PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s child welfare agency and a mother whose baby was allegedly killed by a 10-year-old girl agree — the girl’s mother also is to blame.
The mother, who was baby sitting the infant when she died July 8 and whose daughter was charged this week with manslaughter, has not said if she plans to appeal the state agency’s finding.
Three-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway ingested medication and was suffocated, her mother Nicole “Nicki” Greenaway of Clinton has said. The baby was staying overnight with the sitter in Fairfield, and Greenaway has said the sitter also should be held responsible.
“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.
The 10-year-old was charged in juvenile court and placed in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services. The girl will not be tried in the state’s adult court system, said Deputy Attorney General Bill Stokes. He said she is the youngest homicide suspect in his 35 years as a state prosecutor.
In a letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press, department caseworker Christopher Filteau wrote the sitter that she made mistakes by leaving the baby in her daughter’s bedroom. The caseworker said the 10-year-old has behavior disorders and was not suitable for caring for the infant.
“You neglected to provide the proper level of supervision by allowing Brooklyn to remain in (the girl’s) care,” the caseworker wrote Aug. 10. “Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway has died as a result of your neglect.”
The letter said the 10-year-old girl has “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” ”oppositional defiant disorder” and “attachment disorder.”
The letter was first reported by the Kennebec Journal. The Associated Press is not naming the sitter because it could make known the juvenile suspect’s identity.
The baby sitter, who has not been charged, referred questions to her lawyer. No one answered her lawyer’s office phone during business hours.
The sitter has a right to appeal the state agency’s findings, but it is unclear if she intends to do so. A DHHS spokeswoman declined comment.
A roommate who was in the Fairfield house when Brooklyn died told the AP that the baby was sleeping in the girl’s room and that she heard occasional crying from the bedroom before chaos erupted.
Ashley Tenney said she was awakened by a commotion and went upstairs to see a terrified look on the girl’s face as the mother performed CPR on the baby.
“I was unsure what was going on because I was half asleep. I heard a lot of crying and screaming, and I heard the word ‘dead,’” said Tenney, who has since moved out.
For now, the criminal investigation is focused on the girl, not her mother, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. A lawyer representing the girl declined to comment Friday.
More information will be filed in conjunction with the girl’s first appearance in October in juvenile court, where the maximum penalty for a conviction is incarceration until age 21.
“The juvenile justice system is designed to hold people accountable but to deal with young offenders in a way that prevents future occurrences and gets them the help they need. That’s the focus we’ll be driving at,” Stokes said.
In Fairfield, 70 miles north of Portland, neighbors had nothing bad to say about the baby sitter or her children, who live in a tidy white house.
“She’s very pleasant, not a neighborhood disruptor or anything like that,” said neighbor Jon Cochran, who lives across the street. He called them “a regular family.”
People just don’t like the idea that a child could be fully responsible for killing another human being. The sitter didn’t do anything, she could have never predicted the 10 year old’s actions. :/
The kid has 3 syndromes that are all potentially violent. It is easy to predict that “something” could happen.
That is right, “the sitter did not do anything”! She was not responsible in caring for this baby or her own daughter. What was she doing all the time the baby was in her house? Watching movies, drinking coffee brandy, smoking pot…..? Certainly she was not caring for the children in her house.
Absolutely she could predict the outcome, the possibity of a very tragic outcome given the child has “behavioral problems”. Those are red flags and when ignored, the adult in charge is being neglectful. I have a nephew with similar issues who is now an adult. I never left my children alone with him, it was not safe to do so, so I was with them the entire length of his visits.
I disagree. The child already was known to have behavioral problems. The diagnoses she has at age 10 indicated a high potential for violent acting out. It was extremely poor judgement for the mother of the 10 year old to have the baby with her.
That the right the sitter didn’t do anything, she didn’t do anything when the baby was crying, she didn’t meet the needs of the baby and she didn’t meet the needs of her 10 year old daughter. The babysitter didn’t do anything to protect this from occurring.
Of course she could have predicted it because the 10-year-old gave her medication to an 8-month-old baby shortly before THIS incident. That child survived though ill for a time afterward. The mother posted on her FB page the day after the death “If only this could have been avoided.” Oh, it COULD have and SHOULD have been. I have cared for other peoples’ children, both babies and toddlers, in the past and I never let them out of my sight because I took the responsibility seriously and respected the trust placed in me in being given oversight of the most precious of any “possession” one can have. This mother/”sitter” (and it sounds as though all she DID was “sit”) is 100% culpable for the tragedy that has occurred….she failed her daughter, she failed the infant, and she failed her “friend.” She should definitely be facing manslaughter charges right along with her daughter.
