Blog #3

In the Los Angeles Times, Garrett Therolf wrote an article about problems in the foster care agency. Auditors found out that the workers at Teens Happy Homes, the private foster care agency was buying beer and cigarettes with the money given by the government for child care. They would also write checks to themselves worth thousands of dollars and keep no receipts. The county board of Supervisors tripled the value of the agency and continued its contract. Besides the agency using the money on everything except the children, they also repeatedly abused and neglected the children. Many people had opinions about this, some said that if this continues then Teens will be shut down, and serious actions will be taken. Philip Browning, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, said that he will figure out what is the issue and try to fix it immediately. Beautina Robinson, who is Teens chief executive also grew up in foster homes, and knows what living in that type of situation is like. Because Teens is a private group it is loosely monitored, and is audited once a decade. In 2003, there was a sewage problem which destroyed most of the financial records of the agency, and the amount of records that was found showed a sense of chaos. There was $46,000 worth of beer and cigarettes bought from the government money for child care, and the company bookkeeper, wrote $13,000 in checks to herself. The auditors told county officials, to consider contracting with this agency again, but the agency retained its contract, and the auditor never went to the agency for further examination.