SKOWHEGAN, Maine — The youngest person to be charged with homicide in Maine in at least 30 years was due to make her first appearance Monday in District Court.
A 10-year-old girl was charged with juvenile manslaughter in the death of 3-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway, who was staying overnight in the girl’s home in Fairfield in the care of the girl’s mother.
The girl’s mother called police early on July 8 to report that the infant was not breathing, authorities said. The infant, who was reportedly fussy, was sleeping in a portable crib in the 10-year-old’s bedroom that night, said the infant’s mother, Nicole “Nicki” Greenaway of Clinton.
The state hasn’t released the cause of death, but Greenaway was told that her daughter ingested medication and was suffocated.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which removed the young suspect from the home, faulted the baby sitter for leaving the infant in the room with the girl. In a letter, an agency case worker said the 10-year-old had a behavior disorder that made her unsuitable for caring for the infant.
The Associated Press generally does not identify juveniles accused of crimes.
The state opted not to try the girl as an adult. If convicted as a juvenile, the maximum penalty is incarceration until age 21.
Maine District Court Chief Judge Charles LaVerdiere issued a special order warning that no recording device of any type was allowed in the courtroom Monday.
I still can’t believe the mother of the girl hasn’t been charged with anything yet. The baby was fussy and she put the baby in a crib with a child who has behavorial problems.Good grief!
I am not going to defend the mother of the ten year old here but let’s imagine a scenario here for a moment. Like most ten year olds, she probably enjoyed playing with the baby. Maybe helping her mother care for the infant made her feel a little more grown up. She may have asked to have the baby sleep in her room. However, as the night wore on, a fussy baby and tired ten year old became a poor combination. Her mother worked too, and maybe relied on the ten year old, or maybe the ten year old just didn’t call her mother when the baby become too much. The medication probably calmed the ten year old and she reasoned it would help the baby just as much. The suffocation could have occurred as she put her hands over the infants mouth to trying to stop the crying.
What really counts here is intent. Did she intend to hurt the baby? Was she simply trying to care for the infant using a ten year old’s logic? Could this same thing have happened to a ten year old without behavior problems?
The mother of this ten year old clearly made some errors in judgement, but do they reach the level of criminal behavior? At first, I could not understand why she was not being charged, but as I try to imagine a dozen or more scenarios, I can imagine a few that are just plain routine, with a tragic outcome. I say this because at ten, I had a new born sister who gave a whole new meaning to the word fussy. Fortunately, my parents never made us responsible for her. We were allowed to help (there were four of us) but my parents were always there to takeover when things got too tough. The ten year old’s mother has lost custody of both of her kids, maybe justifiably. I think it is tragic that the ten year old has to stand and face charges, but hopefully she will get the help, she clearly will need.
While I agree with everything you are saying, you either didn’t hear (or forgot) one very important detail- the mother of the baby STRESSED to the mother of the 10-year old that the two were NOT to be left alone together. The mother of the 10-year old blatantly disregarded that fact, and left them together anyway.
I do remember this in a previous article about this. If I thought that the babysitter would be leaving my 10 year old in charge and I felt that I needed to stress that they were not be left alone together, I would not leave my infant baby with them; I would make other arrangements. I’m not sure what the circumtances are that the infants mother needed an overnight sitter, but I would make sure that I could trust the people (children included) that I am leaving my child with. I am not pushing any blame here, just stating an opinion. I know how touchy some commentators are!
I did not miss that fact, what I don’t know is why the infant’s mother said that, except for the obvious, that a ten year old should NOT be caring for an infant. Or did she know something more?
I agree. The 10 year old’s mother should be facing the consequences, too. Even if the 10 year old did not have behavioral problems, she shouldn’t have been the one saddled with trying to sleep in a room with a fussy baby. The mother was the one in charge of the baby, and yet she dumped the consequences of a fussy baby onto her own child.
Anyone can have a baby.
Common sense or responsibility not required.
Amen, even redheaded stepchildren deserve to be loved.
Thank you.
I now feel warm and fuzzy.
Why isn’t the 10 year old’s mother charged? She knew she was not supposed to leave her daughter alone with younger children due to her behavioral issues, and she did it anyway. In my mind, she is as morally culpable, if not more so, than her daughter.
I don’t recall reading that ” She knew she was not supposed to leave her daughter alone with younger children due to her behavioral issues. . .” That might just make sense to the rest of us, but we were not there that day.
I feel the same as you, that the ten year old’s mother is as morally culpable, perhaps more so. I am hoping with all the issues this young girl has, that having her face charges will allow the state to get her the help she so clearly needs. There are few resources, in this state, that parents can access alone to get help for children with needs as great as this young girl.
Let us remember too, that the girl’s mother does bear a lot of responsibility here, and let us not judge this child too harshly.
It states in another article on the subject that the mother of the baby made it clear to the mother of the 10-year old that they weren’t to be left alone together, because the 10-year old was too young to be in charge.
Link to that story, or it is just opinion. I read this from the begining, and don’t remember anything that definate.
That is different from saying the mother “was not supposed to leave her daughter alone with younger children due to her behavioral issues. . .” One mother not wanting her child alone with the girl is different from barring the child from being alone with any child. In retrospect, that might have been a good idea, but hindsight is almost always 20/20.
