That information came in the form of a letter from Berner. It was enough for Texas to allow Lifeway to continue operating, Crimmins said.
He said department officials asked for and received documentation from the company that Lifeway in Texas and Lifeway in Ohio had no legal ties.
"It was our legal determination that the Texas and Ohio entities were separate," said Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. In Texas, where Benchmark is now responsible for 383 foster kids in 234 homes, child protection officials contacted Berner in early 2007, after hearing Ohio was in the process of revoking Lifeway's license. Records in Texas, Georgia and Indiana provide a snapshot of problems that linger long after problems surfaced in the wake of Marcus' death. Indiana officials said they didn't have any authority to take any action involving Lifeway regarding sanctions in another state. That information was not readily available in Kentucky, where officials said it would take weeks to gather.
#Benchmark home services license#
It is unclear whether Lifeway's license came into question in Kentucky and Indiana. Ohio represented the bulk of Lifeway's business until Marcus' death.
#Benchmark home services series#
Ohio child welfare officials slammed Lifeway's handling of Marcus' placement with the Carrolls, saying Lifeway employees fudged training hours the Carrolls were supposed to receive and didn't adequately check the Carrolls' backgrounds before certifying them to become foster parents.ĭespite a series of appeals from Lifeway, Ohio revoked the agency's child placement license in 2008. The Carrolls were convicted of murder and sent to prison. The caseworker left without pressing to see Marcus. Days after Marcus died and his remains were burned in a chimney, Liz Carroll turned away a Lifeway caseworker who visited the home, claiming the child was sick. In Marcus' case, the Middletown boy died after his Lifeway foster parents, Liz and David Carroll Jr., bound him in blankets and strapping tape and left him in a sweltering closet for two days while they attended a family reunion in Kentucky. But, each state has its own rules and laws in terms of child welfare and foster parents and what the requirements are to license a home." "I am shocked that they have survived and … have doubled in size," Sausser said. Tax filings show that Benchmark has grown from a company that received $15 million in federal funds in 2006 overseeing close to 900 foster children to a $35-million-a-year company with 35 offices responsible for at least 2,500 kids.Īngela Sausser, who heads the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, is astounded by those numbers. Brenda Berner is listed as the chief financial officer of Benchmark's Georgia operation.īerner did not respond to three voice mails The Enquirer left on his phone at Benchmark asking for comment.īenchmark's business appears to be booming despite past troubles. Admin Solutions shares offices with Benchmark's national headquarters at the former Lifeway site on Quick Road in New Carlisle, near Springfield.
That company, Admin Solutions, was created by Berner's wife, Brenda, within days of Lifeway's demise in Ohio in December 2008, records show. However, he manages the business as chief executive officer of a spinoff company that makes more than $2 million a year to run Benchmark's growing child placement agency, according to Benchmark's tax filings. The name change came shortly after Lifeway lost its license to place Ohio's most troubled foster children in 2008.įounder Mike Berner, who was the face of Lifeway in the aftermath of Marcus' death, isn't listed on the staff directory at Benchmark these days. Altogether, Benchmark has 35 branches in Texas, Georgia, Indiana and Kentucky. Now known as Benchmark Family Services the reincarnated agency has expanded its operation in four other states, including Kentucky, where it has 14 offices, including one in Florence. Records reviewed by The Enquirer show that Lifeway for Youth now operates under a different name, but its headquarters remain at the same Springfield, Ohio-area offices as before. Georgia child protection officials fined the company seven times for violations. Indiana Department of Child Services placed the foster agency on probation for more than four months after an 18-month-old didn't receive treatment for gangrene. In Texas, the agency was forced to defend its license last year after a foster child who required 24-hour supervision slipped out of the house and drowned in a pool while a foster parent wasn't watching. A private foster care agency that was run out of Ohio after the 2006 death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel has doubled its business elsewhere and continues to bring in millions for its founder while it racks up serious complaints about mishandling foster care cases.
0 kommentar(er)
