Young boy’s death at hands of foster parents led to change

Marcus Fiesel was killed five years ago, prompting overhaul of child welfare system.

By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer
2:20 AM Sunday, August 7, 2011

It’s been five years since the death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel at the hands of his foster parents that captured the attention of the region, state and nation, sent two people to prison for the rest of their lives and led to a child welfare system overhaul.

Marcus, the Middletown boy with an impish grin, would have turned 8 in June. Instead of marking another birthday, he will be remembered for his horrific death.

The developmentally disabled boy was bound in a blanket wrapped with duct tape and placed in a playpen inside an upstairs closet while Liz and David Carroll Jr., live-in girlfriend Amy Baker, their children and foster children, and even the family dog, traveled to an August family reunion in Kentucky during the hottest days of the year.

“I’d like to think the laws that have changed in his memory have been beneficial in the fact that we haven’t had any other child have the same fate that he did,” said Gary Cates, a former state senator from West Chester Twp. “If that’s his legacy, that no other child’s been harmed, then that’s a tremendous legacy that Marcus left other children.”

Both Liz and David Carroll declined interview requests from prison.

Marcus’ death during the weekend of Aug. 4-6, 2006, in the closet of the Carrolls’ Union Twp. home in Clermont County placed a giant spotlight on some gaping holes in the child welfare system and led private foster placement agency, the former Lifeway for Youth, from operating in the state.

While his death was the breaking point to prompt reform in Ohio’s foster care and children services system, other children died while under the charge of Butler County Children Services: Tiffany Hubbard, 3, of Hamilton in 1986; Randi Fuller, 2, of Hamilton, in 2000; Christopher Long, 2, of Middletown, in 2001; Courtney Centers, 3, of Middletown in 2002; Jesus Rodriquez, 7 months, of Hamilton in 2003; and Justin Johnson, 13 months, of Middletown in 2004.

Marcus’ hurdles

Born on June 24, 2003, Marcus had many obstacles from the start. He was born with a developmental disability — though not specifically diagnosed, he had “global delays” and needed 24-hour care and attention.

Marcus slept on a foam mat at the home of his biological mother, Donna Trevino, and he and his siblings were not closely watched or cared for. Butler County Children Services became involved with the family in Aug. 9, 2004.

When Marcus was found wandering the streets on April 22, 2006, almost being hit by a car — roughly four months after he accidentally fell out of a second-story window — caseworkers removed Trevino’s three children from her home, where reports showed there was feces on the carpet and wall of the flea-infested home. This was the third time her children had been taken from her care.

The day Marcus 
went ‘missing’

The public story of Marcus’ disappearance began on Aug. 15, 2006, after Liz Carroll collapsed from an apparent heart condition at an Anderson Twp. park in Hamilton County. When medics responded, she told them she brought four children to the park, but only three were present. This sparked a massive three-day search by hundreds of volunteers, law enforcement and search and rescue teams.

“I still have nightmares about that little guy,” said Jann Heffner, then director of Butler County Children Services. “You don’t get into this business unless you care about the care and physical well being of a child.”

She and some of her staff, including Marcus’ caseworker Joe Beumer went out immediately to search for the child.

Beumer was in “shock and disbelief” but said the story of his disappearance “wasn’t adding up.” He doubted Marcus would have run off — even though that would be something he would do, when his foster mother collapsed. “Any child that experiences something like that I think their natural instinct would be to stay with that person that’s hurt,” he said, “even if they couldn’t do anything they would just sit there.”

Worry quickly turned into horror at the end of August 2006 when the Carrolls were charged with murder.

The case

Not many things hang on the walls in Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters’ office, but a drawing of Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Jim Borgman of Marcus holding hands with God walking toward heaven has a special place.

“To this day it just chills me that someone could do that to a little baby. They are where they belong and they will have to answer to God,” Deters said.

Deters had prosecuted the case before it was moved over to Clermont County since Marcus died in the Carrolls’ home. He said he thinks about the 3-year-old boy “all the time.”

“The inhumanity of how they treated him, it boggles my mind when you’ve got children,” he said.

The story of Marcus’ disappearance unraveled at Liz Carroll’s televised news conference, which Deters watched from his office. “It was rehearsed and came off very untruthful,” he said.

He immediately brought in Liz Carroll and Amy Baker (who now goes by Amy Ramsey) before a county grand jury. He talked to Baker first, and with her attorney present, said “if she was not truthful, she’ll go to prison.” After consulting with her attorney — who Deters said was ghostly pale after the attorney-client conversation — Baker admitted what happened to Marcus.

“It was disgusting,” Deters said of her testimony.

She revealed Marcus had been dead for days before the disappearance hoax at the park, and that she helped David Carroll burn the boy’s body in rural Brown County and throw the rest of his remains in the Ohio River.

