Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Friday, January 7, 2011
Death of restrained boy ruled homicide at Daystar in Manvel | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Death of restrained boy ruled homicide at Daystar in Manvel | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
37 Comments
Homicide ruled in 4th death at troubled kids' facility
Boy, 16, asphyxiated in November after being restrained inside a closet
By TERRI LANGFORD
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 7, 2011, 6:07AM
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The restraint death of a 16-year-old boy at Daystar Residential Inc., a facility for troubled children, has been ruled a homicide caused by "complications of mechanical asphyxia," according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science.
Michael Kevin Owens suffocated and died on Nov. 5 after a Daystar staffer placed him in a physical restraint inside a bedroom closet because he would not show the staffer what he held in his hand. Owens' death was the fourth restraint-related fatality to occur at Daystar or its sister facilities. Daystar is located 25 miles south of Houston.
The name of the staffer has not been released, and the case will go before a grand jury to determine whether criminal charges will be filed, according to Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne.
Owens' death occurred just days after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services notified Daystar that it was on probation, and the incident prompted the agency to place the Manvel-based facility, for the third time, under the watch of a state monitor.
The agency is reviewing the autopsy report, which was issued to them late Thursday.
"We have been going through a very deliberate process of evaluating Daystar's state license, and this ruling is an important piece," said Patrick Crimmins, DFPS' spokesman.
Earlier this summer the Houston Chronicle and the Texas Tribune reported that Daystar staffers had once urged developmentally disabled girls to fight one another for a snack. The 2008 incident was one of 250 confirmed abuse cases involving Daystar and 79 other residential treatment centers.
Since that report, the state agency has not moved any new foster care children into Daystar. After Owens' death, DFPS officials began relocating Texas children from Daystar because of its probation status. The last Texas foster care child was removed from Daystar on Wednesday. Five other foster care children — all from California - remain there.
Use of restraints cited
Last month, the agency issued its first report since Owens' death. In it, the state monitor raised questions over the repeated use of restraints during the same behavior incident. Daystar, wrote monitor Jeff Enzinna, releases children after two minutes of being restrained to give them a chance to regain control. But if a child continues to behave poorly, the staffer restrains the child again.
In November, 14 restraints were reported at Daystar, occurring during seven separate incidents.
One child was restrained four times during an 11-minute period. Another was restrained four times in a 15-minute period.
"If these children had not been released after 2 minutes but were held until calm as DFPS regulations allow, the number of restraints would have decreased by 50 percent," wrote Enzinna.
Daystar attorney John Carsey did not immediately return a Houston Chronicle phone call asking for comment.
terri.langford@chron.com
37 Comments
Homicide ruled in 4th death at troubled kids' facility
Boy, 16, asphyxiated in November after being restrained inside a closet
By TERRI LANGFORD
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 7, 2011, 6:07AM
Share
Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! Buzz FacebookStumbleUponEmail
The restraint death of a 16-year-old boy at Daystar Residential Inc., a facility for troubled children, has been ruled a homicide caused by "complications of mechanical asphyxia," according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science.
Michael Kevin Owens suffocated and died on Nov. 5 after a Daystar staffer placed him in a physical restraint inside a bedroom closet because he would not show the staffer what he held in his hand. Owens' death was the fourth restraint-related fatality to occur at Daystar or its sister facilities. Daystar is located 25 miles south of Houston.
The name of the staffer has not been released, and the case will go before a grand jury to determine whether criminal charges will be filed, according to Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne.
Owens' death occurred just days after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services notified Daystar that it was on probation, and the incident prompted the agency to place the Manvel-based facility, for the third time, under the watch of a state monitor.
The agency is reviewing the autopsy report, which was issued to them late Thursday.
"We have been going through a very deliberate process of evaluating Daystar's state license, and this ruling is an important piece," said Patrick Crimmins, DFPS' spokesman.
Earlier this summer the Houston Chronicle and the Texas Tribune reported that Daystar staffers had once urged developmentally disabled girls to fight one another for a snack. The 2008 incident was one of 250 confirmed abuse cases involving Daystar and 79 other residential treatment centers.
