02-28-2006, 09:54 AM
Long Hill parents will sue ABA therapist who injured son
Documents: Convicted abuser, school board, agency failed autistic boy
BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD - New Jersey
28th February 2006
The parents of an autistic child who was beaten by his heroin-addicted "behavioral therapist" at his home in Long Hill have filed a lawsuit against the convicted abuser, the township school board and the agency that trained and provided the therapist.
The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court, Morristown, identifies the parents and their son, now 5, by their initials only. It names as defendants the Long Hill Township Board of Education, Neptune-based New Horizons in Autism Inc*., two related divisions, and the abuser, identified by her initials C.M. According to criminal court records, C.M. is former Middletown resident Christine Mischenko, now 25.
Mischenko originally was charged in September 2004 with aggravated assault, child endangerment, and sexual assault, after she was caught on camera in the boy's basement kicking, punching, squeezing his genitals and spraying a substance into his face with a hypodermic needle. Mischenko, who was ingesting up to 12 bags of heroin a day while teaching the autistic boy, pleaded guilty in May 2005 to possession of heroin and endangering the welfare of a child by striking him during sessions between Aug. 9 and September 2004.
Mischenko was sentenced in June 2005 to nine years in prison.
She will get her first bid for parole in September 2007.
The lawsuit alleges assault and battery, negligent recklessness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sexual abuse. It alleges that the Long Hill Board of Education failed in its duty to provide the boy with an individualized education program to meet his special needs, and that New Horizons in Autism Inc.* failed in a duty to investigate and evaluate its therapists.
New Horizons* Executive Director Michele Goodman said at the time of Mischenko's arrest that she had the title "behavioral therapist" and was an employee who started in-home therapy for the boy in January 2003, after the parents turned to the Long Hill school board for educational and support services. The district contracted with New Horizons* to provide a therapist and this relationship ended around May or early June 2004. After that, the parents directly contracted with Mischenko to provide services for the boy for two to six hours a week, authorities have said.
Goodman on Monday said that up until Mischenko's arrest in September 2004, the boy's parents were happy with her work.
"It was a very unfortunate incident. She was somebody who had drug issues that weren't determined. There was nothing in her record, and the parents enjoyed her. They had made the choice to continue with her," Goodman said.
Neither Long Hill Superintendent Arthur DiBenedetto nor board attorney Nicholas Celso III could be reached Monday.
"Obviously the parents are very distraught and want to do whatever they can to prevent this from happening to another family," said their attorney, Richard Grungo Jr.
The child's parents secretly installed a video camera in their basement to record sessions when they noticed bruising on their son's ears. The Sept. 1, 2004, scene horrified them. It depicted, according to the lawsuit, Mischenko twisting the boy's wrist, grabbing his ears, pulling his hair, squeezing his genitals, throwing him to the ground, dragging him by his feet and screaming at him. It shows her pulling his head back by his hair and kissing his open mouth, bending his fingers back, and squirting a hypodermic needle in his face, and injecting a substance from the syringe into his water bottle, the lawsuit said
* This is an ABA establishment according to the job vacancies on its website here: http://www.nhautism.org/employment.asp - Stella
Documents: Convicted abuser, school board, agency failed autistic boy
BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD - New Jersey
28th February 2006
The parents of an autistic child who was beaten by his heroin-addicted "behavioral therapist" at his home in Long Hill have filed a lawsuit against the convicted abuser, the township school board and the agency that trained and provided the therapist.
The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court, Morristown, identifies the parents and their son, now 5, by their initials only. It names as defendants the Long Hill Township Board of Education, Neptune-based New Horizons in Autism Inc*., two related divisions, and the abuser, identified by her initials C.M. According to criminal court records, C.M. is former Middletown resident Christine Mischenko, now 25.
Mischenko originally was charged in September 2004 with aggravated assault, child endangerment, and sexual assault, after she was caught on camera in the boy's basement kicking, punching, squeezing his genitals and spraying a substance into his face with a hypodermic needle. Mischenko, who was ingesting up to 12 bags of heroin a day while teaching the autistic boy, pleaded guilty in May 2005 to possession of heroin and endangering the welfare of a child by striking him during sessions between Aug. 9 and September 2004.
Mischenko was sentenced in June 2005 to nine years in prison.
She will get her first bid for parole in September 2007.
The lawsuit alleges assault and battery, negligent recklessness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sexual abuse. It alleges that the Long Hill Board of Education failed in its duty to provide the boy with an individualized education program to meet his special needs, and that New Horizons in Autism Inc.* failed in a duty to investigate and evaluate its therapists.
New Horizons* Executive Director Michele Goodman said at the time of Mischenko's arrest that she had the title "behavioral therapist" and was an employee who started in-home therapy for the boy in January 2003, after the parents turned to the Long Hill school board for educational and support services. The district contracted with New Horizons* to provide a therapist and this relationship ended around May or early June 2004. After that, the parents directly contracted with Mischenko to provide services for the boy for two to six hours a week, authorities have said.
Goodman on Monday said that up until Mischenko's arrest in September 2004, the boy's parents were happy with her work.
"It was a very unfortunate incident. She was somebody who had drug issues that weren't determined. There was nothing in her record, and the parents enjoyed her. They had made the choice to continue with her," Goodman said.
Neither Long Hill Superintendent Arthur DiBenedetto nor board attorney Nicholas Celso III could be reached Monday.
"Obviously the parents are very distraught and want to do whatever they can to prevent this from happening to another family," said their attorney, Richard Grungo Jr.
The child's parents secretly installed a video camera in their basement to record sessions when they noticed bruising on their son's ears. The Sept. 1, 2004, scene horrified them. It depicted, according to the lawsuit, Mischenko twisting the boy's wrist, grabbing his ears, pulling his hair, squeezing his genitals, throwing him to the ground, dragging him by his feet and screaming at him. It shows her pulling his head back by his hair and kissing his open mouth, bending his fingers back, and squirting a hypodermic needle in his face, and injecting a substance from the syringe into his water bottle, the lawsuit said
* This is an ABA establishment according to the job vacancies on its website here: http://www.nhautism.org/employment.asp - Stella