If you knew how often parents were responsible for the death of their child and not charged it would scare you. I know for a fact that more than one infant in Bangor has died this year and it was completely the fault of the parents. Was it intent? Probably not. Was it complete ignorance and drug related, yes. I think there is an unwritten rule out there that once a parent loses their kid that is penalty enough. Although I thank God everyday that I have never lost a child, there are some parents out there that should be held accountable in a court of law for the death of their children.
Methadone clinics are not going to help the fight to protect children either. Many of these junkies that frequent methadone clinics drive like crazy to get there to get their fix and then after they get it, they float around high all day driving and “supervising” their children. Then they get to get up and fly to Bangor again, with or without child, to do it all over again, for years. What a life for a kid huh? I know of more than one occasion where minor children have been removed from the care of their mother because the child was left alone sleeping while the mother just “ran out real quick to dose”. It isn’t going to get any better until we do away with the methadone clinics.
So we do away with the Methadone clinics. I’m O.K. with that, but then is the problem solved?
So Mom goes out to the local pusherman to get her fix instead.
The State of Maine is a terrible parent. They place unwanted children in garbage cans they refer to as “group homes” or “treatment centers”. They place children with unequipped foster parents like Debby Wolfendon, or Sally Schofield. So what is the solution AFTER we shut down the free-drug pipeline?
Prove any of your contention and perhaps the publicity hound D.A. will listen to you.
“Morally cupable” is a measure you are free to use, but it has nothing to do with law.
this girl will end up in a group home after the age of 21
What’s your point?
There seems to be something intrinsically wrong in a society when a 10 year old child is put on trial for manslaughter….in other regions of the world, we gasp when a 14 year old Pakistani girl is brutally attacked and shot in the head because she wants an education or when we see boys carrying assault weapons…..we see juvenile crime numbers soaring and the violent nature of America’s youth is alarming…..IMHO, one of the major influencing factors, is the disintegration of the family and raising generations that are not taught respect for others and the laws of society….our children are not taught that choices have consequences and proper discipline resulting from wrong choices is a lost necessity when raising children today…..our youth and the problems we see daily regarding their behavior, is a direct result of the failures of their parent(s) and I pray daily for the youth in my family and community…..
I was initially shocked when this was first published, but after reading a lot of comments and giving it some thought, charging this child with manslaughter may be the best way to get her the help she needs. She clearly has multiple problems, each difficult to treat properly, on its own, but together this youngster needs a lot of help and support, even more so now, to be able to succeed in life. Hopefully all will go well for her. Pray for this child too.
The State of Maine does an absolutely HORRIBLE job of “providing help” to children such as this one. Charging a 10-year-old with homicide is an indication that the D.A. wants LOTS of news coverage for his office, not that it is better or worse for the child.
Personally, I am inclined to agree with you. I have heard of nowhere in Maine that does a good job with kid’s mental health. However, by convicting her of manslaughter, they have a lot more options of placing her in private, and possibly out-of-state facilities as well. I don’t think the news coverage for the DA is all that positive and I cannot believe anyone with half a brain thinking that charging a kid this young would yield positive publicity.
But then I didn’t think I would see people suggesting locking a child up indefinitely either.
“we see juvenile crime numbers soaring “…actually the statistics over the past 15 years show the opposite to be true. The “OJJDP” web site is an excellent resource that breaks down the numbers into several categories, including violent crime, race, gender, etc.
Good link thanks…..sorry if I used a word (soaring) that does not reflect correct numbers….I actually, and briefly, looked at stats for Maine and agree that numbers were on the down-swing up to approx. 2004-2006…..some studies show an upswing in some juvenile crime with a decline or holding in other juvenile crimes…..other studies go into numbers of first time offenders, repeat offending and involvements of crimes where a juvenile is a cohort in the offense….one just needs to look at the court news for just Maine and see that a lot of court time is being used for crime involving young people 18 or a little older where their names can be published….. ..http://www.maine.gov/corrections/juvenile/publications/Recidivism2011.pdf
The FACTS are that “juvenile crime” is crime committed by children UNDER the age of 18. “a little older” doesn’t make the J.C. stats.
IN THIS CASE: the crime of “homicide” is a statisticaly unrecordable among the juvenile population of Maine. Read the story. One in 30 years.
Relax Katz….my opinion was stated and if you review the “facts” you may find that juvenile age is defined differently under many state’s law as being in some states under 19, some under 18, some under 17 and in Conn, New York and North Carolina juvenile age is under 16…..in many definitions by state a juvenile is defined as “a person who is not old enough to be held responsible for criminal acts”…..so some of the stats taken from areas with different definition of juvenile age and crime rates may not be applicable in comparison to states where the age determination is different…..
My point is/was that we are talking about a specific MAINE case here. You may attempt to muddy the waters with your pervaracating, but the facts here are plain. She’s 10, and her “crime” is so rare for her age group that it is statistically insugnificant.
BUrn both of them at the stake. Crimes aganst children should be death.
So you want to burn a child at the stake?? Make sense?? Seriously???