NC - Dorian Harper & Wanda Larson for abuse of foster child, Monroe, 2013

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The Cheese said:
Larson has adopted six children through DSS in Gaston and Union counties since 2000. According to the state, she and Harper were licensed foster parents in both counties until December 2010.

The Sheriff’s Office removed five children, ages 8-14, from the home on Friday. They include four children adopted by Larson and the 11-year-old found on the porch.

snipped

Up to now, authorities described the 11-year-old as a foster child. But Black said no foster children have been in the Larson-Harper home since May 2009. Instead, the boy appears to have been placed under the legal guardianship of the couple, which means he would not be under DSS oversight.

His biological mother told the Observer this week that he was removed from her care as part of a child-abuse case that involved other children living in their Gaston County home. The mother, who lives in Charlotte, said that while her son has been with Larson and Harper since he was about 3, she has retained her parental rights and hopes to be reunited with the boy at some point in the future.

DSS regularly visits children under foster care. But no home checks occur in cases of adoptions or legal guardianships unless requested by the families or ordered by a judge.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/20...on-county-dss.html#.UowoOsSsjvY#storylink=cpy

My head hurts...
Click to expand...

hum so a person could essentially adopt or gain guardianship and bring a child sexual /physical abuser into the home and no one would be the wiser.... ugh :banghead:
 
scmom said:
How was she appointed guardian if parental rights have not been terminated and the parents are still living?
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I'm thinking she wasn't even appointed guardian after the foster license expired. Either bio mom agreed with her, in a private agreement, that she would, in essence, babysit the child full time. Or, Larson never told bio mom she no longer had a foster license, and she just kept the child. But why would she do that if she was no longer receiving the foster money?

I need more * I * N * F * O *
 
Along with the foster child, they include an 11-year-old son adopted in 2002 and another son, now 14, adopted in 2005. The adoption decrees filed in Union County between 2000-2005 all list Larson as a single mother.

In 2009, the same year as her promotion to investigative supervisor for the county’s Child Protection Services, Larson adopted a Gaston County sister and brother, ages 8 and 9, respectively.

Those children are the first cousins of the 11-year-old boy found handcuffed to the porch. All three were taken out of the same household after an abuse complaint in 2003.

The 11-year-old’s biological mother, who lives in Charlotte, said she still has parental rights to her son and has kept in regular contact with Larson. She said she last saw her son about a year ago, and her communications with Larson have dwindled in recent months. She said her son wants to live with her, and that her family had begun discussions on bringing that about.

In 2009, Larson filed a civil complaint against the biological mother over child support for the boy. A judge ordered the mother to pay $50 a month and an additional $5 a month on $500 that was overdue.

That said, the mother described her relationship with Larson as one frequently marked by respect and mutual support. But she also said Larson regularly described her son as unruly, highly destructive to family property, and abusive to animals.

She said she’s never seen her son act this way. “If he’s so bad, give him back to me,” the mother said. “I’ll find him the help he needs.”

“I still have the utmost respect for Wanda,” she added. “She was wrong in the way she dealt with my son, but I’ve never seen her as a monster.”

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/20...n-court-after.html#.UowwUMSsjvY#storylink=cpy
 
Omg, this poor little boy! According to his ''kind of step brother', the 9 year is mentally sick, on meds AND is punished by being handcuffed outdoors, wearing only underpants with a dead chicken around his neck! wtf IS WRONG with these people? WHY does the 20 year old think this is ok?/....... I need excedrine.
 
The child was DISTRUCTIVE TO PROPERTY? Puleazzzeee..........Did anyone else see the pigsty of a house?
 
Sheriff’s deputies originally told Channel 9 on Friday the boy was a foster child, but on Tuesday officials with the Department of Social Services told Channel 9 the couple had legal guardianship over the boy and he was not part of the foster system.

Channel 9 uncovered documents detailing Wanda Larson's work history with Union County Department of Social Services.

snipped

Larson was hired with Union County DSS in March 2003. She's been promoted twice, most recently in December 2009 to child protective services supervisor, assigned to the investigative unit. Her salary is set at more than $54,000.

Larson has been disciplined twice, suspended once in May 2012, then again on Friday, the day she was arrested after the boy was found handcuffed on the porch.

The children were underfed, forced to sleep on the floor and endure unusual punishments while living in filth, according to investigators.

Deputies took 93 animals from the Austin Road property Monday including donkeys, llamas, dogs, cats, and 75 chickens and ducks.

County investigators are now working with state investigators are looking into Larson, her husband Dorian Harper, and Union County DSS.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/dss-supervisor-charged-child-abuse-disciplined-pas/nbxQS/
 
OT
Carolyn Parsons will be interviewed on WCNC livestream in a few minutes.
 
I think there should be a federal investigation of the whole situation to put a stop to the attempts at passing the buck. Right now I feel that the little foxes that were guarding the henhouse are being replaced by bigger foxes and bigger henhouses.
 
Is it me or is there a big ole honkin loophole that Larson and others are apparently working here?
 
The state health department says Wanda Sue Larson ran a foster home for a dozen years, between 1998 and 2010 along with her partner Dorian Lee Harper. But their license expired in December 2010, and they have not had foster children in their home since 2009.

This contradicts an earlier report from the Union County Sheriff’s Office, which said the couple was the foster parent of the 11-year-old boy that was handcuffed to the porch on Friday. They had four adopted children in their care, but the eleven-year-old boy was not one of them.

