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Dead girl's aunt: 'I begged [DFCS] for help'



 
 
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Old January 31st 04, 06:26 PM
wexwimpy
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Default Dead girl's aunt: 'I begged [DFCS] for help'

Dead girl's aunt: 'I begged [DFCS] for help'
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Veronica Moody said she contacted DeKalb County child welfare
officials seven times with concerns about her young niece's safety,
and she is livid the agency never contacted the girl's family before
she was killed this week.
"I begged them to help," said Veronica Moody of Lithonia, the aunt of
4-year-old Rita Moody. "If DFCS [the state Division of Family and
Children Services] would have stepped in, my niece would be alive."
Police say Rita Moody was beaten to death. Her mother, Demetre Evans,
28, and Evans' roommate, Oshadotaive Yseikieyui Robertson, 27, have
been charged with murder and child cruelty. Robertson is also charged
with aggravated sodomy.
An autopsy found bruises, scrapes and scars on the child's head, face,
chest, abdomen, back and arms.
The report also said, "The clinical impression is that the child was
sexually assaulted and raped."
Veronica Moody, 32, who had raised the child for half of her life,
said she is so angry over the way DFCS handled the case that she has
hardly been able to deal with her niece's death.
"I can't grieve. I'm so angry it hurts," she said.
She said she does not accept the excuses put forth by DFCS officials
-- that the caseworker, Lisa Johnson, made a few unsuccessful attempts
to reach the girl's family, and that the caseworker was overburdened
with some 70 cases.
DFCS officials continue to investigate the case, and Johnson has been
removed from any child abuse investigations pending the outcome.
Johnson declined to comment Friday.
DFCS Director Janet Oliva has said the caseworker was overwhelmed by
an unacceptably high caseload, and the investigation will help
determine whether she made all the efforts she could.
"This caseworker cried out for help, and we didn't help her fast
enough," Oliva said. The responsibility "goes all the way up to me."
Veronica Moody doesn't accept that.
"Ain't no excuses," she said.
Moody said she made the first call to DFCS in October, when Evans
showed up at her home with two black eyes and a cut on her forehead.
Moody said she called DFCS to say the girl's mother was in an abusive
relationship, and while the girl herself had not been hurt, Moody
feared for her safety, as well as that of the girl's infant brother,
Trey Evans.
"I called five times in October and November, and I went down there
twice," she said.
She knows the DeKalb DFCS office has been in trouble before -- the
office came under scrutiny after the death of 2-year-old Kyshawn
Punter last summer.
"Enough is enough with DeKalb County," she said. "This system stinks."
She described Rita as a bright, lively child who enjoyed attending
church with her grandmother.
Rita's father, Veronica Moody's brother, is in a correctional facility
in Virginia, Moody said.
The family has a history with child welfare authorities in Virginia,
and Rita was taken away from Demetre Evans in 2000 -- not for any
abuse or neglect, but to help the woman with parenting skills and to
prepare her for the birth of another child, said Veronica Moody.
Veronica Moody raised Rita for two years before Virginia officials
decided to hand the child back over to Evans early last year.
In DeKalb, Evans became involved with Robertson, who would abuse and
intimidate her, said Veronica Moody.
This week, Rita's grandmother, who is also named Rita Moody, came down
from Virginia and is helping to plan Rita's funeral next week.
"Very sad. Very upset," said the grandmother. "I wish it could have
been handled better."
Veronica Moody, for her part, is looking for a lawyer.
"I'm going to get DeKalb for this. This is the last child that slips
though the cracks," she said. "This ain't over, not with this baby."
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...amilygirl.html

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