State Called Remiss In Child-Sex Probe

Parents of children once enrolled in the Rogers Park Day Care Center, 7101 N. Greenview Ave., criticized the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Friday for "mishandling" its investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse at the center. "We feel DCFS has been remiss in its obligation to provide safety for our children,"said Beth Vargo, 34, one of the parents. The center's janitor, Deloartic Parks, was charged a year ago with abusing three children at the center. The parents charged the DCFS mishandled the case because the initial investigative interviews with children were too short and social workers failed to reinterview children when some later told parents they had been abused by staff members other than Parks. Read more here.

Abuse 'Expert Misled State, Records Show

A man brought in by the State of Illinois as an expert to investigate key aspects of allegations of sexual child abuse at the Rogers Park Day Care Center misrepresented his credentials in his professional resume and during recent court testimony, records show.

Allen Friedmann, 34, 245 Court of Shorewood, Vernon Hills, played a critical role in the investigation. Working with a social worker and a Chicago detective, he conducted most of the sensitive interviews in which authorities tried to determine whether any of the 88 children enrolled at the center had been abused.

Friedmann was employed by Human Effectiveness Living Program (HELP), which treats sexually abused children and abusers. HELP was hired by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to provide expertise in interviewing the day care center children.
Along with HELP`s director, Friedmann designed the format used in the interviews.

Examination of Friedmann`s college transcripts, court transcripts and interviews with former employers show that he built his reputation in part on exaggerations and sometimes fabricated his qualifications.

In an interview Thursday, Friedmann said he ``never intentionally misrepresented`` his qualifications.

Allegations of sexual abuse of children at the Rogers Park Day Care Center, 7101 N. Greenview Ave., surfaced in April, 1984. The center`s janitor, Deloartic Parks, was charged with three counts of sexual child abuse. His case is pending.

The Cook County state`s attorney`s office is investigating accusations made by some children against center staff members. A DCFS investigation that ended last September found insufficient evidence to support those charges.

Questions about Friedmann`s qualifications are the latest in a series of problems, which DCFS officials say stemmed from their lack of experience in such cases and outdated regulations, that have stymied the investigations.

Friedmann is no longer involved in the case, and he resigned from HELP in February.
Read more here.

Two Day Care Teachers Suspended

Two Teachers at a Rogers Park day care center were suspended because they allegedly knew of incidents of child molesting at the center but failed to report them to authorities, a spokesman also said that 32 children enrolled in the facility, the Rogers Park Jewish Community Center, 711 N. Greenview Ave., showed possible symptoms of sexual abuse as determined by a questionnaire filled out by parents.

The developments came a day after it was disclosed that a 19-year veteran janitor at the center, Decortic Parks, 45, of 7930 S. Peoria St., had been charged with taking indecent liberties with a 3-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, police said.

Parks has denied wrongdoing, said Mark Rakoczy, a Cook County assistant state's attorney. The case against Parks at this time is based solely on the accusations of the two children, Rakoczy said.

The two teachers were suspended earlier this week, said Donald Schlosser, the spokesman of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Schlosser would not identify them, but said neither is suspected of having molested any of the children at the center. Parks also has been suspended.

Parks was arrested Monday after the mother of the 4-year-old called the mother of the 3-year-old and both found their children telling similar stories about being abused, Rakoczy said.
The center, which has 67 students ranging in age from toddlers to 5-year-olds, will be open as usual Friday, said Jay Levenberg, assistant director of the Jewish Centers of Chicago, an affiliate of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

But many parents who brought their children to the facility Thursday said their decision was difficult after parents of the allegedly abused children described in a meeting Wednesday night what they said had happened to their children.

At that meeting with DCFS officials, police and center's staff, parents were given a questionnaire intended to aid investigators in determining if additional children had been molested, Schlosser said.

Schlosser said the questions asked among other things, whether the child experienced redness around the genital area, had urinary infections or nightmares or if the child was afraid to be alone with strangers.

Based on the parents' answers, he said 32 children exhibited at least one symptom of possible molestation. Read more here.