Union County Sherriff Eddie Cathey says the couple told police that they were the guardian of the 11-year-old child.

It's important to note that when a child is adopted or placed under guardianship, that's when oversight stops. The Union County Department of Social Services supervised the foster home between 1998 and 2003. Gaston County's DSS office then started to supervise their foster home in 2003 after Larson started working as a social worker with Union County's DSS office.

snipped

The state health department says the couple completed 30 hours of training in 1998 and then 20 hours of training every two years to keep their foster care license.

http://wfae.org/post/monroe-couple-were-guardians-not-foster-parents-handcuffed-child

I need a big old chart for all this.
 
2009 - stopped having any foster children

2010 - foster license expires

But the 11 yr old boy was a foster from the time he was 3. So did he leave them in 2009, then at some point went back with them as a non-foster? Why did he stop being a foster in 2009?

From article I posted up further on this page:

In 2009, Larson filed a civil complaint against the biological mother over child support for the boy. A judge ordered the mother to pay $50 a month and an additional $5 a month on $500 that was overdue.

From article I posted further up on this page:

Sheriff’s deputies originally told Channel 9 on Friday the boy was a foster child, but on Tuesday officials with the Department of Social Services told Channel 9 the couple had legal guardianship over the boy and he was not part of the foster system.

So he was never a foster?

Larson/Harper weren't keeping him for money if they only got $55 a month for him. But I wonder if that's why they didn't feed him - because they were only getting $55 a month for him. That would explain the "he steals food" complaints from the older brother who was interviewed. Children can't steal food from their own home. But if they felt they weren't paid enough for his food, then they could have had the feeling or took the stance that he was "stealing" their food.

I keep adding to this post...

From article further up on this page:

Up to now, authorities described the 11-year-old as a foster child. But Black said no foster children have been in the Larson-Harper home since May 2009. Instead, the boy appears to have been placed under the legal guardianship of the couple, which means he would not be under DSS oversight.

So he was never a foster? And he did continue with them through 2009 under non-foster legal guardianship?
 
The mother of an 8 and 9 year old who were also under Larson and Harper's care as guardians says her kids were treated well, but she kept noticing problems with the 11-year-old and told DSS.
That mother, who also doesn't want to be identified, says the response she got from DSS was continual reporting could jeopardize her visitation.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/crime/Biolgical-mother-of-boy--232576741.html

This sounds like two more of the children were not adopted. That means three of the five children were under Larson's guardianship. Maybe in the coming days we will find out the truth of what was going on here.
 
Ok I see, SL had guardianship. That answers my foster child questions.

Ciao
 
scmom said:
The mother of an 8 and 9 year old who were also under Larson and Harper's care as guardians says her kids were treated well, but she kept noticing problems with the 11-year-old and told DSS.
That mother, who also doesn't want to be identified, says the response she got from DSS was continual reporting could jeopardize her visitation.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/crime/Biolgical-mother-of-boy--232576741.html

This sounds like two more of the children were not adopted. That means three of the five children were under Larson's guardianship. Maybe in the coming days we will find out the truth of what was going on here.
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BBM

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question and I've not understood, but if children who are not part of the foster system are not under DSS supervision, then how could continual reporting jeopardize the mother's visitation? I thought DSS claimed they didn't monitor legal guardianships? So how could DSS be "allowing" or "disallowing" the mother's visitation if they aren't responsible once the kid is outside the foster system? Have I misread?

I wonder if the state ever audited the homeschooling records (as they are entitled to do). Personally, I think it needs stricter oversight. MMO
 
HawksGirl said:
BBM

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question and I've not understood, but if children who are not part of the foster system are not under DSS supervision, then how could continual reporting jeopardize the mother's visitation? I thought DSS claimed they didn't monitor legal guardianships? So how could DSS be "allowing" or "disallowing" the mother's visitation if they aren't responsible once the kid is outside the foster system? Have I misread?

I wonder if the state ever audited the homeschooling records (as they are entitled to do). Personally, I think it needs stricter oversight. MMO
Click to expand...

Exactly. The reporting mother being discussed in this post was not the mother of the 11 year old but the mother of two children who are also in this family's care. She states she was told that continued reporting about the 11 year old who was not her child could jeopardize future visits with her own children.

So if DSS was not even involved and not monitoring this situation, who mandated visitation and how exactly would continued reporting of the 11 year old's care issues interfere with visitations DSS claims to have nothing to do with overseeing for children they claim also not to oversee???

Whole lotta arse covering going on here which makes me wonder just what else is there to find out about this agency and how it is currently operating. This could just be teh tip of the iceberg IMO.
 
I want to know which county's DSS said that about visitation to the mom. Gaston or Union. (Union is where Larson worked.)
 
The Cheese said:
I want to know which county's DSS said that about visitation to the mom. Gaston or Union. (Union is where Larson worked.)
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Yes, I'd like to know that myself because it seems that was meant to intimidate.
 
Tony Burbeck WCNC ‏@TonyWCNC 2m

Union County Sheriff says investigation into DSS employee Wanda Sue Larson and her boyfriend could take a long time

Letter Union County Sheriff's Office got back was signed by different DSS employee. Don't know if arrested DSS employee had any input in it.

Union County sheriff says he got a letter back from DSS saying the complaint didn't amount to much, so nothing else was done about it.

Union County sheriff says his office contacted DSS about potential concerns at DSS supervisor's house, not knowing it was a DSS employee
 
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