CPS has previously investigated parents of burned baby who died

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Houston Chronicle

CPS has previously investigated parents of burned baby who died
By Erin Mulvaney | March 28, 2013 | Updated: March 28, 2013 3:27pm

The parents of the 10-month-old boy who died in a Pasadena hospital Wednesday have previously been investigated for their child's injuries, officials said.

Pasadena police are investigating the baby's death after he was severely burned on more than half of his body by scalding water. His parents brought him to the Bayshore Medical Center Wednesday afternoon, said Vance Mitchell, Pasadena Police Department spokesman.

Hospital officials alerted police when they saw the child's severe burns, which were on the lower part of his body, just below the waist and all the way down. A few minutes later, around 3 p.m., he died at the hospital.

The cause of death is pending autopsy results from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

A police detective went to the hospital to question the family, who told authorities they wanted an attorney, Mitchell said.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/CPS-has-previously-investigated-parents-of-burned-4392600.php

[Divernan]

1. Police: "We aren't sure if there is foul play." WTF???

When an infant is severely burned over 50 percent of his body, there's no question there was foul play - just a question of how directly the various parents/grandparents in the home were involved in the abuse! And "foul play" is too mild a term for what happened to this baby. I would go with depraved and horrendous torture.

"CPS spokeswoman Estella Olguin said this family and child have been involved in an investigation previously.

"On June 13, 2012, officials received a report of alleged abuse when the then-1-month-old baby had a fractured leg. A week later, the child was placed with relatives until a court ruled on Dec. 18 that the child should be returned to his parents. CPS continued to monitor the case and had routine house visits as recently as March 12 of this year. The child was living with his parents and grandparents when he died.

The case worker saw the child that day and did not see any injuries or signs of abuse or neglec

Mitchell(police officer) said it's too early to know if charges will be filed in this case. "We just want to know what did happen," Mitchell said. "We aren't sure if there is foul play at this point."

[freshwest]

2. More details at this link:

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Baby-death-investigation-in-Pasadena--200323081.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Someone at Child Protective Services will need to do some soul-searching over this,

and come to grips with the facts they returned this helpless being to the home which had harmed him already.

Thank you for providing this link.

Sure hope to see the law will treat this situation with the seriousness it unfortunately deserves.

[freshwest]

4. It's hard to think of the agony this child endured in less than a year of life.

If people can't parent, they should admit it and find a child a home. There may be some other factor going on here - I wonder about the ability of the parents intellectually or in terms of emotional maturity.

Or if they 'd gone off the deep end with some punishing belief system or mental disorder. I remember the case of a young father who fancied himself a pastor in Galveston and put his baby in the microwave. He said he had demons. There are some crazy things going on.

That poor baby.