FlutterbyeWings

Many of the stories carried here provide testimony to the growing incidents of boyfriends or stepfathers abusing and/or killing their non-biological children.  A group in Hamilton County, Ohio, wants to make mothers more aware of the danger that their new paramours may bring to their children.

Campaign targets child abuse by moms’ boyfriends

By Sharon Coolidge
scoolidge@enquirer.com

Kaylee Ann Schnurr, 18 months old; Christopher Beck, 1; Trustin Blue, 3; Milton Baker, 7; and Malakai Glenn, 1.

Moira Weir, director of Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services, wants to make sure that no one forgets the names of these children or how they died.

They were beaten to death by their mothers’ boyfriends.

Beginning Monday, the agency is rolling out Choose Your Partner Carefully – a campaign of commercials, billboards and brochures aimed at alerting mothers and others in a child’s life to the warning signs.

“When mothers are choosing a partner, they are not just choosing for themselves, they are choosing for their children too,” Weir said. “Choosing the wrong partner can be, literally, deadly.

Of 17 Hamilton County children who died as a result of abuse since 2005, six were killed by their mother’s boyfriend, according to Job and Family Service case files.

In addition to Kaylee, Christopher, Trustin, Milton and Malakai, a 1-year-old Reading girl died last year. No charges have been filed in that case, but JFS believes the abuse was inflicted by her mother’s boyfriend.

That 35 percent rate is higher than the national average of 15 percent, as reported by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.

“We know from unfortunate experience that just because someone loves a mom, it does not mean they love the child,” Weir said. “This campaign is focusing on a very specific and often deadly form of abuse.”

A handful of counties around the state, including Lorain and Franklin counties, have launched similar campaigns.

Weir said the number of deaths in Hamilton County demanded action.

Weir said the idea for the education campaign came up in 2006 after four such deaths in a little over a year.

The Ohio Department of Health reports that of the cases in which a child was killed due to child abuse or neglect, the mother’s partner was cited in 28 percent of cases.

In Hamilton County, 13.3 percent of all substantiated abuse and neglect cases in 2009 were attributed to the mother’s boyfriend or husband, who wasn’t related to the child.

Dr. Scott Bresler, a forensic psychologist at University of Cincinnati Department of Psychiatry and director of in-patient psychology at University Hospital, said in some cases, a child from a previous relationship is a reminder to the perpetrator that this individual was at one time not theirs, and in other cases the men resent raising or caring for a child that is not their own, he said.

“It’s scary, but we’re dealing with people who are psychopathic,” Bresler said. “These people walk through the world by a different set of rules. They don’t have a conscience.”

If the awareness campaign isn’t deterrent enough, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters’ track record shows there are criminal consequences. Deters feels so strongly about such cases that he helped change Ohio law to make killing a child under the age of 13 a death-penalty offense.

During his first stint as prosecutor Deters lobbied state lawmakers for the change after 12-year-old Matthew Richmond died from burns when his mother’s boyfriend held him in a tub of scalding water as punishment for soiling his pants and another man tortured and beat to death his girlfriend’s 15-month-old daughter, Star Hollingsworth.

In the five Hamilton County killings since 2005, four men are serving life sentence and a fifth was sentenced to death.

And mothers can be held accountable too, Deters said. In two of the cases, the child’s mother was also charged with child endangering for allowing the abuse to happen.

Source

Tags: Christopher Beck, Kaylee Ann Schnurr, Malakai Glenn, Milton Baker, Trustin Blue

When Jeremy died earlier this year the coroner’s report indicated that he died of cancer, but in actuality he was murdered by his mother. The nine year-old had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006 and put on a regime of drugs and therapy that has a success rate of 90%.  His mother, however, did not follow through the with prescribed treatment for her son and has been charged with attempted murder following his death.

Kristen LaBrie, 37, said little during her arraignment in Salem Superior Court, listening intently and shaking her head in disapproval when a prosecutor outlined the alleged crimes against her autistic son, Jeremy. The indictment by an Essex County grand jury Friday also includes charges of permitting serious bodily injury to a disabled person, child endangerment, and permitting substantial bodily injury to a child.

Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said in court that Labrie failed for months to provide necessary medication to her son, did not fill his prescriptions, missed doctor appointments, and never bothered to seek help from the staff at Massachusetts General Hospital. When Labrie had custody of the boy from October 2006 and February 2008, she did not reach out to the hospital team caring for her son, which included a social worker, nurse, and oncologist, MacDougall said.

Source

LaBrie blames her ex-husband, Eric Fraser, 38, who divorced her shortly after Jeremy’s diagnosis, for their son’s death.  She faces a sentence of up to 20 years if convicted. Fraser eventually was awarded sole custody of Jeremy, and LaBrie was ordered to not have contact with her son.  By that time, however, the disease had progressed to leukemia which only has a 10% survival rate.

Fraser described his son as an Elmo fanatic who also loved NASCAR. “He’s a real peach. You couldn’t ask for a more lovable little boy,” he said.

Source

Related Post: Daniel Hauser

Tags: Jeremy Robert Fraser

When Amaya was taken to the hospital last year by her aunt who suspected that the toddler had been abused, hospital personnel could not verify any sexual abuse but there were other signs that she was not being properly cared for.  Despite their concerns, Alice Watson, Amaya’s grandmother, continue to care for the child.  After the three year-old died of an overdose of her Watson’s powerful painkiller, questions have arisen as to why Wisconsin Department of Children and Families didn’t act on the police report.

