Dying in silence: The recovering drug addicts were told in early2003 they needed to take their 22-month-old daughter back to their crampedmotel room or risk losing the girl to the child welfare system forever.

Dying in silence

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19895407/

The Orange County Register

Miranda Davila's parents faced a painful choice.

The recovering drug addicts were told in early 2003 they needed to take
their 22-month-old daughter back to their cramped motel room or risk
losing the girl to the child welfare system forever.

Tonia Fernandez and Salvador Davila decided to take their little girl
home, despite concerns that the toddler – who'd been in foster care
since birth – would add new stress when they were already struggling to
care for four other children in one small room.

They did so even though their social worker told the Orange County
Juvenile Court that the child would be at risk if returned to a family
not ready for her.

Commissioner Gary Vincent said Miranda could go home.

Seven months later paramedics found her bruised and unconscious, her
skull shattered, in a motel room fouled with mold and infested with
maggots. She died a few hours later.

Fernandez told police she accidentally hurt Miranda, then changed her
story and blamed her longtime boyfriend. Davila was convicted of
second-degree murder and is now serving a 25-year-to life sentence. The
couple's remaining children were taken by Social Services. Davila didn't
respond to a letter sent to him in prison. Fernandez could not be found.

But the little girl's story – detailed in hundreds of pages of
confidential records obtained by The Orange County Register – shows how
the system meant to protect abused and neglected children failed this
little girl.

The family's story also opens a window into the growing toll of
methamphetamine on local families. Miranda was part of a spike in such
births. The number of families in the child welfare system with
substance abuse problems jumped from 329 in 2000 to 498 in 2005. Orange
County social workers intervened in 181 cases where babies tested
positive for drugs last year.

The Register first learned about Miranda's case during an investigation
of 23 abused and neglected children who died since 2000 while under
protection of the court. The Register litigated for two years to force
the Superior Court to release Miranda's records.

Miranda's foster mother and paternal grandmother said they tried to get
help but were ignored.

"They never should have given that baby back," said foster mother Nancy
Perez, who cared for Miranda since infancy and testified in defense of
the father, Davila. "Even when I told (the social worker) the baby had
signs of abuse, nothing was done."

Commissioner Vincent was the same judge who presided over the case of
Darian Robinson, a 10-month-old foster child who was murdered in 2001
after being returned to his mother. In Darian's case, Vincent also
dismissed a social worker's recommendations.

Vincent cut back his hours in March, after 17 years on the bench, and
now works only part time as a judge. He declined to be interviewed for
this story.

In an interview last fall, Vincent said social workers often make
incorrect recommendations because they don't know the law. He said he
can't keep families apart unless there is convincing evidence of
substantial risk of harm.

"We can't take children away because we don't like their parenting
style, their cleanliness, or (that) they are poor,'' he said. "It has to
be foreseeable there is a problem."

Judge Robert Hutson, presiding judge of the Juvenile Court, also
defended Vincent's decision to return Miranda to the family, saying
children need the stability of a permanent home. "We can't let a child
stay in limbo forever," Hutson said in an interview last year. "The
child had been in foster care for two years."

Social services officials said once the judge ordered Miranda's return,
there wasn't enough evidence to prove she was at serious risk of danger
to remove her again.

But records show clearly that the situation had deteriorated. Senior
social worker Daniel Whitehurst wrote in a report he signed Oct. 9, the
day Miranda died, that Miranda's affect was flat and she lacked energy.
The father had lost his job, the motel room was frequently littered with
trash and crumbs and the children were often holed up in the room,
Whitehurst wrote.

Whitehurst did not respond to requests for comment. Social services
officials said he is on leave and not available. But the agency defended
him, saying he was honored in 2005 by a nonprofit that fights child
abuse. He was devastated, an agency spokesperson said, when he heard
about the little girl's death.

"The threshold of the law is good enough care. It is not the ideal home,
it is good enough," said Social Services spokeswoman Terry Lynn Fisher.
"There was no legal basis to remove the child. (Whitehurst) went above
and beyond."

Miranda's death while under the protection of the Juvenile Court ignites
passionate debate among child advocates. They disagree whether
government did enough, or too much, to reunite a family struggling with
poverty and drug addiction.