Kind of makes one wonder why the child has behavioral problems in the first place. Good parenting?
What about parents who have several kids but only one has those problems, is that “good parenting” too?
I have a 10 yr old granddaughter with these exact same diagnosis’s, she has 3 siblings that don’t., she doesn’t have a penchant for violence but she is uncontrollable in her behavior. The parents had her in counseling and on various drugs for several years to no avail. The situation was so out of hand that the parents had to involve the police and only then did she get on the road to recovery.
When they involved the police she was taken to the “best” child psychiatric hospital in the state for assessment, they determined there was nothing wrong with her, it was the parents fault and sent her home. After another episode, within days, they again called the police and she was taken to the local psychiatric hospital that has a program for children and they assessed that she needed more help than what she was given, they admitted her for 9 months. They adjusted her medication and she had extensive counseling, she will be coming home for good on Tuesday and is not even close to being the child she was.
The points I’m making here is, it’s not always the parents fault and that no matter how much a parent or child cries for help, oftentimes there is none until it’s too late. Advice to parents, don’t stop looking for help, it’s there, you just have to work very hard to find it.
I spend a great deal of time wondering why so many of our children are having these types of problems. Why are so many kids today being diagnosed with ADD, ADHD AND ODD, even adults are now being diagnosed with adult onset ADHD, you don’t suppose it all leads back to the chemicals that are put in our food?
That being said, I’m not defending anyone in this tragic case, there’s enough blame to go around for everyone.
It states in the article that was just posted that up until this incident, everyone thought that the other baby accidentally ingested the medication. Nobody even considered that the 10-year old may have ‘helped’ her ingest it. I don’t know about you, but that makes ME feel a little better- the mother didn’t leave her child with a KNOWN baby drugger.
What mother does not know her own child? In this instance she had a history of “behavioral issues” and there was reportedly a similar incident previously. Why on earth would her mother not been able to predict her child’s behavior, unless she is living in the land of Denial?
It states in the article that was just posted that up until this
incident, everyone thought that the other baby accidentally ingested the
medication. Nobody even considered that the 10-year old may have
‘helped’ her ingest it. I don’t know about you, but that makes ME feel a
little better- the mother didn’t leave her child with a KNOWN baby
drugger.
The “sitter” was supposed to be sitting, not the sitter’s 10-year-old. The baby’s mother specifically told the sitter not to leave the baby alone with the girl. The sitter is this girl’s mother and responsible for her proper supervision as well as the baby’s. Proper supervision does not include leaving an infant in the care of 1) a 10 year old, 2) a 10 year old with the described disorders, 3) a 10 year old with these disorders whom the mother specifically said was not to be left alone with the baby, AND 4) anybody else because the sitter was supposed to be watching the baby.
DHHS made the right call.It’s time for the criminal justice system to hold the adult who was supposed to be babysitting the child to account.
the right call yes.. just after the fact and not before
So are you saying they should have removed the child from her mother’s care after the first incident with a baby? Maybe so, but that depends on whether anyone aware of the situation reported it to DHHS to begin with. And some people would have criticized them for taking the 10 year old child out of her home without trying to provide in home services first. So damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
What is the story about “the first incident with a baby”? What happened?
Kennebec Journal had an article today about an 8 month baby that was apparently given the 10 year old’s medication when the older child was with her.
The article the BDN just posted says they thought the first baby ingested it accidentally. DHHS knew about it, and insisted all medication be locked up, so it didn’t happen again. It wasn’t known til THIS incident that it wasn’t an accident.
Its called common sense, a parent doesn’t leave an infant in the bedroom of a 10 year old who does not have any behavioral issues, let alone a child with behavioral diagnosises, to be responsible for making the right decision. Plain and simple, this mother neglected her 10 year, she didn’t give her guidance when guidance was needed. She didn’t protect her daughter or the infant that was left in her care. This was 100% avoidable, this was not simply an accident, the 10 year olds mother will now have to live with the fact that she allowed her 10 year old daughter to take the life of an adorable, helpless, little baby girl.
The fact that three adults in the house did not respond to a baby crying, the 10 year old had to carry the baby to her Mom, obviously asking for help,seems really, really,
beyond belief to me.
I cannot ever think of any situation that would keep me from cuddling a baby, calming, them. Taking care of the 10 year old, was also neglected. She must have been so exasperated with all of her peers.
At 10 years old with ADHD she should never be left alone with younger children,
have access to drugs, and she needs consistence in her sleep patterns.
