10/7/06 - TX - Biological family not notified /child's death

[Marina]

http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=5508569

Biological family not notified about child's death, investigation continues

Oct 7, 2006 04:36 PM EDT

CORPUS CHRISTI - A young boy, who died while in the care of his adoptive parents, was laid to rest on Friday. Funeral services for little Andrew Burd, were held at Seaside Memorial Park.

After family and friends paid their final respects, his casket was placed in a mausoleum. The four-year-old boy, who choked and then stopped breathing, after he was reportedly forced to drink salt water laced with cajun spices, died Tuesday night.

Police are treating his death as a homicide, because they claim his adoptive parents, Larry and Hannah Overton waited nearly three hours, before taking him to a hospital.

Court documents also said the boy had brain hemmorages that appeared to be a result of some type of trauma. No arrests have been made.

Andrew's biological family still lives in Corpus Christi. They found out about the death last night on TV, and called 6 News to verify that it was him. The boy's father and grandmother, who fought to get custody of Andrew a year ago, are extremely upset about what happened.

Andrew's biological father and grandmother found out what happened from watching TV. No one called them to notify them of Andrew's death. The boy's biological grandmother was appalled at the idea that it may have been intentional.

"How could you take something so innocent and so pure and destroy it? That's an unforgiveable act in my mind," said grandmother Bonnie Roy. She is particularly upset because she tried to take custody of Andrew after he was taken from his parents in November of 2004.

Child Protective Services performed an evaluation on her to see if she would be fit to take care of Andrew, but ultimately decided she was not. CPS said, "[Her] parenting practices demonstrates some positive aspects. However, she lacks understanding regarding the abilities and needs of a two-year old child. Her approach to discipline lacks basic application skills."

Which is somewhat ironic when you consider that spices taken as punishment is what may have lead to his death. Andrew's family believes it could have been prevented.

"Last year, when I fought for two years, he should have come to me, not somebody else. If he was here, he would be alive."

The Roy family has a lot of questions about how Andrew ended up with the Overtons. Although the "Spaulding for Children" adoption agency oversaw his care, he was still a ward of the state.

His death also raises questions, about who was ultimately responsible for his welfare. According to CPS, Andrew was removed from his biological mother's care back on November 18, 2004, and immediately placed him with a foster family.

Then, on June 16, 2006, CPS turned the child over to Spaulding for Children, who placed the child with Larry and Hannah Overton.

CPS spokesperson Regina Garcia said, "I know that everyone was looking forward to this adoption, and it's now sad to know that this child has now passed and isn't going to have a life that he was meant to have."

She said the Department of Protective Services had contracted with Spaulding for Children child placement agency and they were responsible for finding Andrew a permanent home.

"We contract with Spaulding to do the background checks on the family and it is there responsibility to provide us with information, again what information they do receive from any sort of checks and training that they do, is provided to CPS," Garcia said.

Officials with Spaulding said they didn't see any problems, and placed Andrew with the Overtons.

The couple completed their adoption training. A background was done on the couple before placement, and the Overtons completed a 16-hour adoption preparatory class and home study, where a Spaulding adoption coordinator reviewed the family.

Officials told 6 News the visits continued when Andrew moved into the Overton's home during the six-month pre-adoption phase. The adoption agency said a coordinator made monthly visits to check on Andrew, as required.

In addition, a CPS case worker also visited twice to check on the child, although they can't comment on when they last visited little Andrew or how he was doing.

CPS and Spaulding both agree that they were both responsible for making sure that Andrew was safe and are saddened by what has happened.

The Department of Family and Protective Services said it's now investigating the Spaulding agency. It will look over Andrew's case file to see if there'd been any problems in the home.

As to who will be held accountable for Andrew's death, the District Attorney's office said it's just too soon to tell.

Online Reporters: Bart Bedsole & Roxanne Carrillo

[hope]

"The four-year-old boy, who choked and then stopped breathing, after he was reportedly forced to drink salt water laced with cajun spices, died Tuesday night.”

http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=5508569

I was sickened as I read this article.

CPS determined the mother/grandmother did not have the proper understanding of the needs of a two year-old in matters of discipline, and the child died because his adoptive parents obviously did not know proper discipline needs of a four year-old.

Why are foster and adoptive parents not required to take the same psychological evaluations that biological parents are required to take?
I know that you do not know the answer to this question; no one does.

It would seem very practical to have those who want to foster or adopt to take a psyche eval that could be created specifically for CPS purposes; these evaluations are required of almost every job I am aware of.

