Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

The title of this post I started Feb 15, 2017    Don’t know Who or What ~QIC-NRF ~ is?  Looks like neither do the AHA, the NFI, the ABA Center on Children and the Law, and HHS/Children’s Bureau (at least as uploaded at UCBerkeley’s School of Social Welfare CalSWEC) who collaborated on IT, then reported IT as a WHO (2010).  File under Fatherhood Engagement Absurdities — or at least, lots of anomalies —  2010. (case-sensitive shortlink ends in -5U6)

It was “on ice” for a few weeks (see yesterday’s post for an idea why) and having been pretty full of information and annotated images done early on (mid-Feb. 2017), I’m publishing it early March 2017.  I added some material towards the end, but not much more.  One entity that may get its own character assessment is the Buhl, Idaho (address) NYC Park Avenue (Legal Domicile) Intensive Family Preservation Services National Network, Inc.” whose website is NFPN.org and is selling “three tools to 50 Domestic and Foreign Agencies” (that’s from the FY2015 return found at Charities NYS.com) to train direct service workers, doing this tax-exempt.  Interesting scenario -I’m uploading several miscellaneous images (most from Year 2002) and the link is to that whole tax return from 2002 showing “Name Change” on top-left, and a number of other very interesting items.  Which would take  a while to narrate (not on this post…., though!).

[This short section adds those images].

This image is from Charities NYS on what’s now called “Intensive Family Preservation National Network, Inc.” — at least in NY. So Far, I’ve not been able to find ANY registration for it in Idaho, either charitable (Idaho doesn’t require charities to register) or as a business entity (under either name). I’m not finished looking, but under a straight name search, no deal so far. //LGH

X in upper left corner is for “Name Change.” So it changed its name TO “National Family Preservation Services, Inc.” FROM something else. I notice the NYS filing (and this is a NY Legal domicile entity, despite its “Dairyland” (Idaho) address) reads as it does now: Intensive Family Preservation Services National Network, Inc. The NYS filing shows it started in 1992 (as I recall, adding the link here, with two images) as that name and no “dbas” (at least in NY) are listed. The tricky part is, originally (or at least around turn of the century) its revenues were more dominated by contributions with only (as on this 2002 Form 990) about $25K “Program Service Revenues (Part I, LIne 2, page 1). That just about equals the expenses later in the return. By 2015, the return is showing there have been no contributions except a single $40,000 (even) for the past 5 years (or so), and most revenue is from Program Service Revenues. The products they are selling seem to be proprietary software-based. Surprise, surprise. See “Raymond Kirk, Ph.D.” (or “Dr. Kirk” from NC, per website). SOMEONE is being paid royalties as part of the tax-exempt services under this 501©3.

Click to read (includes some of above images): NFPN “Safe Children Strong Families” (IDAHO) Form 990 2002 last 2 pp lists Bd of Dirs affiliations One is NJ Office of Child Support & Paternity) EIN#133715995_200212_990

From NYS Business Entities Search (screenprints, repeat the search if you’re curious!).  The next link is to an IRS search showing (maybe make a note of it) that this IRS search database doesn’t necessarily display an entity’s LEGAL DOMICILE but possibly filing address.  I don’t know (will try and find out, however).  That’s interesting, because I don’t see it registered as a business OR charity in Idaho.
IRS ‘Exempt Orgs Select Check’ showing EIN#133715995 belongs to Intensive Family Preserv’n Svces Nat’l Network Inc in Buhl ID (I think legal domicile is NY though) (option Is Elegi

If you can view this image (I didn’t provide a pdf link) on your device, notice lower right corner shows that IF we are talking about the same entity throughout, this one was first (at least in NY) named IFPSNN, Inc. not NFPN, Inc. (using their acronyms here just for the caption). Also start date, and absence of any “Registered Agent” or floor or suite# at the 695 Park Avenue NYC address (!!)

 

That was a “sneak preview” of another subject matter, only touched on again at the bottom of this post.
(End of update section adding NFPN images)

My previous attempt at this title gives a bit of a preview:

2010, report on the QIC-NRF (“CWS”) One-Day Social Worker Training Curriculum for Father Engagement, despite help from of the NFI, The AHA, and HHS  and as uploaded at CalSWEC.Berkeley.EDU, holds Misleading, Internally Inconsistent and Inaccurate Info on Award 90CA1025 (which doesn’t exist)

THIS material (now, post) previously located at, introducing, and probably overlap in content with:

“Progressive Language Creep Section from 2012 “Reconceptualize This” post (reviewed and reformatted 2017)“[with short-link ending “-5SR, “]

• Under THAT post, I called THIS post “2017 Offspring #1”

Which, being a clean-up and update formerly concluding a January 22, 2012 post called:

ABA, APA, AFCC, AAML, . . and others:  Reconceptualize This!  [Some Ohio Councils, Commissions, and Headlines, Incl. Basic Links][Chosen to represent 2012 in my 2017 Retrospective, includes its own]  with case-sensitive shortlink ending “-101” (all numbers).

