How Could You? Hall of Shame-Holden Young case-child death 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 Rabun County, Georgia, a 2011 case that we missed reveals that CPS was trying to take custody of Holden Young and his sister on January 27, 2011 after his mother, Misty Bleckley, failed a drug test. CPS learned that they were at Holden’s grandmother’s house and showed up to gain custody.
“When no one answered the door, the DFCS worker drove down the street to obtain cell phone service. The mother then fled in a car with her children. She crashed the vehicle, killing the boy.
The mother, Misty Bleckley, 24, has been charged with DUI, reckless driving and homicide by vehicle, according to Gerald Johnson, chief investigator with the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office. She is being held without bail in the Rabun County jail.”
More details in children’s deaths
[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2/16/11 by Craig Schneider]
“State child protection workers drove behind a mother before she crashed her car, killing her son, in a tragedy that raises questions about agency pursuits.
Officials initially said no caseworkers pursued the mother. But records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reveal that two workers trailed the mother in their own car before they lost sight of her and she crashed. The circumstances surrounding the death of 2-year-old Holden Young have people asking whether state caseworkers should engage in vehicle pursuits.”
“Child advocates say the agency following the mother in Rabun County might have agitated her and provoked her into more reckless actions. Others believe the caseworkers, who had summoned police by cell phone, were only monitoring the children to ensure their safety until police arrived.
DFCS officials are still investigating, but said no policy exists that states whether workers should engage in vehicle pursuits when parents flee with their children. State Child Advocate Tonya Boga said she intends to make sure a policy is put in place. Her agency is investigating the incident and hasn’t drawn any conclusions.
“I would be hard-pressed to believe the workers should in any way chase after parents,” Boga said. “It could put the children at risk, and the caseworkers.”
On Jan. 27, child protection workers tried to find the mother, Misty Dawn Bleckley, 24, by visiting various addresses and calling neighbors and others. They suspected she was on the run, according to the state Division of Family and Children Services case file. The child protection agency had removed Bleckley’s daughter from the household earlier in the month following an abuse allegation and placed the child with a relative. Bleckley recently had failed a drug test. Once caseworkers found her, they were going to remove her other two children.
The two workers — identified in records only as caseworkers Gates and Treff — spotted the mother leaving a friend’s home in Rabun County and followed her teal Honda Accord in their own vehicle.
However, they lost track of Bleckley’s car, which contained all three of her children, moments before she lost control at a high speed on a curve and crashed into a tree on Old 441.
DFCS spokeswoman Lisa Marie Shekell said the agency’s initial reports indicated the caseworkers weren’t pursuing Bleckley at the time of the crash, but DFCS continues to investigate the agency’s handling of the case.
When the caseworkers arrived at the crash scene, Bleckley climbed up the embankment and began screaming at them, claiming the crash was their fault. She was charged with DUI. The woman’s two other children were injured in the crash, according to a Georgia State Patrol report.
Holden Young was one of four Georgia children who died within four days in January, and each of their families had a history with DFCS. The agency is investigating the series of child deaths, and said it hasn’t determined whether there was any agency or worker wrongdoing.
It’s unclear how fast the caseworkers drove or whether they aggressively chased, or merely trailed, Bleckley’s car.
The public defender representing the mother, who is charged with homicide by vehicle, criticized the workers for following the mother.
“Basically DFCS was chasing her,” said Drew Powell, the circuit public defender for the Mountain Judicial Circuit. “It would seem to me to be dangerous.”
Melissa Carter, director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center in Atlanta, said it’s difficult to the blame the caseworkers because it appears they were not following the mother at the time of the crash. Caseworkers shouldn’t place themselves in danger, and, when a situation becomes tense, the police should be summoned to remove the children, she said. Vehicle pursuits are rare, Carter said.
Trailing a person fleeing with their children can help provide information for responding police, said Normer Adams, executive director of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children. “They were doing the best job they could to protect these kids,” he said.
When the state removes children from a home due to child abuse or neglect, the situation can be volatile. In this instance, the two DFCS workers made numerous phone calls and visits before receiving information that Bleckley was at a friend’s home in the Rabun County community of Tiger.
They received no answer at the home, but saw the Honda Accord parked in front with child seats inside. They contacted police to come to the home, and waited for the officers at the intersection of Old 441 and Mountain Stream Lane, DFCS records showed.
Spotting the Honda and a Mountaineer vehicle together enter Old 441, the caseworkers followed and contacted 911 dispatch by cell phone to advise them that the family was traveling. The Mountaineer stayed between the caseworkers and Bleckley, slowing to 35 mph. Once the caseworkers passed the Mountaineer, they didn’t see the Accord. A short time later, the workers received a police call informing them that the mother’s car had crashed.”
