DHS ATTORNEY IS IGNORANT OF THE ARKANSAS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AND DENIES ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORD UPON DEMAND

DHS ATTORNEY LANICA WOODLEY (L) AND LEGAL SECRETARY DARLINE CARPENTER (R)

DHS attorney Janica Woodley is no legal scholar and was probably not in the top of her class in law school. We feel extremely comfortable in making that pronouncement as she denied the publisher of this blog his rights under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. Ignorantia juris non excusat.

We sent FOI requests to DHS concerning two former employees. Neither employee objected to our request, nor did they or DHS request an opinion form the Arkansas Attorney General regarding our request.

DHS mouthpiece Brandi Hinkle provided responses, however the response to the request regarding Doris Wright, a Director on the Little Rock Board of Directors did not contain information regarding her departure from that agency even thought that was specifically listed in the request.

BRANDI HINKLE

Additionally, DHS had not responded to questions regarding Farrar and her criminal past.

So the publisher went to the DHS main office and 7th & Main and asked to view the files he had requested to see if documents had been overlooked and to obtain additional documents about Farrar and the data breach. You can read our post about Farrar and the data breach by clicking here.

The guard at the front desk had no idea who to call about somone walking in and asking to inspect public records under the AFOIA, so the publisher suggest he call the Office of Chief Counsel. 

So after a few minutes, the publisher was approached by Janice Woodsley and her assistant Darline Carpenter.

According the state transparency website, Woodsley is a Managing Attorney (she only identified herself as a "privacy officer") and Carpenter is a legal support specialist.

  

The brief conversation was captured on a digital recorder and take a listen to what transpired.

Woodley should be ashamed of herself for making such an incredibly stupid statement as she did.

When a request is made in person, the FOIA contemplates that the records will be made available immediately unless they are in active use or storage.

Section 25-19-105(a)(1)(A) states that "all public records shall be open to inspection and copying... during the regular business hours of the custodian of the records."  Under subsection (d)(1), "reasonable comforts and facilities" must be provided for the requester. 

And under subsection (e), a specific date must be set for inspection within three working days if the record is "in active use or storage and, therefore, not available at the time a citizen asks to examine it."

Woodsley simply stated that the request to inspect documents in person was not permissible and turned around and walked off.

THE TRUTH WAS NOT THE ONLY THING WOODSLEY WAS STRETCHING.

Woodsley has exposed herself and DHS to public ridicule and a potential lawsuit regarding denial of rights under the AFOIA. 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

DHS, SLOPPY WITH DATA SECURITY, ANNOUNCES BREACH AFFECTING 26,044 INDIVIDUALS - DHS PRESSING CHARGES AGAINST THE FORMER WORKER

Court records identify the culprit to be Yolonda Farrar. Farrar a registered nurse, who worked for DHS, in their Division of Medical Services Payment Integrity Unit as a Coding Analyst with an annual salary of around $64k per year.

TEFRA is a category of Medicaid that provides care to disabled children in their homes rather than in institutions. To qualify for TEFRA benefits, the child must be disabled according to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) definition of disability and must meet the medical-necessity requirement for institutional care. Children who live in institutions or who receive extended care in institutions are not eligible in the TEFRA category.

We have requested information about Farrar from DHS and expect to have it early next week (expect an update). 

Farrar appears to have also gotten sideways with the Arkansas State Board of Nursing ("ASBN").

We have requested information from ASBN about Farrar's infraction and will aslo include in an update next week.

Farrar's Linked in profile has a striking gap from 2004 through 2014 and we believe that we will find that she was possibly terminated from some organization as a result of the infraction.

Farrar appears to have worked at DHS from 2013 until they fired her in 2015.

However, the state transparency website still has her as working at DHS. Her Linkedin resume states she is currently employed at the Arkansas Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.

Farrar has filed a discrimination lawsuit in Federal Court.

You can view the full complaint by clicking here.

In this suit she claims that her supervisor, John Parke, was too friendly with her and discriminated against her and that when she complained she was fired.

Parke got his job as a political payoff from Governor Asa Hutchinson as Parke had no experience whatsoever for the position - a standard trademark of many of Hutchinson appointments.

You can read the full story as posted on the Arkansas Times - Arkansas Blog.

DHS answered that complaint pages of denials.

You can view their answer by clicking here.

DHS was reviewing Farrar's email account in preparation for the lawsuit when they discovered that Farrar sent spreadsheets containing information (names, SSN's, etc) of around 26,000 individuals to her personal email address.

