Lawsuit: Indiana-Child Death-Destiny Linden case

In 2008, Destiny Linden was merely 11 weeks old when she was placed into foster care by The Villages of Indiana, Inc. One week later, on April 29, 2008, she was dead from possible being placed in an unsafe sleeping position.

A settlement to the parents was secretly reached in December 2011 and documents published on February 17, 2012.

“While not admitting any liability or wrongdoing, the state quietly paid $210,000 recently to settle a lawsuit filed by the parents of Destiny Linden.”

“The state’s payout was part of a larger $400,000 settlement in Destiny’s death. The deal also appears to have involved The Villages and former DCS foster parents Kim and Everett Coleman.”

Documents of the settlement can be viewed at State pays $210,000 in death of foster child
[Indianapolis Star blog 2/17/ 12 by Tim Evans]

“The role of the Colemans and The Villages, a non-profit which administered the DCS foster parenting training to the Colemans, is not clear because the settlement is confidential. However, it appears Destiny’s parents, Michael Carter Love and Randi Linden, collected another $190,000 in some combination from The Villages and/or Colemans.

In exchange for the payout, Love and Linden agreed to dismiss a lawsuit against DCS, The Villages and the Colemans, who lost their state foster license after the incident.

Despite the confidential agreement that bars all parties from discussing the settlement, the amount of the state’s payment could not be kept confidential. That’s because the $210,000 came from public funds.

A clause in the agreement notes the settlement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing “and is solely for the purpose of avoiding the expense and time involved in defending lawsuit.”

Destiny died just days after she was removed from her mother following an alleged domestic incident involving Linden and Love, who were not in a relationship at the time. The state issued separate checks for $105,000 each to attorneys for Love and Linden.

Records provided to The Star show the state auditor wrote a check for $105,000 on Dec. 31 to Indianapolis attorney David Wilson, who represented Love. Another check for the same amount was written on Jan. 11 to the Indianapolis law firm of Lee Cossell Kuehn Crowley and Turner, which represented Linden.”

Previous Information

“According to a report written by the advocate, Destiny’s foster parents, Everett and Kimberly Coleman, did little to supervise children in their care, including leaving them to prepare their own meals and failing to treat a child burned while ironing clothes. The advocate specifically recommended that all children be removed from the home. But DCS continued placing children, including Destiny, in the foster home and even increased the number of children the couple were licensed to care for in early April.”

“Destiny was found unconscious April 24, the same day the advocate’s motion to remove children from the Colemans was supposed to be heard by a judge. She never regained consciousness and died April 29.

The coroner’s office said that, according to preliminary indications, Destiny was placed in an unsafe sleeping situation that hindered her ability to breathe.

In an April 23 report filed as part of the motion to remove children from the Coleman home, the advocate, Penny Guthrie, wrote that the Colemans “have their priorities very confused as it relates to the safety and well-being of foster children. All children should be removed from this home.”

The three-page report notes that a 10-year-old girl placed in the home essentially was left to fend for herself and her 1-year-old brother. It also says:

» The girl was burned ironing her school clothes, and the injury was left untreated.
» She often had to fix her own dinner — mostly noodles or baked potatoes heated in a microwave. Kim Coleman was upset when confronted about the meals, the advocate wrote, but “agreed that she does not feed the kids a balanced meal with meat and vegetables every night.”
» The girl was responsible for bathing her brother, dressing him for bed and getting his bottle and pacifier.
» Foster children in the home were left in the care of Kim Coleman’s 17-year-old daughter, a violation of state rules. The teen left the supervision of the children to the 10-year-old.
By the time that report was written, Destiny was among four foster children in the Colemans’ care. She had been placed with the family two days earlier.”

“The sole job of an advocate is to look out for the interest of children who are removed from their parents’ home. As an official party to their cases, the advocate’s input is supposed to play a key role in shaping decisions regarding the welfare of children in the state’s care.

When Hodges did not respond in a way that Guthrie thought was adequate, an attorney with the advocacy program filed the motion asking a judge to remove the children from the Coleman home.

The level of detail included in Guthrie’s earliest warnings to Hodges cannot be determined because DCS refused to release copies of communications between the advocate and Hodges.

The Star, however, has learned that Hodges told a DCS attorney in June that she was unaware of most of the advocate’s concerns, including the most serious ones about the children being left alone with the 17-year-old and the untreated burn.

Hodges reported she was told only that the children were eating dinner late at night, that Everett Coleman didn’t know the name of a girl living in his house a week after she was placed with him and his wife, and that one of the children was having problems at school. She said she was notified of those issues in early April.

Reports filed by Guthrie tell a different story.

“After all the concerns I had shared with Amanda Hodges,” she wrote in a May memo, “I was always shocked that DCS kept placing more kids and even babies there.”

Later in the report, after alleging Hodges had lied to her and the court, Guthrie wrote: “Amanda’s refusal to call me back has been a serious issue for me as I take my work as a fact finder very seriously. I believe Ms. Hodges’ neglectful attitude has endangered the safety of these and other children.”

Hodges did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.

State employment records show Hodges was hired Sept. 18, 2006, one of the 800 caseworkers added to DCS ranks since July 1, 2005, and has no history of suspensions or disciplinary actions.

The dispute between Hodges and Guthrie wasn’t the first indication of trouble in the foster home where the Colemans began caring for children in January. DCS records show another caseworker met with the couple April 9 “to address licensing complaints.”

That discussion — a week after DCS increased the number of foster children the Colemans could care for from two to four — focused on children in their care being dirty and an allegation that the couple misused a child’s food vouchers.”

Baby placed in foster home despite warnings [Indianapolis Star 7/27/08 by Tim Evans]

An Indiana University Law review from 2011 also discusses this case in this 29-page pdf.

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Lack of effective screening, heavy caseload and not listening to GAL contributed to the death of Destiny Linden.