Boyfriend abused infant girl, but authorities missed all the signs; now baby is dead (Hollywood, Florida)

The poor mama. She dutifully took this baby to the hospital on several occasions, trying to find out what was wrong . The authorities blew her off; told her to take parenting classes. Turns out that boyfriend CECIL O. WEEKES was abusing the baby and shaking her because he didn't like her crying. On the last occasion, the baby's head injuries were so severe that the baby died.

Hat tip to Joan for finding this.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1171639.html

Broward Sheriff's Office missed signs of abuse in baby who died
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

The first time Angeliah Duncan was rushed to the hospital with a head injury, her mother said she fell off a bed. Child welfare authorities in Broward County suggested the mother seek parenting classes.

The next time Angeliah was in the hospital, her mom said she accidentally banged the infant's head on a dresser. Authorities' response to mom: Enroll in parenting classes.

No one suggested parenting classes on June 12, when Angeliah was once again rushed to the hospital -- this time with a severe head injury doctors believed resulted from a violent shaking. Angeliah died three days later -- less than three weeks before her first birthday.

On Monday, Hollywood police charged Cecil O. Weekes, 39, the boyfriend of Angeliah's mother, with murder. In a sworn statement, detectives say Weekes admitted he shook the little girl to make her quiet down. ``He said, `just stop [expletive] crying,' '' the affidavit states.

Angeliah was baptized the day before she died, a Sunday, records say. Her organs were harvested for transplantation.

In Broward County, the Broward Sheriff's Office conducts all child-abuse investigations for the state under contract with the state Department of Children & Families. On Tuesday, DCF quickly released all its records on Angeliah in response to a public-records request by The Miami Herald.

Veda Coleman-Wright, a spokeswoman for the BSO, defended the department's handling of the case, saying both the child's doctors and the state Department of Health's Child Protection Team in Broward, which examines children for signs of abuse, found no evidence that Angeliah's previous head injuries resulted from physical abuse.

``We are not doctors. We consulted the medical experts, and they said there was no evidence of abuse,'' Coleman-Wright said. ``What they found was consistent with the mother's explanation of the child's injuries.''

``You don't have to search for anyone to blame,'' Coleman-Wright added. ``The person who is responsible for Angeliah's murder is in jail.''

In her 11 short months, Angeliah made five trips to the hospital.

She was only two months old when her mother, Rosemary Rodriguez, said she went to sleep with the newborn on her chest. ``The child fell off her chest and onto the ground,'' a Hollywood police report says.

IN HOSPITAL AGAIN

About five months later, on Feb. 2, Rodriguez, 28, again took her daughter to the hospital. Four days earlier, she told investigators, the baby had fallen off a bed about 18 inches high and landed on a tile floor covered with a comforter. Dr. John E. Wright, who heads the Broward Child Protection Team, told BSO that the mother's explanation for the baby's injuries seemed plausible, and the mother ``did what she was supposed to do by taking the child to the hospital.''

``There are no signs of present danger,'' a BSO investigator wrote.

On May 8, Rodriguez again took her daughter to the hospital, this time with a ``substantial hematoma'' on her head. Records show Rodriguez said she hit the child's head accidentally on a dresser. BSO notes quote a protection team coordinator as saying Angeliah ``suffered three skull fractures'' from the incident.

``The injury is not indicative of physical or sexual abuse and physical abuse has been ruled out by CPT and the injury was found to be accidental,'' an investigator wrote. ``There is no known history of battery between the mother and boyfriend.''

But records show BSO investigators did not speak with anyone about Angeliah's family after the Child Protection Team concluded the infant's injuries did not result from abuse.

After the girl died, Hollywood police were told by a family friend, Nadja Garcia, that she had witnessed Angeliah suffer abuse after being in Weekes' care.

Sometime before Angeliah's second head injury, Garcia told police, she and Rodriguez had left the girl with Weekes while they went to run an errand.

``When they returned,'' the police report states, ``Angeliah Duncan had injuries on her arm and her mouth. The arm injury caused the baby's arm to swell so much that the sleeve on her shirt had to be cut in order for her shirt to fit her.''

Garcia also told police that Rodriguez ``told her she had been physically abused by Cecil Weekes.'' Rodriguez later told police that Weekes had abused her.

THREE MORE CALLS
On the day Angeliah was hospitalized for the last time, the state's abuse hot line received three more calls about the girl.

``A month ago it was learned that Angeliah had sustained three skull fractures,'' a report on one of the calls said. ``At that time, there were concerns regarding the explanations given [by] Mom and Dad for those injuries because their stories `didn't make sense.' ''

Before the infant died, Angeliah was diagnosed as having ``blood on the brain,'' records say. Rodriguez said she could not remember her baby ever hitting her head. ``She stated that the person who gave the child CPR placed her on the table and the child may have hit her head then,'' case notes say.

An early evaluation of the June hot-line report by a BSO investigator detailed the family's strengths: The parents' ``whereabouts'' were known. Neither Rodriguez nor Weekes had any criminal history. There was adequate food, clothing and shelter. Neither parent had a history of alcohol or drug abuse.

Angeliah ``does not exhibit any behaviors that would indicate abuse or neglect,'' the report says. ``The parents are not responsible for the death of any other child.''

It added: ``No pattern [of abuse] found involving this family.''