Which ending section of 2012 post began like this:

NOW LET’S LOOK AT SOME OF THIS PROGRESSIVE LANGUAGE CREEP AS FACILITATED BY CERTAIN ASSOCIATIONS**…

[***Referring in that 2012 context to the ABA. the APA, the AFCC, of course, the AAML]

NOW that I’ve clarified (or perhaps further muddled?) the relationships between my own posts spanning a five year learning curve on projects (like this QIC-NRF) and involved entities (including but not limited to those named in the post title) I raised five years ago, as a volunteer public-interest investigative blogger for these efforts,  …..

…. can we talk about how some other powerful, well-heeled and well-positioned longstanding entities including one big player from the public resource sector (US DHHS/CB), paying (tba — read my post!) one of the private entities almost $5 million over about the same number of years, managed to confuse a What for a Who (or hope we’d take that bait), and while doing so, got the grant name wrong too?  I searched “QIC-NRF” again, and from two pages of results, chose to look at one on the first page posted at CalSWEC.Berkeley.edu and representing a 2010 report.

This is what raised (because the uploaded document– not produced but certainly promoted by CalSWEC at Berkeley School of Social Welfare — cited to a certain grant) more “anomalies” as there was no such grant.  Looking closer, I then saw the “avoidance” language (and internal inconsistencies) in the opening pages, and decided to go explain why, especially at $1M/year grants from the public (administered by the Children’s Bureau of ACF of HHS), this was so inappropriate.

Showing Search results for QIC-NRF referring to this flyer

<==The attempt to portray the It as a Who even included — not for long, apparently — a one-page flyer advertising the website fatherhoodQIC.org (as displayed on website starting NWCCE.org. (<==see funders) which, at Hunter College (CUNY)‘s (<==Wiki – Read –it began as a “normal school” (training teachers) and all-women, until 1964. It’s also a public college ). Silberman School of Social Work, stands for “National Center for Child Welfare Excellence“) which flyer looks like this:

You can probably read, but if not, Click here to see flyer advertising fatherhoodqic.org

But once clicked on, leads instead to this:

And a wrong grant # substituted for the right one, obscuring that nearly ⅓ of grants to the entity whose name was omitted from the paragraph providing the (wrong) HHS grant# were TO the AHA and FOR the purpose of fatherhood engagement, per TAGGS.HHS.gov results.

It’s important, or I wouldn’t post it!  However I will at least change the background-color of that section and use a smaller font. (A first attempt to keep it in place on the Progressive Language Creep post…)

[The Language Creep post] ends looking at the American Humane Association historic involvement in the Child Protection Services without quite focusing on this on its main website, and the “QIC-NRF.”  (Screenprinted, added this 2010 reference) found at “CalSWEC.Berkeley.edu…/QIC-NRF…”

I’d blogged recently on CalSWEC for its promotion of some funky (shell-game, move the money among all 3) Ohio nonprofits in exactly this field as regional trainers, too).  That post link & title:

• BASSC (1987), CalSWEC(1990), PCWTA (1996), CFPIC(2003)…How Many Acronyms, and Foundations (Zellerbach Family, Ford, et al.) in this Global Child Welfare Village, and why did the California Components of the CalSWEC Public/Private Partnership draw its Core Curriculum Competency Model from a funky and not-quite-honestly-reporting (1979-formed) trio of Ohio nonprofits? January 6, 2017

Searching “QIC-NRF,” there are plenty of results.  (next two images have links in their captions):

CLICK HERE FOR FULL-SIZED! QIC-NRF search Page 1 of 2 Google Search Results.  Youtube (image nr bottom) reveals connections btwn QIC-NRF participants (incl pilots) and existing recipients of other HHS Father-focused funding. NewDay Services also active in Access&Visitation grants (Tarrant County TX) as I recall: “Uploaded on May 26, 2011 Duane Yales tells his story and journey through the Child Welfare System. Duane was asked to represent Texas on the QIC-NRF National Father’s Advisory Council. NewDay Services for Children & Families was the local service provider for the project. Duane’s story has been a source of inspiration to child welfare workers to see fathers in a different light than they have traditionally seen them. This has led to better engagement with fathers, leading to better communication and better outcomes for the children. Category Nonprofits & Activism License Standard YouTube License”

CLICK HERE for FULL-SIZED! Page 2 of 2 Google Search results for “QIC-NRF” includes NACChildlaw, Fatherhood.gov, CBExpress (Children’s Bureau newsletter), DCCourts.gov and more

may not be full-page image. See CalSWEC.berkeley.edu link for the same.

From same document, same link (2010 report)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose the CalSWEC search result (some images below) and quickly discovered internal consistencies, errors (in naming the supporting grant) and avoidance of naming the actual players and what was their various relationship (let alone dollar amounts) flowing among them through a common practice, though not a moral one, of speaking of a project or program as though it were a corporate person, i.e., with a life of its own to receive and disburse funds.

A Program =/= a Person (business entity).

This is subtle, but it cannot be unintentional, and it is a red flag (especially with other symptoms) of something “not quite right” about the situation, and typically involving a financial trail slated for derailment.  Otherwise, why not just tell the truth up front, and the first time, about who paid whom for what?

The general effect is to conceal who got how much funding and discourage further prodding into the project’s various collaborators.

