How Could You? Hall of Shame-Gracie case-Child Death

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 Fort Myers, Florida, 17-month-old foster child, Gracie, was found dead “July 21 in her car seat in the parking lot of a south Fort Myers church and daycare” because she had been “left all day by a foster mother” in a hot car.

“DCF reports on its website that the circumstances of the baby’s death require the attention of the critical response team because the family had a prior “verified report” with the agency in the past 12 months.

“1 1/2 year old child was pronounced deceased after she was found unresponsive in her car seat in the foster parent’s vehicle where she had been accidentally left for an extended period of time,” the incident narrative on DCF’s child fatality dashboard said.

An investigation by a Critical Incident Rapid Response Team is required for all child deaths reported to DCF if the child or another child in his or her family was the subject of a verified report of suspected abuse or neglect during the previous 12 months, according to Florida statute.

It’s not clear which family, the biological or foster family, was the subject of the verified report, but unfortunately, the department can’t clear up the confusion yet, said DCF’s Public Relations Manager Anna Archambault. “That information is protected at this time under (Florida statute) 39.202. Once the investigations are concluded, it will be releasable.”

“The 911 call to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office after the toddler was found dead in her car seat identifies the caregiver that left the child in the car as her foster mom.

The call was made around 4:30 p.m., and the woman was shouting that the baby had been in the car all day and was not alive, in between cries.”

“A second woman took the phone and started telling the operator that her friend, who was a foster mom, took the kids to daycare and went to work that morning not realizing the baby was still in the car.

The call was made from the parking lot of Vine Church and Vine Christian Academy.”

“The pastor of the church, Raphael Felix, took the phone from the second woman and began telling the operator that the baby’s skin was purple and rigid.

Felix told The News-Press on Thursday, July 23 that the baby did not attend the church’s Christian academy and the only connection to the incident was because the girl was discovered in the parking lot.

Felix referred the News-Press to his comments published by WINK News.

“This doesn’t mean that we are not in deep pain and grief,” he said, according to WINK News. “We are following the ongoing investigation, and we need to respect the information that comes out of the investigation.””

“The community provider that placed the 17-month-old girl with the foster family was the Children’s Network of Southwest Florida, a community-based care agency contracted by DCF to provide foster care.

It is the lead community-based agency for Lee, Collier, Hendry, Charlotte and Glades counties.

According to its website, the agency handled 131 foster home placements in Lee County and 48 in Collier County in July.

The Children’s Network of Southwest Florida did not respond to several requests for comment over several days.””

Special DCF team investigating fostered toddler’s hot car death

[Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News 7/8/26 by Alexa Ryan]

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