Fresno foster mom, 23, arrested in baby girl's death

Fresno foster mom, 23, arrested in baby girl's death - Afternoon's top stories - fresnobee.com

Posted at 02:05 PM on Friday, Mar. 18, 2011
By Jim Guy / The Fresno Bee
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A 23-year-old Fresno foster mother was booked this week on murder charges in the death of a 7-week-old girl who police say was the victim of shaken-baby syndrome.
Mikayla Tabin died last September at Children's Hospital Central California, prompting child welfare and law enforcement officials to launch an investigation.
Jovannee Reynolds was arrested by Fresno police Thursday after a months-long investigation that revealed shaken-baby syndrome, a term used to describe symptoms resulting from violent shaking of an infant or small child's head.
On Aug. 30, Fresno County Child Protective Services placed Mikayla with Reynolds and her husband at their central Fresno apartment on the 3200 block of West Ashlan Avenue.
On Sept. 13, the couple took Mikayla to Children's Hospital, saying the infant was having difficulty breathing. Mikayla died Sept. 20.

Jovannee Reynolds
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The Fresno Police Department's Child Abuse Unit and the Fresno County Coroner's Office began investigating what they determined was a suspicious death.
Reynolds' husband was not arrested, and police Lt. Mark Salazar said he is not a suspect.
Fresno County Social Services Director Catherine Huerta said the news was devastating. "When children go into a foster system, we assume the child is going to be safe," she said. "That obviously wasn't the case. It's just heartbreaking."
Huerta said social service workers routinely look into home safety, do background checks on potential foster parents and arrange for parenting classes. She said workers are trained to spot those who should not be parenting.
Huerta said after news of Mikayla's death last year, her department looked back at the case to see if there were any warning signs that Reynolds should not be a candidate for foster parenting. Huerta said there weren't.
Huerta said putting children in foster homes "puts us in a vulnerable situation. I don't know how we can't be."
Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea said there must be "massive reform" of the state's foster care system. "It's always a tragedy to a community when we lose a child," he said. "Here's another child who died in the care of Fresno County. We should do better."
Since 2006, there have been at least three cases that resulted in a parent or guardian being charged with killing a child after Fresno County social workers already had been warned about abuse or neglect.
The deaths of 10-year-old Seth Ireland, 3-year-old Erianna Beltran and 3-month-old Roman Quiroz led Perea to make repeated calls for reform of the county's Child Protective Services.
The last publicized case of a child dying in Fresno County foster care happened in 2008. In that case, there was a dispute about what caused the child's death.
Justin Thomas Murrieta's natural parents have said they believe he was smothered by a pillow.
But the Coroner's Office found that Justin died of natural circumstances -- a sudden, unexplained death of an otherwise healthy baby, Deputy Coroner Sarah Davis said. No signs of trauma were found, she said.

STAFF WRITER PAULA LLOYD CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT. THE REPORTER CAN BE REACHED AT JGUY@FRESNOBEE.COM OR (559) 441-6339.


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