'Monster mom' raised in foster 'care'

"She somehow believed she was protecting her child from ACS," Hochhauser
said.

Another 'success' story from fosterland.

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http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-371980c.html


Monster mom gets max in tot's death



BY JOSE MARTINEZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A Manhattan mom who allowed her 3-month-old son to waste away into a
"battered skeleton of a human being" was slammed with a 25-years-to-life
prison sentence yesterday for the baby's horrific death.
Jovannie Florestal bowed her head as Supreme Court Justice William
Wetzel ripped her for taking better care of her hair and nails than of her
son, Colesvintong Florestal Jr.

When the infant died in May 2004, he weighed less than he had at
birth.

"She had tens of thousands of opportunities to save her child - she
took advantage of none," Wetzel said.

The 23-year-old mother of two, who was convicted of second-degree
murder charges in May, had attempted to pin the baby's abuse on her own
troubled past.

Raised in the city's foster care system, Florestal cast herself as a
victim and blamed the Administration for Children's Services for her
failures as a mother.

But Wetzel was having none of it - and scoffed at her lawyer's
argument that she never learned how to be a proper parent.

"What in the world would someone need to be taught while looking at a
child dying hour by hour, minute by minute?" the judge asked.

The battered baby was found inside a Harlem homeless shelter in May
2004, with every one of his ribs broken, a shattered leg and his mouth
ripped open. He also suffered brain trauma from being violently shaken.

Colesvintong Florestal Sr. is already serving 20 years to life for his
son's murder after pleading guilty in January.

Prosecutor Rachel Hochhauser said Florestal's wife went to Harlem
Hospital for treatment of a rash shortly before her son's death, yet she
ignored his injuries for fear he would be taken away.

"She somehow believed she was protecting her child from ACS,"
Hochhauser said.