The state reopened a review of the Walker case in May after learning of police reports that say a detective warned Human Services in September 2007 that Amaya’s home situation appeared “transitory and risky” and asked for greater oversight of the child. The warnings came after a report of possible sexual assault of the child, which could not be proven.

The police reports also expressed concerns that Walker was allowing the alleged abuser — a man who had a history of physical abuse of a child — to stay at her mother’s home, where Walker and Amaya also stayed, in violation of his probation rules.

But Human Services released a statement Thursday saying, “Our records indicate no receipt of any subsequent written or verbal reports or referrals from the Madison Police” after the agency faxed police a copy of its intake report on the alleged abuse on Aug. 22, 2007.

Capt. Cameron McLay of the Madison Police Department said he believes the detective’s reports were sent to Human Services, but added, “I believe Human Services did nothing wrong.”

Monroe-Kane said the information provided to Human Services on Aug. 16, 2007 “constitutes a report of alleged abuse or neglect of a child that should have been screened in by the agency” for further investigation.

While Human Services was correct to refer the matter to police, Kane said, “This does not, however, replace action on the part of (Human Services).”

In its statement, Human Services said, “Because there was no medical evidence of sexual abuse, the allegation was not substantiated. Given the medical conclusion the Department did not believe there was a basis for a finding of maltreatment.”

Source

This finding was despite the fact that Walker sometimes co-habitated with a man who had a history of abusing children.  Records showed that Amaya and her grandmother did not have a cotinual residence but stayed with two different relatives as well as a homeless shelter.  It was at the shelter that the child was observed lifeless in the arms of her grandmother who reported that she was taking her to the hospital.  Instead, however, she took Amaya to her own mother’s house before calling 911.

Amaya had been living with Walker, 39, after her mother was sent to prison for forgery.  Walker had a history of abusing prescription drugs and admitted that both the oxycondone and Valium which were found in Amaya’s system were hers.  She had a valid prescription for the oxycodone, a painkiller, but had obtained the Valium illegally.  Residents at the YMCA where she was staying reported that she had been high the day before Amaya’s death.  She also complained that she was incapable of taking care of the girl.

Erika Monroe-Kane, spokeswoman for the state agency, said Thursday the county has “demonstrated a willingness to closely examine their practice and make necessary improvements.”

Too bad the agency didn’t demonstrate a willingness to closely examine the circumstances surrounding the care of Amaya before she died.

Update 7/23/09 –

After a week of deliberations, the jury in Ava’s trial returned acquitted her parents on all charges except one.  Her father was found guilty of criminal mistreatment, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to two months in jail and five years probation.

When fifteen month-old Ava developed a cough, her parents didn’t take her to the doctor, but instead called on their faith to heal the toddler.  Within a few days, a doctor was called, but not to treat the child but to sign her death certificate.

In the first detailed public accounting of the night Ava Worthington died, deputy medical examiner Jeffrey Mayer described arriving at the Worthington home to find as many as 200 fellow church members and sacraments from a faith-healing session.

The house was jammed, with relatives and other members of the Followers of Christ church lining the hallway to the master bedroom. The body of 15-month-old Ava rested on her parents’ bed.

“It was standing room only,” said Mayer, testifying Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court as the first witness in the trial of Ava’s parents, Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington. The couple are charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal neglect for failing to provide their daughter with adequate medical care.

Mayer, who works for Clackamas County, was the first investigator to arrive March 2, 2008, the night Ava died. The Worthingtons and others filed out of the bedroom as he entered.

Ava, dressed in pajamas, lay on the bed on her right side. Her head was resting on a pillow. Next to the bed was a tray that held a bowl of Cheerios, a bottle of olive oil and a baby bottle with red liquid. Mayer suspected it was wine, which church members often used as a sacrament during sessions of spiritual healing.

Ava’s face was shiny, likely from being anointed with oil, Mayer said.

He immediately noticed a large discolored growth, “approximately the size of a baseball,” on the right side of her neck. The child also appeared to be malnourished, with her ribs protruding, he said.

Prosecutors displayed a photo for jurors that showed a swollen area from the girl’s ear to her collarbone.

“I had never seen anything like that,” said Mayer, who has investigated more than 1,000 deaths, including 40 or 50 involving children.

Mayer is often the first person called when a church member dies.

“I always respond to Followers of Christ deaths because they don’t have a primary care physician involved in their life,” he said. State law requires a doctor to sign a death certificate, a service the doctors Mayer works with can provide.

Source

Mayer’s testimony was part of the evidence presented in the trial of  Ava’s parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington.  They faced charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment of the toddler.  They contended that prayer for their daughter was guaranteed to them under the Constitution and that their prosecution was a vindictive act by the prosecution.  Another case involving other relatives and members of their church for Ava’s death as well as the death of another child is awaiting trial.

Ava’s death could have easily been avoided had only simple medical treatment been sought.  The Worthington’s right to their religious beliefs is guaranteed but only to the point where it doesn’t interfere with the safety of others.  Their daughter should not have been a sacrifice to the test of their faith.

Tags: Ava Worthington