CPS-FLDS nonsuit body count now at 260

I’m waiting for the count of the non-suits and continuing suits to not total up the same as the head count of the children taken.

I wonder what their allowance is for margin of error in the counts?

Gotta love the way CPS works. Parents accidentally kill child in hot car while taking a nap–they’re prosecuted for murder. Foster Mother does the same–prosecutor says “there but for the Grace of God, go I”

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/09/03/baby_death_heat.html

9-month old dies in hot minivan

Foster mother said she had taken prescription medication, forgot baby was in vehicle

By CHRISTIAN BOONE, CRAIG SCHNEIDER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

A 9-month-old girl died Tuesday after her foster mother said she forgot the infant inside a hot minivan for more than two hours, officials said.

Jackson County sheriff’s deputies are still investigating Wendy Osborne’s account. The 29-year-old Nicholson woman told Jackson County Sheriff deputies that she came home from a doctor’s appointment about 2:30 p.m., unloaded her two adopted girls but forgot about the baby in the car seat.

Osborne, a foster parent for five years, said she took a nap, waking around 5 p.m. Maj. David Cochran of the sheriff’s department said at that point she remembered the baby in the minivan.

State Child Advocate Tom Rawlings identified the girl as Jessica Marie Scovil. The infant, who had lived with Osborne for five months, was pronounced dead by emergency personnel called to the scene, Cochran said.

Osborne told deputies she had been sick for several days and was prescribed medication for strep throat, which may have contributed to her drowsiness. A toxicology report has been ordered, and charges could be filed.

Two other foster children who had been living with Osborne were removed from the home, Cochran said.

The state Division of Family and Children Services, which oversees the foster care system, is also investigating the death, said spokeswoman Dena Smith. She said there had been no indications of problems with Osborne as foster mother.

Rawlings said if Osborne’s version is correct, he would tend to oppose criminal charges.

“I usually look at these kinds of situations as there but for the grace of God go I,” he said.

=======================

Geez. Guess this woman is lucky she isn’t the child’s natural mother, or she’d be locked up in jail facing murder charges, instead of recovering from strep throat at home on her couch.

Meanwhile, this baby is still dead.

jessica the 9 mo old who died was my best friends baby these parents were good parents they had done everything to get jessica back . we now find that she should have been returned 2 weeks ago. these parents were not told anything till wenesday am and then not what happened .the parents need to tell their story . this baby should have been home with the family who has fought to get her back . please help us dont let this happen to another child .

There’s no listing for district attorney in Jackson County:
http://www.jacksoncountygov.com/Index.aspx?page=89

(it says District Attorney - coming soon, Last updated: 6/6/2007 11:01:51 AM)

Here is the listing for the Magistrate’s Court:
Chandler, Billy Chief Magistrate Judge Magistrate Court (706)387-6356
RAWLS, WANDA CLERK OF COURT. Magistrate Court (706)387-6356
Thurmond, Sherri Magistrate Judge Magistrate Court (706)387-6356

Anyone who wants to give the Jackson County Courthouse and protest the baby’s death in Foster Care and the smack on the hand the Foster Mother has gotten for killing this infant, feel free to flood the courthouse with calls.

Baby Jessica’s death is *UNACCEPTABLE”, and the double-standard treatment of the Foster Mother cannot be tolerted in this society.

CPS can’t give Foster Parents special privileges to kill children without consequence, while taking children away from their natural parents to “protect them”—and given those children to those who would rape, molest, neglect and kill them.

I’ve had ENOUGH of seeing these kinds of stories. CPS and the Foster Care system needs to be dismantled.

Children are in far more danger being cared for by money motivated Foster Parents who don’t love nor care about these foster children like they do their own, than if the children would just be left with their natural parents.

Prosecute Ms. Wendy Osborne, age 29, for the murder of 9 month old Jessica Scovil.

NOW

To the above listed person above named Jeny:

You are out of line to assume ALL foster parents are bad!

The statement you made “CPS can’t give Foster Parents special privileges to kill children without consequence, while taking children away from their natural parents to “protect them”—and given those children to those who would rape, molest, neglect and kill them.” Do you have any idea what CPS has to prove to have a child taken away? I guess not! There had to be some pretty HEAVY causes to have that child taken away and been away for SEVERAL MONTHS!”

And to your statement: “CPS and the Foster Care system needs to be dismantled” You have NO IDEA what some children go thru being raped and molested and beaten but some of their “bio parents” do you feel those children need NOT be protected”

And lastly, with your statement: “Children are in far more danger being cared for by money motivated Foster Parents who don’t love nor care about these foster children like they do their own, than if the children would just be left with their natural parents”

I was a foster parent and I was a damn good one. I left the Foster Parent association because I seen too many cases where the children were returned too fast to the bio parents! The system has its faults but unless you know the ENTIRE story and how CPS works then you have no room to say anything!

