who regularly represents the county in hopes of reaching a settlement and preventing the victim from having to appear in court.

"This is not a good thing for my client to have to go through litigation," he said. "It's horrible thing that has happened to a young child."

No action was taken at that time, he said.

"The hope was that Children and Youth Services would have learned from this horrible thing, and make it not happen again, and accept responsibility," he said.

Representatives of the county agency did not return calls for comment Monday afternoon.

[Little Ray]

I hate to say, but the kid is broke and he ain't ever going be fixed. This is a good case for euthanasia... If you let him grow up he WILL kill somebody.

[r9etb]

The kid is behaving the way he has because he is attached and bonded to no one, doesn't know how to love, and hasn't developed a conscience. He is mentally ill.

This little kid has a very long row to hoe. Some have apparently written him off already, and in real life they may be right. Still, he's young, and you've got to try.

My take on it is that he needs to be institutionalized in some way, but he also needs to be given the things you mentioned. I don't know how you combine those, though I believe they've had some success with using pets to help develop those bonds.

All I can say for sure is, the kid's abusive "father" needs simply to be disposed of.

[William Terrell]

And if I read your post correctly, "good wallopings" didn't have the desired effect, since they had more than one.

Different offenses, of course. You didn't think of that?

But then, were any of those kids you know sexually abused? I thought not.

No, they weren't. But you didn't use that as a criteria, just "good whollopings".

[r9etb]

How nice.

[NJ_gent]

"Whatever happened to comon sense?"

It's been replaced by, "just punch him in the head - that'll fix him!".

Fascinating insights into the parenting practices of others.

[r9etb]

Context is all, WT. You have look at my comment in the context of the post to which I was responding -- which was that the "good walloping" would cure the 7-yo sexual deviant.

[r9etb]

Brutality and psychological trauma will train him that there are consequences for his actions

"Brutality and psychological trauma" make it twice as likely that the child will end up in prison.

You like brutality, apparently. Do you have children?

[McBuff]

In my neighborhood, we just learned that a 17 year old "juvenile offender" has returned home, two doors down from me. Two years ago, he raped a 5 year old girl. The courts ordered that, as a condition for his release, his younger sister (age 11) be removed from the home. The mother takes the daughter and moves out, leaving the Father with the 17 year old rapist son and two of his brothers. All three are home alone all day. . .

Two nights ago, my fifteen year old daughter was awakened at 4:00 in the morning by the sound of someone knocking at the sliding door back entrance.

I now sleep downstairs. ..waiting. . .go ahead punk. ..What a wonderful system!

[NJ_gent]

"a broken man on the street is better than a hardened criminal psychopath in jail."

By that logic, we should abolish prisons and mental hospitals.

"Brutality and psychological trauma will train him" ... "Do not allow a free thought through his mind for an extended period of time without trauma" ... "Maybe electro-shock therapy."

That's probably the most disgusting set of treatment options I've ever heard. Forget the fact that this is a human being - let's just brainwash and brutalize this 'animal' into subservience; is that it? If you're going to experiment with electro-shock and other brutal methods of "treatment", you may as well just toss this child into the furnace now and get it over with. Or better yet, save the money and just jab a knife into his chest.

I'm all for personal responsibility, and I think that we, as a society, are generally way too willing to place blame on anyone but ourselves for our mistakes. But in this case, this child did not choose to become a sexual predator - it was a learned behavior from a very screwed up father. All this kid knows is sexual brutality and torture, and torturing him until he's dead isn't going to 'fix' him. Since the state will likely be paying out enormous sums of money to this family in a settlement anyway, they may as well throw in 11 years of treatment at a place specifically designed to treat and 'fix' sexually abused individuals. If he's still a danger by the time he's 18, then by all means let him sit in a state mental facility to protect other people from him.

"If you want someone to blame - blame the govt, they created this enviroment"

The government is responsible for placing this messed up child in the home of a family without revealing the fact that this is a messed up child. That being said, the government didn't mess up this child - this child's incredibly sick and screwed up father did that all on his own.

[Little Ray]

If you can figure out how to fix him, go for it.
My bet is that the kid is going to kill someone before he reaches his majority - and it won't bother him a bit. Doesn't matter what environment you put him in; leaving him unsupervised with anyone smaller, weaker, or less agressive, even for a moment, is an invitation to mayhem. Whether or not he is responsible for his behavior is irrelevant.

[r9etb]

If you can figure out how to fix him, go for it.

I'd be interested in seeing how you plan to implement your euthanasia plan. Is there a way to do it that keeps you from looking like one of Hitler's boys?

[Publius6961]

?????????
Bump for later reading

[r9etb]

You can shove those statistics.

LOL! You're a blowhard.

[NJ_gent]

"Let's not forget this happened in NJ, NJ_gent."

I'm not sure what this has to do with anything - is this some sort of crack at me?

"The kid has no parents"

Sure he does - a sexually abusive father and a mother incapable of providing for children.

"But I guess you'd like to believe that giving this kid a hug and sending him on his way will stop this problem."

Strawman - go back and quote what I actually said instead of making it up to fit a punchline.

"You people perpetuate the problem by stating we need to institutionalize this kid."

As a last resort, if 11 years of the treatment that normally works fails to work, then yes, society must be protected from a sexual predator. After 11 years, I'd be giving up on an adult who's been in the care of professionals for 11 years - not a child.

"I believe I'm the only one that wouldn't give up on him in this thread"

Sure you have - you don't want him to grow up into a socially responsible, productive individual - you want to beat and torture him until he's "programmed" to do what you want him to do. The likely outcome is that you'd be beating and torturing him for the next 20 years with no results - other than, perhaps, a handfull of suicide attempts on his part.

"the rest of you want to make it someone else's problem, then bitch about why your taxes keep going up."

When dealing with the criminally insane, the mentally unstable, and other such folk, it is the state governments' problem. Unless, of course, you'd prefer that we close all prisons, close all mental health facilities, and simply bring all of them over to your house for "reprogramming". I hope you've got plenty of coffee handy, because it'll be a long, long night.