Another violent father who never should have received custody. Like a lot of guys, he seems to have increasingly coupled with the women who deserved him.
If this had been a custodial mother, she would be accused of failure to protect and end up doing hard time. But since it's a dad, well, he'll probably just play the Clueless Dad card and pay no penalty whatsoever.
By the way, this is a familiar theme with abusive custodial fathers. Since their motivations are all about punishment/control of the mother, and not about what's best fot the child or any desire to actively parent, they frequently dump the child on the new (resentful) wife or girlfriend.
Dad is identified as DAVE WHYTE.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/30/kenai-whyte-was-child-left-danger/ApI0rd9rADTrExHytGR5eP/story.html?event=event25
Kenai Whyte was a child left in danger
SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF
Ashley Young is the mother of 3-year-old Kenai Whyte.
By Yvonne Abraham globe columnist
March 30, 2016
Ashley Young knew her son was in danger of being hurt. She was wrong, it seems, about who would do the hurting.
Young thought little Kenai Whyte’s father, Dave Whyte, was a danger to him — and she had good reason to think so. But prosecutors say it was Whyte’s wife, Marie Buie, who beat the child horribly on Jan. 31. The 3-year-old died two days later.
The court documents and police reports are gut-wrenching reading. From the day he was born, the toddler who loved firetrucks and Lightning McQueen was surrounded by threats and fear, the adults in his life battling and abusing each other, sometimes over him.
“I feel as if my child is in danger with his father,” Young wrote in a 2013 filing. “If he can beat on me and abuse me, I feel he can do the same to my son.”
Kenai’s father left a trail of police reports and restraining orders testifying to his abusiveness. Young said Whyte’s violence drove her to a shelter for domestic abuse victims. And later, she took out restraining orders against Whyte for pushing her against a wall and for visiting Kenai’s day care center to try to get her new address.
Marie Buie surrendered to police for allegedly causing harm to Kenai Whyte, who died Feb. 2.
And she wasn’t the only one afraid of him. Police called to Whyte’s home in August of 2013 reported that he had pulled Buie’s hair and cut her hand. A year later, he was charged with assault and battery after he grabbed Buie by the throat. His mother, too, took out a restraining order against Whyte around the same time, saying her son had threatened to kill her.
Buie was trouble, too, according to police reports. She was twice arrested for assault and battery: once for stabbing a neighbor and once for hitting Whyte with a bottle, biting him, and pushing him down some stairs because, she told police, she was frustrated that he had left her to care for Kenai alone.
As ever in these impossible cases, it fell to the state to find a path for Kenai through the morass. The Department of Children and Families had been watching him since he was a baby, and checkups showed he was doing fine. A spokeswoman would not say whether DCF ran criminal background checks on the parents’ partners, citing privacy concerns. New rules announced Monday will make those checks mandatory.
If the probate judges mediating custody disputes between Young and Whyte knew about the father’s propensity for violence, they were apparently unperturbed by it. Whyte was granted full legal custody and half-physical custody of Kenai. Young, representing herself before the court (Whyte had an attorney), tried to change that late last year, but she missed a court date after her baby was born prematurely. So Whyte prevailed.
It is possible that, presented with this cavalcade of dysfunction, the court came to the measured (but mistaken) conclusion that Kenai was safe in his father’s home.
It is possible, too, that what happened here is what happens too often when family court judges are presented with allegations of domestic abuse: The victim of the abuse is disbelieved and penalized. Their fragile state in the courtroom can make them seem disruptive or irrational. Worse, abusers can convince judges that the victims are using abuse claims to gain greater custody rights.
Courts can focus too hard on the breach between the parents, losing track of who is hitting whom — and whether the violence also endangers the child.
“Judges seem to care more about parental alienation,” said David Adams, head of Emerge, a counseling program for abusers. “So much so, that some victims’ attorneys aren’t even raising domestic violence in custody disputes.”
Whatever the reason, Young lost her bid to have her son spend less time in his father’s home. So there Kenai was, alone with Buie on the January night prosecutors say she brutally beat him.
You would like to think his parents fought this hard over their child because they both treasured him and wanted to protect him. But then you have to confront the realization that even a little boy as loved as Kenai Whyte seems to have been left in harm’s way to die.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Dad with history of DV who murdered two daughters during custody/visitation to be executed (Dallas, Texas)
The mental illness plea is nothing but a red herring. This is a classic coercive control murder. Daddy with an extensive history of domestic violence (against at least two women that we are told of) "losing control" so he murders two children to "punish" the mother.
And yet, a father with this history was still granted custody/visitation rights with two young girls. That's what's insane.
Children are abused by definition when they are forced to live in a home where the mother, their caretaker, is beaten up and verbally abused on a regular basis.
That the father had reportedly never physically abused the children up to this point is irrelevant. That is not uncommon. But kids are never safe with a violent narcissist who sees other humans--especially women and children--as mere objects he can use and dispose of as he sees fit. Clearly, the kids were simply collateral damage in his efforts to further abuse/control their mother.
Dad is identified as JOHN BATTAGLIA.
See the Killer Dads and Custody List for Texas.
People sometimes ask why the data is not easily broken down by year. Here's an example. These murders took place in 2001, before this blog/project was started. A news account about the crime didn't come into any of my news feeds until 15 years had passed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3514282/Dallas-man-set-executed-death-daughters-9-6.html
'I'm too delusional to die': Accountant who killed his two daughters, nine and six, while his ex-wife listened on the phone makes last-ditch plea to avoid execution
TODAY John David Battaglia, 60, killed daughters Faith and Liberty in 2001
He is appealing for more time to prove he is mentally incompetent
The murders came after his ex-wife reported he was harassing her
Was arrested at a tattoo parlor, getting two roses to remember his girls
Battaglia is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday in Huntsville
ByAnneta Konstantinides For Dailymail.comand
Associated Press
Published: 12:19 EST, 29 March 2016 | Updated: 23:58 EST, 29 March 2016
A Texas accountant who is set to die by lethal injection for killing his two young daughters while his ex-wife was listening on the phone has appealed for a stay of execution.
