Within Reach Of Adoption, Toddler Dies While In Foster Care

TAMPA — After about five months in foster care, and just weeks away from a new home with adoptive parents in North Carolina, little Aedyn Agminalis was rushed to the emergency room.

The 17-month-old boy arrived at St. Joseph's Hospital for Children unresponsive and with signs of head injuries, according to information given to his adoption agency by a social worker. He suffered cardiac arrest, bleeding on the brain and acute respiratory failure.
The small boy was hooked up to a life-support system but doctors could find no brain activity, according to Artha Healton, Aedyn's biological mother. The youngster died Dec. 11 after doctors turned off the machine.
His death is now the subject of a criminal investigation by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The Florida Department of Children and Families has assigned a critical incident team to look into the death because the boy died on the state's watch.
"The loss of this child is absolutely devastating and we're grieving with all those who loved him," DCF Secretary Mike Carroll told the Tampa Bay Times in an email.
Officials would not comment on the investigation. Aedyn was living in a foster home licensed by the service, A Door of Hope. His case was handled by Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services. Both organizations are subcontractors of Eckerd Kids, a non-profit contracted to run the county's child welfare system.
"We will be doing everything we can to support the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office investigation," said Adrienne Drew, a spokeswoman for Eckerd.
Aedyn's death has raised questions about whether the child could have been moved out of foster care and adopted sooner.

His biological parents signed papers consenting to the adoption on Nov. 18. Had all gone as planned, the boy likely would have spent Christmas with his new parents: Colleen Kochanek and her wife, Stephanie Norris.
They have been together for 17 years and married in 2006. Kochanek works as an attorney and consultant. Norris is a civil engineer. They own a home in North Carolina and are the parents of Riley, a 4-year-old girl they adopted at birth.
They wanted to move ahead as quickly as possible with a placement court hearing that would allow them to take Aedyn home. They paid extra to have FBI checks expedited.
But Eckerd case managers would not schedule the hearing because they were waiting for a report that proved the adoptive parents were not listed on a state child abuse registry.
That was a check that the couple already passed when they adopted Riley and passed again in 2015 when they decided to look for another child to adopt. But because more than a year had elapsed, they were required to repeat it.
"If they have everything else why couldn't we go forward pending receipt of that document?" Kochanek said. "This is so soul-crushing to us; he could have been in our care."
When the report finally arrived Dec. 5, Eckerd requested the court hearing, but because of Christmas it was not scheduled to take place until Jan. 10.
Jeanne Tate, an attorney representing Tampa adoption agency Heart of Adoptions, planned to ask that the hearing be moved up so Aedyn could be in his new home for Christmas. Learning that he died in foster care left her feeling sick in the stomach.
"These kind of cases definitely should be treated with more expediency; these children need to get out of foster care at the earliest possible time frame," Tate said.
Aedyn was taken into foster care in August after a child protective investigator visited his home because of a report made to the state's child abuse hotline.
Aedyn did not like wearing a diaper and would frequently take if off, said Healton, his mother. The investigator found feces on the floor and was also concerned that a hookah pipe and other dangerous objects lay within reach of the boy, Healton said.
She said the child was in no danger and that she planned to steam-clean the carpet that night.
"They made me out to be a horrible, neglectful parent when I was doing my absolute best," Healton said.
Aedyn's nutrition was another concern for the investigator. The parents could not get the child to eat solid food. They tried to compensate by adding baby food into his formula, Healton said.
The investigator told them they must have the home cleaned by the next day. According to Healton, she asked if the child could be taken into foster care that day, in part because she thought the child would get professional help adapting to solid food.
Healton and her husband, Brynn Agminalis, had already been talking about putting the child up for adoption. The couple, who moved to Florida from Kentucky in May, both work as freelance artists. Healton, 27, designs fantasy characters for websites. Agminalis, 23, works in web design and computer repair.
Healton said they were both "free spirits" and felt tied down by parenthood.
"We didn't feel like we were ready for children," Healton said. "We were struggling and stressed so badly that it was affecting our health."
Because of confidentiality laws, DCF would not comment on how Aedyn ended up in state custody.
Healton got a phone call about 1 a.m. on Dec. 8. Aedyn had been taken to the hospital. She and her husband rushed to him.
The foster mother, who they do not know, was there, too.
"She didn't speak to me or hold eye contact."
The foster mother had told officials Aedyn experienced a seizure-like activity and fell over, according to Healton.
Doctors told Healton and her husband there was evidence of bleeding in Aedyn's brain. On Dec. 9 at 9 a.m., the doctors confirmed that their child was brain dead, Healton said.
"I was unable to hold him because he was hooked up to the life support. I was able to hold his hand and touch him and tell him goodbye even though he couldn't hear me."
Contact Christopher O'Donnell at codonnell@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3446. Follow @codonnell_Times

