How Could You? Hall of Shame-Shaud Howell 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 Cleveland, Ohio, “Ohio’s Department of Jobs and Family Services, Cleveland Metroparks and Cuyahoga County’s Division of Children and Family Services all want answers about what’s going on inside Quality Care Residential Homes.
According to investigators, a worker from the group home took Shaud Howell and two other teens to Edgewater Beach around 7 p.m. Friday [July 6, 2018].
Howell and another teen played in the water for about an hour, then planned to head back to the beach.
Only the 16-year-old made it back. Howell’s body was found by searchers Sunday.
But could his death have been prevented?
Lifeguards ended their watch of the beach at 7 p.m., and according to an incident report, lake conditions were so rough firefighters “determined it would be too dangerous for divers to enter the water.”[So why did the Group home worker take them there to begin with ?
Maybe because the group home worker couldn’t care less about him!]
So where was the group home employee who was responsible for the three teens?
“From what I understand, not very far,” said Desmond Johnson, Administrator of Quality Care Residential Homes. “Like, sitting on a hill from where the water was at. I’m not for sure exactly, but I think maybe a few feet away, not too far.”
According to investigators, the 16-year-old swimming with Howell had to use another teen’s cell phone to “call the staff member in charge of the three boys.”
News 5 asked Johnson why the teen would have needed to call the worker if she was nearby.
“There’s still an investigation,” Johnson said. “I mean, I’m just going by what reports we’re getting too. Right now it’s still under investigation.”
Johnson says he feels bad about what happened, noting Howell had only been with the group home for about a week after he was placed there by county social workers.
Records show Quality Care Residential Homes, which runs two facilities, will receive $550,646 as part of its contract with Cuyahoga County to provide out-of-home placement and foster care services this year.
“We do a good job,” said Johnson. “The county has been giving us business for a while now. We’ve always done a good job with their kids so I don’t see a problem with it.”
News 5 has requested state and local inspection records for Quality Care Residential Homes. So far, those documents have not been made available.”
Group home of teen who drowned is target of several investigations
[News 5 Cleveland 7/10/18 by Scott Noll]
Great!No arrests have been made!
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“The administrator of the group home where a 13-year-old lived before he drowned last week said a childcare specialist has been fired after taking the victim and two other teens to the beach Friday night.
“We at Quality Care had no knowledge at all that she was at the beach,” said Desmond Johnson, administrator of the group home. “We didn’t know about it, we would have never condoned it. We would have told her, ‘Absolutely no, don’t go out there.'”
Johnson said the worker broke the rules when she made an unscheduled trip to the beach without approval. He said the group arrived around 7 p.m. when the lifeguards end their shifts for the day and that rough conditions on Lake Erie only made the decision worse.
“If I’m going to have kids somewhere, I want to make sure they’re safe,” Johnson said. “No lifeguards there? We’ve got situations like this, so it’s a bad situation.”
That situation turned deadly when Shaud Howell drowned. Rescuers recovered the 13-year-old’s body on Sunday.
Metroparks Rangers, the state and Cuyahoga County, which placed Howell in the group home, all have ongoing investigations into what happened.
But Johnson insisted the childcare specialist is not being made a scapegoat to cover for Quality Care Residential Homes.
“It’s not even about that,” Johnson said. “It’s about she didn’t follow protocol. She even told me herself, ‘You know, Mr. Johnson, I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have gone to the beach without asking you guys.'”
Johnson admitted he is not sure what happened Friday night at Edgewater and not sure whether anyone was actually watching the three teens at the beach.
“The stories don’t make any sense to me right now,” Johnson said. “We’re still trying to figure this whole thing out. I’m hoping once they put all this together, we’ll have a better understanding of exactly what happened out there. Where was she at, what she did. I don’t know. I need to know that. Moving forward, I need to know exactly what she did out there.”
Johnson said the worker had been with the group home for about four years and didn’t have any problems before this latest incident.
That worker didn’t return a phone call when News 5 tried to get her side of the story.”
