Search on for new Washington CYS deputy administrator
The search is underway for a new deputy administrator of Washington County’s Children and Youth Services agency after Dee Dee Blosnich-Gooden’s resignation.
“There was no given reason,” Washington County Human Services Director Tim Kimmel said on May 26, as he confirmed receiving a letter of resignation on May 25, a day after her name came up in the criminal affidavit filed against a Greensburg woman.
That affidavit said Blosnich-Gooden, then Greene County CYS director, reprimanded a caseworker after she reported her suspicions about Joelle Marie Barozzini.
Barozzini, 46, was arraigned Wednesday for allegedly raping a foster child in her care “hundreds of times” between 2009 and 2013, according to court documents.
“She submitted her letter (Thursday),” Kimmel said about the former deputy administrator.
“It was sent to me via email so I have not talked to her.”
The alleged victim is now 24, but was 16 when he was entrusted into Barozzini’s care. The Greene County Messenger does not identify those who are alleged victims of sexual assault.
A Greensburg police affidavit said Barozzini conducted what was called a Community Residential Rehabilitation for Pressley Ridge.
“Blosnich-Gooden … was also reportedly a former employee of Pressley Ridge,” Greensburg police Detective Sgt. John Swank wrote in his affidavit of the Barozzini case.
“I found out by watching the news on television,” Kimmel said about Blosnich-Gooden’s alleged tie to the Barozzini case. “We will move forward with the process of filling her position.”
Dusti Bedillion, a now-former Greene County CYS caseworker, told Swank she “had suspicions that Barozzini was having sex” with a boy entrusted into Barozzini’s care in 2009 at the age of 16.
Barozzini was a “permanent legal custodian” of the boy until he was 18, when he became involved in an independent living program in Greene County, the Greensburg detective reported in his affidavit.
Blosnich-Gooden reportedly told Swank “she did not recall much about the incident, only that there was ‘gossiping’ about inappropriate interactions between Barozzini” and the alleged victim.
“She said there was never any formal complaint that (Barozzini and the boy) were having sex,” Swank wrote.
“Blosnich-Gooden said that she spoke with Dusti Bedillion about gossiping.”
Swank wrote that Bedillion received a written reprimand “and was required to attend ethics training.”
The caseworker told Swank she also was removed from the boy’s case.
Ironically, amid the alleged events as portrayed in the affidavit, Blosnich-Gooden, then just Dee Dee Blosnich, presented the Greene County commissioners with blue ribbon pins, symbols of child abuse prevention, as they proclaimed April 2011 as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“That’s what keeps us busy — we are trying to keep kids safe every day,” Blosnich said in an article published about the event. “CYS does everything we can regarding child abuse reports.”
The proclamation also encouraged Greene County residents to assist the county’s CYS program and advisory board in the protection of children from physical, sexual and emotional abuse.