PORTLAND, Maine — The mother of a baby allegedly killed by a 10-year-old Maine girl says she is glad the girl is charged but says the girl’s mother, who was watching the baby, is really the one who needs to be held responsible.
The girl was charged Thursday with manslaughter in the death of 3-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway of Clinton, whose mother said had ingested medication and been suffocated.
The girl, who is not being identified, is the youngest person to be charged with manslaughter in Maine in at least 25 years. She is due in juvenile court in October.
Brooklyn’s mother, Nicole “Nicki” Greenaway, said the 10-year-old was the baby sitter’s daughter. Authorities told Greenaway her baby had ingested medication to treat attention-deficit disorder and been suffocated, she said, adding that she also saw bruises on her baby’s body.
“I feel a little bit of relief that they’re charging her (the sitter’s) daughter at this point, but the mom really needs to be responsible. She’s the one I left my daughter with,” Greenaway said.
Brooklyn was in the baby sitter’s care overnight in nearby Fairfield. The sitter called police early July 8 to report that the infant was not breathing, authorities said. Emergency workers who arrived minutes later reported the child was unresponsive.
Greenaway said that the 10-year-old had changed her baby’s diaper in the past, but that she had told the sitter an adult needed to be present at all times. Instead, the infant, who was reportedly fussy that night, was sleeping in a portable crib in the same room as the 10-year-old, Greenaway said.
When Greenaway finally saw her daughter at a funeral home, the infant had a black eye, bruises on the bridge of her nose and marks that looked like fingerprints on her cheeks, she said.
Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said he couldn’t comment on whether charges could be brought against the sitter.
A person who answered the phone at a listing for the sitter said Thursday evening that she was not available. The Associated Press is not naming the sitter because it could make known the juvenile suspect’s identity.
In Maine, the death of any child under age 3 triggers an automatic investigation. McCausland said detectives uncovered some “troubling signs” before the state medical examiner declared the baby’s death a homicide Wednesday. Investigators would not provide further details on the cause of death.
The 10-year-old girl was in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services when a summons was delivered to her attorney on Thursday, McCausland said.
Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call from the AP.
The charge was filed after detectives consulted with the attorney general’s office, which determined manslaughter was most appropriate, said spokeswoman Brenda Kielty.
Unlike murder, which generally involves an intentional act, manslaughter charges are brought when a homicide is caused by reckless actions or criminal negligence. The charge is extremely unusual because of the defendant’s age.
Maine doesn’t have data on the youngest person ever to be charged in a homicide in the state, Kielty said. But it has been at least 25 years — and possibly longer — since someone so young has been charged with manslaughter or murder in Maine, officials said.
Nonetheless, such cases aren’t unprecedented.
In January, a 10-year-old was taken into custody after a 12-year-old was stabbed to death in El Cajon, Calif. And a Florida boy was convicted in 2001 of killing a 6-year-old playmate when he was 12.
Such a sad and tragic situation. Prayers the the families of both children at this time. I’m sure they need all the help they can get.
If they don’t want the identity of the sitter and her daughter known, they need to shut down Nicole Greenaway’s Facebook, which is not private. I saw the names.
So you couldn’t wait to let everyone know.
Frankly, I think she wants everyone to know what is going on. Not saying it’s right, but making your facebook page public is not usually an accident .
Maybe her page has always been available for anyone to see and she just hasn’t changed it? It’s her page, it’s her business.
Yes and FB is a public site. She appears to not mind the attention as she has made posts referring to contacting the media and has been in what, 2-3 different interviews with the news? I don’t think she’s keeping it just her business.
I am gathering from another article that Brooklyn’s mother is very frustrated with the justice system. It takes a long time to get toxicology results in this state, but there were apparent marks on the infant, maybe from rescusitation, maybe not, that indicated this was not a SIDS death. I would guess the coroner would be able to tell which marks might be from rescue efforts and which came from other sources.
And about a 100 pics!
Tha Associated Press and the police aren’t releasing the name. Nowhere is it written the mother can’t.
How can this be a”not intentional act”?
I was wondering that too. Maybe it is because the common belief is that children cannot form the criminal intent to commit a crime. And I agree with people who believe the mother of the babysitter should be charged. How could she not know what was going on under her own roof? And unless this is the first time the 10 year old has ever acted out, how could she be unaware of the risks involved for the baby in spending time alone with the older child?
Word has it, this has happened before, with nearly the same results, but the baby in the other circumstance lived after months of medical help. So according to that information (from another Facebook page belonging to the mother of this other baby) the 10 yo has done it before and the mother has covered for her.
If that is true, then the mother is even more responsible for what happened. This 10 year old apparently has some serious issues, including anger. It makes me wonder what happened to that child that she acts out in this way.
Rumors are like songbirds; they sound filling but make a poor feast.
Here’s one possible way: The baby was reportedly fussy. The 10 y.o. was on ADD meds. The 10 y.o. was likely given meds when she acted out. The 10 y.o., because she is 10, may have equated fussy with acting out and gave the baby her meds. She was doing what mommy does. Maybe the 10 y.o. had been taught not to wake or bother mommy and so she was trying to keep the baby from waking or bothering mommy. Or maybe the 10 y.o. is psychotic and it was intentional. We, the public, may never know.
This is all supposition and has no basis in fact so don’t run with it. I just put it out there as a possibility.
The bottom line, though, is that the baby was supposed to be in the care of an adult, and the 10 year old was to be supervised if providing any care to the infant. The adult in the home failed to ensure the baby’s safety.
