Former Luzerne County Child Protection Director, Joanne Van Saun was Abusive

According to the Criminal Complaint filed against Joanne Van Saun, multiple LCCYS employees described her as a bully and a tyrant, saying they were warned that if they did not obey her, it would affect their performance evaluations. Thus, when Van Saun ordered the GPS (General Protective Service) outcomes eliminated by illegal means, she was not questioned by members of the CWIS (Child Welfare Information System) team for fear of retaliation.

Van Saun is charged with child endangerment and obstruction in child abuse cases. In addition to the arrest of Van Saun, the three other senior county employees who led a special team of CWIS workers to eliminate complaint files were not charged but have agreed not to serve in any position that they would be considered a “mandated reporter” of child abuse.

The GPS reports in question extend back to 2015 but wasn’t addressed until 2017 when a Citizen’s Voice newspaper article exposed the failure of LCCYS to evaluate 1,388 referrals in 2016. Van Saun had been interviewed for the article and was quoted therein falsely stating that all 1,388 outstanding referrals had in fact been evaluated.

The article was publicly embarrassing for Van Saun so immediately after the article published, rather than resolving the referrals in the ordinary course of business, she ordered a special CWIS team to be assembled and trained to quickly eradicate the outstanding GPS referrals immediately and stated that she did not care how they did it. The team consisted mostly of clerical workers unfamiliar with caseworker protocol, who were deceived and manipulated by Van Saun and the three CWIS Team leaders.

At the time the 2016 Child Protective Services Report was issued by DHS, Joanne Van Saun had been the Director of LCCYS for just over a year. However, prior to that, Van Suan had decades of experience as a caseworker and supervisor at LCCYS. Therefore, she was highly experienced and knowledgeable about the operation of a county Children & Youth Services agency.

Officials from the state Department of Human Services, the agency that oversees CYS, is currently working with Luzerne County CYS and has hired a Philadelphia law firm to conduct an unbiased internal review of the operations of children and youth services.

Reports of child abuse should be sent to OAG Safe2Say Something (844) 723-2729 or the PA ChildLine 1-800-932-0313.

Read the full Criminal Complaint