Just because they share blood does NOT make them the best for the child, as my 2 year old I adopted as a foster child! hE IS very HAPPY AND HAS A MUCH BETTER CHANCE AT LIFE WITH ME THAN FROM HIS BIO PARENTS!!!!!!

Amanda E.

1. I never said ALL foster parents are bad. Please point out exactly where I said that. Oh right, you can’t, because I didn’t.

2. On the otherhand, my dear, you seem to assume that all “bio parents” are bad.

CLUE: Not ALL NATURAL PARENTS are bad.

You might check your nasty attitude towards “bio parents”.

I suspect you can’t have children of your own and have a rather large chip on your shoulder against those of us who can.

Have you ever had a child of your own?

If you haven’t, then you have absolutely NO idea how it feels to be threatened with having that child you carried under your heart for 9 months and labored and delivered, ripped from you by an out of control “CPS” agent–or to actually have that happen.

As you well know, CPS must follow up on ALL claims of abuse or neglect. Including anonymous claims.

CPS has a tendency to take children away first and then sort it all out in court later.

Just like what they did in the FLDS case. Over 400 children taken from their parents on an a FALSE anonymous call to a hotline.

They were gone from their parents for over 2 months–and are only now (very slowly) being released from CPS supervision, even though NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE OF ABUSE was ever produced for these children.

So, don’t come in here being all high, mighty and sanctimonious with me.

As a NATURAL PARENT, if I were to leave my infant trapped in their car seat in my van, where they died of heat stroke or exhaustion while I took a nap in my air conditioned house–I can GUARANTEE criminal charges would be filed against me.

However, if you as a “Foster parent” did exactly the same thing with a foster child that wasn’t even yours, you would be let off with a slap on the hand. No criminal charges.

That’s a double standard. And it’s NOT going to fly.

Studies have actually been done that show the harm that comes to children in foster care (in many cases) being a worse risk than leaving children in thier homes with their NATURAL PARENTS (not “bio parents” as you call them), while supervised by CPS.

Get a grip on your anger, we’ll have a conversation. Keep yelling at me over what you “think” I’m saying, and well, I’ll view you as nothing more than a CPS troll.

By the way, I am a “bio parent” and a DAMN GOOD ONE.

I am a single parent, at that. I have twins I have raised since infancy without help after their father left us.

The sleep deprivation and exhaustion with twins the first year is absolutely indescribable. However, I was never so tired that I left them trapped in their car seats to die of heat stroke all by themselves. In fact, I’ve never been so busy or tired that I’ve *ever* forgotten them anywhere, anytime, any place.

Why? They are important to me. They are my life—and I could *never* just “forget” them.

I notice the so-called mother in the case I posted remembered to bring in her two adopted children. She “just forgot” the defenseless 9 month old foster baby.

And YOU defend that??? Get a grip, lady.

Best,
Jeny

That’s fine if you don’t want to “start a crusade”, Kurt.

But….an innocent 9 month old foster baby is dead.

She was left trapped in her car seat by a careless (clueless) foster “mother” who managed to take her own two adopted children into her air conditioned house for a nap. And NO charges are going to be filed against her.

I understand she was sick–I had measles and pneumonia when my twins were 18 months old. I still had to be “Mom” and function–safely. I caught the measles from their live virus MMR innoculation, and came down with pneumonia as a secondary bacterial infection….I was one sick pup.

Yet, I managed to drive to the dotor, the pharmacy, cook, feed, bathe, and care for my children without killing them.

I was beyond “exhausted” from medication—but my kids were so important that I waited to take “sleepy” medicine until they were safely asleep at night. Why? Because I needed to be as clear headed as possible to take good care of them.

As a single parent, I am keenly aware that I am under threat of CPS intervention 24/7/365. Somehow they see 1 good single parents as less capable than 2 bad parents. We single parents are to blame for all the ills in the world–so we’re often singled out for special attention by CPS

But I digress–once this baby was taken from her mother, she never saw her again.

This innocent baby died all by herself in a stranger’s van–unloved or cared for by anyone, while that stranger and her children were napping in air conditioned comfort in south GA.

As a mother and NATURAL PARENT, I can’t let that just go unchallenged.

The foster parent, Wendy Osborne, age 29, *should be* charged in the murder of little 9 month old Jessica Scovil–just the same as one of those “bio parents” Amanda E. hates so badly. I’m sure Amanda E. would insist that the “bio parents” be charged criminally if they left their 9 month old in their van while they took a nap and the baby died. Right, Amanda E.???

Jenny once again please read if you can, I said the law states ALL are innocent until proven guilty. Foster parents AND Bio Parents.

We all have the same laws.

Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 12:38 pm }

To to say fry her and she is getting a double standard ==================

I never said “fry her”. Stop with your hystrionics and flat-out lies.

I said PROSECUTE HER.

I said CHARGE HER CRIMINALLY.

I said treat her the same way as they would any other natural parent who left their child trapped in a hot car to die.