[From an inside page] The National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System (QIC-NRF) is a collaborative effort among the American Humane Association, the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law and the National Fatherhood Initiative, and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau  [See “Introduction” Image].

This gets interesting — as the inside page is only referencing the QIC-NRF factor, but the cover page references QIC-NRF and ‘QIC-Child Welfare System” both.  Which is it?

So the National QIC-NRF is the “effort” or project, but it’s spoken of as if it’s the producer. or curriculum funder, on the face page, with no reference to the role of the HHS:

[From the cover page] Curriculum Funded by the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System

One moment it’s an entity, the next, a collaborative effort by 3 other entities (all nonprofits, the ABA a big one, the AHA, an old and generally respected one, and the NFI, while more controversial for its programming, having incorporated in 1994, has been influential and its programming is not entrenched within 1996 Welfare Reform and social services delivery systems through establishing grants administered by HHS, authorized under 1996 Welfare Reform.  As the HHS decides who gets these discretionary funds appropriated to it, I’d say HHS leadership (which in some years was closely entrenched with NFI leadership — do some homework, even Wikipedia, it will come up) is also a collaborator.

“Funded by the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System” is a false statement — on the cover of the training curriculum! 

Unless that center is itself a separate corporate “person” (business identity, including a nonprofit), it’s not “funding” anything, but is rather itself “funded BY” others. It is a thing, an “effort,” or work product — not an animate being or the business equivalent — the live, human leadership of a business entity “dba” that business name as so registered to do in a specific locale. (even where one corporation, such as an LLC, may have a sole “member” which is another nonprofit — that nonprofit is going to have a board of directors who are considered responsible, with articles of incorporation, etc.).  Saying anything was funded “by” the N QIC-NRF” is grammatically OK, but factually wrong.  AND THAT’S IS A BIG DEAL.

I’d think being unable to accurately attribute (say, in a simple sentence) WHO DID WHAT at the corporate level is a bit of a red flag when the subject matter is training child welfare workers, who are to participate in assessing just that:  WHO did WHAT to WHOM.

This common tactic of substituting a project name for a business entity IS a tactic to downplay where the money is coming from, going to, and whom it’s passing through.  A specific HHS grant is mentioned on the inside, but the cover page only mentions ONE entity — and that’s the American Humane Association, with its author. (Screenprints below on this post, or see that link). On page 3 bottom, it’s phrased differently:

0. This curriculum was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, Washington, D.C., as part of a supplemental award to the National Quality Improvement Center on Non- Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System, Grant #90CA1025.

The paragraph at bottom of p.3 (above linked pdf) is a start at admitting where the money came from (the public — US Dept. of HHS/ACF/CB) but still flubs (a) who it’s going TO, and (I’ll show — I just found out myself 2/14/2017 by going on extra step and looking for that grant) (b) under which grant.

Without the added obstacle of wrong grant#,  or even looking it up, consider:  If the curriculum was funded both BY the “QIC-NRF & CWS” as described on the cover page, but the award was TO the same (the QIC-NRF&CWS) then that still presumes that QIC-NRF is a “WHO” and can independently pass-through grants from HHS to produce a curriculum.  BUT, the QIC-NRF is NOT a business entity; it’s like a windshield name concealing who is in the drivers’ seat here!

The missing driver|player|Business Entity “Who” in the second (p.3 bottom) description is not mentioned on purpose, and it’s American Humane Association.  I also show in the post while it’s been VERY active in the child protection services also, its own website plays a little “coy” about this and features mostly its involvement in protecting animals, not human beings. This also avoids some of the more controversial (of late) issues relating to CAPTA and abuse of powers by child welfare workers (now that we have more internet access and social media activity) surfacing on the internet, and sometimes, through lawsuits by one or more parents.

• posted I just showed us about SEVEN (7) YEARS AGO by UCBerkeley School of Social Welfare’s under “CalSWEC” (see my Jan. 2017 post for more on who IS that.. or their own history of who they are — be forewarned, there’s some more “missing EIN#/mistaken identity” among some of the collaborators, too, which has (as I recall) to do with the County Welfare Directors Association.  Won’t go into it here…)

Either way, if “QIC-NRF &/or CWS” were a “WHO” (business entity of some sort), it would show up in the column “Recipient” not as it does (but not simultaneously — they are two different grant award titles and numbers) under “Award Title” column.  AND — think about it — if the right Grant number had been put in there and some stray person reading about it knew enough to go to TAGGs.HHS.Gov (or ask someone else where to go) and searched that number, like I did, they’d immediately (I hope, with some common sense attached) perceive they’d just been lied to – the grantee was the American Humane Association.  Granted, the name AHA is all over that pdf — but it’s not where it really belongs — as the recipient of that HHS grant, and, as running that QIC-NRF (and CWS), the funder of that curriculum, with a little public help.

Perhaps whoever just “forgot” to do the right Grant# (by a single letter only) figured any stray reader might come up blank immediately, and either say “Oh forget it” or, if highly motivated enough, as I am this time, figure out what’s going on and hunt further, and deduce what happened. Or perhaps it was just “what the heck –who’s ever going to read this anyhow?” in which case my response would be — and you guys are training child protection workers to pick up on details and be alert to things that might be “off” with the purpose of protecting kids?