Boy’s death during DFCS removal raises concern
[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2/23/11 by Craig Schneider]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
CPS workers should NEVER be doing the job of the police. If the child was in imminent danger, then the police should have picked up the children, NOT CPS.
Update: “Misty Dawn Bleckley received a 10-year prison sentence for her role in causing the death of her 2-year-old son during an emotional hearing May 30 in Rabun County Superior Court.
Bleckley, 25, pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle in the first degree and two counts of causing serious injury by vehicle related to the Jan. 27, 2011, wreck on Old Highway 441 South near Joy Bridge Road.
Bleckley was trying to get away from Rabun County Department of Family and Children Services when she wrecked. Holden Michael Clay Young died from a traumatic brain injury. Daylon Smith, now 6, suffered a head injury, and Jasmine Poole, 4, suffered a broken femur.
Mountain Judicial Circuit Public Defender Drew Powell had asked for a three-year sentence followed by 17 years of probation. District Attorney Brian Rickman had agreed to a cap of 20 years with 10 to serve in prison in exchange for the negotiated plea.
Both sides then described different versions of what happened that day. Afterward, Superior Court Judge Chan Caudell took a short recess to consider the sentence before announcing that he had settled on the high end of Bleckley’s prison sentence.
“I realize this case … has been difficult to all involved, including this community as a whole,” Caudell said.
Caudell reviewed four factors that went into making his decision: punishment, restitution, confinement and deterrence. Regarding punishment, he said he could see the pain in Bleckley’s face. “I know she deals with it every day.”
Regarding restitution, Caudell admitted that there was nothing in the law to remedy the loss of life. Confinement involved the judgment as to whether a defendant would cause future harm to herself or others. Deterrence, he determined, was the major factor in this case.
We need to deter the defendant, not only from these kinds of actions, but also deter the public at large to send a message that this kind of behavior simply won’t be tolerated,” he said.
On the day of the fatal wreck, two DFCS workers had stopped by the residence on Koala Circle where Bleckley was staying. She didn’t answer the door, and the workers left. A short time later, Bleckley left the residence with her three children in the back seat. She passed a vehicle in a curve on Old Highway 441 and lost control, causing her car to overturn several times. Prosecutors and the defense disagree on whether her children were properly restrained in the car.
What is not in question is the DFCS workers had been looking for Bleckley for a couple of days to take her children into custody on a verbal pick-up order. Bleckley had recently tested positive for methamphetamine based on a hair follicle.
In arguing for a less severe sentence, Powell said Bleckley had an “extremely sensitive” history with DFCS that went back to when she was 6 years old. DFCS had maintained contact with her over the years. Shortly after her first child was born when she was 19, DFCS took him for a while. She was tested for drugs, and the results were negative.
Yet, Powell said DFCS received anonymous calls concerning Bleckley about drugs and neglect. Most of the time, there was nothing to the allegations. In 2009, DFCS took her children when the father was charged with aggravated battery against a child. He went to jail, and she tested negative for drugs each time, Powell related.
Powell acknowledged his client’s positive drug test in early 2011, “though it was a pretty weak positive,” he said. He stressed that DFCS came for her children without a written order, even though the positive result had come back in plenty of time to get one signed by a judge. He also said he wasn’t blaming DFCS, but trying to explain his client’s history with the agency.
“She was running from DFCS,” Powell said. “She’s scared of DFCS because they will not leave her alone. She still feels they’ve been picking on her her entire life. That’s not to excuse her conduct, your honor.”
Assistant District Attorney Maggie Hastings retrieved an enlarged picture of Holden and put it on an easel.
“There are a lot of things that make a mother. She was not acting like a mother that day,” Hastings said.
Hastings said that Jasmine and Holden were ejected and that their safety seats were not buckled in the car.
Bleckley shook her head and gave expressions of bewilderment at this point. Caudell asked her if she had passed in a curve while going 70 mph.
“Yes, your honor,” she said.
Hastings also said DFCS had cause to be at the residence due to Bleckley’s positive drug screen. Additionally, DFCS learned in a call from a doctor’s office that Bleckley had asked for her daughter’s prescription to be phoned in because she was going out of town. Her children were not in Head Start that day, and DFCS was concerned she was going to leave the county, Hastings said.
Hastings noted that the defense complained about DFCS. “Misty Bleckley is the reason we have DFCS.
“It’s needed because parents like her need help,” she said..”I’m sorry that we’re annoying her, but they were there for the safety of her children.”
Bleckley pleads guilty, gets 10 years
[The Clayton Tribune 5/12 by Blake Spurney]
Misty has filed a Civil Rights lawsuit on July 23, 2012. See here for details.
Recent Comments