How Could You? Hall of Shame-Jamie Lee Passmore
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 Port Orchard, Washington comes a complicated case of kinship adoption and subsequent guardianship that ended in a school shooting. Thankfully, the 8-year-old shooting victim will survive.
When the 9-year-old boy was 2 1/2, “police found methamphetamine and syringes in his mother’s belongings, court documents say. Later that same month, Chaffin was charged with forgery after trying to cash stolen checks. She was later convicted.
When he was 3 ½, Chaffin was charged with selling marijuana out of a Kitsap motel. By this point, she had four children, according to court records. Meanwhile, Jason Cochran was convicted of domestic violence for assaulting Chaffin. He later violated the protection order. He repeatedly failed to pay child support and was held in contempt.
Three or four years ago, they both relinquished their parental rights, his uncle Patrick Cochran and court records said. The boy and two siblings were adopted by their paternal grandmother.
Then, in 2010, the grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Within months, she was dead.
In January 2011, Patrick Cochran was appointed the three children’s legal guardian. At the time, court records state, the children were all doing well in school.”
Shooting
“Police say that on Wednesday [February 22, 2012], he took a loaded gun to a Bremerton elementary school, and that it went off in his backpack just before the final bell rang. The routine of third grade — school, homework, play — had changed in a split second.
Now a classmate, 8-year-old Amina Kocer-Bowman, lies in intensive care, with a .45-caliber bullet wound to her arm and abdomen. She’ll likely be there several more weeks and have several more surgeries, her doctor said.”
Hearing
“The judge wanted to know Thursday if Patrick Cochran could be responsible for the boy. The boy, his siblings and their father all live with Patrick Cochran. [Why is the father allowed to live in this home when parental rights are terminated?]
“Right now I’m not working,” Patrick Cochran said. “He’d be with me all day, every day.
“He’s a very good child. This whole situation is very out of character. I don’t understand what happened.
“I apologize to the family of that girl. I really do.”
Patrick Cochran, too, was tearful. “I just want him to come home,” he said.
When Laurie set bail at $50,000, Jason Cochran shook his head.
“[My son] made a bad mistake,” he said later. “I’m sorry.”
Back home, the Cochrans began calling on friends for help with bail. By 5 p.m., they had raised the money and the boy had come home.
Father says son who took gun to school ‘made a bad mistake’
[Seattle Times 2/24/12 by Maureen O’Hagan]
On March 6, 2012, the boy “pleaded guilty this afternoon to three criminal charges, but will face probation and treatment rather than juvenile detention.”
“The boy pleaded guilty in Kitsap County Juvenile Court to unlawful possession of a gun, bringing a dangerous weapon to school and reckless endangerment. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, the boy will be required to complete 48 hours of community service by undergoing counseling. He will be on probation for 12 months.
Prosecutors dropped a charge of third-degree assault, the only felony charge the boy faced.
The boy could’ve faced up to 30 days in juvenile detention followed by 12 months on the juvenile version of probation.”
“In a small voice, the 75-pound boy said, “I’m sorry” when he was asked if he wanted to address the court.
Bremerton police said the third-grader obtained the handgun during a visit to his mother’s home and carried it in his backpack to Armin Jahr Elementary School on Feb. 22. The handgun, which was cocked and loaded, accidentally discharged when the boy slammed the backpack on his desk, police said.
Amina was struck in the arm and abdomen by a bullet.
She was in serious condition Tuesday at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where she has undergone five surgeries. Hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg says the girl is on a ventilator to help her breathe. She is sedated, but is responsive when awake.
Gregg says no further surgery is scheduled at this time.
According to court records, the boy has had a tumultuous life, with troubled parents, adoption, a family death and now a guardianship.
9-year-old pleads guilty in Bremerton school shooting[Seattle Times 3/6/12 by Christine Clarridge]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
A lot of details are missing in this sad case including why the father, whose rights were terminated, is allowed to live with the child and why there were unsupervised visits with a drug-addicted mother who also had lost parental rights.
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