HAWTHORNE-AREA BOY’S DEATH SHOWS FAILINGS OF SYSTEM

 

http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_12604713

By Denise Nix Staff Writer

Posted: 06/16/2009 08:32:01 PM PDT

Years before 19-month-old Kobe Brown died, allegedly at the hands of his stepfather, his Hawthorne-area family was already known to social workers.

Kobe’s mother, Britney Portis, has a history of abuse and arrests, according to court documents related to the custody of Kobe’s older half-brother, identified only as Jayden.

Even so, those who work in the dependent court system say it is difficult – if not impossible – to know when they should intervene. Many families are troubled, they say, but very few experience such tragedy.

Although judges, social workers, attorneys and the like are constantly trying to make decisions that benefit children, there is no way to know the future.

“We try to figure out which families need which level of intervention, disruption, services or support,” said Leslie Heimov, executive director of the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles, which represents children in dependency court proceedings.

“It’s a complicated balance and, unfortunately, there is no perfect formula,” Heimov added.

Kobe was one of 14 children who died of abuse or neglect in Los Angeles County last year, despite the fact that his family was already under scrutiny by child welfare officials, according to an April 21 Los Angeles Times article.

The report, based on normally confidential documents obtained by the newspaper, shocked county officials, who immediately called for reforms.

“Although each death and each child is completely important on its own, 14 out of 24,000 is less than a half percent,” Heimov said.

 She also noted that the Times article reported that an additional 18 Los Angeles County children who were not under DCFS scrutiny died during the same time from abuse or neglect.

That wasn’t the case, however, in Britney Portis’ household.

Portis was arrested in July 2004 for making terrorist threats after an anonymous caller to the child protection hotline reported domestic violence between Portis and Jayden’s father.

Then, in January 2006, Portis assaulted a boyfriend’s grandmother, pulling the woman’s hair from her scalp. She was arrested for battery.

Portis was convicted in 2006 for misdemeanor domestic violence and a felony of assault likely to produce great bodily harm.

However, court records show Portis never complied with the probationary terms imposed on her for the convictions.

In addition, a social worker found that, from July 2004 to August 2007, there were six reports filed related to abuse and neglect of Portis’ children.

Only one was substantiated – and that was for emotional abuse of Jayden related to Portis’ assault on the grandmother, according to court documents.

Four reports were determined to be unfounded and one was inconclusive.

Kobe and Jayden, who is about 5, had different fathers. They also had a 1-year-old half-sister, whose father is Deshawnte Wade.

Wade, 27, returns to Torrance Superior Court today for a pretrial hearing in the murder and assault of Kobe, who died from blunt force head trauma consistent with shaking, a deputy medical examiner testified at Wade’s preliminary hearing in March.

Wade told a detective that Kobe choked on a penny while in his care at their Chadron Avenue home May 4, 2008, the detective testified.

Wade also said he used back and abdominal thrusts to dislodge the coin, but didn’t call for help.

Portis testified at that same hearing that she returned home from the hospital, where she had taken Jayden, to find Kobe lying lifeless on the couch.

She called 911. Kobe was taken to a hospital, where he died two days later.

While Portis did not say during the hearing why she was at the hospital with Jayden that day, court documents show she took the boy there for a dog bite on his lip that he received the day before.

At the time, he was in his biological father’s custody, but under the care of a babysitter who had a dog.

After Kobe’s death, Jayden and their sister were placed in social workers’ custody. Jayden was released to his father, identified only as Craig, but the Department of Children and Family Services filed papers seeking to have them declared dependents of the court.

Los Angeles Dependency Court Judge D. Zeke Zeidler decided in August that Jayden and the sister should remain dependents of the court, but allowed Craig to retain custody of Jayden.

Craig, however, appealed Zeidler’s finding that he knew or should have known that Portis had unresolved violent tendencies and had engaged in “violent altercations” in Jayden’s presence. By leaving Jayden with Portis, Craig failed to protect the boy from risk of physical or emotional harm, Zeidler found.

Craig also took issue with the judge’s order that he attend parenting classes and keep all of Jayden’s medical and therapy appointments.

The 2nd District Appellate Court, in an opinion issued April 16, rejected Craig’s arguments, citing evidence that Craig could benefit from parenting classes and that he had a history of not getting Jayden proper care – like not seeking medical attention after the dog bite.

Craig said he left Jayden with Portis only because he had to work, but added that she “assaulted (Craig) so many times he could not recall all of them,” the opinion states.

Many of those incidents occurred around Jayden, he told a social worker.

In upholding Zeidler’s findings, the appellate court noted that Jayden could have easily suffered physical or emotional harm during the domestic violence incidents he witnessed.

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