Whistle-Blower #10

    The other attendees to Mary Quinn Gunther Sale's workshop were discussing among themselves in very low voices their beliefs that the U.S. Navy officers who were allowing themselves be videoed about their abuse of their children were not aware that their videos would be given by York County Social Services to Mary Quinn's business enterprise to show to people who paid for her workshop.
There was also worry expressed because these workshops were being given in Colorado as that was where her business partner lived.
    I had heard that Mary Quinn had been awarded the Commissioner's Medal by State Welfare Commissioner William Lukhard for teaching public social workers Salvador Minuchen's family therapy that she had learned at the Philadelphia
Child Guidance Center. I do not remember hearing that through any notices from state welfare. I wasn't aware of a Commissioner's Medal existing. It seems strange that such an award would be made as public social service agencies were not recognized as psychotherapy centers. Social service agencies were overwhelmed with their traditional duties especially those of providing foster care and child abuse/neglect protection. If this medal was given, I think it was done on the quiet as it would have been highly controversial. If it was given, I think it was testimony to the power of the Director of York County Social Services, Betty Copland, who wanted her social worker, Mary Quinn Sales Gunther, and York County Social Services recognized as the bright stars of Virginia's public social services agencies. Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW, former Director of Williamsburg Social Services Bureau in Williamsburg, Virginia for 8 years. 352-359-0850.

Whistle-Blower #9

    About ten social services directors of the various cities and counties in Tidewater Virginia (southeast Virginia) were having a bi-monthly meeting. At one point, we all had lunch at one table. Paula Kreschin, the State Regional Director, was not there. None of her minions were either. So we local directors felt more freedom to be practical. We handled social services; the state employees - Paula and her minions- pontificated from the clouds how we locals, we practitioners, should handle social services. Maybe I should say I felt more free to be practical. Betty Copland was not there either.
    Betty's use of her social workers to give therapy (and not to know who their foster children were in the meantime) was attracting great recognition. Mary Quinn Sale-Gunther had partnered with a gentleman from Colorado to give several days of training in the family therapy techniques they had learned from Salvador Minuchin at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic and were being practiced by the social workers at York County Social Services. Mary Quinn and her partner from Colorado had started their own business teaching these techniques. I went over to York County to see Mary Quinn train the York County Social Workers and later my agency paid several hundred dollars so I could attend the two days of formal training offered by Mary Quinn's business. The training was riveting. Besides that, many of the people attending the training were very worried about lack of confidentiality for the U.S. Navy officers shown in the training films. Peter Nickerson, MS. MSW. Former Director, Williamsburg (Virginia) Social Services Bureau.

Whistle-Blower #8

    I learned of Tammy's funeral at the cemetery in Williamsburg and walked from my office to attend it. I should have taken my car because it was apparently over before I got there, because I saw a York County Social Services car that seemed to be driving away from the service. The car had only a driver in it: Rasheed, a Muslim I believe, who I understood was the supervisor of the social workers for children at York County Social Services. He didn't even wave at me, but just gave me a very malevolent stare. My sister Pam says that I have a very naive concept that I can tell the truth, and everyone will accept the truth even though it hurts them. But my blind spot was much larger than that after I told the Social Service Directors of the Tidewater Region if Virginia, including Newport News, Hampton, Accomack, Chesapeake, and Norfolk about the death of foster child Tammy and her unborn child. We were all having lunch together. Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW  352-359-0850

Whistle-Blower #7

    There would have been several other ways to approach getting Tammy into therapy before she killed her unborn baby and herself. One would have been to report York County Social Services for neglect of their own foster child. Another would have been to have gone to a newspaper reporter known for her interest in humans and helping them. A third avenue would have been to have gone to the parents of Tammy and to have told them that you thought she needed therapy and why. Again, I am now sure Sue Royster did not tell me that Tammy didn't get therapy from her York County Social Services until after Tammy's death. Why she didn't get therapy, we didn't know.
    In looking at the situation in the perfection of hindsight and if I had to do it again, I not only would have called the director of York County Social Services to advocate for Tammy getting counseling, but I would have followed up to try to see if she got it since Sue and I thought the consequences of not getting counseling could be lethal. Possibly, I could have done that through contacting Tammy's parents. Of course, that might not have worked out. She might have had no more contact with her parents if their parental rights were severed or they simply did not want any more contact. Tammy may have not had contact with them on her own volition. Even if I could contact her parents, their personal problems - she was taken from her parents for good reasons, one hopes- may have been so great that getting the needed information would have been impossible. They might not even wanted to talk to a social worker considering social workers had taken their child. There's always an element of danger in social work, especially from parents traumatized by or bitter from the removal of their child by social workers. Vengeance might be the order of the day.   
    Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW  352-359-0850