To wit:
Charge her criminally. Take away her children (notice they did not do that with her two adopted children, just the other foster children in her care?–but, you are biased towards foster parents and of course you didn’t notice that).

I NEVER said a thing about “frying her”. Stop putting words in my mouth. Stop exaggerating and assuming things I never said

The ONLY thing I’m saying is:

Put her in jail, remove the children in her care and sort it all out in court. Just like they do us “bio parents”.

Why do you have a problem with this foster parent being treated the same as a “bio parent”?

Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 12:41 pm } So Jenny are you saying a person can not love another child if they did not carry them? That is what I am hearing?

Why did you not choose to give life to a child already in need vs being selfish and producing another child when there are so many hearts in need of homes and love?
============

Why do you assume “bio parents” are “selfish”.

What a crock. Your post does not deserve the dignity of further response.

We get that you hate us “selfish bio parents”.

Amanda, you have no sympathy from me. Foster parents are part of the problem. If there were no foster parents bugging CPS for kids, CPS would have to make more effort to keep kids with their biological parents where they should be.

I’ve rarely seen a good case of foster kids growing up all that attached to their foster parents. The biological/genetic connection simply isn’t there. Better a kid were raised in an orphanage, if their natural parents died or whatever. At least in the orphanage, the kid has common ground with other orphans.

To Joey,

That is the most insensative post ever. That is not even worth responding other that, ARE YOU SERIOUS.

Kurt can you really say and believe in your heart that a child is better off “in almost all cases, where the blood parents are living and breathing, the kids are better off with “bad” parents than “good” foster parents”

Put poor innocent kids with “bad” parents vs “good foster parents”. Why make a child suffer?

Selfish to birth vs adopt, depends on the situation. But there are MANY of chiildren in each state that has hundreds of children wanting to be adopted why not give them a chance? Why not open your heart to them?

Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 2:15 pm } Selfish to birth vs adopt, depends on the situation. But there are MANY of chiildren in each state that has hundreds of children wanting to be adopted why not give them a chance? Why not open your heart to them?
================

Why insult and denigrate as being “selfish” those of us who have welcomed God’s greatest gifts into our lives and families with open arms?

I suppose we could have always aborted them, eh? Now THAT I would agree is selfish.

Having ones own child(ren) and lovingly raising them isn’t selfish. If you truly believe that, you have deep issues we can’t help you with here.

Best,
Jeny

28 Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 2:15 pm } Selfish to birth vs adopt, depends on the situation.
====================

Just WHO are you to judge “the situation” and decide which of us is being selfish having a natrual child, which is not, and which of us should adopt vs. having natural children?

Please explain–why do YOU get to make that call? Hmmm.

See, I don’t think it’s up to you. Or CPS. Or a Judge.

I think it is between me and God whether or not I should have natural children, or whether I adopt.

I bet there are many here who would agree with me.

Joey - Killing to preserve one’s offspring has nothing to do with evoluntionary biology.

Statham, maybe you don’t think so, but it’s the reason women are so selective in mating. They know they will have to carry a baby to term and nurture that child for years at great cost. It has a great deal to do with evolutionary biology. Mate selection has to do with genes, passing on and improving your own genes in your offspring. Adoption occurs but is often considered a freak of nature.
Studies support keeping kids with families: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118740260/abstract?
Kurt cited studies previously that show that children are 50 times more likely to die of abuse at the hands of unrelated people living with them than with biological parents. http://iperceive.net/california-proposition-8-opponents-the-children-can-go-hang/ which certainly jives with the Strayhorn report on Texas CPS, where kids are 4 times more likely to die of abuse in CPS foster care than at home.
Also the NYTimes (http://tinyurl.com/63mb22) cites studies showing the latent and long lasting affects of child removals.
All these studies, to me at least, scream out the fact that **newsflash** children are better off with the parents they were born to. If a gorilla knows this, why don’t Texans?

Awesome post, Tx Mom of 2.

You absolutely nailed it. Dead on.

Many thanks to you
–Jeny
(the damned good single “bio parent”)

i love jessicas family they were not bad parents. please help keep this awake dont let the justice system fall asleep on little jessica marie scovil again. the family were tring to bring jessica home fighting with every thing jumping through hoops to satisfy the state. jessica should have been home safe with her loving family. again PLEASE help keep this awake until there is justice for jessica PLEASE DONT FALL ASLEEP

You all need a much needed lesson on love. Maybe even volunteer at a childrens home or foster a day in your life and see all sides! Maybe your views and hearts will change just a little bit! Or maybe not. I just know there are two sides to ALL stories and to just defend one side I felt the need to ALSO defend the other side!

You all need a lesson on love.

Go volunteer in a childrens home and see if those children would rater stay there or be adopted. Look into their eyes past their tears and ask them what they want!

