More CPS Incompetence: Lakeland mom charged with negligence, manslaughter in 3-month-old daughter’s death

Blog authors note:
The gross negligence and incompetence by CPS is so horrible - children are injurred and killed daily - while under the watch of CPS. Why? If CPS is truly doing the job that they are trained to do, how does this happen so frequently? They are trained professionals in the field of child abuse, right?
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By: Jeff Butera

LAKELAND, Fla. - A Lakeland mother is charged with negligent manslaughter in the death of her 3-month-old daughter, and is also accused of lying to police about what happened.

Kylee Copeland, 21, was arrested earlier this week after her daughter, Nataley Agee, was found dead at their house in Briarwood Estates near the county line.

Copeland claimed she had found Nataley dead at 9 a.m. on Monday. Investigators said that was a lie. They said evidence on Nataley’s body indicated she had been dead for at least eight hours before Copeland called 911.

They also said roaches, which “infested the residence,” had bitten Nataley after she died but well before Copeland called for help.

Multiple neighbors at Briarwood Estates confirmed that the house was infested with roaches, including in Nataley's crib.

The medical examiner also determined Nataley's cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head, consistent with child abuse.

Copeland told detectives in a subsequent story that the child had fallen on the couch cushion and bounced to the floor, but investigators determined that to be false based on the trauma Nataley received to her brain.

Copeland faces a first-degree felony charge of negligent manslaughter.

“I don’t know how a mother could do that,” said Samantha O’Neill, a neighbor.

“I didn’t know that Kylee. I don’t want to know that Kylee. I just want justice for Nataley,” said Ashley Leath, Nataley’s godmother and neighbor.

According to law enforcement, Copeland disappeared for a few days in 2009 while raising her then 6-month old son. She did not come home from her job as a nightclub dancer, but turned up a few days later.

Copeland has two sons in addition to Nataley. They are now in foster care, according to Carrie Hoeppner, director of communications with the Department of Children and Families.

Hoeppner said DCF was currently investigating the family after an incident in August involving the childrens’ father. That investigation remains open. DCF also has four other reports about the family on file.

A social worker visited the family as recently as last week, Hoeppner said, but the social worker had not found any evidence of abuse and did not believe there was reason to suspect future violence.

Source http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_polk/lakeland/lakeland-mom-charged-with-negligence,-manslaughter-in-3-month-old-daughter%E2%80%99s-death