John Battaglia, 60, was arrested in May 2001 for fatally shooting daughters Faith, nine, and Liberty, six, at his Dallas apartment after calling their mother, Mary Jean Pearle.
Battaglia is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. He is appealing the US Supreme Court and the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals for more time to prove he is mentally incompetent.
Attorney Gregory Gardner, who is petitioning to represent Battaglia, claims he is delusional and should be entitled to a reprieve so he can get a fair hearing to determine his psychological state.
'The Supreme Court has ruled that since before our country was founded, society does not tolerate the execution of the insane,' Gardner told NBC News.
Battaglia said he didn't feel like he killed his daughters, whom he referred to as his 'best little friends', during an interview with the Dallas Morning News in 2014.
'I am a little bit in the blank about what happened,' he said, adding that he had photos of his girls displayed on the walls of his prison cell.
Battaglia is also petitioning for a new attorney. Gardner argued that his court-appointed lawyer abandoned Battaglia after the US Supreme Court refused to review his case in January.
At the time of the shootings, Battaglia was on probation for a Christmas 1999 attack on Pearle, who he beat up in front of his daughters. The couple divorced in 2000.
Battaglia violated his probation the following year with a threatening phone call to Pearle in which he called her names and swore at her.
Pearle reported the incident and Battaglia learned on May 2, 2001 that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
That night was meant to be his last visit with his daughters, before he surrendered.
Pearle soon received a message from her mother that one her girls wanted to speak to her.
When Pearle called them, Battaglia put her on speakerphone and told Faith to ask her mother: 'Why do you want Daddy to go to jail?'
That's when Pearle heard her daughter cry out: 'No, Daddy, please don't, don't do it.'
Pearle yelled into the phone for the girls to run and heard gunshots, followed by Battaglia telling her: 'Merry f****** Christmas'.
Evidence showed Faith had been shot three times, and Liberty five. A semiautomatic pistol found near the kitchen door was among more than a dozen firearms recovered from Battaglia's apartment.
Battaglia went to a bar with a girlfriend following the shootings, and then to a tattoo parlor. He was inked with two large roses on his left arm, meant to represent his daughters.
When he walked outside, it took four officers to subdue and arrest him at 2am. A fully loaded revolver was found in his truck.
It was later discovered that Battaglia had recorded one last message to his daughters.
'Goodnight my little babies,' he said. 'I hope you're resting in a different place. I love you, and I wish that you had nothing to do with your mother.'
'She was evil and vicious and stupid. I love you dearly.'
Battaglia's trial attorneys called no witnesses during the guilt-innocence portion of his capital murder trial in 2002, and a Dallas County jury deliberated only 19 minutes before convicting him.
During the punishment phase, jurors heard defense testimony that Battaglia's bipolar disorder and other mental illness issues should convince them that a life prison sentence would be appropriate. They did not agree.
'To think a father could just gun down his little girls, it was just unbelievable,' Howard Blackmon, the lead prosecutor in the case, recalled last week.
'It was such a compelling case for the death penalty.'
The Texas Attorney General's Office argued there is no evidence in his prison medical file that suggests Battaglia is 'mentally ill, delusional, divorced from reality, on psychiatric medication, or otherwise does not comprehend his imminent execution'.
'His last-minute appeal amounts to a fishing expedition,' said Erich Dryden, an assistant Texas attorney general. 'The Court should deny his request.'
Pearle revealed that Battaglia had a history of physical abuse, both against her and his ex-wife.
'He did tell me before we married that he had gotten into an argument and hit his ex-wife,' Pearle told ABC News in 2002.
'He didn't tell me that he'd broken her nose.'
Pearle endured nine years of marriage littered with Battaglia's verbal abuse and short temper, where he would call her names and go on tirades that could last for 20 minutes.
But not once, she said, did he ever lay a hand on their daughters.
'He never spanked the children. He never raised his voice to the children. He never grabbed their arm,' she said. 'He did nothing but was loving to them.'
And yet, a father with this history was still granted custody/visitation rights with two young girls. That's what's insane.
Children are abused by definition when they are forced to live in a home where the mother, their caretaker, is beaten up and verbally abused on a regular basis.
That the father had reportedly never physically abused the children up to this point is irrelevant. That is not uncommon. But kids are never safe with a violent narcissist who sees other humans--especially women and children--as mere objects he can use and dispose of as he sees fit. Clearly, the kids were simply collateral damage in his efforts to further abuse/control their mother.
Dad is identified as JOHN BATTAGLIA.
See the Killer Dads and Custody List for Texas.
People sometimes ask why the data is not easily broken down by year. Here's an example. These murders took place in 2001, before this blog/project was started. A news account about the crime didn't come into any of my news feeds until 15 years had passed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3514282/Dallas-man-set-executed-death-daughters-9-6.html
'I'm too delusional to die': Accountant who killed his two daughters, nine and six, while his ex-wife listened on the phone makes last-ditch plea to avoid execution
TODAY John David Battaglia, 60, killed daughters Faith and Liberty in 2001
He is appealing for more time to prove he is mentally incompetent
The murders came after his ex-wife reported he was harassing her
Was arrested at a tattoo parlor, getting two roses to remember his girls
Battaglia is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday in Huntsville
ByAnneta Konstantinides For Dailymail.comand
Associated Press
Published: 12:19 EST, 29 March 2016 | Updated: 23:58 EST, 29 March 2016
A Texas accountant who is set to die by lethal injection for killing his two young daughters while his ex-wife was listening on the phone has appealed for a stay of execution.