Every story has two sides and both sides may even have equal rights and wrongs but until you have walked in their shoes don’t be so quickly to judge.

try being a foster parent, it is a lot harder than you think. To have a neglected, abused, raped, drug induced child come into your home, see their parents not care to even work to get their child back.
In the meantime you develope a relationship with that child along with trust from the child and a bond of love. Not as easy as you think.

There are some good bio parents and bad as well as good foster parents as well as bad.

The point trying to be made was you don’t know all the facts and until the investigation is done, which it is not, we can’t judge.

Love is unconditional you can love an adopted child as much if not more than a biological child, depends on your heart and your values. I feel my adopted son is more precious than a God given birthed child because I CHOSE him. I will also love my biological child but that child will have been chosen for me. I CHOOSE my child. God guided me to him and allowed me to chose him for me and my family.

And since we want to quote God in this site remember the best revenge is forgiveness and that forgiveness is taught in the Bible, so take a lesson and forgive before assuming or convicing.

I would expect that with a bio or foster situation. There is NO double standard. We are told as foster parents thru all of our training and classes and in the begining of all cases that REUNIFICATION is the goal. And CPS goes above and beyond to help the parents thru that including paying for housing, clothing, after school care, medical care, transportation expenses, parenting classes, drug rehab, etc!

Foster parents do not get that!

That will do it for me, no more discussion on this thread because I feel this blog is one sided and not equally fair to BOTH sides.

Good luck to your children!

Baby Jessica’s picture:

http://evansfuneralhomeinc.com/obituaries/photos/large/scovil.JPG

WHY is this little girl dead?

WHY is her “foster mother” not criminally charged with killing this baby?

WHY haven’t her two adopted children been removed from her custody?? Her other foster children were immediately removed.
==============
The 29-year-old Nicholson woman told Jackson County Sheriff deputies that she came home from a doctor’s appointment about 2:30 p.m., *****unloaded her two adopted girls but forgot about the baby in the car seat.*****
===============
Two other foster children who had been living with Osborne were removed from the home, Cochran said
===============

WHY is Wendy Osborne being let off the hook in the killing of Jessical Marie Scovil?

WHY are there only TWO news articles on the whole internet about this little girl’s killing?

WHY doesn’t anyone seem to care–other than me and a handful of her family?

WHAT is wrong with people that killing innocent infants is OK? “There but for the Grace of God….” (the GA Child Advocate said that about Ms. Osborne)

====================
State Child Advocate Tom Rawlings identified the girl as Jessica Marie Scovil.

Rawlings said if Osborne’s version is correct, he would tend to oppose criminal charges.

“I usually look at these kinds of situations as there but for the grace of God go I,” he said.
======================

THAT is unacceptable. On any level.

OMG….this innocent little girl’s killing deserves ANSWERS and ATTENTION!!!!!

But most of all ACCOUNTABILITY!

The questions still remain why was she not only placed in foster care, but why not with other family member, and why for so long?
Again, all facts please, not just one side.

Amanda E { 09.05.08 at 1:24 pm } The questions still remain why was she not only placed in foster care, but why not with other family member, and why for so long?
Again, all facts please, not just one side.
========

“So long”?

For crying out loud, she was only EIGHT MONTHS OLD. She was taken by CPS when she was 5 months old….which means she was in foster care 12 weeks. Is that a LONG time to you?

I am WAY less concerned about how long she was in foster care, than I am conerned with WHY she died in foster care.

At this point, how long she was in foster care is of little value. She is dead. It makes no difference it it was 12 weeks or 120 weeks. She is dead because her foster mother simply “forgot” her and left her trapped helplessly in a hot vehicle she could not escape on her own.

I am way less concerned that she spent 12 weeks in foster care than I am concerned about what the consequences are going to be for this person who was responsible for taking care of her, who left her to die.

That foster parent was supposed to keep her ALIVE. Not kill her. She had a duty of care to make sure the child was SAFE and came to no harm while in her care.

She did not act properly on that duty of care and the child is now dead.

This is not some trivial, silly “correctable mistake” that can all be fixed if we just sit down and sort out the facts. The baby is D-E-A-D, and we know who is responsible for her death.

Baby Jessica’s life was worth something–and it was snuffed out senselessly by someone who doesn’t appear to be held accountable for her actions.

If I am caring for someone’s infant child, and I take them anywhere in my vehicle, I have a duty of care to that helpless 8 month old baby, I have a duty to make sure she isn’t left to die of heatstroke in a hot car she cannot escape on her own.

If *I* (or any “bio parent”) allowed a child to die in their hot vehicle while I napped, I would EXPECT to be arrested for that child’s death.

That has not happened to Wendy Osborne, the foster “mother” who was responsible for caring for Jessica Marie Scovil.

I think the prudent question to ask now has nothing to do with the length of Jessica’s stay in foster care, but WHY isn’t the woman responsible for her death while in foster care IN JAIL?

Sorry you are more focused on how long the baby was in foster care. Your priorities are a little screwed up.

She is D-E-A-D. Her foster mother killed her.

