What the hell is going on here? The reasons the "experts" use to justify father custody just get more and more bizarro with every passing hour.
Back in the old days, we used to have quaint old-fashioned notions that young children benefitted by being with their mother ("tender years doctrine") or failing that, at least a responsible adult, perhaps a grandmother or an aunt, who would represent the best interests of the child.
Well, we don't do that anymore.
NOWADAYS, we don't focus on the needs of the child at all. How silly! No, we focus on the needs and wants of DAD, and how custody of a vulnerable preschool-aged child will presumably "help" a father with a "lengthy criminal record" to "turn his life around" and "act more like a father."
Since when were young children assigned the task of helping criminal daddies "turn their lives around"? You tell me, 'cause I must have missed that memo.
Well, I guess this particular 3-year-old boy wasn't up to the task, as dad CHRISTOPHER DANGERFIELD is now accused of the boy's murder--just 7 MONTHS after Daddy was granted custody.
Maybe we all need to contact the Hamilton County [Ohio] Department of Job and Family Services and see if we can get a copy of that memo.
And perhaps we should also contact the (conveniently) unnnamed Juvenile Court judge who gave this criminal father custody, thus signing off on this "happy" little boy's death sentence.
Seriously, are we really surprised by this outcome? This POS daddy had been arrested 3 TIMES in the year leading up to the time he was granted custody, and one of those arrests was for the ASSAULT OF A POLICE OFFICER.
And yes, there was prior evidence that Daddy was physically abusing the boy--evidence that the authorities ignored. Including, of course, evidence from the little boy's mother. Who, of course, must be totally ignored and discounted, since the fathers rights people have taught us that all mommies are vindictive liars no matter what evidence is before you, and that all children NEED NEED NEED their fathers NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE OR WHAT THEIR HISTORY IS.
Oh, and read below how this moron daddy told the police how his son had been "jumped" by kids on the corner in a street fight, and that's why he was injured. A 3-year-old preschooler! What a freaking idiot. It never even occurs to this guy that 3-year-olds aren't generally out wandering the 'hood alone unless they are seriously neglected. But Daddies NEVER lie, see. We know this, because the fathers rights people tell us so.
Oh, and NOW we also hear that poor Daddy possibly had an untreated bipolar disorder, and maybe that's why he "snapped." Pure BS. If this was real, then why wasn't this brought up when Daddy assaulted the police officer? Oh, I can see how we're setting up the "mental health card" now. And the fathers rights people claim that mommies monopolize that excuse. Not even close.
But check out this "coincidence." This killer dad's son, Lionell Dangerfield, is also accused of murdering HIS girlfriend's 3-month-old daughter last May.
In addition, note that these bozoes at Job and Family Services failed to protect another child who was "under their care"--that being 2-year-old Savon Edwards, who was also "allegedly" murdered by his abusive father.
Are we seeing a pattern yet?
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101229/NEWS010701/12300339/Son-then-father-accused-of-killing-children
Son, then father accused of killing children
Lionell Dangerfield, Christopher Dangerfield were supposed to be caring for victims
By Eileen Kelley • ekelley@enquirer.com • December 29, 2010
WALNUT HILLS - Tyrese Short was close to 3 years old when he was handed over to his father.
The boy was supposed to help Christopher Dangerfield, a 48-year-old with a lengthy criminal record, turn his life around.
But Dangerfield had other issues to contend with as well: the prospect of losing another son to the death penalty.
And now in the span of seven months, a father and a son are accused of the same crime: killing children they were supposed to be caring for.
Christopher Dangerfield was arrested in the death of Tyrese, and Lionell Dangerfield has been charged in the death of 3-month-old Zhi Merah Binford, his girlfriend's daughter.
Tyrese was pronounced dead Tuesday at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Zhi was discovered dead on a couch in South Fairmount on May 31. Her skull had been fractured and her ribs broken. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has recommended the death penalty for Lionell Dangerfield, 26.
That case could go to trial in March.
"Like father, like son," Grace Dangerfield, Christopher Dangerfield's stepmother, said Tuesday evening.
Grace Dangerfield, 77, said Tyrese was a happy child and appeared to be no trouble for her stepson, who had been arrested three times in the year leading up to a court awarding him custody of Tyrese. His 12 other arrests include drug trafficking, assaulting a police officer and theft.
"He had troubles," she said, adding that the family hoped that by raising Tyrese, her stepson would act more like a father.
Since Tyrese was born, caseworkers with the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services had been involved in his life. That involvement did not stop early this summer, when a Juvenile Court judge awarded custody to his father.
The case file on Tyrese's life is thick.
Included are reports that Tyrese recently suffered a broken leg and was badly burned. He also told a baby-sitter that his father had punched him in the stomach, police told The Enquirer on Wednesday.
Police also said that Tyrese's mother reported that her son's eye had been blackened recently.
Brian Gregg, a spokesman for the Job and Family Services, would not discuss specifics of the case. An emergency meeting on the matter was called Wednesday, the same day The Enquirer reported about the death of another child under the care of the child welfare department, Savon Edwards.
Savon had been on life support for two years after being shaken so badly he stopped breathing Dec. 26, 2008. Savon's caseworkers were implicated for failing to adequately protect him from his abusive father. Savon, 2, died Monday.
Now an investigation is under way regarding Tyrese.
"If we find there are failings at this end, we will take action," Gregg said.
With each recent injury, Christopher Dangerfield had an explanation ready, police said.
Dangerfield called emergency dispatchers from his Walnut Hills apartment just before 3 p.m. Tuesday to say some young kids at the corner store had jumped his son, something they'd done three times before.
It wasn't until deep into the conversation that the dispatcher learned that Tyrese was just 3, not an older child hurt in a street fight.
"He's 3 years old? Who's hitting him?" the dispatcher asked.
Dangerfield again blamed street kids, and then suggested adults were involved, too. Dangerfield said he could see scars on Tyrese's legs and back and that he was barely awake.
The dispatcher walked Dangerfield through CPR chest compressions for his son.
Homicide investigator Sgt. Gary Conner said police have checked all leads, including the possibility that neighborhood boys were involved, but came back with the conclusion that Dangerfield killed his son.
In court Wednesday, attorney William Whalen told a judge that Dangerfield told him the child fell while bathing and struck his head.
Grace Dangerfield thinks her stepson snapped.
She said he had been on medication and has heard her husband, who is Christopher's father, and others in the family say that Christopher has bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder can cause severe mood swings that include serious bouts of depression and extremely anxious behavior. People with the disorder may be explosive and irritable, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
"I think something must have happened with his mind, because I don't think that he could hurt him intentionally," she said. "I didn't picture him as being abusive."
Judge Heather Russell ordered Christopher Dangerfield to be held on a $500,000 bond. His son, Lionell Dangerfield, is being held on a $1 million bond.