In the Seattle Times this morning there was an article about an adult named Gomez and her trial for abuse and 1st degree manslaughter back in September 2003. The article was about the foster care organization that was in charge of Gomez's son Rafael also known as Raffy. The baby was born with methamphetamine "meth". Three days after his birth he was put into foster care. Over a short time he was in 4 different foster homes but kept getting sent back to his birth mother.
Six months after Raffy was with his birth mother he died. Gomez says Raffy threw himself out of his high chair 3 times when eating his meal which lead to his death. Raffy had severe force drama to his head. The question is why didn't his mother do something? I mean after the first time her son supposedly threw himself out of the high chair why did she put him back in it? The other question is why was Raffy in the care of his birth mother. The adjacency did not do a good job at all checking out the mother. I'm wondering why this is. Why didn't they look into Gomez since she is into meth and she also has 5 other children in foster homes. It just doesn't add up to me.
I feel as though the adjacency is to blame along with Gomez. There is an apparent reason why her other children do not live with her. I feel as though this case was over looked. The poor child was in and out of foster homes 4 times over 2 years. Something is not right. I hope the investigators figure out what really happened for I do not think the child threw himself out of his chair 3 times and if so he should not have been able to do so if Gomez was watching him properly. Now a child has paid the price for a mother that was careless and should have not had rights to him.
Here is the link to the article.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003566167_webtrial10.html
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4 comments:
I don't know about Moses Lake, but in general, Washington State case workers, are overwhelmed with having to deal with multiple cases, and limited places to put abused children. It's a horrible system, and other high-profile cases (Eli - about a decade or two ago)showed that in many cases the case workers' hands are tied. They don't have the resources or state funding to adequately deal with these types of issues. Plus, it doesn't help if you're a bleeding heart and fall for the crocodile tears, ignoring the fact that FIVE other children are in the system, doesn't help. I have a friend in Spokane who is a case worker for the state, and she has confirmed that the reports are true - they are inundated with cases and with hiring freezes, lack of resources are the main reasons that kids are cycled through the system, only to be placed right back in the arms of those that cause the most damage. Also, my cousin was a foster parent for 15 years, and, she too, has confirmed that the state is just terrible about losing paper work, returning abused children back to their abusers, and not following up with these children. She has commented that many of the kids she's dealt with have gone on to lead lives of crime. It's a horrible structure the state has in place to deal with these types of issues. Good post.
I can only second Christine’s post. I used to work at Children's Home Society of Washington, and the things I saw there made me cry on a daily basis. Unfortunately case workers are overwhelmed and most lawmakers do believe that "reunification" is the answer: families should be together, and that is what's best for the child in the long run. Unfortunately this is often not the case. Many mothers are so far into drug addictions and bad relationships, their self esteems are so low, that even with the best intentions in the world, the child cannot be reunited with them. The problem is truly that the system is broken. There are just too many cases and not enough workers. I wasn't a case worker, I actually worked on more of the positive end of the spectrum: advocating for system's change, but even there, I could not last longer there than two years. It is heart-wrenching and I can only say: hats off to those who endure those daily struggles and save as many children as they do. I am deeply saddened by the Gomez story.
I suppose that we could chalk it up to overworked do-good case workers, we could blame the mother for her weakness in addiction, we could repeat all the things people already say when dealing with this sort of tragedy. OR, we could ask where is the father? There was mention of an "alleged" father in the Times article but nothing concrete.i find it more than a little annoying that single mothers are so common, especially poor, mentally ill, addiction ridden single mothers. why can't we hold the fathers equally accountable. but i admit that's not this issue.
This little boy was born in the back of a car, high on drugs to a woman who has had her other 5 children removed and an alleged father. It might be a miracle that this child didn't suffer anymore than he already did. I just think that a certain amount of common sense would apply here. I work for a non-profit agency that helps homeless mothers tranisition into permanent homes and i can tell you that none of the case workers in my office would ever see these facts and feel that a child belongs in this home. I think its sad that in the richest country in the world we place less value on the lives of children than we do on let's say a new sports arena for the sonics.....although luckily most people have the sense not to be up for that either…
First of all why is this woman continuing to have children? If you can not take care of the first child doesn't that make you want to stop? I just have such a hard time understanding this. Does this women have no feeling of responsibility to the children she brings into the world? It's a good thing she is now being made accountable, but it feels a little too late. I know there are many reasons why social services are overworked and not properly staffed, but then who is in the position of changing that and why are they not. Too many children slip through the cracks for this not to be an issue. Why must we just accept the same excuses over and over again?
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