John Battaglia, 60, was arrested in May 2001 for fatally shooting daughters Faith, nine, and Liberty, six, at his Dallas apartment after calling their mother, Mary Jean Pearle.
Battaglia is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. He is appealing the US Supreme Court and the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals for more time to prove he is mentally incompetent.
Attorney Gregory Gardner, who is petitioning to represent Battaglia, claims he is delusional and should be entitled to a reprieve so he can get a fair hearing to determine his psychological state.
'The Supreme Court has ruled that since before our country was founded, society does not tolerate the execution of the insane,' Gardner told NBC News.
Battaglia said he didn't feel like he killed his daughters, whom he referred to as his 'best little friends', during an interview with the Dallas Morning News in 2014.
'I am a little bit in the blank about what happened,' he said, adding that he had photos of his girls displayed on the walls of his prison cell.
Battaglia is also petitioning for a new attorney. Gardner argued that his court-appointed lawyer abandoned Battaglia after the US Supreme Court refused to review his case in January.
At the time of the shootings, Battaglia was on probation for a Christmas 1999 attack on Pearle, who he beat up in front of his daughters. The couple divorced in 2000.
Battaglia violated his probation the following year with a threatening phone call to Pearle in which he called her names and swore at her.
Pearle reported the incident and Battaglia learned on May 2, 2001 that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
That night was meant to be his last visit with his daughters, before he surrendered.
Pearle soon received a message from her mother that one her girls wanted to speak to her.
When Pearle called them, Battaglia put her on speakerphone and told Faith to ask her mother: 'Why do you want Daddy to go to jail?'
That's when Pearle heard her daughter cry out: 'No, Daddy, please don't, don't do it.'
Pearle yelled into the phone for the girls to run and heard gunshots, followed by Battaglia telling her: 'Merry f****** Christmas'.
Evidence showed Faith had been shot three times, and Liberty five. A semiautomatic pistol found near the kitchen door was among more than a dozen firearms recovered from Battaglia's apartment.
Battaglia went to a bar with a girlfriend following the shootings, and then to a tattoo parlor. He was inked with two large roses on his left arm, meant to represent his daughters.
When he walked outside, it took four officers to subdue and arrest him at 2am. A fully loaded revolver was found in his truck.
It was later discovered that Battaglia had recorded one last message to his daughters.
'Goodnight my little babies,' he said. 'I hope you're resting in a different place. I love you, and I wish that you had nothing to do with your mother.'
'She was evil and vicious and stupid. I love you dearly.'
Battaglia's trial attorneys called no witnesses during the guilt-innocence portion of his capital murder trial in 2002, and a Dallas County jury deliberated only 19 minutes before convicting him.
During the punishment phase, jurors heard defense testimony that Battaglia's bipolar disorder and other mental illness issues should convince them that a life prison sentence would be appropriate. They did not agree.
'To think a father could just gun down his little girls, it was just unbelievable,' Howard Blackmon, the lead prosecutor in the case, recalled last week.
'It was such a compelling case for the death penalty.'
The Texas Attorney General's Office argued there is no evidence in his prison medical file that suggests Battaglia is 'mentally ill, delusional, divorced from reality, on psychiatric medication, or otherwise does not comprehend his imminent execution'.
'His last-minute appeal amounts to a fishing expedition,' said Erich Dryden, an assistant Texas attorney general. 'The Court should deny his request.'
Pearle revealed that Battaglia had a history of physical abuse, both against her and his ex-wife.
'He did tell me before we married that he had gotten into an argument and hit his ex-wife,' Pearle told ABC News in 2002.
'He didn't tell me that he'd broken her nose.'
Pearle endured nine years of marriage littered with Battaglia's verbal abuse and short temper, where he would call her names and go on tirades that could last for 20 minutes.
But not once, she said, did he ever lay a hand on their daughters.
'He never spanked the children. He never raised his voice to the children. He never grabbed their arm,' she said. 'He did nothing but was loving to them.'
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Dad living in transitional home for male addicts that helps him get custody of medically fragile 2-year-old daughter; girl dies within two months, but dad deemed not responsible (San Jose, California)
This has fathers rights crap all over it. For years, the federal government has funded FR groups meant to "reunite" dangerous criminals, addicts, and mentally ill fathers with their children and force those kids into the father's custody. There is funding to do this. No equivalent funding for mothers.
So we yank a medically fragile 2-year-old girl out of foster care for what? To give her to a formerly jailed, addicted father living in an all-male transitional housing situation devoted to getting these creeps access to little kids. No one with any background (or interest) in taking care of disabled children. Just getting ownership. Dead in two months. Who didn't see that coming.
Mother is (allegedly) "mentally impaired" but there are no details--the reporter doesn't bother to follow-up on the hearsay testimony. Maybe she wasn't mother of the year material, but you got to wonder whether she would have managed to kill off a todder within two months WITH NO CONSEQUENCES. He even keeps his name out of the media. Slick move!
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29643334/santa-clara-county-foster-child-dies-after-being
South Bay foster child dies after being sent to live with dad in home for recovering addicts
By Karen de Sá
Posted: 03/16/2016 07:00:22 AM PDT | Updated: about 7 hours ago
SAN JOSE -- Santa Clara County officials are reviewing why a medically fragile 2-year-old girl was sent home to live with her father in a transitional home for recovering drug addicts, about two months before she was found dead.
