How Could You? Hall of Shame-Jennifer L. Chambers 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  Carthage, Missouri, foster mother Jennifer L. Chambers, 42, “faces four counts of felony child abuse after two young sisters in her care were found with multiple injuries, including one with a lacerated spleen and liver.”

“Jennifer L. Chambers, 42, took the youngest girl, whose age was not given, to Freeman Hospital in Joplin on November 23 at the insistence of a third party who saw the girl “ashen in color, laying in a fetal position, in obvious pain with her abdomen distended,” a probable cause affidavit says, according to Joplin News First.

Hospital staff documented interior knee bruises, bruising on the elbows, ankles and forehead, a sore on an inner lip, healing wounds above the eyebrow and on the scalp, scratches and nail marks on the girl’s face, a knot in a parietal bone, and a rash that ran from her cheek down her torso and over her arms and legs.

Freeman staff had the girl flown to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where doctors found internal abdominal injuries, including a lacerated spleen and liver, and the possibility of a brain bleed. At the same time, they contacted the Jasper County Children’s Division for a welfare check on the older girl, who is 8-years-old.

Children’s Division staff were alarmed by an eye swollen shut and had this girl taken to Freeman as well. There, a Carthage Police detective noted that he saw severe bruising “from the nose to the outside of the eye socket” and that the area was “swollen around the approximate size of a golf ball.” Additionally, the detective said he saw bruising on the other side of the girl’s face “in what appeared to resemble a palm print style pattern.”

Medical staff also documented two broken fingers and other fractures on the girl’s left hand and further bruising on her face, head, and neck. The 8-year-old was also taken to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City.

The detective wrote in the affidavit that Chambers told hospital staff that the girls “fall a lot” but had no other explanation for their injuries. Staff at both Freeman and Children’s Mercy told police that the injuries were not consistent with a fall. Children’s Mercy also said the injuries occurred “recently.”

According to the affidavit, Chambers and told police she was “nervous” about bringing the girls to the hospital because of the possibility law enforcement might be contacted.

Chambers has had custody of the girls since 2019, the affidavit says. One of the girls has a tracheostomy and requires special care. She is “barely able to communicate verbally,” the affidavit says.”

Foster kids found with severe injuries, including broken fingers, lacerated spleen and liver

[Crime online 12/6/2020 by KC Wildmoon]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A Jasper County Circuit Court judge has decided that a foster mom will see jail time for the abuse two of her foster kids suffered at her hands. Forty-three-year-old Jennifer L. Chambers of Carthage, Missouri, pleaded guilty to two Class D felony counts of child abuse for injuries sustained to her foster daughters back in 2020.

Chambers was caring for two biological sisters, ages 8 and 3, at that time, the Joplin Globe reported. A probable cause affidavit obtained by the newspaper noted that a witness allegedly found the younger sister curled in a fetal position in her bedroom with a distended abdomen and in “obvious pain” and urged Chambers to get her help.”

Foster Mom Sentenced to 7 Years in Jail After Abusing Her 2 Foster Daughters
[Cafe Mom 1/19/22 by Genny Glassman]

“Circuit Judge Gayle Crane accepted the plea bargain and assessed Chambers concurrent terms of seven years each on the two convictions. She had been facing up to 15 years on each of the Class B felony counts.”

Foster mother sentenced to prison in abuse of 2 girls
[Joplin Globe 1/18/22 by Jeff Lehr]