Ironic Photo of the Day

February 24, 2010 permalink

Social worker Valerie Mond, bearing a share of the responsibility for the death of Danieal Kelly, lectures prisoners to accept responsibility for their acts.

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Ironic Photo of the Day

This photo of former DHS supervisor Valerie Mond accompanies a CourierPostOnline.com story about Community Education Centers.

This photo accompanies a story on the Courier Post website about Community Education Centers, a Philly-based company providing training services to inmates.

The caption identifies the woman in the picture as Valerie Mond, who was photographed while leading a "character and accountability class" at Hoffman Hall, a prisoner re-entry facility in North Philly.

If Mond's name is familiar, it's because she's mentioned in the Philadelphia District Attorney's 2008 Grand Jury report into the death of Danieal Kelly, the child with cerebral palsy who starved to death while under DHS care.

The report alleged that Mond, a former DHS program administrator, was among the agency's supervisors who "ignored deadlines and DHS policies with impunity" in their supervision of those responsible for overseeing Danieal's case.

Of Mond and other DHS workers, the report noted, "a share of the stain of responsibility for Danieal's death remains on their hands." The child's life, the report concluded, "did not depend on these DHS employees taking heroic action to save her. It depended on them merely to do their jobs."

Mond was not indicted, but she resigned after the report was released, which perhaps was a way of being accountable for her part in one of the most horrifying and heart-wrenching botch-ups in DHS history. It would be enormous evidence of character if she used her own story in the classes she teaches Hoffman Hall's inmates.

Mond, whose voicemail identifies her as working on the "Unity Unit" at Hoffman Hall, did not return my call for comment.

Posted by Ronnie Polaneczky @ 9:02 AM

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer