N.C. Foster Care Children are frequently subjected to Sexual Abuse at the hands of their Foster Parents. The State is aware of this horrible Public Corruption but doesn't care. Why doesn't N.C. care? Foster Care Children are one of the state's most lucrative forms of Federal Revenue. Particularly Minority Children. In fact if Tiffany Wright (an Innocent, sweet Foster Care Child) were a Caucasian Foster Care Teen within North Carolina's Foster Care System, this tragedy would NOT have happened!
I'm pushing for a Federal Investigation and I've forwarded this information to the White House. Since North Carolina's Black Leaders (especially the complacent, stagnant ones in Charlotte-Meck. County) are either afraid or too self-serving to speak up, I will encourage other regular, caring citizens like myself to take action. The Lord will not allow Tiffany Wright's death, nor the death of her baby to be in vain. Its high time for Reform within North Carolina's DSS and Court Systems. It will occur!
The death of 15-year old Tiffany Wright is inexcusable and could have been easily avoided. In this instance the ball wasn't dropped, it was just never held.
North Carolina State Law (General Statutes) constitutes that all potential Foster Parents be subject to a Criminal Background check.
So how did this guy (Tiffany's Rapist and Murderer) avoid that process?
Since no one answered the first time I'll just ask again. Can someone please tell me how this beautiful Foster Care Child ended up in the home of a Dangerous Ex-Convict (Federal Prisoner) and Murderer?
Was he perhaps dating someone within the Charlotte-Meck. Dept of DSS or City of Charlotte's Personnel dept? After all he is handsome. Handsome and Deadly.
The Charlotte-Meck. Police Dept claims they were so "backlogged with other Sexual Assault cases" there wasn't time to investigate Tiffany's case as a priority, even though she was a 15-yr old child and her Offender (a 38-yr old adult male) had a previous Domestic Violence arrest record for beating up his wife.
Wait a minute! Didn't the Charlotte City Council recently vote to give CMPD more money to hire and train additional Officers?
Didn't CMPD also receive Stimulus money too?
Okay so what's the problem CMPD?
I'll tell you what the problem is. Tiffany was a Black Teen-age girl in Foster Care so they just didn't give a darn!
This situation is nothing more than another example demonstrating that when Minority Children are harmed or Killed in Charlotte-Meck. co, CMPD does very little to vindicate those children.
Considering the fact that Charlotte-Meck. now has an African-American Police Chief (its first), this blatant display of Apathy towards the plight of Low-Income Minority Children is very, very sad.
North Carolina needs to work more diligently at preventing Sexual Abuse & Neglect of Children in the state's Foster Care System. Instead they are allowing children, especially Black children to remain in the state's Foster Care System for the sole purpose of bringing in more Revenue from the Federal Government. An indept Federal investigation needs to be conducted and poor DSS leadership on all levels should be removed immediately!
Tiffany's life was valuable because despite being a Foster Care child, she still had a bright future ahead of her. Her death should not be in vain.
Tiffany's death should be the catalyst for radical change within North Carolina's DSS and Foster Care System.
I am strongly encouraging visitors of this Blog and NC citizens to make calls to the US Dept of Justice Child Exploitation Unit and Congress until North Carolina stops using Minority Children in Foster Care as pawns to help balance the state's budget.
What happened to Tiffany should never be allowed to happen to any child in Foster Care again!
What about the Children North Carolina? What about the Children? Not just Wealthy children, All children!
Suspect in Tiffany Wright's Death To Lose Probation
Federal prosecutors are preparing documents to revoke Royce Mitchell's probation, which means he'll stay in the Mecklenburg jail until state charges of raping his 15-year-old adopted sister are dealt with, authorities said.
Mitchell, 36, is listed as a person of interest in the death of Tiffany Wright, who was eight months pregnant when she was shot in the head at a school bus stop Monday morning.
Her baby was successfully delivered at Carolinas Medical Center later that day, but the hospital has stopped releasing information about the infant.
After the shooting, Mitchell was charged with statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with a minor.
Those charges constitute probation violations, and a Federal warrant is being prepared in New York that “will keep him from getting out of jail,” said Greg Forest, chief of the Federal probation office in Charlotte.
He was imprisoned on a drug-trafficking charge in New York in 1999. He was released in April 2007 and sentenced to four years' probation, Forest said.
Mitchell has a bond hearing scheduled for Sept. 25 on the Charlotte rape charges.
The announcement by Federal Prosecutors came on the same day that Charlotte officials fired Mitchell from his job in the street maintenance department.
Mitchell had worked for the city since 2007 and earned $25,808 a year.
City officials said that their background checks didn't catch his previous criminal convictions.
Kim McMillan of the City of Charlotte said that “after administrative review, the City of Charlotte has terminated the employment of Royce Mitchell for falsifying his employment application, which is in violation of city policy.”
McMillan did not say in what way Mitchell falsified his application. But city officials said Wednesday that as a result of the Mitchell case, they plan to expand background checks to include a search of federal offenses around the country.
Until now, the city's background checks have included local and state records, and Federal records in the Justice Department's Western North Carolina District.
NY woman: Charlotte Police Failed To Protect Granddaughter
CHARLOTTE, N.C. The grandmother of a pregnant teenager fatally shot at a school bus stop said Wednesday that police and social service agencies failed to protect her granddaughter from a man who has been called a person of interest in her death.
Royce Mitchell, 36, of Charlotte, has been charged with raping his adopted teenage sister, Tiffany Wright. The 15-year-old was shot once in the head Monday morning in an attack police said had stemmed from a domestic dispute, but they have not elaborated.
