NKV MOTHER ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY SCALDING CHILD

NLV mother arrested for allegedly scalding child

 

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/23/nlv-mother-arrested-allegedly-scalding-child/

By Mary Manning

 Published Tue, Jun 23, 2009 (1:38 p.m.)

Updated Tue, Jun 23, 2009 (4:38 p.m.)

 

 

Shantell Morris

 

 North Las Vegas Police detectives today arrested a mother who burned her 18-month-old child by putting the girl’s hands in scalding water. The woman has had her three children taken into protective custody three times before this, records show.

In this latest case, the child, along with her two brothers have been in protective custody since June 4, when police went to an apartment at 8 E. Webb Ave., said Sgt. Tim Bedwell, a spokesman for the North Las Vegas Police Department.

The mother was suspected of causing the toddler’s injuries and the case was submitted to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office for review.

North Las Vegas Police detectives received an arrest warrant for 26-year-old Shantell Morris of North Las Vegas and arrested her today, Bedwell said.

Morris has been booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily harm, a felony, detention center records said. The child will recover, authorities said.

“She’s going to have horrible scars,” Bedwell said of the injuries to the child’s hands, which were held under scalding water.

The child was taken to University Medical Center Pediatrics Emergency for treatment of the burns.

At the hospital, North Las Vegas Police detective Mark Hoyt interviewed Dr. John Reeves, who was first to treat the toddler, according to a criminal complaint. The mother had told the doctor she caught her daughter with her hands in the toilet. To clean the child’s hands, Shantell Morris said she held them under a sink water faucet, which took a long time to heat.

Morris told Hoyt that she had just recently gotten the children back from Child Protective Services. Her 2- and 5-year-old sons were in an upstairs bathtub at the time of the incident, but were not harmed, the complaint said.

Detectives went to Morris’ apartment and tested the water faucet in the upstairs bathroom. After 12 seconds the water measured 114 degrees, then the temperature reached 134.1 degrees in one minute.

Child Protective Services confirmed to the police that Morris had had three child abuse claims against her involving her children.

A man believed to be the father, but who said he was uncertain if he was the biological father, said the two boys had been under protective custody most of their lives.

All three children have been placed at Child Haven.

LAWTON FOSTER MOTHER ARRESTED AFTER METH LAB FOUND IN HOME WITH KIDS

 

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/News01/906249998/1130

SBT24/7 News Report

Michigan authorities removed two children from a licensed Van Buren County foster mother Tuesday evening after finding an active meth lab in the home.

The lab was discovered when the Lawton Police Department, assisted by other agencies, investigated possible methamphetamine production and found evidence in the home’s basement.

That’s when police also discovered that the small children were placed with the 51-year-old foster mother, the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release.

The children were returned to Child Protective Services for relocation by Berrien County, since that’s where their custody cases originate.

Police plan to file meth manufacturing charges against the woman, whose name has not been publicly released.

MOTHER ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH CHILD ABUSE, OKLAHOMA CITY INFANT’S DEATH

 

http://newsok.com/mother-arrested-in-connection-with-child-abuse-oklahoma-city-infants-death/article/3380031

From Staff Reports

Published: June 23, 2009

Nearly two weeks after police arrested Willis Joe Lambert in connection with the death of his 6-month-old daughter, police have arrested the little girl’s mother on complaints of first-degree murder and enabling child abuse.

 Rachel Michelle Lambert died on June 9 from what the state medical examiner’s office said was whiplash/shaken baby syndrome.

The child’s mother, Latrice Russell, 33, was arrested at noon today on an arrest warrant for what police said was her role in her daughter’s death.

The mother was booked into the Oklahoma County jail and is being held without bail.

Willis Joe Lambert, 37, was released from prison 14 months ago on a previous child abuse conviction. Lambert pleaded guilty in 1999 in Oklahoma County to abusing his then-2-month-old son. He was released on earned credits from a 20-year prison term in March 2008.

The mother and father told police they had been dating for 12 years and were to be married next week.