And a lookup of that grants at TAGGS.hhs.gov (presuming it’s telling the truth this time) would name the grantee.  I just looked (Basic and Advanced searches) and nothing by that # came up.  I copied the number, didn’t transcribe it:

Click here for full-sized, annotated image. Also, a system-generated link from HHS will reproduce the search (results will change if data has changed meanwhile), which is this: http://tinyurl.com/h7w3rq7

<==Where is the alleged grant that funded the one-day Father Engagement curriculum?

People who don’t look for the details and follow at least some of the money (i.e., look up nonprofits when their names come up associated with certain projects) will never keep it straight, or know.

This situation makes me a little angry — because that typo doesn’t seem to be a mistake; it’s a fake grant # — the correct one is 90CO1025 (not 90CA1025).  Without my hunch or awareness that this was a grant TO the American Humane Association, using Advanced Search at TAGGS.hhs.gov, and knowing to sort by Award number, these facts would not have come out:

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First of all, here’s the “generated” link searching AHA grants, specifying no particular year or grant — just the columns to display in results, and the “Recipient Name” (the field is nowhere near the other data entry fields under “Advanced Search” either) which will produce (or today produced) 35 grants. in two pages.  

• TAGGS “New Improved” interface no longer allows more than 25 results per page (it used to have up to 500/page, by user choice):  I believe it was 50, 250 or 500 options).(or, search by EIN# anywhere, which is a problem as there’s also inconsistent spelling, caps (and the database is case-sensitive) and abbreviation standards applied throughout.  In other words, they are not enforcing any serious style charts on the data input (!!), which is standard practice in any respectable data entry, which any data entry clerk or supervisor probably knows — so why doesn’t HHS know, or care? (or whoever is handling — i.e., the outside contractors — this function for HHS)?

If you redo search, then click on “Award #” column  header to sort, and it will quickly group into grants starting 90CA, 90CF, and (last) 90CO.  Notice the corresponding Award Title to each set of initials, which is simple (there are only three). Here’s image of (the top only) of an Award sorted results.  As I sorted it by award number out of the about $15M grants to AHA, $10M are under 90CA and 90CF (Family Connections — group decision-making, a smaller amount), with the 90CO, almost $5M, appearing on page 2/2 in search results (just read the annotated screenprints, there are three in a row here, for the explanation.  Pictures (here, tables) say more than narratives):

Showing American Humane Association’s $15M of HHS grants (1995-current) Image 1 of 3, click HERE for full-size and annotations. The images may not show 100% of page 1, re-run search if you want to see all, or the ability to sort by other columns than I have here (I sorted by Award#)

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Image 2 of 3 (Click to read: the pdf has more info in margins than you can see here)

Image 3 of 3 (click to read annotations) This one actually shows the Natl “QIC-NRF” grants total nearly ⅓ of total AHA grants shown (since 1995; the database doesn’t go back further, but HEW and HHS involvement with AHA clearly (from its history pages) does.  ⅓ dedicated towards father involvement is a  high %. Also (Image 2) there is a funky (nearly negative $3M) entry + fiscal year labeling (cf. to Image 3) as well as (typical in TAGGS) several “Award Actions” currently reading “0.”  (Why?)

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There is much more that could (and should) be seen and said about this situation, about the entities involved (named in the title) and what it may represent.  For example,

at Hunter College of CUNY, the NCCWE (itself a name-change from “National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections” (screenprint with purple below ) apparently has a Russian university partner — presumably sharing practices — and involving a “Eurasia Foundation.”

Likewise, the Ohio-based entities I reported a while back (Jan. 2017 posts) also were developing international partners in their training practices.

==>On this “TRAINet” website, the click the “international” link for more info.  <==

Those two links referred to the same two individuals involved at the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund level in regional child welfare trainings I felt it urgent to blog on, January 6 of this year.  

This trust fund is under ODJFS (Dept. of Job and Family Services) and has a Board.

My alarm was sounded not just from the websites, but also from the corresponding (3) nonprofits, including one not even mentioned on the website, in this post (see also top of this post):

• BASSC (1987), CalSWEC(1990), PCWTA (1996), CFPIC(2003)…How Many Acronyms, and Foundations (Zellerbach Family, Ford, et al.) in this Global Child Welfare Village, and why did the California Components of the CalSWEC Public/Private Partnership draw its Core Curriculum Competency Model from a funky and not-quite-honestly-reporting (1979-formed) trio of Ohio nonprofits? January 6, 2017

 

US Citizens should be aware and concerned about what this may represent for use of public monies (from tax receipts), and as an alert that where there has NOT been honest self-reporting  by those involved, as to potential child-trafficking, internationally.

