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NEW YORK - Couple charged with assault in boy's horrific death; childwelfare agency under scrutiny
NYC couple charged with assault in boy's horrific death; child welfare
agency under scrutiny By KAREN MATTHEWS , Associated Press http://www.startribune.com/nation/19...refer=Homepage NEW YORK - Two people have been charged with beating a 3-year-old boy who died in their care in a home just blocks from where a girl's brutal death in 2006 spurred calls for reform in the city's child-welfare agency. Police and social workers had gone several times to the Brooklyn apartment where Kyle Smith lived but never saw any problems. Neighbors said they saw abuse, but never reported it. Kyle was sodomized, beaten, doused with cold water and forced to do push-ups and march in place as punishment, according to court papers. His numerous injuries included a torn tongue, bruises to his back, buttocks, legs and scrotum, and lacerations inside his anus. The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital Friday after police were called to the Brooklyn apartment where he lived with Nymeen Cheatham, 30, and her companion Lemar Martin, 25. The death has been ruled a homicide. Cheatham and Martin were arrested Saturday and arraigned Sunday on charges including assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors said in a criminal complaint that the pair confessed to police that they beat the boy. Jonah Bruno, a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, said charges against Cheatham and Martin could be upgraded following an investigation. Martin's attorney, Spiro Ferris, did not return a call seeking comment Monday. Attempts to reach Cheatham's attorney, Joseph Miller, were unsuccessful. Ferris and Miller argued for their clients to be released on bail Sunday because the top charge was assault. Supreme Court Justice John Walsh ordered them held without bail. Neighbors told the Daily News that they saw the boy being abused and now regret failing to report it to authorities. "Everyone could have said something but nobody did," Hason Parker told the paper. "Now this little boy is dead." Parker said he once saw Cheatham screaming at Kyle outside in the cold. "It was 15 degrees and she had this heavy jacket on and he was in pajama shorts and a tank," Parker said. "The little boy was shivering and crying." Police and social workers from the city's Administration for Children's Services had visited the home and reported no signs of abuse. Cheatham and Martin did not have legal custody of Kyle, but he was living with them after his drug-addicted mother gave him up last year. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said officers were called to the home four times since late 2007, all for issues related to visitation with Kyle's biological father, Darien Smith. Spokeswoman Sheila Stainback said the agency conducted a court-ordered investigation of the home last October after Cheatham filed for legal custody of Kyle. "We found the house in order and the child happy and healthy at that time," she said. Cheatham did not pursue legal custody, and the agency had no further official role in the matter. Cheatham's and Martin's apartment is in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant section, the same neighborhood where 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was killed in January 2006. Nixzmary's stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, was sentenced last month to up to 29 years in prison in her death. Her mother faces a separate trial later this year. The scrawny and battered girl was bound to a chair, starved and forced to urinate in a litter box before she was killed with a fatal blow to the head. That case shocked the city and created pressure for reforms. The agency hired 20 "protective agents" with previous law enforcement experience to serve as consultants and help caseworkers improve their investigative skills. The city also started a campaign to try to get New Yorkers to "say something" and dial 311 if they suspect abuse. Stainback said no one reported Cheatham or Martin for abuse. "The terrible case of abuse involving Kyle Smith is deeply felt here at ACS," she said. "We are again asking neighbors, family and friends to call 311 (or 911 in an emergency) if they suspect child abuse or neglect." ___ Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report. An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and the Child Protection "INDUSTRY" Child Protective Services Does not protect children... It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of CPS. every parent should read the free handbook from connecticut dcf watch... 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/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59 Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13 Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241 Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12 Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological 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. THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central intelligence agency wiretaping programs… THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/...s.php?filter=6 This is Child Protection? By Gregory A. Hession, J.D. http://www.jbs.org/node/4632 Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...nion-rightrail FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILU. A Brief Analysis of the Casey Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler http://www.nccpr.org/reports/cfpanalysis.doc HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families By Nev Moore Massachusetts News http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/...May/mayds4.htm A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster ca 30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children. 27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated 33% were receiving public assistance 37% had not finished high school 2% receive a college degree 50% were unemployed Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment than the general population. *Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support 80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system. The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should just be blown up. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991 Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent housing. This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in the first place. Front-page story in USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...m?csp=34#Close Read the studies online. Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Ca Findings from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study," http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publi...lumniStudy.htm MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fo...arch07_aer.pdf http://www.cftl.org/documents/2008/FCfullreport.pdf Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" reports: www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than walking wreckage... CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS.... CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON... 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... |
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