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