How Could You? Hall of Shame-Madison Parrott case-Child Death UPDATED and Lawsuit

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 Lacombe, Louisiana, foster mother,40-year-old Trenique Faciane “was previously booked with one count of felony second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and is now charged with first-degree murder. No bond has been set.”

She “allegedly beat and abused her 22-month-old foster child [Madison Parrott] will face a first-degree murder charge after the girl died Friday.”

“Parrott was hospitalized Thursday evening after deputies received reports that the girl was vomiting and unresponsive. Detectives said Faciane admitted to beating Parrott with a hairbrush, shaking her and dropping her into a bathtub.

Aside from being a foster parent, officers say Faciane is the part owner of Wee Wisdom Learning Center, a child care facility in Slidell.

The state Department of Children and Family Services released the following statement:

“Last night, the St. Tammany Parish Sherriff’s Office (STPSO) contacted the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) regarding a report of severe injuries to a foster child in the care of a foster parent. The foster mother has since been arrested and charged with second degree cruelty to a juvenile. There are no other children in the home at this time. DCFS immediately initiated an internal investigation, including placing assigned staff on administrative leave with pay, and is fully cooperating with law enforcement.”

 

Grace Weber with DCFS said the administrative staff includes at least one case worker. She said it’s protocol to place someone under administrative leave with pay during this type of investigation.”

Foster mom faces murder in toddler’s death[KPLCTV 5/22/15]

“The Sheriff’s Office posted this note on its Facebook page around 5 p.m. Friday: “Regrettably, the Sheriff’s office has learned that the baby girl involved in the child abuse case earlier today has died at a south shore hospital. Sheriff Strain and investigators have been monitoring the baby’s condition throughout the day, and recently received word of her passing. While investigators are now seeking a warrant to book Faciane with first degree murder, the entire Sheriff’s office family offers our prayers for this young and innocent child.”

“Someone from the Lacombe home called 9-1-1 around 5:30 p.m. Thursday (May 21) to report that a child was vomiting and unresponsive, the Sheriff’s Office said earlier Friday.

Firefighters and paramedics responded and brought the girl to the Louisiana Heart Hospital in Lacombe.

Hospital officials became suspicious after interviewing Faciane and alerted the Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives interviewed Faciane at the hospital, then transported her to the Sheriff’s Office location in Slidell. Faciane then admitted she beat the girl with a hairbrush, shook her, and dropped her into a bathtub, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The child was then transported to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, where she died Friday.

The Sheriff’s Office said it retrieved the hairbrush and other items during a search of Faciane’s home.

Capt. George Bonnett, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said late Friday the child who died sustained “various and substantial injuries,” but declined to be more specific. He said that information would have to come from the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office, which will perform an autopsy.

Bonnett said that Faciane had another foster child, who is younger, at her house at the time of the incident.

“Obviously, the younger child was removed,” he said, adding that the child was “found to be in good health.”

Faciane remains jailed in St. Tammany Parish on the earlier arrest, Bonnett said. He said the first-degree murder count would be added as a judge approves the warrant.”

Tot involved in St. Tammany abuse case has died, Sheriff’s Office says[The Times-Picayune 5/22/15 by Bob Warren]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:”Little Madison Parrott would have turned 2 years old in July. Instead, the toddler died from multiple blunt force trauma.

St. Tammany Sheriff Jack Strain says her foster parent, 40-year-old Trenique Faciane, caused her injuries.

“Faciane admitted what she did, of not only attacking the child with a brush, but then shaking the child severely and then dropped her into a bathtub,” Strain says.

Faciane has been in jail since last Thursday, booked with first-degree murder.

Bill Arata, who is representing the child’s biological mother Mindy Parrott, says his client suspected her daughter was being abused in the foster parent’s home.

“The mother reported weekly for at least a month prior to the death of the child that there were unexplained bruising on the child. She wanted them to follow up on it. DCFS did not,” says Arata.

Arata says Parrott sent several statements to the Department of Children and Family Services.

“Mindy noticed things and placed DCFS on notice of those injuries, and there were multiple bruises. I think the last one was on the child’s forehead. It involved even a cut,” says Arata.

He says little Madison was taken from her biological mother and father’s home back in December and placed in foster care. Since then, he says Mindy Parrott was able to visit with the little girl.

“The mother was working her case plan, and to my knowledge, had completed her case plan,” says Arata.

The attorney says Parrott was hopeful she’d get Madison back in the next couple of months. He says now, Parrott believes her daughter’s death could have been prevented.

“I don’t really believe a woman who does what Ms. Faciane did does it just one time, especially when the mother is convinced it was happening over a long period of time,” says Arata.

