Editor: As referenced in your Sept. 7, 2022, op-ed article, a former employee of the Arapahoe County Human Services Department made an unfounded allegation of child abuse to a child abuse hotline against a vocal critic of her then-partner during non-working hours.
As previously stated, this type of conduct is abhorrent and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The employee no longer works for Arapahoe County and the situation was promptly referred to law enforcement by the County for investigation and potential prosecution.
The work that the employees of the Human Services Department do to prevent abuse and neglect is extremely important. The employees do an amazing job under very difficult, challenging and stressful conditions, and their efforts are deserving of our utmost respect and appreciation. Nonetheless, we fully understand why there would be concerns raised about whether this one former employee might have made false allegations against others, or committed other misconduct, while acting in her role as a caseworker on child abuse cases for Arapahoe County.
As such, to ensure that no families were ever adversely impacted by her misconduct, all of the former employee’s prior cases are being reviewed by the State Department of Human Services. To date, it is our understanding that no evidence has been found to suggest that the former employee ever did anything that might have resulted in a child being wrongfully removed from a home. If any such evidence is ever found by the State or otherwise, then swift action will be taken to ensure that any wrongs are corrected in the most appropriate manner.
The Sentinel suggests that an outside investigation is needed because the multiple checks and balances intended to weed out false allegations somehow “failed” in the situation involving the former employee. We strongly disagree with this assessment. The system of checks and balances did not fail because the false allegations were promptly determined to be unfounded, and no action was taken by the Department to pursue child abuse allegations.
While we have much empathy for any parent who has had false allegations made against them, the statewide child abuse hotline is accessible to all for good reason. There is no way for the state to ensure that inaccurate or false allegations are never made to the hotline; rather, the allegations must be reviewed by county human services departments once made to determine if there are sufficient indications of reliability. The fact that a person could decide to intentionally make false allegations is not a fault of the system, but rather the criminal act of the person making the allegations.
We also disagree with your suggestion that an outside investigation is needed because of the allegations made by others to the effect that there is a systemic problem with caseworkers committing misconduct beyond the known misconduct of the former employee. To date, we have not seen any evidence whatsoever to support such a claim. While we believe in the rights of free speech and the ability for citizens to seek redress of grievances from their government, just because someone or even many people say something at a press conference or in a lawsuit, does not make it so. Persons who have been separated from their children due to founded concerns of child abuse, and who have had opportunities for full and complete due process with court appointed attorneys to represent them, will instead sometimes blame the system or the people involved rather than take responsibility for the outcomes. It is very important to closely evaluate the actual merit of complaints coming from such individuals, rather than taking broad and conclusory allegations at face value.
At this point, it appears to us that many of the allegations made are irresponsible attacks on the integrity of the many good people in our Department of Human Services who work tirelessly to protect children and families from the impacts of abuse and neglect, and who do so in a respectful, fair and honest manner. The Sentinel’s editorial lends unfair credence to unsupported allegations, advancing a dangerous narrative that undermines the important work of protecting children.
Rest assured, if it is determined that there may be merit to such allegations in the future, appropriate action will be taken.
The Arapahoe Board of County Commissioners
Commissioner Nancy Jackson, Chair of the Board
Commissioner Carrie Warren-Gully, Vice Chair
Commissioner Nancy N. Sharpe
Commissioner Jeff Baker
Commissioner Bill Holen
In all do respect to my former colleagues, why not give your constituents confidence in these words that you just put down in writing? Is the only reason you object to a third party, independent review is that you don’t want to hurt your human services staff’s feelings? As politicians we should never forget that we work for the people and not the bureauracy.
A third party, independent review is a good idea and shouldn’t be feared by the Arapahoe County Government.
Rod Bockenfeld
State Representative, and
Former Arapahoe County Commissioner
Hey there Rod. In all due respect, why would you vote against banning the panic defense? Seeing as your homophobic, it’s probably a good thing you are a former commissioner as it is pretty clear you don’t care about the people of the state.
Wrong. It’s cowardly to use a pseudonym. Come out from under your rock.
You know this lletter makes sense and is supportive of the hardworking people that do their jobs everyday without malfeasance of any kind. But, yeah but.. it obviously has happened that someone did the dirty and must have thought they could get away with it. So now a painful review must take place to resolve and hopefully absolve the de partment. If there is nothing here to be ashamed of…great, but if lurking in some hidden cranny there is a problem then it needs to be addressed. No one should get upset. We need to do what is right and often we don’t know until every fact is measured and carefully presented.
It’s all about perception, and the public needs to be shown that the allegations of one councilperson and here minions were made maliciously and were politically motivated in an effort to save face. Shame on her for attempting to malign an entire department, but it may take an independent investigation from outside the department to reveal what really happened. Those people will never believe the results of an internal investigation. Hell, they may not even believe the results of an external investigation if it demonstrates that there was no wrongdoing.
We haven’t heard the end of this.