I also took time (but haven’t posted — those images are laborious to annotate, post, format within a post, produce the pdfs, coordinate links to pdfs to image captions, etc. ) to view the AHA history page in detail, and many of its tax returns, reflecting a shift in focus after the HHS grants ran out, more back to “animals.”  I also looked at a Form 990-N filing “AHA of California” started in about 1998 for specific purposes, and saw one of its officers (Treasurer one year) related to someone connected to the Casey Family Programs, with focus on Native American children.  Lucille Echohawk and her family are well known – a brother was nominated (I didn’t check but expect also confirmed) by President Obama in 2009 for Attorney General of Idaho.   The AHA grants in recent years — not that they’ve ever been a primary focus — are drastically reduced, and program emphasis (Sched F vs. Sched I) significantly overseas also. I believe that would be a whole separate study and so am not detailing much of it here, other than as the HHS/ACF/CB (Children’s Bureau) grantee here.

‘International Child Welfare” is the site label under “IHS-trainet.com” …”In 2004, IHS Director Dr. Ronald C. Hughes and Program Manager, Dr. Judith S. Rycus took their commitment a step further by providing those same training resources to international and multidisciplinary child advocates. Now, in collaboration with four participating countries which include Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, IHS is helping these new international partners build capacity and teaching them the fundamental concepts necessary to work with abused, neglected and sexually abused children and their families. …”

This screenshot is from the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund website. As I recall the “prevention coordinator” was one of the couple in the “3 Ohio Nonprofits” I had looked at.

Ending the light-green background section here means, what you see below, I added after moving material to this post, although a few added comments are showing in the section also because of image layout (‘or “pagination” of sorts).//LGH Feb. 16, 2017]

(Setting us up for comparison of what the Hunter College-based “NCCWE” is doing to collaborate on Child Welfare training with a Russian University (and several foundations associated with Eurasia.org), I looked up Dr. Ronald C. Hughes, again, and found this statement of how he is indeed the Ohio Regional trainer, has gone international with the “Field Guide” for Child Welfare practice — selling it overseas and as translated also — and doing with assistance from the State of Ohio and at least two other Ohio nonprofits.  The year 2009 specifically mention in this next quote:

• IHS expanded the reach of our national and international impact by implementing programs in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. We worked with colleagues from the Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Moscow and the Christian Children’s Fund in Minsk to translate the entire Ohio Core Curriculum for Child Welfare Caseworkers into Russian for use and distribution throughout the region. We also worked with our partners to print and disseminate more copies of our textbook, The Field Guide to Child Welfare. 
• The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) presented the 2011 Activist Award to IHS Adoption and Foster Care Program Manager Betsy Keefer-Smalley at the 37th annual conference in Denver, CO. The NACAC Activist Award honors special individuals and groups who have contributed their service to promote adoption and improve child welfare. Ms. Keefer-Smalley recieved this award for her dedication and support of adoptive families in Ohio and abroad through her work in writing curricula for adoption workers and adoptive parents, and for two books published on adoption topics. (teal colored font signifies the excerpt from here): (promoting IHS, Inc. Columbus, Ohio; also mentions “The Columbus Foundation” one the search results label.
• IHS directors Dr. Ronald Hughes and Dr. Judith Rycus were asked to develop, plan, and host the first annual U.S.-Russia Child Welfare Forum. The forum was an outgrowth of discussion among the Civil Services Commission, created cooperatively by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and U.S. President Barak Obama during the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission in July 2009.   IHS’s model for child welfare services development was an inspiration for some of the dialogue at the forum, where over 200 child welfare professionals met to discuss a wide distribution of child welfare topics, including alcohol abuse and fetal alcohol syndrome, chronic neglect and poverty, medical diagnosis of child maltreatment, child abuse prevention, risk assessment and safety planning, the civil society infrastructure necessary for child protection, child fatalities, working with families, and the role of training and education in building a competent child protection work force.
• The Institute for Human Services, in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Public Children Services Association of Ohio advisory board, served as the source of educational resources and skills-improving resources for all of the public children services agencies in the state of Ohio.

Now We are back in New York, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College of CUNY, and the web menu option “Technical Assistance,” where I will spend some time for the rest of this post. This brings up:  Child Welfare Information Gateway (which it links to as a resource) and with it, where the “Fatherhood” stuff is buried (3 levels down), as well as a smaller organization based in Buhl, Idaho which

(…let’s see if I can keep this straight after nearly a month’s absence from working on the material; it’s now 3-7-2017 and I’m getting ready to just publish this post….)

used to be called “NFPN” (National Family Preservation Practice Network) and which website reads NFPN.org, but pulled a switch, changing its legal name to what used to be its leading service (under Program Service Revenues), “IFPS” (Intensive Family Preservation Services), and making NFPN instead of its name, its “dba.” (“doing business as” — trade name).  That gets interesting because the center at Silberman (Hunter College, CUNY) underwent a namechange too, or at least one was closed and new one with a different, more catchy (?) acronym, was set up, which its website and my images of the websites below will show.

Since working on this, or somewhere among all this, I found that another center at an OHIO nonprofit (private) university called “Capital University” (as opposed to public or state universities which ALSO maintain tax-exempt foundations named after themselves, just in case you’re not confused yet ….) ALSO first, got a trade name (National Center for Adoption Law & Policy at Capital University, for short, “NCALP”) which implies that the center is not “the university” when the existence of this trade name (and donations to NCALP by EIN#) confirm that it is.  This deception was carried through the websites as the USPTO.gov (TESS search for such names) shows, about 2004-2010, although the center started up somehow, under some name (it’s said at the Wiki on its founder) in 1998, and didn’t officially change all its (remembering that the public portrayal of what “it” is and the reality are quite different!) name until 8/2015, and posted some information (not much!) on the website indicating that this is now called instead “Family and Youth Law Center” (and the web pages now are FamilyYouthLaw.org).  As I’m remembering the details.

