A toddler, who ACS had returned to his family in Queens just one month ago, was declared dead yesterday by authorities. It's unclear how Jaysha Brown died, but he was found with cuts, bruises, and bite marks as well as external injuries that appeared days old. The Daily News reports, "Investigators were trying to determine if the child was murdered - the victim of his mother, her boyfriend or, stunningly, his 5-year-old brother."
The child's mother, Sharee Brown, had been seen by the Administration for Children's Service and foster service more than 30 times this year; in February, a judge ordered that Brown's three children be returned to Brown, after being removing in 2006, but only with "intensive monitoring" from the ACS. The victim's grandmother defended her daughter, but said of her boyfriend, "I couldn't stand him because he beat my daughter. There always was something wrong about him."
UPDATE: The medical examiner classified the death as a homicide, saying Jaysha died of battered child syndrome. A spokesperson said the toddler had "extensive internal and external injuries throughout his body, including to the face and head."
Earlier, the NY Times reported the private lawyer Steven Greenfield appointed by the court to represent Jaysha had objected to returning the boy to the family “because of the prior history of the mother." However, the court spokesman said that Greenfield did not appear to object to returning Jaysha to his mother on a trial basis, "[The judge] left the case open and ordered the kids returned on a trial basis and ordered A.C.S. to do intensive supervision. She did it with the consent of the law guardian. He objected to a final order, and the judge never issued a final order.”
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speechless....
Sad. Children are our future.
As I said....the depravity of humanity.
Just returned to his mother one month ago! Absolutely shameful.
Bite marks? Seriously?Christ.
"The victim's grandmother defended her daughter, but said of her boyfriend, "I couldn't stand him because he beat my daughter. There always was something wrong about him."
Then there was something wrong with the daughter if she wouldn't leave a man who beat her repeatedly and put her children at risk.
I can't stand hearing about another child killed-sometimes I think there should be a moratorium on children being sent back to families under surveillance by ACS until they get their monitoring system in order. Even a city sponsored group home sounds like it would be safer than going back or going to some psycho foster home.
people usually blame ACS but I always blame the extended family:
'The toddler's maternal grandmother, DeShawn Purrington, declared her daughter innocent of any wrongdoing and blamed Jashya's death on Brown's live-in boyfriend, Daquean Williams.
"My daughter is a good mother. She took very good care of her kids," Purrington said.'
even though ACS had removed all 3 of those kids because of the mother's abuse. thanks grandma but this kid's death is your fault too.
The mother is 20 and her son is 5. She was knocked up by the age of 14. Instead of learning her lesson the first time she continues to have children.
Why can idiots reproduce freely?
To reproduce people should qualify, this is what happens when you just let nature dictate who reproduces and who doesn't: FUCKED UP HUMANS!!
How does ACS return a kid to a home they have visited 30 times in 8 months? It makes no sense.
The social services can not be responsible for the IDIOTIC behavior of the moronic parents...I mean some responsibility might be found, but the fact is: people abuse kids just because they are stuck with unwanted babies, there is no consciousness or even any ethical considerations in reproducing..monkeys might take better care of their babies!
Little kids like that know nothing of the real world. She must have felt that it was all her fault that she was being treated like that. She will never know the truth.
I'm a case planner who works in Foster Care, and I can tell you that 30 times in 8 months is adequate, if not above the requirements. You must see a parent twice within a given month - one of those visits must be in their home. This is in addition to any court dates or family visits that are supervised by the Agency. Specific observations of these interactions aside, if it was indeed true that the mother was seen 30 times, this would have been enough of an interaction for a worker to notice any concerns (or progress) made in the individual.
The problem I have with this, as a case worker, is that the parents are so used to living without their children, that for the children to be returned presents an stressful situation from the get-go. For a judge to send a child home to a mother who has not had to take responsibility for that child for months (or years), can cause them to slip into old habits, as they have not had the chance to "ease" back into the parenting process while still facing their demons.
@dogisdead, thanks for your insights. There are so many issues in the case... I hope investigators find out more, because I think what's partly at stake is the public perception of ACS--not to mention the family court system.
...and as well, to anyone who might think 30 times is inadequate - most of us have caseloads that number 15-20. And for each case we must see the Foster Home, Birth Home and attend Court hearings a given number per month. If our caseloads were reduced to single-digits, this would clearly help us in not only monitoring the cases more efficiently, but being able to invest ourselves more wholly in regards to the individual. Change is needed all around, I'll be the first to admit it.
20 years old and 3 kids already taken away on suspected abuse / neglect. Hmmmm. Should there be forced terminations and / or sterilizations for underage and or ignorant people? Sure it’s undemocratic and against everything our country and various freedoms stand for but with this epidemic of babies being murdered by their own unable to cope parents and other assorted family members, perhaps its a necessary step backwards?
How about not allowing people to reproduce without at least a high school diploma under their belts?
Some people shouldn't breed. Too bad we can't enforce that fact.
"UPDATE: ME Declares Death a Homicide"
Silly, it's "I" declares death a homicide
The mother should have been sterilized.
I love the names from the Daily News story of the various people involved here: Jaysha, Sharee, Daquean, Naquwan, Justice and DeShawn. The story also notes that the mom had a pit bull which the victim's 43-year-old grandmother got from the house after he died. I bet the pit bull was treated better than the kid.