The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
Bob Morin, director of the city's Human Services Department, said Tuesday that he will ask state officials to look into the death of a foster child in 2009.
Morin said he will meet today with Martin D. Brown, commissioner of the state Department of Social Services, to discuss the parameters for a review by the state office. The review will be made public after it's completed, Morin said.
Two years ago, 10-month-old Braxton Taylor was abused by his foster mother, Kathleen Ganiere, who investigators determined shook him to death. Ganiere, 30, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter last year and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
She was Braxton's second foster mother.
Braxton's biological mother, Kristin Wall, 30, said she alerted a social worker to possible abuse during a supervised visit with her son days before Braxton died.
She gave birth to Braxton in April 2009 as she was preparing to face several drug-related charges.
Morin said his department instituted protocols shortly after Braxton's death to make sure that potential abuse is reported to officials, and that children under the age of 5 are checked on once a week by social workers. Also, every social worker in the city has received annual training on injury recognition, Morin said.
Wall and Braxton's biological father, Ralph M. Taylor Jr., are suing the city and Ganiere.
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Why isn't Bob Morin being
Why isn't Bob Morin being investigated?? Why does Bob Morin get to be part of the investigation? He is the one who needs to be investigated?
Investigation
Can already predict out come of investigation-- either nothing wrong or if something wrong not enough evidence to proceed
Investigation
Can already predict out come of investigation-- either nothing wrong or if something wrong not enough evidence to proceed
How tragic!
This baby would have been better off with his own mother. He should have NEVER have been taken from his mother.
I truly believe that nowadays, it's the laws that create criminals, not a person's actions.
How about drug testing for social service workers? Not just welfare recipients. This social worker's judgement was really off. What's the cause of their bad decision?
I disagree, this is not a comparison between the mom and foster
care.
CPS, foster care, and APS workers like to make that comparison when something goes wrong, as if all they have to do, in the aggregate, is marginally improve on the crisis that precipitated their involvement.
That's not sufficient. Otherwise, we would be satisfied with police who broke the law, but not as much as criminals, CPS workers who let children be beaten or raped, but not as much as abusive parents, or APS workers who drop an elderly person in an unsanitary dump, allowing their house to be foreclosed on, their bills to go unpaid, etc.
It is the job of social workers to protect each and every client, in the best way possible, from all abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and to improve their lives. They have no margin of error.
anytime
Anytime a department head announces a meeting to discuss the "parameters" of an investigation, we can all assume that those parameters will be carefully drawn so as to exclude meaningful information. Those arrogant, self-satisfied social workers and supervisors who ignored the Mom's concerns should be worse than fired. I wish them the hell that the child endured.
Can't wait
until the Virginia Beach city attorney's office tells the Virginia Department of Social Services that it can't have the records, and then finally, eventually coughs up a doctored, deleted, heavily and conveniently edited version. This whole thing just reeks of another arrogant, dishonest attempt to cover up the truth, which is unfortunately typical of these attorneys and this agency. Do they really think this will stop the court and the parents and the public from learning the truth?
I Read This Story Yesterday...
on the WTKR Channel 3 website. It brought me to tears! I will NEVER forget this case!
I pray for Baby Braxton's mother and his original foster parents. May God comfort you and may he help you find justice.
I am also praying for WTKR. May God bless you for not allowing this story to be swept aside. Please continue to run the story on your website.
I recommend everyone to check out WTKR's website. You'll find "In Memoriam: Baby Braxton" at the top in red.