TN Family Court In Need of Reform

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Cocke County DCS “Bad to the Bone”

Have you ever called a government agency for help only to be chuckled at and made fun of? Then chances are you have never had to contact the Cocke County Department of Children Services (DCS) located on Heritage Street in Newport, Tennessee.

Such was the case on Monday, July 6, when Renée Lynn, Editor-in-Chief of “The Knoxville Journal,” needed to discuss a dire situation with Kim Ramsey, a case worker at the Cocke County DCS. Mrs. Lynn tried numerous times to reach Ms. Ramsey or anyone in the department to no avail.

Finally, Mrs. Lynn got in touch with Ms. Ramsey to converse about a very serious issue concerning information relevant to two foster children under their jurisdiction. Apparently the information was ignored.

When asked very pertinent questions about the care of these children, Ms. Ramsey began laughing over the phone along with other employees. They just kept on laughing. Ms. Ramsey made no effort to correct her rude behavior with an apology. Mrs. Lynn then informed Ms. Ramsey that this was not a laughing matter, but was a grave set of circumstances. Again Mrs. Lynn was met with snickering.

It just so happened that Mrs. Lynn’s telephone was on speaker phone and at least one other person witnessed the outrageous behavior of Ms. Ramsey.

Mrs. Lynn commented, “It is a sad day when upstanding citizens are being subjected to such disrespect from government employees.”

This is not the first complaint lodged against the Cocke County DCS. This reporter knows of at least one other incident in which the Cocke County office has overstepped their bounds.

Ms. Vicki Hodge, supervisor of the Cocke County DCS did return a call to Mrs. Lynn on Tuesday, July 7, but did not apologize for the offensive conduct of her employees.

If you have any information about the Cocke County DCS you would like to share, please call Myra Wheeler at The Knoxville Journal at (865) 546-5353.

http://www.theknoxvillejournal.com/inside/pages/news/Cocke-County-DCS.html

I am sure they would be interested in all the stories in TN, give it a shot.

July 14, 2009 - Posted by TN Momma06 | Family Court | | 1 Comment

1 Comment »

  1. Honestly, DCS in Cocke County is great. They, as all government employees, are overworked and overwhelmed. I personally know Kim and she is one of the nicest, helpful people that works there. They work long hours, (for little pay),they get to go to the office at 2:00 in the morning to try and place a child that has been removed from their home. Also, for this long hour, low paying job, they get to see and experience some of the worst things imaginable. As said before, Ms. Ramsey is one of the “good” ones in the “System”, so I am sure we are not getting the entire story here, are we??

    Comment by COCKE DCS IS GREAT! | October 2, 2009


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