Why would the baby have been put in the same room to sleep as the 10 year old, which automatically provides unsupervised time together? Why were the medications within the 10 year old’s reach, and how could that child have administered them to a 3 month old infant?! How well did the baby’s parents know the family entrusted to care for their daughter?
A very sad case, and my prayers and condolences go out to both families.
It is incredibly sad. You are right, the bottom line is that the adults in the home failed both of these children.
Adding to your bottom line may the doctors and pill makers be damned
for putting kids on drugs rather then physically addressing the issues.
I blame all the people who put this child on drugs which in her drugged
ravaged little mind likely doing just as you said.
How horribly sad
I have a son with ADHD, as well as a brother. My son takes meds for school. I had refused to put him on ADHD meds when he was younger, but this past December I took him to his peds for depression. He was unable to attend school, be social, etc. and I was quite worried about him. The doc had script written for an antidepressent which I felt he needed, and in handing it to him asked “You don’t have ADHD, do you?” We both responded yes, and the doc yanked the script back. More discussion ensued and the doc felt the antidepressents would likely make his situation so much worse. He instead prescribed something for ADHD. In less than a week, I had a whole new kid. Back in school, make up work completed in a couple of weeks, earning high scores. He will continue to take these meds until he graduates, hopefully this year.
But I do think the child in this case should not have had access to her own meds. These are powerful drugs and should be carefully supervised by a parent. Any parent with a kid on these meds needs to take this lesson away from this tragic situation. Keep all meds away from your child, so they can’t accidently take too much or take the wrong thing.
I think the infants bed should have been placed in a living room or other area closer to the babysitter’s own room so she was the one to get up with a fussy kid. The ten year old should NEVER have been alone with an infant. I doubt any mother suspects that kind of tragedy will occur, but as we have seen, it did.
Again, my prayers to the families of both of these girls.
When a sister’s child was diagnoised with it and the doctor wanted to drug him. The family sat down and we decided what he needed was not be turned into a drug addict and the doctor said he’d always be a problem, never would do well in life, all those guilt trips. We decided we needed to wear the energy off this child and to make learning more physcial and less sedate. We wore our selves out, but in a little less than years time we got him on track. He’s extremely good at all things running and he’s studying to be a doctor. He had so much energy he couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t sit still, didn’t sleep much. Besides the benefit of helping him get by a rough time with out meds, we all got in great shape.
Athough I’m aware everyone is different I think meds would have ruined his life, his health and he would have always been labelled as mentally unstable, not insurable and he would have turned out just like the doctor said.
I’m more worried about this little girl and how she got to this point the “math” isn’t working for me. Tragic.
It is entirely possible that the marks on the child’s face were from the resuscitation efforts by the EMS personnel and the hospital staff.
While the marks can be very disturbing, they may be evidence that some very caring peple did everything they could to save this beautiful child.
So the million dollar question is, if mom knew this 10 year old had done this in the past, and knew the child had major behavorial problems, why on earth did she feel it was ok to leave not 1 but both her babies there that night? Tragic but mom needs to bare some responsibility!
Even if you are right- the 10 tear old drugged the baby.
A child with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is frequently impulsive. They generally don’t mean any harm, but harm frequently results, but I doubt any mother would suspect that her child would kill an infant. My guess is that the baby was fussy and the 10-year-old tried to quiet it, probably first by pinching or putting her hands over the baby’s mouth. She probably realized her own meds quieted her down and thought it might quiet the infant. (I am NOT supporting what this child did, just offering possible insight. I have a brother who is horribly hyperactive. We used to kid about his “Midas” touch. Everything he touched, he broke.) I doubt there was any real malice or intent to harm. That is why I believe, it is her mother who should be facing charges, not the child. Hopefully, this situation can be resolved to the benefit of the this child. Sadly, the infant is beyond help and that is a situation that cannot be changed.
Let us all learn from Brooklyn’s death. Never leave a young child alone with an infant. Kids need supervision and to be taught how to deal with crying babies. I had an infant sister when I was ten, and she was ONE fussy kid. My parents never left her alone with any of the four older siblings and we were not allowed to touch the baby without an adult present. Through that experience, and that of my younger (and her younger) brother who was hyperactive to an extreme degree, (and on meds), we learned compassion, patience and caring, but it was process, not a one day lesson.
My prayers are for Brooklyn and her family, especially her parents and siblings. My prayers for the 10-year old too and her family. This is a tragedy all around.
I thought that on the 11 o’clock news last night they gave the babysitters name, not the 10 year old but just her moms. Doesnt matter its easy to find out half the time anyway!
I now see that someone said it is on facebook. Funny we can get a lot of things from people on facebook!
The morning sentinel names not only the babysitter but another young lady that was apparently in the house, staying in the basement.
That young lady is the mother of the other baby the 10 year old did this to.
That’s correct.
http://www.kjonline.com/news/DHHS-caseworker-blames-babys-death-on-mothers-neglect.html
DHHS is holding the mother of the 10 year old responsible for the neglect of her child. Now the criminal justice system needs to step up and hold her accountable as well.
This is very sad for all parties involved. I feel for everyone especially the 10 year old and the little baby who lost her life.
I agree that the mother should be held ultimately , responsible. What a horrible thing. Plus, that 10 year old has serious mental issues- she is old enough to have a conscience & know what she did was wrong, but she apparently has none- by the age of 10 the conscience is pretty developed- That is very troubling.. My condolences to the family …