Custodial dad charged in 4-year-old son's death; why did CPS give him custody? (Clarendon, Texas)

Kudos to reporter Janelle Stecklein for taking on the Texas Child Protective Services. With further investigation, I think you'll find that the murder of this 4-year-old boy, "allegedly" at the hands of his custodial father, ROBERT MONROE BABCOCK, is related to the very strong fathers rights movement in Texas--and not "parental rights" as such.

Notice that Daddy didn't even know of this child's existence till last April! How is that consistent with any reasonable notion of a concerned or conscientious parent? It's not. Not by a long shot. And yet the fathers rights movement has convinced CPS and the family courts that such details are unimportant--at least when it comes to fathers. Had a mother ignored a child for 3 1/2 years, I don't think the attitudes would have been nearly so generous.

The result is that this child was "dumped" with a complete stranger who was basically a sperm donor. And with virtually no investigation or follow-up, because the fathers rights movement has convinced those in authority that the rights of sperm donors ("fathers") should be privileged over the basic health, happiness, and safety of children.

http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-courts/2011-01-07/clarendon-man-charged-4-year-old-sons-death

Clarendon man charged in 4-year-old son's death

CLARENDON — Child Protective Services made no follow-up visits after handing over a 4-year-old boy who had been living in Post to his biological father a few weeks before the child was beaten to death.

Posted: January 7, 2011 - 12:10am

By JANELLE STECKLEIN AND
MORRIS NEWS SERVICE

CLARENDON — Child Protective Services made no follow-up visits after handing over a 4-year-old boywho had been living in Post to his biological father a few weeks before the child was beaten to death.

The agency is required to do a 10-day follow-up visit in the homes of children placed in foster care, but its rules do not require any follow-up visits when a child is placed with a biological parent with no history of abuse, protective services spokesman Paul Zimmerman said.

“Parental rights are strong in Texas,” he said.

Robert Monroe Babcock, 38, of Clarendon is charged with capital murder and injury to a child in the death of his son, Chance Mark Jones, who died Wednesday of what appeared to be blunt force trauma to the head and internal injuries after being taken to an Amarillo Hospital.

The preliminary autopsy report on Chance’s body had not been received by Thursday afternoon, said Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn.

Babcock’s bail has been set at $1.1 million; $100,000 on a charge of domestic violence involving a child and $1 million on a charge of capital murder.

“This is the worst (case) I’ve done and I’ve been in law enforcement for 30 years,” Blackburn said. “When it’s a defenseless little 4-and-a-half-year-old kid ... there’s no way you can find an emotion to make that work.”

Situated down a rutted, dirt road in rural Donley County, a few miles southeast of Clarendon, the brown double-wide mobile home where the two lived stood empty Thursday afternoon.

The silence was broken only by the creaks of a windmill twisting gently in the wind. About a dozen hungry cows ambled up to the fence nearest the home when they heard an approaching car.

A child’s plastic slide and a child-size backhoe sat unused in the rear. Investigators draped yellow crime scene tape across the front and back doors to prevent entry.

Just inside a window, in what appeared to be a neatly kept home, was a child’s small backpack. No one answered knocks on the door.

Chance went to live with his father in mid-December after CPS began an investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect by his mother. The mother, who also has a young daughter by another man, agreed to place the two children with their respective biological fathers, Zimmerman said.

The agency never took custody of either child, he said.

In Clarendon, those who knew Babcock or his family members said they were stunned by the boy’s death.

A family friend, who asked that she not be identified out of respect for Babcock’s family, said Babcock reportedly first learned he had a son in April.

“He didn’t know he had a child. The child didn’t know he had a real father,” she said. “Why did they just dump them together?”

Before placing Chance with Babcock, the agency conducted a lengthy interview and did criminal and agency background checks on him that checked out, Zimmerman said.

“This was a voluntary placement with their biological fathers at the request of the mother,” he said.

The friend, who is employed at a Clarendon business, said she didn’t realize the child had been placed with Babcock until news broke of Chance’s death.

“This is very upsetting,” she said. “It has been to everybody.”