Group home worker fired after 13-year-old drowned at Edgewater
[Cleveland 5 News 7/11/18 by Scott Noll]
Update 2:“A woman faces involuntary manslaughter and endangering children charges after a 13-year-old drowned in Lake Erie over the summer under her watch, according to a court docket.
According to the attorney for Shaud Howell’s family, Christina Coleman was responsible for the care of Shaud Howell, the 13-year-old boy who drowned in Lake Erie.
Howell went missing while swimming at Edgewater Beach Friday, July 6. Crews spent the weekend searching for him, using boat-based sonar. They recovered his body around 5 p.m. Sunday, July 8. His family told FOX 8, Howell was at the beach with members of his group home.
The Howell family’s attorney told FOX 8, “Shaud Howell was a terrific, vibrant child whose life was cut short due to the recklessness of people who were supposed to take care of him.”
According to the indictment, Coleman was a “parent, guardian, custodian, person having custody or control, or person in loco parentis of a child under eighteen years of age.” The indictment states that she “violated a duty of care” which “resulted in serious physical harm” to the child.
The indictment also states that Coleman “did cause the death” of the child as a result of committing the “felony offense of endangering children.”
The Howell family’s attorney said Coleman’s indictment is a “welcome development” for their family; however, “the accountability for this tragedy should not and must not end with this lone indictment.”
The attorney argues that more legal work must be done to protect foster kids and to secure accountability for those responsible for their care. He said that he, and the Howell family, are fighting to not only find justice for Shaud, but also to protect other children like him.
He said, ” More work remains to be done to secure full legal accountability from all those individuals and entities who failed to protect Shaud and contributed to his needless death. Foster kids are not throwaway children and must not be treated that way.”
Coleman’s arraignment is set for November 14.”
Attorney: Caretaker indicted in Lake Erie drowning death of 13-year-old boy
[Fox 8 11/2/18 by Natasha Anderson]
Update 3: “Coleman was scheduled to be arraigned November 14 in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court, but the hearing was continued.”
https://fox8.com/2018/11/14/arraignment-hearing-for-woman-charged-in-childs-drowning-at-lake-erie-continued/
[Fox 8 11/14/18 by Talia Naquin]
A search of the Cuyahoga county court records shows that there was a contnuance held on 7/16/19 after the final pretrial. The “PRETRIAL CONFERENCE (FINAL) SET FOR 08/14/2019“
Update 4:“A former group home worker has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and endangering children after a 13-year-old in her care drowned in Lake Erie in July, 2018.
A state investigation found 37-year-old Christina Coleman left Shaud Howell and two other teens unsupervised at Edgewater Beach July 6, 2018 after lifeguards had left for the day. Howell, who didn’t know how to swim, drowned. His body was found two days later north of Perkins Beach.
Investigators found that swimming at Edgewater was prohibited that day because of hazardous conditions.
Coleman was accused of leaving the teens unattended for more than two hours that evening. Police say one of the teens used a cell phone to call Coleman after they realized Howell was missing.
Coleman was fired from Quality Care Residential Homes after the drowning. The home’s owner, Desmond Johnson, told 5 On Your Side Investigators that Coleman did not have permission to take the teens to the beach that night. However, an investigation by Ohio Department of Job and Family services, which oversees group homes in the state, found it wasn’t the first time staff took children to Edgewater to swim and failed to monitor and supervise the kids.
In exchange for her guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor count of endangering children against Coleman. She faces up to 11 years in prison when she’s sentenced next month.
In response to Coleman’s guilty pleas, attorney Brian Eisen who represents Howell’s family issued this statement to News 5:
“Shaud Howell’s life was cut short because of the recklessness of those entrusted with his safety. Ms. Coleman’s guilty plea is a step in holding accountable those who betrayed Shaud. But it is only a first step. A trial would have included a full recounting of the betrayal. Now that recounting will be delayed, but Shaud’s full story eventually will be told. The group home, its owners — and perhaps others, too – still must be held to account.””
Ex-group home worker pleads guilty in drowning of teen left unsupervised at Edgewater Beach in 2018
[News 5 Cleveland 12/4/19 by Scott Noll]
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