It doesn’t matter how long she was in foster care now.

Jeny

Jeny

In fact if you do a little research and pull files at any court house in any state you will find majority of children are returned to the biological parents with in the madatory 72 hours. So this precious little girl had an opportunity to go home with in 72 hours, which once again is still too long for me to be away from MY child, so why didn’t she?

Why months later the possiability?

It is sad this precious life was taken away by God, why?

We can never question Gods plan!

Amanda { 09.05.08 at 3:06 pm } In fact if you do a little research and pull files at any court house in any state you will find majority of children are returned to the biological parents with in the madatory 72 hours. So this precious little girl had an opportunity to go home with in 72 hours, which once again is still too long for me to be away from MY child, so why didn’t she?
================

Have you seen these files on Jessica? Are these FACTS—or are YOU ASSUMING??

Right. The word hypocrite comes to mind. *rolling eyes*

Joey { 09.05.08 at 3:50 pm } If I find out that Jessica Marie Scovil was taken from her biological parents for spurious reasons by CPS workers, I’m going to throw up.
============

So far CPS and DHS are being VERY tight-lipped about the Scovil case.

Which would indicate to me something’s rotten in Denmark and they are scrambling to cover their @sses.

I’m not going to let off Jessica’s case until there are answers and accountability. If I have to leave this blog and start my own blog with Jessica and the wrongs of CPS and foster parents being the focus, so be it. I will.

SOMEONE MUST ANSWER FOR HER DEATH.

It doesn’t matter why she was removed from her parents in the first place—how does that lessen the foster mother’s culpability in the infant’s death?

It doesn’t matter how long she was in foster care, rather than being returned home in 72 hours. How does that lessen the responsibility of the foster mother who killed her?

Nothing having to do with this child’s removal from her Mom and Dad has ANYTHING TO DO with the foster mother leaving Jessica strapped into a car seat in a baking hot vehicle she couldn’t escape on her own–so she could die of heat stroke alone. Her death had to have been horrific. I can’t even imagine.

And there are people who are only to ready to “forgive and forget” all about what happened to Baby Jessica.

I am not one of those people. I am going to become Wendy Osborne’s worst nightmare. I am not going to back off this story until she is held accountable for killing Jessica Marie Scovil.

Period.

In Memory of Jessica Marie Scovil
December 3, 2007 - September 4, 2008
http://evansfuneralhomeinc.com/obituaries/photos/large/scovil.JPG

Our foster friend Amanda asked for more facts.

Here ya go. Good stuff.

/sarcasm

http://www.jacksonheraldtoday.com/archives/696-Infant-dies-after-being-left-in-car-Tues.-afternoon.html

The 9-month-old baby who died of a heat stroke after having been left in a vehicle for several hours will be buried Saturday.

Baby Jessica Scovil died of a “fatal heat stroke” according to autopsy results released Thursday. The child had been left in a car at home on Hwy. 334 in Nicholson late Tuesday afternoon. The child had reportedly been left in a closed minivan for around three hours and was unresponsive when deputies and EMTs arrived about 5 p.m.

No charges have been filed in the death, but authorities are continuing to investigate circumstances surrounding the incident.

According to Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigator Maj. David Cochran, Wendy Osborne had returned home around 2 p.m. Tuesday from an Athens drug store and taken two 3-year-old children into the house, along with some food and other items. Osborne, who was reportedly ill and taking medication for strep throat, subsequently fell asleep, accidentally leaving the 9-month-old in the vehicle. The baby was a foster child being taken care of by the Osborne family.

Two teenage children, also under foster care in the home, later arrived at the house from school. Around 5 p.m., one of the teens asked where the baby was, according to Cochran. It was then that Osborne realized she had left the female baby in the minivan. She found the baby unresponsive and called 911, according to Cochran.

Osborne reportedly took the baby into the house. Deputies who arrived first on the scene did CPR on the infant until an ambulance arrived, according to a deputy’s report. The deputy said he noticed while doing CPR that the child’s head was hot. ***The child’s core tempreture was reportedly above 108 degrees when tested at BCJ Medical Center.***

***The two other foster children in the household were taken by DFACS to another location following the incident.***

Investigators are currently awaiting results of a toxicology test from Osborne before deciding how to proceed, officials close to the investigation said.

=================
Are these enough facts, Amanda?

Baby Jessica’s core body temperature AT THE HOSPITAL, after being brought in the *airconditioned* house, given CPR, put in the *airconditioned* ambulance and treated in the *airconditioend* hospital was ONE-HUNDRED EIGHT DEGREES FARENHEIT, which means it was 110 F and more prior to being measured.

In other words—her brain literally fried and he body shut down due to heat stroke.

Is that enough “facts” for you?

How about this:

The two 3 year olds she adopted are still living with her. But the two teenaged fosters were immediately removed.

So…..she’s safe enough to care for two toddlers, but not the teens? That’s bassackwards.

