A Critical Examination of State Agency Investigations into ...

But there were omissions in the letter as it did not address some of the Careys’complaints. Notably, Lisa Carey’s handwritten statement claimed: “Jonathan’s caseinfree diet has not been adhered to,” Jonathan was found “laying naked, uncovered, on hisbed, in his urine,” Jonathan missed between “one and two weeks of School” andJonathan’s “body was covered with extensive bruises.”In contrast, the Taconic regional office’s letter to the Anderson School providedat least limited comments on these allegations. The Taconic regional office’s findingsrevealed that these allegations were, in fact, investigated. The Taconic investigatorsubstantiated that there were occasions when Anderson School failed to provide Jonathanwith a casein-free diet. A statement by a direct care staff to Taconic regional officeinvestigators read, “A maximum of 4 to 5 times [Jonathan] may have received the lactosefree milk” and on a separate written statement by the same staff member he wrote “theamount of times that I was able to get [Jonathan’s] milk was probably less than 6 to 8 andthat I generally got the lactose free milk.” With regard to Jonathan’s attendance atschool, Taconic regional office investigators found evidence that Jonathan missed eightdays of school over a two-week period. Additionally, the findings “disconfirmed” theother two allegations and reported, “No reports of Jonathan lying naked on a urinesoakedbed for an extended period of time,” and “There is no evidence to suggest that hewas subjected to physical abuse.” Despite the determinations, the Careys were notnotified of these outcomes.When asked by the Inspector General about the lack of details provided to theCareys, Taconic regional office Director Mizerak explained to the Inspector General that115