Dallas mom gets 16 years for daughter's diabetes-related death

[TexasTowelie]

A Dallas woman has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the neglect-related death of her diabetic 9-year-old daughter.

A judge in Dallas on Monday sentenced 31-year-old Georgia Jones. Jones pleaded guilty to felony injury to a child in the May 2008 death of Chastity Butler. The death was ruled natural due to diabetic complications.

The Dallas Morning News reports the girl died on her mother's bed next to a bag of candy and a half-eaten cupcake. The family was celebrating a relative's birthday at the time of the death.

Investigators say Chastity's diabetes was not properly monitored and that caused the girl to be constantly sick. Police say the mother did not show up for a diabetes-care class after her daughter was diagnosed.

Source: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Dallas-mom-gets-16-years-for-daughter-s-4366874.php

[graham4anything]

1. Good for the Judge. Why did this take 5 years to come to trial?

Health and Human services should have taken this child away from this abusive parent.

Diabetes is a treatable disease, and for some, the proper diet and lifestyle changes can lead to medicine not being needed in due time.

A child cannot do it alone, and most adults can not do it alone, it's taking things one day at a time.

Parents who do not give their children the lifesaving medicine they need, are abusive.

The state should have acted on this childs behalf years ago.

Why did this take 5 years to get a verdict?
Has this mother been in jail those years?
If so, does this sentence mean 16 more years?

Seems the child had no justice in life.

Like all the kids who do not get treated because of the QuackWakefields in the world

[TexasTowelie]

3. Please see the link in post #2. nt

[TexasTowelie]

4. Added second link to post #2.

CPS was looking at the parents beginning in 2001 when her children were left unattended in a parking lot.

The child also had multiple hospitalizations in 2006 and 2007. The young girl and her younger sister often had to administer the blood glucose tests themselves.

The children should have been placed in protective custody so not only did the mother neglect the child, but her relatives and the system (CPS) neglected her also.

[hobbit709]

10. CPS is overworked and understaffed thanks to our Legislature.

Basically there has to be blood on the floor before they do anything. My wife worked in a children's shelter for over 30 years and she saw this constantly.

[TexasTowelie]

2. Additional information:

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/judge-sentences-mother-to-16-years-in-prison-for-not-preventing-girls-death-from-diabetic-complications.html/

It looks like Child Protective Services may also be at fault:

http://stopcorruptdss.wordpress.com/tag/chasity-butler/

[Ilsa]

5. If the girl had been

given diabetes education, she could have been old enough to handle the basics of her routine herself (but not emergency situations, of course). Nine year olds are capable of learning dietary restrictions, but they have to be developmentally mature enough to make the right choices. But once again, that was the parents' responsibility.

Has the father been charged?

[TexasTowelie]

6. I haven't found any information about whether the father was charged.

The last article I posted said that the couple was separated. The mother had five children and legal problems due to credit card abuse.

I agree that the child is old enough to check her blood sugar levels and even inject insulin herself. However, it is questionable if she had the medical supplies necessary to administer her medications (insulin, syringes, glucose test strips, etc.). If the mother was so negligent that she didn't take care of the medical needs of her child, then I doubt that she would have taken the time to contact social services to obtain those supplies or even obtain SNAP benefits so that a diet of quality food could be provided for the daughter.

However, I agree that the father should have been more pro-active about looking after his daughter. Even if he wasn't able to have a relationship with the mother, then he should have been alerting CPS about his concerns. There are probably some elements to this story that are missing though (physical abuse or drug abuse). It's plain out sad that the parents failed her and it appears that CPS should have been more involved also.

[Ilsa]

7. I've known several CPS workers,

And they are handling high caseloads. I think some blame needs to extend to the Lege if they aren't going to fund staff increases to meet higher population demands.

I'm not saying they are to blame, but the people closest to the girl (school nurse, teacher, neighbor, father, grandmother) could have called the police and requested the girl be taken to the hospital if they could see that the mother was grossly negligent (not providing supplies, girl was unable to self-inject, etc). Then the hospital could call for immediate social services support to get the girl into foster care upon hospital discharge. At some point, continually calling CPS for a long term solution doesn't work if the girl is sick and not being cared for and needs help immediately.

I read some of the newspaper article comments. They were thinking CPS needed to be acting on information that isn't there. They don't realize that CPS has to build a case unless they have indications of immediate danger. For example, a lot of parents don't send BG level reports to the doctor on a timely basis. They may keep a record at home and school, but not remember to submit it. Lack of reporting wouldnt necessarily be a cause for concern if the parent says they are actively managing her health. That lack of reporting might not be sufficient cause for CPS to seek an order to remove a child, and possibly get sued or workers lose their jobs.

I think there is plenty of blame for both parents.

[TexasTowelie]

8. I agree that most of the blame belongs on the parents and

it wasn't my intention to place the blame on CPS workers. Considering the length of time there were probably several CPS workers that oversaw the woman involved so it would be difficult and time-consuming to build a case that would have lead the state to take custody of the children. Nobody should expect the government to solve all the problems that exist.

I am also aware that the CPS workers in Dallas county have a huge caseload. One instance that I'm aware of involved a morbidly obese woman that didn't take care of either her physical or mental health conditions. The woman was known at virtually all of the drug rehab treatment centers in the county. After each stint at rehab she would end up prostituting herself on the streets so that she could afford her drug habit. The woman already had three children within five years and was pregnant with her fourth child while still using crack and heroin. CPS had already taken custody of the three children and told her that if she didn't straighten up her life that the new baby would be placed in a foster home immediately after birth.

The situation that occurred with that child and the fact that the child was also abandoned in a parking lot twice should have sent up red flags at CPS and required more monitoring on their part. I agree with you that the Legislature and other governmental officials (including the governor) bear a portion of the blame as well.

It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in Texas that we lack the compassion and will power to step up our social service programs to avoid these tragic outcomes. Considering that the mother of the diabetic child was negligent in so many ways, I doubt that the woman would have consulted with an attorney to retain custody of the child. Therefore, I don't believe that a lawsuit would be (or should be) an over-riding concern of the CPS workers.

Now that we parceled out the blame for this event, my wish is that our legislators (and governor) wake up and do something to attempt to correct the problems that exist.

[Ilsa]

9. ITA.

Especially your last sentence.

A lot of people who work with the public tend to fear lawsuits in situations like this where hysteria reigns or over-reaching looks to be possible. The fear is that a lawyer will come forward to work the sympathetic case pro bono for notoriety