IN THE INTERIM BETWEEN ITS CANCELLING THAT “dba” (NCALP etc.) in 2010 and admitting it did so in 2011, another entity (which was a spinoff of a Minnesota DV-related nonprofit) “Battered Women’s Justice Project) publicized NCALP and other participants in the OHIO IPV Collaborative and a final report of some sort was put out in 2015.  I am blogging this separately, but for now, here’s one narrative (from “BWJP” regarding this).  Incidentally, I don’t have it perfectly in the top part of my memory bank (which sometimes is going to get full, right!), but it seems to me that some individuals decided (finally!) to incorporate BWJP up in MN for the first time, around the same time (Sept. 2011 or 2012, and I do not remember which).

Meaning, just as the publicity went out, the names went away as to NCALP, and as more attention was coming towards BWJP, those involved finally decided to go “legit.”  Tracking down all of this when it would seem attempts have been consistently made to avoid discovery of who, or what, is the actual business entity (receiving grants and financing, and soliciting them) is definitely frustrating, and when I found the results, yes, I was irritated and indignant. Effectively — because this Ohio IPV Collaborative (like so many Public/Private “enterprises” — notice, it’s not called a “Partnership”) involves public funds, this is creating a circuitous maze with roadblocks for tracking anything public from point A TO point B (or D, E, and/or F).  Money could be siphoned off or lost when it is simply not trackable through legitimate, consistent, and ethical checks and balances.

http://www.bwjp.org/resource-center/resource-results/ohio-ipv-collaborative-builds-competency-within-child-protective-services.html (July 2011)

The (new-name) website at Capital University (although its website does NOT read Capital.edu or anything like it) was, it’s said, given money from a tax-exempt foundation (Wm. J. & Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation) which I looked up and found giving grants to this new-name “Family and Youth Law Center at Capital University” ($34.9K, not that much) under the purpose “Organization Name Change and re-Branding” but failed to include any EIN#. If this was a Form 990PF filing, it might need to specify any EIN#. However other donors DID donate to the same EIN# under two different names (the old, and the new), when a lookup of that EIN# showed it was in fact an over-$200M private, nonprofit university (Capital). What a mess. You can also see (possibly — I know it’s small) how the same O’Neill Foundation (this being from their website, probably not their filing. I DNR that I ever found a 990PF filing yet) they are also donating to the “National Fatherhood Initiative” in Germantown< MD for “Capacity-Building.” (and a look at grants shows there are several to father-focused entities)…. NFI goes back to 1994 and has received HHS funding, but not nearly so much as the nonprofits it helped get set up to take advantage of that HHS funding stream. Anyhow, this is material for a separate post — not the “QIC-NRF” one I’m uploading it into just now (3/7/2017)!

(“Organization name” only applies insomuch as Capital University, being a nonprofit corporation according to IRS, seems to be an “organization.”  I have looked hard at SOS Ohio for the Family and Youth Law CENTER (see next image) and found nothing.  It probably does not exist.  QUESTION;  Why would the O’Neill foundation endorse this kind of behavior by a School of Law within a known university  (Incidentally, the founder of this whole thing, Kent Marcus, had just come from serving in the Clinton White House Administration (as Counsel), had been high-up in Ohio State government (as Counsel, I think — look it up) and had the new White House Administration actually heard him for the nomination, might by now have been a U.S. District Judge.

So what does that say about the profession, the law school, and the individuals involved in this scenario, at (at least in part) public expense??  ??? DNK, but, Next Image (the context is still “Ohio IPV Collaborative” and Centers within Universities that change their names from time to time.

familyyouthlaw.org/fyac refers to the clinic, but describes something else the MAIN website is named after “Family and Youth Law Center.” ADVOCACY vs. “LAW”

http://www.ohiochildlaw.org (bottom of page. Note “middle of page” info may not be shown between these two images taken 2-21-2017 by “Let’s Get Honest.”

( At this time I didn’t include the first image referenced.  You can easily find it at the link in caption)

I will post on this this — but this is not that post! It is just what seems like a comparable instance of name-changing… involving a Center (or whatever it is) at a University.

From the “Technical Assistance” page (a single page without internal links, just a contact person at the bottom:

 The Training and Technical Assistance division of the The National Center for Child Welfare Excellence is responsible for providing on and off-site technical assistance to public, private, and Tribal child welfare agencies around issues related to the provision of quality child welfare services for children, youth, and families.  [[emphases added there & below]]

Our work is currently prioritized toward providing technical assistance to States, Tribes, and US Territories to build capacity within the entity.

We also been exploring innovative ways to provide technical assistance through technology and new methodologies.  With the capacity to develop, produce, broadcast and archive Webcasts, Teleconferences, and Podcasts on subjects of interest in the field.