Since that report, the state agency has not moved any new foster care children into Daystar. After Owens' death, DFPS officials began relocating Texas children from Daystar because of its probation status. The last Texas foster care child was removed from Daystar on Wednesday. Five other foster care children — all from California - remain there.
Use of restraints cited
Last month, the agency issued its first report since Owens' death. In it, the state monitor raised questions over the repeated use of restraints during the same behavior incident. Daystar, wrote monitor Jeff Enzinna, releases children after two minutes of being restrained to give them a chance to regain control. But if a child continues to behave poorly, the staffer restrains the child again.
In November, 14 restraints were reported at Daystar, occurring during seven separate incidents.
One child was restrained four times during an 11-minute period. Another was restrained four times in a 15-minute period.
"If these children had not been released after 2 minutes but were held until calm as DFPS regulations allow, the number of restraints would have decreased by 50 percent," wrote Enzinna.
Daystar attorney John Carsey did not immediately return a Houston Chronicle phone call asking for comment.
terri.langford@chron.com
Legally Kidnapped: Story From A Former Foster Child
Legally Kidnapped: Story From A Former Foster Child
Story From A Former Foster Child
You ask, 'would you want you as mommy and why? YES! Speaking from the child's perspective..... because that's my mommy and she loves me! I believe you're arriving at certain conclusions predicated on her displayed frustration w/the morally decadent establishment. Worse yet are those believing they possess the intellectual faculty to decide who's fit or unfit. How dare you! God appointed unto the womb the heir of the estate... but this stinkin' society would rather make the determination instead. She's a whore, she's unemployed, she has fifty kids already, she had three boyfriends last week, she's at the bar again.... whatever. It sickens me that there exist those in this country believing in freedom for themselves but somehow find the excuse to regulate, manipulate, restrict, impede and impose upon another of equal status.
Unless one has been forced to endure the crippling effects of the foster system they have no room to speak. I've been through it... made a ward of the court at age three and forced into some eighteen different homes by the age of eighteen. Every one of those families were foster parents for one reason and one reason only...... MONEY! And yet they had the audacity to claim their love for me was far greater than the love of my own mother. What HOGWASH! From day one they begin the brainwashing... "your mother is a whore"... "your mamma's no good".... "your mom is trash"... "your momma doesn't work"... blah blah blah .... all done to create a prejudice against her... and it worked.
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night every week to indoctrinate me with their perception of truth. How many times did I hear "spare the rod spoil the child"?..... as they beat, slapped, punched, kicked using belts, sticks, screwdriver's, hammers, an axe ..... literally sent to the hospital on three separate occasions because the beatings were so severe, but, ya know, "tell grandma you fell off of the swing." What explanation reasons the shredding of my sister's picture? My only attachment.... 'They're not your family --- WE ARE!!! A hair brush used against my legs until the blood ran down and pooled on the floor. My brother was put in a bathtub with running cold water and beaten with a bread pin until the thing finally broke....(lied in court and produced evidence of a brand new rolling pin) and I as his brother was forced to watch and listen to the beatings. I'm now 47 and beginning to feel the effects of this abuse as my right elbow has bothered me the entirety of my adult life. Deprived and denied meals to the point that at eighteen (when I finally got to leave) I weighed a whole whopping 130 pounds. My self confidence and self esteem wane and to this day ... never married, no children (NO WAY), never bought a home and a job affording a mere survivability until I die. Because of this system I regretted birth, life and family but instead begged for death, mercy and peace. And I might add, mission accomplished! I had an absolute hatred of all men, women, authority and most especially this thing you called 'God'.... teaching parents to assert authority by whatever violent means necessary. You think I want to bring a child into this world? Think again! (And below is a mother whose child has been ripped from her arms and you mock her.) She obviously is what I'm not just by the sheer desire to procreate and bring forth new fruit/seed/heirs. I feel for her!
The so-called parents administrate a particular perception of truth.... The old law was nailed to the cross, eternal torment in a lake of fire for noncompliance to their will and authority, a soul separate from the body, a child shall obey his mother and father and a myriad of other half baked concoctions as they forced me to memorize biblical passages. Problem ... it wasn't MY ( that's MY) mommy or daddy telling me to do whatever! From where in the blankety blank does the authority originate for these imposters to impose their will upon another's child? Commie freakin' morons... in my opinion! As a child what choice in resistance do I have against Satan the foster dad? Or the love of Venus? Get real!!!
