PA - Grace Packer, 14, murdered, Abington, 4 July 2016 *Killer died*

[david.r.feeney]

Confirmed: The IMPACT Project Inc. has made their Facebook page unavailable.

When you visit their website ABOUT US page at http://www.theimpactprojectinc.net/html/about-us-foster.html and click the graphic FACEBOOK icon to https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Impact-Project/579915215419975 you will now see a "Sorry, this content isn't available right now" message:

I can only speculate that, since the website is available but Facebook has been made unavailable, the institution was facing unwanted public Facebook comments.

Very interesting! David

The IMPACT Project Inc. | 407 Chestnut Street, Emmaus, PA 18049 | Phone: (610) 965-5599 | Fax: (610) 965-8281

I wonder - and possibly someone reading this is able & willing to enlighten me/us - how was (the prestigious award winning) The Impact Project selected & contracted by the five counties referenced? Is it a bidding process? Was there an RFQ (or equivalent)?... And, if so, what did the counties seek?

Oh, and BTW, I find it interesting that The Impact Project seems to have taken down their Facebook page.

 

[four4rock]

I located an example of the type of 'certification'/'approval' that the State of Pennsylvania offers to foster agencies (in this case, The Impact Project). As I suspected it is terribly superficial and insufficient to determine if the child's best interest(s) is being carried out. it is a commentary driven wholly by the appearance of meeting the very least acceptable minimum requirements... rather than drive to do the best possible. It relies on playing the odds. In my opinion, that mentality encourages corner cutting and rationalizations that are bound to cause problems.

http://services.dpw.state.pa.us/Resources/Documents/Pdf/ViolationReports/20110301_23110.pdf

 

[david.r.feeney]

MEDIA FOCUS ON AGENCIES INVOLVED IN GRACE PACKER HORROR: "No outcry about the state doing too little to keep families together"

Richard Wexler: Child welfare's double standards at heart of Grace Packer tragedy http://www.mcall.com/opinion/yourvi...r-children-wexler-yv-0409-20170408-story.html

But in the Packer case, it was the birth parents, Rose and Rodney Hunsicker, who fought desperately to keep Grace. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the family's lawyer "came to know the Hunsickers as a loving couple who were unemployed but could have become better parents with some help."

Yet there has been no outcry about the state doing too little to keep families together, no demand that the state curb the needless removal of children. In fact, policy should never be driven by horror stories in either direction. It should be driven by data. Here's what the data show:

> When entries into care are compared to the number of impoverished children in each state, Pennsylvania takes away children at a rate more than 25 percent above the national average and far above the rate in states, such as Alabama — yes, Alabama — where independent monitors have found that family preservation improved child safety.

> Study after study reveals appalling rates of abuse in foster care — rates far above the rates in official figures, which involve child welfare agencies investigating themselves. Not only did the child welfare system not take the allegations in the Packer case seriously but such systems also routinely dismiss concerns about abuse in foster care.

 

[kdg411]

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pa-child-abuse-report-20170503-story.html

Under a 2009 law known as Act 33, the department and county children and youth agencies must conduct investigations whenever a person 21 or younger dies or nearly dies while a ward of the state or passing through protective services programs.

DHS started a death review of Grace's case in January. The results may not be known until after the criminal trial.

More @ link

 

[sds71]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...ssing-Rape-Murder-Pennsylvania-423711533.html

The search continues for the foster kids of a woman who was charged in the rape and murder of her adopted daughter.

 

[david.r.feeney]

http://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-grace-packer-warwick-house-mothers-defense-20170610-story.html

Lawyer seeks Grace Packer's mental health records
Laurie Mason Schroeder, The Morning Call

How Sara Packer's lawyer might use records of daughter Grace's mental health treatment

About three years before she was killed, Grace Packer was placed in a Bucks County facility for children with "serious emotional and behavior problems," according to a recent court filing. Apparently, records from her time there may be used to defend her mother, Sara Packer, who is charged in Grace's July homicide.

In an April filing in Bucks County Court, John Fioravanti, who is one of Packer's lawyers, requested records from Warwick House, a residential treatment facility near Doylestown where Grace was twice admitted and spent about a year. In a motion to quash the subpoena, Warwick House refused to release the records, arguing doing so would violate Pennsylvania's Mental Health Procedures Act.

Fioravanti, who is handling the mitigation portion of Sara Packer's defense, would not say why he asked for the records. Because the death sentence is on the table in Packer's case, a conviction could warrant a hearing to determine whether she should receive capital punishment and Fioravanti then would present testimony to mitigate the sentence. There is nothing in the court docket to show what will happen next with Fioravanti's petition. Lawyers associated with the case are not talking to reporters.

 

[four4rock]

http://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-grace-packer-warwick-house-mothers-defense-20170610-story.html

Lawyer seeks Grace Packer's mental health records
Laurie Mason Schroeder, The Morning Call

How Sara Packer's lawyer might use records of daughter Grace's mental health treatment

About three years before she was killed, Grace Packer was placed in a Bucks County facility for children with "serious emotional and behavior problems," according to a recent court filing. Apparently, records from her time there may be used to defend her mother, Sara Packer, who is charged in Grace's July homicide.

In an April filing in Bucks County Court, John Fioravanti, who is one of Packer's lawyers, requested records from Warwick House, a residential treatment facility near Doylestown where Grace was twice admitted and spent about a year. In a motion to quash the subpoena, Warwick House refused to release the records, arguing doing so would violate Pennsylvania's Mental Health Procedures Act.

