Our former CPS worker is sentenced for abusing foster kids

[anxiousmom]

The first time CPS came to our home was in 2002. It was about our house being messy & cluttered. I was still with my ex-husband at the time. (We were still married then).


Anyway, the CPS worker we had was horrible....she had a major in criminal justice.

The case was founded due to our home being messy/cluttered.

They also founded us on lack of supervision or something like that...which we did not agree with, nor did the counselor appointed to us by them. We live on a very safe cul-de-sac. She (the case worker0 said the younger boys, then almost 4 (a month shy of) & 6 rode their bikes on our street unattended. Her "facts" for this was that she asked the younger boys if they did & they said "Yes." The 6 yr. old did not even have a bike that was rideable....we had bought him a bike with training wheels for Christmas, but the day of Christmas or the day after, a friend of my older son's (then 10) bet the training wheels & it was not rideable & we didn't get it fixed. The younger one had a triccyle. Our older 2 kids had been allowed to ride on the street...10 & 11, but not the younger ones.

Anyway, a couple of years ago, this cps worker was charged with abusing her foster children. I just read that she was found guilty.

Here is the story about it from Nov. 2006:

Publish Date: November 22, 2006 | Word Count: 491 | Document ID: 11278110

Former CPS employee arrested for alleged abuse
Author: KYLE PEVETO The Daily Sentinel [email protected]

A former Texas Department of Family and Child Protective Services employee was arrested Sunday for allegedly injuring three foster children who lived under her care. Alvita Johnson, 48, of Nacogdoches, was arrested on warrants for three counts of injuring a child and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The children in her care were ages 10, 12 and 15.

The Nacogdoches County sheriff's office began investigating Johnson Oct. 6, after allegations of abuse.

Here is the sentence she received:

145TH DISTRICT COURT

The following people received probated sentences:

Alvita Johnson, injury to a child, six year in deferred probation, $5,000; injury to a child, six year in deferred probation, $5,000; aggravated assault, six year in deferred probation, $5,000; aggravated assault, six year in deferred probation, $5,000; aggravated assault, six year in deferred probation, $5,000.


In that case in 2002, they opened a case & worked with us for 6 months. The children were not removed. It just galls me to think of how condesending, judgemental, bullying, etc. she was towards us...and there she was physically abusing her foster children!

Of course, I can't even find any details about it on google....guess it's because she is a former cps worker.

[LindaJM]

Thanks for telling us! I'm putting this on the front page of the site. I didn't mention you because it is a message board privacy issue...

It is great to hear about a social worker getting convicted of child abuse once in a while. Of course I think MOST of them are guilty of child abuse for the way they take children out of their homes.

[anxiousmom]

I'm glad you put it on the front page.

She was not a social worker....like MANY CPS workers her degree was not in social work. Her degree was in criminal justice.

CPS hires case workers with many or any college degree.....it does not have to be in social work, unfortunately.

I am getting a degree in social work. I think CPS would be a much better organization IF the case workers did have a degree in social work!

Social work stresses to be non-judgemental, to lay aside your own personal values when working with a client, stresses client self-determination, etc.

Social workers also have a code of ethics that they are to follow.

It is a common misconception to think or assume that your cps worker IS a social worker. A CPS case worker is not the same as a social worker. Social workers have to be licensed. Case workers do not.

[MaggieC]

In NYC the child protective specialists can have a degree in anything although they do need a few credits (can't remember the exact amount) in social work.

The child evaluation specialists do need an MSW.

I know there is a code of ethics but I have found that as in anything, that code is often not followed.

Needless to say they don't even follow the law.

It is a sweet relief that you, anxiousmom, are studying for a social work degree.

Change th system from the inside!!

[LindaJM]

The article on the front page will be published during the next day or two. I wrote a bunch of them yesterday and set them to publish, one each day.

I will change the 'social worker' part... though I like to use it as a keyword for google purposes.

You're absolutely right, most of these people should not be called social workers. Caseworker will do but I prefer the term 'government agent'... Unfortunately that has little SEO value.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization ... something I do so that people looking for the kind of help the site offers will be able to find us through Google.

Here in California we have these types of job classifications for CPS caseworkers:

Social Worker I - an aide, basically, who can have just an AA degree in anything.

Social Worker II - caseworker with a BA degree

Social Worker III - a real MSW type social worker, necessary to do the actual child detentions

At least, that was for the county I used to work for 20 years ago... I'm sure every county is just a little different but they do need real MSW social workers to be present for child detentions.

Regardless of qualifications, they are all called 'social workers' in this state when they're working for CPS.

[samangjen]

Echoing the others here, I am happy to hear that she is in jail. At least SHE will never knock on your door again.

I think it is interesting to see from the article that the police were involved, but that there was no mention of CPS.

[Greegor]

http://www.dailysentinel.com/search/con ... 10108.html

It IS strange how the sentencing is online at that
newspapers web site, but not the original 2006 stories.

I just tried some more because Alvita is
such a great search term.

Wow! Texas doesn't want court docket info available
to the public for searches?

[anxiousmom]

She is not in prison. She got 6 different counts of six year on deferred probation & 4 $5,000 fines.


I assume that if she messes up her probation, she would then go to jail.


I'm pretty sure CPS got involved at some point. I think one of the kids confided in a school counselor or some other adult. I remember my CPS appointed counselor & my CPS caseworker in 2006 talking about it some to each other.


The original charge came out several years ago....2006 maybe? She just got sentenced.

[beajus]

anxiousmom

I remember you from before! you helped me out a lot last time I was here.. just wanted to say thanks

[anxiousmom]

Your welcome, beajus.

[Socialworker]

If you had had your children taken away, I would recommend petitioning the state to have your case re-reviewed by someone else. If you know anyone that did have their children taken by her, they should see if they can do that.

Also, the google thing, you might try waiting a few days and search again. It can't "find" things that are so new their bots haven't found them yet.

[Greegor]

Alvita is not on that newspapers site no way no how.
I set date range to all, and alvita is a great search term.
The stories, old and new, arrest and sentence, all gone.

Alvita Johnson does not show up in Google News.

Google Web searches mostly hit Alvita Johnson
age 20+- in personal networking sites like
facebook etc. but this bad caseworker is age 50.

Strange!

[GuyForcheese]

Not really strange Greegor...newspaper websites and blogs run high volumes of stories...so things get archived a lot sooner than many other websites...but I'm sure you could find it at a library or even by calling the newspaper...some papers have old editions available...at a higher pprice of course. Or then again...wouldn't put it past Texas to have some stupid law for CPS stories to be deleted after a few years...

No matter the woman will probably just get a job at CPS AGAIN in a few years...CPS is SUPPOSED to verify criminal history; but ofetn does NOT and relies on the "honor system"...apparently they can't do anything right!! A story not too long ago revealed that 370 TX CPS caseworkers have prior felonies or other criminal ofenses... http://www.crimcheck.com/background-check-news/at-least-370-texas-cps-workers-have-criminal-histories