12/05/2002

By ABE ESTIMADA, kgw.com Staff

Two Oregon Department of Human Services workers were fired after they mishandled reports that Ashley Pond was allegedly sexually abused by Ward Weaver.

Supervisor Darlene Walsh and caseworker Colin Fitzpatrick, who both worked at the Oregon City office of the DHS, were notified by phone Thursday that they lost their jobs, said Sue Nelson, an agency spokesperson.

The punishments meted to the caseworkers stem from a September internal investigation that found the agency fumbled reports that Ashley was abused or neglected before she vanished on Jan. 9, 2002.

Police and the FBI eventually found Ashley’s remains in August buried underneath a concrete slab in the backyard of Weaver’s home in Oregon City. They also found Miranda Gaddis remains stuffed in a box in a shed in the yard. Gaddis disappeared March 8, 2002.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Weaver, if he is convicted of the crimes.

Since Walsh and Fitzpatrick may appeal their terminations, the DHS is forbidden by law to release details of what went wrong. But this much is clear:

-- DHS has not been able to locate the paperwork filed for the Aug. 31, 2001 or Sept. 5, 2001 phone calls. One person called on Aug. 31 and two different people called on Sept. 5 to report that Ashley was abused.

-- There is “no indication” Fitzpatrick called back the two callers who reported sex abuse allegations on Sept. 5, 2001, Nelson said. Even though Fitzpatrick did not do his work “thoroughly” or in a “timely manner,” his supervisor, Walsh, signed off on his work for Aug. 31 anyway, Nelson said.

-- On Jan. 16, 2001 and Sept. 18, 2001, Walsh was involved in two, Ashley-related reports that DHS says “weren’t handled appropriately." Nelson said. A Jan. 16 call was was not assessed properly, and a Sept. 18 call was not referred to a screener.

Walsh, who has been with DHS since 1990, has 10 days from the date of her job termination to appeal with the state employment relations board. Fitzpatrick, a union employee who has served DHS since 1998, has 30 days to file an appeal with DHS.

The two have been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 20, 2002.

“I would expect them to take advantage of all their rights in this process,” Nelson said.

As supervisor, Walsh was supposed to oversee the work of the caseworkers who reported to her. As a caseworker, Fitzpatrick’s job was to take reports from callers, make additional inquiries if necessary, do research and determine what kind of actions needed to occur, such as contacting law enforcement, Nelson said.

At the time the abuse calls came into the Oregon City DHS, Walsh and Fitzpatrick apparently didn’t think they warranted immediate action by police, Nelson said.

“I think we know that within human services, child welfare being no exception and probably in a lot of other state agencies as well, there aren’t enough resources, and there is always plenty of work to do,” Nelson said.

“We would never want to suggest that our employees are underworked. On the other hand, that is not an excuse to fail to meet a minimum standard of performance on work that is critical to the safety of children.”

In wake of the internal investigation, DHS director Bobby Mink ordered his agency to tighten its procedures on how to handle reports of sex abuse.

The agency must report allegations to law enforcement agencies immediately during and after business hours.

DHS has written instructions on how to refer child abuse and third-party abuse reports to police. Third party abuse is abuse by someone outside of the victim’s family. Part of the referral process also involves verifying that police received the report.

DHS is also developing a system to work more closely with counties on how to handle third-party abuse cases.