Fortunately I had the opportunity to embrace my natural mother one year before she passed... but I'm the exception. And how sad that anyone would have to go through life distinguishing between natural and foster! The words alone leave a bitter taste.
Regards,
Ken
Permission given to post this story.
Thank you for your story Ken.
Posted by LK
Story From A Former Foster Child
You ask, 'would you want you as mommy and why? YES! Speaking from the child's perspective..... because that's my mommy and she loves me! I believe you're arriving at certain conclusions predicated on her displayed frustration w/the morally decadent establishment. Worse yet are those believing they possess the intellectual faculty to decide who's fit or unfit. How dare you! God appointed unto the womb the heir of the estate... but this stinkin' society would rather make the determination instead. She's a whore, she's unemployed, she has fifty kids already, she had three boyfriends last week, she's at the bar again.... whatever. It sickens me that there exist those in this country believing in freedom for themselves but somehow find the excuse to regulate, manipulate, restrict, impede and impose upon another of equal status.
Unless one has been forced to endure the crippling effects of the foster system they have no room to speak. I've been through it... made a ward of the court at age three and forced into some eighteen different homes by the age of eighteen. Every one of those families were foster parents for one reason and one reason only...... MONEY! And yet they had the audacity to claim their love for me was far greater than the love of my own mother. What HOGWASH! From day one they begin the brainwashing... "your mother is a whore"... "your mamma's no good".... "your mom is trash"... "your momma doesn't work"... blah blah blah .... all done to create a prejudice against her... and it worked.
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night every week to indoctrinate me with their perception of truth. How many times did I hear "spare the rod spoil the child"?..... as they beat, slapped, punched, kicked using belts, sticks, screwdriver's, hammers, an axe ..... literally sent to the hospital on three separate occasions because the beatings were so severe, but, ya know, "tell grandma you fell off of the swing." What explanation reasons the shredding of my sister's picture? My only attachment.... 'They're not your family --- WE ARE!!! A hair brush used against my legs until the blood ran down and pooled on the floor. My brother was put in a bathtub with running cold water and beaten with a bread pin until the thing finally broke....(lied in court and produced evidence of a brand new rolling pin) and I as his brother was forced to watch and listen to the beatings. I'm now 47 and beginning to feel the effects of this abuse as my right elbow has bothered me the entirety of my adult life. Deprived and denied meals to the point that at eighteen (when I finally got to leave) I weighed a whole whopping 130 pounds. My self confidence and self esteem wane and to this day ... never married, no children (NO WAY), never bought a home and a job affording a mere survivability until I die. Because of this system I regretted birth, life and family but instead begged for death, mercy and peace. And I might add, mission accomplished! I had an absolute hatred of all men, women, authority and most especially this thing you called 'God'.... teaching parents to assert authority by whatever violent means necessary. You think I want to bring a child into this world? Think again! (And below is a mother whose child has been ripped from her arms and you mock her.) She obviously is what I'm not just by the sheer desire to procreate and bring forth new fruit/seed/heirs. I feel for her!
The so-called parents administrate a particular perception of truth.... The old law was nailed to the cross, eternal torment in a lake of fire for noncompliance to their will and authority, a soul separate from the body, a child shall obey his mother and father and a myriad of other half baked concoctions as they forced me to memorize biblical passages. Problem ... it wasn't MY ( that's MY) mommy or daddy telling me to do whatever! From where in the blankety blank does the authority originate for these imposters to impose their will upon another's child? Commie freakin' morons... in my opinion! As a child what choice in resistance do I have against Satan the foster dad? Or the love of Venus? Get real!!!
Fortunately I had the opportunity to embrace my natural mother one year before she passed... but I'm the exception. And how sad that anyone would have to go through life distinguishing between natural and foster! The words alone leave a bitter taste.
Regards,
Ken
Permission given to post this story.
Thank you for your story Ken.
Posted by LK
CPS-DHS does not want you to know this information.