It still isn't clear what caused the Feb. 28 death of Kelly Nguyen -- who required specialized care for a chromosomal birth defect known as DiGeorge syndrome. But the unusual placement -- and the rare death of a Santa Clara County foster child -- is raising troubling questions.
Kelly's death is not being investigated as a homicide. Her father is described by the girl's previous foster parents as loving and well-intentioned, but they had been told he was recently released from jail and struggling with drug problems when social workers placed Kelly in his care. Her mother had already been ruled out as a caregiver.
The couple had two older, healthy boys also in foster care, but authorities chose to give the father a second chance at parenting with Kelly, who could not speak and suffered from a genetic syndrome causing lifelong disability and developmental delays.
"It raises red flags," said Lisa Traxler, president of the Kinship, Adoptive and Foster Parent Association of Santa Clara County, a foster parents assistance program. "It's a home with men coming out of jail or in recovery and they're not better yet -- they're there for a reason, so having a nonverbal, medically fragile child in his care at age 2 -- if something happened, she can't tell anybody."
For now, all eyes are on the Santa Clara County coroner's office, which has completed an autopsy but is conducting further tests in the coming weeks to determine how the girl died.
"We grieve for her passing at much too young of an age," said Stanley Lee, social services program manager for the Department of Family and Children's Services. "But we don't know why she passed away."
Meanwhile, the county is exploring what might have gone wrong in Kelly's case: County Executive Jeff Smith said Tuesday that in light of the girl's death, the Department of Family and Children's Services "is reviewing the decisions related to her placement." Foster care placements must be approved by a judicial officer in the juvenile dependency court, after attorneys representing each parent, the child and the social worker have argued their positions. Traxler and other foster parents familiar with the case said they support reunification with birth families whenever possible. But this case was different.
"Had she been my foster child, I would have asked for a meeting," said Traxler, who has cared for 68 foster children over 21 years. "I would have spoken with the child's attorney, I would have stepped in to be a voice for this little child because she doesn't have a voice -- I would have said: 'What's the hurry? Let's let dad get a little further in his recovery.' "
Most parents working through dependency courts to regain custody of children they've been accused of abusing or neglecting suffer from addiction, homelessness or mental illness. Often, they are placed in transitional housing units while they work their way through court-ordered recovery and parenting programs.
At times, children are placed with mothers in transitional housing. But it is more unusual for fathers to reunite in those settings, Lee and other system insiders confirmed.
"The department does the best they can and they don't intentionally set out for anyone to be harmed, but I think sometimes mistakes are made as in any life situation," Traxler said. "From what it looks like from where I'm sitting, maybe it was a mistake."
Kelly's father -- who is not being named because he is not suspected of wrongdoing in her death and could not be reached Tuesday -- was referred to a six-bed, two-story home in South San Jose that serves fathers going through the local Dependency Wellness Court. The specialty foster care court serves parents in recovery who are actively engaged in regaining custody of their children.
"It doesn't matter whether it's a mother or a father, as long as a parent can safely protect and care for a child," Lee said. And if that parent is deemed worthy while "transitioning to more long-term housing," he added, "the law would require us to consider that as a possibility."
But the placement continues to trouble those mourning Kelly's death, including foster parents who attended services March 10 at the Oak Hill Memorial Park for the affectionate little girl with short-cut bangs and boundless enthusiasm. Her tiny body lay in a small casket in a lacy white dress.
"She was literally a ray of sunshine; she was infectious," said one of her several former foster mothers, Shellie Nichol. "Everywhere she went, she would walk around and hug everyone. Within hours, you'd fall in love with her because she was just the sweetest thing on the planet."
Kelly arrived at Nichol's San Jose foster home last June, completely nonverbal and with a clear need for ongoing medical attention and physical therapy, Nichol said. During the six months she cared for Kelly, who she affectionately called "Kiki," Nichol said she kept a video monitor trained on her all night. That's because the small girl would often choke on her mucus, and frequently vomited after crying and overeating, she said.
Nichol was told when she first received Kelly that her mother was mentally impaired and her father was in jail. But by July, he was out and visiting his daughter diligently, she said. Nichol and others familiar with the case said they believed the parents loved the girl but were unable to care for her.
Yet, based on a social worker's recommendation, Kelly was moved from Nichol's home to another in a succession of foster homes, and then reunified with her father.
Within two months, San Jose police received a 1:15 a.m. call from her father's temporary home stating that the toddler was unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Although homicide detectives were initially called to the home -- following protocol for an unexpected child death -- there has been no arrest in the case. "We are not investigating it as a homicide at this point," San Jose police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said.
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Dave Cortese, who leads a committee overseeing foster care, said Tuesday he was not familiar with the details of Kelly's death. But he noted the loss.
"The worst possible tragedy is the loss of a child -- in any circumstances -- and a foster child is our child," Cortese said. "Fundamentally it's our responsibility to ensure the safety of every child that's in our system. This is a member of our extended family and we need to feel the emotional pain and look at what we could have done differently."
So we yank a medically fragile 2-year-old girl out of foster care for what? To give her to a formerly jailed, addicted father living in an all-male transitional housing situation devoted to getting these creeps access to little kids. No one with any background (or interest) in taking care of disabled children. Just getting ownership. Dead in two months. Who didn't see that coming.
Mother is (allegedly) "mentally impaired" but there are no details--the reporter doesn't bother to follow-up on the hearsay testimony. Maybe she wasn't mother of the year material, but you got to wonder whether she would have managed to kill off a todder within two months WITH NO CONSEQUENCES. He even keeps his name out of the media. Slick move!
