Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Abuse Charges

Aired November 05, 2003 - 08:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Three of the boys, Keith, Tyrone and Michael, have been placed in new foster homes. The eldest boy, 19- year-old Bruce, featured in that story, still remains hospitalized. Jim Maley is the mayor in Collingswood, New Jersey. He's with us this morning live in Philadelphia.
Mr. Mayor, good morning to you.

MYR. JIM MALEY, COLLINGSWOOD, NEW JERSEY: Good morning.

HEMMER: With your contact with the church and throughout the town, what explains the strong support still given on behalf of the parents?

MALEY: Well, the church is about ten 10 outside of town. It is not within town. So I can't really talk about that. But within our community, we are obviously distraught. It's like losing a favorite uncle, and we're trying to find out what could have been done to avoid this.

HEMMER: You're going to go before Congress at some point. What will you tell them why this happened?

MALEY: Well, what I'm telling them is we're letting all of the state and federal investigations go forward, to figure out exactly what happened here. What we're doing is looking within our charitable support groups. How can we coordinate information more so that we don't let families fall through these cracks, working locally with our government to see what we can do to try to fill in these cracks. The criminal investigations, the bureaucracy investigations are really beyond us. We're going to make sure they get done, but we're going to take care of our own.

HEMMER: You have said that your community feels partially responsible for what has happened here. Reflect on yourself and others, your role in this could have been what to help prevent it?

MALEY: Well, neighbors noticed, they asked questions. Obviously, when you've got someone from within your family, within your neighborhood, that goes through this, you are obviously doubting yourself and we're all going through that. We're going to -- I don't believe any neighbor did anything wrong. But we're going to try to make sure that the government structure can help them to make sure this never happens to children again.

HEMMER: Listen to this staggering statistic. Nine employees associated with the case have been fired. Criminal charges may be filed against the family's chief caseworker, who apparently visited that home 38 times. What explains that in the system there in New Jersey?

MALEY: Well, the system obviously needs some changes made to it. But those systems -- you know, this is like trying to put a brake on the Titanic. This is a huge bureaucracy that is going to take some time to fix. Locally, and I think for everybody in every town, they can't rely on the state bureaucracy. We have to try to make sure we're taking care of our people.

HEMMER: Also, the 19-year-old who is reported to weigh now 45 pounds. Do you have an update on his condition now in the hospital still?

MALEY: He is improving. He is doing better. And beyond that, I just can't say.

HEMMER: Mr. Mayor, good luck with this.

MALEY: Thank you.

HEMMER: Jim Maley, the Mayor In Collingswood, New Jersey.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 5, 2003 - 08:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Three of the boys, Keith, Tyrone and Michael, have been placed in new foster homes. The eldest boy, 19- year-old Bruce, featured in that story, still remains hospitalized. Jim Maley is the mayor in Collingswood, New Jersey. He's with us this morning live in Philadelphia.
Mr. Mayor, good morning to you.

MYR. JIM MALEY, COLLINGSWOOD, NEW JERSEY: Good morning.

HEMMER: With your contact with the church and throughout the town, what explains the strong support still given on behalf of the parents?

MALEY: Well, the church is about ten 10 outside of town. It is not within town. So I can't really talk about that. But within our community, we are obviously distraught. It's like losing a favorite uncle, and we're trying to find out what could have been done to avoid this.

HEMMER: You're going to go before Congress at some point. What will you tell them why this happened?

MALEY: Well, what I'm telling them is we're letting all of the state and federal investigations go forward, to figure out exactly what happened here. What we're doing is looking within our charitable support groups. How can we coordinate information more so that we don't let families fall through these cracks, working locally with our government to see what we can do to try to fill in these cracks. The criminal investigations, the bureaucracy investigations are really beyond us. We're going to make sure they get done, but we're going to take care of our own.

HEMMER: You have said that your community feels partially responsible for what has happened here. Reflect on yourself and others, your role in this could have been what to help prevent it?

MALEY: Well, neighbors noticed, they asked questions. Obviously, when you've got someone from within your family, within your neighborhood, that goes through this, you are obviously doubting yourself and we're all going through that. We're going to -- I don't believe any neighbor did anything wrong. But we're going to try to make sure that the government structure can help them to make sure this never happens to children again.

HEMMER: Listen to this staggering statistic. Nine employees associated with the case have been fired. Criminal charges may be filed against the family's chief caseworker, who apparently visited that home 38 times. What explains that in the system there in New Jersey?

MALEY: Well, the system obviously needs some changes made to it. But those systems -- you know, this is like trying to put a brake on the Titanic. This is a huge bureaucracy that is going to take some time to fix. Locally, and I think for everybody in every town, they can't rely on the state bureaucracy. We have to try to make sure we're taking care of our people.

HEMMER: Also, the 19-year-old who is reported to weigh now 45 pounds. Do you have an update on his condition now in the hospital still?

MALEY: He is improving. He is doing better. And beyond that, I just can't say.

HEMMER: Mr. Mayor, good luck with this.

MALEY: Thank you.

HEMMER: Jim Maley, the Mayor In Collingswood, New Jersey.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com