Legally Kidnapped: CPS-DHS does not want you to know this information.
CPS/DCYF steal children from the families they believe won't fight back. DON'T be one of those families! DON'T let them into your homes without a warrant. Make sure you see and read the warrant. DON'T sign anything. DON'T offer any information AND DON'T answer any question's without YOUR Lawyer present!!
CPS/DCYF steal children from the families they believe won't fight back. DON'T be one of those families! DON'T let them into your homes without a warrant. Make sure you see and read the warrant. DON'T sign anything. DON'T offer any information AND DON'T answer any question's without YOUR Lawyer present!!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
NH Attorney Jaye Rancourt an Unethical Attorney: January 13, 2011 - NH Legislative Public Input session scheduled on 11:00 HB 81, public members of the guardian ad litem board and 1:15 HB 52, modification of parental rights and responsibilities
NH Attorney Jaye Rancourt an Unethical Attorney: January 13, 2011 - NH Legislative Public Input session scheduled on 11:00 HB 81, public members of the guardian ad litem board and 1:15 HB 52, modification of parental rights and responsibilities
There is a scheduled NH Legislative Public Input session coming up on two important 2011 Bills.
Public Input on these two bills has been scheduled for next Thursday January 13 at the Concord LOB Room 206. If you are unable to attend, please provide written testimony on each of these topics to the Children & Family Law Committee at CFL@leg.state.nh.us
The two bills can be viewed at the following links:
1:15 HB 52 modification of parental rights and responsibilities
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/billtext.aspx?billnumber=HB0052.html
11:00 HB 81 public members of the guardian ad litem board.
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/billtext.aspx?billnumber=HB0081.html
Posted by Fighting Back at 4:14 PM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Google Buzz
Labels: guardian ad litem board, House Bills, New Hampshire, NH, Parental Rights
There is a scheduled NH Legislative Public Input session coming up on two important 2011 Bills.
Public Input on these two bills has been scheduled for next Thursday January 13 at the Concord LOB Room 206. If you are unable to attend, please provide written testimony on each of these topics to the Children & Family Law Committee at CFL@leg.state.nh.us
The two bills can be viewed at the following links:
1:15 HB 52 modification of parental rights and responsibilities
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/billtext.aspx?billnumber=HB0052.html
11:00 HB 81 public members of the guardian ad litem board.
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/billtext.aspx?billnumber=HB0081.html
Posted by Fighting Back at 4:14 PM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Google Buzz
Labels: guardian ad litem board, House Bills, New Hampshire, NH, Parental Rights
System Suck Marcia Robinson Lowry from Children's Right's attack's Richard Wexler
All Opinions Are Local - Taking toys from foster kids won't fix D.C. child services
By Marcia Robinson Lowry, New York
In light of the difficult decisions reflected in the budget amendments passed last month by the D.C. Council, it is particularly important to ensure that the discussion of budget cuts affecting vulnerable children and families is as accurate as possible.
In his Dec. 26 Local Opinions column, “Sacred cows in D.C.’s child services budget,” Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, seemed to disregard the core value of any child welfare system — that children deserve to be raised in families — and suggested that money could be saved by cutting payments to foster families who care for abused and neglected children.
Comment from Richard Wexler
It’s always fascinating when Marcia Lowry starts debating Marcia Lowry. It was Marcia Lowry’s own report which found that DC pays its foster parents *more* than they need to cover almost every conceivable expense, including every toy, every game, every movie ticket and every amusement park ride (Think I’m kidding? Read Marcia’s “technical report” accompanying the study which explains the calculations. It’s available here: http://bit.ly/fvyts7 then check the table in the main report http://bit.ly/hL7aAf to see how DC compares.)
Indeed, the basic foster care payment in DC is $10,428 per year for younger children $11,280 per year for teenagers, again according to Marcia’s own report. And that’s tax free.
Marcia apparently believes that if foster parents don’t get that much they’ll stop buying toys for their foster children. I happen to think more highly of foster parents. I think most really aren’t in it for the money. So the real question is this, Marcia: Do you really think that the only way a foster parent will give a foster child “a few small pleasures of childhood” is if the government pays them to do it? Would you want *your* child placed with someone who would demand government reimbursement for buying that child a teddy bear? Or a sanitary napkin?