And…..she’s still not charged with anything, even though in our state (Georgia) it is CLEARLY against the law to leave a child in a car (hot or cold) unattended. Clearly, she broke that law, but that doesn’t seem to be too important.

Ms. Obsborne remains “under investigation”, but I am unconvinced anything more serious than a tongue lashing from a Judge will ever happen to her.

Especially considering she has the GA CHILD Advocate on her side—-clearly ADVOCATING for HER (instead of the CHILD).

=====
State Child Advocate Tom Rawlings identified the girl as Jessica Marie Scovil.

“Rawlings said if Osborne’s version is correct, he would tend to oppose criminal charges.

“I usually look at these kinds of situations as there but for the grace of God go I,” he said.”
=====

What actually are the chances that “investigation” will result in actual charges being filed against this foster parent?

I’d say between slim >>>>> to none.

Meanwhile, had *I* (or another “bio”) done this very same thing to an innocent 8 month old in our care, we would have been immediately arrested and taken to jail, ALL surviving children immediately removed from our custody and the book would be thrown at us.

I ask….what is so special about Wendy Osborne??? Is it because she is part of “the system” that she is getting differnent treatment?

Why would they remove two teenaged foster children—but leave two 3 year old toddlers in her custody?

Obviously if she’s not safe to foster Jessica, and she’s not safe to foster those teens, she’s not safe to care for her adopted 3 year olds–who are also young enough to meet the same fate as baby Jessica in her hands. At least the teens could escape a hot car on their own. The 3 year olds….maybe not. Depending on if her vehicle has child safety locks preventing them from opening the door on their own.

I am SO aggravated….

In Memory of Jessica Marie Scovil
December 3, 2007 - September 4, 2008

Chai Tea { 09.04.08 at 4:24 am } Jeny, that’s awful about the baby but even more so about the double standard used by the legal authorities when anyone who’s a foster parent/CPS person commits a crime.

You’re absolutely right - if it had been the natural mother CPS, lawyers, judges, and the community would have been down her throat.

I noted that her mothering instince kicked in so that she didn’t leave her OWN (Adopted) children in the car - just forgot the most vulnerable (and incidently not HER child) in a car to cook to death.

Awful. Just awful.
=============

I am truly disgusted by the double-standard that some here seem to think doesn’t exist, yet quite clearly it does.

Please pray for this little one. She is being buried today. Pray God and all the Angels take her in their arms and watch over her until her Mother and Father can one day be reunited with her in heaven.

I know her REAL Mother and Father must be devastated—along with her large extended family (see her obituary posted further above).

Please pray that Baby Jessica’s parents can find some peace and answers regarding the death of their innocent baby, who I’m sure they loved very much.

Please pray that Justice is done in Jessica’s death–her death was absolutely needless and completely preventable. The person responsible for killing Jessical must be held responsible and accountable under the laws of our Great State of Georgia and not given special treatment.

I am sorry for the foster “mother” that she finds herself in the terrible position she is in–but her carelessness caused the death of an innocent, helplesss, vulnerable baby. This was a child she was supposed to be “protecting” from her own parents. And she killed her. Accidental–or not–Wendy Osborne should be held to account for what she’s done. Just like any other who kills.

Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter should sue the state for 100 million dollars. The state murdered their child. Un freakin believable. Just more evidence that CPS, a neo-communist institution, is a danger to society and our children.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/090508/new_328706107.shtml

The birth parents of a 9-month-old Jackson County girl who died of heat stroke Tuesday want her foster mother prosecuted for leaving the little girl locked in a minivan for more than two hours, according to the couple’s attorney.

But friends of foster mother Wendy Osborne came out Thursday in support of the 29-year-old, pointing out that she has fostered several children over the past five years without problems and saying that what happened to the child, Jessica Scovil, was a tragic accident.

Jackson County sheriff’s detectives are waiting to decide whether to charge Osborne, who lives on Georgia Highway 334 near Nicholson, until they receive the results of toxicology tests, said Chief Deputy David Cochran.

An autopsy performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Decatur confirmed that Jessica died from heat stroke.

“The next step, I guess, for the parents, is to talk to the district attorney and to ask him to move forward with charges on this case,” said Crandall Heard, attorney for Jessica’s birth parents, Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter. “That’s all they can do as they work to get through this.”

Deputies and emergency medical personnel were called to the Osborne home Tuesday afternoon, after Wendy Osborne found Jessica unconscious in the minivan.

Osborne told sheriff’s investigators that she came home from a doctor’s appointment shortly before 3 p.m., unloaded two adopted 3-year-old girls from the van and went inside. Once inside, Osborne lay down for a nap while the other two children played. She woke up about 5 p.m., Cochran said, and rushed outside to find Jessica unresponsive in her car seat.

Osborne’s doctor had prescribed medication that may have contributed to her disorientation and drowsiness, Cochran said. She was sick for several days before she went to the doctor, he said.