MOTHER PLEADS GUILTY TO ABUSE IN DEATH OF SON

 

Could get 3.75 years or probation; boyfriend faces murder charge

 

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/crime/298337

By Kim Smith

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.24.2009

A mother whose 4-year-old son was beaten to death in January 2008 pleaded guilty to child abuse Tuesday and could receive probation or up to 3.75 years in prison.

Marina Baker admitted she was negligent in caring for Fabian Silva “under circumstances that were likely to cause death or serious physical injury,” said Bunkye Chi, deputy Pima county attorney.

For example, Chi said Baker didn’t adequately supervise her son, even after he sustained head injuries three months before his death.

Fabian was one of five children in the Tucson area who died between 2006 and 2008 despite the involvement of Child Protective Services in their lives, fueling efforts to revamp state law and the agency.

According to court and CPS records, Baker took Fabian to Tucson Medical Center in October 2007 because he had been throwing up and battling a headache that kept getting worse.

Doctors were concerned about large, purple bruises on Fabian’s forehead and around his penis. Baker told doctors that Fabian had fallen several times while walking up the stairs, hitting his head. The bruising around his penis and other areas, she said, probably came from fighting with his older brother.

At least one doctor said Baker’s explanations didn’t make sense, but Tucson police and CPS officials said they didn’t investigate further because both the boy and his mother denied any abuse, and because other doctors at TMC accepted Baker’s explanations and said the bruises around his penis could be a rash.

Fabian was taken to a hospital again on Jan. 26, 2008, arriving at University Medical Center “lifeless,” according to police reports. Fabian died the next day, and an autopsy showed the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Baker was charged with child abuse.

Her live-in boyfriend, Alejandro Miguel Romero, who was watching Fabian alone at the time of the boy’s fatal head injury, is facing a first-degree-murder charge along with multiple other charges.

Baker is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 4.

Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com.

ADVOCATES CALL FOR ACTION ON BIRTHDAY OF SLAIN FOSTER CHILD

 

 

Marcus Fiesel would have celebrated his 6th birthday Wednesday, June 24. The Middletown boy's foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. were convicted of murder in his August 2006 death in Clermont County.

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/advocates-call-for-action-on-birthday-of-slain-foster-child-175187.html?showComments=true

By Josh Sweigart

Staff Writer

Updated 6:57 AM Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Marcus Fiesel would be 6 years old Wednesday, June 24, had he lived.

Instead, the young Middletown boy died in a closet where his foster parents left him bound in the August heat while they attended a family reunion. That was three years ago.

While many changes have since been made to the system that failed Fiesel — increased screening of foster parents, decreased workloads for caseworkers, increased home visits — one woman says a key component has been overlooked: the community.

Holly Schlaack, a program supervisor for a court appointed special advocate program in Hamilton County, outlines in a new book 12 things common people can do to help protect foster children.

The book, “Invisible Kids, Marcus Fiesel’s Legacy,” is part novel, part call to action. It tells the personal stories of the children she has met through her 15 years as an advocate. And it urges the community to not leave it up to government alone to keep these children safe.

Despite sweeping overhauls to children services, Schlaack said the need is even more now than when Fiesel died because a state budget crunch is causing drastic cuts to programs meant to protect children. “If we thought things were bad in 2006, they’re much worse today, three years later,” she said.

“The government or system can only do so much for kids,” she said. “We can’t assume that because a child is placed in foster care, they are automatically saved, protected and loved.”

There are also numerous ways to donate time, she says, from raising money to benefit foster children and families to becoming a foster or adoptive parent. If they don’t have time, she says residents should at least educate themselves about child abuse.

Larry Bergeron, director of the Liberty Twp.-based Coalition of Care, said his agency has at least 40 different ways people can help address the “crisis” of foster care.

He said people can provide respite care for adoptive and foster families, help with writing resumes and college applications for foster kids, clothing, furniture, money for medical expenses or just a day out.

“We can’t let Marcus’ story end where it did, it can’t end in a closet. We can’t let that happen again,” Schlaack said. “We going to have to become active, engaged community members around those kids, in honor of Marcus.”