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 Cape Fear, North Carolina, Jamiah Batts, 8, foster care resident of Cape Fear Respite home, died on February 29, 2012 due to improper restraints.
“Caretakers complained that the 8-year-old girl’s lap belt was so tight it induced vomiting and left bruising on her hips. But it was important that she be fastened securely in her wheelchair, and the strap needed to be snug to prevent her from scooting forward.
Still, her teachers documented several occasions in which she arrived at school lap-belt free, including last month, when she arrived unconscious and not breathing.”
“Around 8 a.m. on Feb. 29, a bus carrying Jamiah and nine other special needs children pulled up to Freeman School of Engineering on Princess Place Drive. After arrival, the bus driver walked back to Jamiah’s wheelchair and noticed the third-grader was foaming at the mouth.
When paramedics arrived, the school nurse was performing CPR. Jamiah was taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
A police officer who investigated the incident noted in a written report that after interviewing the bus driver and a teacher’s assistant, it appeared that Jamiah had been improperly secured in her chair.
Jamiah was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and she also suffered from severe developmental disabilities as well as epilepsy, seizures, mental retardation and asthma, according to the state report.
Cape Fear Respite workers had been instructed to fasten her in with both a chest strap and a lap belt, but on several instances the school had complained that the latter was not used. A pummel, or a brace between her legs, once kept her from sliding forward but had been removed a few weeks before because it was causing irritation between her legs.
Jamiah’s great aunt, Alfredia McDonald, left a voice message for a reporter Monday evening saying the family wanted to review the state’s paperwork before commenting on the findings.
In interviews with inspectors, excerpts of which were included in the state’s report, staff members, none of whom were identified by name, shared concerns about the lap belt being too tight and causing injury.
They expressed those worries to the Department of Social Services, and the wheelchair manufacturer was contacted about ways to fix the problem. It was not clear if anything was ever done.
“We’ve had no training on securing clients in wc’s,” one caretaker, using an acronym for wheelchairs, told inspectors. She added that Jamiah’s lap “belt was so tight and she had to ride the bus for so long, she would come in with throw up on her clothes.”
But the staff member overseeing Jamiah care on the day she died, identified in the report only as “staff #4”, seems to dispute any assertion that she failed to buckle the girl in properly. The caretaker told inspectors that she applied the hip strap before loading her on the bus that morning
“I hooked all the straps,” the worker said, adding later, “The lap belt would have had to be unhooked by someone.”
Jamiah had been living at the home since being removed from her mother’s custody by the DSS in October, an unusually long period of time for respite care, which is intended to be temporary.
Though efforts to reunify the family were underway, a DSS social worker told inspectors they made efforts to place Jamiah in a foster home, but to no avail.
On the day the girl died, “staff #4” told investigators she woke Jamiah up at 5:40 a.m. The woman bathed Jamiah and removed the girl’s diaper. Then she dressed her, administered her medication and gave her a breakfast of oatmeal and a nutritional supplement. The caretaker put Jamiah’s jacket and shoes on, then wheeled her out to the bus, where custody was turned over to the driver.
An hour or so later, a teacher’s assistant summoned by the bus driver to help walked down the aisle and saw the 8-year-old hanging out of the chair. Her hips and legs had slid forward, her neck caught in the v-shape created by the chest straps. “
$10,000 Fine on Facility
“A review undertaken in the wake of Jamiah Batts’ death found sufficient evidence to lead state regulators last week to levy a $10,000 fine against the facility entrusted with her care as well as to bar it from accepting new clients until conditions there improve.
State health officials on Monday released copies of documents sent last week to RHA Health Services.
The letters advised the Asheville-based company that ran the facility where Jamiah lived, Cape Fear Respite Home in Wilmington, that it could appeal the decision.
Cape Fear Respite, a small home of only five beds at 202 Dorchester Place, was faulted by the N.C.
Division of Health and Human Services for not adhering to state rules about monitoring care, for having inadequate staffing levels, and for not protecting their clients from harm, abuse and neglect.
The issue of whether Jamiah’s belts were buckled correctly carries significance importance because witnesses said during the state’s review the girl had slid down and was found with her neck caught in her chair’s chest straps.
In a statement, RHA officials said they were “surprised and disappointed” at the investigation’s results, adding that they would challenge the conclusions. “
“Both Cape Fear Respite Home and RHA Health Services dispute the findings and plan to appeal to DHHS. Some of the information received and used by DHHS includes many inaccuracies and false information,” the statement read. “Both Cape Fear Respite and RHA will provide all necessary information to DHHS to correct those falsehoods during the appeal process.”
Care facility fined after 8-year-old’s death
[Star News 3/26/12 by Brian Freskos]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
The article never asks the important question of whether services could have been provided in the original home of the biological mother instead of removing her with the knowledge that there was no foster care location available. DHHS admits that there was a reunification process underway so they were NOT intending to terminate parental rights. The government who thought they knew how to better care for her are the ones that killed her because they had NO CLUE how to properly restrain her. Shame on all of you!
Instead of reviewing their training of personnel, Cape Fear Respite is just trying to cover their behinds of the “many inaccuracies.” The outcome is what matters-Jamiah is dead.
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