I’m not making that last example up. Check out the comments following my original op ed, (http://wapo.st/gPEmgK) and you’ll find one from a foster parent with a six-figure income, plus her husband’s income, who complains that the more than $45,000 per year she received tax free to care for four foster teenagers wasn’t enough to pay for things like sanitary napkins.
Overpaying foster parents attracts more such foster parents and fewer of the kind we all want – the kind who understand that if you really care about a child, if you are engaging in an act of charity and love, it’s worth it to dip into your own pocket, just a little. Foster parents like the one who wrote this for the Los Angeles Times: http://lat.ms/6QRj3
As for pitting birth parents, relatives and foster parents against each other, that’s Marcia Lowry’s specialty. Her settlements in Michigan and Georgia led those states to cut help for low income families and programs to keep families together in order to fund hiring binges for child abuse investigators and foster care workers.
And Marcia has been silent about the fact that DC takes away children at rates far higher than many cities, including cities that do a far better job of keeping children safe.
In tough times, everyone has to sacrifice. Is it really too much to ask that DC foster parents accept a little less than $10,000 per year, tax free, to take in a foster child?
Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
http://www.nccpr.org
Posted by: rwexlernccpr | January 6, 2011
By Marcia Robinson Lowry, New York
In light of the difficult decisions reflected in the budget amendments passed last month by the D.C. Council, it is particularly important to ensure that the discussion of budget cuts affecting vulnerable children and families is as accurate as possible.
In his Dec. 26 Local Opinions column, “Sacred cows in D.C.’s child services budget,” Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, seemed to disregard the core value of any child welfare system — that children deserve to be raised in families — and suggested that money could be saved by cutting payments to foster families who care for abused and neglected children.
Comment from Richard Wexler
It’s always fascinating when Marcia Lowry starts debating Marcia Lowry. It was Marcia Lowry’s own report which found that DC pays its foster parents *more* than they need to cover almost every conceivable expense, including every toy, every game, every movie ticket and every amusement park ride (Think I’m kidding? Read Marcia’s “technical report” accompanying the study which explains the calculations. It’s available here: http://bit.ly/fvyts7 then check the table in the main report http://bit.ly/hL7aAf to see how DC compares.)
Indeed, the basic foster care payment in DC is $10,428 per year for younger children $11,280 per year for teenagers, again according to Marcia’s own report. And that’s tax free.
Marcia apparently believes that if foster parents don’t get that much they’ll stop buying toys for their foster children. I happen to think more highly of foster parents. I think most really aren’t in it for the money. So the real question is this, Marcia: Do you really think that the only way a foster parent will give a foster child “a few small pleasures of childhood” is if the government pays them to do it? Would you want *your* child placed with someone who would demand government reimbursement for buying that child a teddy bear? Or a sanitary napkin?
I’m not making that last example up. Check out the comments following my original op ed, (http://wapo.st/gPEmgK) and you’ll find one from a foster parent with a six-figure income, plus her husband’s income, who complains that the more than $45,000 per year she received tax free to care for four foster teenagers wasn’t enough to pay for things like sanitary napkins.
Overpaying foster parents attracts more such foster parents and fewer of the kind we all want – the kind who understand that if you really care about a child, if you are engaging in an act of charity and love, it’s worth it to dip into your own pocket, just a little. Foster parents like the one who wrote this for the Los Angeles Times: http://lat.ms/6QRj3
As for pitting birth parents, relatives and foster parents against each other, that’s Marcia Lowry’s specialty. Her settlements in Michigan and Georgia led those states to cut help for low income families and programs to keep families together in order to fund hiring binges for child abuse investigators and foster care workers.
And Marcia has been silent about the fact that DC takes away children at rates far higher than many cities, including cities that do a far better job of keeping children safe.
In tough times, everyone has to sacrifice. Is it really too much to ask that DC foster parents accept a little less than $10,000 per year, tax free, to take in a foster child?
Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
http://www.nccpr.org
Posted by: rwexlernccpr | January 6, 2011
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