Deaths of two toddlers preceded by DHS investigations into violent family incidents

Last year's untimely deaths of Oklahoma toddlers Emily Sizemore of Pittsburg County and Travon Hood Jr. of Tulsa were both preceded by earlier violent family incidents that prompted DHS interventions, according to newly released reports by the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth.

Devin Warren Sizemore, 22, of Krebs, is charged with firstdegree murder in the July 15 death of his daughter, Emily, whose 21-monthold body was found floating July 15 in a Krebs pond.

Sizemore also is charged with assaulting the two law enforcement officers who found the body, attempting to drown one of the men by choking him and holding him under water.

Sizemore purportedly made statements about evil and religion and claimed the world was ending the day before his daughter's body was

discovered, according to earlier news stories based on court documents.

Sizemore is currently awaiting his preliminary hearing after a jury found him to be mentally competent.

Before Emily’s death, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services became involved with her family when the agency was asked to investigate an April 18 complaint that Devin Sizemore and Emily’s mother had been involved in a domestic violence incident in front of the child.

DHS “substantiated the allegation of neglectexposure to domestic violence against the father,” but deemed the child to be safe with her mother and suggested that the mother obtain a protective order, the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth said in its report.

Devin was charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse, assault and battery on May 2, but was out on bail at the time of the child’s death, the report said.

Fatal brain injury

The other child death occurred in Tulsa.

Travon, 2, was pronounced dead Sept. 1 — more than a month after being placed on life support for a brain injury he suffered after slipping under water while being given a bath with a sibling.

His mother, Hope Marie King, 27, told authorities the accident happened after she left the bathroom to get a towel. She is now awaiting a preliminary hearing on a charge of child neglect.

DHS investigated two earlier incidents involving Travon and his family.

On Sept. 5, 2014, DHS received a report that Hope King and Travon’s biological father engaged in a domestic altercation in front of Travon and his siblings, the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth report said.

“The mother had been choked until she passed out and one sibling had an injury to his lip,” the report said.

DHS substantiated the allegation of neglect-domestic violence against Hope King and the father, and the father was arrested on a complaint of domestic violence, the report said. A deprived child petition was requested and Travon and his siblings were placed in DHS custody on Sept. 11, 2014.

About five months later, on Feb. 8, 2015, DHS received a report that Travon had suffered a skull fracture.

At the time, Travon, his mother and siblings were all residing in the home of a grandmother, “which was previously the placement for the children” while they were in DHS custody, the report said.

“Neither Hope King nor the grandmother could explain what happened to Travon,” the report said.

DHS investigated the mother, grandmother and child care center Travon attended, but was unable to determine who caused the injuries, the report said.

Travon and the other children were returned to Hope King’s custody on Nov. 12, 2015, after she completed an individualized service plan of improvement.

Judicial oversight

Sheree Powell, spokeswoman for DHS, said histories of prior family violence are not uncommon in complaints made to the agency.

Under judicial oversight, families are required to work through plans to get their children back.

“It’s not just DHS making these decisions,” Powell said. “There are a lot of eyes and a lot of authorities looking at these cases and making sure parents do the right thing by their kids.

“If a parent does everything that the courts and DHS have asked them to do, then judges will often approve for children to go back into their home,” Powell said. “Typically, that is the goal for most children.”

Powell said 5,599 children left DHS custody last fiscal year and 2,816 of those children were reunited with their families.

“We don’t typically see large numbers of bad things happening to children or traumatic events like death happening to children after they have been reunited with their families,” she said.

“If we could have a crystal ball and foresee what’s actually going on in some of these families or what might happen in the future, it would certainly help us keep kids a lot safer, but we don’t have that ability and the courts don’t have that ability,” Powell said.