To: The Iowa State Senate
Iowa Senators: Do Not Confirm Charles Palmer.
The Iowa Department of Human Services can do better than four more years of current director Charles Palmer. "Stability" is not a good enough reason to retain someone who has demonstrated such unwillingness to communicate and to work cooperatively and transparently. Mr. Palmer should go. Iowa deserves better.
Why is this important?
As foster parents in Winneshiek County, my husband and I have first-hand experience of Iowa DHS Director Charles Palmer's lack of effective oversight of his department and his unresponsiveness to complaints we made concerning unethical behavior of some DHS employees and some employees of agencies with whom DHS contracts. Mr. Palmer has not responded to a single letter or email and has, instead, allowed problems to persist at our expense and to the detriment of the human services profession as a whole.
Every Iowan should be concerned when social workers lie (in court and elsewhere), fail to fulfill the terms of their contracts with foster parents, insinuate their personal lives into their professional relationships, gossip about clients and co-workers, and retaliate toward those that file complaints-- problems which Palmer has been made aware of but to which he has not offered a response of any kind.
It is well known that Palmer has failed to communicate or work appropriately with the Iowa legislature. It is our experience that his performance with Iowa citizens is equally abysmal, despite his self-description as a "problem solver and a bridge builder." He may consider himself "very open to input," but his actions speak otherwise. Iowa deserves better. Please vote Mr. Palmer out and protect foster children, foster parents and all those dependent upon the professional integrity of the Department of Human Services. DHS needs a good house-cleaning and Charles Palmer should be the first to go. Iowa tax-dollars should not support work of such poor quality, and Iowa's most vulnerable need a state agency that is accountable at every level.
Every Iowan should be concerned when social workers lie (in court and elsewhere), fail to fulfill the terms of their contracts with foster parents, insinuate their personal lives into their professional relationships, gossip about clients and co-workers, and retaliate toward those that file complaints-- problems which Palmer has been made aware of but to which he has not offered a response of any kind.
It is well known that Palmer has failed to communicate or work appropriately with the Iowa legislature. It is our experience that his performance with Iowa citizens is equally abysmal, despite his self-description as a "problem solver and a bridge builder." He may consider himself "very open to input," but his actions speak otherwise. Iowa deserves better. Please vote Mr. Palmer out and protect foster children, foster parents and all those dependent upon the professional integrity of the Department of Human Services. DHS needs a good house-cleaning and Charles Palmer should be the first to go. Iowa tax-dollars should not support work of such poor quality, and Iowa's most vulnerable need a state agency that is accountable at every level.