Spring Hill Tenn. woman pleads guilty to imprisoning foster kids

Blog authors note: Why, was this allowed to happen when this person was convited of 5 counts of abusing the same girl in 2003? Why would someone convicted of child abuse be allowed to be a foster person? What is wrong with CPS, DSS or whatever they want to be called?
-----

Written by Jill Cecil Wiersma

SPRING HILL — A woman accused of abusing two foster children in her care pleaded guilty today to some of the 15 original charges against her.

Shelley Blair faces sentencing Dec. 7 on four charges: two counts of aggravated assault, attempted especially aggravated kidnapping and kidnapping.

Blair faces 14-22 years in prison for those charges, said Spring Hill Police Detective Geoff Betts, the lead detective in the case.

On the morning of Oct. 20, 2008, Officer Jesus Lopez noticed the malnourished and poorly groomed children — a 12-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl — walking near Belshire Way on Main Street.

Lopez noticed one child was riding a bicycle without a helmet and wondered why they were not in school.

Both children were in Blair's care and had been imprisoned in her Spring Hill Estates home where she denied them food and drink and access to a bathroom.

The children were treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and turned over to the Department of Children's Services during the investigation.

Blair has been charged before for child abuse. In 2003, she was charged with five counts of abusing the same girl.

Betts said Tuesday’s court proceedings took only about 10 minutes, but that he expected there to be hours of details discussed at the sentencing hearing.

Source http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111011/WILLIAMSON01/111011022/Spring-Hill-woman-pleads-guilty-imprisoning-foster-kids