LA Foster Care Workers Take Donations Intended For Children

[JWBear]

Here.

In their latest report, auditors singled out the purchase of 160 tickets in July to see the hit musical "Wicked" as part of a $14,000 gala event for foster children and their mentors.

Only 53 children and roughly the same number of mentors were given tickets. The rest went to department employees and their relatives and guests, along with unidentified "potential mentors" and a number of employees of not-for-profit organizations, auditors wrote.

What low-lifes! I hope they all get fired!

[BarTopDancer]

Oh that makes me sick

[€uroMeinke]

I don't know, maybe more people would be willing to help out foster kids if they could get free tickets out of the deal. Charities often offer "premiums" how is this any different?

[wendybeth]

The tickets are intended for the kids and their foster care providers, not the case workers and office staff. At least, that's what I got out of the article. They really are stealing from kids, and they are the ones appointed to help them.

[Morrigoon]

Doesn't show if they were first offered the tickets and only got a few takers though.

But that only applies to Wicked... I see they had other abuses as well involving gift cards. B*stards.

[wendybeth]

Even if they did, the tickets were not theirs to take. (Somehow, I doubt that is the scenario in this case, and what about the money?) People who work for state agencies have to really watch for any appearances of impropriety and misuse of public assets. Those tickets were donated for a specific reason, and they were not used as intended. This sort of thing might inhibit future donations, so it's more than just diversion or petty theft in the long run.

[BarTopDancer]

With the quantity involved, it sounds like the tickets were meant for a field trip, not incentive to donate or volunteer. And if they were incentive to donate or volunteer then they still shouldn't have gone to employees, relatives or potential anything.

Just another reason why the foster care system is screwed up

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Just another reason why the foster care system is screwed up

I wouldn't say the whole system is screwed up. Especially since this appears to be a case of a few individuals who committed errors; not the system.

When Susan and I had exposure to the OC Foster Care program, they seemed to have their stuff together and were (possibly still are) rated one of the best systems in the country.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

...When Susan and I had exposure to the OC Foster Care program, they seemed to have their stuff together and were (possibly still are) rated one of the best systems in the country.

They are.

I spoke to a friend who is related to someone high up in LA's foster care agency. Apparently, it was a clique of managers and their staff that saw these donations as their prerogative to take for themselves - one of the perks of the job. It wasn't just the tickets; there were also thousands of dollars worth of gift certificates and vouchers intended for the foster families that made their way in to these people's pockets. Sickening.

[€uroMeinke]

Really, we should just ship the kids to Russia or China where they stand a better chance of being placed.