It is unclear at this point in time why Farrar did that, but it was against DHS police/procedures and probably several state and federal statutes. 

DHS has stated that they have filed a complaint with the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney and we suspect that a warrant for her arrest is only a matter of days from being issued.

Stay tuned for updates.


***UPDATE-9/18/17*** 

We received a prompt response from the Arkansas State Board of Nursing and those records provide some interesting information.

You can view the entire file by clicking here.

It seems that Farrar had a criminal history that she failed to include in her examination application. She had been convicted of Battery in Wisconsin.

 Farrar was ordered to pay  $2,754.74 in restitution to the victim.

Farrar never made any payments towards the restitution and it was still owed in 2011 when the ASBN contacted the Wisconsin court.

DHS has not yet provided us with a response to the FOI request we sent to them or to emails asking if they were aware of Farrar's criminal history when they hired her.

Stayed tuned for more updates.

***UPDATE 9/21/17***


Records obtained from DHS indicate after Farrar was fired from her position in the payment unit she was hired by the Arkansas State Hospital (which is under DHS control) and then fired a second time.

 

 

WHO PROTECTS CHILDREN FROM DHS?

PROTECTIVE ISOLATION OR DISTURBING DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE?

A recent story featured in the Arkansas Times and on The Arkansas Nonprofit News Network by David Ramsey detailed horrific practices by the Arkansas Department of Human Services in their Division of Youth Services (DYS") division.

Those of us that have worked for DHS (the publisher of this blog is included in that group) have long known of problems that particular division has faced and has experienced.

Ramsey revealed that DYS placed  a 17-year-old youth at the Dermott facility  in confined isolation for 23- 24 hours per day for a period totaling more than 90 days, according to records examined by Disability Rights Arkansas ("DRA"), an advocacy group that does regular observations at the juvenile lockups. More typically, youths would spend a day or a few days confined, according to DRA observers, let out only to shower and use the bathroom.

Ramsey also wrote that in some cases, a room where an older resident normally sleeps has been used as a cell to put a younger child in isolation. DRA observers have seen older youths with their bedding dragged into a common area, where they sleep for the duration of the younger child’s stay in isolation. Meanwhile, isolation has also been used for the 18-21-year-old youths at the correctional facility; in that case, they would typically be confined to their regularly assigned rooms.

“It has a detrimental effect on a youth’s treatment, education, physical health and mental health” - Tom Masseau, DRA Executive Director 

Ramsey states that one DRA observation this year, several younger children were confined in isolation in rooms at the correctional facility, and the lights in these rooms were turned out in the middle of the day so that the children were confined in darkness. 

Staffers told DRA observers that the children were napping, but the observers could see them through the slit in the door, staring back at them in the dark, wide awake. Asked about such a practice, Amy Webb, chief communications officer at the DHS said that while it “perhaps” happened in the past, it was not happening now. “We are not OK with that approach,” she said.

 
Ramsey reports that before the DYS takeover in January, the nonprofit South Arkansas Youth Services ran the facilities at Dermott. Last year, one youth was placed into room confinement for a period totaling more than 90 days. The youth, who had a disability, did not receive educational instruction or programming, according to a letter sent by DRA in August 2016. According to logs pulled by DRA, the youth was isolated for 23-24 hours per day; some days he got recreation time out of the cell, some days he did not. In a response letter, South Arkansas Youth Services defended the practice of room confinement and disputed the accuracy of DRA’s information.

“He was identified as being violent,” said Marq Golden, the DYS assistant director for residential programs. “They made several attempts where they tried to move him back and he was still identified as violent. They provided him services [while confined at the correctional facility].”

MARQ GOLDEN - DYS ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR  RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMS

According to DRA, the practices they observed at Dermott continued after the DYS took over the facilities. But DYS officials said that the division has established clearer protocols at Dermott over the last few months in order to limit the frequency and duration of isolation. They said that while youths at Dermott may “perhaps” have been confined for days at a time without adequate services previously, that is not the current practice.

DRA provided DHS with reports of all their findings. For anyone at DHS to claim they had no idea what was going on at facilities under their direct control is absurd if not criminal.

DHS Director Cindy Gillespie and her DYS Division Director Betty Guhman  did not respond to our requests for comments.

GILLESPIE & GUHMAN

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Read another related Arkansas Times story about DYS:
https://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/state-still-holds-reins-over-youth-lockups/Content?oid=8391587