Authorities said they were looking into whether Mitchell was the father of Wright's baby, who was delivered at a hospital after the shooting.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokesman Bob Fey said Mitchell turned himself in Monday on an outstanding warrant charging him with statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with Wright, a minor. Police had been investigating the rape allegation for nearly two months, but did not bring charges until after her death.
Police said they had a backlog of sexual assault cases and were strapped for time and resources. They also believed that Tiffany's life was not in danger.
But that has upset Tiffany's family, especially since Mitchell had a criminal record.
"With all the information they had on him, why didn't they do more?" said her biological grandmother, Shirley Boston, who lives in suburban Buffalo, N.Y. "Why didn't they take this case more seriously. They didn't thoroughly investigate because they didn't have enough people? That's just wrong. that's just an excuse."
She also blamed social service agencies. After the death of Tiffany's adopted mother in January, the teenager moved in with Mitchell's family.
"Didn't anyone do a background check on him? If they did, they would have seen he was dangerous. But no one did a thing to help her. To the system, she was a nobody. She just fell through the cracks and now she's dead."
The Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services eventually placed Tiffany with a foster family. She was living with that family at the time of her death.
Several telephone messages left for Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, and Charlotte police Chief Rodney Monroe were not returned Wednesday.
Mitchell, who grew up in Buffalo, spent several years in Federal prison for drug trafficking, and his wife took out a temporary restraining order against him in 2008. At the time, she told police that Mitchell punched her in the face. The case was eventually dismissed.
Meanwhile, Boston said the family is still trying to piece together details about Tiffany's life.
Boston said Tiffany was born in Buffalo, placed in foster care soon after her birth and was later adopted.
The family lost track of her, but eventually she turned up in Kings Mountain, N.C., and was raised there by the foster mother who adopted her, Alma Faye Wright, who died in January at the age of 77.
Before she died, Alma Wright asked Mitchell to take care of Tiffany, said Alma Wright's brother, Israel Robbs, 83, of Eden, N.C. Mitchell was Wright's biological son.
A few weeks after Alma Wright's death, Mitchell was appointed her temporary guardian, the first step to becoming her legal guardian. At that point, the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services began a case assessment. But in late February, Tiffany was placed with a foster family.
The neighboring Gaston County Department of Social Service has been asked by Mecklenburg County to look into the matter.
Cindy Holman, a Gaston County DSS children and family services administrator, said she couldn't comment on the case.
But in general, case workers take into account someone's criminal record before deciding whether to place a child in a home.
"It a pretty in-depth process and if we find someone has a criminal record, we take that seriously," she said.
Mitchell, who worked two years in the street maintenance department, was fired from his job Wednesday because he falsified his application, spokeswoman Kim McMillan said. She didn't elaborate, citing privacy issues.
But as a result, the City of Charlotte has a new employment policy in place: Charlotte will expand background checks to include a national search of federal convictions.
Charlotte-Meck. DSS Accounting Practices Criticized
Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners said Tuesday they likely will never know what happened to untold thousands of dollars from the Department of Social Services.
The remarks came after commissioners listened to a report critical of accounting practices at DSS spending programs meant to help children and poor families.
An investigation into alleged misspending at a DSS Christmas charity has been broadened across the entire agency. Officials recently said they cannot say how much money might have been misspent during the last five years.
During a meeting Tuesday, commissioners said it might be impossible to determine how tens of thousands of dollars were spent because receipts are missing or altered.
"I doubt we will ever find out all there was that went wrong," Commissioner George Dunlap said.
A report from the commissioners' Audit Review Committee sharply criticized DSS for "insufficient" financial controls and management.
"At present, it is unclear why or how the lack of controls developed or how long they have existed," the report said.
The findings prompted Commissioner Karen Bentley to ask about accounting safeguards in all the county's agencies.
County Manager Harry Jones said he is "confident" the county has adequate financial controls in place, but added there is "a risk in saying this."
Jones said officials previously have discussed whether the county has "the right financial structure."
Before the public meeting, commissioners met in closed session with Jones to discuss whether he and other top county managers should share some blame for the problems at DSS.
Afterwards, some voiced support for Jones. The committee's report said management's response to the concerns raised in the audit were sufficient.
The DSS accounting failures became public this year when Director Mary Wilson said she and an employee uncovered questionable expenditures and bookkeeping.
Since then the county has suspended two DSS employees who were suspected of taking $110,000. One of them has been cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated, while the other is on medical leave.
County officials say the two oversaw a Christmas charity which cannot fully account for $162,000. That includes a $10,000 check made out to an employee.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are helping the county investigate. No criminal charges have been filed.
Dunlap and other commissioners debated whether they should continue to spend money to investigate what happened and who's to blame. The county paid $93,000 to outside auditors to examine DSS.
Some officials noted that commissioners recently passed a 2009-10 budget that includes cuts in county services, layoffs for hundreds of educators and closing libraries on Sundays.
"The commission has to take the responsibility to make sure we don't pour money into a dark hole," Dunlap said.
But Commissioner Bill James disagreed, saying it is important that the county find out whether managers failed to enforce policies.
"The real question is what's going on at DSS finance," James said. "Who (was) in charge of DSS finance?"
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Sources: Charlotte Observer, WCNC, WSOC-TV, WIVB, Charmeck.org, Recovery.gov, Onecle Court Opinions, US Dept. of Justice, North Carolina General Assembly, Wikipedia, Google Maps
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