Cigarette burn marks on the 4-year-old sister of a murdered fosterchild.

Doctor testifies about burns on Isaac, sister

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a.../1048/SPORTS02

June 13, 2007

By JACK KRESNAK

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Dr. Vincent Palusci, medical director of the child protection team at
Children’s Hospital of Michigan, testified Wednesday morning that he
found what appeared to be cigarette burn marks on the 4-year-old sister
of a murdered foster child.

Palusci, testifying in the involuntary manslaughter and child abuse
trial of former foster mother Charlsie Adams-Rogers in Wayne County
Circuit Court, said he also saw first- and second-degree burns in
photographs of the dead child, 2-year-old Isaac Lethbridge. The Free
Press is not publishing his sister’s name because of her age and the
fact that she remains in foster care.


Adams-Rogers was charged with failing to protect both children, who were
in her care together.

Earlier Wednesday, the children’s former foster care worker, Karl Troy,
testified that bruising he saw on Isaac in 2005 and 2006 appeared to
become more severe after the boy was placed in Adams-Rogers’ northwest
Detroit foster home on June 29, 2006.

Troy also said that he never inspected the three bedrooms in
Adams-Rogers’ home to see if they were suitable for foster children. But
Wednesday, examining Detroit police photographs of the bedroom where
Isaac died of blunt-force injuries on Aug. 16, 2006, Troy said he would
not have placed the children in that setting. He said it appeared there
were several sharp objects on the floor and that a rope or belt hanging
from the bunk bed could have led to the accidental strangulation of a child.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey rested her case just
before noon.

The first defense witness, Mae Rogers, a former foster care worker at
Lula Belle Stewart Center who now investigates abuses in the mental
health system, said she had known Adams-Rogers since 2002 as a good
foster parent. The women are not related.

Defense attorney Warren Harris asked her whether Adams-Rogers’ home was
an unsafe environment for children. Mae Rogers said it was “a normal
home” and that she never saw any marijuana smoking there. She said
Adams-Rogers was always a concerned and considerate person.

However, when Lindsey showed Mae Rogers photos of the home that pictured
objects that could be choking hazards, plastic bags that could suffocate
a child, a cord looped on the upper bunk and a fan on the floor, Rogers
said the home would not be a safe place for small children. She also
said that Adams-Rogers never told her that adult males were living in
the home, and she said it was not appropriate to allowing Adams-Rogers’
adolescent daughter, who had emotional and other problems, to care for
two young children like Isaac and his sister.

Testimony was to continue this afternoon before Judge Vera Massey Jones.
Adams-Rogers may take the stand in her own defense. The case could go to
the jury today or Thursday.

Contact JACK KRESNAK at 313-223-4544 or .


P.S. be sure to read the comments. FX

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a.../1048/SPORTS02






CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....


every parent should read this Testimony from the House Committee on Ways
and Means

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearin...e=view&id=2296

C.P.S is Targeting Specific Families with Limited Set Budgets,
Where Child Removal is Commonly Practiced for Personal Financial Gain.

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...