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Seven-month-old Tampa girl dies while in state care

Miracle Collins was taken into care in February when her mother was arrested in her east Tampa home after a report of domestic violence, a Tampa Police Department report states.

The child was placed with a friend of her mother's by Florida Department of Children and Families contractor Eckerd Kids.

But Tampa Fire Rescue was called to the child's temporary home Tuesday after the 10-year-old woke to find the baby unresponsive. Paramedics tried to revive the infant but were unsuccessful.

DCF has assigned a critical incident team to investigate the death, a step mandated by state law whenever a child dies while under the state's watch.

Officials from Eckerd declined to comment on specifics of the case while the investigation is ongoing.

"Losing a baby to co-sleeping is heartbreaking," said Terri Durdeller, an Eckerd spokeswoman. "An unsafe sleep environment is one of the leading causes of preventable child deaths across the country, and Eckerd Kids has always made it a priority to educate families and children in our care on how to avoid this tragedy."

Miracle's mother, Rolanda Angelique Cusseaux, 35, was arrested Feb. 15 by Tampa police officers in the 2000 block of 25th Avenue E on a domestic battery charge.

She had been fighting with her boyfriend, Mederick Collins, identified as Miracle's father in the report.

Police handcuffed and arrested Cusseaux after she shoved Collins in their presence. An investigation of Collins' actions was referred to the State Attorney's Office.

Police officers called DCF because Miracle, who was then just two months old, was in the apartment.

The report states she was given to Cusseaux's friend, Tarshemia Martin, to care for until Cusseaux was released. It is unclear whether Miracle was transferred to another caregiver before her death.

In their report, officers described conditions in Cusseaux's apartment as deplorable.

"The floors were covered in stains and what appeared to be food and other things," the report states. "I noticed roaches throughout the front room and kitchen area. The kitchen was filthy and unkempt."

A woman who answered the door of Cusseaux's apartment Friday burst into tears when a Times reporter identified himself. She said she did not want to talk.

Children in the care of the state are routinely placed with non-relatives as an alternative to foster parents and residential centers. Over the past 12 months, 446 non-relatives have provided care for children in Hillsborough County, according to Eckerd Kids. Of those, 370 provided care for at least 90 days.

One-third of those caregivers did not seek financial assistance that the state makes available.
DCF officials said when non-relatives are given care of children, an on-site check is made of the home to make sure it is clean and safe. Background checks are conducted to look for a history of criminal, delinquency and abuse or neglect. That is followed by fingerprinting of all adults in the house.
A case manager or other services provider should have face-to-face contact with the child at least once a week, officials said.
In addition, the Rilya Wilson Act, named after a Miami 4-year-old whom the DCF lost track of for two years, requires that children in care be enrolled in daily early education or child-care programs.

The DCF investigation will determine if those rules were followed in Miracle's case.

The placing of children with non-relatives has pros and cons, said Robin Rosenberg, deputy director of Florida's Children First, a statewide advocacy organization focused on children's rights.

For older children, it can mean staying with adults they know and trust.

But many of the caregivers need help applying for financial support and Medicaid, she said.

"It can be a wonderful thing or it can have bad results if they're not adequately supported to take care of the child," Rosenberg said. "Sometimes it imposes on really well-intended people but doesn't give them adequate support."
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/seven-month-old-tampa-girl-dies-while-in-state-care/2286534