This week, Pickerington Police are making a public plea in the missing person’s case but it’s coming after a three month delay.
Now they’re calling the runaway of 15-year-old foster child a possible case of a communication breakdown.
When Pickerington Police first heard Zaleika Woodard ran away from her foster home, They knew she could be in real danger.
“In the age of human trafficking, it’s important to find these juveniles as quickly as possible,” said Det. John Vacca who is investigating the case.
Police rushed out a missing persons poster this week featuring Woodard on social media and on local newscasts.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
However, the poster clearly shows a three month delay in the move as it indicated Woodard went missing on January 17th.
“I won’t say that it fell through the cracks,” said Det. Vacca. “I’ll just say sometimes it takes a long time to get information out of certain agencies.”
Police say they didn’t receive Woodard’s picture to showcase from Franklin County Children Service’s until this month.
They also say the girl’s own Foster mom didn’t have it either.
The foster mom said this is her second runaway in 15 years. According to reports, police have been called to the foster home 24 times since 2006 because of runaways, missing and unruly juveniles.
A Children’s Services spokeswoman said they would not discuss Woodard’s specific case.
The Ohio Department Job and Family Services, the agency that licenses Foster parents, issued a statement on the case:
“Confidentiality laws prevent us from releasing information about specific foster parents. However, to answer your question, yes, if foster parents aren’t keeping children safe and/or properly supervising them, it’s possible they could lose their license.
“Ohio’s child welfare system is state-supervised and county-administered. ODJFS certifies private agencies and public children services agencies to approve and recommend foster parents. When the state is made aware of complaints regarding individual foster parents, we contact the local agency that recommended the placement to ensure that it conducts an investigation and takes appropriate action. State policy requires foster parents to notify their recommending agency within one hour of a child’s unauthorized absence from home.”