Our NCCWE staff and consultants – provide individualized assessments of needs, explore initiatives already in place, and strategically work with child welfare agencies to tailor our services to address and sustain changes needed, building capacity in every case.

For more information, please contact Dr. Gerald P. Mallon, NCCWE Executive Director, at gmallon@hunter.cuny.edu.

Wikipedia on Dr. Mallon shows his specialty, books and several awards for his work with LGBQT youth in the foster care and child welfare systems, and mentions that he is an adoptive parent (with no reference to a partner).  “Mallon received a BSW from Dominican College in Blauvelt, New York in 1979. In 1980, he graduated from Fordham University with a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree. Mallon received his Doctorate in social work (DSW) from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 1994″

Gerald P. Mallon from Wikipedia. Undergraduate a Dominican College, graduate at Fordham (which is “in the Jesuit tradition”), focus on LGBQT and CUNY for PhD.

Re: the NCCWE’s TA topic areas, in a list of 15 bulleted items (each with sub-topics), domestic violence is referenced exactly once, only, 3rd from the bottom, in the context of increased access to community service provides of “substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental health”

 Our T & TA reflects a comprehensive knowledge of practice and administration within local, state and national public child welfare agencies. The NCCWE delivers credible, expert-level training and coaching on a full range of child welfare topics and practice issues to senior child welfare professionals in management and leadership positions to build their knowledge, skills, and peer networking.

The following represents a range of topical areas where the NCCWE has expert-level subject matter expertise in training, coaching, expert consultation and technical assistance:

 “OK, OK — we get it.  Expert-level expertise, expert-level training, coaching and consultation, aimed at the “senior professionals in management and leadership positions.” You’re the experts.  Now WHO (or WHAT), again, is “NCCWE” in a fiscal sense? 

Bottom half of that purple image above explains a bit more — like what network it’s part of (T/TA), which HHS/CB grant (90CZ0018) funded (at least that website):

Click to read full-sized (Showing the OLD NCCWE under its NRCPFC acronym closed out as of 9/29/2014 (but still visible a year after it said it wouldn’t be) with redirect. Also reference funding grant+ and other links. Image below repeats part of this one, so use same link.

So, here’s generated short-link to that grant from TAGGS.hhs.gov. Please do look!

I picked the column headings.  You can see it was $7.7M 2009-2014 (last award action in 2013) and that the Name “NRC for Permanency” shows up as the AWARD name not an entity name — while the grantee is Hunter College CUNY School of Social Work AND CUNY Research Foundation.

All under principal investigator Dr. Fallon.

The CFDA 93652 is “Adoption Opportunities”

Screenshot (Links not active) of TAGGS Grant 90CZ0018 showing recipient, award#, Principal Investigator and amounts, with 2009 at the top. After six-seven years of grants, the center gets a facelift and name change. The new center doesn’t have a whole lot to say, except about its Russian /Eurasia foundation partnerships (and redirect readers back to Child Welfare Info Gateway for more Family (and Father) engagement) “Cute.”

 SO, some more NCCWE screenshots show first up under “best practice resources” (“BPR”) is a link back to the government site, “Child Welfare Information Gateway”:

(Pls. click to read that annotated screenshot — I put a lot of time into it, and to the info behind it!)

=>=>=> the annotated NCCWE “image link:
nccwe-bpr-bestpracticeresources-annotated-showing-childwelfareinfogateway-is-top-resource-screen-shot-2017feb16-521pm

And (this being the second time I went through this information about the sub-menus under “TOPICS” at Child Welfare Information Gateway,” it may have been posted — but I did communicate it to others years ago on-line also), I annotated three screen prints in a row on this matter, showing that essentially where the word ‘FAMILY” is used in certain contexts (like these), what’s really meant — but can’t be said “in your face” at the top level — is “Fathers.”  Although it takes two or three levels to get right down to what they’re pushing, at NO level is the word “mothers” showing up — even once — even as a casual reference. Apparently it’s to be assured we (mothers) are the ones whom children are being removed from in the first place, in accord with also social policy since 1996 (in particular) that single mothers are either somehow a social scourge, or to be condescendingly pitied.

Keeping in mind the target personnel here are child welfare professionals.  Also that Hunter College (<==again, that’s the “Wiki”) now part of CUNY started out (originally) as a “normal” (Teacher training) school, and, in a reverse of several East Coast Ivy League colleges (Yale, Harvard, etc. — and Cornell, Brown….) did not even admit men until 1960s.  Teaching has long been a profession where women were allowed to exercise some power — under the supervision of men — when we could not in other areas.

This seems also true of child welfare services which are obviously not only being provided by women, but still many of the entities (such as American Humane Association / Robin Ganzert, PhD), and another one I referenced above, as small as it is, National Family Preservation Network (EIN# 133715995, now a dba of one of its products, “IFPS” Intensive Family Preservation Services, Inc.), namechange indicated in 2002):

Search results for: ORGANIZATION NAME: , STATE: , ZIP: , EIN:  133715995 , FISCAL YEAR: 

Total results: 3. Search Again.
(Click on the column headers to sort.) (not really, not on WordPress…:) )

This is just a close-up of a name-search on 990Finder. Notice it came up with two different names, also how small the entity is.

