Not the best candidate for foster care

DCS hides problems, official says
Juvenile's felony charges pile up
Colby Sledge, The Tennessean, Sept. 23, 2006

A Juvenile Court referee reprimanded the Department of Children's Services after a minor with a history of aggravated burglaries was back in court Friday.

"The department acts like they have solved this problem, and they haven't," Referee Mike O'Neil said. "They have simply moved shelves around."

O'Neil's comments came at the detention hearing of Woodard Bowley, 17, who was in Juvenile Court after being arrested on a charge of aggravated burglary, his seventh felony charge since June 12. Bowley has pleaded guilty to six counts of aggravated burglary in the past but was in foster care at the time of the latest charge.

"Clearly, he is not appropriate for community placement," O'Neil said of Bowley. "That should have been clear three or four felonies ago."

O'Neil noted in court that only three felonies are required to place a juvenile offender in one of the state's four Youth Development Centers, residential facilities for delinquent teenagers.

O'Neil said in an earlier detention hearing Friday in an unrelated case that those centers were shutting down beds used for assigned teenagers and then, when contacted about new residents, responding they had limited space.

DCS came under fire after at least 67 juvenile offenders escaped state custody and were arrested on new charges in a 90-day span late last year. In May 2005 The Tennessean found that juvenile offenders escaped more than 4,400 times between 1999 and 2004.

Individuals have accused Bowley of stealing credit cards and personal documents, rummaging through drawers and taking two cars. The cars were later found and were being returned, according to the crime victims, who asked to remain unnamed.

Assistant District Attorney Jon P. Seaborg said that Bowley would probably be assigned to Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville and would certainly not be sent back to foster care.

Seaborg added that Bowley began to "tear up" the hallway he was being led down, grabbing and throwing a fire extinguisher, after learning he would be assigned to a facility.