My daughter had to take a personality profile to get a job at Red Lobster!

The manner in which foster and adoptive parents are chosen is antiquated and only require that one be willing to do whatever CPS requests of them, without asking questions.

If one asks questions or does not agree with anything that CPS decides, foster and adoptive parents know they must remain silent or they will not be allowed to foster or adopt.

I know from experience and this is not a good policy for the children.

--- When will the DA determine whether or not to press charges?

In 1998, a child in Houston was force-fed, causing him to go into seizures.
His mother, April Crawford, was convicted in Judge Poe's court of felony child abuse and sentenced to seven years in prison.
She lost custody of both of her children, and rightfully so.

---Why is this any different?
Because CPS and Spaulding have big bucks and big attorneys and because there is liability involved, it is highly unlikely that charges will be filed by the DA against the adoptive parents because it leaves CPS and Spaulding open to Civil Lawsuits.

This is wrong, but I have watched it happen repeatedly over the last nine years.

I hope you will take this article further and FOIA the records of visits made to verify that Andrew was doing well in his foster/adopt home.

---Did the visits actually occur?
We will not know unless you FOIA the records "Larry and Hannah Overton waited nearly three hours, before taking him to a hospital. Court documents also said the boy had brain hemorrhages that appeared to be a result of some type of trauma. No arrests have been made. "

To learn more about the amount of impact required to cause bleeding on the brain,

please look to http://www.sbsdefense.com <http://www.sbsdefense.com> & http://www.sbsdefense.com/NeuroAnatomy101.htm <http://www.sbsdefense.com/NeuroAnatomy101.htm>

---Was this little boy covered under a life insurance policy from Lutheran Social Services? (this is a fairly new thing we have learned about)

---What does the autopsy of this child state as the cause of death?

I am not an investigative journalist but I know that brain hemorrhages require an extremely hard impact to have occurred. Unless a child has a known disorder, their brains do not bleed on their own.

This child received an extreme blow to his head as well as having to drink salt water with cajun spices. His death was more likely caused by the head trauma than having to drink salt water with cajun spices.

If a parent had done this, the DA would have already charged them with a crime.

Please investigate further. Andrew deserves to have someone speak up for him since he was not able to do so for himself. It is time that those who determine the future of a child's life be held accountable for the bad decisions they make. Being "saddened" just does not cut it any longer.

Sincerely,

Joanna Wright
President
Hope4KidZ, Inc.
http://www.hope4kidz.org
http://www.childabuseawareness.com
21175 Tomball Parkway #120
Houston, Texas 77070
1-866-50-4KIDZ (5439)
http://www.iGive.com/H4K

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can." (Sydney Smith)

[ems13]

Why are foster and adoptive parents not required to take the same psychological evaluations that biological parents are required to take?
I know that you do not know the answer to this question; no one does.

It would seem very practical to have those who want to foster or adopt to take a psyche eval that could be created specifically for CPS purposes; these evaluations are required of almost every job I am aware of.

Hannah Overton's father is a convicted murderer.
Benny Saenz was convicted of murdering and dumping the body of a teenage girl with whom he'd had a sexual relations outside of his marriage to Hannah's mother. The case was in the mid 80's and that time frame places Hannah as a child cognicent of her father's crime.

This child received an extreme blow to his head as well as having to drink salt water with cajun spices. His death was more likely caused by the head trauma than having to drink salt water with cajun spices.

If a parent had done this, the DA would have already charged them with a crime.

Thank you Joanna for raising the question.
The DA has indicted Hannah for capital murder and her husband Larry for felony injury to a child.

[hope]

It seems logical that if parents are forced to take psyche evals, so should foster/adoptive parents and social workers.

My husband is presently looking for a job and he has had to take some type of personality profile for each job that has asked him to return.

He works with computers, not children.
It would seem that computers are more important than children!

These personality profiles are used throughout the computer industry for hiring purposes and since he used to do a lot of the hiring, I asked him how accurate the tests were at weeding out people who would not work well in the IT industry. He said they were extremely helpful, so I do not understand why this is not implemented in the care of children!

It certainly should be!

[ems13]

Hannah is on trial now, Larry Overton to follow next month.

http://caller.com/news/2007/aug/27/jurors-see-photos-4-year-olds-injuries-overton-tri/

[ems13]

The verdict is just in.
Hannah Overton was just found guilty of capital murder in the salt poisoning of her soon-to-be adopted child, 4yr.old Andrew Burd.
She is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.