Some people who know Osborne and her husband see them as dedicated foster parents who consider it their mission to help children, said Edna Stroud, who owns Creative Kids day-care center where Jessica spent some days this summer.

“I have the utmost respect for the Osborne family,” Stroud said. “I remember thinking when I interviewed Mrs. Osborne before Jessica stayed with us that she was really choosey about who was keeping Jessica. She acted more like a parent, really, than a foster parent. She was very patient, and very loving towards the children, you could see they had a passion for what they were doing.”

Scovil and Carter lost custody of Jessica early this year, but were close to regaining guardianship, Heard said.

A custody hearing was scheduled for Sept. 16 in Jackson County Juvenile Court, and Heard expected that Jessica would have been returned to her parents at that time.

“This mom is a good lady,” Heard said. “She’s done everything I have asked her to do to get her child back, and so has the father. I could not have had two people do more to get their child back. … If there had been cooperation on both sides, we could have had this cleared up weeks ago. But we weren’t getting any cooperation, so we were having to go back to court.”

Heard, a public defense attorney serving Barrow, Jackson and Banks counties, would not say why Scovil and Carter lost custody of Jessica, but he did say that it wasn’t related to any type of criminal charges, substance abuse or physical abuse.

“(Division of Family and Children Services officials) were telling my clients that, ‘We don’t think they’re able to take care of their child right now,’ ” Heard said. “Instead of sending her home, they sent her to a home where she eventually died.”

Calls to Robert Scovil’s home were not immediately returned Thursday. Calls to Wendy Osborne’s home went unanswered.

Thanks for keeping up with this story. This poor couple needs justice. The state has proven time and again, it doesn’t know how to deal with people compassionately. It acts like a machine that processes human beings. These poor people are victims of state aggression.

Joey { 09.06.08 at 10:09 pm } Thanks for keeping up with this story. This poor couple needs justice. The state has proven time and again, it doesn’t know how to deal with people compassionately. It acts like a machine that processes human beings. These poor people are victims of state aggression.
==========================

Thanks for taking the time to care about this innocent little baby girl, Joey.

And thanks for taking time to care about her absolutely devastated God-given parents, Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter.

No one should lose their child like this. No one.

The State of Georgia will be paying them millions of MY tax dollars, and I am A-OK with that.

Our State has abused them and their daughter needlessly, and now their little girl is dead.

The State of Georgia has a lot of answers they owe the Scovils and they owe them a huge lawsuit settlement/award.

Jeny

The Jackson County Georgia District Attorney’s office can be emailed at mcole@jacksoncountygov.com if you want to encourage them to pursue justice for Jessica Scovil.

Tom Rawlings (the State of Georgia Child Advocate) has a website at gachildadvocate.org. You can send your views to him through the “Contact Us” tab on the web site.

Statement from Baby Jessica’s Maternal Grandmother:

http://www.jacksonheraldtoday.com/archives/715-Baby-Jessica-buried-Saturday;-grandmother-calls-for-system-to-be-fixed.html#extended

The maternal grandmother of the baby who died after being left in a hot van last week said the state’s foster care system “is broke and needs to be fixed.”

Baby Jessica Scovil was buried Saturday. “Today is a day of mourning, sorrow, separation and tears,” said Rev. Johnny Ray at Jessica’s service.

GRANDMOTHER SPEAKS OUT

Tina Swatkowski said in a statement Monday that the state’s foster care system failed both her daughter, ***Evelyn, who had given up the child on a temporary basis***, and Wendy Osborne, the foster mother who accidentally left the child in a van last week.

***“Evelyn needed supports put into place and not to have her daughter taken from her,” ***said Swatkowski. “The foster mother must have been overwhelmed to have left Baby Jessica in the van like she did. So I guess the system not only doesn’t support birth parents, they don’t even give foster parents the support they need.”

*********Swatkowski said Jessica had been removed from her daughter’s care after Evelyn asked for help to deal with a bipolar condition. She said there were no neglect or criminal charges involved in Jessica’s having been placed in foster care. ********

“The system is broke and needs to be fixed,” Swatkowski wrote. “Don’t let Jessica die in vain, let’s get justice for Jessica, let’s change the system.”
=====================

Grandma, my heart breaks with you, and I will do everything in my power to see to it that there is Justice for your beautiful, innocent grandaughter Jessica.

I hope that God will grant you and your heartbroken grieving family much love, healing, hope and …. some day, peace.

Please know so many of us Georgians support you and your family. CPS in Georgia is broken. Period.

We MUST change the system before there are any more Baby Jessica’s lost due to State-assigned fost “parents”, rather than God-given parents raising their children.

God Bless and hold you in His arms in this time of deepest sorrow for you and your entire family.

With much love,
Jeny

************************
OSBORNE LAWYER ASKS FOR ‘DECENCY’

Meanwhile, the attorney for Osborne defended his client as a “loving and caring provider (who) is suffering through unimaginable pain with the loss of a child that was loved as one of her own.”