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29643334/santa-clara-county-foster-child-dies-after-being
South Bay foster child dies after being sent to live with dad in home for recovering addicts
By Karen de Sá
Posted: 03/16/2016 07:00:22 AM PDT | Updated: about 7 hours ago
SAN JOSE -- Santa Clara County officials are reviewing why a medically fragile 2-year-old girl was sent home to live with her father in a transitional home for recovering drug addicts, about two months before she was found dead.
It still isn't clear what caused the Feb. 28 death of Kelly Nguyen -- who required specialized care for a chromosomal birth defect known as DiGeorge syndrome. But the unusual placement -- and the rare death of a Santa Clara County foster child -- is raising troubling questions.
Kelly's death is not being investigated as a homicide. Her father is described by the girl's previous foster parents as loving and well-intentioned, but they had been told he was recently released from jail and struggling with drug problems when social workers placed Kelly in his care. Her mother had already been ruled out as a caregiver.
The couple had two older, healthy boys also in foster care, but authorities chose to give the father a second chance at parenting with Kelly, who could not speak and suffered from a genetic syndrome causing lifelong disability and developmental delays.
"It raises red flags," said Lisa Traxler, president of the Kinship, Adoptive and Foster Parent Association of Santa Clara County, a foster parents assistance program. "It's a home with men coming out of jail or in recovery and they're not better yet -- they're there for a reason, so having a nonverbal, medically fragile child in his care at age 2 -- if something happened, she can't tell anybody."
For now, all eyes are on the Santa Clara County coroner's office, which has completed an autopsy but is conducting further tests in the coming weeks to determine how the girl died.
"We grieve for her passing at much too young of an age," said Stanley Lee, social services program manager for the Department of Family and Children's Services. "But we don't know why she passed away."
Meanwhile, the county is exploring what might have gone wrong in Kelly's case: County Executive Jeff Smith said Tuesday that in light of the girl's death, the Department of Family and Children's Services "is reviewing the decisions related to her placement." Foster care placements must be approved by a judicial officer in the juvenile dependency court, after attorneys representing each parent, the child and the social worker have argued their positions. Traxler and other foster parents familiar with the case said they support reunification with birth families whenever possible. But this case was different.
"Had she been my foster child, I would have asked for a meeting," said Traxler, who has cared for 68 foster children over 21 years. "I would have spoken with the child's attorney, I would have stepped in to be a voice for this little child because she doesn't have a voice -- I would have said: 'What's the hurry? Let's let dad get a little further in his recovery.' "
Most parents working through dependency courts to regain custody of children they've been accused of abusing or neglecting suffer from addiction, homelessness or mental illness. Often, they are placed in transitional housing units while they work their way through court-ordered recovery and parenting programs.
At times, children are placed with mothers in transitional housing. But it is more unusual for fathers to reunite in those settings, Lee and other system insiders confirmed.
"The department does the best they can and they don't intentionally set out for anyone to be harmed, but I think sometimes mistakes are made as in any life situation," Traxler said. "From what it looks like from where I'm sitting, maybe it was a mistake."
Kelly's father -- who is not being named because he is not suspected of wrongdoing in her death and could not be reached Tuesday -- was referred to a six-bed, two-story home in South San Jose that serves fathers going through the local Dependency Wellness Court. The specialty foster care court serves parents in recovery who are actively engaged in regaining custody of their children.
"It doesn't matter whether it's a mother or a father, as long as a parent can safely protect and care for a child," Lee said. And if that parent is deemed worthy while "transitioning to more long-term housing," he added, "the law would require us to consider that as a possibility."
But the placement continues to trouble those mourning Kelly's death, including foster parents who attended services March 10 at the Oak Hill Memorial Park for the affectionate little girl with short-cut bangs and boundless enthusiasm. Her tiny body lay in a small casket in a lacy white dress.
"She was literally a ray of sunshine; she was infectious," said one of her several former foster mothers, Shellie Nichol. "Everywhere she went, she would walk around and hug everyone. Within hours, you'd fall in love with her because she was just the sweetest thing on the planet."
Kelly arrived at Nichol's San Jose foster home last June, completely nonverbal and with a clear need for ongoing medical attention and physical therapy, Nichol said. During the six months she cared for Kelly, who she affectionately called "Kiki," Nichol said she kept a video monitor trained on her all night. That's because the small girl would often choke on her mucus, and frequently vomited after crying and overeating, she said.
Nichol was told when she first received Kelly that her mother was mentally impaired and her father was in jail. But by July, he was out and visiting his daughter diligently, she said. Nichol and others familiar with the case said they believed the parents loved the girl but were unable to care for her.
Yet, based on a social worker's recommendation, Kelly was moved from Nichol's home to another in a succession of foster homes, and then reunified with her father.
Within two months, San Jose police received a 1:15 a.m. call from her father's temporary home stating that the toddler was unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Although homicide detectives were initially called to the home -- following protocol for an unexpected child death -- there has been no arrest in the case. "We are not investigating it as a homicide at this point," San Jose police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said.
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Dave Cortese, who leads a committee overseeing foster care, said Tuesday he was not familiar with the details of Kelly's death. But he noted the loss.
"The worst possible tragedy is the loss of a child -- in any circumstances -- and a foster child is our child," Cortese said. "Fundamentally it's our responsibility to ensure the safety of every child that's in our system. This is a member of our extended family and we need to feel the emotional pain and look at what we could have done differently."
