Seven On Your Side Investigation: A Search For Answers

Joshua Blackwell's life ended with a bottle of whiskey found near his body and high levels of methadone in his system. The sheriff’s department found the 16-year-old inside a friend’s Rock Hill mobile home last year.

But his life started with Tim Blackwell. He didn't know his son, but says he tried to. The Spartanburg County man says his ex-wife took 2-year-old Joshua away in 1993 to York County after an argument, and disappeared for 14 years.

He searched on the road and internet, but never found him. Until one day, the Department of Social Services wrote him a letter, “They said they got some information that I had a right to, and we set up an appointment to meet in York at the DSS office.”

At that meeting, Blackwell learned his son died from a drug over-dose, September last year and much worse, “They told me my son had be sexually abused on more than one occasion. They told me his mother knew about it and she didn't do anything to stop it, that she allowed it.”

Police records show Joshua accused his mother's boyfriend, Harold Kresen, of sexually abusing him in the fifth grade and again at 14-years-old just a few months before his death.

The Department of Social Services must actively search for a child's biological parent if the child is in danger with their guardian, a 7 on Your Side investigation uncovered the case worker's notes do not show it happened in this case.

Kresen served time for molesting a 10-year-old boy in New York in 1989. Joshua's case worker even wrote "[the mother] failed to protect her son from a perpetrator."

DSS arrived at Joshua's home the next day after he filed the police report against Kreson. The case worker described the inside as filthy, with cat feces on the floor. Joshua's father says it was the state's first chance to save his son.

Before his death, case worker Konosha Murphy wrote at least three notes expressing interest to find Joshua's biological father. She knew his name, and that he likely lived in the Spartanburg area.

Blackwell is even listed in the phone book, but the phone never rang.

“I mean, why didn't one time not once did they contact me to see if I would help or was either interested,” Blackwell said.

We tried to question Murphy why. “Do you know if an attempt was ever made?” we asked. “I'm sorry, but no comment sir,” said Murphy.

While we didn't get an answer from her or DDS' Columbia office, State Senator Mike Fir wants an explanation from the state, “That's a question that needs to be asked in public and answered in public, why certain things weren't done.”

Senator Fair says he's drafting legislation that would restructure DSS, and make it more accountable to its mistakes. He says numerous complaints with the way the state handles cases pushed him to act.

Because Joshua died, he can't testify against Kreson. So, the solicitor dropped the Kresen’s sexual abuse charges.

Blackwell can't stop thinking about what he would have said to his son, if he found him alive, and hopes other fathers will never experience similar pain, “I know that I can't do anything for my son, but I want people that is in control to be in control and responsible, I want them responsible.”

After we inquired about the case, DSS started a state-level review to investigate whether the case worker handled the case properly. Senator Fair plans to introduce his bill, called the 2009 Child Reform Act, as early as January.

Information on violence against children
Each year over 3 million children are reported as victims of physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse, neglect, abandonment, and death - and those are only the ones that were reported! In the year 2000 approximately 5 million reports were made. Of those 5 million plus kids, over 98,000 children were treated just for sexual abuse.

Violence and neglect against children is reported-on average of every 10 seconds. Because so many cases of child violence and neglect go unreported, it is estimated that the actual number of child victims is 3 times greater.

Each year almost 1.8 million children are reported missing - many of them abducted from their own homes and front yards.

In the USA, Children are more apt to die from violence and neglect than from accidents. Child violence permanently disables 18,000 children and youth every year and seriously injures 565,000 are seriously injured every year.

Violence and neglect against children kills more than 3 children every day in America. Most of the children who die are younger than six years of age. Of these fatalities, 85 percent were under the age of six; 44 percent of the children were under the age of one.

One in five children will be sexually abused by the age of 18 and 97% of individuals institutionalized for violent crimes were themselves abused as children.

Nine in 10 Americans surveyed regard violence and neglect against children as a serious problem, yet only 1 in 3 reported abuse when confronted with an actual situation.

Children who have been harmed and neglected can show physical signs of abuse as well as have developmental problems. They can be socially, educationally, and sometimes emotionally slow. They can show signs of anger, hurt, confusion, and violence.

There are high unemployment rates among adult abused children. They can be full of anger, can mistrust in relationships, are more apt to commit road rage, and more horrific violent acts, and contribute to the high cost of our mental health and welfare programs.

source: Love Our Children USA


SC Department of Social Services Accountability Report