DSHS Whistle Blower report and analysis
DSHS – DOH - Hiding Information – Media Strategy – Child Death Reviews – 2005
I found this media strategy online in 2011 and in this example, we find what the Department of Health (DOH) created mirrors the one from 2005. It mirrors the smoke and mirrors in DSHS (Department of Social and Health Services in Olympia, Washington).
The myriad government agencies created to protect children end up following a certain path where accountability will not be exposed to the public in violation of the Washington State Constitution and Washington State Supreme Court decisions, in my opinion. I’ve copied it in and added my response to give parents and the public my insider knowledge and/or witnessing:
“Media strategy DOH child death review guidelines.
8.5 The Need for a Media Strategy
Having a media strategy in the place for how to respond to media requests will help the Team be clear about how media requests are handled. A media strategy not only protects information that cannot become part of the public domain, and, at the same time, permits interaction with the press in a way that helps the Team achieve its goals.
A good media campaign has three components:
1. A policy of how a team interacts with the media
2. A proactive media relations plan that addresses public education and prevention campaigns
3. A media management protocol”
MY RESPONSE: Analyzing this media campaign document I see the Child Death Review Teams will not be holding DSHS or DOH managers accountable. The last time I saw a report holding any DSHS manager accountable was in 1994 then about 2001. A jury held managers accountable in 2008.
“A media strategy will help a team:
· Generate positive publicity
· Gain the support of governmental agencies and the general public for its work and goals”
MY RESPONSE: The media strategies will not be telling the public if any of the child deaths were preventable and if the managers in the agencies had been conducting their duties per the laws of the State of Washington…just a plan to generate positive publicity.
“8.6 Guiding Principles for Developing a Media Strategy:
A written strategy lends consistency to a Team’s protocols and establishes a procedural order. Some of the principles that might guide development of a media strategy include:
· Preventing child deaths is a primary goal for the CDR Team, but it is also a responsibility for the entire community.”
MY RESPONSE: This is where the parents and community will be blamed while the Child Death Review Team will make no mention of DOH, DSHS or DEL managers whose duty it was to follow the laws enacted by the legislature.
· The review Team supports the public’s right to know what it does generally.
· Confidentiality concerns are important to protect the exchange of information among Team members and with the professional community, encourage open participation and keep matters private which are not public business.”
MY RESPONSE: If they are doing anything other than public business the group must be disbanded, and a report made to the public that the group violated the public trust.
· “The Team will always answer the media’s questions honestly, including as appropriate, telling the media when it cannot answer questions. Deception, pretension and omission hinder good media relationships.
· When speaking on behalf of the Team, one Team member should be designated as the spokesperson for the media. This member should be knowledgeable and articulate. The Team coordinator is a likely choice. Alternatively, the Team can consider using the public information officer at one of its member agencies.
· All Team members are aware of the Team’s confidentiality policies and statutory mandates establishing them, even they are unlikely to speak with the media.”
MY RESPONSE: My witnessing of teams put together to protect children? In one I witnessed the team of about thirty members charged with revising the child day care regulations turn on the lone parent member and voice (Stu Jacobson, Washington Parents for Safe Child Care) for talking to the media and criticizing providers who didn’t put children first. The “team” suspended work on their statutorily mandated work to put efforts into taking away Jacobson’s first amendment rights. As Carrie Fisher said, “If this wasn’t funny, it would just be true.”
· “The Team needs a cooperative media and supportive general public to reach its goals. The media policy should be written with the participation of all Team members. The media policy should be distributed to all Team members.”
MY RESPONSE: As you can read in this “strategy” nowhere is there a goal to hold unelected DOH, OFCO, DSHS or DEL managers accountable for their failures to operate said agencies as required under RCW; nor is there a plan to hold such agencies accountable for the subsequent flawed Child Death Review Reports; and then be transparent to parents and the public about the information that is uncovered. The teams will get tricky by not getting the most telling documents they need, then by not conducting interviews with the biggest management players who made the decisions that ultimately led to such tragedies.
A better initiation into any of these child death review team is to hand a copies of the laws of the State of Washington, the Washington State Constitution, the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendments, the State Auditor’s Whistle Blower Program laws, Washington State criminal statutes and the Public Records Act; along with the Washington State Supreme Court decision on Hardee vs DSHS which noted and upheld the Washington State Legislature’s intent in 1995 as well as the intent for the newest named child day care licensing agency, the Department of Early Learning (DEL) in 2007 that licensing is to be processed based on the privilege of being granted a license; that it is not a right and what the legislature passed was that the health, safety and well-being of the child in day care is paramount over any person thinking they have a right to get that license.
https://www.amazon.com/DSHS-Secrets-Jesse-Hunt-1994-ebook/dp/B086XLZDF3
August 5, 2022
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