DEATH OF CHILD, 4, UNDER INVESTIGATION

 

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2009/06/26/local/29108379.txt

By Tara Fasol-Chambers, The Southern

Friday, June 26, 2009 11:35 PM CDT

 

State and local officials are investigating the Monday death of a 4-year-old Shawneetown girl.

 

Jessika Rena James died about 4:40 p.m. Monday at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis from unspecified injuries suffered during the weekend.

Illinois State Police and Eldorado Police Department launched an investigation in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

DCFS Spokesperson Kendall Marlowe said an abuse investigation continues. Marlowe said DCFS has provided services to the family before after finding previous reports of problem in the home substantiated.

Jessika is the daughter of Brandi James of Eldorado and Eli Nipper of Harrisburg. Obituary information lists one brother for Jessika, although officials said no other children were living in the home at the time of the child’s death.

Services will be Saturday, June 27 at 2 p.m. at the Cox and Son Funeral Home in Shawneetown. Visitation will be Saturday at 11 a.m.

tara.fasol@thesouthern.com

618-351-5824

STATE TO MONITOR DANE COUNTY CHILD SERVICES CASES

 

Document Says Department Is Understaffed

 

http://www.channel3000.com/news/19874625/detail.html

POSTED: 6:53 pm CDT June 26, 2009

MADISON, Wis. — An internal Dane County document obtained by WISC-TV said the Dane County Human Services Department is understaffed in Child Protective Services, the division that protects children from abuse and neglect.

The information comes amid new state criticism that the department mishandled a case in which a child later died — the third such state review of the department following a child’s death in two years.

Dane County Human Services Director Lynn Green denies the county did anything wrong in a 2007 case most recently cited by the state.

But the state believes the department did mishandle the case, and despite what it calls “incredible” improvements at the county department, the state said it will monitor Dane County’s child protection cases for the rest of the year.

Last February, Amaya Walker died after ingesting a massive overdose of prescription oxycodone and valium while living with her grandmother, April Walker.

Prosecutors said April Walker had the valium illegally and have charged her with neglect.

But at issue now is whether Dane County properly looked into the family of the girl almost two years before she died.

A Wisconsin Department of Children and Families review of the 2007 case found that county Human Services should have assigned a social worker to investigate an allegation the girl was sexually assaulted, even though the referring hospital found no evidence of abuse.

The state, in a letter to the county, wrote, “Information provided to Dane County on Aug. 16, 2007, constitutes a report of alleged abuse or neglect of a child that should have been screened in” or investigated further.

But Green said the case was properly closed out because “there were no grounds to intervene in that family and no basis that maltreatment was occurring.” Green also said she never heard or saw any later reports from Madison police alleging concerns about the girl’s environment.

The Walker case review follows two others where the state has faulted or chided the county for its child protection practices weeks or even years after the children died.

One case the state found multiple county failings with was the July 2007 death of 6-week-old Anastasia Vang.

Vang died at the hands of her mentally ill mother, two weeks after Dane County Human Services was notified of possible abuse and an inadequate safety plan.

Despite all that, Green maintained that her department protects children and has never had done better work, thanks to better protocols and a state computerized system.

An audit on the division coming out next week will show Child Protective Services short four positions, WISC-TV reported.

Green said the shortfall is only in one area and will be immediately and easily covered by repositioning division staff or other social workers doing non-mandated work.

MAN OFFERED ADOPTED SON FOR SEX, AUTHORITIES SAY

Duke Univ Official Charged In Child Sex Case

 

Man Offered Adopted Son For Sex, Authorities Say

 

http://www.wxii12.com/news/19870728/detail.html

POSTED: 1:31 pm EDT June 26, 2009

UPDATED: 3:15 pm EDT June 26, 2009

DURHAM, N.C. — Authorities have arrested and charged a Duke University official who they said offered his adopted 5-year-old son for sex.

Read The Arrest Warrant (NOTE: EXPLICIT CONTENT)

Arrest warrant

 The FBI’s Washington field office said the school’s associate director of the Center for Health Policy, Frank Lombard, was caught in an Internet sting.

Authorities said that Lombard tried to persuade a person — whom he did not know was a police officer – to travel to North Carolina to have sex with Lombard’s child. Court documents say Lombard told the officer that (Lombard) had performed multiple sexual acts on the child.

Court documents also say that Lombard identified himself online as “perv dad for fun” and “perv fam fun,” a reference to incestuous child molestation. According to the arrest warrant, the informant said he was chatting with Lombard using a program called ICUii, which allows users to chat online while viewing live video images of the other user.

The informant said Lombard identified himself as “cooper2” or “cooperse,” lived in the Raleigh/Durham area, and had another adopted child and a live-in gay partner who did not participate in the child’s abuse. A subpoena of the ICUii account connected Lombard to the usernames, the warrant says.

The papers also say an unnamed informant, facing charges in his own child sex case, tipped off authorities to Lombard’s alleged activities. The informant indicated he was told that others had sexually molested the child, the documents say.

He was arrested at his Durham home on Wednesday. Two children at the home, including the 5-year-old child allegedly offered for sex, were taken into protective custody by the North Carolina Department of Social Services.

ARLINGTON FATHER JAILED IN DEATH OF 4-MONTH-OLD

Katherine Blake ARLINGTON (CBS 11 News)

http://cbs11tv.com/local/baby.death.fort.2.1060257.html

A North Texas baby is sent to the hospital for the second time with skull fractures, but this time the four-month-old boy didn’t make it.

Jayden Farrington died around 8 o’clock Wednesday night. His father, Jason Farrington, 25, is now behind bars accused of first degree felony injury to a child.

Paramedics where called an apartment in the 1500 block of Stoneleigh Court in Arlington after Jayden stopped breathing. They rushed him to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth where he later died.

Arlington Police and Child Protective Services were already investigating a case from March 26, 2009 where Jayden was treated for multiple skull fractures and a fractured rib.

CPS spokesperson Marissa Gonzales says Jayden’s mother, Pavielle Monique Simpson, was cleared of any wrongdoing. Since Simpson had no prior record, she was allowed to retain custody of her baby as long as she agreed to certain conditions.

Simpson had to move out of the apartment she shared with Jayden’s father. She had to agree not to let Jason Farrington have any contact with her or their son. She also had to continue to take Jayden to his follow-up medical appointments.

Gonzales says case workers went to Simpson’s new apartment at least once to check on her. They say she appeared to be following the rules, but this is the same apartment where Jayden was fatally injured on Wednesday.

“The child had new injuries yesterday, including abdominal injuries and new skull fractures,” says Arlington Police spokesperson, Tiara Ellis Richard.

“We’re investigating the father as a perpetrator, but also the mother as a perpetrator of possible neglectful supervision and even physical abuse if she allowed the child to have contact with someone she knew was violent,” adds Gonzales.

Farrington, who is a Barbados native, is being held without bail on an immigration hold.