Law victimizes families; remedy to avert fraud not on the table, yet. Will NH Legislators Speak Up?

"A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success."  Elbert Hubbard

New Hampshire needs a mandated change in the law under NH RSA 169-C; specifically that at least the now anonymous caller's numbers are maintained in the DCYF database for retrieval and to follow-up on when "false allegations are made" not when there is simply no finding but when it is proven that the information provide was insightful with the intent to do harm; which would be an abrogation of the privilege of immunity under:

169-C:31 Immunity From Liability. – Anyone participating in good faith in the making of a report pursuant to this chapter is immune from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed. Any such participant has the same immunity with respect to participation in any investigation by the department or judicial proceeding resulting from such report.

Source. 1979, 361:2. 1994, 411:17. 1995, 310:175, eff. Nov. 1, 1995.

This change to the law would allow the victim relief from fraudulent and malicious attacks and allow the prosecutor to retrieve wasted tax dollars from the perpetrator. It would also decrease unnecessary calls and the use of already extended and over extended CPSW's (child protection workers) working on a large case load when (google: average cps caseload per state) compared to other states.  Saving the division and State tax-payer thousands on unnecessary visits annually. See below for past stats:

Moreover, in NH parents are further victimized at first contact, when they ask parents to sign this form: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByTPLCn0VjpSb0F1RlEtMWZTbUk this form indicates an agreement to a level of guilt - ensuring the CPSW will go after services and a determination rather than a simple investigation and/or clearly define the coverage under Title IV-A (defined here http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0400.htm) when this form is not filled out to the fullest extent parents are injeopardy.

The State collects more Federal Money and is doing it the same way it did in the Medicaid Fraud problems existing here in NH; receiving more than is actually spent. Moreover, when reviewing bills to families this resource is not deducted from the bill and parents are being charged 100% when Title IV-A covers up to 75% of these costs on page 2 of the attached. Furthermore, this document shows that funds are also taken from TANF for indigent families and those results found here http://www.cbpp.org/files/1-25-11tanf-NH.pdf shows that NH ranks #3 out of 50 states on the last assessment for case load increases at 42%.

This is of major concern because Since FY 2000, title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews being conducted in each of the 50 States, and Washington DC, and Puerto Rico; have already identified over $21.8 million in Federal payments to States targeted for recovery of improperly claimed payments for foster care maintenance payments and related administrative costs. See http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/programs_fund/state_tribal/fostercare.htm 
Other grants to the State not deducted from parents bills and resulting services can be found here: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/programs_fund/index.htm;

If attention is not paid to this area the resulting repayment to the Federal Government once NH is reviewed could be staggering; an outside audit by one of the top 4 accounting firms could greatly reduce the impact if acted upon prior to the Federal Governments audit of NH, which has not yet occurred, but it will.

At a time when as legislators, you, are having to make such difficult decisions about how, what and where to cut back without damaging the things that matter the most; instead, perhaps you should be looking into cutting the strain by cutting the error, waste and fraud.

As tax-payers we need to push our Elected Officials across the board to demand accountability and cut the error, waste and fraud.  For information on how to contact your Elected Officials see http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml


"The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail." Napoleon Hill

Past NH Stats
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:SLuCvpt5aigJ:nhdcyf.info/CWLA%2520Report%2520on%2520NH%2520DCYF%2520Accreditation/CWLA_II_Readiness.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgM52RBkzQ-lQYFTTCLUZED3EyeYY1b-x1vUz-nRy3yun7XdOEi6eUW4A5k3__8KrwVAWGW6rz-Kj5K967sf3Dbu9lJmBvFY8I--rkkshA2ak9P-nPtJXMR9cgXTMSLVbaYqub0&sig=AHIEtbQDmEegfj3MWCCyi62Xn_sakzzLdg