Post by Milisha on Dec 11, 2008 13:58:18 GMT -5
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Thomas "T.J." Wright was smacked in the face and head, dragged on the ground, flipped backwards on the stairs and even doused with a quart of milk, court records say
After the 3-year-old died of brain injuries in 2004, his guardians -- aunt Katherine Bunnell and her live-in boyfriend Gilbert Delestre -- were charged with murder and accused of beating him to death. Their cases have not yet gone to trial. But T.J.'s death has returned to the spotlight as the center of a federal lawsuit alleging that children in state custody are being sexually abused, assaulted, returned to unsafe homes and left to languish in foster care.
"T.J. Wright almost in itself, by itself, typifies everything that goes wrong within the system," said state child advocate Jametta Alston, who filed the lawsuit late last month against the governor and the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
The lawsuit alleges that systemic problems revealed by T.J.'s death remain unfixed and, citing federal data, says Rhode Island is routinely among the nation's worst in the rate of abuse and neglect of foster care children.
DCYF director Patricia Martinez, who took over in 2005, said the department has improved since T.J.'s death. Gov. Don Carcieri has said some of the allegations in the suit were found to be unsubstantiated and expressed confidence that DCYF is following up on abuse complaints.
Still, T.J.'s case forms the backdrop of the lawsuit.
Terese Curtin, executive director of Connecting For Children and Families, a Woonsocket nonprofit focused on improving family life, said T.J's case has similarities to those of other foster children, even if most instances of abuse don't usually end with a child dead.
"Things end up falling through the cracks, and that's because we don't have enough front-line workers out there in the community," she said.
T.J. and his two brothers went to live with Bunnell, then 20 years old, after their mother was arrested on drug trafficking charges in Illinois. Bunnell and Delestre, both unemployed, lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Woonsocket
A report issued by a panel a year after T.J.'s death said while the state prefers placing foster children with relatives, it should never have permitted T.J. to live with Bunnell and Delestre, who each had juvenile records and were already raising two children of their own.
According to a statement Delestre gave police, he and Bunnell returned home early on Oct. 30, 2004 from a night of drinking to find their home "trashed." They blamed T.J.
Delestre acknowledged hitting the child, causing him to flip backward down the stairs, but said he did not mean to injure him. A baby sitter testified at a hearing that she saw Bunnell smack T.J.
"I was so mad. I just tapped him, and he just fell back," Delestre said in the statement. "He's clumsy a little, you know?"
Bunnell and Delestre have pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy. Bunnell's attorney did not return phone messages. Delestre's lawyer declined to comment.
The panel report identified at least five missed opportunities to protect T.J. It also offered 15 recommendations, such as reducing caseworkers' workloads and conducting thorough background checks before foster children are placed with relatives.
The suit describes a system in which caseworkers are too busy to meet with all the children assigned to them, siblings are unnecessarily split up and kids spend too long in emergency shelters.
Martinez said the department's improvements include providing more training for caseworkers and their supervisors. In addition, the department has its own fingerprinting machine to allow for swifter background checks, and ten additional caseworkers are being hired.
The lawsuit cites 10 children who it says have been cycled from home-to-home and either sexually assaulted, attacked or returned to parents who had previously abused them. Carcieri said it did not appear that DCYF knowingly endangered any child.
Alston said the children cited in her case are simply examples of all that can go wrong and that her goal is to force sweeping change of a system she believes is badly broken.
"T.J. is the worst that can happen in terms of a child dying," she said. "But there are still little horrors happening.
By Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer | July 7, 2007
After the 3-year-old died of brain injuries in 2004, his guardians -- aunt Katherine Bunnell and her live-in boyfriend Gilbert Delestre -- were charged with murder and accused of beating him to death. Their cases have not yet gone to trial. But T.J.'s death has returned to the spotlight as the center of a federal lawsuit alleging that children in state custody are being sexually abused, assaulted, returned to unsafe homes and left to languish in foster care.
"T.J. Wright almost in itself, by itself, typifies everything that goes wrong within the system," said state child advocate Jametta Alston, who filed the lawsuit late last month against the governor and the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
The lawsuit alleges that systemic problems revealed by T.J.'s death remain unfixed and, citing federal data, says Rhode Island is routinely among the nation's worst in the rate of abuse and neglect of foster care children.
DCYF director Patricia Martinez, who took over in 2005, said the department has improved since T.J.'s death. Gov. Don Carcieri has said some of the allegations in the suit were found to be unsubstantiated and expressed confidence that DCYF is following up on abuse complaints.
Still, T.J.'s case forms the backdrop of the lawsuit.
Terese Curtin, executive director of Connecting For Children and Families, a Woonsocket nonprofit focused on improving family life, said T.J's case has similarities to those of other foster children, even if most instances of abuse don't usually end with a child dead.
"Things end up falling through the cracks, and that's because we don't have enough front-line workers out there in the community," she said.
T.J. and his two brothers went to live with Bunnell, then 20 years old, after their mother was arrested on drug trafficking charges in Illinois. Bunnell and Delestre, both unemployed, lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Woonsocket
A report issued by a panel a year after T.J.'s death said while the state prefers placing foster children with relatives, it should never have permitted T.J. to live with Bunnell and Delestre, who each had juvenile records and were already raising two children of their own.
According to a statement Delestre gave police, he and Bunnell returned home early on Oct. 30, 2004 from a night of drinking to find their home "trashed." They blamed T.J.
Delestre acknowledged hitting the child, causing him to flip backward down the stairs, but said he did not mean to injure him. A baby sitter testified at a hearing that she saw Bunnell smack T.J.
"I was so mad. I just tapped him, and he just fell back," Delestre said in the statement. "He's clumsy a little, you know?"
Bunnell and Delestre have pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy. Bunnell's attorney did not return phone messages. Delestre's lawyer declined to comment.
The panel report identified at least five missed opportunities to protect T.J. It also offered 15 recommendations, such as reducing caseworkers' workloads and conducting thorough background checks before foster children are placed with relatives.
The suit describes a system in which caseworkers are too busy to meet with all the children assigned to them, siblings are unnecessarily split up and kids spend too long in emergency shelters.
Martinez said the department's improvements include providing more training for caseworkers and their supervisors. In addition, the department has its own fingerprinting machine to allow for swifter background checks, and ten additional caseworkers are being hired.
The lawsuit cites 10 children who it says have been cycled from home-to-home and either sexually assaulted, attacked or returned to parents who had previously abused them. Carcieri said it did not appear that DCYF knowingly endangered any child.
Alston said the children cited in her case are simply examples of all that can go wrong and that her goal is to force sweeping change of a system she believes is badly broken.
"T.J. is the worst that can happen in terms of a child dying," she said. "But there are still little horrors happening.
By Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer | July 7, 2007