Custodial dad leaves 2- and 3-year-old children alone in trailer (Athens, Texas)
Wonder how neglectful dad PAUL YVON got custody of two toddlers, and what happened to their mother....
http://themonitor.net/blog2/2016/03/16/toddlers-found-unattended-dad-arrested-for-child-abandonmentendangerment/
Toddlers found unattended, dad arrested for child abandonment/endangerment
Posted by : Monitor Admin | On : March 16, 2016
Monitor Staff Reports
ATHENS–An anonymous report of children being left alone turned out to be a legitimate concern, as Henderson County Sheriff’s OFfice confirmed last Wednesday.
According to Henderson County Sheriff Ray Nutt a deputy answering a welfare concern in Chandler found a 2- and 3-year old unattended in a travel trailer without electricity for more than two hours.
When Sergeant Daniel Wright arrived at 10374 Paradise Circle, in Chandler, March 9, he found a 2-year-old little girl and 3-year-old little boy alone in the trailer. An unknown caller reported that small children were in a travel trailer with no electricity.
The officer also noted there was no running water, very little food, and an open flame in the trailer.
A Child Protective Services investigator arrived and the children were placed in CPS custody.
During Wright’s two hour stay, no guardian arrived to take custody of the children. Upon further investigation it was determined that Paul Yvon is the legal guardian of the children. Wright prepared an arrest warrant affidavit for Abandoning/Endangering a Child on Paul Yvon, 28, father of the children.
Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Judge Randy Daniel determined there was probable cause and issued two arrest warrants.
Yvon was arrested two days later on March 11 and remains in custody with bonds totaling $20,000.
http://themonitor.net/blog2/2016/03/16/toddlers-found-unattended-dad-arrested-for-child-abandonmentendangerment/
Toddlers found unattended, dad arrested for child abandonment/endangerment
Posted by : Monitor Admin | On : March 16, 2016
Monitor Staff Reports
ATHENS–An anonymous report of children being left alone turned out to be a legitimate concern, as Henderson County Sheriff’s OFfice confirmed last Wednesday.
According to Henderson County Sheriff Ray Nutt a deputy answering a welfare concern in Chandler found a 2- and 3-year old unattended in a travel trailer without electricity for more than two hours.
When Sergeant Daniel Wright arrived at 10374 Paradise Circle, in Chandler, March 9, he found a 2-year-old little girl and 3-year-old little boy alone in the trailer. An unknown caller reported that small children were in a travel trailer with no electricity.
The officer also noted there was no running water, very little food, and an open flame in the trailer.
A Child Protective Services investigator arrived and the children were placed in CPS custody.
During Wright’s two hour stay, no guardian arrived to take custody of the children. Upon further investigation it was determined that Paul Yvon is the legal guardian of the children. Wright prepared an arrest warrant affidavit for Abandoning/Endangering a Child on Paul Yvon, 28, father of the children.
Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Judge Randy Daniel determined there was probable cause and issued two arrest warrants.
Yvon was arrested two days later on March 11 and remains in custody with bonds totaling $20,000.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Dad convicted of abusing infant son, leaving him blind, brain damaged: was "not suppposed to be" with son as "part of child custody agreement (Princeton, New Jersey)
Absolutely no explanation here as to how this abusive father managed to get access. Did he assault the mother? Threaten her? Abduct the child? Why was he not supposed to be with his son before? Previous history of child abuse, domestic violence? If so, why was the mother left to enforce this on her own? Why wasn't he locked up? Lots of unanswered questions here.
Dad is identified as BILLY ALLEN WHITE.
http://www.bdtonline.com/news/man-convicted-of-shaking-infant-son-leaving-him-blind-and/article_de191d68-ea60-11e5-9501-df969267815d.html
Man convicted of shaking infant son, leaving him blind and brain damaged, receives maximum sentence allowable
By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph 7 hrs ago
Billy Allen White, 28, of Princeton waits for his sentencing hearing to begin before judge William Sadler in Princeton Monday afternoon.
PRINCETON — A father convicted of shaking his infant son and leaving him both blind and brain damaged received the maximum penalty allowable by law Monday in Mercer County Circuit Court.
Circuit Court Judge William Sadler proceeded to sentence Billy Allen White, 28, of Princeton after denying a motion for a new trial.
White was convicted in January on one charge of child abuse leading to serious injury. A jury found him not guilty on a second charge of child abuse. His son, Corey White, then 5 months old, was left with brain damage and retina scarring after being severely shaken. White testified at his trial that he panicked when his son stopped breathing in May 2014 and did not realize how hard he had shaken him. However, Dr. Joan Phillips, a physician specializing in child abuse and neglect cases, testified at White’s trial that the infant’s injuries were consistent with child abuse. She compared the sheer force needed to inflict his injuries with the force hitting the victim of a rollover car crash.
Sadler said White was not supposed to be with his son as part of a child custody agreement, and that the court found his excuse “ludicrous.”
“This is a child who has been sentenced to a life of suffering and debilitating injury,” Sadler said. “I can’t sentence him to a life of suffering like he sentenced this child.”
White was sentenced to a term of two to 10 years in prison, and Sadler stated he would recommend to the parole board that White serve as much time as possible. Sadler said under the law, he had to grant White 419 days credit for the time served in jail since his arrest.
Sadler also imposed a $1,000 fine, and granted a judgment against White for the medical expenses the state has incurred while treating Corey White. Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney George Sitler said he did not know the amount of money spent on treatment, but added the sum could be more than $1 million. White also must be registered as a child abuser for the remainder of his life.
Corey’s adoptive father, Woodrow Cecil Jr. gave the court an emotional statement before Sadler pronounced sentence.
“I’ll never understand how you could hurt this baby,” Cecil told White, going on to say how Corey still could not see, and could not walk, speak, or do anything of the things a 2-year-old child normally does.
“It’s never going to be enough, of course,” Cecil said after sentencing. “I wish he didn’t get time served.” Cecil added he understood Sadler was required by law to give White this credit, and that he planned to attend White’s parole hearings.
