How Could You? Hall of Shame-Tanda Marsh-Smith and Odice Smith UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Dayton, Texas, eleven abused and neglected children were taken into Texas CPS care last month from sex offender Mark E. Marsh III’s home. Ten adults were in the home at the time.Two 16-year-old  boys who had runaway from nearby foster homes were also found in the home. Identities of the children have not been established yet, but media indicates that many are likely to be cousins.

The eleven children ranged in ages from 5 months to 11 years.

“”The children were removed due to physical abuse, physical neglect and medical neglect,” said Gwen Carter, spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. All the children are currently in foster homes.

Investigators discovered restrained toddlers, sick babies, beaten-up boys, teen runaways and a caretaker with numerous CPS investigations in two states at an address that a registered sex offender listed as his residence.

Nearly two dozen people, including 10 adults, were cramped inside the 1,700-square-foot brick home about 40 miles northeast of Houston. The Liberty County residence was not licensed as a day care, residential treatment center or foster home, Carter said.

Authorities removed 5- and 8-month-old boys; a 1-year-old boy; a boy and girl, 2; a 3-year-old girl; a girl and a boy, 4; a 5-year-old girl and two older boys, 8 and 11. Most are believed to be first cousins and the grandchildren of their caretaker.

Around 2 p.m. on Jan. 24, a CPS investigator and a Dayton Police Department sergeant found eight children in a “very dark” bedroom with no working light fixture and a piece of plywood covering the window, according to a CPS affidavit in support of removal filed in the Liberty County District Court.

Both 2-year-olds were tied to their beds and a legally blind 5-year-old girl was restrained on a “filthy mattress,” the document said.”

“All 10 adults present during the investigation were interviewed. “None of them felt like this was a problem, and stated that they tie the children up for safety,” the affidavit said. The children were reportedly restrained around their chests to the bed at night and for two to three hours for naps during the day.

Both infants were transported to Texas Children’s Hospital because of concerns from paramedics of “pneumonia and failure to thrive,” the affidavit said. Other children’s bodies had signs of abuse. According to the affidavit, one boy had a black eye, fingerprint marks on both forearms and a knocked-out tooth. He said one of the adults choked him on occasion. That boy also said all the children were restrained while sleeping and sometimes while awake during the day. Another child said the youngsters were kept in the room for as long as three days, according to the affidavit.

None of the children attended school, according to the affidavit. The house is blocks away from two Dayton ISD campuses.

During the visit, two teen runaways were found with a stolen car. The boys, both 16, left different Harris County foster or adoptive homes about five days prior. One said he heard from his older brother that the Liberty County home “was fun.”

One of the caretaker’s adult sons is a registered sex offender, the result of an offense with a minor, and lists the home as his current address. He was not present when authorities visited.”

“The case remains under investigation. No arrests or charges had been filed as of late Monday.

According to the affidavit, the caretaker lost custody of six children in Michigan in the early 1980s, in part because of sexual abuse allegations, and she was accused in 2005 of sexually abusing one of the children removed last month.

In 2009, one of the caretaker’s daughters told CPS the woman “was hitting the kids” and admitted seeing bruises on a boy.

Douglas Waller said he saw nothing unusual at the home a few days before Christmas when he stopped by for a brief visit with the 4-year-old girl who he believes to be his daughter. The 33-year-old is petitioning the court for custody of the child.

“She looked all right. She looked healthy and happy,” he said, but changed his mind after the girl was removed from the home.

“After reading the papers I’ve received from the courts, I would not trust them with an animal – much less a child,” he said. “I had no idea of the stuff that was going on at the house.”

Waller said he has a stable home and job, and would have sought custody before now “if I’d have known that my daughter’s mother gave the grandmother permission to use restraints on my child,” he said. “That is wrong and should not be done to any child – not just mine.”

The first step in Waller’s custody battle for the girl he calls “the spitting image of me” is to pass a DNA test.”

State removes 11 abused and neglected children from Dayton home
[Houston Chronicle 2/20/12 by Cindy George]

Of those eleven children, “[t]hree who were age 5 or older had not been enrolled in school.”

” Liberty County District Attorney Mike Little said his office would present a case to a grand jury next month, but he declined to discuss possible suspects or charges..”

“The home with a “No Trespassing” sign out front is in a subdivision near land used for farming and ranching. A tricycle and other toys were in the backyard Tuesday, and several cars were parked outside.

People leaving the home declined to talk to media assembled outside, and other residents and their relatives declined to comment or didn’t respond to phone messages. [A photo shows three white women, one very pregnant, leaving the home.]

One person in Texas’ online sex offender registry listed the house as his address. Mark E. Marsh III was convicted in Michigan 15 years ago of criminal sexual conduct with a 15-year-old girl. He did not have a working phone number listed.”

“Neighbor Wayne Hardin said he never saw the youngest children and had no idea so many people were living in the house. Though he often saw eight or more cars parked outside, Hardin said he was told the residents had a big family.

“I was shocked,” said Hardin, who had called police about loud music blaring from the house. “We didn’t have a clue.”

Along with the children, two teenage runaways with a stolen car were at the home, authorities said. The boys, both 16, admitted running away from foster homes, smoking marijuana and driving a car they knew was stolen, authorities said.

Carter [CPS spokeswoman] said the home was not registered as a foster home or day care.”
11 children removed from sex offender’s home after some were found tied to beds
[New York Daily News 2/21/12 by Associated Press]

Did the foster parents ever report to CPS that these two boys had runaway?Were they still collecting those monthly paychecks?

REFORM Puzzle Piece

That was the “agreed order” of Judge Mary Craft, who presided over an adversarial hearing pertaining to the 4-year-old that took place in Liberty County District Court on March 9.

Douglas Waller, the child’s presumptive biological father, attended the custody proceeding along with an attorney representing the child’s mother and counsel representing the interests of the child. DNA tests will settle paternity.

The mother and the homeowner, the latter the child’s maternal grandmother, had joint managing conservatorship of the girl, according to CPS spokeswoman Estella Olguin. CPS will work with them and with Waller on visitation.

A status hearing will be held in the same court on March 30 in regard to all 11 children. One of the purposes of a status hearing is for the court to hear from CPS an update on how the children are doing as well as on the extent to which those seeking custody have made progress on CPS requirements that must be met in order for families to be reunified.

CPS and the Dayton Police Department immediately co-investigated an anonymous tip Jan. 24 that the children were tied up in the Dayton home, which is located in the 600 block of Ford Road.

CPS removed the children on the same day, then successfully petitioned the 253rd Judicial District Court Jan. 25 for an emergency order granting the division “temporary sole managing conservator” status for the 11 children.

The children range from younger than a year old to 11 years old, and they have been in foster care since their removal.

Three children younger than 5 were found tied to their beds, and an 11-year-old boy had a black eye and fingerprint-shaped marks on his arms, according to a CPS report on what investigators discovered when they removed the children.”

Children removed from Dayton home still in foster care
[Dayton News 3/14/12]