How Could You? Hall of Shame-Danielle Clark 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 East Windsor, Connecticut, “East Windsor police arrested the foster mother of a 6-month old baby for allegedly abusing the child back in August.

According to officials, following months of investigation, police issued an arrest warrant on Sunday for the child’s foster mother, 23-year-old Danielle Clark, of Broad Brook.

The 6-month old baby received injuries to the front and back of it’s head, torso, eyes and arms, police said. Authorities say the abuse happened on Aug. 5. After an evaluation at Connecticut Children’s Medical center in Hartford, the child’s injuries were described as substantial, but not life threatening.

Police arrested Clark and charged her with second degree assault and risk of injury to a minor. Clark is being held on $150,000 bond and faced a judge in Enfield on Monday.”

Foster mother accused of abusing her 6 month old baby [WTNH 11/23/15 by Micah Bailey]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“An Enfield Superior Court judge gave an East Windsor foster mother nine months in prison for abusing a 6½-month-old boy in her care last summer.

The judge gave the woman, Danielle Clark, 24, of Mill Pond Road, a five-year sentence, suspended after nine months in prison, and five years of probation July 6, according to the state Judicial Department’s website.

Clark had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a felony. She is serving her sentence at the York Correctional Institution in East Lyme, the state Department of Correction’s website said.

According to the affidavit supporting Clark’s arrest, which was written by East Windsor Detective Scott Roberts, the events happened this way: On Aug. 4, 2015, at 11 p.m., East Windsor police received notification from the state Department of Children and Families, or DCF, about a 6½-month-old boy who had been brought to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford with injuries.

The infant had noticeable bruising down his right arm, a swollen and blackened right eye, redness, bruising, and swelling to the forehead, and redness and swelling along the back and spine. After an X-ray was done, it was discovered that the child had suffered fractures to both femurs as well.

Earlier in the day, the boy had an appointment with a pediatrician and a DCF-supervised visit with his biological mother.

Upon investigation, the pediatrician and the DCF social worker reported that the child had no previous injuries, nor received any injuries while in their care.

Clark told police that she and her brother picked up the infant from his mother’s home and took him shopping for clothes and then returned to her apartment. She admitted to being the last person with the child before the injuries were discovered, but could not explain how the injuries occurred.

When police interviewed Clark’s brother, who was with her when they returned to Clark’s apartment from the visitation, he said that when Clark put the baby in a playpen, she made no mention of any injuries.

He said they were smoking cigarettes when the baby began crying in a separate room. Clark was described as frustrated, snuffing out her cigarette aggressively and headed out to take care of the child. About three minutes later, the brother said he was able to hear the baby crying from Clark’s bedroom with her yelling at him, saying, “OK, you can stop crying now. Stop crying!”

He said he went into the room shortly after and could see red marks forming on the child’s arm and confronted Clark as to whether she had caused them. He said she denied hurting the baby.

When police interviewed Clark’s mother and a neighbor, they both admitted Clark has a propensity for lying, with the neighbor calling Clark a “pathological liar”.

The neighbor said Clark babysat her son, but he didn’t want to go any more because Clark would hit him when he upset her.

DCF Spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said that DCF takes child abuse cases by their foster parents very seriously.

“We carefully and extensively assess all individuals who want to be foster parents to determine if they can provide a safe home, including conducting criminal and child abuse background checks.

“Thankfully, the child has fully recovered and is doing well in the home of a family member,” he said. “As we should, we have very high expectations of those families who care for children, and the families meet them in all but the rarest of circumstances.””

Foster mother gets 9 months in prison for abusing baby [Journal inquirer 7/13/16 by Tim Leininger]