Germantown Settlement

5538 Wayne Ave.

Responsible for providing services to 62 children.

2006 DHS budget: $1.1 million.

The city stopped sending children to Germantown Settlement in January after a December 2006 review uncovered serious problems, DHS records show.

Workers are supposed to visit children regularly, but one case recorded only 16 visits when 104 were required; another, 11 of 100.

The review said Germantown workers did little to seek help for children with mental health and drug and alcohol problems.

"The lack of use of collateral agencies may explain why so many [Services to Children in Their Own Homes] cases managed by Germantown Settlement exhibit little progress," the report said.

The report went on to say that workers and the SCOH director did not receive adequate training. The contractor also ran out of money and couldn't pay its staff.

A DHS review in March recommended reallowing new clients, but cautioned that the brief period of improvement might not last.

In a 2002 review, the agency found files in disarray, missing notice that a case had been closed, and entire files with no medical or dental records. One case record could not be found.

"The SCOH supervisor later advised me that the case record was being reconstructed with the assistance of the DHS social worker," the reviewer wrote. "This clearly indicates that the family has not been provided any services since the case was opened."

In February 2003 DHS provided help, as it did two more times, but at its next review on May 20, 2003, the agency fell short again.

Germantown was still "plagued" with problems, the review found.