Robert Fellmeth, executive director of the Children's Advocacy Institute
in San Diego, said the government leans too far on the side of reuniting
fragile families.

"If you've got someone you attempted reunification and they relapse, you
don't have to wait for the third time," Fellmeth said. "Methamphetamines
destroy maternal and paternal instinct. It's a parental disqualifying
feature."

DRUG BABY

Tonia Fernandez rushed into Western Medical Center on May 2001, ready to
give birth. There was no record that the 26-year-old mother had any
prenatal care, prompting immediate suspicion among nurses. Salvador
Davila, her 28-year-old boyfriend, appeared drunk, nurses said.

Tests were ordered and Miranda was found positive for amphetamines,
becoming one of 1,008 drug babies since 2000 referred to the Orange
County Social Services Agency.

Fernandez, already the mother of three young boys, admitted she'd smoked
methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant that can create
developmental delays in children. Davila, a high school dropout who
worked as a roofer, admitted to a five-year history of drug use.

Yet the couple's other young children showed no signs of abuse and
neglect, social workers said. The parents said they wanted to take
Miranda home and would do what was necessary to get her back.

First they had to prove they were fit parents.

Miranda was made a dependent of the court and transferred to the
three-bedroom home of a Cypress foster parent, Nancy Perez, who
specializes in babies born addicted to drugs. Social workers deemed the
three older brothers safe at their family's home.

The couple agreed to weekly parenting classes, counseling, and
twice-weekly drug tests.

They struggled to stay sober. A week after Miranda was born, Davila
showed up at a drug test looking dirty and intoxicated, reports show.
Within six months of her birth, both parents failed three tests in a
row, according to social services reports.

Recovering from a meth addiction is difficult. Less than a quarter of
meth abusers complete their treatment, according to a 2000 study
published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Relapses are common. But
many family advocates argue that children do better with their parents,
even not-so-perfect ones.

"Children want to have a connection to their birth parents and they
deserve to have a connection to their birth parents," said Nancy Young,
director of the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare.
"Just because they have a drug dependency doesn't mean they don't love
their child."

During that first year, Davila was arrested and jailed for resisting an
officer. He lost his job. The family was evicted from their mobile home
and had to move in with relatives. The mother got pregnant again.

The couple also showed strengths. They continued to attend drug
counseling classes and faithfully visited Miranda, social services
reports said. The child reacted well to her parents and Perez grew
especially fond of the father, who never missed a visit.

FINDING A HOME

In a county where the median cost of a home is $645,000, finding
adequate housing can be daunting for even the affluent. For the working
poor, with an eviction on their record, it can be nearly impossible.

In June of 2002 – when Miranda was a little more than 1 year old – the
couple told Whitehurst, the social worker, they wanted to postpone her
return until they found a better place to live than the home they shared
with relatives.

By the time Miranda turned 18 months, the family was living in a small
room in the Grand Inn in Fullerton with their three sons and baby
daughter. The room had two queen-size beds, a refrigerator and an
electric wok.

Whitehurst urged the family to take Miranda but Davila continued to
resist, citing their living situation. He told the judge Miranda would
be at risk if returned.

"It is preferable to allow the child to return to her parents' care when
the parents feel comfortable with the idea," he said in his report.

Commissioner Vincent postponed a decision four times in nine months,
waiting for the family to find better housing.

Whitehurst tried to help. But Fisher noted that social workers can't
provide housing for their clients. Social workers like Whitehurst
average 18 cases, with some carrying as many as 38. "It was up to them
to follow through," she said.

When Miranda was nearly 2 years old, the parents were told by their
attorneys they couldn't put off Miranda's return any longer, Perez said.

"He told me that the lawyer said either you take her now or they are
going to put her up for adoption," Perez said.

Yana Kennedy, the attorney appointed by the court to represent Miranda,
defended Vincent's decision. She said she would have opposed any plan to
put Miranda into long-term foster care.

"This is just a social worker's recommendation. They don't know the
law," she said. "They wanted to get a better place. That doesn't mean
someone is going to kill their child."

Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child
Protection Reform, said the judge should have listened to the parentsÂ’
concern.



“When parents say we are not ready you have to listen to that. It was a
remarkably responsible of them,’’ Wexler said. “What judges are hearing
is (they need to create) permanence in a situation like this I would
have waited another 18 years.”

Bill Grimm, a senior attorney for the National Center for Youth Law,
examined Miranda's case records for The Register. Grimm said he didn't
see any changes that showed Miranda would be safe at home.

"To me it (was) a powder keg ready to explode," he said. "Nothing
changed to make it reasonable to believe it was a safe environment."

'PLEASE TAKE THE BABY'

On March 14, 2003, Perez carried Miranda up the stairs to the Grand Inn.
The little girl ran into her father's arms, she said.

At first, the family seemed able to care for Miranda, Whitehurst reported.

But as spring turned to summer, the family seemed to be slipping. The
parents had lost the will to improve their housing situation, Whitehurst
found. Neither could show proof they were attending 12-step meetings.

In August and September, Whitehurst found Miranda with multiple bruises.
The mother said the girl had fallen from her playpen. He wrote that
Miranda appeared "marginally cared for."

Davila's mother, Angela, visited later that month and found her
granddaughter weak and lacking patches of hair. The motel was filthy.

She begged the couple to let her take Miranda with her, she said. She
called Whitehurst and left a message.

"I said I visited them and the baby looks sick, looks terrible, please
take the baby away from them. I need to talk to you," the grandmother
said. "He never called me back."

On Sept. 25, Whitehurst took Davila to visit an apartment complex in
Anaheim. Whitehurst realized, after months of working with the family,
that the father hadn't completed any of the apartment applications at all.

What happened on Miranda's last night remains unclear. The couple's
stories changed over time. Davila told police he was frustrated and had
a painful toothache. He pushed his 3-year-old son, he said, the boy
collided with Miranda and she "cracked herself."

Later, he testified that Miranda tripped after he pulled her away from
Fernandez, who was biting the little girl on the cheek.

Whatever the scenario, paramedics arrived late Oct. 8 to find Miranda
lying on the ground unconscious. She had a 4-inch fracture running down
the back of her skull – a serious injury that couldn't have come from an
accident, a pathologist later explained.

She had bruises or abrasions on her forehead, the bridge of her nose,
both cheeks, the right side of her mouth, her back and on both legs,
according to court documents. She had scarring from earlier injuries.

The bathtub was filled with shrimp and covered with ants and bugs,
police reported. Raw pork was found by the dresser. The refrigerator was
filled with maggot-covered food.

The next morning, Whitehurst was called at home. Miranda was in the
hospital with a fractured skull. Her siblings had been taken to
Orangewood Children's home.

Whitehurst went to his office and signed a report detailing the
deteriorating situation over the previous months. His recommendation:
Miranda should remain with her parents.

He did not mention she was already dead.

Kennedy received the document a few days later. She wishes she'd been
made aware of the problems. But she said that knowledge might not have
changed anything.

"Social workers will often pick up the phone and call us. He didn't.
Maybe he didn't think it was bad enough," she said. "There are a lot of
situations like this where conditions will go downhill in a home. It is
extremely unusual to have a child killed."

Perez, the foster mother, still is haunted by the death of the
brown-haired girl who danced in her home like a princess.

"Why didn't (the social worker) see what was going on?" she said. "Why
didn't they see the baby was so skinny, she looked like a skeleton? Â…
Her death could have been prevented."

Child protective services agencies were created to remove minors from
unsafe homes. In the 1980s, the federal government began to focus
efforts on helping at-risk families stay together.

The debate over the balance between protecting children and keeping
unstable families together continues today.

Tragic deaths like Miranda Davila's can swing the pendulum toward
pulling children out of unsafe homes. But a recent study by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that children who aren't
obvious candidates for removal do better in life when they remain at home.

Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child
Protection Reform, said social workers need to limit the number of
children they remove so they can concentrate on the families with bigger
problems.

"They do leave children in dangerous homes even as they take more
children from homes that are safe or could be made safe with the right
kinds of help." Wexler said. "The two problems are directly linked."






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

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS 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...