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Activists fault DCF in deaf mom's case -- OrlandoSentinel.com
Talking with her hands, Linda Farrell said she tried to convey the pain in her heart.
But a neighbor enlisted by the state Department of Children and Families and police to communicate in sign language with the deaf woman said Farrell threatened to kill herself if the child-protection agency took her kids.
"I felt angry and frustrated, and I didn't understand what was happening," Farrell said through an interpreter at the offices of Deaf & Hearing Services of Lake & Sumter Counties. "But I didn't say that."
Citing the now-disputed translation, police handcuffed Farrell and involuntarily committed her June 7 to a mental-health facility. Her daughter, 9, and son, 6, were placed temporarily in foster care.
Advocates for the deaf woman are outraged at DCF, which was investigating a complaint that Farrell's husband had made sexually explicit videos available to minors.
DCF, which had previous dealings with Farrell, 48, and her husband, Louis Roscoe, 42, had planned days in advance to visit the deaf couple's home but ignored rules requiring the agency to provide a qualified interpreter when interacting with a hearing-impaired person, said Kim House, Deaf & Hearing Services' executive director.
DCF officials refuse to discuss the case, citing privacy laws. Spokesman Tim Bottcher also would not say whether the agency's investigator erred, but added, "As a matter of policy, in cases like this, our investigator should be accompanied by an interpreter."
Matthew Dietz, a South Florida lawyer specializing in access issues for the deaf, said DCF's failings with people who are hearing-impaired are chronic.
"They either refuse to learn the rules or they don't care," Dietz said.
He said he has prepared lawsuits on behalf of two other deaf women who say DCF failed to provide them with interpreters during investigations.
'All about the money'
One of the women, Dawn Roshette of Flagler County, said the agency used her children -- the focus of the investigations -- as interpreters.
"I think it's all about the money," she said during a telephone interview that relied on video-relay technology. "They don't want to pay for an interpreter."
House, whose nonprofit organization provides interpretive services in Lake and Sumter counties, said a trained interpreter costs about $30 an hour.
But the problem is not only money, said Richard J. Kottler Jr. of the Florida Coordinating Council on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
"It's ignorance, too," he said.
Although DCF drafted its interaction policy in 1999 to settle a civil-rights complaint, many investigators and social workers seem unaware of the requirement.
DCF's Bottcher conceded that the agency needs "to do a better job as far as communicating this procedure to our investigators . . . [but] the truth be told, we don't encounter many cases where we're interacting with hearing-impaired persons."
170,000 in state are deaf
Florida has 3 million residents who are hearing-impaired, including 170,000 who are deaf, according to state estimates.
Despite the Americans with Disabilities Act, deaf people find themselves blocked by language barriers in courtrooms, doctor's offices and government buildings, said Wendi Herzman, CEO of the Deaf Services Bureau of West Central Florida.
"There [are] not enough hours in our lives to tell you all the horror stories," she said in an e-mail that recounted myriad civil-rights violations and slights.
Many problems could be avoided with patience and a qualified, impartial interpreter.
Lucie Oliver, the neighbor whose sign-language interpretation led to Linda Farrell's temporary commitment to LifeStream Behavioral Center, insists she relayed only what the deaf woman said.
Oliver said Farrell became upset when she was told the children would be removed from the home if her husband stayed. Farrell said she loved her husband and didn't want him to go.
She was discharged from LifeStream the next day after doctors, Farrell said, determined she was not a threat to herself.
Oliver, 54, who wears hearing aids in both ears, said she would never want DCF to tap a neighbor as a go-between for her. "A certified interpreter swears to confidentiality," said Oliver.
"Neighbors don't."
Talking with her hands, Linda Farrell said she tried to convey the pain in her heart.
But a neighbor enlisted by the state Department of Children and Families and police to communicate in sign language with the deaf woman said Farrell threatened to kill herself if the child-protection agency took her kids.
"I felt angry and frustrated, and I didn't understand what was happening," Farrell said through an interpreter at the offices of Deaf & Hearing Services of Lake & Sumter Counties. "But I didn't say that."
Citing the now-disputed translation, police handcuffed Farrell and involuntarily committed her June 7 to a mental-health facility. Her daughter, 9, and son, 6, were placed temporarily in foster care.
Advocates for the deaf woman are outraged at DCF, which was investigating a complaint that Farrell's husband had made sexually explicit videos available to minors.
DCF, which had previous dealings with Farrell, 48, and her husband, Louis Roscoe, 42, had planned days in advance to visit the deaf couple's home but ignored rules requiring the agency to provide a qualified interpreter when interacting with a hearing-impaired person, said Kim House, Deaf & Hearing Services' executive director.
DCF officials refuse to discuss the case, citing privacy laws. Spokesman Tim Bottcher also would not say whether the agency's investigator erred, but added, "As a matter of policy, in cases like this, our investigator should be accompanied by an interpreter."
Matthew Dietz, a South Florida lawyer specializing in access issues for the deaf, said DCF's failings with people who are hearing-impaired are chronic.
"They either refuse to learn the rules or they don't care," Dietz said.
He said he has prepared lawsuits on behalf of two other deaf women who say DCF failed to provide them with interpreters during investigations.
'All about the money'
One of the women, Dawn Roshette of Flagler County, said the agency used her children -- the focus of the investigations -- as interpreters.
"I think it's all about the money," she said during a telephone interview that relied on video-relay technology. "They don't want to pay for an interpreter."
House, whose nonprofit organization provides interpretive services in Lake and Sumter counties, said a trained interpreter costs about $30 an hour.
But the problem is not only money, said Richard J. Kottler Jr. of the Florida Coordinating Council on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
"It's ignorance, too," he said.
Although DCF drafted its interaction policy in 1999 to settle a civil-rights complaint, many investigators and social workers seem unaware of the requirement.
DCF's Bottcher conceded that the agency needs "to do a better job as far as communicating this procedure to our investigators . . . [but] the truth be told, we don't encounter many cases where we're interacting with hearing-impaired persons."
170,000 in state are deaf
Florida has 3 million residents who are hearing-impaired, including 170,000 who are deaf, according to state estimates.
Despite the Americans with Disabilities Act, deaf people find themselves blocked by language barriers in courtrooms, doctor's offices and government buildings, said Wendi Herzman, CEO of the Deaf Services Bureau of West Central Florida.
"There [are] not enough hours in our lives to tell you all the horror stories," she said in an e-mail that recounted myriad civil-rights violations and slights.
Many problems could be avoided with patience and a qualified, impartial interpreter.
Lucie Oliver, the neighbor whose sign-language interpretation led to Linda Farrell's temporary commitment to LifeStream Behavioral Center, insists she relayed only what the deaf woman said.
Oliver said Farrell became upset when she was told the children would be removed from the home if her husband stayed. Farrell said she loved her husband and didn't want him to go.
She was discharged from LifeStream the next day after doctors, Farrell said, determined she was not a threat to herself.
Oliver, 54, who wears hearing aids in both ears, said she would never want DCF to tap a neighbor as a go-between for her. "A certified interpreter swears to confidentiality," said Oliver.
"Neighbors don't."