How Could You? Hall of Shame-6-Year-Old Foster daughter case
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 Kansas City, Missouri, a “6-year-old [foster] girl was struck by a vehicle in KC on Friday night.
It happened in the area of 40 Highway and Phelps Road around 7:30 p.m.
According to the police, a red Kia Optima was headed west on 40 Highway when the girl ran from the southern side of the street toward the northern side.
The driver did not see the girl until after she was struck with the left front side of the car, which knocked the girl forward and onto the pavement.
The girl has life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the vehicle stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the police. They said the driver had no signs of impairment and did not seem to be speeding.
Sgt. Deb Randol said the girl is small for her age and was wearing dark clothing that night. When she crossed the street, it was against the light.
Witnesses told KCTV5 News that the girl was by herself.
Those at the Tool Shed Lounge nearby said that they know the girl. They said she has come to the bar in the past asking for help.
They said the girl has told them that she is in foster care and alleged that her foster parents mistreat her. She also asks for food.
The regulars at the bar said they have given her food in the past and that they have called the police to tell them what the girl told them.
One woman said that one of the times they called was on Dec. 11. She said the girl knew the officer who arrived to pick her up and that he took her back to the foster home. Police have not yet confirmed to KCTV5 News if that was the case or not.
Sgt. Randol did tell KCTV5 News on Friday night that the girl was running away from her foster home.
Randol said the foster home has only had her since November and that an infant sibling of hers also lives there.
Those regulars at the bar said they are deeply saddened by what happened on Friday night.
On Saturday, people were gathering near where the accident happened to pray and reflect.
One woman who spoke to KCTV5 News was afraid something like this would eventually happen to the 6-year-old.
“She came up to us and we started asking her questions,” Sierra Miller recalled. “She was scared and she didn’t want to go back.”
“I gave her a sprite and called 911 for her,” Miller said. “It made me sad and wonder why she was alone all by herself.”
Miller and others stayed with the girl until the police arrived to take her home that night.
However, on Friday, she left her foster home again, crossed the road in the same spot, and unfortunately was hit by a car.
“It shouldn’t have happened a second time,” Miller said.
On Saturday, people wanted to show her love. So, Rachel Fry and her husband loaded up their motorcycles with stuffed animals to place near the intersection.
“We strapped the big bear to the front and the panda to the back, and we rode up here like that,” she said. “We just want her to know she’s loved somewhere.”
Others added their own gifts that night in an effort to let the girl know she is loved by a group of strangers at a bar who just hope she pulls through.
“Here at the Tool Shed, we are one big family,” Miller said. “We’re wishing her the best and we’re all praying for her.”
6-year-old girl struck by vehicle at 40 Highway, Phelps
[KCTV 5 12/21/18 by Zoe Brown, Betsy Webster and Nathan Vickers]
“A 6-year-old girl had run from a state foster home for at least the second time shortly before Christmas when she was hit by a car at night on U.S. 40 and suffered life-threatening injuries, Kansas City police said.
Just 10 days before the accident off Phelps Road, patrons at a biker bar on the same corner called police to come get the girl, whom they had found wandering in the dark along the four-lane highway.
Officers returned the child to her foster home that first night, Dec. 11, and police alerted “a state-appointed social service worker,” Kansas City Police spokesman Capt. Lionel Colón said Thursday.
But at about 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21, the child ran across the highway against a red light toward the bar — the Tool Shed Lounge — and was hit by a car. She remained in critical condition, police said.
Questions about the foster home and the state’s response after the child was first discovered walking by the highway alone remain unanswered.
By state and federal law, the Missouri Department of Social Services cannot release any records regarding potential abuse or neglect of a specific child until the department director determines that releasing information will not harm the child or siblings, a department spokeswoman said.
“The director can consider whether it is appropriate to release information …. after the investigation is concluded and the department has had the opportunity to consider the impact of the release of information on other children within the immediate family,” the spokeswoman said in an email to The Star.
On Dec. 11, patrons at the bar treated the girl with soda and chips while they waited for police to come. Many of the same regulars were there 10 nights later when she was hit by the car outside their bar.
The bar patrons — many of them part of a charity organization, Bikers Advocates — collected toys for the girl. Several tried to surprise her by visiting the hospital with their bags of gifts before Christmas. But hospital privacy regulations allowed them only to leave one bag of toys at the security desk, said Bikers Advocates member Thomas “Hobbles” Craig.
They don’t know her name, but they know now she was living nearby and they want to help her.
“I wish I had a foster parent license,” said Rachel Fry, who was inside the bar the Sunday after the child was hit. “Then I could feed her and clothe her and keep her from harm.”
Susan McCluer, a patron, said she spent part of her childhood growing up in foster care in Wichita.
6-year-old girl hit by car on KC highway strayed from foster home at least twice
[Kansas City Star 1/3/19 by Joe Robertson]
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