The Department of Children and Family Services launched an internal investigation and placed at least one case worker on administrative leave with pay. They also say that’s standard protocol in cases like this one.

Police say Faciane is also the co-owner of Wee-Wisdom Daycare in Slidell. The Sheriff’s Office says she was not involved in the day-to-day operations, but they still want parents to be aware.”

Mother says she warned DCFS of her toddler’s suspected abuse [WAFB 5/26/15 by Natasha Robin]

Update 2:“The parents of a 22-month-old Washington Parish girl allegedly beaten to death by her foster mother are accusing state workers of repeatedly ignoring physical signs and reports of abuse.

Ray Travis Parrott and Mindy Parrott, whose daughter Madison Parrott died May 22, are suing the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, three DCFS employees and others, including Trenique Faciane, the foster mother, who was booked on a count of first-degree murder and is being held without bail.

The lawsuit, which seeks damages, was filed Thursday in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge.

Faciane, 40, of Lacombe, is one of the owners of another defendant in the suit, Wee Wisdom Learning Center, a privately owned child care facility in Slidell. She is not involved in the center’s daily operations, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office has said.

Madison Parrott was placed in temporary foster care in December with Fred and Trenique Faciane and was “repeatedly physically abused” by her foster mother, the suit alleges. Fred Faciane also is named as a defendant.

The girl’s DCFS case manager and that woman’s supervisors “repeatedly ignored physical signs and reports of abuse,” the suit claims.

Mindy Parrott had made statements about suspected abuse of her child to DCFS for at least a month before the girl’s death, an attorney representing the child’s biological mother said previously.

DCFS spokeswoman Grace Weber said Tuesday that the agency could not comment on the litigation. A message left at Wee Wisdom was not returned.

DCFS said previously that it was conducting an internal investigation into the death and had put some of its staff on paid administrative leave.

The toddler was hospitalized May 21 and died the following day. The St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide, finding she died from multiple blunt-force trauma with bleeding in the brain.

Trenique Faciane told detectives that she used a hairbrush to beat the girl. She then shook the child and dropped her in a bathtub, sheriff’s officials have said.

Authorities received a 911 call from Faciane’s home reporting that the girl was vomiting and unresponsive.

DCFS has said there are no other foster children living in the Faciane home.

The suit has been assigned to state District Judge Tim Kelley.”

Lawsuit claims state agency ignored signs of abuse to 22-month-old foster child who died in May [The Advocate 9/3/15 by Joe Gyan, Jr.]

Update 3: “A St. Tammany Parish grand jury has indicted a Lacombe foster mother of second-degree murder in the death of 22-month-old Madison Parrott, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The indictment came down late Tuesday (Sept. 15).

Trenique C. Faciane, 41, of Lacombe, is set to be arraigned on Sept. 21, the District Attorney Warren Montgomery’s office said in a news release. District Judge J. William Knight will handle the arraignment, and Assistant District Attorney Jerry Smith will prosecute, the district attorney said.

Faciane stands accused of beating Parrott, who would have turned 2 last July, with a hairbrush, shaking her, and dropping her into a bathtub on May 21. Parrott died at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans the next day.

The child was in Faciane’s personal care at … in Lacombe, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said in May when arresting Faciane. Faciane initially was booked with second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. When the child died, she was then booked with first-degree murder.

The case began with a 9-1-1 call from the Lacombe home around 5:30 p.m. May 21 that concerned a child who was vomiting and unresponsive, according to a press release.

Firefighters and paramedics answered the call and took the child to the Louisiana Heart Hospital, also in Lacombe.

Hospital officials grew suspicious after interviewing Faciane, and alerted the Sheriff’s Office that a girl, showing signs of abuse, had been admitted to the emergency room.

Detectives began interviewing Faciane at the hospital and then took her to the Sheriff’s Office Slidell location. The Sheriff’s Office said that Faciane admitted beating the girl with a hairbrush, shaking her, and then dropping her into a bathtub.

Faciane is a part owner of Wee Wisdom, a privately-owned child care center in Slidell, but was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the facility, according to investigators.

The brush allegedly used in the abuse and some other items relevant to the investigation were seized in a search of Faciane’s home, the Sheriff’s Office said. Along with the search warrant, detectives also got an arrest warrant for Faciane, according to the agency.”

Lacombe foster mother indicted for murder of 22-month-old [NOLA 9/16/15 by  James Varney]

Update 4:“Trenique Faciane pleaded guilty months ago to manslaughter in the death of her 22-month-old foster child, Madison Parrott, but when the former owner of a Slidell day care center appeared in court last week for sentencing, the proceedings took on the aspect of a full-blown trial, with the defendant testifying that the fatal events of May 21, 2015, in fact were a series of accidents.

