A $750 million a year program designed to aid impoverished families by subsidizing childcare has such a poor screening process that, in many cases, the money is going to convicted rapists, molesters, and drug dealers.
Cornelius Osborne is a rapist, thief, and drug dealer who has done multiple stints behind bars. Over more than two years, Illinois taxpayers paid him nearly $5,000 to babysit his sister’s children. In 2004, she helped him fill out an application so that the state would pay him to care for her two children.
She said:
I thought he would be rejected, but they didn't. I never got a call. They never asked about it.
How can that be? Until reforms were enacted in 2009 (reforms that took more than 18 months to be implemented, by the way), the program relied on the honor system. Osborne simply didn’t mention his past convictions as a sex offender. 60,000 of the 70,000 babysitters paid by the program are unlicensed and, until the 2009 reform, did not require full background checks.
The state simply relied on felons to list their felonies on their applications. Felons. Here’s a thought: If a man would rape a woman, why would his personal morality convict him to disclose it on an application? Criminals are not criminals by being upstanding members of society.
It isn’t just the sitters that need checking; it’s anyone that will be around the children being sat. Lemorial Westfield has been receiving subsidized checks for watching three young children in her home. Her husband George is a registered sex offender. When a Chicago Tribune reporter went to investigate, a 6-year-old girl answered the door and then went to get George. It seems Lemorial had stepped out for a bit.
A lot of families rely on these subsidies to make ends meet, and to make sure their children are cared for. But what was intended to help the impoverished get a leg up on life has provided sex-offenders with access to children, and a paycheck to boot.
What good is help from the state if they’re going to send a child molester to babysit your children?
Image via alaina.buzas/Flickr
This Hot Dad Wants to Vacuum Your Rug
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
Comments 25
I agree that the state doesn't do enough to protect children from child molesters. My sister (whom I totally cut out of my life and have no contact with) had a child molester living with her. Not only did she have a little girl of her own, but they lived right across the street from an elementary school. They had another daughter together, the girls were taken by the state because my neice told me he was sexually abusing her and her sister who was also his daughter. I went online and that's how I found that he was a convicted child molester.
Why the hell are the parents not getting in trouble for having these types of ppl around their kids?
I agree.....the parents are alot to blame also. How in the hell can you NOT know who the sex offenders are around you with the online reporting systems in place???
That is so scary. Sadly, I'm not terribly surprised to hear of a government program that does more harm than good under the guise of "helping those less fortunate". This program is especially horrifying, but this sort of systemic half-assed "helping" off too many people with too few resources is an across-the-board problem -- this is why Big Government is a BAD IDEA.
key word in this article....ILLINOIS...
Ok, wait. How are the PARENTS to blame? If this program is like most other state-administered programs, the parents who want the subsidized care go to the Office of Human Services and apply for the babysitting. The office then provides a list of sitters from which to choose. Presumably, the state has already vetted these candidates, and the parents trust that the work has been done, because these people are being RECOMMENDED BY THE STATE.
Parents should NOT have to do the agency's job for them! Do you do a separate background check on every single one of your children's Public School Teachers? No, because you assume that, as an employee of the state, that work has already been done. This is a similar situation.
No, the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the state, and on the shoulders of the felons who committed the crimes. STOP. BLAMING. PARENTS for something they have no control over.