Whistle-Blower #6

        I may be wrong that Sue Royster, my Senior Social Worker, told me that York County was not getting pregnant Tammy into therapy before she killed herself. Maybe Sue could call me about that point now, but after the demonization she took from State Welfare and my being AWOL in protecting her from that, she probably has no desire to talk to me. The problem was that Virginia State Welfare's "studies" after I blew the whistle on York County Social Services made her look like a zombie, but it also made it appear that she was critical of me. The latter did not arouse any desire to protect her from the lies of State Welfare. Which was exactly what State Welfare wanted.
    But soon, Sue informed me that York County's pregnant foster child Tammy was told by her boyfriend and the father of her child that he would not marry her. His therapy, arranged by Sue, had strengthened his resolve not to get married and to tell that to Tammy, the stronger personality of the pair. As Sue and I feared Tammy's reaction to Steve's refusal to marry her was fatal. She killed herself and by doing that, killed her unborn child.
    It could be that this was the time Sue told me York County had never tried to put Tammy into therapy. I'd like to think I was told at this time and not before her death because I should have done something. I could have complained to the State Regional Social Services Director Paula Kreschen. She and Betty Copland were close friends. Paula Kreshen would have made sure that Betty would not be crazy enough to refuse to put such a vulnerable foster child as Tammy into therapy.
    I am trying to capture what was said, and I think I do hear Sue telling me "They never put Tammy into therapy." when she informed me of Tammy's and her child's death by suicide. Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW  352-359-0850

Whistle-Blower #5

Breaker!Breaker! This series of posts is about getting my book Black Panther published and the dangers of whistle-blowing. I want to interrupt the present discussion about the danger of not whistle-blowing loudly and widely to tell about how Black Panther is being received. I recently printed copies of page 240 and distributed them to family and friends. I gave one to a Harvard graduate whom I had known for over a year without knowing she graduated from the oldest college of America with my William and Mary being the second oldest. His husband also graduated from Harvard. This very attractive woman keeps her alma mater somewhat of a secret. I had to know if she liked page 240 so I gave it to her very informally. She immediately made time to read it and then sat down with me to ask a few questions about the destruction of the Florida panther in Florida by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission introducing another panther subspecies from Texas, commonly known as the Texas cougar. I answered her, and was delighted with her observation: "This is compelling." It gave me great energy to have a Harvard graduate say my book was compelling. A high compliment.
    To return to my story, Betty Copland, Director of York County Social Services, called in a few days to acknowledge that Tammy indeed was one of their foster children. In other words, it took days for a public social services department to find out who their foster children were. To boot, this was from the social services department that thought it was the best. We were so confident of ourselves at Betty's agency when I worked there that I remember a carload of us passing the Virginia governor's car on Interstate 64 just outside of Richmond. As usual, we York County social workers were late because we were so busy doing good and important things. Gathering up social workers was like rounding up cats! We were attending some training at the Virginia Commonwealth University, and we brazenly passed the governor's car doing around 80 miles an hour, laughing at the state trooper driving it. He wouldn't dare try to arrest us. Those were halcyon days. But I realized those days were long gone as I tried to persuade Betty to get Tammy into counseling for support and ventilation before our foster child Steve told Betty's foster child Tammy that he was not going to marry her. Betty was neutral as she took the information. This was unlike her. Betty was a locomotive. She was either strongly for or against everything. A very decisive, strong woman. That's why most of her loved her. But not all as there were a few in the office who had felt the overwhelming force of her unjustified negativity. The two I knew were very quiet and withdrawn as a result too. Looking back, Betty must have been negative to Tammy getting therapy for some reason. Maybe she was resisting Sue Royster and me. After all, her agency was the best and the leader of social work enlightment. Of course, she couldn't say to me, "We're not trying to put Tammy into therapy just because you want us to!" But Sue Royster, my senior social worker, soon told me that they hadn't put Tammy into therapy. Looking back, I should not have let that happened unquestioned by myself. It points to my passivity and dependency. I should have done something, but I didn't see it then. It was my blind spot. I'm not passing the buck when I say, "If only Sue could have said, 'Does that have to be the end of it, Pete?' I'm a good guard dog. If Sue had said something I would have fought tooth and nail for the lives of Tammy and her unborn baby. But I was the administrator. It was up to me to find another way to skin a cat. I'm good at that. I just wasn't thinking.  Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW. 352-359-0850.

