Death renews scrutiny of foster system
AUSTIN — A Dallas-area foster mother has been charged with child endangerment in the death of an infant in her care, a case that raises questions as to whether state officials have done enough to improve the safety of foster children.
It comes three months after federal judges blasted Texas officials for being “deliberately indifferent” to systemic threats to the safety of foster children.
The infant, 5-month-old Elizabeth Henson, was found unresponsive and turning purple the morning of Dec. 29. Natalie Parker — a verified foster parent since March 2017 — is charged with abandoning or endangering a child, injury to a child and witness tampering.
Parker is accused of leaving five foster children in her home in Forney with her 19-year-old son the night before the infant’s death, though she’s the only authorized caregiver, according to arrest warrant affidavits filed
by the Texas Rangers. During the investigation, child pornography was found on the son’s cellphone, according to the Kaufman County Sheriff ’s Office.
A year ago, state officials cited Parker after finding foster children had been left at the home without adult supervision, according to the state health commission. It’s unclear what steps, if any, were taken to fix the issue then. “It sounds like she needed additional supports, both in training resources and respite care in handling the kids. Why wasn’t that provided?” said Will Francis, with the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Francis also questioned why a single foster mother was looking after five children, including a baby — “a lot for one person to supervise,” he said. The state limit is six per home.
Kingdom Kids Child Placing Agency, paid by the state to license and monitor Parker and 24 other foster families, did not respond to several requests for comment. Over the past three years state officials have cited the agency for nearly 50 violations, including one in 2016 for physical abuse, according to hildren. The Department of Family and Protective Services works with agencies that are tax exempt and those that are not, said spokesman Patrick Crimmins.
This week, the state suspended new child placements to homes overseen by Kingdom Kids and caseworkers are visiting each home to do safety checks, Crimmins said.
State appealing reforms
Parker was arrested as the state continues to fight a 2011 class-action lawsuit that alleges children in foster care in Texas are vulnerable to mistreatment, in part because of too few caseworkers and a lack of state oversight. A federal appeals court in October called state officials “deliberately indifferent” to threats to the welfare of the roughly 11,000 children in long-term foster care.
In its October ruling, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Texas to improve investigations of child abuse in foster care and address its problem with overburdened caseworkers. But the state is challenging the remedies, putting them in limbo.
The state has argued Texas is already taking steps to improve the child welfare system, including boosting pay for caseworkers in an effort to reduce turnover. Financial incentives were increased for relatives who agree to take in children who have been removed from their parents’ care.
Child deaths in foster care due to abuse and neglect are rare. Four children died in Texas foster care due to neglectful supervision over the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, according to state records.
There have been no abuse or neglect deaths in foster care during the 2018 fiscal year or the first half of 2019, but a dozen investigations are still open, Crimmins said. All child deaths in foster care are investigated.
Kingdom Kids Child Placing Agency is one of many private contractors the state pays to license and monitor roughly 90 percent of the foster homes in Texas. So far this fiscal year, the state has paid Kingdom Kids over $430,000, state Comptroller records show. A portion of those funds are passed onto foster parents.
Details about Kingdom Kids’ financial condition, however, are scarce. The agency advertises itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on its website, where it solicits donations. But Kingdom Kids’ tax exempt status was revoked in 2017 after it failed to file financial reports for three years in a row, according to the IRS website.
“They shouldn’t present themselves as a nonprofit if they’re not,” said William Brown, a professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University who specializes in nonprofit management. “It’s a concern.”
Crimmins said the state conducts regular financial and legal checks on private foster care agencies. The most recent review of Kingdom Kids was in February 2018.
“While the financial stability of any provider is important, we are always most concerned with and focused on the safety of our foster children,” he said in a statement. “On Monday caseworkers began visits to each foster home — what we call ‘safety checks’ — and will conduct individual interviews with each child to ensure they feel safe and well-cared for.”
Possible head injury
It’s not clear how the infant died. An autopsy is pending, according to the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office.
Parker told police she was home all night, leaving once in the early morning to move her car. But cellphone records and surveillance videos show otherwise, the arrest affidavit said.
Parker’s son, Christian Richmond, told authorities he walked around the house with the infant trying to get her to sleep, the arrest affidavit said. Then he allegedly fell asleep with her on the couch and when he woke up in the early morning, the baby wasn’t breathing.
Richmond was later charged with possessing child pornography, which authorities allegedly found on his phone during the death investigation. Kaufman County authorities say they don’t believe that charge is linked to the child’s death.
Family members say they last saw the girl and her 9year-old brother on Dec. 28. They exchanged Christmas presents at a child protection office in Denton, said the infant’s grandmother Alesia Lott.
Lott said family members noticed the back of Elizabeth’s head was swollen. Her brother said she fell down the stairs, Lott said.
The next day, they learned Elizabeth was dead. In the weeks since, the family hasn’t been able to see her older brother, said Derek Gastineau, the children’s uncle.
“This is real frustrating,” he said. “I don’t know where my nephew is. How are we supposed to sleep at night when we know he is in (the state’s) care?”