Child Dies in Father's Care

Upsetting and heartbreaking: A seven year-old girl who was returned from foster care to live with her father, seems to have died at the hands of her father. Sierra Roberts' death a few weeks ago was due to many internal injuries, "including a ruptured bowel and extensive internal lacerations," according to the NY Times, and Sierra's father, Russell Roberts, was charged with manslaughter ad assault. Authorties have also discovered that Sierra sustained multiple injuries, and a neighbor says she saw the little girl with a bloodshot eye. Given the arrest of the Brooklyn mother who was charged with her toddler's death, after the child was returned to her by the Administration for Children's Services, we expect there to be a new examination of their policies (currently, the ACS tries to return children to their biological parents). The ACS says that even though it's been four years since Sierra was in their care, they will make their reports public. What's alarming is that in 2003, the ACS was contacted when a doctor noticed she had a broken leg and a fractured spine, and when Roberts said that it was caused by a fall and an accidental dropping of Sierra, the ACS "accepted the explanations."