Attorney Phil Pilgrim said Osborne had been a foster parent for many years and had helped teach other foster parents about “how to help these children better adapt to their new lives.”

Pilgrim also blasted the media for its coverage of Osborne, saying “the press have failed to respect her privacy to the point where she cannot even come home to her own residence.”

“We can only hope that somewhere, someone in authority with the various media agencies would find one scintilla of decency and allow our client to grieve in private.”
===================

Meanwhile, I will break out my teeny-tiny-itty-bitty-little violins for Wendy Osborne. Grieve? Grieve what?

Perhaps she’s grieving the fact that she could (but probably won’t) go to jail for killing an innocent infant she was supposed to be “parenting”?

Perhaps she’s grieving the legal expenses she’s now going to incur since she killed another Mother’s child?

Perhaps she’s grieving the fact she’ll have to leave her two adopted 3 year olds behind if she goes to jail?

I don’t know exactly what she’s grieving–but I rather doubt it is Jessica’s death she’s grieving. She caused that child’s death.
She’s not grieving—she’s scared to death she’ll go to jail.

Perhaps what she’s feeling is guilt–not grief? I suspect very much that is the case. Guilt would be an appropriate emotion for her in this case.

If Mrs. Obsborne showed just one scintilla of remorse or true sorrow for causing baby Jessica’s death, instead of acting as if *she* is the victim in this crime, them perhaps I might find her attorney’s pleas for privacy and “decency” less contrived and just plain ridiculous.

Mrs. Osborne is NOT the victim. She has no right to play “victim” and demand “decency and privacy”.

I, for one, am tired of Mrs. Osborne’s “victim” act. She is NOT a victim in any sense of the word, and to view her in that light is disingenous at best.

Jeny

Really good blog on Jessica:

http://www.dualtriadian.com/?p=96

Taking Away Parenthood: Jessica Scovil and the Media’s Use of the B-Word
September 6th, 2008 | Foster Care Deaths, News Items

Bastardette recently blogged about the tragic case of Jessica Scovil, an almost 9-month old baby who died after being left in a hot car by her foster mother.

While I am inclined to believe that Jessica’s death was a tragic accident, I am disturbed by the media’s insistence on referring to Jessica’s parents, Evelyn Carver and Robert Scovil, as “birthparents“.

Jessica had not been adopted by her foster parents. So why is the media referring to Jessica’s parents (who were working to get her back) as anything other than “parents”? To call someone a “birthparent” when their parental rights are still intact is not only inappropriate, in cases like this, it is just plain cruel.

Jessica Scovil had parents. The state took her away from them because they believed it to be in her best interests to be fostered by someone else, at least temporarily. But the state’s care for Jessica went horribly wrong, and she is being returned to her parents as a corpse.

Jessica’s obituary lists her parents as her parents. Her birth certificate lists her parents as her parents.

But the media can’t seem to get it right. In fact, it looks like nobody got it right in this case:

The state took Jessica away from her parents.

Jessica’s foster mother accidentally took away her life.

And now the media has taken away her parent’s “parenthood”.

Rest in peace, Jessica.

Marley–read your blog last night. Thanks for linking to Kurt’s blog and Jessica’s story.

I don’t know the family, but I’m a Mom and I can’t imagine losing my child in this horrendous way. The more I dig into Jessica’s story, the more horrific it becomes.

It seems Evelyn Carter and her Robert Scovil lost custody–supposedly temporarily–because Ms. Carter sought out help from public resources for her bi-polar disease. Apparently she could not afford treatment herself, and because she sought public help, CPS was brought into the case when they learned she had a new baby.

Apparently Ms. Carter was talked into putting the child into CPS custody “temporarily” while she sought treatment–and lived to regret it–playing hell getting her child back from CPS.

Meanwhile, Wendy Osborne, Jessica’s State-selected “parent” negligently caused her death just two weeks before a hearing where it was expected Jessica would be returned to her loving parents.

Instead–she was returned as a corpse, and the State of Georgia, nor Wendy Osborne have yet to take responsibility for the death of this innocent child who should have NEVER been place in CPS’s care.

Heads need to roll and Ms. Osborne needs to do some time on this one. I won’t rest until that happens…..I hope you’ll join me in this endeavor, and anyone else who would like to help too.

And yes—I’ve read Ms. Osborne’s “preachy” friends brag about how many Bibles they Osbornes have given out to foster children over the years. Can anyone say—Separation of State? Hmmm.

I’ll post on your site tonight…it seems I need to register or something. Don’t have time right now….but will get to it later.

Best to you—I appreciate your showing this little baby the love she deserves. Even if it is post-mortem.

God bless,

Jeny

Maybe CPS/DFCS/Whatever should have the parents sign a disclaimer from now on, stating that they are not responsible, in the event of the death or injury of their children, etc., and have them sign it, before voluntarily handing over their child. It would a fair thing to obtain at this point.