Judge Richard Swartz’s courtroom at 22nd Judicial District Court in Covington was full, with members of Faciane’s family on one side and the family of the dead toddler on the other as Faciane’s team of three lawyers called witnesses during more than three hours of testimony.

They included the owner of a day care center where Faciane formerly worked for about 10 years, the defendant’s husband and finally Faciane herself, a Lacombe resident.

In a soft, halting voice, often interrupted by sobs as she fought for composure, Faciane told the court that she had loved Madison Parrott, a child she described as having difficulties with balance and delays in speech.

Under questioning by one of her attorneys, Jim Blazek, Faciane testified that she had not known about all the child’s medical issues when she took in Madison and her older brother as foster children in December 2014. Those issues included a history of physical abuse that had resulted in them being placed in foster care.

But Faciane said that Madison, an active child who was “always running and reaching,” fell frequently and bruised easily, and she described what Faciane said she later learned were seizures, such as stopping and staring off into space and losing control of her bowels.

She described a series of mishaps on May 21, 2015, that began when she found the child had gotten into a tube of diaper cream and smeared it all over her body, face and hair.

Police reports said that Faciane admitted beating Madison with a brush, shaking her and dropping her into the bathtub. The cause of death was ruled to be multiple blunt-force trauma with bleeding in the brain.

But the defendant laid out a different scenario in court Wednesday, describing her efforts to rinse the ointment off the thrashing toddler. “I didn’t know it was going to be so slippery,” she testified.

She said Madison struck her head while in the bathtub, and she said she “tapped” the child with the small hairbrush she was using to get the cream out of her hair in a futile attempt to stop her tantrum.

She said that Madison ate some dinner and went to bed, but when she went to check on her later, the little girl was vomiting. She said she put the child over her shoulder and hit her on her back to help bring up what she thought might have been some of the diaper ointment.

When she brought the child to the bathroom a second time to clean her off, Faciane said, Madison slipped out of her arms.

What followed, according to her testimony, were efforts to rouse the child, whose eyes had become glazed; calls to her husband and 911; efforts to do CPR; and finally stumbling into a door while holding the child as she answered the door where EMTs were waiting.

Faciane and her husband both testified that they were not allowed to see Madison at the Lacombe Heart Hospital where she was taken and were not questioned by doctors about what had happened. But Faciane was questioned by St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators from about 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., she testified.

“Did the detective ever tell you that in your rage you beat the child to death?” Blazek asked.

“I told him that I loved Madison and that I would never hurt her,” Faciane replied. “He told me that I was angry, and I told him I wasn’t angry. I do know that when I tried to tell him I was not angry, he came toward me and yelled that I was angry. I was tired by then. It was maybe 1 or 2 in the morning.”

She never confessed to beating the child, she testified.

Blazek asked if she had told the detective that Madison was her world.

“Yes,” Faciane replied. “She was my world.”

Blazek offered the interrogation tape into evidence.

But under cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Jim Alford pressed Faciane on details of her account. “How would popping her with a hairbrush stop her from having a fit?” he asked. “Wouldn’t it have escalated it?”

Faciane replied that she believed her words to the detective were taken out of context.

“Did you ever ask Andrea to get Madison out of your house?” Alford asked, referring to the case worker from the state.

“I don’t recall,” Faciane said. “I have been struggling to deal with this also … with the loss of Madison.”

Alford indicated Madison’s family members in the courtroom and asked, “Don’t you think they deserve to know the truth?”

“I gave them the truth just now,” Faciane said.

The family of the child sued the state Department of Child and Family Services, claiming that the birth mother’s concerns about signs of abuse had been ignored. That case was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Alford asked Faciane if she had read a letter from a fellow inmate, Alyssa Smith, who said that Faciane had admitted to killing Madison. Faciane said she had not read the entire thing. “I didn’t confess to her. I listened to what my attorney told me,” she said of the letter.

“You lost your temper and slammed Madison in the bathtub,” Alford said, accusing Faciane of offering up a “phantom pre-existing medical condition” instead of the truth.

The defense was planning to call a doctor as a witness, but the matter was recessed before that witness could come to the stand.

Alford told Faciane that believing her account would mean that detectives lied, that paramedics who said they found the child on the floor without any effort at CPR lied and that the other inmate also lied.

“This is the time to tell the truth, Ms. Faciane,” Alford said. “Your freedom is at stake. … You’re sure you want to stick to that story?”

He pressed again, “They’re all liars?”

“Yes, sir,” Faciane replied.

“Then I’m not sure why you pled guilty,” the prosecutor said.

Blazek objected, saying that his client had entered an Alford plea, which is a plea that indicates that the defendant does not admit the criminal act but acknowledges that pleading guilty is in their best interest because they would probably be found guilty.

