Foster child death is 4th in 5 months
Investigators are awaiting results of tests to find out what killed
infant girl
By Tim Evans
Posted: May 10, 2008
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/LOCAL18/805100477
The Indiana Department of Child Services is investigating the death of a
Marion County infant who died in foster care.
Seven-week-old Destiny Linden, who died April 28 at Riley Hospital for
Children, is at least the fourth child under DCS supervision to die
within the past five months in Marion County.
Susan Tielking, spokeswoman for the department, said the agency has
opened an investigation into the death.
She also confirmed DCS had an open case involving Destiny at the time of
her death but said she could not provide any details of that case
because of state confidentiality requirements.
Tielking said DCS records from the initial case, which apparently
resulted in Destiny being placed in foster care, could not be released
unless the new investigation determines she died as a result of abuse or
neglect.
The fact that a child dies while in state custody is not enough under
state law to trigger the release of DCS records, she said.
The cause of Destiny's death has not been determined, said Marion County
Chief Deputy Coroner Alfarena Ballew. She said initial indications point
to a potentially unsafe sleeping situation, but the final determination
is pending results of toxicology and other tests, which will not be
available for several weeks.
Ballew said the child was found unresponsive on an adult bed and, after
attempts to revive her, was placed on life support at Riley for about
two days before being pronounced dead.
According to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report,
police and medics were called to a home in the 8400 block of East 34th
Street at 2:56 p.m. April 24 on a report of a possibly dead child. When
authorities arrived, Everette Coleman, 43, identified himself as
Destiny's foster parent and said he called 911 when he discovered she
had stopped breathing.
The report says officers collected a quilt, blanket and bottle from the
bed where Destiny was lying, a sheet from the baby's crib and a bottle
from the living room floor.
Destiny first was taken to Community Hospital East, according to the
report.
Tielking said Coleman and his wife, Kim, are licensed foster parents in
good standing with the department.
Other children under DCS supervision who have died recently in Marion
County include:
» TaJanay Bailey, 3, who died Nov. 27, just weeks after she was returned
to her mother and the woman's boyfriend by DCS.
» Miyanna Chowning, 3, who died Dec. 31 while in foster care.
» Christine Miller, 8 weeks old, who died Jan. 21 while her family was
involved in an active child protection case.
Tielking said she could not say how the four deaths in five months
compare with past trends because the agency does not track the deaths of
all children who are in state care, such as those who die from natural
causes or accidents.
Dawn Robertson, spokeswoman for the family rights group Honk for Kids,
which works with parents dealing with the child welfare system, said the
state should be able to say how many children in its care have died,
regardless of the cause.
"They should be held to a higher standard," she said. "They have taken
these children from their parents because they believe they will be
safer with the state. The public certainly ought to know when one of
these children dies, even if there was nothing done wrong."
Call Star reporter Tim Evans at (317) 444-6204.
An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and
the Child Protection "INDUSTRY"
Child Protective Services Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of CPS.
every parent should read the free handbook from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13
Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12
Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST
Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally
guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other
agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central
intelligence agency wiretaping programs…
THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia
http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/articles.php?filter=6
This is Child Protection?
By Gregory A. Hession, J.D.
http://www.jbs.org/node/4632
Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-callahan16oct16,0,5019944.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILURE:. A Brief Analysis of the Casey
Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler
http://www.nccpr.org/reports/cfpanalysis.doc
HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN
http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html
Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families
By Nev Moore Massachusetts News
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
2% receive a college degree
50% were unemployed
Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children
not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems,
including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and
impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of
the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various
studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care
tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school
compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their
education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment
than the general population.
*Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support
80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.
The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn
of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child
psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should
just be blown up.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991
Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s
foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent
housing.
This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would
have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in
the first place.
Front-page story in USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm?csp=34#Close
Read the studies online.
Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Care: Findings from the
Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study,"
www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm
MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects
of Foster Care,"
www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf
Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" reports:
www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren
The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system
for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than
walking wreckage...
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY
GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER
AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS....
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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