White was sent back to the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver pending his transfer to the state Department of Corrections.
Dad is identified as BILLY ALLEN WHITE.
http://www.bdtonline.com/news/man-convicted-of-shaking-infant-son-leaving-him-blind-and/article_de191d68-ea60-11e5-9501-df969267815d.html
Man convicted of shaking infant son, leaving him blind and brain damaged, receives maximum sentence allowable
By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph 7 hrs ago
Billy Allen White, 28, of Princeton waits for his sentencing hearing to begin before judge William Sadler in Princeton Monday afternoon.
PRINCETON — A father convicted of shaking his infant son and leaving him both blind and brain damaged received the maximum penalty allowable by law Monday in Mercer County Circuit Court.
Circuit Court Judge William Sadler proceeded to sentence Billy Allen White, 28, of Princeton after denying a motion for a new trial.
White was convicted in January on one charge of child abuse leading to serious injury. A jury found him not guilty on a second charge of child abuse. His son, Corey White, then 5 months old, was left with brain damage and retina scarring after being severely shaken. White testified at his trial that he panicked when his son stopped breathing in May 2014 and did not realize how hard he had shaken him. However, Dr. Joan Phillips, a physician specializing in child abuse and neglect cases, testified at White’s trial that the infant’s injuries were consistent with child abuse. She compared the sheer force needed to inflict his injuries with the force hitting the victim of a rollover car crash.
Sadler said White was not supposed to be with his son as part of a child custody agreement, and that the court found his excuse “ludicrous.”
“This is a child who has been sentenced to a life of suffering and debilitating injury,” Sadler said. “I can’t sentence him to a life of suffering like he sentenced this child.”
White was sentenced to a term of two to 10 years in prison, and Sadler stated he would recommend to the parole board that White serve as much time as possible. Sadler said under the law, he had to grant White 419 days credit for the time served in jail since his arrest.
Sadler also imposed a $1,000 fine, and granted a judgment against White for the medical expenses the state has incurred while treating Corey White. Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney George Sitler said he did not know the amount of money spent on treatment, but added the sum could be more than $1 million. White also must be registered as a child abuser for the remainder of his life.
Corey’s adoptive father, Woodrow Cecil Jr. gave the court an emotional statement before Sadler pronounced sentence.
“I’ll never understand how you could hurt this baby,” Cecil told White, going on to say how Corey still could not see, and could not walk, speak, or do anything of the things a 2-year-old child normally does.
“It’s never going to be enough, of course,” Cecil said after sentencing. “I wish he didn’t get time served.” Cecil added he understood Sadler was required by law to give White this credit, and that he planned to attend White’s parole hearings.
White was sent back to the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver pending his transfer to the state Department of Corrections.
Convicted child abuser dad still retains visitation rights, so he beats 3-year-old son again (Bedford, Oregon)
Key words here: "returned this 3-year-old son to his mother." In other words, this is a custody/visitation situation.
So why was a father allowed to have contact with the same child he once slammed into a wall as an infant? Was it the mother's idea? Doesn't seem likely, as she has not been arrested for failure to protect or allowing this father to have access in violation of a court order. So it seems very likely that this is COURT-ORDERED custody/visitation, though of course this article refuses to clarify the matter. Who put this child back in danger? We need to see the names and they need to be held accountable.
Dad is identified as CARY ALBRIGHT.
http://wjactv.com/news/local/bedford-county-man-a-repeat-offender-of-child-abuse
Bedford County man a repeat offender of child abuse
By WJAC Web Staff |Friday, March 11th 2016
BEDFORD -- For the second time in as many years, a Bedford County man has been found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child.
Cary Albright, 33, of Osterburg, was found guilty Thursday night after a day of testimony.
The most recent charges occurred after Memorial Day 2015 when Albright returned his 3-year-old son to the mother.
According to a release from the Bedford County District Bill Higgins, the mother discovered the child had been beaten.
The child had injuries that included large bruises on both sides of the face and red marks around his neck, with black and blue bruising around other areas.
The release said the child was told by his father to say that he had fallen, but later admitted that "his daddy did this to me."
In 2012, police responded to a domestic violence incident in which Albright allegedly slammed the same child's head into a wall while attempting to flee the scene.
Two years later, a jury convicted Albright of endangering the welfare of a child and resisting arrest.
He was sentenced to 11 months in jail. Albright is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6 and will remain in jail on retainer until sentencing.
He remains in the Bedford County Jail on a parole violation detainer.
So why was a father allowed to have contact with the same child he once slammed into a wall as an infant? Was it the mother's idea? Doesn't seem likely, as she has not been arrested for failure to protect or allowing this father to have access in violation of a court order. So it seems very likely that this is COURT-ORDERED custody/visitation, though of course this article refuses to clarify the matter. Who put this child back in danger? We need to see the names and they need to be held accountable.
Dad is identified as CARY ALBRIGHT.
http://wjactv.com/news/local/bedford-county-man-a-repeat-offender-of-child-abuse
Bedford County man a repeat offender of child abuse
By WJAC Web Staff |Friday, March 11th 2016
BEDFORD -- For the second time in as many years, a Bedford County man has been found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child.
Cary Albright, 33, of Osterburg, was found guilty Thursday night after a day of testimony.
The most recent charges occurred after Memorial Day 2015 when Albright returned his 3-year-old son to the mother.
According to a release from the Bedford County District Bill Higgins, the mother discovered the child had been beaten.
The child had injuries that included large bruises on both sides of the face and red marks around his neck, with black and blue bruising around other areas.
