Opinion ID: 2375328
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Lucy Misses Appointments And Refuses Services, OCS Has Problems With Andrew, And Jack Begins Therapy: Fall 2006 Fall 2007.

Text: In October 2006 Pietz sent letters to Alaska Housing and Tlingit & Haida Housing, seeking housing for Lucy. Lucy continued to miss appointments, even though OCS provided her with a bus pass. She was also arrested for shoplifting on October 6. Pietz also sent letters to the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium requesting a substance abuse assessment and an MRI for Lucy, who was suffering from frequent headaches. The Health Consortium responded that they could not do the substance abuse assessment and that they could not do the MRI because Lucy was pregnant. [3] Because Lucy did not return Rainforest Recovery's phone calls following OCS's referral for a substance abuse assessment, Pietz scheduled one for her on November 20, 2006; Lucy did not show up for the assessment. In December 2006, after Catherine Edwards took over Lucy's case, Lucy's relationship with Andrew began to cause problems in her cooperation with OCS. Andrew began accompanying Lucy to meetings with OCS, but was hostile, disruptive, and discouraged her from participating in services. Several OCS staff asked that they not be assigned to visitation with Lucy because they felt intimidated by Andrew. Further, Jack and Carmen were moved to a second foster home after the first foster home reported that Lucy and Andrew harassed them so much by calling, stopping by the house, and trying to visit with the children outside of the home that they could no longer serve as foster parents for the children. In July 2007 Pietz (as the supervisor at OCS) wrote Andrew a letter telling him that he was no longer allowed at visitations or meetings in the OCS building because of repeated incidents that involved Andrew being threatening and intimidating to the staff on many occasions. In February 2007 Lucy went to Rainforest Recovery Center for a chemical dependency analysis and urinalysis tests. She was diagnosed as having alcohol dependence in remission. The outpatient substance abuse counselor who worked with Lucy noted that Lucy significantly minimized her chemical use in the 2007 assessment compared to the information she provided in her 2005 assessment. The counselor testified that it's pretty difficult for someone who doesn't believe that they have a problem with substances to enter inpatient treatment, so the counselor recommended outpatient treatment to start. Lucy was placed in outpatient services, but only attended three scheduled groups. She was described as marginally engaged and focused primarily on hostility towards OCS for being `forced to attend.' Lucy also refused to meet for individual counseling without Andrew present, and according to the counselor Andrew was really hostile and seemed to be supporting [Lucy's] efforts to discontinue treatment. After Lucy discontinued outpatient treatment, Rainforest Recovery noted that it would refer her to intensive, residential, dual-diagnosis (meaning a program that could deal with both her static encephalopathy as well as her chemical dependency) inpatient treatment. Also during February 2007 Edwards referred Jack to a mental health clinician, Sylvia Kidd. Jack was aggressive toward his foster siblings, intentionally rough with animals, and defiant with adults. He had problems at school, he had trouble sleeping and whimpered at night, he had a very high pain tolerance, he was often unresponsive and had a blank stare, he struggled with self regulation, and he apologized excessively. Kidd diagnosed Jack with post-traumatic stress disorder. She noted that his dissociative state, the blank stare, was a typical coping response for young children who need to escape their present reality and that Jack had low communication skills with delayed articulation and expression. Kidd worked with Jack's second set of foster parents on strategies to assist Jack with these behaviors. At the end of February Lucy made contact with Kate Wolfe, the family resources director at REACH. Lucy and Andrew met with Wolfe in March 2007. Lucy explained that she had to [go to REACH] and show that she had been there, and that she was trying to get her children back. Wolfe explained that Lucy needed to have documentation to substantiate a disability, which Lucy did not bring to the meeting. Wolfe explained what services she could offer, and Lucy indicated that she did not wish to receive them. At some point after quitting the outpatient treatment at Rainforest Recovery, Lucy told Edwards that she wished to return and get back into the groups there. Edwards contacted Rainforest Recovery, and they said that Lucy was disruptive and could only return if OCS would pay the $50 assessment fee and Lucy would commit to showing up. Instead of returning to Rainforest Recovery, Lucy entered the Central Council Wellbriety program in March 2007. Lucy did this on her own, and OCS social worker Edwards did not find out about it until just before a custody extension hearing in May 2007. After learning of Lucy's participation in Wellbriety, Edwards agreed that it could fulfill Lucy's alcohol treatment requirement, depending on what a current assessment would say, but noted that a current assessment was the appropriate first step. Lucy also met with Ric Iannolino on March 22, 2007 and signed a release form allowing her FASD diagnosis information to be shared with OCS. The next day, Iannolino sent Edwards a fax offering to share resources concerning parenting with FASD and then followed up with a second fax almost a month later. Iannolino testified that OCS did not contact him specifically about Lucy's FASD diagnosis. In May 2007 Edwards updated Lucy's case plan and developed a case plan for Andrew. The case plan required Lucy to remain sober and participate in a substance abuse program that would address her disability, to use AWARE's services to address her emotional health in relationships, to participate in AA, to learn and implement effective parenting techniques with assistance from Dindinger, and to secure stable housing and a job to provide a basic income. Andrew's case plan required him to seek a mental health assessment and a batterer's assessment and follow all recommendations from both assessments. At the end of August 2007, OCS set up a family group decision-making meeting that included the Central Council, Reep, the foster parents, and some of Lucy's family members. Iannolino was invited to the meeting, but did not attend. The participants considered Lucy and Andrew's housing, Lucy's FASD, the children's special needs, increased visitation, improved communication between the stakeholders, and improved cultural connections. Lucy and Andrew were not in stable housing for most of 2007, despite OCS sending letters on their behalf. Edwards testified that part of the reason Lucy and Andrew had problems getting into housing was that they set up an adversarial situation with the people right away and . . . become very hard for people to deal with. . . . Edwards offered to help them, but they consistently refused her assistance. In October 2007 Lucy finally secured stable housing on Douglas Island. In fall 2007 social worker Leah Ogoy became Lucy's caseworker. Ogoy scheduled a meeting with Lucy and Andrew to update the case plan in late October, but Lucy and Andrew cut short the meeting and refused to discuss the case plan. Lucy did not return any of Ogoy's calls to reschedule the meeting.