Under withering cross-examination, the former Detroit foster mother charged in a 2-year-old’s death under her watch admitted Thursday that she had a legal duty to protect the boy.

Foster mother testifies she was responsible for Isaac's care

June 14, 2007

By JACK KRESNAK

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...70614022&imw=Y

Under withering cross-examination, the former Detroit foster mother
charged in a 2-year-old’s death under her watch admitted Thursday that
she had a legal duty to protect the boy.

But Charlsie Adams-Rogers said she had “no physical hands” on causing
the blunt-force injuries and burns inflicted on Isaac Lethbridge before
his death on Aug. 16, 2006, in her northwest side home.


Adams-Rogers, 60, is on trial in Wayne County Circuit Court, charged
with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse in Isaac’s death and a
separate child abuse charge involving his sister, now 4. According to
testimony, Isaac was beaten and burned, possibly with a iron; his sister
also had burns, possibly from a cigarette, and bruises.

The Free Press is not naming Isaac's sister because she is still in
foster care.

On Thursday, Adams-Rogers maintained that her home was supervised the
day of Isaac’s death. “I didn’t delegate my duty to anybody else,” she
said in response to questions from Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor
Lisa Lindsey. “I performed my duty.”

However, Adams-Rogers could point to little direct supervision of the
foster children, who were in an upstairs bedroom playing and watching
television with her two younger adopted daughters while she was cooking
in the kitchen.

She said that about 2:30 p.m. that day, “I went to the top of the
landing and I could see the bedroom.” She said she saw Isaac and that he
had the same bruise on his forehead that had been there for weeks. But
she admitted that she never told police in a written statement about
seeing Isaac at that time or that she had given first aid to one of her
sons that morning for a burn on his hand.

Sometime between 2 and 4 p.m., when Isaac’s lifeless body was discovered
under a blanket in the hot bedroom, Adams-Rogers said her
then-12-year-old daughter came downstairs and told her the boy was
taking a nap. Adams-Rogers said she did not go upstairs to see for herself.

Adams-Rogers has said the girl, who is now 13, accidentally injured
Isaac when tossing him playfully onto a mattress.

In earlier testimony, Adams-Rogers said she did not consider the girl,
who has emotional and other problems, dangerous to other children. But
Thursday she admitted that she told the staff at Kingswood Hospital, a
psychiatric facility, that the girl had “severe aggression to classmates
and peers” and that she was uncooperative and disrespectful.

Adams-Rogers also said she had made misleading statements in previous
testimony about never having had a complaint of child abuse against her
substantiated by Child Protective Services. She admitted Thursday that
after Isaac’s death, a complaint was substantiated and her rights were
terminated to her younger two adopted daughters. She also admitted that,
even though she has said that no adult males were living in her home
while she harbored the foster children, she claimed one of her adult
sons as a dependent on her tax returns for the last three years and he
would have had to live at least half a year in the home.

Earlier Thursday, Adams-Rogers said Isaac and his sister arrived at her
home last June dirty and with only the clothing on their backs.

“They were nasty,” she said. She said the children were handed over to
her in her driveway by their foster care worker with the Lula Belle
Stewart Center in Detroit and she went to a drugstore to buy pull-up
underpants for the children and to a dollar store to buy them clothing,
paying for it with her own money.

Countering testimony that her home was unkempt, Adams-Rogers blamed
Detroit police who arrived in the wake of Isaac’s death for making “a
shambles” of the bedroom where he was found. Photographs shown in court
showed the room littered with clothing and objects that could pose
hazards for small children.

Adams-Rogers also said that her 12-year-old adopted daughter loved the
boy and his sister and would often play with them in the yard.
Adams-Rogers said she was in the process of getting therapy and
medications for the girl, who had stopped therapy and taking prescribed
drugs after Adams-Rogers adopted her in April 2006 because state
payments for her care also ended.

Only Adams-Rogers has been charged in connection with Isaac’s death.

Asked by her attorney, Warren Harris, why she took in foster children
with so many problems, she said that after taking in the 10 children of
a relative several years ago, “I promised God that I would help
children. It’s not about money. I only get $11 a day. It’s not meant for
someone to get rich. I don’t think a child should be branded or not
loved or not cared about.”

She said she has never been paid for the weeks of care she gave Isaac
and his sister.

Cross-examination was to continue this afternoon before Wayne County
Circuit Judge Vera Massey Jones. If convicted, Adams-Rogers could face
up to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and up to four years
on the child abuse charges.

Contact JACK KRESNAK at 313-223-4544 or ..







CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.

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...