How Could You? Hall of Shame-Nykedrial Dashawn French 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 Kernersville, North Carolina, foster child Nykedrial Dashawn French, 5 months old, “died Sunday [4/23/17] while in foster care with the Forsyth County Department of Social Services remains under investigation, though a preliminary autopsy did not reveal anything suspicious in the child’s death.

Nykedrial Dashawn French, who was 5 months old, died while he was in the care of a foster mother, said Mary French of Winston-Salem, the boy’s biological mother.

“I’ve never been through anything like this before,” French said Thursday. “I feel numb, shocked and I’m in disbelief.”

County Manager Dudley Watts said in a statement Thursday that the county asked social service officials in Guilford County to look at the circumstances of the baby’s death, in accordance with state law requiring an outside review. If necessary, those officials will turn over their findings to law enforcement officials and the Forsyth County District Attorney’s Office.

“Any time a child dies, it is tragic,” Watts said. “Our heart goes out to the biological family, foster family and social workers involved in the case.”

French said she received a phone call from a Forsyth DSS official at 10 p.m. Sunday, informing her that her son, whom she calls “Baby Nyke,” was in the emergency room at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. French said she was dismayed when a cab driver refused to take her to hospital because the DSS didn’t want to pay for the trip.

A DSS caseworker came to French’s home later Sunday and told her that her son had died, likely of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), she said. DSS officials told her the same thing Wednesday.

“They said it was accidental death,” French said.

Dr. Patrick Lantz, a forensic pathologist with the Forsyth County Medical Examiner’s office, said Thursday that he conducted an autopsy on Nykedrial’s body.

Lantz said that the cause of the baby’s death is pending, but he shared his preliminary findings with Kernersville police detectives. The baby’s foster mother lives in Kernersville, Lantz said.

Lantz added that he is awaiting laboratory and toxicology results in the case, with the results expected in about 30 days.

“There is nothing suspicious associated with the baby’s death,” Lantz said. “There were no injuries to indicate any trauma that would explain the baby’s death. We don’t typically call it SIDS until we get all of the toxicology and lab results back.”

Sudden infant death syndrome is the unexplained death, usually during sleep of an apparently healthy baby less than 1 year old. Although the cause is unknown, it appears that SIDS may be associated with the abnormalities in the portion of an infant’s brain that controls breathing and arousal from sleep, according to the Mayo Clinic.

SIDS claims the lives of about 2,500 infants each year in the United States, according to Brenner’s Children Hospital.

Debra Donahue, the executive director of the Forsyth County DSS, declined to comment on the case.

“We have a responsibility to respect the privacy of our families,” Donahue said.

Sharon Barlow, the director of the Division of Children Services within the Guilford County Department of Social Services, said that her office will interview everyone associated with the case in the next 30 to 45 days.

If investigators determine that wrongdoing occurred, they will present their findings to the Forysth County District Attorney’s office, Barlow said.

District Attorney Jim O’Neill declined to comment on the case.

French said she has four other sons, ages 10, 9, 6 and 3, who are in foster care in Forsyth County. She said she has mental health issues, and that’s the reason that DSS officials removed her children from her care. French said she still has parental rights to her sons.

French said she is beginning to accept the circumstances of her infant son’s death.

Initially, French was frustrated that DSS officials wouldn’t let her see her baby immediately after he died. She said she saw him Thursday after Russell Funeral Home received his body from the hospital.

“At first, I had a lot of questions, but now my questions are being answered,” she said. “I feel more at peace.”

French said she last saw her baby alive on April 19 at the DSS office on Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem.

“He was an happy, healthy baby,” French said of her son. “He was rolling around and falling asleep in my arms.””

Authorities investigate the death of infant boy in foster care [Winston-Salem Journal 4/27/17 by John Hinton]
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