Easy to find as a main link on NFPN.org. The website (and logo) is actually clean-looking, easy to read — and definitely father-focused. I browsed tax returns back to 2002 (earliest I could find). The more recent ones (2009ff) as you can see above, are Form 990EZs. They also had several “anomalies” such as Phyllis Martens simultaneously claiming to be “Executive Director” and independent contractor, while controlling the books. Form 990EZ, again, offers less information to readers than a normal Form 990.

in Idaho, also as its spokesperson (testifying for continued funding for family preservation, etc.) is a woman — but as I found out (through reading their tax returns) the programming being marketed was developed by man (Dr. Raymond Kirk in NC). NFPN street address is, literally, in “dairyland, Idaho” (the street address showed several nearby dairies in Buhl Idaho).  While this entity isn’t the main one referenced on the Child Welfare Information Gateway link, it came up enough I decided to take a look today.

Here are the other annotated pdfs I was speaking of.  You’ll also see (below left, depending on viewing device) the NCCE website showing the link to this resource).

This topic could be approached from any number of angles (and should be).  I would like to call attention to the Eurasia.org (Eurasia Foundation) connection, showing at the same website in Hunter College.  I did find a small grant to Hunter for Collaborative Child Welfare Practices in one of its returns– but it’s a far larger project, and taking USAID and State Department Grants, as well as grants from the Euro Commission and, websites say, the Brits (possibly before Brexit?).  It’s focused on building democratic institutions in the former USSR, and (being based in Washington, D.C.) states a 1992 start date.  See bottom of this post, but I will not pursue it here.

CW Info Gateway TOPIC – top level (a *.gov website) CLICK HERE to read. Image 1 of 3 on this topic

Click to Read Annotations and see  Image 2 of 3 on CWInfo Gateway TOPICS contents.

Click here to read annotated Image 3 of 3 on Child Welfare Info Gateway, where I “read ’em the riot act” for finally “coming out” on fatherhood engagement (while completely omitting the use of the word “mother” on all three levels….

Form 990s are posted at the EURASIA foundation website, however these are from my usual source to show size. (Look at their Assets Page, Part X, and of course, other parts):

Website:

Quotation from website (most of it) with question:  If standard practice in the US has been developed to include:  public/private partnerships (with the private nonprofit not very well monitored) and major support from tax-receipts generated from income tax, appropriated by Congress and disbursed by appropriation to HHS, who then administers it (this part, through the Children’s Bureau) — AND they are pushing fathers’ property (almost) rights to their “women and children” (or at least offspring) throughout the US — do we, particularly we women and mothers in the USA — believe that this standard should also be applied internationally, as “progressive” and “Development” for Russia, Eurasia, and anywhere else the partnerships (or similar ones) decide to go?

Or maybe not?

Here’s the quote from this link: http://www.nccwe.org/ET/eurasia.html

EURASIA FOUNDATION US-RUSSIA UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

English Russian E-Conference / Электроннaя Конференция E-conf. Presentations Silberman School of Social Work  has been awarded funding from the Eurasia Foundation’s US-Russia University Partnership Program to collaboratively work with the Udmurt State University in Russia to promote excellence in the field of child welfare through research and curriculum innovations.Project description The US-Russia University Partnership Program (UPP) is an initiative for mutual academic collaboration that connects higher education institutions in Russia and US with one another and supports the launch of new bilateral partnerships. It provides professors, researchers, administrators and other higher education professionals in Russia and US an opportunity to broaden the scope of their activities and learn from the vast wealth of knowledge and experience the counterpart institution brings to the partnership. UPP is implemented by Eurasia Foundation, in partnership with the National Training Foundation.Eurasia Foundation  (EF) was founded in 1992 to empower the citizens of the nations that comprised the Soviet Union to advance their countries socially and economically. Since then, Eurasia Foundation has transformed from a US-based foundation with field offices in the region to the Eurasia Foundation Network comprised of six autonomous institutions: New Eurasia Foundation in Russia, Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, and Eurasia Partnership Foundation in the South Caucasus, East Europe Foundation of Ukraine, East Europe Foundation of Moldova, and Eurasia Foundation in the United States. By working together, the network’s foundations increase exchanges among local and international institutions throughout the region and multiply the social return on the financial investments made by their donors.[[Sound like the Soros Fund / Open Foundations model to you, yet?]]To further its goal of promoting collaboration between higher education institutions in the US and Russia, UPP has announced a two-stage partnership funding competition—(1) Contact Stage and (2) Linkage Stage, for projects proposed jointly by Russian and US higher education institutions.Project Goals The proposal represents a joint endeavor between the School of Social Work (SSW) at Hunter College, City University of New York and the Udmurt State University (USU) in Izhevsk, Russia to explore and develop a cooperative and sustainable relationship to promote excellence in the field of child welfare through fostering research and curriculum innovations.The immediate goals of this project are to: 1) Identify curriculum areas of common interest in the field of child welfare; 2) Connect Russian and U.S. faculty with expertise in child welfare to work collaboratively; 3) Create a sustainable and productive relationship between Russian and U.S. schools of social work to promote excellence in services to children, families and youth through: (etc.)

Total results: 3. Search Again.

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