Following a jury trial in February 2007, Liz Carroll was convicted of charges including murder and sentenced to 54 years to life in prison; her husband later was sentenced to 16 years to life as part of a plea deal.

The aftermath

An Ohio Department of Job and Family Services investigation pointed blame at Lifeway for Youth, the New Carlisle, Ohio-based foster care provider that placed Marcus with the Carrolls.

For reasons that include and extend beyond Marcus’ case, ODJFS later pulled Lifeway’s operational certificate, a decision upheld by a Franklin County judge.

Although investigations determined that Butler County Children Services did nothing wrong, Heffner was moved into a consulting role and then fired by the county commissioners. The Butler County Children Services Board — initially formed in the wake of 3-year-old Tiffany Hubbard’s abuse and death in 1986 at the hands of her biological father — was disbanded.

The Rev. Johnny Wade Sloan, chairman of the 11-member board, didn’t agree or see the reason to disband the board.

“(The Carrolls) promised 24-hour adult supervision and there was no reason for us not to place (the kids) when (Lifeway was) telling us, as a licensed agency, they had an ideal place,” he said.

But Sloan and Heffner said the decisions to disband the board and fire Heffner were political moves and not a result of Marcus’ death. “Marcus Fiesel became the focal point for that happening because that would have happened regardless,” Sloan said. Former Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox resigned his elected seat and later was appointment Children Services director. He has since resigned and is headed to federal prison in an unrelated case.

System changes

The death of Marcus Fiesel prompted change the Ohio child welfare system, though the need for retooling the system had been evident for years, said Gary Cates, a former state senator from West Chester Twp.

In 2007, Cates introduced legislation in the Ohio Senate and Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, introduced legislation in the Statehouse.

“I hope and pray that it never happens again,” Combs said of Marcus’ death.

Implementing the legislation requirements cost about $15 million in both the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years, said ODJFS spokeswoman Angela Terez. That investment included about $5.2 million in federal funds in each of the years, she said. After Marcus’ death, the Criminal Justice Information System, formed in Montgomery County, expanded to now include 14 Ohio counties. Had CJIS been in effect in Butler County, Marcus could have been pulled from the Carroll home following a June 2006 domestic violence arrest of David Carroll Jr., though the charge was later dismissed.

“Any foster parent in our network — even foster parents where we don’t have children in their homes — if they are pulled over even for a speeding ticket we’re made aware of it instantly,” said Jeff Centers, current children services director. “Anything that might raise a red flag, we’ll know about it immediately.”

Centers said the county pays $46,000 a year for the CJIS licensing records checks and that the agency also has a $95,000 annual contract with the county sheriff’s office to have a deputy supervise the investigations unit and provide services such as security and finding runaways.

Source http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/young-boys-death-at-hands-of-foster-parents-led-to-change-1224553.html

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Tristen

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Tristen I took my video camera to a Foster Care Alumni meeting and asked seven foster kids to tell me about there experiences in Child Protective Services while wards of the state. One thing they all had in common was massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs. Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes get paid a certain amount of money each day for taking care of a foster child. The amount of money they get paid depends on a level of care system. The more difficult the child or the more problems that child has, the more money you get. A child at the basic level of care is worth about 17 dollars a day where as a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a 1000 dollars a day. This puts the incentive on diagnosing children with behavior problems to justify raising their level of care. A child on psychiatric drugs is worth more than a child without problems. It is not uncommon for a foster child to be placed on many different psychotropic drugs at the same time. Some investigations have found children on as many as 13 mind altering drugs prescribed by a psychiatrists at one time. These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsants medications, etc. The SSRI drugs are commons such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. Also a number of these children described taking …

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Aisha

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Aisha I took my video camera to a Foster Care Alumni meeting and asked seven foster kids to tell me about there experiences in Child Protective Services while wards of the state. One thing they all had in common was massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs. Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes get paid a certain amount of money each day for taking care of a foster child. The amount of money they get paid depends on a level of care system. The more difficult the child or the more problems that child has, the more money you get. A child at the basic level of care is worth about 17 dollars a day where as a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a 1000 dollars a day. This puts the incentive on diagnosing children with behavior problems to justify raising their level of care. A child on psychiatric drugs is worth more than a child without problems. It is not uncommon for a foster child to be placed on many different psychotropic drugs at the same time. Some investigations have found children on as many as 13 mind altering drugs prescribed by a psychiatrists at one time. These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsants medications, etc. The SSRI drugs are commons such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. Also a number of these children described taking …

Source: http://health5news.com/?p=1631

Mom jailed for false child abuse story against ex

The Associated Press

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Three southwest Florida residents have been charged with falsely reporting child abuse to the state hotline.

Lisa Ann Schinnow was arrested Tuesday after officials say the 48-year-old woman called in three separate reports alleging her ex-husband was abusing their son. DCF found no evidence of abuse and believe Schinnow made the allegations because of the custody arrangement.