Not trying to sound holier than thou, however, agree, common sense is missing ~
Prayers to Mom, Dad, Family~
Just because the 10-year-old has behavioral diagnoses does NOT automatically dispose them for violence like so many here seem to believe. If she has a history of violence, then that’s one thing. People should not pass judgment on this young girl until more details are known. For instance, a baby can suffocate from having a pillow or something soft placed next to them. If they roll over onto it, then they can’t breathe. This doesn’t mean someone placed it there with the intention of harm/death i.e., ‘manslaughter.’ Additionally, a parent should be well informed of all individuals that will be around their child when leaving them overnight with someone! If this young girl does have a history of violence, then why would you leave your 3-month-old in the same home?
That is a very good question.
From what is available through the press, it appears that is not the first time she has given her meds to a young child. If the mother of the baby was aware of that incident prior to her baby’s death, then I would also question why she allowed this woman to babysit.
If that’s true, that the 10-year-old has given medications to others before, why does she have such easy access to them? How did she get them in order to give them to the 3-month-old without someone stopping her? And, once again, the mother of the 3-month-old SHOULD know about these prior incidences before allowing her child to stay in the same house. In my opinion, she is not a victim here. Sorry to be so blunt, but one of the main duties as a parent is to protect your children from dangerous people, which she clearly failed at!! How long did she know the mother of the 10-year-old?
Those are good questions, which I do not know the answers to. I would wonder why the 10 year old had such easy access to her meds, and her own mother is the person who should have safeguarded the medication. Clearly, she did not. I do not know any of these people personally so I do not know who knew what when. So I am assuming these are rhetorical questions that you do not actully expect me to be able to answer.
It states in the article that was just posted that up until this
incident, everyone thought that the other baby accidentally ingested the
medication. Nobody even considered that the 10-year old may have
‘helped’ her ingest it. I don’t know about you, but that makes ME feel a
little better- the mother didn’t leave her child with a KNOWN baby
drugger.
With the bruises on the little girl’s face, described in the articles I have read, it doesn’t sound at all like she accidently rolled over on a pillow and suffocated. When bruises show on a baby’s face it sure sounds like a pillow (or something) was intentionally placed over this poor baby’s face!
and were the ADHD meds placed in the crib where the baby rolled over and accidentally ingested them? Were these meds pills? How many were the baby forced to take? A 3 month old does not take pills willingly or easily.
people are quick to say it is the 10 year old girl who killed the darling baby, but WHO KNOWS FOR SURE????
“The juvenile justice system is designed to hold people accountable but
to deal with young offenders in a way that prevents future occurrences
and gets them the help they need. That’s the focus we’ll be driving at,”
Stokes said.”
That is if they don’t place her in a group home and kick her when she is eighteen for the rest of us out here to enjoy. The mother is the person of charge therefore is the responsible adult and should be the one up on charges.
if you do not know what attachment disorder is, you should check it out. It is a very dangerous situation…. so sorry for all of these children
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_disorder
It’s just another BS term created by the well-meaning liberals to cover a failure of parenting and create a whole range of “disorders” that sets up kids to be called victims and therefore get disability payments when they reach the ripe old age of 18.
about time the consider the sitter to be at fault
the dhhs takes as much responsibily as every one else does in this.. lack of it.. any one remember logan marr and that case? zero has changed in the years since it despite the national media..
Once again people are making assumptions when the facts are unknown. Who knows what really happened? Many possible scenerios. Regardless of how horrible a crime this is a 10 year old cannot be treated as an adult. Should the 10 year old’s mom (the real ‘sitter’) be held accountable? Probably. But let’s see how this story evolves.
I so agree with your comment!!!!
weather the kid had problems or not i dont think that should be the big thing to be looken at i have a 11 year old with o.d.d n a.d.h.d that has kept a eye on his baby sister to make a bottle or something the mother to this child i feel is 100% to blame this is a kid who is still learning so dont wish jail on her cause i dont c where that is going to help sounds like a home that will teach her sumthing n whats this the mother works in a peds unit at a hospital hope she looses her job if she cant teach her own she shouldnt work with others…..
Punctuation, capitalization, and correct spelling would make it so more people would want to read this. I know I stopped reading after the first line, because of the butchered grammar.
Very sad. I personally knew a man who spent years hiding the fact that he could barely read. It cost him jobs he was perfectly capable of doing. When he finally revealed his secret to a prospective employer, he was received in a compassionate way and encouraged to ask for help. He was very grateful and got the help he needed.
“The letter said the 10-year-old girl has “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” ”oppositional defiant disorder” and “attachment disorder.””
What a bunch of crap. It’s called: a failure of parenting.