Asociación De Puertorriqueños En Marcha
4301 Rising Sun Ave. Responsible for providing services to 40 children.
2006 DHS contracts: $2.3 million.
New client intake was suspended in January after the contractor scored "poor," or 40 percent, on a performance review in September.
Reviewers from DHS said a "major flaw" was that the contractor failed to alert DHS when an unacceptable risk or safety level was documented. Five of the 20 cases had these critical incidents.
In one case a worker noted that a child could not be seen because she was "being treated for sexual assault." The contractor never documented what steps it took to help the child. In the same case, a worker noted that another child had been hospitalized "after being beat up by his teachers," but failed to note how or why. Despite the unanswered questions, the worker closed the case that same day.
Nilda Iris Ruiz, who runs the agency, said services had improved, citing more recent reviews that recommend allowing the agency to receive clients. She said it had begun to do so.
"They asked us to stop intake and we acted swiftly to repair the problems," she said. "We made some internal changes and let go of staff."
She said the mistakes were limited to paperwork, and that no children were hurt or injured.