But Swartz overruled Blazek’s objection.

“An Alford plea is a guilty plea,” he said.

Trenique Faciane’s attorneys spent two days in court portraying their client as a calm, nurturing caregiver who had no criminal history and a sterling reputation working with children.

But when 22nd Judicial District Judge Richard Swartz sentenced the Lacombe woman to 30 years in prison Friday for manslaughter, his focus was not on Faciane but on Madison Parrott, the 22-month-old foster child who died of multiple blunt-force trauma while under Faciane’s care in May 2015.

The maximum sentence Faciane faced was 40 years in prison.

“This is a very sad case,” Swartz said after listening to testimony by a doctor called by the defense and another by the state.

Swartz said he felt sympathy for both families — that of the child and that of the defendant.

“But a 22-month-old child has lost her life. She will not be able to experience life like the rest of us in this courtroom,” Swartz said.

The judge said that Faciane, who had taken the stand on the first day of testimony in the sentencing hearing, blamed other people and other things for the child’s death.

 

The hearing was recessed until Sept. 5.”

Lacombe woman denies guilt in her sentencing hearing for death of foster child
[The Advocate 8/26/18 by Sara Pagones]

Update 5:“Trenique Faciane’s attorneys spent two days in court portraying their client as a calm, nurturing caregiver who had no criminal history and a sterling reputation working with children.

But when 22nd Judicial District Judge Richard Swartz sentenced the Lacombe woman to 30 years in prison Friday for manslaughter, his focus was not on Faciane but on Madison Parrott, the 22-month-old foster child who died of multiple blunt-force trauma while under Faciane’s care in May 2015.

The maximum sentence Faciane faced was 40 years in prison.

“This is a very sad case,” Swartz said after listening to testimony by a doctor called by the defense and another by the state.

Swartz said he felt sympathy for both families — that of the child and that of the defendant.

“But a 22-month-old child has lost her life. She will not be able to experience life like the rest of us in this courtroom,” Swartz said.

The judge said that Faciane, who had taken the stand on the first day of testimony in the sentencing hearing, blamed other people and other things for the child’s death.

He acknowledged that witnesses had testified that Faciane was a good and caring person. “That doesn’t negate the fact that (Madison) died because of her actions,” Swartz said. The judge said that the state Department of Children and Family Services also had failed the little girl.

Defense attorneys called Dr. Jeannette Lopez, a neurologist, who testified that a pre-existing neurological condition could have resulted in a terminal seizure. She said the pre-existing condition could have been caused by previous trauma. The defense also introduced evidence that Madison and her siblings had been removed from her parents’ home by the state because of physical abuse.

But Swartz said there was no factual basis for the doctor’s testimony. It was based on speculation, he said, and he could give no weight to it.

By contrast, the medical expert called by the state, Dr. Scott Benton, based his opinion on medical records in the case, Swartz said, and concluded that Madison died as a result of her injuries.

Faciane protested her innocence when she testified, outlining a series of mishaps that occurred the night Madison was taken to the hospital. She said the toddler had gotten into a tube of diaper ointment and she was trying to clean her off, including her hair, in the bathtub when the child, who was thrashing around, hit her head on the faucet.

The little girl began vomiting after she had been put to bed, Faciane testified.

Faciane entered what is known as an Alford plea, which is a plea that indicates the defendant does not admit the criminal act but acknowledges that pleading guilty is in their best interest because they would probably be found guilty.

Swartz told her that doing so, rather than going to trial, “probably was a wise decision.” He then imposed sentence, noting that Faciane would get credit for time served. She has been in prison for more than three years awaiting the disposition of her case.

Faciane’s brother said that her attorney, Rachel Yazbeck, had said she likely would face an all-white jury and advised her to enter the Alford plea. Yazbeck said Friday that demographics were a concern because Faciane is black and Madison was white. But she said that wasn’t the only factor, and if the case had gone before a jury, “it would have been a trial between doctors.”

Madison’s mother, Mindy Parrott, declined comment following the sentencing, although she said she was satisfied with the outcome.

The family submitted handwritten victim-impact statements on two occasions, the most recent before the sentencing hearing began in late August.

“I will never forget what I saw that night,” Parrott wrote. “My life just stopped. I didn’t know what to do. She should still be here with family.”

She wrote that a long prison sentence would not bring Madison back but would act as a deterrent to others. “We believe (Faciane) should get the maximum sentence … and if she ever gets released she should not ever be allowed to be around children, because this will happen again,” she wrote.”

In beating death of toddler, St. Tammany foster mother sentenced to 30 years

[The New Orleans Advocate 9/24/18 by Sara Pagones]