Connecticut
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:23 pm
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080718/ap_ ... nt_death_3
Conn. child welfare worker charged in baby's death
By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jul 17, 8:07 PM ET
HARTFORD, Conn. - An employee of the state Department of Children and Families has been charged in the death of a 7-month-old foster child placed in her care, prompting the agency to seek her dismissal.
Suzanne Listro received a foster care provider's license earlier this year, despite having been investigated twice on allegations she abused a 3-year-old boy she adopted, DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton said. Those accusations were not substantiated.
State police charged Listro, 40, with manslaughter Wednesday in the May 19 death of Michael Brown Jr., who suffered a blunt trauma head injury at her home in Mansfield. At a court appearance Thursday, a judge set bond at $1 million. Her adopted son is under DCF care, Hamilton said.
"We don't expect her to be posting bond today," said her attorney, Matthew Potter. He declined to comment further.
Listro told authorities that the baby fell off a bed onto the floor, went limp and stopped breathing, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. But the chief medical examiner's office said the child's injuries were not consistent with that explanation and ruled the death a homicide.
The baby had been in Listro's home for a week before he died. He was Listro's first placement and had been in another foster home before then, the commissioner said.
Listro has been at the department for 15 years and most recently worked as a children's services consultant. She has been on unpaid leave since May, and Hamilton is seeking to have her fired.
Hamilton also said she will require an outside firm to review agency workers who want to be foster parents beginning Oct. 1.
The Department of Children and Families has about 3,400 full-time workers; 28 are licensed to be foster parents and 15 are going through the licensing process.
"The death of any child for any reason is difficult to comprehend, but when it comes at the hands of someone who has been entrusted with their care by the state it is an unspeakable and unacceptable tragedy," said Hamilton, who has run the department for the last year.
Hamilton said she also plans to dismiss a department investigator who handled the two previous abuse probes in 2006 and 2007 involving Listro and her adopted child. She called those investigations "substandard and unacceptable."
A manager who approved both investigations will be suspended for 20 days, Hamilton said. Others who work in the department's Special Investigations Unit are also being reviewed and further discipline could be imposed.
Because the alleged abuse was unsubstantiated, Listro's name was not in the automated child abuse and neglect registry when she was being investigated for a foster care license, Hamilton said.
.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080718/ap_ ... nt_death_3
Conn. child welfare worker charged in baby's death
By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jul 17, 8:07 PM ET
HARTFORD, Conn. - An employee of the state Department of Children and Families has been charged in the death of a 7-month-old foster child placed in her care, prompting the agency to seek her dismissal.
Suzanne Listro received a foster care provider's license earlier this year, despite having been investigated twice on allegations she abused a 3-year-old boy she adopted, DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton said. Those accusations were not substantiated.
State police charged Listro, 40, with manslaughter Wednesday in the May 19 death of Michael Brown Jr., who suffered a blunt trauma head injury at her home in Mansfield. At a court appearance Thursday, a judge set bond at $1 million. Her adopted son is under DCF care, Hamilton said.
"We don't expect her to be posting bond today," said her attorney, Matthew Potter. He declined to comment further.
Listro told authorities that the baby fell off a bed onto the floor, went limp and stopped breathing, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. But the chief medical examiner's office said the child's injuries were not consistent with that explanation and ruled the death a homicide.
The baby had been in Listro's home for a week before he died. He was Listro's first placement and had been in another foster home before then, the commissioner said.
Listro has been at the department for 15 years and most recently worked as a children's services consultant. She has been on unpaid leave since May, and Hamilton is seeking to have her fired.
Hamilton also said she will require an outside firm to review agency workers who want to be foster parents beginning Oct. 1.
The Department of Children and Families has about 3,400 full-time workers; 28 are licensed to be foster parents and 15 are going through the licensing process.
"The death of any child for any reason is difficult to comprehend, but when it comes at the hands of someone who has been entrusted with their care by the state it is an unspeakable and unacceptable tragedy," said Hamilton, who has run the department for the last year.
Hamilton said she also plans to dismiss a department investigator who handled the two previous abuse probes in 2006 and 2007 involving Listro and her adopted child. She called those investigations "substandard and unacceptable."
A manager who approved both investigations will be suspended for 20 days, Hamilton said. Others who work in the department's Special Investigations Unit are also being reviewed and further discipline could be imposed.
Because the alleged abuse was unsubstantiated, Listro's name was not in the automated child abuse and neglect registry when she was being investigated for a foster care license, Hamilton said.
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