The release said the child was told by his father to say that he had fallen, but later admitted that "his daddy did this to me."
In 2012, police responded to a domestic violence incident in which Albright allegedly slammed the same child's head into a wall while attempting to flee the scene.
Two years later, a jury convicted Albright of endangering the welfare of a child and resisting arrest.
He was sentenced to 11 months in jail. Albright is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6 and will remain in jail on retainer until sentencing.
He remains in the Bedford County Jail on a parole violation detainer.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Custodial dad gets 2 YEARS in prison for murder of 2-year-old son (Danielson, Connecticut)
(Intentionally?) misleading headline. The "parents" were not involved with this. The neglectful custodial dad and his heroin-addicted girlfriend were. WHO GAVE THEM CUSTODY? Not a word, as usual. Dad is identified as DAVID MAHAN.
Our sympathies to the mother, who is finally named.
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20160311/NEWS/160319930
Putnam father sentenced to two years for role in toddler's death
David Mahan, of Putnam, is sentenced to 2 years in prison and 5 years probation Friday morning at Danielson Superior Court in connection with the 2014 choking death of his 2-year-old son. Aaron Flaum/ NorwichBulletin.com
By John Penney
Posted Mar. 11, 2016 at 11:54 AM
DANIELSON – The parents of a toddler who choked to death after being left unsupervised inside a Putnam bedroom in 2014 left Danielson Superior Court on Friday, the father to begin a prison sentence and the mother to continue piecing her life back together.
A few minutes before Judge Hope Seeley sentenced 32-year-old David Mahan to two years in prison for his role in the death of his 2-year-old son, the victim’s mother, Katelyn Kaeppel, stood nervously in the foyer of the court building.
“I’m not staying for the sentencing,” she said. “I don’t feel it’s necessary. I just wanted to make sure my son was getting justice. I lost a child, but so did David. So did both our families. I’m still angry, but I want nothing but the best for him.”
Mahan pleaded guilty in January to second-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a child. Under a plea agreement, Mahan was sentenced to seven years in prison, suspended after two years, and five years of probation.
According to court documents, on March 26, 2014, Peterson left the boy and his 1-year-old sibling alone in a locked bedroom for hours with bowls of dry cereal for food while she dropped one of her two children off at school and later drove to a Willimantic methadone clinic for treatment.
Mahan, an electrician with the Mercier Electrical Co. in Auburn, Mass., was reportedly at work when Peterson came home and found the boy not breathing and unresponsive in the bedroom.
After Peterson called 911 and began CPR, emergency personnel arrived and took the child to DayKimballHospital in Putnam, where he was pronounced dead. An emergency room doctor observed what appeared to be food in the victim’s airway, police said. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the child’s cause of death was by choking on a bolus, or a mass of chewed food. The death was ruled a homicide.
Peterson told police she had routinely left Mahan’s children alone for several hours a day since mid March 2014, when Mahan returned to work after a layoff of five months, according to an arrest warrant. In a statement to police, Peterson said Mahan was aware she was leaving his children alone and told her to “just lock the children in the bedroom while she went to the clinic,” until other day care arrangements could be made, according to the warrant.
“He callously disregarded the risk to his children,” AssistantState’s Attorney Sarah Fallon said. “And that led to (the child’s) death.”
Our sympathies to the mother, who is finally named.
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20160311/NEWS/160319930
Putnam father sentenced to two years for role in toddler's death
David Mahan, of Putnam, is sentenced to 2 years in prison and 5 years probation Friday morning at Danielson Superior Court in connection with the 2014 choking death of his 2-year-old son. Aaron Flaum/ NorwichBulletin.com
By John Penney
Posted Mar. 11, 2016 at 11:54 AM
DANIELSON – The parents of a toddler who choked to death after being left unsupervised inside a Putnam bedroom in 2014 left Danielson Superior Court on Friday, the father to begin a prison sentence and the mother to continue piecing her life back together.
A few minutes before Judge Hope Seeley sentenced 32-year-old David Mahan to two years in prison for his role in the death of his 2-year-old son, the victim’s mother, Katelyn Kaeppel, stood nervously in the foyer of the court building.
“I’m not staying for the sentencing,” she said. “I don’t feel it’s necessary. I just wanted to make sure my son was getting justice. I lost a child, but so did David. So did both our families. I’m still angry, but I want nothing but the best for him.”
Mahan pleaded guilty in January to second-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a child. Under a plea agreement, Mahan was sentenced to seven years in prison, suspended after two years, and five years of probation.
According to court documents, on March 26, 2014, Peterson left the boy and his 1-year-old sibling alone in a locked bedroom for hours with bowls of dry cereal for food while she dropped one of her two children off at school and later drove to a Willimantic methadone clinic for treatment.
Mahan, an electrician with the Mercier Electrical Co. in Auburn, Mass., was reportedly at work when Peterson came home and found the boy not breathing and unresponsive in the bedroom.
After Peterson called 911 and began CPR, emergency personnel arrived and took the child to DayKimballHospital in Putnam, where he was pronounced dead. An emergency room doctor observed what appeared to be food in the victim’s airway, police said. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the child’s cause of death was by choking on a bolus, or a mass of chewed food. The death was ruled a homicide.
Peterson told police she had routinely left Mahan’s children alone for several hours a day since mid March 2014, when Mahan returned to work after a layoff of five months, according to an arrest warrant. In a statement to police, Peterson said Mahan was aware she was leaving his children alone and told her to “just lock the children in the bedroom while she went to the clinic,” until other day care arrangements could be made, according to the warrant.
“He callously disregarded the risk to his children,” AssistantState’s Attorney Sarah Fallon said. “And that led to (the child’s) death.”
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