Baby dies in foster system

Baby dies in foster system

Michael Patterson Jr. (picture provided by family)


Story Created: Mar 23, 2010 at 10:29 PM PDT
Story Updated: Mar 24, 2010 at 10:44 AM PDT
By Jose Gaspar, Eyewitness News
Video
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Michael Patterson Jr. would have been 6 months old on Friday, but he did not quite make it.

The boy died while in the care of a foster home.

"It's just pain right now that's killing me," said the baby's father, 21-year-old Michael Patterson.

The Kern County Coroner's office confirms the baby died at Mercy Hospital on Monday night. The baby was found to be unresponsive in his crib at the foster home and then rushed to Mercy Hospital.

An autopsy was completed, and the cause of death is still pending. There were no signs of foul play, according to the coroner's office.

"We don't know if he died at home or he was dead on arrival at Mercy Hospital," said Elaine Bradley, the baby's great aunt. "All we know is we don't have a child anymore."

Patterson said he had been trying to gain custody of his son, but a court placed the child in a foster home after the boy's mother, 28-year-old Lakisha Toles, was arrested and sentenced for shoplifting at a Wal-Mart store in January.

"I want justice," said Patterson. "I just have to leave it to the man upstairs, put it in God's hands seeking help to find out what happened."

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/88986992.html