http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/07/foster_mothers_c...

Globe Staff / November 7, 2007

Jennifer Kadilak smiled brightly yesterday when talking about Dontel
Jeffers, who was 4 years old and around 3 feet tall when the social
worker got to know him at a Dorchester emergency shelter for children.

"He was just incredibly endearing and very, very cute," Kadilak, who met
Dontel at the Bridge Home shelter where she worked, testified in Suffolk
Superior Court.

Dontel left the shelter on Feb. 24, 2005, in the care of his foster
mother, Corinne N. Stephen, who was then living on Ballou Avenue in
Dorchester.

Ten days later, doctors met a radically different Dontel: His left eye
was bruised. His face was scratched. Both wrists and one leg had
ligature marks. His intestine had been punctured, releasing poisonous
waste into his body. His throat had interior bruises as if someone had
tried to squeeze off his breath.

The doctors at Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester tried for 45
minutes to revive the boy, but they were unsuccessful.

The responsibility for Dontel's death, Suffolk Assistant District
Attorney David Deakin said yesterday, lies with Stephen, who is being
tried on second-degree murder charges.

"She was the sole caretaker" during those 10 days, Deakin said. "She
allowed him to suffer bruises. She called no one. Not a doctor. Not a
hospital. Not 911. Not anyone. Until it was far too late to save him."

In his opening statement to the jury, Deakin said that the prosecution's
case would be based on circumstantial evidence and that there would be
no eyewitnesses to what happened to Dontel. But, he said, jurors will
know at the end of the trial that Stephen could have saved the boy's
life but chose not to.

Stephen's "choices caused the death, the untimely, avoidable death of
Dontel Jeffers," he said.

Defense lawyer John Palmer described Stephen in his opening statement as
a career foster mother who had safely cared for other children.

She had a good reputation with Mentor Network Inc., the private child
welfare agency where she worked, he said.

A graduate of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School who had
taken nursing classes at Salem State College, Stephen was also a single
mother and a member of the Army National Guard, he said.

Palmer said Stephen did not batter the child, nor was she responsible
for his death.

"Keep an open mind throughout this entire case," Palmer urged jurors.

Sitting in court yesterday were Dontel's grandmother, Agatha Jeffers,
and other family members who regularly visited the child while he was at
the Bridge Home and who had repeatedly begged the Department of Social
Services to let the child live with them.

After Dontel's death, former DSS commissioner Harry Spence personally
apologized to the Jeffers family for the mistakes made, including
failing to tell them that the boy had been transferred into Stephen's
custody.

DSS got involved in Dontel's life after his biological mother stopped
caring for him properly. Elary Jeffers, the child's father, had been the
boy's primary caretaker, but his father was deported to his native
Caribbean island of Nevis.

Taken by DSS from his mother's home, Dontel was sent to Bridge Home to
be assessed for his next placement. DSS hired Mentor Network to provide
a foster mother.

The prosecution is not alleging that Stephen inflicted the abuse that
led to Dontel's death. With no direct evidence as to what happened to
the boy, prosecutors have decided to charge that Stephen failed to
prevent his death.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle told jurors that
prosecutors do not have to prove Stephen actually delivered the blows
that harmed Dontel. Instead, she told them they must be convinced that
Stephen knew her actions would have caused the boy's death.

The judge also told jurors they will be given the option of convicting
Stephen, finding her not guilty, or convicting her of a lesser charge,
involuntary manslaughter. Second-degree murder carries a sentence of
life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum of 20 years.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...