How Could You? Hall of Shame-Orion Hamilton 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 Cedar Park, Texas,”two days before Orion Hamilton’s birthday in October, authorities say [boyfriend of foster parent Heather Hamilton] Jacob Salas pinned the 11-month-old girl’s head to the floor with his knee, fracturing her skull.”
“Orion Hamilton was living in Cedar Park with Heather Hamilton, the child’s step-aunt and foster mother, when police say Salas crushed the child’s head between his knee and the floor. Salas, who has three biological children with Hamilton, has been arrested and is in the Williamson County jail on felony child abuse charges.
At the time of the death, Orion’s foster home was being overseen by Lutheran.
Orion had been living with Hamilton, her step-aunt, since December 2012 and was under the supervision of Child Protective Services until early October. That’s when Lutheran approved Hamilton as an official foster mother. Until then, CPS had been in charge of the case. State officials say they are currently conducting an investigation into their own role in the case.”
“The child-placing agency that oversaw a foster home in which an 11-month old girl died knew that a man with a history of drug, alcohol and domestic abuse regularly visited the home, yet failed to take action to keep him away, state officials said today.
According to a letter by the Department of Family and Protective Services, Lutheran Social Services of the South endangered Orion Hamilton when it failed to do a background check on Jacob Salas, the man accused of killing the baby in a Williamson County foster home. The letter further states that Lutheran Services: failed to follow up on insurance documentation that indicated Salas lived in the same home as Orion; allowed the foster mother to work on the weekends without providing an approved child care plan; and released unauthorized information about the case to the media.
Now the state has ordered Lutheran to stop taking children into its Austin-area foster care program indefinitely. Lutheran currently monitors 57 such homes in the area and the agency’s operations will be under additional scrutiny for the next six months.”
“Kurt Senske, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the South, has released the following statement:“LSS is aware of the issues raised by the Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS). Our number one priority is the safety of our children and we remain confident of the quality of all of our programs. We respect the state’s rights and responsibilities in this area and we will cooperate fully with DFPS. We are scheduled to meet with DFPS to discuss their concerns and will have no additional comment prior to that meeting, as it would be inappropriate.”
State punishes foster care agency in death of 11-month-old Orion Hamilton[The Statesman 12/19/13 by Andrea Ball]
“A state inquiry has cleared Child Protective Services of any mistakes in the October death of a 1-year-old foster child in Cedar Park, even though investigators never scrutinized the chain of events leading to the fatal injury or questioned whether the girl’s social worker missed red flags that the baby was in danger.
On Thursday, the American-Statesman obtained the Office of Inspector General investigation into the death of Orion Hamilton from a request through the Texas Public Information Act. Orion died Oct. 20 after police say a man at her Cedar Park foster home crushed the baby’s head between his knee and the floor. Jacob Salas has been charged with felony child abuse and is being held in Williamson County Jail.
The inspector general was expected to examine whether CPS acted appropriately after Orion’s biological father warned the agency that Salas — who had been arrested multiple times on domestic abuse charges — was living in the foster home. The report also might have probed whether Orion’s social worker erred when she saw Salas in the home in April and raised no concerns, even though CPS already had determined that he wasn’t allowed to be around the child.
But the inspector general didn’t examine those issues. Instead the report focuses on the October 2012 case in which Orion was removed from her biological parents after being born with methamphetamine in her system. In that instance, the report states, Orion’s case was investigated properly and CPS took appropriate action.
CPS also followed agency protocol after the child died, investigators concluded.
“The review showed that the actions taken by CPS did not contribute to the child’s death,” the report reads. “CPS followed policy and procedures in conducting their investigation.”
Emily Hamilton, Orion’s mother, isn’t satisfied with that.
“It’s sad,” she said. “A little girl died, and they have no remorse. They don’t care. They just care about how they look.”
A spokeswoman for the state Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the inspector general’s office, couldn’t immediately provide additional information about the investigation.
Orion entered state care in October 2012 and spent about two months in a nonrelative foster home. Then Orion’s father, Brian Hamilton, agreed to send the baby to live with his stepsister, Heather Hamilton. She has three biological children with Salas.
Because of his history with CPS — he had been investigated three other times in cases involving his other children — Salas wasn’t supposed to be around Orion or any of his children, all of whom lived in the same home, according to court documents filed in Williamson County. But, in April, a CPS caseworker saw Salas there and didn’t raise concerns, state officials say.
In September, Brian Hamilton told state foster care workers that Salas was living in the home with Orion and that he posed a serious threat to the girl. Hamilton also lodged his complaints with the child’s court-appointed attorney.
Both CPS and the attorney say that they took the complaint seriously, but that they believed Heather Hamilton when she denied that Salas lived there. Multiple court documents filed over the last year, however, list the Cedar Park apartment as Salas’ home address.
After Orion died, Hamilton later admitted that she had lied and that Salas had been living in the home off and on for the last year, according court documents filed in Williamson County.
The Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS, is still conducting an internal investigation into what happened, spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.
“We hope to learn what we can from any mistakes that were made in this case as part of our larger effort to make foster care safer for our children,” he said.”
Report clears CPS in death of Cedar Park foster child[The Statesman 12/12/13 By Andrea Ball]
“This week, the Williamson County District Attorney’s office indicted Salas with her murder.
Brian Hamilton is Orion’s biological father.
“It’s been devastating,” Hamilton said in reaction to the indictment.
The Texas Department of Families and Protective Services took the girl from her parents after she was found born with drugs in her system.
The agency placed Orion with family in the Cedar Park home where Salas lived. According to state records, neither DFPS nor the child placing agency that put Orion in the home conducted background checks on Salas.
Before Orion’s death, Hamilton said he warned the state several times Salas lived at the home and was dangerous, but no one acted.
“[I sent] multiple emails saying, ‘Hey, Jacob Salas could be a problem to my daughter’s well being,’ and nothing was heard. They didn’t do anything about it,” said Hamilton.
In a statement released Wednesday morning, DFPS wrote, “Although there was clear and repeated deception on the part of the kinship caregiver, there was also available information and indicators of risk that CPS failed to recognize and act upon. We are learning from this case as part of our ongoing effort to make foster care safer.”
The state agency did not provide details on what CPS did not to recognize.
Hamilton said the state failed his daughter.
“Maybe they should take some responsibility for what they do to prevent some other child being put in harm’s way and then placing them in harm’s way,” Hamilton said.
Since Orion’s death, the DFPS has suspended placing children with the child placing agency which was responsible for protecting the little girl.
The office of the inspector general has also launched an investigation into how the state agency handled the case.
Child Protective Services is implementing a new safety plan and guidelines for its foster care system. That includes more training for case workers and more home inspections.’
Man charged with murder involving foster child’s death[KHOU 1/8/14 By ANDY PIERROTTi]
REFORM Puzzle Pieces
Update:“A court date was reset for Dec. 1 in the case of Jacob Salas, the man accused of murdering an 11-month-old girl last year.
Police said in October 2013, two days before the girl’s first birthday, Salas pressed Orion Hamilton’s head to the floor with his knee, fracturing her skull. The girl was at a Cedar Park foster home where Salas was living at the time.
The girl’s foster mother told Child Protective Services that Salas did not live at the home, despite various records showing otherwise.
The Texas Department of Families and Protective Services took the girl from her parents after she was found born with drugs in her system. The agency placed Orion with family in the Cedar Park home where Salas lived. According to state records, neither DFPS nor the child placing agency that put Orion in the home conducted background checks on Salas.
Brian Hamilton, Orion’s father, said before the girl’s death, he warned the state several times Salas lived at the home and was dangerous, but no one acted.
State records show Salas had been investigated on three separate occasions for child neglect.”
Court date reset for man charged with killing foster child[KTUE 10/23/14 ]
Update 2: “Wilco’s first assistant district attorney says the man charged in the death of a foster child in Cedar Park has accepted a plea deal of 30 years in prison.
Indicted in January of 2014 on capital murder charges, 34-year-old Jacob Salas pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. He admitted to placing 11-month-old Orien Hamilton’s head between his knee and the floor in October of 2013, later resulting in her death.
Hamilton had been taken from her mother’s San Antonio home and was living with a relative.
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services officials cleared the foster parent through their placement program, but that day, the foster parent was called to work and asked Salas, who was not verified, to take care of the child.
Salas was barred from being near children after state officials found he neglected one of his own kids.
A caseworker saw Salas at the home before Orien’s death and questioned the foster mother.
She told the caseworker he wasn’t living there and the caseworker didn’t follow up.
CPS later admitted they missed the warning signs.”
Man Charged in Death of Cedar Park Foster Child Accepts Plea Deal[TWC News 7/2/15 ]
HUH?!? CPS regularly takes the kids of women in abusive relationships, on the grounds that a wife-beater may also be a child-abuser. Yet in this case THEY APPROVED AS A FOSTER MOTHER a woman in a relationship with a spouse AND child abuser!
Why is there such a bias against biological parents? Why are people being approved as foster parents who do the same things birthparents have their kids taken into care for? How does it increase child safety to be placed in “protective care” with a couple who have the same risk factors for child abuse as the home that was “too dangerous” for the child to remain in? With the added factor that there’s no emotional connection between foster parent and child, and many view their charges as sources of income?
We need to be a lot more conservative about yanking kids from their birthparents for “potential abuse”. What’s wrong with noting an “at risk” situation at birth– and offering services to the parents, and monitoring the situation? If there are any signs of actual abuse or neglect, the child can always be removed then.
I Googled methamphetamine– it’s used in prescription drugs for weight loss and ADHD. Even if Orion Hamilton’s birth parents were addicts, couldn’t social workers have tried intervention and monitoring FIRST?