Taiwandra Burks and Stacey Hendry were also arrested last week for making false child abuse reports after DCF investigated claims that a child was being sexually abused. The agency found no evidence of abuse.

Falsely reporting child abuse is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Each report is a separate violation.

DCF stressed false reports waste time and resources for investigators busy with thousands of legitimate cases.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/17/2363282/mom-jailed-for-false-child-abuse.html

Newspapers accuse state of illegally withholding child-death records

By Beth Musgrave — bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

Posted: 7:43pm on Aug 17, 2011; Modified: 10:18pm on Aug 17, 2011

FRANKFORT — A lawyer for Kentucky's two largest newspapers told a Franklin Circuit Court judge Wednesday that the state was "thumbing its nose at the law" by withholding records relating to the deaths of abused and neglected children.

"They are acting illegally and they are doing it in a brazen fashion," said Jon Fleischaker, a lawyer representing the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

Fleischaker's comments came during a hearing about whether the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which oversees child protection, must turn over records regarding children who died of abuse and neglect while under the state's care. This is the second time in two years the newspapers have sued the cabinet to get such records.

Cabinet officials said Wednesday there were about 44 cases during the past two years that involved children who died or were nearly killed as a result of abuse and neglect while under the cabinet's supervision.

Meanwhile, a convicted murderer and four anonymous women tried to intervene in the case, saying release of the records would harm a legal appeal or violate privacy rights.

Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson also wrote a letter to Judge Phillip Shepherd expressing concerns about the release of child death documents. Larson said it could prejudice a jury if documents were released about the death of Katelynn Stinnett, a 2-year-old Fayette County girl. Brian Crabtree, who lived with Stinnett's father at the time of her death on Nov. 26, 2008, has been charged with rape and murder.

Shepherd on Wednesday allowed Patrick Watkins to intervene in the case.

Watkins and his wife were sentenced to life in prison in October 2008 for the murder of their daughter Michaela Watkins, 10. The Clark County girl's body was found severely bruised and burned on March 11, 2007, at the Watkinses' apartment. She had more than 77 injuries at the time of her death.

B. Scott West, a lawyer for Watkins, argued that Watkins could be granted a new trial and that releasing the cabinet's documents regarding Michaela could prejudice a jury. The state Supreme Court has overturned part of the case against Watkins but the Supreme Court's decision is not final yet.

Scott White, a Lexington lawyer, also filed a motion to intervene in the case on behalf of four anonymous women who say their privacy rights would be violated if the information requested by the media was made public. White said the four women had been investigated for abuse and neglect of their children.

Fleischaker questioned why the women could file to intervene in the case without telling the court who they were. There is no provision in the law that would allow the women to do so, he said.

White argued that their privacy rights would be violated if he revealed their identities before Shepherd ruled on whether they had a right to intervene. Shepherd said he would rule soon on whether the women could file to intervene as "Jane Does."

Fleischaker also argued Wednesday that the cabinet was purposely dragging its feet on releasing records regarding child deaths, despite a previous order by Shepherd that declared similar documents were public. The cabinet has engaged in a series of moves to thwart the media's attempts to get those records, lawyers for the media have argued.

Brent Irvin, a lawyer for the cabinet, said the cabinet was not trying to circumvent the law. The cabinet still thinks federal law prohibits it from releasing some of the records.

If the cabinet releases information that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says is private, the state fears it could lose federal child protection funding, Irvin said.

Shepherd asked whether any state had ever lost federal funding because of the release of information about child deaths. Irvin said he was not sure.

Both newspapers sued the cabinet in 2010 to get access to records regarding the death of Kayden Branham, a 20-month-old Wayne County toddler who died after drinking drain cleaner used to make methamphetamine. He and his teen mother had been under cabinet supervision before his death.

After Shepherd made public the documents regarding Branham's death, both newspapers filed requests to get records about other children who have died of abuse and neglect while under the cabinet's care.

The cabinet denied both requests and then filed an emergency state regulation that limited the amount of information it could release about child deaths. The media sued the cabinet again in state court in January, but the cabinet had the case transferred to federal court. A federal court judge later ruled that the case involved state law, not federal law, and returned it to Shepherd's court.

Fleischaker argued that the issues before the court Wednesday were the same as those in the case involving Kayden Branham. The cabinet did not appeal Shepherd's previous ruling, Fleischaker noted.

"They don't care what the law is," Fleischaker said of the cabinet.

Irvin countered that there are still unanswered questions about what should be released to the public.

Shepherd released some of the information involving Kayden's death after he reviewed the file, but he did not tell the cabinet what information he chose not to release, Irvin said.

Shepherd said Wednesday that he released all of the information about Kayden Branham and his mother. The only records he did not release were about another minor related to Kayden Bran ham's mother.

Source: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/08/17/1849003/newspapers-accuse-state-of-illegally.html