Fioravanti, who is handling the mitigation portion of Sara Packer's defense, would not say why he asked for the records. Because the death sentence is on the table in Packer's case, a conviction could warrant a hearing to determine whether she should receive capital punishment and Fioravanti then would present testimony to mitigate the sentence. There is nothing in the court docket to show what will happen next with Fioravanti's petition. Lawyers associated with the case are not talking to reporters.

Oh, man, I really hope that this isn't indicative of a play to "blame the victim." I know that's what defense attorneys do, but I'd think it'd be a hard sell that could really backfire in this matter. Why do I think this whole 'case' will get more bizarre before it comes into focus. Sheesh!

 

[LostOldUserName]

http://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-grace-packer-warwick-house-mothers-defense-20170610-story.html

Lawyer seeks Grace Packer's mental health records
Laurie Mason Schroeder, The Morning Call

How Sara Packer's lawyer might use records of daughter Grace's mental health treatment

About three years before she was killed, Grace Packer was placed in a Bucks County facility for children with "serious emotional and behavior problems," according to a recent court filing. Apparently, records from her time there may be used to defend her mother, Sara Packer, who is charged in Grace's July homicide.

In an April filing in Bucks County Court, John Fioravanti, who is one of Packer's lawyers, requested records from Warwick House, a residential treatment facility near Doylestown where Grace was twice admitted and spent about a year. In a motion to quash the subpoena, Warwick House refused to release the records, arguing doing so would violate Pennsylvania's Mental Health Procedures Act.

Fioravanti, who is handling the mitigation portion of Sara Packer's defense, would not say why he asked for the records. Because the death sentence is on the table in Packer's case, a conviction could warrant a hearing to determine whether she should receive capital punishment and Fioravanti then would present testimony to mitigate the sentence. There is nothing in the court docket to show what will happen next with Fioravanti's petition. Lawyers associated with the case are not talking to reporters.

I really don't care if Grace was the most hard to handle child in the world. Nothing she did could even possibly come close to deserving being, raped, murdered, and dismembered.!

 

[0101ABA]

Biological parents of dismembered teen seek estate access

An attorney for Rose and Rodney Hunsicker say they want to become administrators so they can sue the social service agencies that placed the girl, Grace Packer, with the woman accused of abusing and killing her.

 

[kdg411]

Norristown-based attorney Vincent Vangrossi filed a petition last month in Montgomery County Court on behalf of Rose and Rodney Hunsicker of Reading, who want to be appointed administrators of their slain daughter's estate.

The Hunsickers are seeking information on the location of their son, now 12, and daughter, now 19, Vangrossi said.

Vangrossi said he has found evidence that the boy is living with relatives of David Packer

The lawyer also said he has evidence that David Packer was living at the house at the same time as the boy, despite being a registered sex offender.

David Packer is currently in the State Correctional Institution at Graterford on a parole violation.

SBM
More at link

 

[kdg411]

http://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-nws-grace-packer-murdered-dismembered-teen-grandparents-court-20170804-story.html

Warren and Evelyn Packer of Northampton said in court papers that they are willing to assume the role of administrators of Grace’s estate and “welcome said opportunity.”

Through their attorney, Dean Berg, Warren and Evelyn Packer declined to comment Friday. In their July 26 response to the Hunsickers' petition, the couple said they questioned the biological parents’ “somewhat bizarre acute interest” in Grace’s estate.”

 

[cvaldez1975]

idk why the packer family should be allowed any rights to any damn kids.

 

[strawberry]

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-nws-grace-packer-2008-abuse-investigation-20170808-story,amp.html


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[Niner]

In the article posted in #619 by BUF says:

As of Friday, trial is scheduled to begin March 26, 2018. Judge Diane Gibbons also set pretrial hearings for the first week of November.

Anyone find anything on this case? I haven't....

TIA!

 

[david.r.feeney]

This local Philadelphia podcast may be of interest:

http://twistedphilly.com/2017/03/11/for-the-love-of-gracie-what-we-knew/

http://twistedphilly.com/2017/03/12/for-the-love-of-gracie-sadness-and-hope/

 

[watergirl62]

Thanks, David. Oh man, I had to take a break from this case for a few months, it's so monstrously evil.


Niner, I see April 16, 2018 for a trial date. :seeya:



https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/

 

[bleuboy]

I really hope all the children that have been fostered with these monsters are brave enough to come forward and talk to someone if anything as happened to them. How could they do these things and be a human being. I'm sorry but no amount of stress or bad behaviour would make me do what they did. EVIL

 

[Niner]

Thanks, David. Oh man, I had to take a break from this case for a few months, it's so monstrously evil.


Niner, I see April 16, 2018 for a trial date. :seeya:

https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/

:wave: Thanks a bunch watergirl!! Much appreciated!!

 

[Blair]

I lost track of this case for quite a while as well, but I recently have tried to catch up a little. I found it pretty promising for how the media has covered this that I was able to recall Grace's name but not her killers when I started to look for any additional information, for whatever little that's worth. Seems like a minor bright spot in an otherwise dismal case.

I just found this article which includes some minor, sad, and distressing updates as to JS's state of mind prior to the murder, which I don't see linked here yet: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-gracepacker-homicide-new-details-20171103-story.html

 

[watergirl62]

I lost track of this case for quite a while as well, but I recently have tried to catch up a little. I found it pretty promising for how the media has covered this that I was able to recall Grace's name but not her killers when I started to look for any additional information, for whatever little that's worth. Seems like a minor bright spot in an otherwise dismal case.

I just found this article which includes some minor, sad, and distressing updates as to JS's state of mind prior to the murder, which I don't see linked here yet: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-gracepacker-homicide-new-details-20171103-story.html

Hey Blair. :seeya:
I could only remember Grace's name also... a definite bright spot.