Trigger(disturbing)Failures in DCF lead to tragic death of autistic teen
Statest16
Citizen, Mentor
14 year old David Almond is remembered as a capable,caring and courageous teenager.
Described as a strong reader who was developing abilities,Almond love academics and was described as the mayor of his former school.A highlight for him and his triplet brothers as they did a school play together.
All of the brothers were diagnosed as autism spectrum but Almond's life ended october 20th 2020.When police were sent to 107 Green st in Fall River for an unresponsive person.Police found him in emaciated and living in abhorrent conditions,literally in total filth.He was rushed to Charlton Memorial hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after.
One of his brothers was also found physically wounded but survived,the third brother was in custody of another home.
John Almond and Jaclyn Coleman have been indicted on 2nd degree murder charges as well as neglect of a child causing serious harm.
A report found that multi system failure complicated by Covid-19 led to lack of supervision.
In early 2020 David and his brother were living in a group home run by the Massachusetts Dept. of Children and Families.But were returned to the father and his girlfriend later in 2020,the third brother refused to leave DCF custody and refused to be returned to the biological father.
Four years previous all three children were taken from the care of biological father John Almond for extreme abuse and neglect.
Later no one questioned the return of the children to the home and no one requested any plan in place to supervise the parents in the process of the returning of the children.And the biological family that had previously lost the children weren't deemed or marked as "high risk" and hence no extra check ins were ever done.
The Office of the Child Advocate and the Office of Governor Charlie Baker are advocating legislation to make this never happen again.
masslive.com
Described as a strong reader who was developing abilities,Almond love academics and was described as the mayor of his former school.A highlight for him and his triplet brothers as they did a school play together.
All of the brothers were diagnosed as autism spectrum but Almond's life ended october 20th 2020.When police were sent to 107 Green st in Fall River for an unresponsive person.Police found him in emaciated and living in abhorrent conditions,literally in total filth.He was rushed to Charlton Memorial hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after.
One of his brothers was also found physically wounded but survived,the third brother was in custody of another home.
John Almond and Jaclyn Coleman have been indicted on 2nd degree murder charges as well as neglect of a child causing serious harm.
A report found that multi system failure complicated by Covid-19 led to lack of supervision.
In early 2020 David and his brother were living in a group home run by the Massachusetts Dept. of Children and Families.But were returned to the father and his girlfriend later in 2020,the third brother refused to leave DCF custody and refused to be returned to the biological father.
Four years previous all three children were taken from the care of biological father John Almond for extreme abuse and neglect.
Later no one questioned the return of the children to the home and no one requested any plan in place to supervise the parents in the process of the returning of the children.And the biological family that had previously lost the children weren't deemed or marked as "high risk" and hence no extra check ins were ever done.
The Office of the Child Advocate and the Office of Governor Charlie Baker are advocating legislation to make this never happen again.
masslive.com
Comments
What still enrages me every time is the epic failure of the services meant to protect these children to do their job. It's plain and simple criminal and it happens all over the world
Rest in peace, David
I guess it was in the mist of Covid and Fall River is a poor and challenged city but I am not qualified to say how professional DCF is.Much likely depends on the individual community served not DCF's overall performance.
Can they just turn up without a warrant? Can they demand to see a child?
In this case the children were in the custody of a biological father,in that case they may need warrants.
That's why it was said the parents should have been flagged as high risk and have made to agree to random inspections as a condition of the re-homing process.
In foster care regular inspections of the home and talks with children are part of participating as a foster parent.