Whistle-Blower #4

    I called my former boss, Betty Copland, whom I still thought a lot of, at York County Social Services. I asked her if Tammy was their foster child, and she said she would check. We stayed on the line together and waited, talked and waited some more. A lot more. Finally, Betty asked, "What do you think is wrong with us, Pete?"
    People have subsequently said Betty was trying to find out what I would do with this information that York County couldn't tell me if Tammy was one of their foster children. I was not thinking that at all. I honestly and directly replied, "I think the problem is your social workers are trying to be therapists
instead of being out on the streets monitoring and taking care of their foster children."
    "You may be right," Betty replied.
    Finally, we had to hang up with Betty promising to call me when she found out. Obviously, this was a very grave error that York County Social Services didn't know who their foster children were. It would be eaten alive if it got out to the media. I naively didn't realize that I had become very dangerous to York County Social Services and possibly to other top county employees as what I knew could make York County look very bad. As I would inevitably tell Sue Royster, she would become dangerous to them too as would the rest of my small agency since we talked to each other a great deal. Unless you took precautions, all of us could be heard by everyone else in the office when talking or on the phone. Peter Nickerson MS, MSW. 352-359-0850

Whistle-Blower #3

    It was a shame Sue Royster and I were not close because when I eventually blew the whistle, a little bit, on York County Social Services, the powerful came after Sue first to get to me. I can be very protective of others (I am the oldest of six), and if we had been a more united team, I would have fought for her tooth and nail. When it comes to myself though, I have been passive and dependent. These were the qualities I used to survive an abusive childhood. The only time I was totally on and not afraid of the threatened consequences of my assertiveness was when my father came after my brothers and sisters verbally.
    When Sue told me how York County was denying that Tammy was one of their foster children, I told her I would call the director, Betty Copland, and get her help. Betty had been my supervisor when I worked at her agency. I was given a generic caseload to introduce me to working all the various services to clients. Betty was a large woman from a rural area in Charles City. She had a beefy red face, and one time I drove her to the liquor store to get a bottle. But I never saw her drink on the job. Most of the staff adored Betty, especially the young social workers who were a majority. She exuded a confidence that she could get anything done and was likened to a locomotive and a lion by the staff. She was a mother figure for us younger social workers. I had never known a nurturing mother and was particularly smitten by her. Peter Nickerson, MS,MSW. 352-359-0850.

Whistle-Blower #2

    Trying to prevent this tragedy, Senior Social Worker Sue Royster of the Williamsburg Social Service Bureau - the second smallest public welfare office in Virginia, called York County Social Services Department because Tammy like Steve was a foster child. Unfortunately, Tammy was in the "care" of York County Social Services. York County bordered the east side of the Williamsburg, and it was suffering the delusion that it was the best, most sophisticated public social services department or bureau in the state. I know because I was from there before becoming director of the Williamsburg bureau.
    But when Sue called York County Social Services, to her horror, she was told that Tammy was not their foster child. They didn't even know who their foster children were! My social worker explained to them that she knew Tammy was their foster child. No matter. She wasn't according to them. Case closed. In desperation, Sue turned to me. I was confident of Sue's analysis of the situation and dire prediction. I could see the train coming too. Sue was an extremely conscientious person, and I had witnessed the tragedies that public social workers routinely deal with give her headaches so bad that she had to leave work. But not before throwing up in the parking lot. Unfortunately, Sue and I were not emotionally close. One possible reason was that she may have interviewed for my job as director when I was applying for it too. She may have felt that she should have won the position over me as she had years of social work and social work supervision behind her, and I had only been a Senior Social Worker at York County one year. But I had also had four years as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, had a master's in rehabilitation counseling and had a pioneering paper on contract counseling published, sole author, in a major counseling journal. Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW.  352-359-0850

Whistle-Blower #1

    In 1982 my senior social worker, Sue Royster, came to me, her supervisor and Director of Williamsburg Social Services in Williamsburg, Virginia with a problem. One of our foster children, Steve, had been under pressure by his girlfriend Tammy to marry him as she was pregnant with his child. Steve was conflicted by this, explaining to his social worker, Sue Royster, that he really didn't want to marry Tammy and start raising a family as it would be, as he put it, "children raising children." Sue wisely suggested counseling, and he agreed.
Tammy had a very strong personality and was very much the decision-maker of the two. Steve's counseling was going in the direction of him becoming certain about his initial reluctance to get married. He was also working on finding the resolve to tell Tammy this. Sue Royster was an experienced social worker. Before I hired her, she had been a social work supervisor in the City of Hampton's [Virginia] social service department. She had supervised more people than I had in my office. The city of Hampton was large and densely populated whereas Williamsburg consisted chiefly of the College of William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg. My social service agency was the second smallest one in the state of Virginia. Rural Bath County in the mountains was the smallest.
    Senior Social Worker Sue Royster's problem that she came to me about was that she presciently predicted possibly fatal acting out by Tammy if Steve told her he would not marry her. To Be Continued. Peter Nickerson, MS,MSW
 352-359-0850